Experience all the content the web has to offer, such as sharing photos on Google+, watching YouTube videos and discovering books, movies and music from Android Market. Google Currents, a new application for Android devices, iPads and iPhones that lets you explore online magazines and other content with the swipe of a finger
Google Currents social news reading app has been updated to make it easier finding breaking news and browse content from multiple sources.
Quite similar to Flipboard, Pulse and Zite, Google Currents aggregates various publications presented in a way more akin to reading a magazine rather than an RSS feed.
On Google'sAndroid blog, it outlined some of the biggest changes to Currents.
Google Currents now organizes editions (Google's term for publications) into category groups. That means Mashable shows up in Science and Technology, whereas TVGuide.com shows up in Entertainment.
It has also made it easier to swipe through various editions. Vertical swipes show the headlines and an image of the story and you can easily see what you want to read.
One of the biggest change to the app, however, is that users can now browse through breaking news in various categories. For breaking news, Google says it uses some of the same technology as Search to populate the categories. From my tests, the breaking news stuff tended to look very similar to Google News in terms of content and ranking.
What is nice about the breaking news aspect is that it delivers sources that you might not already subscribe to. So if I want to see the most breaking news in Sports, I don't actually have to have all those sports sources n my feeds.
Google has already updated Currents for Android phones and tablets and says an iOS update is coming soon.
Google Currents on the app store for iPads and iPhones:
JANUARY 10, 2012
After much anticipation and speculation, Google has finally released Coogle Currents—its mobile newsreader. GC was designed to distribute content via tablets and mobile devices, it fulfills its mission in Google’s typical understated, yet powerful way.
Readers can sign in with their Google account and Google Currents opens to a clean palette of Library icons along with all the reader’s Google Reader content. Information flows seamlessly across Google’s applications, so readers don’t waste time doing repetitive setup.
Adding subscriptions to the library is easy. Readers can search through a host of categories or by publication or RSS feed. Toggle to the Trending plate to view headlines and Library content along with a gallery of half-page images from each headline. Readers can watch the entire rotation or dive into an article.
A serious flaw: even though readers can sync with social media sites such as Facebook, Currents doesn’t use social media settings or activities to tailor content. And compared to Flipboard–which lets users browse their Facebook news in a visually rich, compelling way–Currents’ presentation of social media content falls flat.
If you’re a marketer, though, there’s a lot to like about Currents. Publishers are well supported through the Producer portal. Nearly anyone can quickly and easily set up digital content to flow to both Android and iOS platforms. You can design for tablets or phones and view how content will render across devices, and tie together content for a uniform deployment. It’s a big win for both large and small publishers.
As a content reader, Currents excels. But like so many straight-A students, Currents lacks depth outside its single focus. It doesn’t surprise or delight with unexpected but relevant content. It doesn’t woo with social media that could captivate readers to linger. And for that reason, Currents may not appeal to audiences hungry for the entertainment so effortlessly delivered by Flipboard and its peers.
The Final Verdict
The reader experience: B. Stellar functionality, beautiful rendering, clean and effortless navigation. A fantastic news reader; but at the end of the day, it’s just that: a news reader. Lacks the pep and verve of a full-life-view reader.
The publisher experience: A. If your publication or feed is out there, it’s easy for users to find it. And self-publishing digital content is easy and seamless across Android and iOS platforms.
GC was designed to distribute content via tablets and mobile devices, it fulfills its mission in Google’s typical understated, yet powerful way.
GC was designed to distribute content via tablets and mobile devices, it fulfills its mission in Google’s typical understated, yet powerful way.
Adding subscriptions to the library is easy. Readers can search through a host of categories or by publication or RSS feed. Toggle to the Trending plate to view headlines and Library content along with a gallery of half-page images from each headline. Readers can watch the entire rotation or dive into an article.
If you’re a marketer, though, there’s a lot to like about Currents. Publishers are well supported through the Producer portal. Nearly anyone can quickly and easily set up digital content to flow to both Android and iOS platforms. You can design for tablets or phones and view how content will render across devices, and tie together content for a uniform deployment. It’s a big win for both large and small publishers.
The Final Verdict
This is so much more than i needed!!! but will all come in use thanks!!
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