Ask any hardcore BlackBerry user to name their Top 5 Must Have BlackBerry applications and you are just about guaranteed to hear Viigo named among them. Why? Well for one, it's FREE. And for two, it's pretty darn good.
If you're not familiar with Viigo, it's an awesome RSS client for your BlackBerry. and with the version 2.2.82 the already-awesome app just got awesomer. Version 2.2.82 improvements include:
- Ability to add feeds from RSS Aggregators: Google Reader, My Yahoo! or Bloglines
- More screen real estate for feeds
- Adding shortcuts (i.e. hit Del to Delete a feed)
- Better font support
- One Click "Send Article to Me"
- Foreign Character support in "Full Article" view
- Ability to limit maximum articles per channel
In this updated version of Viigo advertising is now shown on certain feeds, but from my browsing around so far the ads are minimal, subtle and not annoying at all. You gotta pay the bills, and if you can do so while keeping the App free then I say do it!
I'm a Google Reader user, so I was pumped to see Viigo now support it. But it creates a new problem for me - I have about a 1,000 feeds in my Google Reader account, and I keep them all organized into folders (BlackBerry Sites, Mac Sites, Web Dev Sites, News Sites, etc.). When Viigo imported them, it dumped them all into one LONG list in Alphabetical Order. I now either need a) the ability to use keyboard shortcuts to jump to feeds (hit C to get to the C feeds and then a short scroll to say CrackBerry) or I need the ability to easily put my feeds into Folders. Maybe the functionality is there and I just haven't figured it out yet?! Either way, it's a great app that you should immediately download and try if you haven't yet!
- To Download, Point Your BlackBerry Browser to GetViigo.com >>
- Discuss Viigo in the CrackBerry Forums >>
Reader comments
Viigo Updated: Now Includes Google Reader Support!
Well I got REALLY excited when I first saw this story, but it still doesnt sync the messages that have already been read... HOPEFULLY it will do that later on though... still patiently waiting...
From the Viigo site
"It may take a few seconds for the first articles to appear in these feeds, so be patient.We call this Google Reader Integration (Phase 1) because it is only the first step in our plans for integration with popular web readers. We’re hoping to offer full read/un-read synchronization in later releases."
As soon as two way syncing is available with newsgator, I'm switching from Newsgator Go!
That's all I need.
So, when is it actually going to be updated? I keep seeing these news items that it has been updated, but at getviigo.com it still points me to version 2.2.70.
When I wrote this post I just went to getviigo.com 2.2.82 was what it gave me. So it's there.
But spoke to a friend from the UK last night who is in your boat, it was giving him 2.2.70. Maybe their servers detect geographical location or something and are spitting out a different version?!
Not sure..
I tried out the Windows Mobile version of this, and when I went to add my own channel I would have had to type in the RSS URL. I could not paste one in. Does the Blackberry version have the same limitation?
Yes, it unfortunately does have that limitation on BB's, as well. Hopefully in the next update, this will be addressed. Still the best RSS Reader out - especially for the price!
Missing a basic function like cut & paste is pretty absurd, in my opinion. Especially when you're expected to enter stuff like URL's. Before I got the Tilt I was using Piconews on a 8700c:
http://www.piconews.com/
It worked well, is free, and supports cut & paste. On the Tilt I'm using pRSSReader, which is free and does the same. Neither are as pretty as Viigo, but they get the job done.
The best way to organize feeds so that you may keep your feeds separate is to rename your feeds.
In Viigo, press MENU button, then EDIT CHANNEL, and give the certain feed a CUSTOM TITLE.
For example, you can rename all your mac feeds "Mac: xxxx", or your blackberry feeds "BB: xxxx". This will keep all of your feeds grouped.
I have my news as "News: xxxx" and sports as "Sports: xxxx" - because this also was a big pet peeve of mine with the program.
Wow, can't wait for Google reader read/unread support!!!!!
Looking good, I just recently upgraded and am having good times with it so far. I like the added feature of short cuts because that just makes so much easier.