3 Flipboard Alternatives

Friday night Mother Nature decided we all should live analog lives and find alternate means of collecting our news. Granted we have TV and radio but we are married to our phones and tablets. So in protest, Mother Nature decided to Occupy Flipboard and thus you have The Great Social News Outage of the Moment.

So in keeping with having eggs and baskets, I’m throwing a few more options your way so you’ll be able to still live that connected, “In The Know” lifestyle, even if Mother Nature decides we shouldn’t.

1. Google Currents – If you gave up on this one early, reconsider that decision. A few major performance and style updates have this humming along at full speed. More of my serious reading goes on here (while I mainly use Flipboard for discovery). The layouts are great, font is clear and classic and you import any website that has an RSS feed. And just because it’s created by the geniuses at Mountain View doesn’t mean our Cupertino kids are left out. You’ll find tons of Apple focused channels oddly enough. Available for Android and iOS.

Pros:

• Great on Phone and Tablet screens.
• Magazine layout
• Syncs across all devices
• Supports social media and bookmark sharing
• Offline reading option
• Supports video

Cons:

• No dark mode
• Feeds without dedicate channels only show you a paragraph of the article.

2. Pulse News – Before Flipboard and Google Currents slugged it out, there was Pulse News! Pulse News has an plethora; yes I said a plethora, of content to subscribe to. All the heavy hitters are there along with “Best of” compilations so you can avoid duplication from your favorite sites. And my Apple friends will recognize a new feature Pulse News included similar to iTunes, Genius. With that, Pulse News curates recommendations based on what you read and unlike Google Currents, you get a bonafide dark mode, which makes reading easier on my eyes in the dark. And you can even set it to make the transition happen automatically! Available for Android and iOS.

Pros:

• Great on Phone and Tablet screens
• Lots and lots of dedicated content
• Genius recommendations
• Dark and light mode
• Dedicate save option with Pocket, Instapaper, Readability & Evernote
• Supports Facebook & Twitter viewing
• Pulse.me is where you can read all articles you saved in Pulse News.

Cons:

• The UI could be a little busy
• To complete long reads, you’ll have to leave the app.

3. Feedly – Here’s an app that takes a minimalist design approach to their user interface. Where Pulse News feels cluttered, Feedly feels good with their mix of text and images. By far, Feedly’s dark mode is the best in class in my opinion even though I prefer the light mode on my phone. Here you also subscribe to channels, link your Tumblr and rumor has it I can link my Google Reader account. Feedly’s killer app is it’s companion Chrome and Firefox plug-in so you can move from your phone, to your tablet to laptop or desktop without missing a beat. Available for Android and iOS.

Pros:

• Minimalist UI
• Best dark mode on any reader
• Syncs with Google Reader
• Plug-ins for Firefox and Chrome
• Sync across devices
• Tumblr Support
• Comes in 7 Languages

Con:

• Light mode was too much on a tablet
• Long reads are broken up into pages

I could’ve listed more apps, like AppyGeek, Taptu, News360 or Newsr but they didn’t stick. These three apps were the best designed, most functional and a all around pleasure to use. And these three are STILL on my tablet and phone.

So when Flipboard was down, I was still in business, and now, so can you. If you feel I missed some good ones, bad ones or ones you are particular passionate about, leave a comment or hit me on Twitter!

Image via datswasupmag.com

About the Author: Darryl Cobb – I consider myself the Gordon Gecko of Tech, because tech never sleeps…I'm also a hip hop head, wanna be astronaut and believer in No Wack Demos! Follow me on Twitter.