Download Squad

While there are a ton of RSS Readers available, it seems that more and more Google Reader has taken over as the reader of choice for many bloggers. And understandably; it's faster than almost any other online reader, in many ways more user friendly, and is consistent with the ever-popular Gmail email service in terms of user interface.

It also sports a mobile client, which many readers do not, but the mobile client is unfortunately a one-size-fits-all solution; it's intended for phones, but is also your only choice when it comes to more advanced devices like Pocket PCs and Nokia's Internet Tablets, which is a real shame.

Fortunately, John Tokash wasn't satisfied with the mobile version of Google Reader, and decided to do something about it. When he couldn't figure out what was causing Google Reader not to work on his Nokia Internet Tablet (using the included Opera browser), he set out to build a completely new, lighter interface using the Google Reader API. And the result - Reader Mini - is astonishing.

Although it doesn't work using Pocket IE on Pocket PCs, it works perfectly well using the Opera browser that is available for Pocket PCs, which is how I'm using it on my Dell Axim X50v. There are some definite shortcomings with the Opera browser like the fact that there is no way to configure it to let you page down using a single button, but the mere existence of Reader Mini and the fact that I could use it instead of Google Reader's mobile interface may in fact force me to buy a copy of Opera for my Pocket PC once the trial version expires.

It's truly amazing how closely Reader Mini mimics the Google Reader interface while simplifying interactions. I still prefer the default Google Reader interface on a PC, but as a light version this thing is really great.

[Updated to fix the fact that I mistakenly referred to Reader Mini as Google Mini in many places in the post, which is a Google search appliance as Andy points out in the comments.]