Yesterday, Spb Software House released News 2.0 for Windows Mobile, a rebadged and updated version of Spb Insight.  Being an addict to reading RSS feeds, it was exciting to see one of the readers I use see a significant update.  News 2.0 adds several new features and an overhauled look.  Since I’ve had a bit of time to play with the program (Spb Software House was kind enough to provide me with an advanced review copy for free), I’ve been checking my RSS feeds today while dining for pizza at one of my favorite restaurants and on the go.  Grab yourself a glass of iced tea and join me as we look at News 2.0 in depth.

First, let’s take a moment to backtrack, to discuss RSS in general.  Since I’m a teacher by day, I’ve come to learn it’s not wise to make assumptions regarding prior knowledge.  Not wise at all!  RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication.  In short, websites can provide news and information in a specific format, called an RSS feed.  Programs, typically categorized as RSS readers, are intended to read these feeds.  Spb News 2 is Spb Software House’s offering in this arena.

First launch of News provides users with a list of pre-configured channels from some familiar sites (see anything you recognize there?).  A quick connect to the internet via wifi or your phone’s data plan and you can update these feeds, retrieving the latest news.  Spb News offers you the option to update one or all channels at once, to store the data in the internal memory of the device or a storage card (I recommend the card option) and visual feedback regarding update status.  The visual feedback is displayed at the bottom of the screen as what will likely appear familiar to you as a typical progress bar.

Once you’ve managed to update one or all of your feeds, using your finger to press one of the channel entries (I think I’ll choose JAMM) moves to a new screen, displaying a list of the articles contained in the RSS feed.  Each item in the list includes a thumbnail image and the article title.  Unread articles appear in bold font, while ones that you have looked over are in standard font.  Scrolling has definitely been optimized to be touch friendly, with the screen easily draggable from top to bottom.  Moving from using Insight, this is a welcome enhancement.

A finger tap on one of the article entries opens the article in full text, typically displaying an image, the article title and the body.  Spb News provides different levels of font size, ranging from small to large.  I’m fond of the smallest font, as I want to be able to read as much information as possible in a condensed space.  Of course, some people are going to want or need the larger font, so kudos to Spb Software House for recognizing this as a need.  Below you can see News rendering an article, displaying an image and small text.

Switching from article to article is as simple as using a finger to swipe horizontally from left to right or right to left.  Definitely a nice touch in the finger-friendly department!

One of the beautiful things about RSS feeds is that there are tons of them available for reading, covering virtually every subject on the Internet.  Spb News provides several methods of configuring new feeds (just remember to leave JAMM), ranging from choosing from a pre-defined and categorized list of over a 1,000 choices, searching for a specific term or manually entering the RSS feed address of your favorite site.  Be warned, it’s easy to go crazy when picking feeds that sound interesting.  Since pictures are a common part of a RSS feed, please heed my warning and opt to have News store it’s data on the device’s external memory card so that you don’t have your internal memory fill up too quickly!

Last on a long list of functionality, what Spb Software House program would be complete without a Today plugin.  Spb News offers a configurable plugin, with the option to scroll through article headlines one by one or display them as a list.  You can see the plugin, set up for display in list view, on my iPaq’s Today screen below.  One important thing to note is that as you read articles in News, the plugin no longer displays them.  Think of the plugin as a reminder of what is waiting for you to read.

In conclusion, Spb News 2 is a welcome update to Insight.  It incorporates several unspecified bug fixes with a finger friendly touch interface.  In my time experimenting with News, I found that it was very stable and reliable.  Feeds downloaded without error.  The formatting of the articles were kept in tact, optimized for display on the smaller display of your Windows Mobile phone or handheld.

Lastly, I do want to mention just a few shortcomings that I’ve run into with News.  First, there seems to be no option to email an individual article.  True, you can tap and hold to bring up a contextual menu, providing the option to select all of the text.  You can then repeat the process to copy the text.  Of course, you could then open your favorite email program, begin composing an email and paste the text, but you shouldn’t have to go through all the steps manually.  A streamlined option should definitely be included.  Second, an option to save the picture from the feed would be welcomed.

Features Worth Noting:

• Finger friendly interface
• Overall UI much improved in comparison to Spb Insight
• Feed selection catalog provides a wide variety of choices to select from

Areas of Concern:

• There is no easy way to email text from an article.
• There is no easy way to save images.
• Google Reader syncing would be a good step forward.

Pricing and Availability:

• Spb News is available here for $19.95 ( a 15 day trial is also available ).
• Spb News is available here as a free upgrade for registered users of Spb Insight.

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