Okay, guys and gals, have we got a “Head to Head” application comparison for you today.  We’re going to be taking an in-depth look at two RSS reader programs for Windows Mobile, literally released within two days of each other last week.  In one corner, we have SPB News 2, SPB Software’s recently rebadged SPB Insight.  In the other corner, we have SBSH GoNews Touch, a relative new comer to the RSS world.

As a relative newcomer to the world of Windows Mobile myself, one item that I have been searching for is the RSS reader application that will best support my needs.  I must confess, I had already registered both SPB News (well actually, SPB Insight, but News was a free upgrade) and GoNews Touch prior to setting down to write this article.  The article itself actually gives me a good reason to choose which is going to be my primary RSS reader, a chance to compare one to another in an objective a manner as possible.

The “Head to Head” is going to be broken down into the categories of RSS handling and user interface (UI).  The RSS handling category is going to be broken down into the following sub-categories:  accuracy of feed, update options, new feed support and “bonus” features.  The UI category is going to be broken down into the following:  aesthetics, finger / touch support and hardware key support.  I’m going to score each sub-category on a scale of 0-2.  A score of 2 will be for flawless implementation of the feature.  A score of one will be for a implementation that is in place, but not as intuitive as it could be.  Finally, a score of 0 will be for what I perceive as a flawed implementation or a complete omission of functionality.  We’ll total the score at the end to see if we can discover a clear cut winner.  So go ahead, grab yourself a glass of iced tea, and join me as we start with round one!

Category:  RSS Feed Handling

Sub-Category One:  Accuracy

SPB News Display of Article

GoNews Touch Displaying an Article

First, let’s look at the accuracy of feed display.  By this, I am referring to the layout of images, images being loaded properly and text formatting.  Both SPB News and GoNews Touch handled this flawlessly for each feed that I tested.  Images, both thumbnails and full size, displayed without issue.  The headers appeared in bold font while the body of the text displayed properly.  Each application provides an option when viewing the individual articles to adjust the font size.  While I prefer the smallest font, as some of you will that want to fit the most information on screen as possible, you will be happy to know that there are options for rather large text as well.

Score:

• SPB News [2]
• GoNews Touch [2]

Sub-Category Two: Update Options

Update options is going to be addressed in a couple of sub-sub-categories:  connection support, automatic updating support and visual feedback of update status.  Both applications support updating via the regular connection methods, including wifi, ActiveSync and your phone’s data connection.  Each application also provides support for storing feed data on the phone’s external card.  I highly recommend this option, as feed content including images, can gather you some large data repositories.  The amount of feeds cached and image download support toggling is also available in each.  No problem here for either application.  Next, each application allows for automatic updating of your feeds.  To be honest with you, I only update manually when I’m connected to wifi or in a high-speed data area on my phone connection, so I can’t comment on how accurate the scheduler works.  Finally, we get to look at the visual feedback that both SPB News and GoNews Touch provides the user when updating.  Let’s make sure that what I’m talking about is clear here:  when you are updating a feed, how do you know that the program is actually doing anything and how do you know how far into the update you are.  SPB News provides the user with a progress bar at the bottom of the screen when an update is occurring.  Very nice!  GoNews Touch does have a change to the icon at the bottom of the screen, but the change itself is slight and in no way (that I can tell) indicates the amount of progress the update has made.  In this sub-sub category, SPB News comes out on top.

Score:

• SPB News [2] [2] [2]
• GoNews Touch [2] [2] [1]

Sub-Category Three:  New Feed Support

SPB News Feed Selection

GoNews Touch Feed Setup

When using any RSS feed application, one of the very first things a user must do is set up their feeds.  The process of adding feeds should be intuitive, however option packed.  SPB News and GoNews Touch provide the typical methods of adding feeds, such as manually entering the RSS feed information, importing an OPML file or searching.  Each application also provides support for choosing from a pre-defined catalog.  Here SPB News trumps GoNews Touch as it has a built in catalog that includes over a 1,000 different feeds to choose from, broken down into genre.  GoNews Touch does include several feeds broken down by category but the selection simply doesn’t compare to the built in catalog that SPB News offers.  However, and this is a BIG however, GoNews Touch does provide an alternative feature here.  GoNews provides support for syncing with a Google Reader account, making it easy to keep your feeds in check.  Here’s where you’ve got to look at your particular usage needs… do you want an inclusive library built in to the program to choose from or would you rather have a minimal list included from the start, with support for your Google Reader feeds.  Tough question here, but I’m going to side with GoNews Touch here.  Google Reader support is quickly becoming a must have feature in RSS readers.

Score:

• SPB News [1]
• GoNews Touch [2]

Sub-Category Four:  “Bonus” Features

SPB News Today Plugin

SPB News offers up a Today plugin, allowing you to catch what feeds you are tracking and their unread articles at a glance.  The plugin offers two different views, allowing you to see the information in a list or scrolling pane.  Those of you that spend a great deal of time managing your applications via the Today page, will likely find this a great feature.  GoNews Touch doesn’t appear to provide a today plugin, which strikes me as a bit odd at this point.  Many of their apps have their main interface via the Today plugin architecture, so hopefully SBSH will consider this for a new version.  Perhaps in version 1.2, guys?

GoNews Touch Category Support

GoNews Touch does a quick turnaround here, though.  While not providing support for a today plugin, they do incorporate category support for channels in the main program.  Imagine yourself going crazy selecting feeds (this is easy to do… take it from one that has been there)!  Do you prefer to scroll through a long, perhaps really long list of channels?  Do you prefer to quickly switch between categories, each one serving as a virtual folder for feeds of a specific type?  This is an area where GoNews Touch outshines SPB News, which doesn’t include category support.

Honestly, I’m a bit torn here.  Both features are great, but we need a leader, don’t we?  Ultimately, I’m favoring GoNews Touch here for the category support.  Don’t get me wrong, the today plugin is great, but category support is hard to beat.

Score:

• SPB News [1]
• GoNews Touch [2]

Category:  User Interface (UI)

Sub-Category One:  Aesthetics

SPB News UI

GoNews Touch UI

Honestly, I’m big on aesthetics.  Being a visual arts teacher by day, I’ve got to really pick on this one.  For starters, both SPB News and GoNews Touch pull their coloring from the Today theme.  Nice, really, really nice, on both parts.  I like my user experience to be unified as I move from program to program.  The repeating color scheme helps to achive this.  Next, I’ve got to say that I love the clean appearance of SPB News.  There are no need for icons in the display, with the controls remaining in the standard Windows Mobile menus.  GoNews Touch has went for a more finger friendly approach here, opting to have the controls at the bottom displayed in large icons.  The problem I’m running into here, is that the icons just don’t seem to flow visually for me.

Score:

• SPB News [2]
• GoNews Touch [1]

Sub-Category Two:  Finger / Touch Support

Aside from the functionality of supplying the user with RSS feeds, the fact that each of these programs is “finger friendly” or “touch friendly” is largely touted by each developer.  Up front, both scroll the channels list easily with a quick swipe of the finger.  The channel names and article names are large enough to easily tap on.  Switching from article to article is also finger friendly in both of the programs, with horizontal swipes from left to right and right to left taking you from story to story.  Up to this point, it’s largely a tie, however let’s flash back to the icons in GoNews Touch.  Although I don’t like the actual icons that they used, the fact that SBSH has attempted to make all aspects of the interface touch friendly, is the tie breaker.

Score:

• SPB News [1]
• GoNews Touch [2]

Sub-Category Three:  Hardware Key Support

Let’s face it… not every user wants to have fingerprints all over the screen of their phone.  Sure, the simple alternative is to use the stylus, but what about the times when you want to use the hardware keys on the device.  The five way navigator, or D-Pad, allows for quick navigation of feeds and channels in each SPB News and GoNews Touch in every aspect, except for one.  While in SPB News the user can easily switch from feed to feed using the left and right keys of the D-Pad, however in GoNews Touch, the left and right keys don’t do anything.  You’re stuck using the stylus of your finger to swipe horizontally from left to right or right to left to switch articles.  I’ve got to side with SPB News here for including support for my Hermes’ D-Pad.

Score:

• SPB News [2]
• GoNews Touch [1]

Conclusion:

Well guys and gals, totaling up the scores that SPB News and GoNews Touch received, I was a bit surprised.  It appears that we’ve got a tie in the overall scoring, 15 to 15!  Each program does a a flawless job with the primary job of downloading and displaying RSS feeds.  It’s the little things that are likely going to sway you between the two… things like Google Reader support or a Today plugin, hardware key support or a preference in aesthetics.  Ultimately, I’ve got to recommend that you give each one of them a try!

You can download a trial of GoNews Touch 1.1 from SBSH here.  You can register the full version for $14.95.

You can download a trial of SPB News 2 from SPB Software here.  You can register the full version for $19.95.

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