Google just released an update for Newsstand, Google's news and magazine reader app.
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| Newsstand in Google Play. |
Review Newsstand
For more information about Newsstand just check out my original review about it. Following up I will only point out the main changes / additions to the app.
Widget
Finally there is a widget available for Newsstand, which measures 4 x 3 by default.
Within the widget always one article will be shown at a time. Along with the title image, the title, author (including his portrait or logo) and the release time are shown. There is also a button to switch to the next article within the widget and taping the article will open it in the full app of course.
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| Newsstand (and Google Now) widget on my Desktop. |
Mini cards
The other noticeable addition is a setting called Mini cards. The effect of this is that the articles listed within the Read Now view will be reduced in size, so more articles can be shown on one page without scrolling. This will give a faster overview to speed picking what might interest you to read further.
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| Original size of articles in Read Now. |
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| Reduced view of Read Now to Mini cards with the option shown. |
I need to mention, that this Mini cards only work in portrait mode, not in landscape mode.
Conclusion
To me this is a very nice update as I like Widgets anyway (see my article on widgets) and the reduced size of the articles in Read Now view is very nice for getting a fast overview as well, especially on smartphones.
