Time went by but this app remains. It is still one of my favorite apps that I use at a daily base. As it got a major layout rework I wanted to show it off again.
A few weeks ago BeyondPod got a complete design rework. Not only the look is fresher now, also the navigation, controls and handling in general is more intuitive and fitting to the new Android Material Design.
What to Play
You can simply start to play an entry here or add it to a playlist.
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| What to Play |
Episodes already played or at least partially played are shown here as well but a bit grayed out and with an progress bar, showing how much of this episode has been played already.
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| Recently played |
Taping on an entry will enlarge it and show more information.
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| Details about an entry |
Playlist
Here you can rearrange the order of the titles you want to consume them in, see how much time is left on each of them or even remove them.
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| Playlist |
My Feeds
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| Subscriptions |
At the bottom of the list there are settings and other options to organize your feeds into categories, add new feeds and more.
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| Settings |
There are tons of settings which I will not cover here in detail. Just let me say that I set it up to download the latest episodes of my subscribed podcasts every night and only when connected to a WiFi network. Also I set it up that only a specific amount of episodes is stored, older episodes will be replaced by newer.
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| Adding new feeds with lots of suggestions or by URL. |
Player
Swiping up from the bottom or just pressing on the small player preview in the "What to Play" screen will open the player itself.
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| Player |
Beside the usual features for play, pause, fast forward, fast backward, skip and progress indicator within the current episode, there are a few more interesting features.
The little car symbol will open a car view with larger controls to make it easier to find the right button.
Warning!
In my opinion it's still not so great, in fact dangerous, to use a touchscreen while driving as you can't feel the buttons, you need to see them. So be careful when you do so (or better don't do so)!
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| Car controls |
Then next to the car symbol there is a Sleep Timer, allowing to set a automatic stop after the current episode, a specific amount of time or to disable the sleep timer.
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| Sleep Timer |
Last but not least, there is a control for the Playback Speed. This might sound a bit strange at first but when your listening to lot's of news and tech podcasts for example, it has it's benefit.
Actually the human can take and process information a lot faster than you can speak. It's the same mechanic as with speedreading and as the podcasts are recorded you can play them at a higher speed as they have been recorded with in the first place. BeyondPod allows to customize this setting for the player in general but also to set individual values for each episode you listen to.
Actually the human can take and process information a lot faster than you can speak. It's the same mechanic as with speedreading and as the podcasts are recorded you can play them at a higher speed as they have been recorded with in the first place. BeyondPod allows to customize this setting for the player in general but also to set individual values for each episode you listen to.
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| Playback Speed |
In my case, I listen to most podcasts in 1.5 speed which allows me to listen to more podcast content in shorter time. But I have one podcast (a very short one with a already fast speaking comedian) that I listen to in normal speed (1.0).
Once you got used to a bit faster speed on specific podcasts it will sound strange when you hear them in normal speed again ;-)
Once you got used to a bit faster speed on specific podcasts it will sound strange when you hear them in normal speed again ;-)
Conclusion
One year after my initial post about that app and about two years since I started to use it on a regular base have been past. Still, this is one of my most used apps at all. I use it about every day, mostly while I commute to keep myself up-to-date with the most recent and relevant topics in tech and world in general.
I don't want to miss it and the new layout and concept of usage is great, makes it even easier and more intuitive to use it.
For sure, if I had to restrict myself to 10 apps to use at my smartphone, this would be one of them.
