Are you a self-proclaimed news junkie but find yourself sometimes bored with your RSS feed or the other traditional news site apps? If you’re shaking your head yes right now, then maybe it’s time to try something different. Maybe it’s time to start “Fludding”. The Flud app for Android is a unique social news reader with a beautifully designed user interface. Unlike other similar apps in the same niche, Flud doesn’t just rely on Facebook and Twitter to build your social network, but allows you to create your own profile and gain followers that also have the same passion for news. You might already be familiar with the app, as they launched on the Android platform back in August only to pull it after a month due to various bugs. Flud claims to have resolved their growing pains after working closely with Google to re-launch the app. As a news addict myself I thought it was worth giving Flud for Android a second look.
Pros:
- Gorgeous interface, large photos, minimal distractions
- Find Fluders who share your interests in news, blogs, and topics
- Flud articles you love and share them with your followers
- See what your followers are reading with the Activity Feed
- Access your Reading List wherever you are, no Internet required
- Easily add, reorder, or remove feeds
- Connect to Google Reader, Twitter, and Facebook
- Create a Reading List of headlines that look interesting to you
- Play video, view images, read stories
- Discover new blogs, websites, and topics
- Browse niche blogs
Cons:
- Currently no official support for Android tablets
- Hard to find real-life friends on the Flud network
How it works:
After a quick and easy download Flud will prompt you to create an account with your email and username and password. After you create your user account you can begin to build your Flud personality by selecting your news sources. Flud provides suggested news sources with easy to follow buttons or gives you the option to manually search sources by name, URL, or topic. Underneath the search option you can browse by category, add social sources, integrate your Google Reader, and manage your sources.
Once you have successfully selected all of the news sources that you want to follow Flud prompts you to add your friends on either Facebook or Twitter. I wish there additional sharing options integrated into the app, but it’s a good start with Facebook and Twitter. Now that you have your Flud personality created and hopefully some real-life friends to share with you can start enjoying the app.
Flud has done an exceptional job at designing this app. News categories appear in columns and you can swipe right or left to view different sections, or you can swipe up or down on a category column to see individual news posts. The interface is minimalist with large graphics, which makes this app easy on the eyes and a pleasure to navigate through.
The news posts themselves have a clear title, one large image, and text . You have the option to view the article in either a text view or the web view. If you want to share the story you can tap on the Facebook, Twitter, or ‘Flud” it with the heart icon. To access additional share options tap on the icon in the right hand corner to either copy, email, sms, read it later, or share on Tumblr.
Once you become acquainted with Flud you can start to build your own network of Flud followers. In this aspect the app works just like you would expect any social network. In order to gain friends you have to start following people and hope they’ll follow you back. Anyone you decide to follow will allow you to see anything they “Flud” or add to their reading list in your own activity feed. This is great way to discover new blogs, articles, and topics that you might not have found on your own.
Conclusion:
Undoubtedly, Flud is beautifully designed with its sleek user interface and aesthetically pleasing layout. Flud creatively combines your love for news with a social aspect that allows you to discover and share stories with your own Flud network. The Android app has improved drastically since I first downloaded it back in August and I didn’t run into any major bugs on my device. I hope to see a fully optimized tablet app launched in the future, as I enjoy reading my blogs on my tablet versus the smaller screen of my smartphone. I’m still waiting for my real-life friends to catch on to the Flud app, but for now I am having fun following and being followed by a bunch of like-minded strangers. The app is absolutely worth the download and even worth telling your friends.
Flud is available for free in the Google Play Market. Requires Android 2.1 and higher.
Play LinkThis is part of our Android App of the Day series. We take our favorite app for Android for each day and post it here for you to check out. Feel free to check out all of our App of the Day posts here.
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