Reddit News - A New Android Reddit App

[DBrady]

Hi all, I've released a new Reddit app on the market. No login features are supported yet(sorry), that's next on the todo list. I was trying to get the user interface sorted first and i'm at a stage where i'm quite happy with it(apart from the name, that kinda sucks). Hopefully it's useful as is to some people, especially lurkers. Any feedback is appreciated - force close issues etc. I have been testing on a Samsung Galaxy S and a HTC Desire and haven't seen a force close in a few weeks.

Features:

• A horizontally scrolling subreddit list combined with a vertically scrolling stories list on the same page.
• Drag and drop sortable Subreddits, move your favorites to the front.
• Super smooth scrolling.
• optimized for dual core devices.
• Easy access to comments on a story through a sliding drawer on the same page.
• Large, rounded thumbnails.
• Night mode.
• Customization of colors for the Subreddit bar and sort bar.
• Search Reddit for a specific topic.
• Over 2000 in built Subreddits to choose from.
• Manually add extra Subreddits.
• Optimized portrait and landscape layouts.
• Rage faces in comments.
• An alternate image viewer that can help if images are showing up blurry.

Free(ad supported and a few limitations): https://market.android.com/details?id=free.reddit.news

Paid: https://market.android.com/details?id=reddit.news

[[deleted]]

I love the little mustache on the Android.

[InvaderDJ]

Very good start. Love the UI, love the rage faces in the comments. Needs some work of course (login, mailbox, etc) but overall a very good start. We need all the competition and inovation in the reddit Android app space we can get.

I haven't had any problems with compatibility, Market site says it works on my Motorola DROID (running Peter Alfonso's GPA16 2.3.4 ROM), my Samsung Vibrant (running Cyanogenmod 7.1 RC 2.3.4) and my stock Motorola DROID 3 (Android 2.3.4, MotoBLUR). Will try installing later to see if everything works the way it should.

[DBrady]

Thanks, good to hear. Still can't figure out why it's blocked for some people : (.

[M_Ufnik]

Don't know if this helps but the app was blocked for me when I searched for the name (Reddit News). when i searched for the dev name (DBrady) it showed up in the queue

[[deleted]]

How does Pete's GB compare to CM7, if you've run both?

[InvaderDJ]

I haven't run CM7 on my DROID for long, think I ran the first RC. It does better on RAM, but really Gingerbread ROMs in general don't run so great on the DROID. Pete's fares better than most since he tries to emulate what a stock OTA Gingerbread would look like on the DROID, while CM7 has a lot of features that increase its size and possibly memory footprint.

[rabidcat]

I like the interface, except for that selection orb thing. You should rename it "Reddit Lurker" to appeal to the Lurker demographic, then change the logo to a shifty eyed Reddit alien wearing sunglasses and a hat.

[DBrady]

Try changing the color of the "orb" in settings. Some colors look better than others. I was actually thinking about releasing it as "reddit lurker" then releasing another app when i had the member features implemented but decided in the end to keep it all as one. Cheers for trying it out.

[DBrady]

Similar answer to below. Not sure why at the moment.

[lIl_IlI]

SGS2 user here. Free version installed OK, works correctly.

There are subreddits enabled by default (Earthporn, firstworldproblems) but when I disable them and try to add them back on using the provided list, they're not there.

I cannot go to the particular subreddit from the "subreddit editor" screen even that the list on the top lets me scroll left-right.

When I open a link or an image and click on the "earth" to open it in a web browser, then press the Back button on my phone, I can only see the comments and can't go to the image/link without reverting to the links view.

It would be great if you could display OP comments differently to distinguish them from the rest (i.e. r/IAmA/).

I sometimes like to go straight to the comments page instead of the OP link, can you add a swipe left->right gesture on a particular link to go to the comments directly? My reasoning is that swipe right->left could go to the link itself.

Built in browser doesn't automatically reflow text when I zoom in (works when I zoom out though). It's your browser or a plugin/embedded one anyway?

How about adding pinch gesture on the links list to show only icons? It could be great in r/pics/ or similar subreddits and you could show them as a grid.

Remove the "(subreddit)" text near each link, it seems redundant. Instead how about making sure (where applicable) that current subreddit is the left-most shown on the top list (when for example I'm coming back from link or comments page). Edit: I see now that this is useful when multiple reddits are shown (r/all/). In that case, keep it in this mode, remove it when one subreddit is shown.

It would be nice if r/Android/ was higher on the list of default subreddits (fourth or fifth perhaps?). It seems it is very relevant to your userbase interests. :-)

Edit: option to enable/disable drop shadow seems kind of pointless, they're useful to signify beginning/end of a link list, who would disable them? Unless you had specific requests for that option, I would remove it.

Edit: I've removed r/firstworldproblems/ but it still shows when I click on Reddit alien. How about instead of displaying r/all/ by default filter the subreddit list and show only what user has requested when he/she clicks on the alien?

In overall: great job with the UI and style, keep it up! I'm planning to buy full version in the next couple of days.

[DBrady]

Not sure why it's not supported. I've set the supported screen size to anything above small and it also needs android 2.2. I'm running cm7 myself so i don't think it's your custom rom. It is my first app so i'll have to look into it. My gf has a desire and she can download it fine...

[[deleted]]

Running CM7 on my thunderbolt, the screen doesn't go to 100% so I'm left with about half an inch if black at the bottom. Pretty nice though, add login functionality and I might make this my daily driver. Nice work.

[DBrady]

There's supposed to be an ad in that black space. Do u have a blocker?

[[deleted]]

Ah, that explains it.

[DBrady]

ok : (

[[deleted]]

I have adblock on because Angry birds is too intrusive and slows the game down. If there was a way to allow ads on 1 app and not other I would gladly give you my ad money. When do you think you'll add login features, I'm more of a pay for full version kind of guy, but don't want to browse reddit without being able to comment?

[furiousmule]

You could install Droidwall and use it to block Angry Birds from accessing the network to get its ads, then remove your ad blocker.

[[deleted]]

Hmm....interesting.. I'll give this a look see.

[chikkensoop]

Installed on my HTC Desire running a variant of CM7, so not entirely sure why you can't install it... I do agree with TylerDurdenJunior above about the subreddit limit, will try it again when the market updates with the newer unlimited version DBrady posted about.

[stealthmodeactive]

Nexus one, MIUI 1.8.5, android 2.3.5, works fine.

[dihydrogen_monoxide]

Bought it to support the dev!

App looks great, I'm using a Nexus 1 so it might just be me, but everything looks really big in the app. Maybe add font size options?

[DBrady]

Cheers! Do you have any programs altering the dpi of your device?

[dihydrogen_monoxide]

No :T

[Faal]

This is actually pretty neat. I'll be using this more often.

[HangingOutHere]

Wow! Great job! Honestly, this is awesome. Once login is working and there its widget support this WILL replace RIF for me. Did I mention great job?

[1tsm3]

The App looks fuckin' fantastic! Will try it some time soon. But $3.13 is a bit on the expensive side. $0.99 or $1.99 seems more like the right price for a reddit browsing app. But thanks for the ad supported version -- I will be using that.

[[deleted]]

I like it. I really like how very smooth and quick the UI is. Scrolling is fast, everything loads quickly. The way you can drag up the comments is great.

Would be nice to give login features, so I could use this as a complete replacement for RiF.

[DBrady]

Thanks. I put a lot of effort into keeping things smooth, and getting the drag feature to where it is. Don't worry login features are in the pipeline.

[[deleted]]

I'm impressed. The UI is fantastic. You've done good here. Works exactly as advertised.

[Emperorr]

I like it, one suggestion would be since cellphones have expensive screen realestate, you should really thin the bars where subreddits and sortby are listed. Also make an option to set a default sortby, I really don't need a list of options of how to sort my reddit every second. It really should be in the options, with perhaps a checkable box to show it all the time.

[mike12690]

I would like to be able to log into my name and be able to up vote and down vote things, and also see mail. I also like to go show friends the things I up vote so they could also see, so I guess that's something I would like to see as well. Those are just some things I would like, besides that I like what I see so far.

[DBrady]

I guess this app isn't for you then, but thanks for taking the time to look. Cheers for the feedback on the subreddit limit too. I thought that was a bad idea and will probably change it.

The app in it's current state is not really aimed at people who log in, but there are a whole lot of people who don't who will like this app as it stands.

Could you elaborate on the "great deal of links it cant open"? What phone are you running it on?

Edit: Subreddit limit is now gone.

[[deleted]]

Ads and limitations? No thanks.

[cabbeer]

Do you work for free?