I returned yesterday from a 12 day vacation where I used the iPad exclusively.
There are several really, really frustrating missing features in the iPad app that I wanted to take the opportunity to complain about.
Saved stories cannot be tagged.
This means that I have to go back to all the stories I saved on vacation and retag them in the desktop app.
The saved stories view cannot be put in “newest first” mode.
I have 7000 saved stories so finding the-one-I-just-saved is, essentially, impossible.
There is no “read stories” view (see item 2).
If you hold down a link inside the text of an entry for too long, Newsblur freezes hard. (I am not on iOS 8 yet, by the way).
Newsblur will occasionally crash … usually just after the item I am reading has gone “read” but before I have actually read the item (see item 3).
That’s enough for now, but here is the fundamental question … why is the iPad version so seriously crippled compared to even the the Android app? If it’s limitations on the iOS platform, then OK, but really?
Hah, that’s the first I’ve heard that the iPad app is crippled compared to the Android app. The crash is something I’m fixing for the next release. The other features are on their way. I gauge interest in getting things like read stories view and saved story tagging based on feature requests here. I’ve got a lot of other features that I’m working on, so stay tuned.
Well, perhaps my view of the Android is jaded because I haven’t used it in some time. Maybe I remember it more fondly than it deserved. I recall the Android was more capable than the iPad when I was using both regularly. The age of my old Android version (2.x on an HTC1) and the activities of the NSA, have caused me to leave the smartphone on my desk (with the battery removed) for some time now …
It’s good to hear iPad will get better, but now I have to get back to retagging those saved stories.
Good news, #2, #3, and #4 are already fixed in the code. These should be going out within the next month. I’ll work on #1 and #5 shouldn’t be happening, so I would create a new ticket for it and see if you can reliably reproduce it.
#5 - I wish I could give you a consistent replication scenario, but there isn’t one. Often, the crashes will occur when wi-fi signals are spotty … hotels. The failure is pretty benign. The post that has just come up or is coming up at the time of the crash gets marked as read and the app works fine when restarted.
I am sure all the details are reported to Cupertino along with my keystroke log and my reading history (by iOS), but of course no errors or logs are visible to me. It’s great news that the iPad app is getting better. Thanks.