Google Currents

Google Currents Review

by on April 30, 2012

There’s two schools of thought when it comes to apps that make websites into digital magazines. The first is that this is the future of the web. Taking information a website and making into an easy to read format such as a magazine means that the content gets read, regardless if it’s on your website or not. The other school of thought is that if your eyes aren’t on the actual website, then advertisers are cut out so you are essentially offering your content away for free.

So it’s interesting that the beating heart of the internet, Google, has created its own magazine app which does away with website and takes the information and puts into a nice magazine style format.

Design wise it works to an extent. The app looks lovely when you first load it up – you do need to sync your Google account with it but this is what you have to do with all Google apps.

There’s a number of sites already pre-loaded into Currents. The Guardian, the NME, Shortlist, the Independent and The Sun are all on the front page but there’s hundreds more in the library.

Click on one of the icons and what you instantly get is a load of stories you can browse. Click into these and the content is spread on to a double-page spread.

We found that the app worked best on a tablet. We used a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the extra space is great. Leave the app open and you will continually get a load of images coming up on the left-hand side of the page. This keeps the app fresh.

We did think that the layout of the pages could be better and apps like Pulse do a better job of making websites look fresh and original but as a first attempt it’s a good try.

Buy this app: Download Google Currents now

Best Android Apps |
Best Android Apps: Free | Best Android phones