The news department has been heating up a bit as of late. Apple included its own news app in iOS 9, and FlipBoard has been improving their own service, not to mention all the Material Design overhauls. Now we have come across something called “Glean”, which is another newsstand-style app. I was initially rather dubious at how Glean can compete against the bigger services, but as soon as I opened up the app up, my view on that changed completely.
Setup
Although the setup can take some time, it’s a necessity as the app wants to deliver relevant news and topics of interest to you. You begin by signing in, either creating an account or with an existing Google or Facebook account. I chose the Google account, and then was greeted by an interesting screen that allowed me to choose my topics of interest. I am not lying when I say that the list is vast and full of subjects, and there is guaranteed to be something that you can think of.
Once you’ve selected your topics, you go straight into the news area. There aren’t much options setting wise, you can only read the Privacy T&C’s and log out of your account.
Features
The function of Glean is to obviously provide news that is of interest to you. Like the competitors, you can browse a large amount of any topics pulled from the web, along with some neat options like bookmarking articles, changing text size and sharing to your various social media accounts.
Glean is packed with these features. It offers most of the things that its competitors do, but unfortunately doesn’t seem to offer anything unique against the competition. Glean does, however, do the job well and at no point was I disappointed at what it had. This is made even better by the Material Design that the developers have incorporated into Glean to create an aesthetically pleasing experience.
Is it for me?
As Glean is a bit late on the scene, it is likely you already have a dedicated app for news topics. Regardless, Glean is something you should still try out and perhaps replace your existing app.
What we liked
- The incorporated material design
- Packed full of features
- Customization of topics
- No adverts
And not so much…
- Not much options for the app in the settings
Glean certainly has the potential to fill the market with its great service. With a decent mobile app, features and service, we can expect to see more people take it on as their main source of news.
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