The HTC One and BlinkFeed

So I've had my HTC One since April 16th, so I've had a good amount of time to play around with the device  and know the device well enough to give my impression of it. What the device does well or doesn't do well is what I'll be sharing. So instead of clumping together everything into one post, I want to take the time to really get deep into the core of each aspect of the phone. I'll be starting with the areas HTC chose to highlight about the device: BlinkFeed, Design, Ultrapixel Camera, BoomSound, Sense 5, and the IRBlaster/Sense TV.

In the this post I'll go over BlinkFeed in all of it's eloquent glory and give my impressions of it. First off a youtube video where HTC showcases BlinkFeed just to give a quick idea of what BlinkFeed is in case you don't know yet.

The idea behind BlinkFeed is a good idea, and the design of it is crisp, smooth, and beautiful. The problem that I have with BlinkFeed is I like to sift through my information in a Google Reader approach. This means having the ability to mark stuff as already viewed, and to view EVERYTHING in chronological order. It does a really good job of almost being a replacement to Google Reader (and I need one fast since the service is closing soon. Why GOOGLE WHY!?!). I'm hoping that HTC stays committed to BlinkFeed since it has a lot going for it.

I love that if you tap on the notification bar it will bring you to the top of BlinkFeed. This also works in the app drawer of Sense 5. Pretty nifty feature. I wish though that I could get rid of the weather portion of BlinkFeed if I so chose to do so. Same way I would like the app drawer to be a little larger grid and to get rid of the permanent weather widget. The transfer animations are smooth though and despite some features missing that I would like. I find myself using BlinkFeed more than I anticipated.

BlinkFeed: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ (8 of 10)