BaconReader is a new reddit app for Google Android which lets you read the latest headlines and comments, open links to web pages, videos, and pictures, and upvote or downvote stories or comments. You can also share or save stories, post replies, or submit your own links.
The developer released a public alpha version of BaconReader this weekend and while it seems a little rough around the edges, it’s already probably the best mobile app around for reddit.
Once you login with your reddit credentials, BaconReader will present you with the top stories from reddit.com. You can click the button marked “front page” to view the top subreddits as well as any you’ve added to your front page. So just by adding reddit.com/r/android to my front page using a web browser, it automatically shows up in the list of subreddits in BaconReader.
Unfortunately things got a bit complicated before I figured this out. I tried viewing the subreddit settings in the app and adding a custom Android category. The app crashed repeatedly and added a few dozen listings labeled “android” until I cleared all data and logged in again.
One feature that’s pretty nifty, but not necessarily intuitive is the ability to swipe across any story from left to right to bring up a menu letting you vote the story up or down, view comments, or open the story.
When viewing any story you can find a summary at the top of the screen, the number of votes, and links to vote a story up or down yourself. There are also icons for saving or sharing the story, or previewing the content without opening a web browser. You can hit the “Go” button to open a link in a browser. Video content can also be opened using your phone’s YouTube app.
Below this toolbar you’ll find comments. You can swipe to vote any comment up or down, or reply to the comment.
Aside from the occasional crash or subreddit mess, the app has a few quirks. For instance, there’s an icon at the top of every page for submitting a new link or story. But you can only actually press that button when you’re on the front page or at the starting page for a subreddit. You can’t submit a story when you’re reading another story.
There’s also no integration with Google Android’s default sharing menu at the moment, so if you’re viewing an article in your web browser that you’d like to share with the reddit community, you’ll have to copy the URL and paste it manually into the baconreader app.
BaconReader is still in the alpha testing stage, so hopefully some of these quirks will be addressed over time.
