Software company Smaato and mobile media types Handmark have pressed the flesh, slapped some backs and delivered mutual high-fives as the two companies announce a strategic partnership to distribute Smaato News.
Smaato News is a RSS reader for smartphones that lets users read RSS feeds of their favourite Websites and blogs and get other information on the move.
Currently available for Palm OS, Windows Mobile Pocket PC and Symbian S60 devices, the program comes with a collection of re-defined RSS feeds to get users started, and there’s the option to add custom feeds.
The program can also provide various services like weather forecasts and allows users to share their feeds with friends via SMS or email.
Feeds can be synchronised via a desktop connection (Palm OS and Windows Mobile only) or over the air via a mobile Internet connection.
Although the application is free, the program is supported by adverts which appear on the top section of the screen (“if you see something interesting, don’t hesitate to click,” implores their manual, rather optimistically).
The program can be downloaded from Smaato’s Website, although users may baulk at the amount of space the application takes up: a beefy 640k for the Palm and a positive pie-scoffing 1.80 meg for Windows Mobile.
We couldn’t find an option to save the downloaded RSS feeds to the memory card, so this isn’t a machine for users running smartphones that are already stuffed full of programs.
Funnily enough, we were half way through writing a review of some Palm OS RSS readers and without giving too much away, we’d suggest you wait for our review to go up before installing the Smaato app.
Availability:
Palm OS Smartphones (e.g. Treo 650)
Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition (e.g. Treo 750; O2 XDA)
Symbian S60 (e.g. Nokia N70)