Drippler is a Gorgeous Stream of Android News

Given the name of our site, it wouldn’t be a huge stretch to assume that we are big Android app addicts, would it? As such, we spend most of our day searching the Play Store and other app recommendation sites like Playboard, trying new apps and writing about them. However, with over one million apps available for Android, and developers getting better at designing beautiful apps and tailoring them for phones and tablets, it has become almost impossible to keep up with the flood of great content.

That’s where Drippler steps in, curating news — and more specifically app and game news — from various sites like ours to help you stay updated on the latest and greatest software to hit the Android platform. But does it live up to its promise?

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Open the Faucet

The moment you open Drippler, you are asked to login with your Facebook account in order to Like articles and keep track of all your starred ones. However, this is not an essential step and you can simply skip it without providing any login information. On the second step, Drippler analyzes your device to find out its model, Android version and operator, which it uses to specifically tailor the content it displays. It also asks you whether or not you’re interested in receiving game news and that’s all there is to the app’s setup.

Drippler’s setup involves optional Facebook sign in and automatic device detection

You can still change these preferences later on, as well as adjust notifications and manually set your device in case the automatic detection failed.

Clean Cascading Cards

The main Drippler page is a cascading stream of article cards that are both beautiful to look at and functional. The article’s photo is the main attraction here, but you can still find the title, source, published date and a dotted option menu that carries a slick flipping animation when clicked. Once the title flips, you can favorite the article, like it on Facebook, share it, and instantly download the apps or games linked inside it. It’s simple, efficient, and the best way to mix full articles with an app curation service in one.

Beautiful news stream with quick article options (left) and customizable content and sorting (right)

Catch the Drops

Once you click on an article, you are presented with the main image along with the title. Flick upward and you’ll see the title and the article’s text smoothly slide on top of the image in a beautiful transition. Swipe sideways to switch to other articles, click Read Source to open the full article in your browser, or check the bottom bar for a list of all the apps and games mentioned in each specific article. Play Store links and ratings are immediately visible, making it very easy to check and install the recommended apps.

Drippler’s articles are easy to read and offer useful Play Store ratings and links

Leaking Drip

Despite being smitten by the app and the service, I have found three issues with Drippler:

There is no Google+ sign in, which would be a welcome alternative to the Facebook login in order to sync your starred articles between devices.
Every now and then, an article will pop up that isn’t necessarily tailored or relevant to your phone or tablet. Those instances are rare, but they are understandable given that Drippler curates different sites that cater to a multitude of Android devices.
Drippler seems to use RSS to display its content, but some sources only offer a truncated RSS feed forcing you to go to the website to read the rest of the article. It would be cool if Drippler’s team made deals with these sources to provide the full content inside the app.

Gorgeous Android News Stream

Between the animations, the clean interface, the handy app ratings and links, Drippler provides one of the most beautiful Android news and apps resources on Android. If you’re looking to get the latest and hottest Android apps, or if you simply want to read curated content from the best Android sites, no other option is as efficient — short of managing your own RSS subscription — or as enjoyable.

Even as someone whose job is to produce this type of content, instead of consuming it, I see the value of Drippler and will be keeping it on my devices from now on.

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