News Republic App replacing Blinkfeed is awful

neo905

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HTC. What the hell are you doing? It was bad enough you replaced Sense TV with that bloated mess Peel Remote that pushes ads. Now you have replaced BlinkFeed with this awful bloated app that pushes even more ads and slows down the device and is a battery hog. After just 24 hours with it I uninstalled the News Republic app and had to disable Blinkfeed because it no longer works without News Republic. I blocked almost 5,000 ads in less than 24 hours? Really HTC? Really? HTC is just dying a slow death here making a quick buck and killing the user experience in the process.
 

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fernandezhjr

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How did the app get on your phone? Was it through an update or did you download it? I see it listed in the options of my blinkfeed, but it is not active because the app is not installed on my phone. I only use blinkfeed for Facebook and so far, it is still working for that.

632261482be8e446d40bd0a11e59cd8a.jpg
 

Fathertime

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If you don't download the update now it will make you revert to the new newsfeed in 30 days. We can't escape what they're doing.
 

neo905

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How did the app get on your phone? Was it through an update or did you download it? I see it listed in the options of my blinkfeed, but it is not active because the app is not installed on my phone. I only use blinkfeed for Facebook and so far, it is still working for that.

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It was part of the HTC Sense Home app update yesterday. We have no choice. Eventually it will switch over just like Sense TV to Peel Remote.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

fernandezhjr

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I have already installed that Sense Home update, which is why it is in the add content list on my phone. Apparently, if I want to show news content in blinkfeed on my phone, I would have to install the News Republic app and go through it. That is a bummer for those that want to show news content in blinkfeed, unless you happen to like News Republic. Fortunately for me, for those that only use it for apps, it won't be an issue. Facebook content is still updating in blinkfeed for me.
 

fernandezhjr

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What has changed in the latest HTC BlinkFeed?

HTC BlinkFeed has evolved into a service platform that can aggregate content partner services in one place. News Republic is our first featured partner. HTC BlinkFeed and News Republic are teaming up to bring you more news content.

As before, subscribed articles are shown as tiles on the HTC BlinkFeed screen. What's changed is that tapping a news tile launches the News Republic app where you can read the article and enjoy the app's features such as adjustable font size, night mode, and more.

Subscribed articles and their content come from the News Republic app.

Offline news reading is still supported. HTC Reading list has been removed.

You can still swipe left or right to see the next or previous article.

Tap the Back key at the bottom to return to the HTC BlinkFeed screen.
 

normsland

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What are HTC doing? Trying to get rid of anything good about Sense? Really though that's another USP (unique selling point) gone. First it was HTC TV remote which was really good, didn't slow down the phone, push ads or whatever now replaced with Peel which is rubbish. Now Blinkfeed... this really isn't good. What are they doing? I may as well get a Blackberry next time at least they have BlackBerry Hub which is pretty good for unified messaging. I liked Blinkfeed having FB, Twitter and news all in one pretty place. Oh well have to see how this pans out. But really not impressed with HTC on this one.
 
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Increasingly frustrating, HTC! Blinkfeed was an optimal info aggregator. Now, HTC has rendered it useless with its partner, News Republic. What a horrid experience. Sense is continually being dismantled by HTC. And that's their choice. However, expect growing blowback to an already failing company whose "winning strategies" are abysmal.
 

neo905

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What has changed in the latest HTC BlinkFeed?

HTC BlinkFeed has evolved into a service platform that can aggregate content partner services in one place. News Republic is our first featured partner. HTC BlinkFeed and News Republic are teaming up to bring you more news content.

As before, subscribed articles are shown as tiles on the HTC BlinkFeed screen. What's changed is that tapping a news tile launches the News Republic app where you can read the article and enjoy the app's features such as adjustable font size, night mode, and more.

Subscribed articles and their content come from the News Republic app.

Offline news reading is still supported. HTC Reading list has been removed.

You can still swipe left or right to see the next or previous article.

Tap the Back key at the bottom to return to the HTC BlinkFeed screen.

Is this your opinion or an infomercial? Did you not see my first post? 5,000 ads blocked and over 144mb of ads data. That's not cool at all. It is a battery hog and takes way too long to load now because it has to open the News Republic App. I also don't particularly like the feed itself compared to Blinkfeed. This is just a cash grab plain and simple.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

fernandezhjr

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Is this your opinion or an infomercial? Did you not see my first post? 5,000 ads blocked and over 144mb of ads data. That's not cool at all. It is a battery hog and takes way too long to load now because it has to open the News Republic App. I also don't particularly like the feed itself compared to Blinkfeed. This is just a cash grab plain and simple.

Posted via the Android Central App
It is a cut and paste from the HTC website. Posted as info about the change. I set up blinkfeed in such a manner that I do not get ads. And I still do not today after the change, but like I have stated, I do not use it for news.
 

fernandezhjr

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I guess one could always go thru a web browser to get their news. I'm sure there are no ads thru it or maybe, some news apps in the Play Store.
 

neo905

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I guess one could always go thru a web browser to get their news. I'm sure there are no ads thru it or maybe, some news apps in the Play Store.

The funny thing is that News Republic actually has 3 or 4 times more ads than browsing on Chrome the equivalent amount of time. It has more ads than any other app or google service on my phone. That's how bad it is. You have to pay a yearly fee to remove it. I agree that their are more sources. I also liked that it read the articles. But the read later feature was removed. It's slow. It's just one step forward and two steps back in terms of the overall experience. I read that HTC is removing software that is redundant that google already has an app for or someone already does better. They also had to pay a fee to rights holders for all that Blinkfeed content so they save money. They want to focus their resources more on the hardware. I am not sure about this. If this means that they are working on the best camera software and hardware in the industry it will be more palatable. However, they have some apps I actually prefer to use that I find lacking in Google. HTC mail is way better at office365 exchange for work email than Gmail for example. What I fear is they will spend another 500 hours machine polishing a metal phone which nobody cared about but they bragged about. They need a better overall hardware design not manufacturing refinement.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

fernandezhjr

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The funny thing is that News Republic actually has 3 or 4 times more ads than browsing on Chrome the equivalent amount of time. It has more ads than any other app or google service on my phone. That's how bad it is. You have to pay a yearly fee to remove it. I agree that their are more sources. I also liked that it read the articles. But the read later feature was removed. It's slow. It's just one step forward and two steps back in terms of the overall experience. I read that HTC is removing software that is redundant that google already has an app for or someone already does better. They also had to pay a fee to rights holders for all that Blinkfeed content so they save money. They want to focus their resources more on the hardware. I am not sure about this. If this means that they are working on the best camera software and hardware in the industry it will be more palatable. However, they have some apps I actually prefer to use that I find lacking in Google. HTC mail is way better at office365 exchange for work email than Gmail for example. What I fear is they will spend another 500 hours machine polishing a metal phone which nobody cared about but they bragged about. They need a better overall hardware design not manufacturing refinement.

Posted via the Android Central App

I was referring more to some of the third party browsers that are offered in the Play Store that claim to have add blockers. News source apps tend to have a banner at the bottom that is not too intrusive. If you want add free, having to pay for that is pretty much the norm. I think the feasibility for any manufacturer to provide is going out the window. I haven't tried News Republic and don't plan on it, especially with it getting mostly negative feedback.
 

idon12no

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I agree that blinkfeed was smoother before, and I enjoyed choosing the individual sources, but I'm not seeing the 5,000 ads. Unless you're counting some of the content providers as ads.
 

neo905

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I agree that blinkfeed was smoother before, and I enjoyed choosing the individual sources, but I'm not seeing the 5,000 ads. Unless you're counting some of the content providers as ads.

Again. Look at the original post. I installed Adguard on my phone. I know the data traffic of every app on my device and have the ability to block ads from any app on my phone. I blocked 144MB of ad traffic and 5,000 individual ads in less than 24 hours of using News Republic. Much of the ads from apps are subtle but it slows down your phone, kills your battery and if you are on limited data plans eats that quietly.
 

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