I don’t remember when exactly the first time I installed Pocket on my device. What I remember that the app got a nice-looking icon and provocating name. What’s this app used for? Why was it name ‘Pocket’? — a bit of searching, I got a glimpse.
It’s just a service to bookmark links, like your browser’s. Duh.
Skeptical, but I still decided to try it. It got a nice icon, after all.
It worked well, smooth, even on a low-class HTC Desire phone. Walking through its preferences, changing the theme to a dark one, then I started to save a link into it (from a desktop browser, it’s so hard to browse on such a small screen-sized phone). Pocket synced it on push moment, then I opened it. Instead of a full, bloated website that I saw on the desktop before, I got presented by some neat paragraphs (which is the main content). No sidebar, logo, ads, or other web elements inside. Just plain text and some images along with it. I liked it.
Years after that first encounter, I still have this app sitting on my phone (and tablet if I could have one). Almost daily usage and almost no complaints. Maybe because Pocket,
Has smart article view
No matter how my saved websites are designed, Pocket never fails to pin down the main content, format it a bit, then present it to me. It knows where the content should be and also includes other related elements like images. It also deals well with huge, long code snippets, and that’s very important to me.
Does caching to my contents
I always read my Pocket when commuting. It works well under the hair-pulling 3G network. Even better, I can open it before using WiFi to let it downloads and cache the contents.
Designs it well
Pocket app is straightforward to use. Clean and neat, focus on the saved contents. No folder, but it has tags feature to let me organize a bit. I can navigate between List and Archive quickly or browse them by tag. It also highlights the contents based on how long it takes to read or by topic.
Keeps innovating
Pocket then introduced a new feature called Recommendations. Basically, this feature will give me some interesting articles to read. Most of the time, they hit me right on the mark. It’s not blindly spooning too, they let me give feedback whether an article is a hit or not.
Update: this feature got replaced by another one, where we can see what our following shared.
Offers most of its killer features for free
Straight from the first usage, Pocket presents me with all of these features without trial, credit card, or annoying popup. It has premium features through a subscription model, but they’re just lovely things to have. This is where I say they do it right. It seems that they focus more on getting a user base instead of some pennies, which is essential to help improve their features.
Needless to say, Pocket will always be my first install every time I get a new phone or tablet. Pocket is my favorite service.
