Jackpot. Of everything I do on the Internet, by far the site I use the most is Google Reader. This is where all of my information, updates, and general entertainment filters through first nowadays. The problem with this dependency was that Google Reader was cumbersome, boarding on unusable on mobile devices – including the iPhone. The buttons were too small, there was too much data on the page, and even after Google came up with an iPhone redesign a couple months ago, I noted that while improved, it was far from great – now it’s great.

Thanks to the good old Google 20% time (in my opinion one of the greatest corporate ideas ever) a few Googlers got together and made a Google Reader app that was worthy of the iPhone. Gone is the link-centric, block-heavy UI; in its place is a smart, lean Google Reader app. You now have easy access to ‘All items’, ‘Feeds’, and ‘Tags’ via a 3-button menu at the top of the page. The best part, and what really makes this app, is that in the ‘Feeds’ and ‘Tags’ area, subscriptions with unread items are bolded and the number of unreads is posted next to the feed. Thank you Google.

The management is key here. One of the things that makes Google Reader so great is the way that it can easily break down thousands of stories into easy-to-digest units based on what you haven’t read yet – Google Reader for iPhone now has this ability as well.

I would still like to see a bit more prominent way to star and share stories (and a way to do so without having to click in to the story – for those of us who star things to read later). Plus there should be an easier way of going back to a specific feed from a story you click on within that feed (the back button works, but if you say star a story, you have to click back twice – why not just have a ‘back to ____ feed’ link?).

I probably already use my iPhone way too much, but now I’m going to be using it a whole lot more.

(also be sure to read about how you can use Google Reader to now make a dynamic blog roll based on what you are actually reading. Steve Lacey, one of the developers behind this great idea has an example on his personal blog.)