March 01, 2013

GreenSpot Review

Even though I've had both my iPhone and my iPad for a while, I'm not a fast iTypist. If I'm at a cafe waiting to meet a friend or looking for something to read while I'm at the airport, I usually spend more time trying to search for articles that I'm interested in reading on Google than I do actually reading. When I heard about GreenSpot, an app devoted to green news, I was excited to give it a try, hoping that it would connect me with stories that matter to me much more quickly.

The Basics

- Available for any iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad with iOS 2.0 or later, not available for Android phones

- Available in two versions: a free version with advertisements posted at the bottom and an ad-free version that is currently $1.99 on the App store

- Only supports English language

The Features

- Repository of recent news articles broken into categories

- Contains information about green architecture, design and new science and technology

- Sections devoted to business and investing, health and home and food and agriculture

- Issue-specific sections with news related to climate change, energy and transportation

- Links to green podcasts

The Takeaway

I spent about an hour browsing through the articles on GreenSpot. The app directs you to reputable news outlets, blogs and organizations, so the content is of good quality. The layout is very user-friendly and easy to use as well, but there is a major problem with the app--the news items were very outdated and old.

Some of the articles were interesting despite their age, but the app definitely didn’t deliver the latest and greatest of what's out there in sustainable news. I did a quick search for the developer Martian Technology, LLC, and wasn't able to find a website for them. My suspicion is that this app is no longer being updated or supported, so it's more like you're reading about recent history.

If you decide that you want to check out GreenSpot, I'd recommend that you go with the Lite version as the news you'll find in the app is not timely enough to be worth paying for.