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Or8 Peoples
I have a couple of niggles with Blinkfeed that I just can't figure out. I'm in the UK and I have it set up for UK sources. I have also chose football as a topic but not under US sports, so why do I still see the odd post about American Football? Is there something I can do or is it just a problem with Blinkfeed?
My second issue is that I keep seeing the awful blue boxes with tips, on highlights I see it yet I have topics selected ... How can I stop them from showing? They are usually about getting started and selecting topics and services, even when I already have
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks
EDIT: Anybody know which png is responsible for the background of widgets on Sense and where it is located? I'm looking to make the background transparent for the HTCMusic widget.
AllAboutTheCore said:
Or8 Peoples
I have a couple of niggles with Blinkfeed that I just can't figure out. I'm in the UK and I have it set up for UK sources. I have also chose football as a topic but not under US sports, so why do I still see the odd post about American Football? Is there something I can do or is it just a problem with Blinkfeed?
My second issue is that I keep seeing the awful blue boxes with tips, on highlights I see it yet I have topics selected ... How can I stop them from showing? They are usually about getting started and selecting topics and services, even when I already have
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks
EDIT: Anybody know which png is responsible for the background of widgets on Sense and where it is located? I'm looking to make the background transparent for the HTCMusic widget.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
common_panel.9.png com.htc.resources.apk............... Good luck
AllAboutTheCore said:
My second issue is that I keep seeing the awful blue boxes with tips, on highlights I see it yet I have topics selected ... How can I stop them from showing? They are usually about getting started and selecting topics and services, even when I already have
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These blue boxes are quite annoying I totally agree. My phone is too new to risk rooting and leaving a ridiculous "RELOCKED' flag in plain view so I thought I'd give blinkfeed a fair crack, the idea is pretty good IMHO. So I choose US as location so I can get Gizmodo and Engadget feeds. All good so far. I've noticed however a couple of things though:
Choose:
a) Highlights - you get a few scrolls downwards, then those stupid blue boxes (even if you force stop and clear 'HTC Get Started' and 'Tips & Help' in Apps) - they are always there! I did what you asked blue boxes, I got started, now sod off!
b) Choose a topic - neverending scrolling with no blue boxes, but strangely if I choose 'Gadgets' as a topic, not a single post from Gizmodo or Engadget?!
Kind of cool but quite confusing so I much prefer 'Google Currents' app where you can add any sources you like plus it has a really neat navigation structure. Of course the nature of Blinkfeed is different from a standard app but it's no hardship to me opening an app when I want news rather than needing it there all the time on the homescreen.
Anyway, just my initial impressions.
Get news application into blinkfeed
Hi
I have downloaded a couple of news applications and they appear on my home screen.
How do I get them into blinkfeed?
I cannot see them with the other news applications pre-installed so I cannot choose them to appear.
How is it done?!!
Regards
I want to have a dialer where I can search for businesses directly through the dialer. So you know how in 4.4 I can type "John" and call the guy in my contact list name John, I want to be able to type "McDonalds" or "Best Buy" in that same search field, and based on my location it will pop up with "McDonalds, 123 Fake Street" along with a thumbnail picture of it(or its map location) and its hours for that particular day. And if I click on the thumbnail I can see more info, open its location in GMaps, etc
fredryk said:
I want to have a dialer where I can search for businesses directly through the dialer. So you know how in 4.4 I can type "John" and call the guy in my contact list name John, I want to be able to type "McDonalds" or "Best Buy" in that same search field, and based on my location it will pop up with "McDonalds, 123 Fake Street" along with a thumbnail picture of it(or its map location) and its hours for that particular day. And if I click on the thumbnail I can see more info, open its location in GMaps, etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't you just say "show me the nearest mcdonalds" in google now?
Works on my nexus 5 anyway to do the stuff you said.
Think your request is a bit too much for a display of that area. When searching for a number you generally just want the quick info, clicking on it to get more info is fine but all that wouldn't fit in a small space especially if you gotta scroll over 10x just to get 1 phone number.
The current stuff though does allow you to type McDonalds and have it pull in local info from the closest one. It will show street address/town as well but that's all.
Ok I want the following
Blocking Mode baked into the update just like the one on the Samsung Galaxy Line.
Slide to call or text just like on the Samsung Galaxy Line.
One Button touch to clear all active apps not having to swipe them away one at a time.
I want a polish and fully tested OS.
Always listening "OK Google," like the Moto X has. (Optional setting if necessary for those who don't want to take the battery hit.)
Face Detection setting that prevents going to standby when you're looking at the screen (like Samsung has, not motion-based like "Gravity Screen" app does, although that's better than nothing.)
Customizable Quick Panel.
Theme control (not everyone likes bright-as-hell white backgrounds on everything!)
Combined music/video player, more like iTunes.
Location-based screen locking. (Don't ask for PIN/Password if I'm at home or work, but otherwise do.)
Not necessarily in that order, and I'm sure I could think of others if I tried hard enough. Also, that one-touch "clear all" active apps suggestion is good.
Hmmmmm, having a slide to text option in the contacts would be nice but also more sharing features. I am a very social networked person and I love to share anything and everything having more sharing options is certainly a plus.
vseslija said:
One Button touch to clear all active apps not having to swipe them away one at a time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you mean in the notification bar, this is already a feature.
kgry said:
If you mean in the notification bar, this is already a feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, he means in the recent apps switcher.
Backup functions (obviously without root or custom recovery)
Finer control over killing and keeping apps in background.
Wake the screen when I get an SMS and and visual voice mail built in the phone app like on the iPhone.
Always listening, and Wi-Di native file transfer.
fredryk said:
I want to have a dialer where I can search for businesses directly through the dialer. So you know how in 4.4 I can type "John" and call the guy in my contact list name John, I want to be able to type "McDonalds" or "Best Buy" in that same search field, and based on my location it will pop up with "McDonalds, 123 Fake Street" along with a thumbnail picture of it(or its map location) and its hours for that particular day. And if I click on the thumbnail I can see more info, open its location in GMaps, etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can already do most of that in the 4.4 dialer ... aside from linking with maps.
fredryk said:
I want to have a dialer where I can search for businesses directly through the dialer. So you know how in 4.4 I can type "John" and call the guy in my contact list name John, I want to be able to type "McDonalds" or "Best Buy" in that same search field, and based on my location it will pop up with "McDonalds, 123 Fake Street" along with a thumbnail picture of it(or its map location) and its hours for that particular day. And if I click on the thumbnail I can see more info, open its location in GMaps, etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The dialer already does exactly that. I do it all the time and it works well.
I want them to get that fricken search bar off of the home page and to never ever again presume that it's ok to use up an entire row of every screen with the exact same widget. Whoever thought it up should be fired. Whoever approved it should be fired. Whoever attended a meeting where it was suggested as a possible feature that did not get up and *****slap the person who mentioned it should be fired.
The screen indicators should be clickable so as to allow you to one touch to any screen as seen on touchwiz.
I'm loving KitKat. I just want Hangouts to have expandable notifications and the option to reply through the notification itself, but this is a Hangouts request more than an android one.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 04:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:18 PM ----------
krabman said:
The dialer already does exactly that. I do it all the time and it works well.
I want them to get that fricken search bar off of the home page and to never ever again presume that it's ok to use up an entire row of every screen with the exact same widget. Whoever thought it up should be fired. Whoever approved it should be fired. Whoever attended a meeting where it was suggested as a possible feature that did not get up and *****slap the person who mentioned it should be fired.
The screen indicators should be clickable so as to allow you to one touch to any screen as seen on touchwiz.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try out a custom launcher like Nova. To be honest I like the Search Widget at the top on all pages.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
bmg1001 said:
I'm loving KitKat. I just want Hangouts to have expandable notifications and the option to reply through the notification itself, but this is a Hangouts request more than an android one.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 04:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:18 PM ----------
Try out a custom launcher like Nova. To be honest I like the Search Widget at the top on all pages.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol I've been on android from day one, I had a launcher installed mucho quick. Doesn't change the fact that the stock launcher while having some promise is heavily flawed to no good end. I understand that some may like the search bar there. Some may like it on every page. Who knows, maybe someone wants to make 5 pages and fill them all with the same search bar. Great. More power to them. Let them create search bars till the cows come home. Some of us don't want a search bar there. All of us could be happy before which is the beauty of android. I could put my search bar where I want it, everyone else could put it where they want it. Now no one gets a choice, we have entered the era of the idroid. What did we gain by giving up choice? Nothing. Not one thing.
A bad precedent in my mind. Good thing I'm not running Google, heads would have rolled long before this ever saw the light of day.
googles needs to get it's **** together in regards to streamlining and unifying some of their services. while not really android specific, there are many related things that effect android users daily.
hangouts is supposed to be your unified messaging locale, however no google voice integration
google keep seems like a good product, however the apparent lack of integration with google now and android voice commands doesn't make much sense. if i say "okay google..." then set a reminder, why doesn't this show up in keep? if i set a reminder in keep, it should show up in google now and vice versa. i don't wanna hunt around all over the damn phone trying to figure out where all my assorted reminders are located.
there are two photo apps currently -- gallery and photos
i feel like android is really coming into it's own quite well as a mobile os, and it's very clean cut at this point. however google really needs to clean up their services because some things still feel half baked.
A flash light quick toggle
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
shotta35 said:
Think your request is a bit too much for a display of that area. When searching for a number you generally just want the quick info, clicking on it to get more info is fine but all that wouldn't fit in a small space especially if you gotta scroll over 10x just to get 1 phone number.
The current stuff though does allow you to type McDonalds and have it pull in local info from the closest one. It will show street address/town as well but that's all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I missed this at first myself. If you type in the previously mentioned McDonald's you will get a list of them showing their address so you can parse out the appropriate contact. If you then click on the contact at the left on the placeholder for the contact picture it will bring up the direct dial, maps shortcut, and website.
Hi all, I'm new to this forum. In fact, this is my very first post here. I'm wondering if anyone out there knows of a way to lock the settings of Nova Launcher? I've tried a number of circumventing attempts to try and do this very thing. I find it incredibly difficult to fathom that the dev of such a great launcher, has never incorporated this option in the app. Especially since, one would think it an important part of such an app, since if you screen unlock your device for someone to use, then unbeknownst to you, they either intentionally or inadvertently, change your Nova settings.
I tried using a few different app locks out there, and despite Nova Settings widget sitting in the drawer, those app locks don't recognise the widget as a seperate entity in the list of apps to lock, that they bring up, from your device. Instead, only the Nova Launcher widget itself shows. But if I select it, any app lock will just lock the whole launcher and I need to unlock the launcher every single time I do anything on it. And that is tediously annoying!
I know that the dev was away on personal matters for a long while in the past and subsequently had not worked on updates for that time. He had responded to my inquiry about this several months back citing that he may include settings password protection in the future.
I have a Samsung GS4 dual sim. It is rooted, and I have Xposed Framework and several working modules on the phone. My apologies if this post is too long. I'm new and will aim to keep queries shorter in future.
been years used nova launcher and never found something like password protected, only found lock desktop. maybe you can email dev to add this features
Albaeagle said:
Hi all, I'm new to this forum. In fact, this is my very first post here. I'm wondering if anyone out there knows of a way to lock the settings of Nova Launcher? I've tried a number of circumventing attempts to try and do this very thing. I find it incredibly difficult to fathom that the dev of such a great launcher, has never incorporated this option in the app. Especially since, one would think it an important part of such an app, since if you screen unlock your device for someone to use, then unbeknownst to you, they either intentionally or inadvertently, change your Nova settings.
I tried using a few different app locks out there, and despite Nova Settings widget sitting in the drawer, those app locks don't recognise the widget as a seperate entity in the list of apps to lock, that they bring up, from your device. Instead, only the Nova Launcher widget itself shows. But if I select it, any app lock will just lock the whole launcher and I need to unlock the launcher every single time I do anything on it. And that is tediously annoying!
I know that the dev was away on personal matters for a long while in the past and subsequently had not worked on updates for that time. He had responded to my inquiry about this several months back citing that he may include settings password protection in the future.
I have a Samsung GS4 dual sim. It is rooted, and I have Xposed Framework and several working modules on the phone. My apologies if this post is too long. I'm new and will aim to keep queries shorter in future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too am looking for the answer to the above question, but i guess there is none .
Really TICKED OFF that the MMS is dead. Read everything I can find on other Forums and nothing has worked. Going to start a new thread here because this seems to be the only place on the web where device specific discussion, especially for these this device, happens.
I am being offered a HUGH OTA update but it doesn't say what it is.
I am in the USA and the device actually came from India.
Anyone in the USA know if this is the 6.0.1 update and does the device retain full phone capability??
10/25/16
OK going to answer my own question.
Yes it is the update to 6.0.1
Did a lot of research before moving on with the download.
It will complete the download and then give you some instructions.
It will also list the Versions and build numbers. Looked those up to find out what reagion they were for and that told me I was getting a version for Australia so I was sure I was going to get to keep the phone function. I Did.
The research I did gave a bunch of instructions and cautions about backing up all your data and apps. WAS NOT NECESSARY. Every APP I had was reloaded and all of my screens were restored just like before. It even saved my APN DATA for the phone. The only oddity was that it put some shortcuts on the home screen to some of my Drive files and to my voicemail quick dialer.
General observations:
I HATE the SMS APP now. Lost a lot of control over the background and bubble appearance.
Not real enthused about the new drop down menu background and icon definition either.
The problem is both cases is that the backgrounds are white/light grey and the icons/bubbles are medium blue. Not a lot of contrast so they will be hard to see in bright light.
The new MEMO APP is going to take some getting used to but, I think I will like it.
Cut Right Sharpening said:
Really TICKED OFF that the MMS is dead. Read everything I can find on other Forums and nothing has worked. Going to start a new thread here because this seems to be the only place on the web where device specific discussion, especially for these this device, happens.
I am being offered a HUGH OTA update but it doesn't say what it is.
I am in the USA and the device actually came from India.
Anyone in the USA know if this is the 6.0.1 update and does the device retain full phone capability??
10/25/16
OK going to answer my own question.
Yes it is the update to 6.0.1
Did a lot of research before moving on with the download.
It will complete the download and then give you some instructions.
It will also list the Versions and build numbers. Looked those up to find out what reagion they were for and that told me I was getting a version for Australia so I was sure I was going to get to keep the phone function. I Did.
The research I did gave a bunch of instructions and cautions about backing up all your data and apps. WAS NOT NECESSARY. Every APP I had was reloaded and all of my screens were restored just like before. It even saved my APN DATA for the phone. The only oddity was that it put some shortcuts on the home screen to some of my Drive files and to my voicemail quick dialer.
General observations:
I HATE the SMS APP now. Lost a lot of control over the background and bubble appearance.
Not real enthused about the new drop down menu background and icon definition either.
The problem is both cases is that the backgrounds are white/light grey and the icons/bubbles are medium blue. Not a lot of contrast so they will be hard to see in bright light.
The new MEMO APP is going to take some getting used to but, I think I will like it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What was wrong with the 815Y stock messaging sms app? Compared to the 815?
5-31-21 I've ceased development on this app because I think there is a better alternative. See post #7.
*updated to version 1.3, adding error trap for discontinued or blank feeds*
It's been awhile since the demise of the last working version of Genie Widget (aka Google News and Weather) but not so long since the big G retooled news.google.com so that our browsers can no longer deal with it and also put the kibosh on the Google News RSS feeds. Sigh.
I have a work-around
Google News 1.3 for the NST/G exploits the "alerts" that Google offers on news topics. These alerts can be optioned in the form of RSS feeds. My app downloads the HTML source for the feed, picks out all the good stuff and trashes all the rest, then builds up a local HTML document which is easily displayed by our browsers (I highly recommend Opera Mobile for ease of scrolling and general all-around function). You can build up your own topics, change your mind, mix them about, read that one more story you didn't get to the first time around, etc. I'm not saying that your browser will negotiate every target link. Some newspaper sites have just become too much. That was true even when Genie Widget was still working. But updating Opera Mobile for TLS 1.2 solves much of that. See this post for details.. The beauty of this app is in the simplicity. It's entirely browser-based once the feeds are downloaded, so you're not going back and forth between the app and your browser (like the current Google News app.......). Designed for both portrait and landscape.
Requirements
1. Android 2.1 has a security issue with opening local HTML files. In order for Google News to work properly you need to address that. Included in the zip below is a tiny app, android-open-in-browser-0.0.4-4-debug. Install that. It's not my app but I have used it for years and wish I could credit the originator.
2. This is a Tasker-generated app. If you already have one of my other Tasker-generated apps or have previously installed GApps, you don't need the two Google maps library files included in the zip and can delete them. If you do need them, copy the two files into the locations shown below:
/system/etc/permissions/com.google.android.maps.xml
/system/framework/com.google.android.maps.jar
Set permissions for both files to rw-r--r-- and reboot. Without these files resident, the app will not install.
3. Create a folder in the root directory of your sdcard: Google News (exactly as shown)
4. Install the app itself, Google News.1.apk
How to use
Before you run the app you need to select some news categories, set up the feeds, get the URLs, blah-blah-blah. All of this is covered in the PDF included with the zip. It may seem a little annoying at the start, but it goes quickly once you get started and it's not like you have to do it every time you use the app. You're just setting up your news topics, just as if you were using the current Google News (either the app or the web version). Once you have your topics and URLs and have edited the included text file google_rss_feeds.txt, copy that into the Google News folder of your sdcard.
Note: recently (June 2019) the big G has not been very consistent with the RSS feeds. Some days they are "empty" but come back the next day with lots of stories. Some feed topics simply "die" and a minor change in the topic will resurrect them (change "World" to "World news", as an example). Version 1.3 includes a trap for these eventualities so that the app should not crash, even if your first feed comes up empty. To inspect/edit your feeds, point your browser (on your PC) to your Google Alerts page. If you are signed in this will be found among the options on the Google home page, in the upper right corner where the "apps" grid is shown.
Now you're good to go. Start the app, make sure you're connected to WiFi. There are only three buttons on the app screen. The first one, "Fetch the news" does just that. You will see a little toast that the first news category is being prepared. Once that is done, you will be taken to the browser and that page will open. Meanwhile the remaining pages are being downloaded and reconstructed in the background.
The news page is very simple. I tried to aim for readability over all other considerations (this is the reason the news items are in bold black, even though they are the external links). I have my Opera Mobile set to 100% page zoom. It looks good to me, but you could probably get away with 75%. External websites are another matter. At the title bar left is a drop-down menu button that gives you access to your other news topics. Since no fixed navbar schemes work under Android 2.1, there is a duplicate drop-up menu bar at the end of the page. The use of NoRefresh, or to a lesser extent FastMode, is a plus.
Edit: you cannot use this app with Opera Mini. It lacks the ability to open local HTML files.
The second option on the opening screen, "Read old news" sounds a bit daft, but I just thought maybe someone might have been looking at the topic pages, saw something that interested them and then got interrupted. So this option opens the first local file in the browser again and you can navigate from there. Strictly speaking, WiFi is not needed to browse the local files once they have been created, but it is needed to pursue any stories.
The third option simply dismisses the app screen.
Whew! So this is new...and I think I exterminated all the bugs, but I did not try other browsers. I'm open to suggestions and would appreciate feedback.
Google alert change? No option for RSS alerts anymore...
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
v619284 said:
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm away from home right now but my copy of the app is working so the RSS feeds must still exist. I'll have to sit down with my instructions in front of the computer and see what mischief they've done. Thanks for letting me know.
v619284 said:
If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so I've run through the instructions sitting at my PC. Everything is correct although Firefox no longer wants to open the RSS feed page as anything other than an xml "text" file. That just means the image on page 4 needs updating.
As far as page 3, everything is currently exactly as shown. Just to be sure, you have to be signed in to Google on your browser before you do any of this. Then when you get to the screen depicted on page 3 you need to change the "Deliver to" option to RSS feed. But even before that, it's important not to get sucked into the email alert business back on page 2. Do NOT click on "Create Alert" there, only on "Show options". That's how you get to the screen I show on page 3.
When you finally get to click on the little RSS symbol shown on the lower half of page 3, you (at least on Firefox) may end up at a page of xml code, or perhaps your browser may show a news feed page. Regardless, the URL shown for the page is the same and it's what you need to copy, just as described on page 4.
Let me know if you are still having issues with this.
v619284 said:
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So a few days after I wrote my last post, the app stopped working for me. It just hangs on "Preparing......News"
Google has apparently changed the format of their RSS xml file. Right in the middle of something else at the moment, but I will get it fixed.
Nope, nix that. After fooling around with the app and an xml file from the Big G, I find nothing out of place and it seems the app is now working again
They're just messing with us.
Edit: Indeed they are. Today I caught another malfunction but this time looked at the Tasker routines for an error. Google is sending out (at least today) RSS feeds with empty content fields. That messes up my app. So I wrote an error trap for that. Updated in first post. Have to watch the big G like a hawk....
v619284 said:
If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whilst looking around for a solution to a different issue, I came across this: https://medium.com/@cassandragraft/...tion-not-appearing-heres-the-fix-bf842ca32b88
It appears to address the issue you describe. I never encountered the issue, but obviously some people have.
The Big G is making me very angry lately. Even version 1.2 with a new error trap is crashing. I'm finding that some of my feeds are "empty". The skeleton of the RSS file is there but there is no content populating the file. A category as ordinary as "world" is simply blank. This is new and very annoying. Just a change of topic to "world news" brings up a list of stories longer than your arm. I encountered this before with "science" and fixed it with a slight change in name, so I should have seen this coming. It's a nasty game Google seems to be playing....
Anyway, if the app crashes on the first topic it leaves an overlay artifact behind when you exit. To remove this, go to the App Manager and force stop the app. I will work on a fix which will alert you to the effect that the feed appears dead but allow the app to complete the download of whatever is still working and exit properly.
Grr....
Edit: App updated to v1.3 in first post. I hope that solves the problems. For now.
As I mentioned in my edit of the first post, I think my app is exhibiting creakiness already owing to Opera Mobile's increasing difficulty negotiating many websites.
I have an alternative to suggest, however, that is totally browser based. It seems to work "OK" with Opera Mobile although text display is a bit small with a default zoom of 100%. In Opera Mini, however, it shines, especially with NoRefresh.
Thanks to XDA member @SJT75 , I found out about a list of text-only news sites. One of them is a text version of Google News! The list is at: https://greycoder.com/a-list-of-text-only-new-sites/
While the Google News option does not allow for custom categories (hey, there's an app for that!), it does cover all the usual suspects. Even better, all of the links lead to text-only versions of the sources. Occasionally you go to a page and find it could not be fetched by whatever mechanism the author is using, but pages (even those error ones) include a link to the original source
Also notable on the list are the NPR and CNN sites. Both work well.