Google Currents arrived on the scene in 2011 as the search giant's Flipboard competitor, but in 2013, the app was combined with elements of Google's marketplace and rebranded as Google Play Newsstand (free). The attractive Android app is a customizable newsreader that delivers headlines from your preferred sources, plus serves as store from which you can purchase books and magazines. Google Play Newsstand boasts partnerships with many publishers and has incredibly eye-catching layouts, but a few niggles prevent the app from overtaking Flipboard as the top Android newsreader.

Let's Play

Google Play Newsstand contains four main sections: Read Now, My Library, Bookmarks, and Explore. Tapping Read Now takes you to the Highlights section, where you'll see news items from a variety of big-name sources, including The New York Times, NPR, and Slate. If you don't fancy the default publications, you can add your own—more in that in a bit. Unfortunately, you can't outright mute, block, or remove a source as you can with Flipboard and Zite.

Articles are represented by large, rectangular panels that contain an image, the publication's name, how long ago the story was posted, and a category tag that lets you dive into a topic. For example, PBS's piece on streaming music has a Music Industry tag that led me to entertaining and informative pieces like The Huffington Post's "The Worst Album Covers Ever Have The Music To Match" and Rolling Stone Now's "Music Industry Experts Question 'Explosion' of Vinyl."

Vertically swiping my Google Nexus 6's screen let me scroll through the article river, and I managed to squeeze additional headlines onto the home screen by activating the Mini Cards option that reduced the size of the panels. When the Mini Cards option is enabled, Google Play Newsstand's home screen resembles Zite's, but with a bit more visual pizazz. The app's background cycles through images while performing Ken Burns-style panning and zooming.

Unfortunately, you can't swipe between the Read Now, My Library, and Bookmarks. You must tap the options icon and select another section. It's mildly annoying.

The Reading Experience

Google Play Newsstand's article layout is standard fare for news-reading apps. It's very clean, and I didn't encounter distracting advertisements. That is, no distracting ads from the originating Web pages. Google, on occasion, does place large book and magazine advertisements into articles' bodies. The ads are intrusive, especially when they're not at all related to the article's topic.

On the upside, Google Play Newsstand has a very cool translation option that let me convert English language pages into Filipino, French, Polish, Spanish, and dozens of other tongues. In addition, you can save pages for offline reading, so you can fire up articles when a wireless signal isn't available.

Checking Out My Library

My Library is where you add content to the News, Topics, and Magazines sections. Yes, there's a magazine section. Unlike Flipboard's user-curated magazines that simply serve as collection of articles from around the Web, Google Play Newsstand's magazines are legitimate publications—think Esquire, Woman's Day, and our very own PC Magazine. Most publications cost between 99 cents and $4.99 per issues, and there are options to subscribe.

You add non-magazine content by bringing a finger or stylus to the Add More icon, which opens the Explore section. There you can select Automotive, Sports, Travel, and other areas of interest. Then you're taken to another screen where you can select a particular news source (say, The Paris Review) or topic (Photography, for example). I like the flexibility, but there's a lot of drilling through menus that may intimidate and/or confuse the uninitiated. Zite's incredibly simple layout is far more novice friendly.

Play Time

It's hard not to like Google Play Newsstand. The app has a deep selection of publications and more flexibility than Zite's Android app (though it doesn't adapt to your reading habits). As much as I like the Google Play Newsstand, Flipboard remains our Editors' Choice for Android news-reading apps due to its social media chops, more streamlined interface, and overall elegance.