Pulse For iPhone Lands (Screenshots)

Remember Pulse, the awesome RSS reader application for the iPad built by a couple of Stanford grads? The app that was mentioned by Steve Jobs himself on stage at WWDC, got pulled from the App Store after a complaint from the New York Times, but was reinstated pretty quickly? Well, it was no secret that a Pulse iPhone app was coming, too, and we just got word that it’s available as of now (iTunes link).

Sure, there are plenty of RSS readers out there, but you might still want to try this one (even if the price – $2.99 – is perhaps just a little steep).

As you can tell from the screenshots below, the app is visually pleasing even on a smaller screen. It lets you swipe through 20 of your favorite RSS-enabled sites from the home screen, and when you click through to an article a small dashboard pops up that lets you check out the headlines for other stories that appeared on that site.

As with the iPad app, Pulse News Mini, as the app is called, only lets you add 20 sources. Some of them come recommended upon first launch (including TechCrunch, which was an independent decision made by the app’s makers for which we are grateful) but you can also log into your Google Reader account to select sources, or do a search for others.

Pulse News Mini boasts offline sync reading capabilities, so you can stay updated on what’s happening even when you’re offline. The app also enables you to easily share posts with your friends on Facebook or Twitter, by email or via Instapaper.

I think it’s a solid application, but it remains hard to argue $2.99 isn’t a bit much to ask for an app that only lets one manage 20 sources.