Read Quick Review

Read Quick is an interesting idea and one that could potentially boost its users' reading speed quite substantially. It does take a little while to truly gel with the user, though.

The idea is that it feeds users long form articles, word by word, at increasingly high speeds in order to give them the time to read through the piece, as well as increase their reading speed. Unlike other apps, similar to this, Read Quick offers up individual words at a time, rather than sentences or passages. It's a slightly strange way of reading so it takes a moment or two to adjust to. I found myself wanting to be able to consult past or future words at the same time, rather than simply watch individual words fly up on the screen then vanish again. It is speedy, though.

The speed can be adjusted according to the reader's ability with the default speed set at 250 words, but the possibility to boost it up to an eye watering 800 words per minute. As the app explains, slow but steady increases are a wise idea to be able to get to such lofty heights. Reading word by word is a slightly alien concept for me, but then I appreciate that I read in an unusual but fast fashion. For others, though, it's a handy tool.

Such a tool would be of no use without the backup of some handy reading resources and Read Quick offers plenty of choice. InstaPaper and Pocket support are available, as well as the ability to search manually across the internet, or browse the Featured section for inspiration. The icing on the cake would have been RSS Feed support but what is there is more than adequate. It's also possible to create a Timed Playlist of features, ideal for users who want to catch up on the day's happenings easily. A Stats section is also available to show users how their reading speed is increasing.

It's a well rounded selection, although I'd have appreciated options to read articles chunk by chunk, rather than individual words. It's the kind of reading style that would benefit from some flexibility, or the option of a limited Lite version to see if it works for the individual in question. Despite such issues, Read Quick is still worthy of taking a look at for those with limited spare time and an ambition to read faster.