There are many programs available these days for reading RSS feeds on a handheld. And there are many different ways that I can see doing that. In my opinion, all but web clipping solutions are worthless. But I know that there are many people that love mobile RSS feed reading, so I'm sure there will be some differing opinions, which is a good thing. We all see things from a different perspective, and if there are useful ways to use mobile RSS readers I think we would all love to hear more about it.
With all that in mind, let's take a quick look at what seem like the various approaches. This is not meant in any way to be a "how-to" description or a comparison of readers, but more of a philosophical look at the different approaches to mobile RSS feed reading.... plus my thoughts on why most of them are not worth the bother.
1) Web clipping base on RSS feeds [e.g. Sunrise]
This is actually the one way of reading RSS feeds that I like!
You can define a feed in Sunrise is to give an RSS feed instead of a URL. Sunrise pops out a mobile Plucker-formatted version of the feed information that you load onto your device. Very similar to iSiloX, but you use a different reader, you have the ability to do RSS clipping, and with Sunrise you have an amazing amount of flexibility when it comes to controlling what content gets extracted.
2) Web content similar to or based on RSS feeds [E.g. AvantGo]
Another way to get RSS content is to extract it from a standard web clipping tool. AvantGo content is a bit like this, but it's not necesssarily coming from RSS feeds. There are others out there also, but content providers might be a little touchy about some of them. There's that tug of war between those that consider it to be a very effective publicity tool that drives traffic to the site, and those that take the view that it's taking advantage of them by creating unauthorized use of their content. Personally, I think the name of the game for most web sites is first of all a mission to accomplish something, and secondly to drive traffic. In my opinion, financial and personal and corporate benefits all seem to come from those things. What is most important to the people running various sites, and what drives them to put in long hours, varies a lot. You see some people passionate for their content and the visitor community, and any revenue is just a pleasant bonus or a way to pay expenses. Other people with web sites are focused on bringing in dollars and it's the only reason they do it. Either way, traffic is the name of the game for success or failure outside of the original purpose of putting the content out there. Even if your goals are not monetary, you want to make a difference to your readers and to as broad an audience as you can. And oddly enough, corporate sites are often not the most revenue oriented. At least not in terms of web-specific revenues. Many corporate sites are simply an extension of PR, sales, customer service, etc.
At any rate, this is not a good general solution, and even sites like AvantGo are only barely adequate, and really don't solve the general RSS feed reading issue.
Update: I should have also included MobileRSS in this discussion. It's a really nifty free web site that has been around a long time, and lets you create a custom account and subscribe to RSS feeds. Then it provides you with a personal link that has titles, summaries, and text for the RSS content. It's all in a nice mobile web form, so it's easy to view or to grab with any web clipping tool. While I don't currently use this approach, it's a slick way to get RSS content on your pda.
3) RSS reader software [I dare not single out an example!]
Here's where it gets really interesting. Mostly because of two factors. First of all, some devices are connected to the internet and some only have connectivity for synching. Secondly, some RSS content is fairly complete and other content is abbreviated and looks more like a teaser than an article.
You would think that dedicated RSS feed reader software would be the ideal way to read RSS feeds. Maybe it is... it has been a while since I have tried RSS software for Palm or PPC, so I don't speak with authority on the quality or features of RSS readers. But for me, it just wasn't worth the trouble. And it's even more uninspiring when not connected to the internet.
For one thing, I can be so much more efficient at the desktop that mobile RSS was really just a waste of my time and the interfaces I tried were frustrating more than helping me. It didn't last on my device more than a day or so. If you are using RSS feeds it probably is because you have a lot of them you want to scan very efficiently. That sounds to me like a desktop job, not a handheld task.
But even more important were the two factors I mentioned above... connectivity and teaser feeds.
So even if I did get an RSS feed, without connectivity, then it wasn't up to date. For sites without a lot of updates, or with daily content appearing mostly in the early morning (like a newspaper) it is not so much a problem. But for great sites like Palm Addict or Slashdot that have so much frequently updated content I actually want to read, I don't see any other reasonable option than to just visit them frequently throughout the day on my PC.
One problem with most collections of RSS feeds is that they accumulate fast. I don't really want to be reading old feeds. And the whole point of RSS feed reading is to very quickly and efficiently skim through the feeds and pick out the best ones for a quick look. That's just so much easier for me on the desktop. And if the feeds are stale, that is annoying.
But I suppose that's not the biggest issue anyway. After all, if they are constantly updated you could fall into the trap of never-ending feed reading!
Much more important is the other problem - if I'm not connected (or even if I'm connected with a slow connection) then I read the RSS feed and all I get is a bite size teaser when I wanted a hearty meal. I am constantly frustrated with any story that I'm interested in because I only get a portion. And it becomes either hard or impossible to get the rest of the story. I read just enough to get interested and then to make me realize that I can't read what I really want to see now, because I have to go back to being an old-fashioned web site visitor. If I'm not connected, I can't do it. If I am connected, it's still probably not a simple thing and many sites are a pain to navigate on a handheld. If you are just after a few sites, no big deal. But if you are RSS feed reading, you want to hit many sites quick and easy. That's still not the most effective thing to be doing on a handheld when you are trying to get through a bunch of feeds fast.
Bad stories from feeds are, of course, no problem. You don't want the rest of the story anyway! But the good stories are the only reason I'm reading RSS feeds in the first place, and those are the ones I can't read. I am left wondering what's the point?
And back to my original premise, unless you're doing some sophisticated form of web clipping via something like Sunrise, why bother at all? Just wait until you get home and do your RSS feed reading at your desk.