Tasker vs Instapaper
When comparing Tasker vs Instapaper, the Slant community recommends Tasker for most people. In the question“What are the most useful Android phone apps?” Tasker is ranked 12th while Instapaper is ranked 17th. The most important reason people chose Tasker is:
Tasker has an impressive amount of triggers, actions, and parameters that can be used together in an incredible variety of ways. It can even accept scripts to follow instructions.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Infinitely tweakable
Tasker has an impressive amount of triggers, actions, and parameters that can be used together in an incredible variety of ways. It can even accept scripts to follow instructions.
Pro Create powerful custom applications
Tasker has the ability to create custom applications, effectively replacing multiple installed apps in your phone with tasks that are triggered automatically. What's even better is that they will be custom tailored to fit your specific needs.
Pro Can adjust system software
With Root access it can also dabble with system software which other apps are not likely to achieve at the moment.
Pro Export tasks as standalone apps
Tasker allows exporting workflows you've created as standalone applications that can then be shared or even put on the Google Play store.
Pro Awesome plugin support
Tasker has awesome plugin support to connect with hardware that usually requires installing specific apps. For example, it has a plugin for Pebble smartwatch so that you can automate tasks that require using Pebble.
Pro Purchase only once
The dev does not keep bringing out revised apps expecting you to pay each and every time; the same app has been developed consistently for nearly a decade.
Pro Annotation tools
Allows leaving notes attached to articles and highlighting certain part of the text. Free version of the app is limited to 5 highlights a month.
Pro Excellent typography choices
Instapaper allows you to choose from 14 different fonts, some of which have been designed specifically for the application. You can manually adjust spacing between lines, padding around text and font size to fit your preferences.
Pro Allows listening to articles
Instapaper comes with a build in text-to-speech feature that will read out loud articles. Premium version of the app allows creating playlists.
Pro Articles can be emailed to Instapaper
You can add articles to Instapaper by sending them to a unique email address associated with your account.
Pro Pagination
Allows for pagination, not just scrolling.
Pro Awesome offline mode
Pro Can look up words in a dictionary and Wikipedia
Pro Can be set to switch to dark mode based on time of day
Instapaper includes a dark theme and allows switching to it after a set period in time or gradually over the course of the day.
Pro Rarely seen organization options
In addition to allowing you to sort articles by when you saved them, you can also order articles by length or read progress and popularity.
Pro Free archiving of deleted webpages
In Pocket, this is a paid function - but Instapaper provides this for free! If a webpage is deleted, it remains in your Instapaper and they even archive pictures of the articles.
Pro Can playback inline video
Instapaper will play videos from YouTube, Vimeo and other sources that are embedded in articles, but you have to be online for playback to work.
Pro Has a font designed for readers with Dyslexia
Instapaper includes Dyslexie a font that helps people with reading problems understand the text better.
Pro Includes optional social features
If you set your Instapaper profile to be public, your friends will be able to see articles you've liked.
Cons
Con Awful user interface
While it's incredibly powerful, Tasker's user interface is counter-intuitive, confusing, and just plain clunky at every turn.
Con Steep learning curve
Tasker lacks good documentation or tutorials, which is important as the learning curve is very high if you want to use its advance features where this app actually shines.
Con Became a paid service again
Most functions, like search, became premium.
Con Basic search not free
Basic search for link title or website too is part of the premium.
Con Embedded images and videos are sometimes ignored
Instapaper sometimes saves articles without images or videos.
Con Only supports English
It only supports English, and not Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages.
Con Tags not implemented
Con Search functions return random articles
The search function is very slow and does not provide accurate results. The user can not filter or reorder the search results, or search the archive or annotated articles.