I was just having troubles getting into Google Reader to check my feeds, and once I was able to get in I noticed something different right away.

There used to be a Refresh link at the bottom of the subscriptions section of the page, next to the Manage Subscriptions link. This button at the top of the subscriptions section is brand new. When you click on it the text changes to “Refreshing” and the button is grayed out until the refresh is finished.

This change is at the top of the posts section. Another great modification. This refresh updates the list of posts for the subscription group you are viewing.

This is a minor change, but a beneficial one. I didn’t like the Refresh link being at the bottom, and now it shows the status of the refresh process, too.

EDIT: I completely looked over another new feature, that I’ve just been playing with. In the first photo you see “Show: updated - all”. This toggles between showing you all of your feeds and folders, and only those feeds and folders that have unread content. This was a nice all-around update by Google.

UPDATE: The feature I failed to see in my initial haste to get this post out (read the EDIT just above this) is the new feature that I’m enjoying the most. I’ve got it set to show the updated feeds only, and it feels like my browsing is quicker. Completely subjective and non-scientific, but it still counts for something.