UPDATE: Instagram says that a few features are missing from the Android app (Tilt Shift/Blur, Share from Feed, Live Preview and Share to Flickr), but will be addressed in forthcoming updates. The company is not commenting on plans for a Windows Phone or BlackBerry version.
Instagram for Android is here! More than a year after the photo sharing sensation hit iPhone, it’s finally available to download on the Google Play Store. Naturally, we’ve given it a go already so read on for our thoughts and photos.
As you might expect, there are few differences between this and the iPhone app. You log in, connect to Facebook and Twitter, take snaps, apply filters and share. It all works seamlessly: on our Nexus S running Android 4.0 it ran without a hitch (Here’s one we did earlier). Any phone that runs Android 2.2 or up will be able to run it.
If anything, the problem with Instagram for Android is that it is too similar. Instagram doesn’t take advantage of Android’s unique skills, beyond letting you toggle between front and rear cameras: there’s no homescreen widget (a real pity), and the physical menu and search buttons don’t do a thing. In fact, the only hint of Android 4.0 design guidelines is in the user profile section of the app, which includes a “…” on screen menu button
It’ll be interesting to see if the wildly varying quality of camera sensors on Android phones – from shocking to far superior to the 8MP sensor on the iPhone 4S – have any effect on the quality of the service, who or how people use it. In the meantime, you can give it a download for free from the Google Play Store. Let us know how you get on in the comments.
