Instagram for Android: Fun, but missing some iOS features

04.04.2012

After you take your photo, the options are pretty what iOS users have come to expect: Instagram gives you access to a series of image filters that let you stylize your photo. You can add or remove a frame that's added to your image by some of the filters, and you can rotate or brighten your image. The filters are almost identical to the iOS version, though I noticed one funny difference: There's an X-pro II filter on the iPhone and an X-Pro filter on Android. The Android filter looked a little darker.

Once you've applied an effect, you can share your photo from your Android phone to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Foursquare. You can share to all these networks on the iOS version, but additionally to Flickr, Posterous, or via e-mail. And given that this is Android, I would have also loved to see some Google+ integration here.

Viewing the feed containing your friends' photos is basically the same on both platforms. You have the option to Like a photo, comment on it, share it or delete it. When you click Share on the Android app, you have the option to share it via Bluetooth, Gmail, Message, and--hey, look at that, now you can share it to Google+.

It is worth mentioning that there are quite a few photography apps available for Android that offer more filters and better effects than Instagram, including and . Instagram also isn't the first photo-sharing site for Android. The photo community has been around for a few years and was specifically designed for the Android platform by a former Google employee. And personally, I like its interface for Android better than Instagram, though the user community is a lot smaller.