A growing number of people are staying on top of what’s new,hot and happening simply by monitoring their social media feeds. It makes sensefor a number of reasons – instead of spending time trawling for tidbits on amyriad of sites, we can just let the news come directly to us. As filtered bythe people we like (and trust), of course.
Over in the iOS world, the Flipboard app took greatadvantage of this trend. After installing the app, you simply plugged in yoursocial media streams (like Facebook and Twitter), and Flipboard would createyour very own personalized e-magazine using links that came across yourstreams. It was a minor sensation…and now, Flipboard has come to Android.
As on the iOS version, you can supplement your social mediafeeds with Flipboard-curated topics like news, sports, and music, among others.This allows you to engage with content from sources other than your friends,which is a great way to make sure you’re not trapped in a filter bubble.
One new feature added to Flipboard concurrent with thelaunch of the Android version of the app: integration of your Google+ stream,and access to Google Reader. Added on to the other accounts – which alsoinclude LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Flickr, Tumblr, 500px, Sina Weibo andRenren – that’s a lot of potential content.
So what’s it like? While it’s great to finally haveFlipboard over on the Android side, there are some small things that maydisappoint. First, the navigation feels a bit clunkier – on iOS, you can swipethrough your pages of a section or story by swiping left or right, whereas onthe Android version the default is up-down. Worse, the interface feels a bittouchy – at times when I was going to zoom in on a story with a pinch, I woundup on a previous screen.
During the time I spent with Flipboard on Android, theintegration of content seemed a bit less smooth – a number of times clicking ona story pushed me out to Browser, and sometimes the content didn’t workparticularly well. For the most part it works well, but there are just enoughof those moments where you’re taken out of the seamless e-mag experience thatit just doesn’t seem as slick.
So: if you’re used to the iOS version, it will take a bit ofpractice and patience to get used to the Android-ified version.
But: if you already have a Flipboard account on an iOSdevice, signing into your Flipboard account on Android will automatically pullover all of your content without any need to set things up again. And, despitea few the hiccups, it’s still worth having over on the Android side.
The Flipboard app is free, and available in the Google Playstore, or via a link at flipboard.com.
