People who think that Instagram is on its way to the grave may have a new ray of hope. Instagram has recently put out a new update to the popular photo sharing social network. The new Instagram is said to be lighter and faster and may feel much better to use for power users.
Instagram sees an update for both the iOS and the Android platform. This highlights the usual bug fixes and some additional features that may want to scream “we are still here!”
For the iOS, Instagram puts in a new look for your profile tab, some improvements to its commenting feature, a few visual tweaks and improvements, an Autocomplete feature for your user searches, as well as something that just says “We are with Facebook now”; the new ‘share your likes’ feature. The ‘share your likes’ feature would, well, share your Instagram likes to your Facebook account. This may just be the first step into Instagram’s assimilation into Facebook, or maybe it’s a sign that Facebook really plans to keep the app alive on its own, and will just implement features to “marry” both apps and social networks.
On the Android side of things, improving upon its search feature, a fix for a recent problem, with the HTC Sensation 4G which freezes it during a tilt shift, additional support for data taken directly from the Gallery when geo tagging is enabled, and a few more fixes with the shift tilt for lower resolution images.
Notice that the Facebook integration is not yet added to the Android application, unlike the iOS. It would seem that this reflects Facebook’s own difficulty in maintaining and implementing a properly working Facebook application in the Android platform. Facebook app users in the Android scene have been marred with slow loading times, images not loading, and a slew of bugs that pop in and out with every update. You would think that Instagram devs and Facebook devs are now thinking alike.
Regardless, at least for both iOS and Android devices, we see some optimization and increased loading speeds that would reflect that they are still here to stay and are still improving daily. Facebook was right in getting them on the team, because the devs can help Facebook achieve a better standing in the mobile market with a closely integrated “friend” such as Instagram. All we know is that Instagram users are eyeing the situation. Do you think Instagram is here to stay for the iOS and Android? Or will they eventually be lost in Facebook’s ego?
Image sources: cultofmac.com, usatoday.com, pcmag.com
