Only a few short weeks after its welcomed announcement at SXSW, the massively popular photo sharing app, Instagram, is now available in the Google Play Store for most Android devices running Android 2.2 and higher.

As Instagram states on its website, “It’s photo sharing, reinvented,” and it couldn’t be more true. Perhaps one of the most innovative and creative social networking services, Instagram allows users to snap a picture using their smartphone, choose from an array of unique filters, and then post their photo to a variety of other social networks (including Facebook and Twitter) for friends, family, and colleagues to see. After using it for a few months myself, I can say its truly a breath of fresh air in the social media space. Sharing photos has never been more simple, and its certainly never been this fun.

Though I’ve only been playing with the Android app for a couple of hours, I can safely say that the Android app is just as easy to use as its iOS counterpart. Generally speaking, Instagram for Android is very reminiscent of the iOS version, using essentially the same layout, textures, and buttons. Those of you who are switching from an iPhone to an Android phone (though I don’t know why you would) will be right at home as your account(s) (including all photos, likes, and comments) are seamlessly transferred to your new device upon log-in. But without further ado, lets get into the specifics of Instagram for Android.

As mentioned earlier, the Android version of Instagram boasts an interface that is very similar to the iOS version of Instagram, with the five main function buttons that rest on the bottom of the app organized in the same position. Upon selection, the “Home,” “Popular,” “Camera,” “News,” and “Profile” buttons each “depress” and change in shade in a similar fashion to the iOS version, though each window has a slightly different title font and position that appear tailored to resemble the overall Android UI. One interesting modification to the Android app is the ability to jump directly into your profile page when tapping the Profile button. Selecting the profile button in Instragram for iOS brings users to a clunky and disorganized view, prompting the user to view his or her own photos by navigating through a series of menus. Additionally, the Android version has a dedicated search button for finding new users or browsing photo tags, something that is a bit harder to navigate, execute, and understand on iOS.

So how does the Android app compare to the highly praised iPhone app? In terms of app performance, the Android version seems to be noticeably slower than the iOS version when switching between effects in realtime and scrolling through the menus and photos can often produce an annoying lag, one that isn’t seen in the iOS version. When it comes down to functionality, the Android app has all the features of the iOS app with the exception of the ability to add tilt-shift effects to photos, a popular but not deal-breaking feature. Similarly, the current version lacks the ability to share photos to social networking sites like Flickr and Posterous. While the Android app may have a cleaner profile view and dedicated seacrh option, those interface changes are not enough to compensate for the lack of popular features and smooth user experience.

Overall, the Instagram app for Android is a welcome addition to the Google Play Store and is sure to be a big hit amongst the millions of Android users. When it comes down to the specifics, however, the iOS version undoubtably takes the cake with cleaner UI elements (buttons, fonts, etc.), better performance, and, if I’m going to be nit-picky, more features.

Instagram is a free app that can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or iTunes App Store.

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