Flipboard Releases Android App Update with Tablet Support
When I switched from my third-generation iPad to a Nexus 7, there weren’t many apps that I missed. Sure, Android has its share of blown-up phone apps masquerading as tablet applications, but for the most part, the daily apps I use are well-supported on Google’s flagship 7-inch device. There was one app, however, that just wasn’t the same on the Nexus 7 as it was on the iPad: Flipboard.
You see, Flipboard on the Nexus 7 used the phone interface, which meant that I wasn’t seeing content tiles but, instead, one article per page. I also had to flip up and down versus left and right; a change that might seem relatively minor, but really disrupted the whole experience of Flipboard feeling like a magazine.
Finally, those days are over, as Flipboard has released an update for its Android app that provides full support for Android tablets.
When you first update the app, tablet mode is turned on automatically. You’ll notice right away that you can see more content: more social networks and sources, to start, and when you tap on a source, you’ll see multiple, tiled articles instead of just one. Flipboard’s menu system now slides in as a sidebar, instead of a drop-down box. And, yes — the magazine-style horizontal page flipping is back. Now that Flipboard recognizes you’re holding a tablet and not a phone, you’re able to navigate like you have two hands available instead of just one. These aren’t earth-shattering changes in the grand scheme of things, but if you’re like me and you’ve ever used Flipboard on an iPad, they’re likely the kinds of things you’ve missed and wished the Android version had.
I’ve spent some of this afternoon playing with the updated Flipboard, and while I’m happy with most of it, there is one issue that has bothered me. For many content sources, text and images are pulled into Flipboard and formatted by the app itself. It almost looks like the article you’re reading is part of Flipboard somehow, as though the app is just one big magazine about all of your interests. For sources that truncate blog posts or articles, however, Flipboard pulls in a mobile version of that source’s website so that you can read the full article while remaining inside the app. Article navigation changes significantly; instead of flipping to the next page of an article, you instead have to scroll up and down. It works this way on the iPad, so it’s not a surprise. Unfortunately, the Android tablet version of Flipboard often can’t tell if you’re trying to scroll one of these articles up and down, or if you’re trying to flip the page to the next article. There have been several instances where I’ve tried to scroll an article to keep reading and I’ve accidentally flipped to the next article in line. It’s a frustrating blemish on an otherwise great app, and I hope Flipboard takes care of it soon.
If you’re a Flipboard fan and an Android tablet user, you can head over to the Google Play store today to download or update the app for your device.