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Flipboard For Android Improves, Users Want A Bit More

Flipboard launched (out of beta) in the Google Play Store in June, and quickly became a popular download. It’s received nearly 28,000 reviews in Google Play, and has an overall rating of 4 1/2 o...
Flipboard For Android Improves, Users Want A Bit More
Written by Chris Crum
  • Flipboard launched (out of beta) in the Google Play Store in June, and quickly became a popular download. It’s received nearly 28,000 reviews in Google Play, and has an overall rating of 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

    The app recently received some updates, with the latest one on Sunday, according to the Google Play Store. In the “What’s New” section on Google Play, it says the latest features include:

    • Improved navigation within sections, visible when you tap on section’s name
    • Easier access to Google Reader feeds and folders
    • In-app hints that expose helpful functionality
    • New shopping cart features (Gilt Taste section)
    • Improved performance and bug fixes

    Some of these features made their way to Android as early as August 11, but with the latest update happening on August 19, I’m guessing more bug fixes were pushed.

    Even still, recent user comments in the store indicate there is still room for improvement. One user, for example, commented, “Has several scrolling issues on my nexus 7 tablet, which a shame seeing how flawless it work on my gnex. Maybe its not optimized for tablets yet…..I don’t know. I just wish they address this shortcoming on their next update.”

    Another said, “Current UI works on phones perhaps, but the app should benefit from tablet-specific UI to make use of the bigger screen estate. Current UI makes the reading experience rather inefficient on tablets like Nexus 7, especially with the current limit of having only 4-pages.”

    “Doesn’t show something as liked when u go back later,” another adds. “Unresponsive when selecting items…still…have to click several times. Can only get into google reader section if I carefully click the title…while I can click anywhere on other tiles and they open just fine. Needs the ability to share to all accounts rather than clumsily having to do so one at a time. And it isn’t shortening links all the time. Feed embedded youtube vids don’t always play. Would be great to have social media notifications.”

    Regardless of the complaints, the app still has an overwhelmingly positive reputation. Even the “complaints” tend to come with some amount of praise sprinkled in. The headings for the three comments above were respectively: “Great on phone…good on tablet,” “Getting better, but needs tablet-specific UI,” and “Almost there.”=

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