AUSTIN, Texas – The Instagram party is about to go from a few cocktails with friends into a raging kegger. An Android version of the super-popular photo-sharing app will be released "very soon," according to the company's founder.
[bug id="sxsw2012"]In a fireside chat Sunday at South by Southwest Interactive, Kevin Systrom showed a glimpse of the upcoming version of the app, which is currently being tested in a private beta. Smartphone photogs who use Google's mobile platform rejoiced.
"I'm glad to see Instagram coming to Android," said SXSW attendee Patrick Asher, who recently picked up a new Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone. "I'm going to download it. I'm looking forward to taking more photos on this than my old iPhone."
The arrival of the new app will end months of frustration for photographers who carry Android devices and can't participate in Instagram's white-hot world of social photography. Instagram earned the honor of being Apple's iPhone app of the year for 2011 and has quickly amassed a tight-knit community of smartphone photographers who enhance their square-shaped images with an array of retro-style filters.
"It'll be really cool to try out the filters with my photographs," said J.J. Martinez, an organizer of SXSW Interactive. "I take photographs with my smartphone a lot, at least every day, but I think I would take more pictures with Instagram."
Others are also eager to check out the photo-sharing app on Google's increasingly prevalent mobile platform.
"It'll be interesting to see how they bring it to the Android platform so the experience is intuitive and natural," said Darren Himebrook, a producer at a Miami-based advertising agency. When asked if he felt left out that Instagram has been iOS-only, Himebrook said, "Oh totally!" a sentiment echoed by several other Android users we spoke with after the announcement.
Android phones provide a fundamentally different user experience than iPhones. For example, Android smartphones have either three or four permanent navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen, whereas the iPhone has a single home button, with all other navigation performed within various apps.
In his talk, Systrom said the Instagram team has been "working hard on making this one of the best Android apps you'll ever see." He also said the iOS version has been downloaded more than 27 million times so far.
Rumors that Instagram for Android existed in some form and would be landing soon have persisted for months. Instagram's founder played pretty coy about the subject until now.
"In some ways, it's better than our iOS app. It's crazy," said Systrom.
Luckily, Android users like Himebrook, Martinez and Asher won't have much longer to wait before sussing this out for themselves. Until then, check the gallery above for a selection of the many Instagram photos Wired staffers have taken in Austin during SXSW 2012.
