Tumblr, the social blogging app that allows you to share photos, videos, links and more, recently updated its Android app to sport a brand new interface and many other features. Is it for the better or for the worse? Let's take a look.
To begin with, the whole interface now looks more lively and vibrant with the simplicity kept intact. Upon launching the app, the login/sign-up screen pops up. Now you can login in landscape mode as well. Once you're in, the Dashboard appears with the menu bar on top. Blogs and posts now load faster and seem more responsive. The photo browsing experience has also improved a lot.
The post editor icon located in the top right corner can be accessed to post text, videos, photos, quotes, links and even chat with fellow bloggers. The colour schemes of the app look very modern and stylish, which is a refreshing change compared to the old version.
A new addition is the Radar feature placed next to the home button in the menu bar. It's not very clear what it is, but seems to be a list of popular/ trending Tumblr blogs. This tiled format of artistic images posted by others looks very attractive to the eye. You can tap the image to view more posts from that blog.
There's now a Notifications view which allows you to see the 'Reblogs' and 'Likes' on your posts. Integration with Spotify is also available now, the utility of which may vary depending upon your location as Spotify is limited to certain countries.
The Android app has inherited the pull-to-refresh mechanism from the iOS app, instead of the dedicated reload button in previous versions. Thanks to the Android update, Tumblr for iOS now looks dated. The app has received mixed user reviews with people complaining about the inability to upload .GIF files. We however faced no such issues.
Overall, the app now looks more polished in terms of the user-interface, is faster and has not compromised much on its functionality. Existing users shouldn't shy away from updating to the new version while new users will enjoy blogging on-the-go with Tumblr in its all-new avatar.
Tumblr (Google Play, Free - Reviewed here)
Tumblr (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, Free)