One of the apps I use the most often on my iPad has finally come to Android. That’s right, for you Android users jealous of your iOS using friends who get to enjoy Flipboard, your time has come.

The very popular social news reader app is now officially available for all Android phones running Android OS version 2.2 or higher. The new Android version is very similar to the one for the iPhone but will also work on tablets of 7 inches or smaller, just in time for Google to announce a new Nexus 7 inch tablet next week.

The app is available in the Google Play Store, Amazon Appstore, Nook Store and Samsung Apps store. Go get it. It’s a great app.

With the exploding popularity of smartphones like Apple’s iPhone, there was also a corresponding rise in the number of people taking photos with those devices. One of the most popular photo apps ever to hit the iPhone is Instagram.

Since its release, Instragram has been exclusive to the iPhone. However, as we previously told you, that exclusivity is now at an end because, as of today, the app has been released for Android.

In case you haven’t used Instagram (you really should, btw), the app allows users to capture photos and edit them using a number of filters that give images a cool “retro” look. Users can also use selective focus tools to enhance and customize photos further.

Said pictures can then be shared with other Instagram users and also on Twitter, Facebook or via email. Filters can be applied to images imported from a device’s camera roll as well.

The new Android version of Instagram supports devices running Android 2.2 or later. It is available immediately for free in the Google Play store.

If you’re an Android-powered device user and have been jealous of all your iPhone and iPad using friends who get to watch Netflix content on their devices, be jealous no longer. Netflix finally announced that its Android application is now available and ready for you to download in the Android Market.

However, as great as that news is for Android users, there’s one thing that may dampen the excitement. The app is only supported on “select phones that have the requisite playback support.” All is not lost, however, as Netflix says it will add supported devices to its list over time.

As you probably already know, the video streaming service is currently available on Windows Phone and iOS devices, but what was the holdup for Android? “Because the platform has evolved so rapidly, there are some significant challenges associated with developing a streaming video application for this ecosystem,” Netflix product team member Roma De said.

“One of these challenges is the lack of standard streaming playback features that the Netflix application can use to gain penetration across all available Android phones. In the absence of standardization, we have to test each individual handset and launch only on those that can support playback.”

I guess that makes sense. See, Apple owning the entire widget and making developers adhere to a strict set of rules might not be a bad thing after all. At least iOS users get cool apps first, at least in most cases.

Netflix for Android currently runs on the HTC Incredible, Nexus One, and EVO 4G with Android 2.2 installed. It’s also supported on the Nexus S and Nexus One with Android 2.3 installed.

For those of you lamenting the lack of cool 4G smartphone offerings available for the Verizon Wireless network, this is the day you’ve been waiting for. Verizon Wireless’ first LTE handset, the HTC ThunderBolt, is now available on store shelves and online, ready to push the boundaries of wireless access.

If you plan on being one of the very first consumers to acquire the 4G handset, you have options as to where to pick it up. Verizon Wireless, Best Buy, and several others will be selling the handset for $250 with a two year contract.

However, if you don’t mind waiting for the device to be shipped to you, Wirefly will be selling it for $199.99. In addition, Amazon Wireless has it priced at $179.99. Plus, unless you live in certain areas of the country, no sales tax if you purchase at Amazon. Who doesn’t love that?

In case you’re not familiar with this 4G powerhouse, here’s a few stats to help get you excited:

• Powered by Android 2.2
• Latest version of the HTC Sense UI
• Support for Google Mobile Services, including Gmail, YouTube and Android Market
• 4G LTE optimized apps such as EA’s Rock Band, Gameloft’s Let’s Golf, Tunewiki and Bitbop
• 4G LTE – customers can expect download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G Mobile Broadband coverage area
• 4.3” WVGA display
• 8- megapixel rear facing camera and HD (720p) video recording

Late yesterday, everyone’s favorite social media website Facebook announced an update for their Android version of the Facebook app. This update brings the application to version 1.5, for those of you who keep track of that sort of thing.

Some of the main features of this update include support for Facebook chat (In both background and foreground) as well as the much requested Push notifications. Unfortunately, Push notifications will only work on devices running Android 2.2 or higher.

The update also includes the requisite other “bug fixes” which are, let’s face it, nice to have. Sadly, still no photo tagging in this update. But I guess you can’t have everything. . . yet.

As usual, the update is available in the Android Market. If you do update, let us know your experiences, good or bad, in the comments. Now to start updating our Android phones here at the office.

Good news for those of you currently using something other than an iPhone and in particular users of Android powered devices. Google has, in their infinite benevolence, updated the Gmail application for Android and has given it some new features and fixed a few bugs.

Some of these new and improved goodies include message actions sticking to the top of the screen while scrolling, view previous messages more easily like with the desktop client, performance boost for most features and limited support for Priority Inbox. Although, as someone who really didn’t take to Priority Inbox when it came to the desktop Gmail app, I’m not that excited about that particular part of the update.

Still, it’s nice to see that Google seems to be on top of it when it comes to improving the user experience on Android powered devices. With the recent (or pending for some of you) update to Android 2.2 (aka Froyo), Google seems to be on a path of improvement for its software. As an Android smartphone user, I couldn’t be happier about it.

The update is in the Android Market and available for all those running Android 2.2.

It must be nice to work for a site where people send you info about all kinds of interesting new gadgets and gizmos like they do over at The Boy Genius Report. Hopefully, we will start to get that kind of stuff around here soon enough or maybe even over at The Clickcast as well.

Until then, we will just have to bring you items of interest given to other sites we like and read. Case in point is the news that the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which we told you about previously, has now been “officially” leaked and is appearing on Verizon’s internal sales website.

The above image of the device was sent to BGR and pretty much shows that the Tab will be announced as a new Verizon device on Thursday. Good news for those of you waiting for a competitor to the iPad to appear on your favorite carrier. In case you’ve forgotten, here’s the specs for the new device, just to get you excited:

After a bit of a wait it looks like the folks at Samsung have decided to officially let out details regarding their Galaxy Tab tablet. Now that they have, we’ve got the specs (and an official trailer for the device) to share with you:

• 1 GHz Cortex A8 processor
• HSUPA 5.76 Mbps / HSDPA 7.2 Mbps radio (900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
• Quad-band GSM
• 7-inch WSVGA screen with multitouch
• Android 2.2
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 3.0,
• GPS
• Flash 10.1
• 4,000 mAh battery
• 3 megapixel rear-facing camera with flash
• 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera
• Full HD video playback at 1080p
• MicroSD card slot with support for up to a 32 GB card
• Weight 13.4 ounces

Not a bad set of specs, except for the pretty tame camera. Who has 1.3 megapixels these days? Oh well, better than the iPad’s 0.0 megapixel camera. The Samsung Galaxy Tab will be launched in Europe in mid September, and in other markets including Korea, the US and Asia later. No word yet on pricing.

Check out the trailer after the jump. So what do we think? Will this be a serious competitor for Apple’s iPad?

Color me excited. I just fired up my HTC Incredible this morning to find a message alerting me that the update to Android 2.2 (aka Froyo) was ready to be installed.

Naturally, this made me very happy and I proceeded to do the update. Here’s what was added or otherwise made much better by this update, which changes your software to version 3.21.605.1 and Android version 2.2:

• 3G Mobile Hot Spot
• HTC Widget: Mail
• HTC Widget: News
• EAS Updates
• 720p Video Recording
• Amazon MP3
• Skype
• My Verizon

The rumored 802.11N wireless enhancement seems to be untrue as so far my updated HTC Incredible can’t find my N wireless network. That’s a shame. I will be testing out these changes and whatever else I can find today and will let you know if anything else seems odd or broken.

Plus, if I end up finding anything else cool not so far known with this update. If you guys decide to update, let us know your experiences in the comments.

If you’re an HTC Incredible user then this info is for you. According to an article at The Boy Genius Report, the Incredible is expected to get the brand new Android OS 2.2 (code name Froyo) in August. This information, taken from an email sent in by a tipster, goes into detail about the update and what users can expect from it.

Take a look below at the email and see if you believe what’s being said.

I wanted to pass along that the upcoming Incredible MR will also include Froyo (originally it was going to be two separate MRs). We are targeting the end of the month/first part of August. As a reminder, below are the highlights:
• Froyo
• 802.11 n
• 3G Mobile Hot Spot
• HTC Widget: Email
• HTC Widget: News
• EAS Updates
• 720p Video Recording
• Amazon MP3
• Skype
• My Verizon

If ultimately true, this update is very good news for current Incredible owners. these are features they will certainly all want to have as soon as possible. Of course, this means the rumored OS update that was supposed to roll out last weekend was either untrue or was halted to make ready for this improved one.