Instapaper for Android launched today, adding to the growing list of iOS-turned-Android applications.
Developer Mobelux, which previously built Tumblr for iPhone and Android, was handpicked to create the new app, which is available today via Google Play for $2.99. It will work on devices running Android 2.1 and higher.
Instapaper allows users to save Web pages for later reading, keeping articles from your favorite websites stored offline and ready to read wherever you may not have access to data or Wi-Fi networks.
"Great for long articles and blog posts that you find during the day and would like to read, but don't have the time when you find them," the app's Google Play Store description said.
Most websites can be saved as text-only, with adjustable fonts, text size, line spacing and margins; you can keep articles organized in folders, and share them via a Web browser.
The Android app release comes just days after the iOS app received an update, adding Background Update Locations to the 4.2.2 version. Instapaper now automatically downloads new articles whenever a user enters or leaves locations such as their home or workplace. The app stores the locations only within itself, and does not share them or send them to any web service, according to an Instapaper blog post.
The news was first reported by The Verge, which also talked to Instapaper creator Marco Arment, a known Apple fan. "Android is not in my world. It's not in my attention span most days," he told the blog. "Thinking about the iOS app is a full-time job, and staying competitive on iOS is a full-time job."
Arment was inspired to explore an Android version of Instapaper thanks to the success of the Android-based Amazon Kindle Fire and the Barnes & Noble Nook. "For me personally, Instapaper is now a tablet app first, and smartphone second," he told The Verge.
Instapaper said the Android app was built "specifically for small tablets like Kindle Fire and Nook Color, large tablets like the Motorola Xoom as well as most Android phones running 2.1 (Eclair) and up."
The Android app is expected to be available soon in the Amazon App Store and the Nook Store, Arment told The Verge.
