Leaked Flipboard app updated, addresses major issues

About a week ago, Flipboard’s Android app made its way to XDA-Developers well ahead of its intended launch as a Galaxy S III exclusive. Unfortunately, the app was in pretty dire state. If you moved down a feed, den moved back up, there would be a major issue with the “flipping” which caused the incorrect article’s details to be shown. Additionally, the widget we had seen on the Galaxy S III’s screen wasn’t available.

Despite it’s visual appeal, I found the app pretty unusable. Until today, when as I just decided to open it up on my Galaxy Tab, I got a message saying an update is available. And it’s no minor update, either. The version of the app leaked on XDA was 0.7.17. The update took me to version 1.8.4.

Most importantly, at this point the app seems ready for public consumption. At no point did I face any glitch, and my only complaint is that the widget (there are two of them, of 4X1 and 4X2 grid sizes) can’t be scrolled through, making it pretty pointless to me.

Another aspect I wish they would work on is the use of low-quality icons here and there. I understand the app is meant for phones only at this point, but the beauty of Android is that it works perfectly on my tab, too. Sure, it doesn’t have the horizontal scroll that the iPad app has, but I actually prefer this look, where more often than not focus is on one article alone.

If you notice in the screenshot below, the star isn’t scaled right, and a custom circular progress dialog they use is horribly pixelated. Other than that, you can’t really say this app isn’t meant for a tablet.

On the whole, I’m now in love with Flipboard. I love the immersive experience, and though Pulse has nothing to be threatened by, since I prefer it’s style to go through the feed of my regular blogs, I am certain that I’ll be spending a significant amount of time on it daily.

21 Comments

I’m not able to apply the update. “there was a problem parsing the package”. Can anyone post the updated apk?

Raveesh Bhalla says:

12 May, 2012 at 12:23 pm

Someone’s shared this over Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/102927834009047623299/posts/RMZoF3Z6dqA

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It says “problem parsing the package” here as well. Is there a way to fix this?

Guest says:

12 May, 2012 at 12:34 pm

Uninstall the app and download the 1.8.4 linked above.

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If you follow the post through the xda-developers url, then to the xda developers source link, you can find it on the original thread

shonangreg says:

13 May, 2012 at 8:06 am

Or you could (save some searching and a couple of clicks and) just click this link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1644212

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I was hoping that at least the font size would be configurable now, but it is still giant on a tablet. Great for the large print crowd I suppose.

Had the same parsing msg, but went to the Google+ link Raveesh shared, and it updated without any issues. Thanks Raveesh for the share,
https://plus.google.com/u/0/102927834009047623299/posts/RMZoF3Z6dqA

Raveesh Bhalla says:

12 May, 2012 at 1:36 pm

You’re most welcome, Bill

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Can not get the app to update… always get a parsing error.

You’re complaining that an app that’s not even officially available and wasn’t designed for tablets isn’t scaling correctly on said device? -1 for that statement!

Robert Simmons says:

12 May, 2012 at 1:31 pm

Ooooooh noooooos you minused a point!

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Raveesh Bhalla says:

12 May, 2012 at 1:35 pm

A “minor” complaint. And one I feel can easily be eradicated. They’ve done a great job to demonstrate Android’s capability to scale apps properly regardless of screen-size (remember it took them about a year to launch the iPhone app after they launched the iPad app). But the issue with the icon scalings just seems like oversight more than anything.

And yes, I’m aware it’s not officially available. All I’m pointing out are things that I hope they would address before it’s available on Google Play. I would not be annoyed if they aren’t added until the official launch.

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