Manage updates with the Download App
Editors' note: This review has been updated to reflect new features announced May 20, 2013.
The newest version of Flickr for Android shows off a refreshed user interface and a couple of nifty features, including automatic slideshows, original-quality uncompressed photos, and up to a terabyte of storage for your Flickr account.
The app lets users of the popular Yahoo-owned photo site connect with the Flickr community and upload photos while on the go from both smartphones and tablets. It's dead simple to use, the new interface looks great, and it's a nifty tool for storing all your mobile photos in the cloud.
To get started, you must have an account set up with Yahoo, or you can create a new account right from the app, which lets you use your Facebook or Google+ credentials if you like. Once you're all set up, you'll get free access to Flickr, which comes with the ability to upload up to a terabyte of photos to your account. Before you start worrying about running out of space -- as was pointed out at Yahoo's presser for the app's launch -- you could take a photo once every hour for more than 60 years before using it all up.
The main dashboard of the Flickr app opens directly to the Explore screen, doing away with text and blue links in older versions, and making the images the main focus of the app. The new Explore section shows you Interesting (popular) photos on Flickr, as well as photos that have been geotagged nearby, all in a seamless collagelike layout. Clearly, the folks at Flickr want users to do more than just upload photos; they want them to hang around, browse, and connect with the community, just as they might do on Instagram. With a terabyte of space to work with in the latest version, users may jump back onboard knowing that the storage limitations (and pay walls) in earlier versions are a thing of the past.
When you tap an image from the Explore screen, you get a page with more information, including location and type of camera (or app) used. One further tap brings the photo full-screen. You also can swipe horizontally to move on to the next image in both the info page and in full-screen mode. The navigation bar at the bottom of the screen lets you navigate to the app's other sections, including your profile and Contacts.
