Content discovery platform StumbleUpon, which just launched a much improved iPad app in August, now brings that same user experience to Android with the very first StumbleUpon app designed specifically for Android tablets (the app was previously only available for the Android phone). The app is ready for download in the Android Market here.
The new StumbleUpon Android tablet has basically the same functionality as the new iPad app (even though at first run-through some of the swipe features seem faster on the iPad).
In addition to releasing an Android tablet version, StumbleUpon is unifying its features across all mobile apps. The most notable change is that the company is bringing the Explore box, which was previously only available through its web interface, to all its mobile platforms. Users can now explore through over a half million interests options via mobile, StumbleUpon founder Garrett Camp tells me, by hitting the home button on whatever app they’re using and entering their preferred Interest keyword in the Explore box. I chose to stumble through the interest category “Fashion,” for example (of course).
Swipe-to-stumble, a feature previously available only on the iPad app, is also now a standard feature across all mobile StumbleUpon apps. The feature lets users employ a Flipboard-esque “swipe” gesture in order to move on to the next piece of content.
The iPad app’s content pre-loading is also to be found on all StumbleUpon mobile apps as of today, improving page load time in order to make the stumbling experience faster.
StumbleUpon mobile is still growing 35% month over month Camp tells me, and he thinks it’s because people use their mobile devices and specifically tablets for entertainment, “If you’re talking about the vacation you’re going to take next month it’s a lot easier to swipe through the term ‘Costa Rica’ than complete a hunt and peck search,” he says.
“The tablets are much more about wanting to be entertained, the experience of browsing on a tablet is so fun,” he continues. “StumbleUpon is like having your own personal channel … your own personalized tour of the Internet.”
Camp’s future plans for the StumbleUpon mobile apps include perfecting the current UI changes in addition to adding social notification features a la Foursquare and Instagram. Today marks the first time the company has made all of their mobile functionality consistent.
