Tumblr

CNET Editors' review

by: Jaymar Cabebe on April 12, 2012

With Tumblr for Android, using the megapopular blogging platform cum social network while on the go is a snap. The app lets you create and publish posts, read through posts by other bloggers you follow, and manage your account settings, all without much of a learning curve.

Just like when you sign on to Tumblr on the Web, the Android app opens you up directly to your Dashboard, where you see your main feed, with all the blogs you follow. Since the list self-updates, you can, in theory, scroll endlessly. The interface on the Dashboard looks and feels very much like it does on the full Web version of Tumblr, except for a few items. For one, all images are static, which is pretty disappointing, since many of the bloggers I follow often post animated GIFs. As it is now, I have to click through to see these animated GIFs in action, which can get annoying. Also, tags don't show up on the bottom of posts, making it hard for me to follow up on specific topics, the way I can on the Web.

From the Dashboard, the navigation bar at the top of the screen lets you easily access Tumblr Radar (the staff-curated feed of popular posts on the network), your personal profile page, and the Create post page. Fortunately, the Create post page is almost identical to its full-size counterpart on the Web. It gives you six different posting options: Text, Photo, Quote, Link, Chat, and Video. Also, it lets you save drafts of posts and schedule for later publishing. Unfortunately though, there is no Audio post option as there is on the Web and on the iOS app. But to be fair, the iOS app happens to be missing the Chat option, which the Android version does have. Regardless of the missing audio post option, I still think the Android Tumblr app is great for writing and publishing.

If you own a Tumblr blog, then frankly, this mobile app is a must. It makes it incredibly easy to post any type of media to your site (except audio), and it provides a nice interface for keeping up with the Tumblr blogs you follow (save for a few missing features). Regardless of its minor flaws, I highly recommend this download.