Instagram adds Instant Live Filters

Instagram has released a major update to its iPhone app featuring a significantly redesigned camera experience. Instagram 2.0 includes a complete re-write of all filters to provide much faster performance, allowing users to now view live filters and linear or radial tilt-shift when taking photos. Four new filters have also been added—Amaro, Rise, Hudson and Valencia—along with the ability to turn borders off for any filter. Further, photos are now saved to the device’s photo library in much higher resolution—1936×1936 on the iPhone 4 or 1536×1536 on the iPhone 3GS; a lower-resolution 612×612 photo continues to be used for uploading. Additional improvements include the ability to rotate photos with a single click, better support for large numbers of comments, improved feed load times, and a more polished icon. Instagram 2.0 requires iOS 4.2.1 or later and available from the App Store as a free download.