Instagram has been busy over the last two days having released a new version of the Android app last night to follow the update to its iOS app a day earlier. While neither update will give you any more than the 19 filters that are already on offer, both updates are worth a download.

The iOS update introduces a new slider control for its Lux feature, Lux is the little sun icon that adds awesome to pictures by adding greater contrast to them. The problem with Lux has always been its binary nature, it was an all or nothing feature that could often result in your photos being wildly over saturated and making your subjects look like caricatures, until now that is. The latest version of Instagram for iOS brings a slider control that allows you to set the amount of assistance you want from the Lux tool as well as being able to go in the opposite direction to remove contrast as well.

Instagram’s Android app refresh this morning on the other hand brings a drastic change from previous versions of the application. Firstly the size of the actual installed app has been reduced by around 30% which would suggest that there is a lot more efficient coding going on behind the scenes. Besides for a new flatter design  that mimics that of its iOS brother, the new version 5.1 of the Android app is now more responsive with Instagram claiming that profiles will now load twice as fast as before the update. There has also been a shuffle around of the buttons to make them easier for users to reach while reclaiming some valuable screen real estate for those with smaller displays and resolutions on their smartphones.

The Lux slider isn’t part of the Android update nor is there any news on whether the Windows Phone version will be getting either the slider or a redesign let alone dropping its ‘beta’ tag any time soon. For now though iPhone users can head over to the App Store with Android users going to Google Play for the latest updates.