As many of you know, we’ve been waiting for an awful long time for Instagram to come to Android.  Sure, we’ve gone through a number of photo filter and editing applications over the last few years and found a few that we really love.  Still, that’s not to say we aren’t geeked to have the big name arrive on our favorite platform.

The last few times time we checked in we have been told that Instagram for Android would be coming soon.  Let’s update that status today to “very soon,” as that’s directly from the company’s founder.

Yeah, yeah, whatever.  Before you get upset and worry that the app will fail to deliver, we’d like to let you know that the Instagram team believes that the Android version is, in some ways, better than the iOS version.

Speaking at a fireside chat at SXSW this weekend, Instagram’s Kevin Systrom indicated that they are working very hard to ensure that the Android edition of their app is one of the best you’ll ever download.  After taking Apple’s title for iPhone App of year for 2011 we are more than ready to get our hands on the app.

“In some ways, it’s better than our iOS app. It’s crazy,” said Systrom.

The Android version is said to be in private beta testing mode right now so we shouldn’t be too far off.

Source, and image, courtesy of Wired