Foursquare gets even more interactive and social this week with the availability two cool new features, photos and comments. The iPhone mobile app was updated earlier this week, while Android users get the update today.  Photos and comments were among the most requested features for the local check-in tool with several cool capabilities such as history page and push notifications. Meeting up, exploration and planning has just gotten a twist. Visit the App store and foursquare.com for downloads.

They’re making their check-ins more social. This is also a way for them to collect more localized data for a specific location. Eventually this data will be important for search purposes, especially on a geographically tagged level.

“We’ve been promising this all year and really hustled to get it out for the holidays. So, without further ado, our holiday gift to you: foursquare just became more useful and social with the addition of photos and comments. (It’s in the app store now! You can also see these new features on foursquare.com)

You’ve been requesting these features for months, and there are some cool aspects that you’ll notice right away:

* Comments make meeting up and exploring so much easier. Improve your day by telling a friend that you’re around the corner and they should swing by. And getting a last-minute comment reminding you to order the best dish saves your meal. (You can even comment on the website and from check-in links posted to Facebook and Twitter!)
* Tips with photos changes everything. See dishes before ordering them, figure out if a venue looks fun, or easily identify a hard-to-find spot. More info = better exploration.
* The past comes to life. You can visit your history page on foursquare.com to see all the places you’ve been, with photos and comments preserved. Remembering is more fun than ever.
We’ve had a ton of fun testing this. A couple notes:

* Be sure your iPhone has foursquare push notifications turned on so you’ll know when your friends leave you a comment.
* Photos on check-ins are only visible to your friends (and the networks you share to, like Facebook and Twitter). Tip and venue photos are open to the community. And, as you’d expect, comments are only visible to your friends.

A few of our partners have done an amazing job getting the new photos feature integrated for today. Photos from Instagram pushed to foursquare will now be check-ins with photos (rather than just check-ins). Sightings on Foodspotting will be check-ins with your food photos. And picplz is the first service to allow check-in photos on both iPhone and Android. Soon to follow: we’ve got the new foursquare for Android coming later this week, Palm (thanks to @zhephree) and BlackBerry in January, and the rest of the major platforms in early 2011. And the API will be ready for all developers later this week!

There are a couple features we weren’t able to fit in for this release but we’re working to launch soon. These include sharing photos (to Facebook and Flickr), an easier way to keep track of all the comments you’re getting, and a more useful place to store all your old photos (right now, it’s all on that history page). Stay tuned for those!

In the meantime, enjoy photos and comments, and have fun out there!”