Evernote competitor Springpad has updated its Android app today, revealing version 2.1 to the Market.  It’s improvements revolve around several user-requested upgrades, but there are a series of new widgets that take advantage of the Android platform in particular.  These widgets are configurable according to the type of interaction you’d like to take, making them specific to user needs, be it a photo upload, or adding a task.

There are two main widgets that have been added to the Springpad Android app, including a Save It widget and  List It widget, which are both customizable.  Choose what type of item you’d like to save, creating a one-click option on the home screen, with the Save It widget.  For one-click access to certain Springpad items, such as incomplete tasks, choose the List It widget.

The third major update is also specific to Android’s platform, which is a cross-browser sharing feature that helps to unify the Springpad experience.  If you visit a retail site using the Android browser, you can bookmark it just as you would using the PC version.  What Springpad does on the back end is structure the bookmarked item so that its metadata is organized into your account accordingly.

The widgets may seem like a minor update, but for a productivity app, there’s certainly a great deal of thought behind their customization, access and usability. And the cross-browser sharing is also a feat in productivity enhancement, leveraging unique aspects of Android’s OS.  The cross-browser sharing capability, for instance, isn’t possible at all for Safari, meaning this perk can’t be incorporated into Springpad’s iOS apps at all.

“Users ask us for the feature, but it’s not something we can really do,” explains Jeff Janer, Springpad CEO.  “It’s a major differentiator between Android and iOS.  On Android, they haven’t done a great job making developers aware that the [data in/data out] capabilities exist.  We know people don’t live in our app, so it’s important for us to create the feature and let them know it’s available.”

There are actually a slew of other Android-specific features that Springpad is able to take advantage of, from RSS and calendar feed integration, associated to an event or an alarm, run through Google Reader for a specific data type.  Janer exclaims that they’re almost becoming a data router, but its a necessary challenge considering Springpad’s goals around auto-organizing and actionizing your bookmarked items.

As Springpad looks to scale, it’s also finding that Android users are twice as likely to sign up as iOS users.  Janer attributes this to Android’s superior discoverability for app placement, as well as Google’s willingness to work closely with developers, giving Springpad’s team early access to features, and involving them in related events.  “I think the way the Android Market has evolved, where there is no approval process, to a certain extent the cream does rise to the top,” Janer goes on.  “The fact that we’ve got a polished app is a big plus, and the word-of-mouth has been really helpful.”