After Instagram there is another killer iOS app headed to Android. During the launch event for the Samsung Galaxy S3 in London’s Earl’s Court last week, the Flipboard app was announced exclusively for the new device, with plans to ship to other smartphone later.

But even before the first shipments of the Galaxy S III, someone has leaked the early implementation of Flipboard’s social news reader, giving all Android users access to the exclusive app.

The unofficial version of Flipboard was released on XDA developers forum, and you can download the 2.32mb Flipboard.apk on any Android device.  To install the app, download the file from XDA developer site on your computer, transfer it to mobile device either through a USB cable or through emailing it to yourself, and then install it by browsing the file and clicking on install. It can be also installed via a QR code directly into the mobile device. Make sure to tick “Allow installation of non-Market apps” on your device settings.

Flipboard aggregates content from social networks and other Web sites and presents it in a magazine format. The software acts as a social news reader, and provides social media links in an aesthetically pleasing layout.

The app can be used to read the news and turns all your social-network feeds into a digital magazine. It is already very popular for on iOS, mainly due to its beautiful and smooth interface. It was named iPhone app of the year in 2010.  Flipboard’s large appeal on iOS led Google to create its own applications for social news aggregation: Google RSS and Google Currents.

The version of Flipboard for Android is likely to be similar to the iOS version.  What’s likely for for Android, however, is a prepared widget that you can put on your home screen.

Flipboard recently received the top awards in the social mobile apps categories at this year’s Webby Awards, held earlier this month.

Popular Android Social News Reader Apps

While Flipboard took its sweet and precious time to launch an Android app, several competitors have delivered.  One of the popular apps on Android is Evri, which automatically and constantly indexes millions of topic-specific streams from thousands of different sources, got an instant hit after its debut on Android. With a string of content-specific apps for sports, tech and entertainment news, Evri’s Android app found a niche in appealing to niche audiences. The company plans to introduce app for Amazon Kindle Fire as another entry point into the Android tablet market.

Another great free Android app that adds beautiful resource for current news is Pulse. This app collects multiple streams from your favorite websites based on categories, and then updates the news in each stream every time you open the app.

Flipboard’s Android debut is expected to make it even more popular amongst mobile users.  As we saw with Instagram, its arrival on Android received a tremendous response from users. Since its Android launch, the app has been downloaded over 50 million times.