Vine for Android phones updated with unique quick-capture feature

IPhone owners, be jealous: Android users are getting a Vine feature you can’t have.

The Vine app for Android received an update Thursday afternoon that brought it up to date with many new features that were also recently added to the iPhone version of the app.

Those features include a new look for the camera interface that lets users place grid lines; channels that users can categorize their videos into; and the ability to “revine,” where users share others’ videos with their followers -- much like a retweet on Twitter.

PHOTOS: Killed Google products

But perhaps the most interesting new feature for Vine on Android is the addition of a quick-capture widget. That feature lets users place a second icon for Vine that looks like a video camera on the home screen of their devices. When Android users click on that icon, they will instantly go into Vine’s video recording page, rather than the default feed that users see when they open the Vine app normally.

The new quick-capture widget should make it easier for users to record video for Vine of things happening at that moment. But sadly for iPhone users, this is one feature they won’t be able to have.

Unlike Android, Apple doesn’t allow app developers to create widgets that run on its smartphone. The only widgets Apple users do have, such as the ability to quickly tweet or post a Facebook status from the Notification Center, come when Apple works directly with app makers.

For Vine to create something similar to the new quick-capture widget on Android, the Twitter-owned app would have to get creative. Vine could release a second app that opens from the recording screen, or perhaps it could let users set the recording screen as their default page when they launch the Vine app.

Regardless of whatever Vine chooses to do, Android users should feel special: the quick-capture widget is one feature iPhone users won’t get to try.

ALSO:

Sprint’s new plans guarantee unlimited data for life

Nokia focuses on taking photos in latest Lumia 1020 smartphone

Most adults always have smartphone close by, 1 in 10 use it during sex