Earlier this month, photo sharing service 500px took on competitor Flickr with a mid-tier image hosting plan, and now it's expanding its mobile offering with a new native Android app. Available as a free download for tablets and smartphones running Android 2.2 and above, the app offers the ability to browse and view the service's expansive library of user-submitted photographs, complete with EXIF information and location data. The app provides access to collections of popular and editors' choice photos, and allows users to log in to manage their own photos, share to Twitter and Facebook, and view posts from friends. Kindle Fire and GetJar versions of the new Android app will be available soon.

The company has also issued an update to its iPad app, including a new retina display optimized user interface and support for in-app photo purchases. For $2.99 photos can be licensed and downloaded to your iPad at a resolution of 1920 x 1080, which limits the amount of detail users can appreciate on the iPad's native 2048 x 1536 display. Purchased photos will be linked to your account for access from any device. Interestingly, photo purchasing support has not been included in the Android version at launch.

Both the Android and new iPad app are available for download immediately via Google Play and iTunes.