Almost 3 months ago we announced our new HTML5 widget player. Since then we have spent a lot of time gathering your feedback, testing, bug fixing, talking to the browser vendors and improving the user interface. We were glad to hear about your experiences using the widget, we have seen an incredible uptake in sharing of the sounds played in the new widgets. With the mobile browser support we were finally able to fullfil one the main feature requests.

From the very beginning of this project we were convinced that we should bring as much of the SoundCloud experience to our widgets as possible, features that go beyond just listening to the sounds.

Today we are adding two major new features to our HTML5 widgets – Comments and Likes. This means that from now on you’re able to comment on sounds embedded anywhere on the web and you can save them as a favorite on SoundCloud too.

Also, we are proud to announce that today we are officially switching our default widget to be the HTML5 widget. We also know that our major partners plan to support it in the near future. Of course the old Flash widget will be still available if you need it as an alternative option.

Here’s a run-down of the new features:

• Follow/unfollow other members of the Community
• Browse profiles and save to favorites
• Receive recommendations for people to follow: your Facebook friends and suggested people
• Access your Dashboard feed
• Seamless playback while browsing

What do you think? We think that’s pretty cool. As always, give us your feedback in the comments below and help spreading the word about SoundCloud Mobile via Twitter.

For those of you who are interested in learning about the technology behind SoundCloud Mobile head over to our Backstage blog for a fresh new post by our developers.

Yeah, we’ve heard you – you’ve been patiently waiting for this one. It was a challenge for us to keep this a secret for a few months and that makes it even more exciting to be finally announcing the release of the official SoundCloud app for Android.

One quick note before we start: we wanted to release the app in time for the holidays and we’ll continue the development of the app so if you’re comparing the features to the ones available on the iPhone version and missing something, don’t worry, new updates will happen rapidly.

SoundCloud Android:

The official SoundCloud Android app lets you easily access, browse and listen to the sounds shared to you while you’re on the road and away from your computer. The app also includes recording functionality that lets you capture any sound around you and instantly save it in the ‘Cloud.  Stay tuned, plenty more to come too.

Features include:

• Record: capture and share your sounds on the go, wherever you are
• Browse, listen to and favorite sounds shared with you exclusively and on your Dashboard
• Visualize your sounds with the SoundCloud waveform and use it to seek inside a track
• Find and follow any SoundCloud user within the app
• Background playback

The next update will include sharing to Facebook & Twitter and also the ability to comment.

To get the app, scan the QR code at the bottom of this post with your Android phone, or open the Android Market Place on your phone, search for “SoundCloud” and download the app for free. Below are some some screenshots of how it looks:

And the QR code for the app:

For the free iPhone version of the app, click here and browse our App Gallery for more mobile, desktop and web apps.

How about that? Let us know in the comments!

Happy Holidays!