Pocket Picks round-up - April 6th - Apple iOS game controller rumoured, Instagram comes to Android, SIM-free Galaxy S II last in line to receive Ice Cream Sandwich

Welcome back, gadget fans, to a slightly truncated Easter edition of the Pocket Picks round-up.

Many of you are likely poised to gorge yourself senseless on garishly packaged cocoa-enriched ovulations, in the name of spring, Jesus, rabbits, and any other flimsy justification which helps you to alleviate the guilt of eating too many chocolate eggs.

However, smartphone news waits for no-one, which is why we can bring you word of a new game controller from Apple, more Ice Cream Sandwich updates, and the Android launch of a certain popular photo app.

So brush the brightly coloured foil from your keyboard, and let your eyes pass over this week's Pocket Picks round-up.

Though touchscreen gaming has had an enormous impact on the industry, there are still those who question the legitimacy of a stick-free interface.

If you're a bit of a traditionalist and favour joysticks over gestures, then you'll be delighted by this little bit of hearsay plucked from Anandtech's iPad 3 review.

Apparently, the reviewer has knowledge of "an internal Apple project to bring a physical controller to the market."

If this is true, and Apple does release an official iOS compatible controller, it might go some way to bridging the gulf between mobile gaming enthusiasts and touchscreen sceptics.

Whether it makes it beyond the concept stage is another matter.

After 18 months of jealously eyeing the tilt-shifted, sepia-tinted timelines of their iOS contemporaries, the day has finally come for Android owners to join in the photographic fun.

That's right: Instagram can now be downloaded from the Google Play Store, meaning Google customers are able to play around with a wide range of funky filters and oh-so-hip visual effects.

Interestingly, there has been a reactionary groundswell from some long-time Instagram users, who have been generating anti-Android hashtags and complaining that new users are ruining their neighbourhood.

The vast majority of user are likely unfazed, however, as they're too preoccupied getting just the right depth of field on that arty shot of a tulip in a meadow.

Back in the days of yore, buying a Nexus phone was the best way to jump to the front of the Android OS update queue.

Nowadays, however, big OS updates demand network approval before they can be pushed out to handsets, which means that SIM-free Galaxy S II users have been twiddling their thumbs waiting for a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0).

Now, Samsung has a officially confirmed that the SIM-free model will indeed be the last model to receive the hotly-anticipated update, with the network-locked phones taking priority.

If it's any consolation to non-network Galaxy S II owners, though, the Korean-based manufacturer has told CNET that once the networks have has their fill of ICS, their update will arrive at "very much the same time."