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What does the future of digital magazine publishing look like? More than a few folks think it bears a strong resemblance to Flipboard, which marries RSS and social in a uniquely engaging way. That said, they’re promising big changes with this update and here’s where the spin meets the road.

Flipboard 1.0.2 (iTunes, free) addresses many of the wants users, including yours truly, have expressed since this groundbreaking iPad-only app shipped a couple months back:

• More sections: Add up to 21 sections to Flipboard, delete unused accounts

• Faster launch: Start browsing content immediately, limited offline browsing

• Fresher content: Automatic refresh when the new content is ready. Loads more pages when you get close to the end of a section

• Improved layout: Smarter page layouts. Webpage snapshots are shown when text preview isn’t available

• Better recommendations: Easier to browse recommended sections and add custom feeds

• Retweet with comment, more reliable video playback, view original webpage for cover images, better Facebook feed fidelity

More user definable sections is a welcome addition as perhaps the biggest limitation of earlier versions was the fact that you could only choose a couple sources of your own.

Faster? Yeah, it’s feeling faster at launch and content seems in general to load more quickly. Also, the content panes have been tweaked for easier reading and the app seems “crisper” all the way ’round — kudos.

‘Fresher with better recommendations’ is sort of like saying “Tobasco Sauce, now with more zing and pizzaz!” Does more mean better? I believe yes, because it wasn’t unusual for previous versions to feel stale.

That said, this might be the last “easy” Flipboard update.

Finé

I’m liking the more choices part, as well as the crisper and snappier UI — these things are undeniably good. Whether they’ve successfully tweaked the sauce is something we need to keep an eye on…

What’s your take?