Within weeks of its announcement of its impressive new Google+ app for the users of Android-based handsets, Internet search giant Google has now released its first Google+ app for the users of the popular Apple iPad.

Fairly akin to the Google+ app for Android tablets in its overall styling, the new Google+ iPad app features a near-identical navigation, as well as the same big, photo-heavy rectangular blocks that fly into place with the users' taps to see past posts.

Users of the Google+ iPad app can access the main menu - hiding below the screen's left side - to begin a video-chat Hangout from within the app. Moreover, they also need to merely tap the header at the top of the app to change which of their Circle's posts they want to view at a particular time.

While Google's new iPad-specific version of its social network app essentially boasts an experience similar to its counterpart app for Android tablets, one of the most noteworthy additions which Google has brought on for the iPad version of its Google+ app is the ability to use the pinch-to-zoom gesture for the expansion of individual posts; thereby making it easier to either comment on them or +1 them.

With the functioning of the Google+ iPad app being quite similar to that of the iPhone app, the iPad version also features controls which enable the users to access the different aspects of the Google+ social network, including their own profile, circles, stream, and account settings.