Google revamps Play Store; new UI is cleaner, more accessible

After weeks of leaks, Google has begun rolling out a new design for the Play Store. The Store now sports a cleaner user interface, all the categories are now neatly grouped together, and the payment process has undergone some improvements. In a blog post showing off the swanky Card-based layout, Michael Siliski, Group Product Manager for Google Play said that the store was not only simple and clean now, it also makes it easier to find great entertainment faster.

The blog mentions that the rollout process is expected to take a few weeks to complete, so if you are still seeing the older version of Google Play, do not fret. You should be receiving an update any day now.

The new design is pretty image heavy, but is easier on the eyes thanks to ample use of white space in the design. It looks like the home page now no longer contains featured apps but shows off movies and books.

Say hello to a cleaner UI

At the top of the main page are two rows containing three categories each. Siliski writes that similar themed content has now been strung together so it becomes easier for you to discover new apps, movies and books on the Store. As you move down the page, new recommendations will keep popping up on it.

Siliski also wrote that the buying process has been simplified. Although he did not specifically mention what exactly had changed, the blog mentions that you can now “breeze through” the check out process while you’re buying apps or renting movies.

Rumours about the Google Play redesign have been around since last month. A leaked video by Droid Life and a screenshot released by a YouTube employee showed that the Play Store will have a cleaner user interface for the Store.

The revamped store will be available over the next few weeks

The Play Store is also going to be much lighter, as Google recently kicked out about 60,000 low-quality apps from the Play Store in February. It is suspected that the impending store revamp might be the reason behind this spring cleaning.

Unlike Apple’s App Store, Google has given app developers a free hand over the store. While Apple screens every single app that goes up on its Store, Google exercises the “wait and watch” principle. This is not always a good thing, since it allows the inclusion of sub-standard and low quality apps until someone from Google manages to spot and delete them.

Anyone who’s used an Android phone will realise that Google Play is plagued with spammy apps. Apps that spread malware, spread spam, and contain sexually explicit content are always on Google’s radar.

With the release of the revamped Play Store, Google seems to have trained its guns onto these sub-standard apps with a vengeance. It looks like Google is going in for not just a clean look but also a lighter load on its back with this update.