New Google+ iPhone App Improves Pics, Elevates +1 Button
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Google just overhauled its Google+ iPhone app. Whereas previous updates had been primarily concerned with adding functionality (like video-chat "hangouts"), this time the search giant says it's all about the "sensory" experience.
Google describes the Google+ 2.0.0.558 update (that's really the version number) as taking full advantage of the mobile experience.
"We're not interested in a mobile or social experience that's just smaller," Google's blog post reads. "We're embracing the sensor-rich smartphone (with its touchable screen and high-density display), and transforming Google+ into something more intimate, and more expressive."
The entire interface has been reworked from top to bottom. At launch, the app still takes you to your stream, but every post in that stream now puts photos front and center, with larger, crisper type on text. Importantly, text now overlays the top of photos, saving space. Instead of changing your stream with a swipe, you now tap the "All Circles" menu to change your stream's view.
Click within a post, and the photo or video fills the post, with any accompanying text beneath, links in bold blue text. You'll also the +1 button prominently in the top corner of any post — it stays there no matter how deep you scroll.
The profile and photos pages have changed the least, getting updated with the same fonts as the rest of the system, which appears to be some form of Helvetica.
The iPhone version is rolling out today, and Google says an Android update is coming within the next few weeks. No word on the mobile site, or whether the Google+ will ever get the full iPad-app treatment — though this "immersive" update seems a no-brainer for that platform.
What do you think of the Google+ update? Let us know in the comments.