Steam for Android finally gets a much needed and waited for update. It’s a huge UI update for the app and brings it in-line with Google’s material design guidelines. While the update is not perfect, it’s a whole lot better than it looked before. In addition to the Material design update, other items in the changelog are:
“Changing from one screen to another is faster. Will not use battery when it is inactive. Will not log in unexpectedly. If possible, when resumed, the application will return to the screen it was on. Startup screen can be set. Chat history from other devices is available. Chat history for offline friends is available. Navigation menu has links to Inventory, Library, going offline for chat and logging out. Material design, higher res images, simplified settings, faster on older devices. Other fixes.”
So lots of goodies in this update. You can check out the screenshots from this Imgur album here. If you look at the listing on the Google Play Store, you’ll notice that the screenshots show a very old looking design. Something we saw a lot of before Ice Cream Sandwich made it’s way into our hearts in 2011. So this update has been a long awaited one. Additionally in this update, the slideout drawer has been rearranged, bringing in links for your library, inventory, and more app settings. There’s also supposedly updates for the battery drain. In the changelog, actually, Valve says that the app will no longer use your battery when it is inactive. Which is definitely a welcomed change.
While it’s not 100% material design, it’s a much better experience than what gamer’s have had to deal with for the past few years with the Steam for Android app. As we’ve seen with many other apps, there’s a big update to material design, then a few more smaller ones which bring in more material design elements to the app. We are likely to see that with Steam. So don’t be surprised if version 2.1 is right around the corner, and makes the app even better looking.
Download: Steam for Android v2.0