Google Play Newsstand, which is Google’s app that allows you to follow your favorite news websites, as well as magazines, has just received a pretty big overhaul. It already had some material design aspects, however this update brings even more material design aspects to the app and pictures are now front-and-center. Additionally, there is a new ‘For You’ section that is personalized based on the articles and magazines that you’ve read. Making it easier to discover new websites, and also find even more news that you may be interested in.
This new ‘For You’ section actually replaces the ‘Read Now’ section. While this does give you recommendations based on your interests, it does also suggest content based on your web history. A bit like the content you’d find in Google Now. They have also added a “Briefing” section which will bring you the “Top stores you need to know” and also has the ability to send you a notification with an overview of the news every morning. This is similar to what Yahoo News Digest does, where it brings you 10 articles to read in the morning and the evening. This way you aren’t spending your entire day reading the news, and you only get the news that you are interested in.
There are also options to hide news from a certain source, as well as showing less stories about a specific topic. Additionally, you can opt to go to that source’s website, and even find out more about the topic that you are reading about. Allowing you to find out just about everything you need to know about these specific topics. When searching for items, you can see topics that are trending now, as well as topics, news sources and magazines. When searching for a specific term, you’ll see topics, news sources and magazines as well. They are sorted a bit like the Play Store would when you search for things in there. The update to Google Play Newsstand is rolling out now, although it is a slow, staged rollout so you may not actually get the update for a few days.