When it comes to keeping up with posts on Google+, I don’t tend to use the Android or iOS apps. I’m more of a browser and therefore I use the mobile web version, since I feel its a better and more integrated experience for all of Google’s products.
Unfortunately, the native apps for Google+ seem to have been getting more love from the mobile team as of late, so it was nice to see the announcement today that the team has refreshed the mobile web experience for the product.
In a post from Google PM Tom Charytoniuk, he discussed a complete overhaul of Google+ for the web:
Keeping up with Google+ on the go just got easier. We launched a newer, cleaner design of the Google+ experience for mobile web and support for 60 locales. Now it is easier to find, enjoy, and share the content you care about in Bengali, Icelandic, Swahili and more!
Check it out at plus.google.com on your mobile browser – you should see the updated web app if you’re on an Android, iOS, or Blackberry 7 device.
I’ve found that the native apps for Google+ are still a bit buggy, especially the one for iOS. Sorting through my stream is a bit herky-jerky, so I’ve relied solely on the mobile web version. The refresh seems like a pretty big one and includes some redesigned navigation and better speed overall:
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Hopping in and out of your stream to comment and +1 items is a much cleaner and quicker experience, although you will miss out on native-only features for Google+ like instant photo and video upload and Hangouts if you opt to use the web version. The other reason why I enjoy using the web version is that jumping between Gmail, Calendar, and search is a snap.
Until the Google+ team gets serious about creating versions specifically for Android and iPad tablets, I’ll continue to use the web version. This web refresh absolutely flies on my first-gen iPad so this is the way to get around Google’s slowness when it comes to a native iPad version.
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