An updated version of Google Play Music has landed, bringing with it some very interesting and much-asked-for features. Like what? we hear you ask. Well, for starters, it looks like the music-streaming service is set to team up with Google’s Clock app to finally bring musical alarms — although its important to note that the feature hasn’t been added yet, just that code has been added to the app suggesting that may soon happen.
The updated version of the app also seems to be a fair bit smaller than the previous app — so it’ll take up a lot less space on your device, saving precious space for more downloaded music.
The new features were discovered in an Android Police app teardown, showing that the app has been slimmed down by 10 percent, which can be attributed to the loss of some images and layouts.
Another new addition is the new “Recents” menu item, which allows you to go back and look at things you’ve recently listened to. This doesn’t replace the “Recents” button on the app’s home screen — instead it just adds another way to access recently played music. When you press on the new menu item, you’ll also be presented with a new screen — although it’s not all that exciting, and just shows music that you’ve listened to in the recent past.
A few other design tweaks have also been added to the app’s interface — such as, for example, a new music visualizer that replaces the “Play” button on an album or track after it starts playing, making it more obvious that you’re listening to a particular track.
Last but not least is that the app startup screen now only shows the app icon, doing away with the words “Google Play.” As Android Police notes, this could signal Google relaxing a little on its branding — or it could simply have been done because it makes the splash screen look a little less cluttered.
