Typically we save all the Android app updates for Taylor’s weekly Top 10 Android app updates article, but we thought that a complete redesign of the Pandora app for Android deserved its own post. Pandora has gone back to the drawing board and has rebuilt its Android app based on Google’s Android app guidelines, which the company laid out this past January.
The new design feels simple, intuitive and a bit Facebookish, but Pandora has also used this redesign as an opportunity to deliver new functionality to its users. Users now have access to song history, adding the ability to review, rate and even bookmark songs they’ve already listened to. Pandora has also integrated song lyrics, artist biographies and suggestions for similar tracks or artists.
While most the new features make the application more enjoyable, Pandora has doubled down on the number of ads they serve throughout the app. From what we can tell, on-screen ads pop up a lot more frequently than they used to. Even if you close out of the ad, Pandora displays a bar across the bottom of the screen that promotes “Pandora One for ad-free listening.” We know Pandora needs to make money, but the number of ads in the redesigned app seems excessive.
If you have not used Pandora in a while, we’d recommend giving it another try. There’s still some room for improvement, but the difference between the old app and the new redesign is like night and day.
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