The new version of News has been built using Google’s unifying Material Design language, and it places a much heavier emphasis on images and videos.
It brings together all of Google’s news products, such as Google Play Newsstand and Google News & Weather, into one place to make it easier to find stories that interest you.
The new version of News has been built using Google’s unifying Material Design language, and it places a much heavier emphasis on images and YouTube videos. The firm says it’s also lighter and easier to navigate.
Crucially, however, it’s also designed to be completely tailored to you. Google says it will use AI to not only surface stories that you’re interested in, but ensure you only see relevant and high-quality content.
There’s a section called “For You”, which shows you a briefing of five stories that Google News has automatically organised for you, based on topics you’re interested in.
There’s also new Snapchat Stories-style Newscasts, which you can swipe through for key details and snippets before you actually open an article.
For more long-term stories, such as the situation in hurricane-hit Puerto Rico, Google News will show you “Full Coverage”, a Timeline of key moments, including news stories, tweets, videos, local reports, FAQs and opinion pieces, all picked by AI. What’s more, Full Coverage will show everyone the same content.
The new version of Google News is rolling out to desktop PC, Android and iOS users today, and will be available to everyone next week. It replaces Google Play Newsstand on mobile and desktop, and the Google News & Weather app on mobile.
