After several incremental updates were tucked under an unchanging user interface, Valve has released a new APK (Android Application Package) for its Android app that includes a shiny new coat of paint along with changes under the hood.
The Valve's latest APK, released on Thursday, brings its Steam Android app up to version 2.0.7, from APK 1.1.10.
The up-to-date version of Steam's Android app has a cleaner, flatter user interface that appears to have taken design cues from Google's Material Design scheme. It looks more at home in Android than its previous appearance, which looked like it belonged in a past version of Apple's iOS.
Along with a flatter face, the app has taken more cues from the current version of Steam's desktop application. There are more sliding tiles to help gamers browse video games in the digital storefront and more tabs to modify what's displayed in current space.
The chat area looks cleaner with the new APK, but the library section seems to have enjoyed the least amount of visual changes out of all of the app's sections.
Here's a rundown of the APK's mostly confirmed changelog, though a few items are missing in the following list:
–Changing from one screen to another is faster
–Will not use battery when it is inactive
–Will not log in unexpectedly
–If possible, when resumed, the application will return to the screen it was on
–Startup screen can be set
–Chat history from other devices is available
–Chat history for offline friends is available
–Navigation menu has links to Inventory, Library, going offline for chat and logging out
–Material design, higher res images, simplified settings, faster on older devices
The new APK for Steam for Android comes on the heels of another Steam Summer Sale and another record for Valve's digital distribution platform. Last week, Steam set a new personal best for concurrent users online.
Over 10 million concurrent users pushed Steam past its previous record of 9.5 million users online together.
The usual heavy hitters attracted much of Steam's traffic to push it past its previous record. Valve's Dota 2 and CounterStrike: Global Offensive drew the most concurrent users, attracting peak counts of 778,251 and 590,008 respectively. Those figures represent player counts during the 10 million player record. Both games have scored more concurrent users than the aforementioned counts.
