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Google's latest app is a slick one, but will it be a home run?
Google+ (pronounced "Google Plus") is still pretty fresh on the scene. It's barely a week old as of this writing, actually, and still in a relatively closed beta process. But it's definitely been a trial by fire. We've read about it, we've talked about it, and shoot, the app has even gotten it's first second update in the Market, so now it's time for a thorough rundown of Google's latest baby, mobile-style.
Join me after the break to see what the hype's all about, how Google is doing things right, and why you should still lust for an invite (but without spamming your email!).
Take another look at that image above. That's the Android app for Google+. The interface is sleek and familiar, kind of akin to its competitor, Facebook. Icons are arranged in the same grid format, icons are simple are cartoonish, but it all feels very clean and very Google.
It's your first impression of the app after signing in, and I think Google made the right choice in their presentation. It's not obscure enough to be off-putting but not so similar it looks like a blatant rip-off. Get used to this screen, cause you'll be seeing it a lot (until you go to other parts of the app, that is).
The Stream
The Stream concept in Google+ is a really cool one, and it's implemented just as well on mobile as it is online. If it looks like a News Feed, that's because it is. Everything that's been shared with you (from someone else) as well as anything you post to anyone in any of your Circles goes here. It's a nice catch-all, keeping everything on one screen, but it runs the risk of being cluttered.
Sharing is as simple as clicking the pencil icon, typing up a post and selecting which circles you want to share it with. By default, your sharing starts off with "Your circles" being up, but you can delete that and choose specific Circles of yours (if you know who you want to share with) or even select individual's names or email addresses (if they're not on Google+). You can also share your location or attach an image to your post, via the large camera and album buttons.
By sliding your Stream to the left, you'll be able to view all the publicly shared posts that were around your location. You might not know any of these folks (chances are you won't), but you'll still be able to see their stuff because they've made it public. Google+ will automatically determine a rough location even if you're not using GPS, so don't expect to see people's posts from another city.
Another part of the location feature is the ability to check-in places, straight through Google+. It's not Foursquare, Gowalla, nor Facebook Places, but it's own, independent location-sharing component. To do so, press the check icon from your Streams menu and you'll be taken to another screen with locations you're close to.
The Incoming screen kind of eludes me in purpose. It's for showing the posts of people who are following me, without having to follow them back. I know they've all added me, so if it's a separate wall to see all of the Creepy McStalkersons who've added you but you refuse to add, I guess that's all right.
As we've mentioned before, how Google+ determines what posts jump to the top of the Stream is kind of confusing. Any new activity (i.e. comments) will force the old content back to the top. It's definitely not the best system, and Google has already said it's rolling out tweaks for it this week. So don't sweat it for the mobile app.
Another thing to consider is that while you can share content with anyone in your Circles (all circles, specific circles, and even just specific people), if you're having a one-on-one conversation with someone via posting, it ends up dominating what you see for a while. For this reason, it looks like Google needs to add a dedicated inbox/messaging feature just to keep things organized, unless they present a compelling reason to keep things as they are.
The photos
The Photos option in Google+ is really pretty stellar. When you open it up, you're shown the above menu (but with thumbnails loaded). The "From your circles" album contains all the pictures that have been shared with you by anyone in your Circles, and the thumbnail is actually a rolling slideshow of everything you can see.
Photos of you is, obviously, photos of you. Your albums has all of your albums, whether public or private, that are linked up to Picasa. From here, you can decide to share more pictures, comment, or just check them out.
The photos from your phone are pictures that you didn't take with your camera, but uploaded to Google+/Picasa from your phone's internal memory. That's an awesome feature because it doesn't restrict you to only sharing pictures you've taken live. The camera button in the top-right of the screen opens your camera to share pictures via Instant Upload.
Instant Upload is an option in the settings menu that gives you the opportunity to have any picture you take on your phone instantly uploaded to a private album attached to your Google+ account, so not only is it already in the cloud, it's one click away from sharing with your cohorts. A few of us demoed it the first night we got into Google+ and it works really well.
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