Apple just rolled out an updated App Store for iOS 6 beta users and though it’s a lot prettier on the surface, it’s also going to be a lot more annoying to use. Why? Because it’s going to take forever to find an app by searching.
Apple has eliminated the old list of app results and replaced it with separate, swipe-able “pages” for each app result. That means you’re getting less app results per glance. The new design isn’t without good intentions though. You get to see an actual screenshot of the app along with the usual icon, app name, price and reviews but the problem is the screenshot hogs up too much space. Swiping from app to app is like changing Safari tabs on the iPhone (or cards on webOS, rest in peace). So what’s the problem?
Well let’s say the App Store’s inefficient search engine doesn’t have the app you want to download among the top results. Before you could zoom through a list, now you’ll have to slowly sift through the “tabs”. It’s like looking at a deck of cards one by one as opposed to the entire deck fanned out.
Here’s what the new App Store search result looks like on the iPhone, courtesy of 9to5Mac:
As you can see, you’re only on 1 of 118 results. Woo-hoo. The right side of the image shows podcasts being shown on the iTunes store. The picture at the very top is the redesigned search results page for the iPad (which is better since there’s more screen real estate). [9to5Mac, CultofMac]