Despite being by far the best way to get games and apps on any platform in the smartphone world, the App Store has had its problems. The biggest being the way it keeps booting you out to the home screen when you buy an individual app. Second biggest: having to re-input your Apple ID details when you want to update apps already existing on your iPhone. That, and the layout has been pretty much the same since its inception.

Take a look at the new design:

The Featured panel has completely changed. Now, there are three rows: “New”, “What’s Hot” and “Top Apps”. Of course, you can select individual categories by selecting the icon on the top left hand corner. Then, along the dock at the bottom is the usual: Top Charts, Genius, Search and Updates. Top Charts shows the top selling free, and paid apps as well as the top grossing. So, good apps are still just as easy to find, it’s just that the App Store has been made a little prettier.

Updating or downloading previously purchased apps has become a breeze. You get the list of apps, and when you hit “install” it does it right there in the App Store. No longer do you get kicked on to your home screen. You can scroll down your list confident that everything’s being taken care of. It’s about time Apple addressed this. So glad they did. Another positive note: I didn’t have to type in my password for any of my previously purchased apps, and you won’t have to with any updates either – ever. Cool, right?

Since this is still a beta version of the platform, we can’t expect everything to work. Genius is one of those that hasn’t made it yet. Genius (when working) will give you a list of apps that should suit you down to the ground, based on your previous purchases and ratings. Next to Genius is the search menu, just in case you’re looking for something specific.

All in all, it’s a fantastic redesign. Not only does it look more polished, but, it’s a much cleaner and more seamless experience.