Spotify has been around the mobile scene for a while now, but Android users have been dealing with being treated like second-rate citizens compared to their iOS counterparts. Not anymore as Spotify has relaunched on Google Play with full ICS support and other features that make the iOS version so popular.
While the newly updated Spotify app will work on any Android device from 2.3 onward, you’re going to want an ICS phone to take full advantage of all the great new features in Spotify. Beyond the 4.0 integration, the new Spotify app has all-new slide-out navigation that makes it easier to find what you’re looking for. It also comes with a widget to control Spotify from the home screen.
As for the actual inner workings of the app, it finally has crossfade and gapless playback settings. Even better, the new Spotify includes an “extreme” sound quality for streaming music at 320kbps. There’s also last.fm scrobbling and support for playlist folders.
Some of the other odds and ends that you can find in the new Android app include a new social element that lets you see friends’ profile pages and playlists. There’s also the ability to see artist imagery in high resolution. Finally, the app is just faster and more stable than past versions.
Gustav Södertröm, VP Products at Spotify, said: “For all our Android users, this Spotify update is a huge leap forward. We’ve rebuilt it from top to bottom, making it faster, slicker and much better looking.”
Of course, to use all of these new great features, it’s required that you get Spotify Premium. You get a 48-hour free trial upon downloading the app, but you can extend that to 30 days through a special offer. To get the new Spotify, just hit up Google Play and download it to your device today.