A Look at Google+ Collections on Android

Google+ Collections was announced today, and is currently rolling out to the Android app - no update required (as long as you're on 5.4).

We're still giddy with excitement about today's Google+ Collections launch, especially after playing with it on the Google+ Android app, which is currently rolling out server-side on versions 5.4 and above.

The Collections experience on mobile is fantastic; It's fluid and beautiful to explore, and it almost feels like it was developed with a phones first, desktops second mentality (the desktop experience is still pretty solid).

We're going to run you through getting started with Collections on Android, from creating to sharing. So if you're still waiting until the feature is rolled out to you, feel free to take a gander below.

First-run Tutorial

Prepared to be bugged with the first-run tutorial

When you first run into a collection, whether that is via the menu or as a post on the stream, you'll be welcomed by a short series of screens introducing Collections to those who don't read Google Plus Daily or haven't seen the hype on their Google+ stream. It summarises the experience in a few sentences and does a good job doing so, it looks pretty too!

At the end of the tutorial, it gives you a couple of options to go from there: Create & Customise or Explore other collections. It doesn't matter which one you choose, as you can create and explore any time you please using the navigation menu. 

Creating a Collection

You can create a new collection via the Google+ navigation or sharing menu. If you're an eager beaver and have already created a few collections, they are listed in the sub-menu, and recently visited ones will be in the recent list.

View your collections from the navigation menu

The creation process can't be simpler - After pressing the button, you'll be prompted to enter a name and that is literally it, every other step is optional. Just make sure to touch it up a little by giving it a dash of colour and sticking some content in there.

Editing a Collection

When you dive into a collection, you'll immediately notice that the colour theme on the header extends above the cover photo onto the status bar (Android 5.0+), making for an immersive experience.

Swiping to change colour is a nice touch

You can edit the name, cover and theme of your own collections by tapping the paintbrush icon next to the share and menu buttons. The Google+ team have managed to make even customising your collections easy and quite enjoyable. If you want to freshen things up with a new colour, just swipe and you'll get an instant preview.

Editing from your Android device applies the changes instantaneously on the app and on the desktop web as soon as you hit Done.

Sharing

Collections has been built to play a big part in the overall Google+ experience, and integration is very tight within the Android app. You'll notice that when sharing a post, there's a new Collections tab in which you can choose one of your collections to share to. Just swipe to the left from Circles & People to see the menu.

If you want to share a collection itself, you can do so with a share button next to the menu when viewing a collection. You can share within Google+, or you can share a link to many apps that you have installed on your phone or tablet. This is very handy if you want to give someone a link to one via Hangouts or some other messaging app.

Share within, or outside of Google+

Final Notes

Look for this handy card in a stream near you

Not only will you see posts from the collections you follow in your stream, but also "Featured collections" in its own card. Pressing View all will take you to dozens more collections which you may be interested in following, which you can do with one tap of the Follow button.

Collections is an A+ experience on Android in every way. Browsing, editing and sharing is smooth, and gently encourages you to engage more through clean and clear design, and those delightful animations we all know and love.

Unfortunately, there's no word on when iOS users can grab their hands on a new update incorporating today's big release, but the rollout on Android is over the course of a day or so.

Keep it locked on our site as we feature must-follow collections over the coming days and weeks.

What do you think of the mobile Collections experience? What would you like to see added or improved upon in the future?