Since the launch of People on the Google Play Store client, Google+ has been heavily integrated. Using your Google+ profile and cover photo for your Play profile, fetching a list of people in your circles and highlighting +1s within the store. That is still the case in the latest version rolling out, apart from the handling of profile links.
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| Old |
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| New |
As you can see in the screenshots, in previous versions of the client, there was a Google+ logo next to the "View profile" button, which when tapped would do the obvious - take you to that person's Google+ profile. In Google Play Store v5.7.6, the Google+ logo has been replaced by a vanilla profile icon, used in the Material Design guidelines. Tapping on "View profile" now brings up a contact card used by Android.
Data brought from Google+ is still used in the contact cards though, such as recent Google+ posts and mutual people added to circles. I hate to be "that guy", but I sense that it is just another way the company is taking the social platform away from the spotlight. Here's something else I spotted, tapping the three-dot menu on a contact card allows you to edit the "Google profile"; Note the lack of "+" there too.
I wouldn't say that this change is entirely negative, it is actually more useful in that you can see more information and are given more ways to engage, whether that is via Google+, Hangouts, SMS or email.
I wouldn't say that this change is entirely negative, it is actually more useful in that you can see more information and are given more ways to engage, whether that is via Google+, Hangouts, SMS or email.
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| Old: Tapping "View profile" would take you directly to G+ |
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| New: Now when tapping "View profile", you're greeted with a Google contact card served up by Android |
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