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Google Play’s new Android Excellence collections highlight the very best in apps

Google Play’s new Android Excellence collections highlight the very best in apps

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What Google deems the cream of the crop

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Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Today, Google announced an expansion to its Play Store with its new Android Excellence program. Curated by Google’s editorial team, Android Excellence features rotating collections of apps that deliver a superb Android user experience, utilize many of Google’s “best practices,” and “have great design, technical performance, localization, and device optimization.” Broken down into two categories of apps and games, Android Excellence appears in Google’s newly revamped Editor’s Choice section.

The announcement comes after Apple’s recent WWDC debut of its overhauled App Store, with a new interface and shifted focus on discovery and how-tos. It also has a new way to highlight apps — the App Store’s upgraded landing page will feature one new app a day, opening possibilities for up-and-coming developers and encouraging daily visits.

While Google’s Android Excellence program is more extensive, the lists will only be updated quarterly, a move that might not serve users as much as it does developers (who can reap exposure for months). Also a bummer — there are no descriptions to explain why editors select apps for Android Excellence, the way they do for other Google Play categories, like “5 Travel Apps for Your Next Adventure.”

Regardless, if you want to see what Google deems the best of the best, Android Excellence kicks off today in the Google Play Store. Below, their first round of selects.

Android Excellence Apps

Android Excellence Games