With Android 5.0, Google said it's not enough to make everything flat and colorful. The company injected animations into certain apps, and it has been rolling out more ever since. According to Googler Kirill Grouchnikov, a bold new one is set to arrive in the next version of the Play Store.

As you can see in the video, each Play Store item turns into a bubble when clicked. That bubble then floats to the top of the screen where it pops (or expands, if you're not feeling the metaphor) into the next screen. The page then shrinks back into a bubble when you're ready to go back.

UPDATE: 2015/05/04 1:58pm PDT BY

As it turns out, this animation is currently limited to TV shows.

This animation will only appear on devices running Android 5.1. This is the result of what is probably a framework bug that doesn't affect the latest version.

Play Store 5.5 is starting to roll out now, so keep your eyes peeled.

UPDATE: 2015/05/04 1:36pm PDT BY

After getting our hands on the APK, we've noticed that the Play Store now surfaces popular opinions above reviews. These appear as small thought bubbles with the number of people who agree listed underneath.

UPDATE: 2015/05/04 1:23pm PDT BY

Look what we have here. It's an APK. Grab it below.

Download

The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.

File Name: com.android.vending-5.5.8-80350800-minAPI9.apk

Version: 5.5.8 (80350800)

MD5: 0f3a5106e6742c68d66b598f618735be

UPDATE: 2015/05/15 12:56am PDT BY

Version 5.5.12 Is Out

Who wants 5.5.8 when there's a newer 5.5.12 out there just waiting to go onto your devices? We didn't spot any notable changes, but 12 is bigger than 8, so that's enough reason to insta-install, amiright? Grab it from APK Mirror.

Source: Google+