Prime Video finally has an interface that lives up to its competitors
Amazon is synonymous with speed, good prices, and great customer service. But it’s also the antithesis of order. Its store is quite chaotic, and that characteristic entropy has also spread to its content platform. This week we’ll say goodbye to the old Prime Video interface for TVs and welcome the new updated version. In this article we will break down this new platform interface a bit and highlight both its successes and its errors:
Sidebar design: we like it
A ritual that we all tend to do when looking for something to watch on a streaming platform is navigate down looking for new things. Amazon had a big unfinished business at that point. If you started to scroll down, you had a hard time getting back to the top lashes.
At the design level, the navigation bar is now located on the left. Shifting feels much neater and less claustrophobic if you drift too far down.
Free / paid icon: we like it
The horizontal lines of the interface until now were organized based on whether or not the content was available on Prime. Now just a icon that will tell us if it is in Prime or a shopping bag in case you have to go through the checkout. Another success that simplifies and makes more minimalist the interface.
Login: we don’t like it
Other services like HBO Max, Disney+ or Netflix have worked to make the main screen of their app fun. Upon entering this new version of Prime Video, the first screen remains practically unchanged and it still feels old. They should have given that section a body and paint job too.
Carousel and subscriptions: we like it
Until now, all horizontal lines were identical. Fortunately, this has radically changed. The new interface is organized with a first line in which we have the content that we have already started to see. Subsequently, we have a carousel of Amazon Originals titles with vertical format that attract a lot of attention. If we leave the cursor, the screen expands and they will show us a small video fragment.
A little further down, we’ll see quick icons of our subscriptions. To the right of these icons, there will be subscription recommendations, which we liked because they don’t bother us too much. Going down a bit more, now the screen will split again and we’ll have a detail view of each series or movie. This interface is very reminiscent of Tizen TV OS, and is quite well implemented.