With the new update now out for Android users in the form of the APK, a lot of QoL things have been added to improve on the user experience. I'd figure I'd highlight these in a post:
1) The New Appraisal System
So, appraisal has been substantially modified to not only give you a better overview of the mon's IVs, but it is also faster when checking Pokémon in your storage. The Team Leader also tells you when and where you caught it as a bonus!
When you appraise, you are now met with a series of bars that narrow down the IV of the Pokémon.
Since each IV has a defined length in the chart, you can now narrow down every single IV by memorizing these thresholds and eyeballing your Pokémon, which will help massively for low level Pokémon or fringe cases where you can't tell if the stat is 13 or 14.
There is also a stamp on the top left that has stars and changes colors based on the IV total of the Pokémon. For example, a 100% Pokémon will have a red stamp with 3 stars. The breakdown is as follows:
0 stars: IV of 0%-49%
1 star: IV of 51%-64%
2 stars: IV of 67%-80%
3 stars IV of 82%-100%
You can also use the appraisal on Pokémon that are also in gyms, which you previously couldn't do.
Overall, a very much welcomed change that should change the way we view IVs going forward and decreases the reliance on 3rd party apps.
2) New Search Strings
The new update has brought a few select search strings to improve usability. These are:
A) IV Tiers:
By searching either 0*, 1*, 2*, 3* or 4*, you are able to look up Pokémon with specific IV ranges - these are based on the appraisal tiers we are already familiar with. These are:
0* = IV of 0-49%
1* = IV of 51%-64%
2* = IV of 67%-80%
3* = IV of 82%-98%
4* = IV of 100%
You can combine them and also use them to do things like sort by IVs or mass transfer. Particularly useful for Community Days!
B) Gender
Gender is now a search term. Male, Female, and Genderless are the options that will pull up all Pokémon with the specified criteria.
C) Shadow and Purified
I'll elaborate on the new additions to the upcoming event further down, but the new update includes search strings for both Shadow and Purified Pokémon, meaning you can search for all of your Shadow Pokémon or Purified Pokémon. They both have icons to identify them as well.
3) New Charge Move Mechanics for PvP
Tap fest galore and potential carpal tunnel syndrome are a thing of the past with the new mechanics! If anyone is familiar with Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs, the new Charge Moves are done in a similar fashion: To charge them up, simply follow the patterns that the type bubbles outline and you charge the move! This should be a welcomed change that will lead people to paying a bit more attention to their PvP battles.
On another note, the UI for PvP was also redesigned! It looks much cleaner now.
4) Charge Move Attack Button moved to the bottom
Straightforward, but no more accidental purchasing of a move when powering up Pokémon!
5) Cherubi Evolution
Cherubi can now evolve into Cherrim-Overcast or Cherrim-Sunshine, rather than just Overcast. Not confirmed if it is random or if it is tied to weather (evolve in Clear for Sunshine).
6) Shadow Pokémon Update
QoL updates aside, this new feature is pretty much ready to be rolled out as
Niantic and the official Pokémon Twitter are now teasing it, and we have seen some new additions to the code in regards to this. The community dataminer Chrales has put these assets into a custom server to show the general populace.
The appearance of Shadow Pokémon is very reminiscent of the GameCube games, with the shadowy aura being the most distinguishable feature, as well as red, angry eyes - every species found so far seems to have these characteristics.
Here's another example comparing a Shadow Bulbasaur, a regular Alolan Vulpix, and the icon for Shadow Pokémon.
Based on what we know so far, these Pokémon will have the move Frustration and
will seemingly cost far more to power-up in terms of Candy / Stardust. 3x more Stardust / Candy seems to be the norm.
Here is a Purified Bulbasaur and the accompanying icon that goes with it, which is not very interesting. From what we know, these Pokémon learn Return, lose the exorbitant Stardust / Candy cost, and "grow stronger" - presumably either an increase in IVs or level.
Now, to close, the known list of Shadow Pokémon when we first heard about this feature was a bit small, with some select Kanto species and things like Wurmple and Mudkip.
Now, the list has increased substantially as of 2 hours ago, with Pokémon such as Articuno, Mawile, Magnezone, Tyranitar, and Shuckle featuring. Based on this, we now officially have more Shadow Pokémon in Go than in Colosseum or XD combined.
This is going to be a huge part of Go, and I presume we will either see this around Mudkip Day this week, or at worst during Yokohama's Go Fest. Let's get hype!