Apple updated the iPad App Store last week with a handful of new features designed to increase usability, particularly for users who are a little more selective about the apps they like to put on their iPad.

The biggest change is the addition of a Genius Recommendations section to the App Store app. When you launch the App Store, you’ll see a Genius Recommendations button on the bottom toolbar. After opting in and inputting your password, you’ll be given access to the Recommendations section of the store, which give you recommendations based on the apps you have already purchased.

While it sounds like a basic improvement in theory, the recommendations it gives you appear to be little more than a random app that falls under the same category as the one you own with little to no nuance at all. Based on the use of NPR for iPad, Genius Recommendations suggests AZ Immigration Law, an app that contains the text of the controversial new law in Arizona, AZ SB 1070. Based on the use of Flipboard it recommends AppAdvice. All these pairings seem to have in common is that they are in the same category. What is the point?

Another promising addition that falls short of expectation is the new “Try Before You Buy” section on the “Free on the App Store” page. Unfortunately, while the wording suggests that there are actually bona fide demos to be had, the section merely lists all the apps with free “lite” versions of full, paid versions. A demo section would have a myriad of positive effects, not least of which would be curbing the deluge of one star reviews apps get when users purchase them and find that an app doesn’t do precisely what they imagined it did. Unfortunately, that’s not what users got with this addition.

The only change that really adds meaningful functionality is the addition of the “iPad Upgrades” tab to the Genius Recommendations section. It lists the iPad-optimized versions of any iPhone apps you’ve purchased with your iTunes account. For long-time iPhone users picking up an iPad, this can actually be indispensable for making a smooth transition for one to the other.