Hmm, I think I've seen it look like that from time to time, although I'm on the beta version of the Google app, so it can be hard to tell if subtle differences are due to that. You definitely can't swipe away cards any more, so if that's another change you noticed, then that would be consistent with the changeover to the newer format.
The forums have generally been acting up for quite some time now, in an intermittent fashion. When they glitch or are sluggish, sometimes it's due to something on the back end being updated.