I wish I shared your optimism. To date, all revisions to the new UI have been been band-aids, instead of a consideration of the way that the browser extension differs from the other apps (and specifically, in how it differs from a mobile app).
It seems to be that nothing has changed in what appears to be the guiding design principle for the browser extension — to make it as similar as possible to the mobile apps. This is why the main navigation buttons appear at the bottom (where they are easily accessible by thumb presses when using the mobile app), and why the boxes and buttons have such large margins and padding (to reduce fat-finger errors on a touch screen).
Here is an example of what the extension UI could look like if it was reimagined with its actual usage patterns in mind (and free from the constraint of having to mimic the mobile app UI):
Note the navigation bar at the top, and the more efficient use of space (higher information density).