We were introduced to Swiftkey’s new experimental arm – Greenhouse – last month with the launch of the lighter weight Clarity Keyboard. It seems that Swiftkey is looking to move beyond the keyboard though, with the launch of a new project through Greenhouse called Hexy Launcher.
As the name suggests, Hexy Launcher is a launcher replacement, but like all these launcher replacements – it’s with a difference. It’s a contextual launcher which will learn your usage patterns to surface apps you use regularly into a different, but Swiftkey says ‘clean and color-coordinated hexagonal design’.
The feature list of Hexy Launcher:
- All your apps arranged in a clean and color-coordinated hexagonal design.
- A central hexagon that contains your apps Hexy thinks are most relevant to you, based on your previous use of apps.
- The ability to quickly filter the apps in your grid using the search bar.
- Options to add widgets for your apps and size them dynamically.
Using Hexy is a pretty smooth experience, at least with scrolling around and checking out your apps. The apps are fairly well laid out and you can always just start typing the name of your app in the search bar at the top to find them even more quickly.
At the bottom left is a small icon which lets you setup a widget panel, or several if you need them, filled with various widgets you normally use. It takes some getting used to, but you’ll eventually be able to resize and position all your widgets to your liking.
The team at Greenhouse at Swiftkey are keen to get your feedback on Hexy. You can download the launcher from Google Play and if you have feedback, let them know on the Hexy VIP Forum, or by using the feedback button in the app.
