Launchers are one of the quickest, easiest, cheapest and sometimes most effective ways to change the behavior of your Android device and make it feel like a new phone. The part of Nokia, which Microsoft didn’t acquire in their recent sale, has released their version of a contextual launcher called Z Launcher in a limited access Beta.
The launcher is a predictive setup which puts your most recently used and most heavily used apps on your home screen for quick access, and surprisingly, it works pretty well. The beta is available for Phones only at the moment, further, the list of phones supported within the beta is fairly limited at this stage, only the Nexus 5, Galaxy S5, Galaxy S4 or Galaxy S3, Moto X, HTC One or Sony Xperia Z1 are supported. Looking at the list of supported handsets, it’s clear that Nokia is aiming at the most popular mainstream devices that are still in peoples hands, in the hop of getting some good feedback on the concept.
If you’re keen to check it out, head over to their website and sign up for the beta. If you’re still not sure, check out the demo video below and see what you think.
What launcher do you run on your phone? Stock or third party?
Why has no-one asked — what the hell are Nokia doing making Android apps? I reckon this means we are likely to see them attempt to return to relevance by making Android phones ones the deal with MS allows them to again. 🙂
Tried it out, it’s nice but I think I prefer my original HTC launcher, with Cover as my lockscreen.
For those who have rooted phones, note that it refuses to work on rooted devices.
But there is a workaround, if you use the XposedFramework, there is a module there called RootCloak. Once you install that and follow the instructions, you can use Z Launcher.
Good spot…
Believe it or not, my Nexus 5 isn’t rooted! O.o