Nokia Z Launcher - Sleek, Yet Silm

And yes! Finally Nokia has released an android app after its collaboration with the IT giant Microsoft.  The team at Microsoft Nokia released a beta version of their launcher called the Z launcher. This will be the first Nokia app based on android platform that is exclusive to any android phones. And guess what! The app is best optimized for a product by their counterpart, Google,that is the Nexus 5. The list also includes Samsung Galaxy S5, S4, S3 Htc One , Sony Xperia Z1 and the Moto X. While it is supported on other phones also, the app works best with these devices. The launcher is not yet published on Google Play. The apk file is available from their official website ( www.zlauncher.com)  after a small sign up procedure. It only takes a few moments and believe me, it is worth the signup.  The download number is limited and by the time you are reading this, the download capacity might have already reached the limit. But you can follow @NokiaZLauncher for updates to when more downloads will be available.  This is the reason why they call it a “pre-beta”.

After you download and install the apk file, you can change our home launcher to Nokia Z Launcher. You can find that there is only one non-expandable screen with some default applications. This is the simple nature of the new launcher. These applications aren't fixed. This list changes with the frequency of  the applications you use the most. There aren't any screen extensions to the left or right and swiping it left or right won’t do any good. The screen has a clock at the top left and a events or calendar at the top right. These are pretty much fixed as of now. The top at the bottom are the phone dialer, Google Chrome, Hangouts and Maps by default. The app drawer icon can get you to the apps which are in alphabetical order.

With the apps in alphabetical order, some may think that finding an apps is gonna take lot of scrolling. That problem is overcome by the next handy feature of this awesome launcher. Yes, the nifty, Scribble  feature.  From the home screen, scribble any character, and this shows the apps whose name starts with that specific character. To narrow out the results, you can scribble the next letter of the app to pinpoint to the specific app. For example, if you want to reach to Whatspp, scribble ‘W’ from the home screen and It will show you a list of apps that begins with W. If you scribble ‘H’ next, the apps starting with ‘WH’ will be shown. Pretty interesting, right? Up to 4 characters can be read before it tries a Google search of what you scribbled or ignores it .

That sums up the features of the Nokia Z Launcher by Microsoft Nokia. But beware of one limitation of the launcher. As of now, only non-rooted devices are supported at the moment. I got disappointed after installing it on my rooted Nexus 7 after it didn't open. But the launcher is one of the slimmest simplest launcher that is available right now. I hope that the full version of the launcher will hold more surprise for us!

   

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