First thoughts:
- sending data to Nokia for 'service improvement' isn't surprising, though there's an option to opt-out which (apparently) makes the app no more privacy-invading than any other launcher<p>- it feels very limited, I can't seem to make a shortcut in the bottom row of the icons (even though there's a gap).<p>- 6 apps showing as recently used is not very much. I think I open my apps from 2-3 screens faster than I draw a letter, and I use way more than 6 apps regularly<p>- The UI is confusing. I have two clocks, a gap in the bottom row of the icons and an indicator that suggests I can swipe between screens. But I can only swipe the clocks area, which is small (I actually had to try it couple of times before I learned how to swipe them)<p>- It doesn't seem to recognize polish diacritic characters, like 'Ł'<p>Overall I don't think the launcher will be very useful, for me at least. It's innovative and certainly useful sometimes (when you want to call someone - just start writing his name), but less friendly than Nova or even Google stock launcher<p>(edit) I'm certainly going to give it a shot though
I tried it a few months ago and I thought I'd be a big fan.. but turned out it was really annoying to have apps change location all the time time. It's like if the navigation of a website keeps changing every hours, that gets frustrating really fast.<p>Also, I know you can launch apps with a name, but I often don't really know the name of the app (Such as new games I'm trying or something I'm only recognizing with the location/icon). But even if I do remember the name, it forces me to think about it instead of just being a muscle memory. I.e. If I want to check mail, I just click bottom left of the screen, it's instant. But otherwise, I need to think about the name of my email client (inbox) and draw a I. It seems like nothing, but it gets annoying really fast. I would argue that this feature is a very well done replacement of the "Search".. but to launch something quickly, I'm not convinced.
I tried it out during the beta. I didn't like it. You have to draw the first letter of the app that you want. It's really awkward.<p>I'm using Aviate from Yahoo right now, which has categories for apps. You have "favorites" on the home screen, then a screen with categories, then another screen with every app organized under the first letter. There's also a location-aware popout, but I don't find that one very useful.
It's... Interesting. It forces you to think about the names of apps which I find offputting. I look for the colours and shapes of the icons - or remember the location on my homescreen.<p>For example, I couldn't really remember the name of my PodCast app. I scribbled P... then O... then D... Until finally my brain clicked and I remembered it was "AntennaPod".<p>This will, I'm sure, be incredibly useful for people who don't like to organise their phones and who also are great at remembering names.
I get the following:<p><pre><code> <Error>
<Code>AccessDenied</Code>
<Message>Access Denied</Message>
<RequestId>B0073107D8E5A45E</RequestId>
<HostId>CWGhVGbn6PzNIg5auGU/hJcfGpgJDbvXF5FYiu73dKNH17sQmr+W2WBaLsDHA5YipCiJs9pYEDY=</HostId>
</Error></code></pre>
I'm not a massive fan of OS interfaces where stuff moves around without my control. Muscle memory remembers where the icon for Chrome is and if it moves then I have to look for it.<p>Also the list looks like it should scroll, because it has so few items on it, but dragging upwards draws an 'l'.<p>I only use a few apps - email, phone, browser, settings and twitter client. Camera is reached through the lock screen. Other infrequently used apps are available through a separate icon, same as on this launcher. So for my uses this should be a winner.<p>I'll give it a few days to learn my habits and see if it works for me.
I lived with this for a month. It took very little getting used to and was pretty pleasant to use. Writing letters for launching works great.<p>However, what I missed most was discoverability. I don't use all my apps all the time, so less frequently used ones dropped out of sight. And if you can't remember the actualy name of it, you'll likely just lose it unless go hunting.<p>If you like to have a controlled subset of apps that are always near the surface, then great.<p>If you like stumbling serendipity, not so good.
If you guys want an alternative, check out my app launcher: <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.iojess.conjure" rel="nofollow">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.iojess.con...</a><p>I've been working on it off & on for 2ish years. It doesn't use gestures for searching, but personally I prefer typing on a keyboard. It also learns what you want to do based on time and day. One benefit of my approach: it isn't trying to be a home screen replacement, so you can use it with any launcher you wish.
We have developed RKT Launcher <a href="http://www.gesturekit.com/rkt-launcher/" rel="nofollow">http://www.gesturekit.com/rkt-launcher/</a> with a similar concept. Its based on gestureKit SDK <a href="http://www.gesturekit.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.gesturekit.com/</a> a cross platform gesture recognition tool.<p>You can find it on the PLAY store here <a href="http://bit.ly/1okJIfc" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/1okJIfc</a> and you have the souce code here <a href="https://github.com/RoamTouch/app-rktlauncher-android" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/RoamTouch/app-rktlauncher-android</a><p>2015 is the year of the smartwatch technology and we are going to be there.
Photographic memory is easier and people are lean to it since you just want to do something with the app and do not want to do something else in between like drawing a letter.<p>I know that Youtube is on the third screen on my phone, and I can just think about what i am about to search in youtube while my fingers are automatically swiping through. I do not use search button on the phone because it requires my focus to type.<p>With this one, you need to focus on drawing some letter. which is little bit harder than just remembering where the app is.<p>Honestly, I could not expect this weak approach from Nokia. They always made me glad with their products. Well, surprise surprise!
I don't like it. It seems like they missed what makes Android so great.<p>For example my alarm clock is also my time widget. Click time widget -> open alarm clock. With ZLauncher my alarm clock is an icon named timely and stays on my screen for a good portion of the day.<p>There isn't any place for widgets nor any customization option which makes my smartphone feel like less than a series 40 feature phone.<p>Another UX problem is that I press the menu button on my phone and it does nothing. How can such behaviour pass through Nokia's design team?
This looks to be somewhere between Dolphin gestures and the old Palm Graffiti writing.<p>As an input method it could be great as I used to be able to scribble in Graffiti faster than I can type today on a touch keyboard.<p>As a search method for an app, I imagine it would be a little clumsy. Most of the performance from the input is gained <i>after</i> the first few letters have been drawn, once your hands are comfortably holding the device and accurately making the shapes in the input area.
Not possible to install in my country: wonder whether it was a legal issue or something else that prevented them from allowing an international audience.
Looks like a really cool idea, especially since the recommendation engine can take into account more than simply time statistics (which their front page doesn't convey well). The best part of this is that it does all the recommendations on device (at least according to their privacy page).<p>If they add a travel/email card system, I'd switch over from the Google Now home/launcher.
This redirects me to<p><a href="https://www.zlauncher.com/es/?redirect=true" rel="nofollow">https://www.zlauncher.com/es/?redirect=true</a><p>but then I get a 403 error (forbidden).<p>Probably because I live in Argentina and/or my preferred language in the browser is ES-AR,ES, EN
I've been using it since pre-beta. Fantastic launcher and a joy to use, so intuitive. Delighted to see Nokia's R&D still going strong and innovating. Most of the greatest mobile telecommunication innovations came from those guys.
So, Nokia is doing an Android launcher? I thought Microsoft were going to scrap the Nokia brand, making Nokia a windows phone company, and now its still Nokia and doing Android? Am I missing something?
Seriously: is the "Z" because of Zorro?
In that case, I think it's cool as hell. Nice marketing job.<p>On the "not so nice" side: why are the smartphone illustrations based on the iPhone shape?
This sounds kind of similar to what Cover was doing (they got acquired by Twitter). Hopefully Nokia has more resources to turn this into something that actually works.
What burning issue does this solve? I thought there was research showing most people use only a few core apps, so I don't see that many people will have a need for this. I certainly don't.