Z Launcher

- 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).

- 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

- 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)

- It doesn't seem to recognize polish diacritic characters, like 'Ł'

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

(edit) I'm certainly going to give it a shot though

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'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.

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".

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.

    <Error>
        <Code>AccessDenied</Code>
        <Message>Access Denied</Message>
        <RequestId>B0073107D8E5A45E</RequestId>
        <HostId>CWGhVGbn6PzNIg5auGU/hJcfGpgJDbvXF5FYiu73dKNH17sQmr+W2WBaLsDHA5YipCiJs9pYEDY=</HostId>
    </Error>

Also the list looks like it should scroll, because it has so few items on it, but dragging upwards draws an 'l'.

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.

I'll give it a few days to learn my habits and see if it works for me.

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.

If you like to have a controlled subset of apps that are always near the surface, then great.

If you like stumbling serendipity, not so good.

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.

You can find it on the PLAY store here http://bit.ly/1okJIfc and you have the souce code here https://github.com/RoamTouch/app-rktlauncher-android

2015 is the year of the smartwatch technology and we are going to be there.

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.

With this one, you need to focus on drawing some letter. which is little bit harder than just remembering where the app is.

Honestly, I could not expect this weak approach from Nokia. They always made me glad with their products. Well, surprise surprise!

This is getting old!

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.

There isn't any place for widgets nor any customization option which makes my smartphone feel like less than a series 40 feature phone.

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?

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.

As a search method for an app, I imagine it would be a little clumsy. Most of the performance from the input is gained after the first few letters have been drawn, once your hands are comfortably holding the device and accurately making the shapes in the input area.

If they add a travel/email card system, I'd switch over from the Google Now home/launcher.

(I'm in South Africa)

https://www.zlauncher.com/es/?redirect=true

but then I get a 403 error (forbidden).

Probably because I live in Argentina and/or my preferred language in the browser is ES-AR,ES, EN

On the "not so nice" side: why are the smartphone illustrations based on the iPhone shape?