Microsoft working on customized Android launcher called Arrow Launcher
It’s been pretty clear that Microsoft would rather work on building apps and services for Android and iOS instead of pushing their own Windows Phone platform lately, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Windows Phone lacks a decent market share, so if Microsoft wants people to use their services, they’ll have to continue to rely on other platforms. Samsung’s partnership with Microsoft for bonus OneDrive storage and preloaded Microsoft apps is a pretty good indicator or this.
While Microsoft already offers apps for some of their own apps, like Skype, OneDrive, OneNote, and all kinds of other things, their next step looks to be creating a standalone launcher for Android phones. The launcher, called Arrow Launcher, sticks to Microsoft’s design language pretty closely, although in its early stages its seriously lacking any customization, which is a big selling point for many Android launchers.
Arrow Launcher features three home pages, which you can’t increase of decrease. The left most screen offers a quick look at your contacts, the middle screen shows your frequent and recently accessed apps (and no, you can’t change those), while the far right screen exclusively features Notes and Reminders. It’s a little constricting, but it’s simple and effective, which seems to be what Microsoft is good at.
Swiping up from the bottom of the launcher opens a dock where you can set a few custom shortcuts and have access to your app drawer, and Microsoft has built in automatic wallpaper changing with Bing integration. That’s the extent of customization, though; no icon packs or changing icon sizes or anything else you’ll find on the vast majority of third-party Android launchers.
Arrow Launcher is currently in closed beta on Google+, so you can request access if you’re interested in trying it out.
The launcher seems pretty cool, even without all the customization options we’re used to. This is probably a better approach for Microsoft instead of just making a copycat launcher and slapping their logo on it. It might also be a hint at Microsoft adopting Android for their upcoming smartphones, but take that one with a grain of salt.
source: Microsoft News
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