Aviate came out as a launcher that stood out as very different. It was purchased by Yahoo a few years back, and has since then been tied into several of Yahoo’s other products like News Digest. The new v3.0 update is the most significant update yet, and it will probably upset most long time Aviate users.
The specialty, as per the firm, is said to gather correlate information and show it based on the user’s location, preferences, and what they are doing. The feature surfaces information on restaurants and live scores in cards, and also brings music related apps upfront when headphones are plugged in among other functions. Smart Stream can be accessed by swiping left from the home screen, just like in the case of the Google Now Launcher.
Layout And Design
The auto categorized apps are still available to the right of the main screen, and the quick contact card is comprehensible with a swipe up. You can see the wallpaper behind the app collections now, rather than being a solid background. There are a ton of suggested wallpapers too. If there is ever a particular card you are looking for, you can always access it with the Focus menu, located in the search bar on your home screen,” adds Paul Montoy-Wilson, Product Manager and Co-Founder of Yahoo Aviate, on the company blog post. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer in the company’s earning call in April hinted that the firm might contend with voice-based virtual assistants such as Microsoft’s Cortana, Apple’s Siri and Google’s Google Now in the future with its own search-based mobile offering. The firm seems to have taken the first steps down that track as it has introduced a new feature called ‘Smart Stream’ in its Aviate launcher app on Tuesday.
The version 3.0 of the launcher app is available to download from Google Play. The app listing page however is full of negative reviews about the update.
