Microsoft has been releasing a number of products for mobile devices that aren't Windows Phones of late, and today, the company has released another one.
The company has released its Android launcher, called Arrow, which offers users a new look and feel for their Android device and puts an emphasis on giving users quicker access to their most-used apps and settings.
The launcher itself looks similar to iOS 9, however, it's clearly not an iOS 9 clone. This is because of the fact that it mimics Apple's Spotlight search update, which ranks results based on how recently they were used, what times of the day they are normally used and so on. In Arrow, the "Recent" screen offers similar access to things like apps, photos, files and so on.
Apps in Arrow are ranked based on how often they're used, meaning that users will be able to quickly access their most-used apps without having to search for them through the whole list.
In fact, surprisingly enough, the only real Microsoft integration in the launcher seems to be the addition of Bing wallpapers.
It certainly makes sense that Microsoft is embracing cross-platform development, with Windows Phone not being as popular as the company probably would have liked. If Arrow ends up taking off, it's likely that the company will use it to try and push products like OneDrive, Office, Bing and so on.
Of course, it's important to note that Arrow is likely an experiment for Microsoft at this point. It's unknown if the new launcher will actually take off or if will end up being a flop, however, the real goal for the team is to see if it is worth experimenting with more in the future.
The new Android Launcher can be downloaded from the Google Play Store here.
Via: TechCrunch
