Nokia reborn: Nokia’s new Android launcher is wonderfully simple and shockingly innovative

On June 19th of this year, Nokia was reborn. The company that had been known for years as a cell phone pioneer had sold off its devices business, and the world was waiting to see what new paths Nokia might take. There are a few, as it turns out, but one of them saw the company release a surprisingly innovative newAndroid app this past summer, and it just got a big update that users will love.

Earlier this week, Nokia announced on its Z Launcher blog that the like-named app, which is the first stand-alone Android software Nokia has ever released, has been improved in several key areas. For those who did not see the original news, Nokia’s Z Launcher app is a nifty Android launcher that makes accessing the contacts you correspond with most frequently and your most commonly used apps a breeze.

Here are the full details of Nokia’s new Z Launcher update, as noted in the company’s blog post:

• Performance improvements
• Speed improvements across the board!
• Faster startup
• Faster loading of apps, contacts, and websites on the homescreen
• Faster first-run performance, especially on lower-end devices
• Design enhancements
• New animations
• Going to homescreen, launching apps (we are still working on these, please let us know what you think in feedback)
• Improved contacts search and listing in Z Launcher, more consistency in preserving your preferences across Z Launcher updates
• Improved web search results
• Improvements to “Call…” and “Text…” actions
• Collapsing contacts so one person won’t take up two spots on your Home screen (so you won’t see “Call John” and “Text John” at the same time)
• More reliable creation of “Call” and “Text” for the people you connect with the most
• Reducing accidental app launch if you scribble too quickly
• And many more bug fixes to improve the reliability of Z LauncherZ Launcher is currently in closed beta but those interested in trying it out as soon as possible can sign up here.