![Picture](/uploads/2/4/5/7/24574909/2042940.png)
Google's Android has allowed its users to customise both the appearance and functionality of the OS in a number of ways for some time, one of the more popular aspects of this is allowing 3rd party apps to be replace stock ones - including the launcher. With this, we've seen numerous launchers become very popular, including Nova, Apex and more recently, Action Launcher. Though all of these have offered new ideas and many more customisation options, they all shared the same basic idea of how a home screen should function.
Enter Aviate, bringing a fresh new take on what a launcher can do. The concept is simple enough, bring contextual awareness to your home screen.
So how does it fair? Below are my personal thoughts after solely using the invite based beta for a couple of weeks.
Enter Aviate, bringing a fresh new take on what a launcher can do. The concept is simple enough, bring contextual awareness to your home screen.
So how does it fair? Below are my personal thoughts after solely using the invite based beta for a couple of weeks.
![Picture](/uploads/2/4/5/7/24574909/504834301.png?233)
1. Functionality
Aviate is designed to bring you what you want when you want it. This can be in the form of apps, widgets and even photos, reviews and 'tips' (courtesy of Foursquare).
Your main home screen is a consistent page containing your most frequently used apps and widgets. From here you can swipe to the right to reveal your 'Collections'. These are groups of apps based on type or context (for example, 'Social', 'Games' or 'Night Time'). They are auto-populated as you download apps but can also be manually added to or edited. Swipe to the right again and we get a basic alphabetical list of apps.
So far, so good but now is where it gets interesting. Aviate monitors the time along with your location and other information to bring you contextual shortcuts and content which is accessible by swiping down the top bar on the main home screen.
For example; if you were to go into a Starbucks for a coffee (what else!?) Aviate would automatically recognise this and give you context based information and shortcuts when you swipe down. We are always presented with a 'title card' giving the name of the location, this can be tapped to reveal the image behind or swiped to the right to show more images of the location. In this specific instance we are also given buttons allowing us to get to the camera, write a post (customisable to social apps you've installed but limited; I can choose to post to Twitter with the official Twitter app but not via Plume. Google+ and Facebook are supported) or check in (only via Foursquare at the moment it seems).
Aviate is designed to bring you what you want when you want it. This can be in the form of apps, widgets and even photos, reviews and 'tips' (courtesy of Foursquare).
Your main home screen is a consistent page containing your most frequently used apps and widgets. From here you can swipe to the right to reveal your 'Collections'. These are groups of apps based on type or context (for example, 'Social', 'Games' or 'Night Time'). They are auto-populated as you download apps but can also be manually added to or edited. Swipe to the right again and we get a basic alphabetical list of apps.
So far, so good but now is where it gets interesting. Aviate monitors the time along with your location and other information to bring you contextual shortcuts and content which is accessible by swiping down the top bar on the main home screen.
For example; if you were to go into a Starbucks for a coffee (what else!?) Aviate would automatically recognise this and give you context based information and shortcuts when you swipe down. We are always presented with a 'title card' giving the name of the location, this can be tapped to reveal the image behind or swiped to the right to show more images of the location. In this specific instance we are also given buttons allowing us to get to the camera, write a post (customisable to social apps you've installed but limited; I can choose to post to Twitter with the official Twitter app but not via Plume. Google+ and Facebook are supported) or check in (only via Foursquare at the moment it seems).
![Picture](/uploads/2/4/5/7/24574909/616997191.png?231)
Moving down, we are presented with 'Tips'. These are posts pulled from users of Foursquare related to the place you are in or looking at, which can, on occasion, be useful. Moving down again we are presented with Starbucks UK Twitter account, which we can click to view the profile or use the button next to it to tweet to them directly. Oddly enough these options do allow use of Plume/3rd party Twitter clients.
Finally, we are presented with the relevant 'Collection' of apps for the location. Aviate determines that Starbucks comes under the 'Restaurant' Collection and gives you shortcuts to those apps. We are also able to add custom widgets by holding down on an element within the context panel and choosing 'Add Widget'. These will automatically appear whenever this context is entered again.
In terms of context based information/options, this is all we get right now. It's certainly a good start but there's definitely room for more. Imagine being given a button allowing you to view the Starbucks menu right there, along with your Starbucks card QR code to pay with; automatically placed on your homescreen.
2. Design
Aviate opts for design cues comparable to that of Google's card based UI, first appearing with Google Now. This makes each element of the launcher clearly separated resulting in a fairly clean and easy to understand UI. For something that feels closer to a regular app than a fully fledged Launcher, keeping it clear is definitely a wise move - it really does feel very different from anything else out there and takes a little getting used to.
Once you have, however, the design is enjoyable. It fits in well with many other apps, particularly Google's own and doesn't feel too out of place in the OS. One complaint many have which I do not share is that it is too plain. Whilst this is perhaps true I think that could also be spun to it's advantage. It is clean and minimalist and the launchers use of colour is clear and apparent. It makes it easy to know when a certain contextual based screen is available.
Finally, we are presented with the relevant 'Collection' of apps for the location. Aviate determines that Starbucks comes under the 'Restaurant' Collection and gives you shortcuts to those apps. We are also able to add custom widgets by holding down on an element within the context panel and choosing 'Add Widget'. These will automatically appear whenever this context is entered again.
In terms of context based information/options, this is all we get right now. It's certainly a good start but there's definitely room for more. Imagine being given a button allowing you to view the Starbucks menu right there, along with your Starbucks card QR code to pay with; automatically placed on your homescreen.
2. Design
Aviate opts for design cues comparable to that of Google's card based UI, first appearing with Google Now. This makes each element of the launcher clearly separated resulting in a fairly clean and easy to understand UI. For something that feels closer to a regular app than a fully fledged Launcher, keeping it clear is definitely a wise move - it really does feel very different from anything else out there and takes a little getting used to.
Once you have, however, the design is enjoyable. It fits in well with many other apps, particularly Google's own and doesn't feel too out of place in the OS. One complaint many have which I do not share is that it is too plain. Whilst this is perhaps true I think that could also be spun to it's advantage. It is clean and minimalist and the launchers use of colour is clear and apparent. It makes it easy to know when a certain contextual based screen is available.
![Picture](/uploads/2/4/5/7/24574909/480815209.png?228)
3. Usability & Performance
So how does the beta perform? In all honesty, very well! Not a single force close and swiping is consistently smooth with no signs of stutter (Nexus 4 running Paranoid Android and Franco kernel). Battery also seems to be relatively in tact, having it used it for a couple of weeks I haven't seen any noticeable battery drain. But speed & battery usage isn't the only thing we need to consider here, how quick and accurate is Aviate at detecting new contexts? After all, if a context based app can't give you the content fast enough then it's next to useless. You need it to work there and then, everytime. This is what I thought would make or break Aviate; and I have to say, I am impressed. I wake up in the morning, Aviate is in 'Morning Routine' context. I make my commute to work, Aviate is almost always on 'Going Somewhere' context. I arrive at work, 'Work' context begins. As for exactly how quick it changes, I couldn't easily say. But what I can say is that more often than not, Aviate has adjusted by the time I go to look at my phone.
That's all well and good, but how does it deal with more challenging situations such as going into a certain shop? Well, I think it does as good as you could expect it to at this stage. You can almost guarantee that it will change contexts, but whether it gets the correct store is another matter. As often as it does, there are times when it won't (it'll pick up some other nearby store or attraction). But this isn't the biggest issue. A swipe to the left from the homescreen presents us with a navigation bar containing a number of options. It will give the time based context you are likely to be in (for example, it may show you a Restaurant context whilst it is also night, this allows you to quickly get to 'Night Time' instead). It also provides us with consistent 'Work' and 'Going Somewhere' contexts so we can quickly get to those regardless of our current context. We then have a settings option followed by a 'Nearby' option. This will list everything that Aviate finds (from Foursqaure) nearby that you might want contextual screens for. This allows you to quickly switch to the correct screen if Aviate failed to give you the correct store initially.
Having said all this, I have found that there are numberous situations where due to the nature of Aviate it has taken me more swipes/taps to get to a certain that it would have done previously with a more traditional launcher. Though I think some of these situations could be rectified on my end with a little more clever organisation within Aviate there are times were there isn't anything that can be done about that in it's current form .
So how does the beta perform? In all honesty, very well! Not a single force close and swiping is consistently smooth with no signs of stutter (Nexus 4 running Paranoid Android and Franco kernel). Battery also seems to be relatively in tact, having it used it for a couple of weeks I haven't seen any noticeable battery drain. But speed & battery usage isn't the only thing we need to consider here, how quick and accurate is Aviate at detecting new contexts? After all, if a context based app can't give you the content fast enough then it's next to useless. You need it to work there and then, everytime. This is what I thought would make or break Aviate; and I have to say, I am impressed. I wake up in the morning, Aviate is in 'Morning Routine' context. I make my commute to work, Aviate is almost always on 'Going Somewhere' context. I arrive at work, 'Work' context begins. As for exactly how quick it changes, I couldn't easily say. But what I can say is that more often than not, Aviate has adjusted by the time I go to look at my phone.
That's all well and good, but how does it deal with more challenging situations such as going into a certain shop? Well, I think it does as good as you could expect it to at this stage. You can almost guarantee that it will change contexts, but whether it gets the correct store is another matter. As often as it does, there are times when it won't (it'll pick up some other nearby store or attraction). But this isn't the biggest issue. A swipe to the left from the homescreen presents us with a navigation bar containing a number of options. It will give the time based context you are likely to be in (for example, it may show you a Restaurant context whilst it is also night, this allows you to quickly get to 'Night Time' instead). It also provides us with consistent 'Work' and 'Going Somewhere' contexts so we can quickly get to those regardless of our current context. We then have a settings option followed by a 'Nearby' option. This will list everything that Aviate finds (from Foursqaure) nearby that you might want contextual screens for. This allows you to quickly switch to the correct screen if Aviate failed to give you the correct store initially.
Having said all this, I have found that there are numberous situations where due to the nature of Aviate it has taken me more swipes/taps to get to a certain that it would have done previously with a more traditional launcher. Though I think some of these situations could be rectified on my end with a little more clever organisation within Aviate there are times were there isn't anything that can be done about that in it's current form .
4. Customisation/Options If heavy customisation is something that appeals to you, Aviate is probably not the launcher for you. It's designed to give you a consistent and intelligent experience that requires minimal maintenance. There is no way to choose custom icon sets (without using a 3rd party app such as Unicon) & nor can you have custom backgrounds. The most you're going to get it the choice between a light and dark theme. | |
![Picture](/uploads/2/4/5/7/24574909/2398529.png?145)
Final Thoughts
Aviate sets out to do something different - and it achieves it in good style. It's smooth, clean and works well, bringing you what you want, when you want it. Bringing it into context (no pun intended!), Aviate is still in beta, and in all fairness, you wouldn't know it. It sets the standard for what is possible in a future where context is everything, no longer is just being able to access what you want the aim - it's having it ready for you before you even start to look for it. Google has been working on this idea for some time, particularly with Google Now and it's great to see smaller companies pushing the concept too, bringing it right to your launcher.
If nothing more, Aviate is a good sign of things to come & it will be extremely interesting to see where it, and similar apps which are likely to appear, take it further from here.
Download the Aviate Beta from the Play Store now and request a beta invite, or look elsewhere for invites going!
Aviate sets out to do something different - and it achieves it in good style. It's smooth, clean and works well, bringing you what you want, when you want it. Bringing it into context (no pun intended!), Aviate is still in beta, and in all fairness, you wouldn't know it. It sets the standard for what is possible in a future where context is everything, no longer is just being able to access what you want the aim - it's having it ready for you before you even start to look for it. Google has been working on this idea for some time, particularly with Google Now and it's great to see smaller companies pushing the concept too, bringing it right to your launcher.
If nothing more, Aviate is a good sign of things to come & it will be extremely interesting to see where it, and similar apps which are likely to appear, take it further from here.
Download the Aviate Beta from the Play Store now and request a beta invite, or look elsewhere for invites going!