It doesn’t look like Yahoo has any plans of making a mobile operating system anytime soon but that doesn’t mean it can’t dip its toe in the water. The folks behind Aviate Android launcher joined Yahoo back in January this year and since then have been working on the product with their beta community. Today it launches as Yahoo Aviate, a launcher for Android phones in English. You no longer need an invite to be able to download Aviate on your Android device.
Aviate’s product manager Mark Daiss says that this launcher has been designed to simplify everything about the phone its installed on. Starting with a clean layout, apps are automatically organized as per the user’s preferences. Another aim was to make the phone smarter, which is why Aviate offers “intelligent information” throughout the day.
The entire idea is to offer users the apps and information that they need the most based on what they’re doing at different times throughout the day. We saw a similar feature recently in Nokia’s new Z Launcher for Android phones.
Aviate relies upon machine learning and predictive technologies to offer weather alerts, estimate commute times keeping traffic in mind and even allowing users to easily call an Uber car through the launcher itself.
Users will also receive a summary of news twice a day, tops stories on different topics are featured, Yahoo has a standalone app for this called Summary. Aviate also puts most popular contacts in a list of “Favorites,” which can be easily accessed by swiping up from the homescreen.
Yahoo Aviate for Android is now open for all and immediately available for download.