Microsoft Launcher is continuing its steady improvement with yet another update. Version 4.5 comes just two weeks after the previous update, bringing some productivity and customization improvements.
Chief among them is the ability to adjust icon sizes of each UI element independently. Users can now change the size of their dock, home screen, and drawer icons to suit their preference. You can have big dock icons, for example, and smaller ones in the app drawer.
On Android 7+, there’s also the ability to set wallpapers for the home and lock screen. To make those more visible, you can now add blank pages in vertical mode. Combined, the features should create a much more bespoke launcher. This is aided by the addition of Android Oreo shortcuts.
Pushing into Business?
Though those features are much-appreciated, the new productivity implementations could be more interesting. The launcher now has support for Microsoft Intune, letting admins use data protection policies for corporate data.
Alongside that is some extra calendar functionality. You can now let meeting attendees know you’ll be running late directly from the calendar card, saving taps. Thankfully, that shouldn’t happen as often with support for recurring reminders. You no longer have to worry about swiping away a notification and forgetting about it.
Finally, Microsoft Launcher 4.5 has received a new feature since the beta release: trending Bing searches. For as long as I can remember, the app’s suggestion function has been unhelpful, simply displaying previous searches.
The latest local Bing news is now displayed straight on the search screen. It’s a feature some may find irritating considering the fact a news widget already exists. However, you can easily turn it off under search settings.
You can get the latest version of Microsoft Launcher from the Play Store.
