Everybody loves being told what to do and when to do it, so why not let this happen with our smartphone…one more thing isn’t going to hurt, right? This is the idea behind Yahoo’s semi newly acquired Aviate launcher application – to help you stay organized and make your life easier by learning your habits as well as your likes and dislikes. The Incredible Labs team joined Yahoo in February and contributed heavily to the application’s updates so that Aviate is even better at anticipating your needs throughout the day. Aviate is a full-blown launcher that replaces your home screen and simplifies navigation by using only four screens, but unlike GO, Nova, Apex, and others, Aviate automatically “simplifies and intelligently organizes your phone, only showing you the apps and information you need as you need them, throughout your day.”
Aviate starts where you do – at the beginning of your day – to help you out. It will first wake you up in the morning and let you know how long you slept and then alert you about the weather – do you need to dress warmly, is there a cold front moving in, should you take your umbrella or should you be prepared to shovel snow. It will update you on any late breaking news stories, Next, Aviate will help you get to work – inform you on how long it will take you to get to work, taking into consideration any traffic jams or accidents as well as give you directions where you are going (just in case you are not driving to work). While you are at work, Aviate brings up the Apps you use the most to make your work habits the most efficient. In addition, it has intelligent calendar features, such as, one-tap calling to quickly conference a call and emailing the meeting’s attendees. Need to call somebody – Aviate will keep the people that you talk with the most on a favorites screen that you can quickly swipe up from the home screen for instant access. Going out to lunch or dinner – Aviate will automatically show you places to eat with photos, tips, phone numbers and even restaurant reviews. Want to listen to some music – just plug-in your headphones and your music App will instantly appear on the screen so you have complete control over your music empire.
There is no word if Yahoo will make Aviate available for other platforms – currently it will only work on Android 4.0 and above, although they said they are working hard to bring out a 2.3 Gingerbread version. Samsung users need to use 4.3 for the best experience. Aviate will dramatically change the looks of your home screen, but they ask you to give it a week and it will feel like ‘home’ in no time. Please hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us to know what you think of this new launcher…as always, we would love to hear from you.