It’s been revealed that Sony is working on a new version of its Xperia Home Launcher, which it’s hoping will give its smartphones the push they need to compete with the competition in the software department.
A moderator on the Xperia Home Open Beta Community announced earlier this week that the firm has decided to discontinue development of the current version of the Xperia Home Launcher, so it can focus on building a brand new version.
“A business decision has been taken that our current launcher, Xperia Home, should enter the maintenance phase,” explained the moderator on June 11. “This means that no new features will be added, but maintenance will continue.”
“The reason for discontinuing new feature development in the current Xperia Home Launcher is that we are developing a new Home Launcher,” the moderator added, before noting that there’s no word on when it will start rolling out.
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We also don’t know what it will look like or what new features it will bring to the table. that said, we’re guessing it’s being developed with all of the new gesture controls baked into Android P, the next major version of Android, in mind.
The new Xperia Home Launcher should be available for both current Xperia smartphones and future models. There’s also a chance it could introduce support for handsets from other manufacturers – though that’s far from confirmed.
Now all Sony needs to do is focus on bringing its hardware in line with that of the competition (think: bezel-less screens), and it could stand a chance of scraping back the millions of customers it’s lost to its rivals over the course of the last decade.
What feature are you hoping to see baked into the next version of the Xperia Home Launcher? Let us know over on Facebook or Twitter @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
