Sony has not officially unveiled the Xperia Home but the program is now on Open Beta. It’s been available for early adopters since May and so far, a lot of Xperia phone users are enjoying the new home launcher. There may still be a few kinks here and there but that’s the point of beta programs–to identify more bugs and issues that need to be fixed before commercial launch.
Sony is known for its numerous testing and concept apps and its Xperia Home Open Beta program is just one. The home launcher is getting an update according to Patrik Klinger who’s been working on the Xperia Home. The developers of the launcher listed the complaints and requests of users and tried to fix and incorporate them. It’s good that Sony devs listened to the demands of the users because that’s the only way they can learn how to better serve the consumers.
One significant change included in this update is the search bar in application tray becoming now transparent. For Facebook and Facebook Messenger, the apps are getting additional notification badge support. Meanwhile, Kitkat notification badges and Xperia Messaging, Telephony & Email.on Lollipop are provided fixed legacy support.
Another important Xperia Home change is that you can now add Google Now on the -1 pane. You can do so by enabling the feature on the Home Settings area. This means that the Xperia Home is the second app launcher to support the native Google Now as noted by a Redditor in a forum.
VIA: Reddit
