Microsoft makes its Android Arrow Launcher tablet-friendly.

Microsoft has finally brought Arrow, its launcher for Android, to tablets with support for both portrait and landscape mode. Before this update, Arrow Launcher was available on Android phones only and in portrait mode. I'm looking forward to try it on my Google Nexus 7 later today. That's the only Android tablet I own and will stick to it until it dies.

In addition to making Arrow Launcher tablet-friendly, Microsoft also added the ability to choose what to backup and restore; added support for more IM apps in Recent Pages. The latter feature lets you quickly access your most recent messages and interact with them without opening the messaging app.

Give the new Arrow Launcher - version 3.1 - a try in Google Play Store.

Microsoft updates Arrow Launcher with stronger Wunderlist integration and more.

Microsoft has updated its Arrow Launcher for Android today, offering a stronger Wunderlist integration which, according to the change log, displays "all lists" and set reminders. Now, I must say that I do not use any of these apps on my Nexus. I'm a fan of stock Android, so I obviously use Google Now and my favorite to-do list app is...I use none. 

Back to Arrow Launcher. Check out the full change log:

• Stronger Wunderlist integration features - all lists are displayed; set reminders
• Notification badge counts can now be displayed on the Apps page
• Image preview for applicable text messages on the Recent page
• Language support for German, Spanish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Polish, Italian, and Indonesian
• More memory efficient than ever. We've also addressed some crash bugs.

Get Arrow Launcher in Google Play store.

Microsoft sprightly for Android is now faster & easier to use.

Microsoft today updated Sprightly, an Android app that enables users to create E-Cards, Price lists, Flyers and Catalogs for both business and personal needs right on a Android device. Sprightly is one of several Microsoft Garage project that is exclusive to Android and it picked up a major update raising the version number to 1.0.

Microsoft claims the app is now faster and easier to use with the addition of beautiful new templates which also gives you a preview "even before you get started." See the full change log below for more:

* Beautiful templates to start with: Click on Create New & get a preview of all templates even before you get started

*Gorgeous new creation experience: Tap on text to edit it, easy reposition & zoom, get instant previews when you import images

*Simpler “Collections” experience to manage your digital assets & quickly create collages.

Download your free copy of Microsoft Sprightly in Google Play Store.

Microsoft Garage updates Sprightly for Android with new Flyer and Catalog templates, Export to PDF.

Last month, Microsoft, through its Garage division launched Sprightly for the Android platform, an app to help businesses quickly create marketing contents. The app does indeed let companies quickly creates business catalog to describe or show off their products or other company information right on an Android device. There's also a little something for users in that Sprightly also lets them create E-Cards for special occasions to send to loved ones. 

Like many apps from Microsoft Garage, Sprightly is a free app to download and it was updated today with the following features:

• New Flyer and Catalog templates.
• A festive E-Card template.
• Export to PDF and send an email.
• Reposition and zoom on preview images.

Get Sprightly in Google Play Store.

Microsoft makes it Arrow launcher faster on load & reduces crash by 20%

If you've joined the Arrow beta program, Microsoft needs your help again to test some performance improvements they made to the launcher for Android. The app is another Microsoft Grage project. If you are not a beta user and want to participate, just join the official Arrow community on Google+ and join the party.

Here's the list of features Microsoft wants you to test:

• Apps page loading: force stop Arrow and load up Arrow again to see if the Apps page is loading fast enough for you. We have improved the performance of this by 50%.
• Scrolling in App Drawer, especially in the Widgets tab - we have greatly improved the scrolling performancce there.
• Crash and memory usage. We have reduced crashes by 20% in this version and improved memory usage.

Grab the update in Google Play Store and send your feedback to Microsoft Garage via their Google+ community.