Today, Launcher Pro, one of the best homescreen replacements for Android, got a nice update, introducing a couple of new features and bug fixes. I replaced the bloated Sense UI on my EVO with Launcher Pro Plus about 2 weeks ago, and ever since then, half of my co-workers did the same, seeing what it can do.

The new update finally introduces a customizable number of icon columns and rows, which is no longer limited to 4 or 5. ADW actually had this feature for a while, so I'm glad LP finally caught up.

Another major addition, though for Plus users only, is the Friends widget. This widget combines Twitter and Facebook updates into one and is essentially a replacement for users having Sense's Friend Stream withdrawals.

Changelog

Full changelog below:

For all users:

  • Increased the sensitivity for swiping through homescreens. It should respond to shorter swipes now.
  • New: Customizable homescreen grid size! You can now choose how many columns and rows of icons/widgets to have on your homescreens (Preferences > Homescreen Settings). There’s also an “Auto-fit items” option which will resize the grid cell size to match the grid dimensions, so that widgets/icons don’t overlap.
    If you increase the grid size and move stuff around (or resize widgets), and then want to decrease the grid size again, make sure to revert your changes, otherwise some widgets will be unusable, and some icons might fall off the screen.

For Plus users only:

  • Fixed the Calendar widget’s Agenda view not updating at the end of each day.
  • Enabled vertical scrolling in the “Facebook Login” process so that users with low pixel density devices (like HTC Wildfire) can reach the buttons.
  • New: Friends Widget. This is the last promised widget in the LauncherPro Plus series (Note: there *will* be more widgets in the future, after making some improvements to the current widgets). The Friends widget blends Twitter and Facebook updates into one widget. If you’ve used the individual widgets, then you already know the drill. There’s a Timeline view (with your Twitter timeline and Facebook news feed) and a Wall view (with your Twitter mentions and Facebook wall). A third view might come in a future update with Twitter direct messages and Facebook inbox. Since the Facebook API doesn’t support sending direct messages, those would be read-only, with no way to reply from the widget.
    There’s a small logo over the contact pictures to show which network each status came from. The “Compose” button will let you update your status on both networks at the same time, or only one network (use the checkboxes to choose where to post the update to).

Download

Download Launcher Pro from the Market by clicking on the QR code below from your mobile or scanning it using Barcode Scanner:

[qr]com.fede.launcher[/qr]