Back when I had my Nexus One, my favorite launcher hands down was ADW. I loved it. I loved the animations, the speed, the configurability - ADW was my jam. But as time went on, ADW and I grew apart, support for the app waned (apart from the release of ADW EX), and Android's stock launcher began to mature and gain features. But I never lost my soft spot for ADW.

It turns out that way back in 2011, work had begun on a version 2.0 of ADW, entering the alpha stage, but it was never finished. The creator has reemerged five years later to finally make ADW Launcher 2.0 a reality - and I think you're in for a treat. Even if ADW 2.0 (Beta) doesn't rip you away from Nova, I'm already having a really fun time rooting around in this wonderful, colorful, and highly configurable launcher. Take a look at this quick demo video to see just what ADW feels like.

ADW Launcher 2.0 contains a huge number of configuration options for everything from your app drawer, icons, customizable and downloadable themes, folders, the app drawer, support for ADW templates, homescreen layout, gestures, I mean, I could go on and on here - you really should just dive in for yourself and check it out. It's insane. It's clear that ADW Launcher 2.0 is a product of intense labor, a labor of love of the creator, and it brings the memories of ADW flying back from five years ago for me. I already bought the in-app pruchase to upgrade to ADW premium for $3.99. Premium gets you:

  • More desktop transitions
  • More app drawer styles
  • Filters and compositions for icons
  • Unlimited custom widgets
  • The ability to put any widget on the top panel (where the search bar is)
  • Replace the bottom panel (quick launch bar) with any widget)
  • Allegedly, and almost certainly believably, even more.

Here's a gallery of yet more features and menus.

You can get ADW Launcher 2.0's beta by opting in on the Play Store - a link on the ADW blog is here. You can also get the APK directly from APK Mirror right here. ADW's brand-new suite of plugins (for Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Box) and add-ons (extension pack, notifier) are already on the Play Store, linked below.

ADW Extension Pack Developer: AnderWeb
Price: Free
3.8
Download
ADW Notifier 2 Developer: AnderWeb
Price: Free
2.6
Download
ADWCloud Plugin (Dropbox) Developer: AnderWeb
Price: Free
4.1
Download
ADWCloud Plugin (OneDrive) Developer: AnderWeb
Price: Free
4
Download