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Sep

[New App] Foneclay Home Screen Replacements Are Like A Crazy Fever Dream On Your Phone

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Applications, News

Most of the home screen replacements out there are just variations on a theme. There are scrollable panels, icons, and an app drawer. Foneclay is something entirely different. With this app, you can turn your phone into functional, though bizarre art.

The app itself is essentially just a front end for downloading and installing the artistic home screen apps. Tap on one that looks interesting, and you can preview the UI before you download. Each home screen is installed like any other non-Play Store app from system dialogs. Some of the options are more impressive than others, with animations and really cool art.

Aug

Chameleon Launcher Beta Updated To v0.8, Brings New Widgets, Bug Fixes, And Performance Enhancements

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

Chameleon Launcher received what I would call its first "major" update today, bringing the launcher up to version 0.8.0. Naturally, you can expect performance improvements and bug fixes, but the update also brings something that users have been asking for since the beta launched: more widgets.

The new offerings in the widget department include Facebook, time, and a "switches" widgets that brings power control options to the launcher. Unfortunately, the switches aren't yet customizable, so you're stuck with a stock set of options that includes airplane mode, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, brightness, GPS, and sync. Hopefully the Chameleon team will bring the ability to customize these in a future update.

Aug

TSF Shell 3D Updates With More Gestures, Widgets, Settings, And Enough Shine To Blind Other Launchers

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Applications, News

Last Updated: August 23rd, 2012

The Android launcher has always been ground zero for device customization, and most launchers make at least some concession to user options. But TSF Shell, which we've covered before, surely takes the cake for sheer flexibility. The latest update, to Beta version 1.6.0, adds a dazzling amount of new features. Granted, most of these are eye candy - something that TSF never lacked in the first place - but a few of them are genuinely useful. The ability to select and move multiple apps at a time is something I've wished stock and source-based launchers would implement for years.

The mini-docks on the right and left of TSF, as well as the homescreen itself, get plenty of small tweaks and options.

Aug

Chameleon Launcher Beta [P]Review: An Evolving Concept In A Changing Tablet World

Posted by Cameron Summerson in App Reviews, News, Tablets

We've been talking about Chameleon Launcher for a few months now, and despite getting off to a bit of a rocky start, the beta is now officially available for some testers and Kickstarter backers. I've spent the last several days playing with the launcher on a couple different tablets, and, despite the fact that it's still in beta, have been generally impressed.

For the unaware, Chameleon is a new type of launcher designed specifically for Android 3.0+ tablets. It takes a different approach than "traditional" launchers by turning the homescreens into size-adjustable, seamless hubs of information. For the time being, it only offers a handful of different "widgets," including GMail, weather, Twitter, Instagram, and news (RSS).

Aug

[New App] Mobint Joins The 4.0+ Launcher Party With Jelly Bean-Inspired Holo Launcher HD

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Jelly Bean 4.1, News

Mobint, the dev team behind the original Holo Launcher (for Android 2.2+ devices), decided to jump into the Android 4.0+ launcher party recently with their latest entry in the Play Store – Holo Launcher HD.

Holo Launcher HD, like its older counterpart, gives your home screen the 4.x panache we've come to know and love, but is specifically modeled after Jelly Bean, and is only compatible with devices running 4.0 and above.

Besides providing a smooth Jelly Bean aesthetic, the launcher has plenty of customizable options, making it a competitive entry in the current fray of ICS/JB launchers. Users can add up to 9 home screen pages, each with icon grids up to 10x10, utilize a scrollable dock with up to 7 icons per page, use gestures to open apps (something that can't be said of Nova's free offering), and apply icon packs compatible with either ADW or Launcherpro, in addition to a handful of other handy features.

Aug

Chameleon Launcher Beta Arrives To The Play Store For Pre-Registered And Kickstarter Users [Initial Hands-On Screenshots]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Chameleon Launcher, a highly anticipated launcher replacement for Android tablets, has just released the initial beta version of the app into the Play Store. While everyone with a compatible device can download it, you will need to have an invitation, whether from your Kickstarter pre-order or pre-registration (say, if you're a member of the press or a private beta tester).

If you think you're part of the private beta, head over here (replace YOUR_EMAIL with your pre-reg email address and YOUR_NAME with your name) and associate your registration email with your Play Store account, then grab the app from the Play Store and fire it up.

Jun

XP Mod Is A Custom Launcher That Hearkens Back To A Simpler, Less Modal Time

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

In the never-ending debates of morality, philosophy, and the meaning of life, the complexities of the universe manifest themselves in one universal mantra: no one can agree on anything except that the world is going to pot and things were better when we were younger and life was "simpler." In an effort to help make the world a little brighter, or just indulge in a bit of nostalgia, XP Mod brings your Android device back to 2001 by turning it into a Windows XP desktop.

The app starts with the traditional Windows XP startup noise and plops you into the familiar desktop minus the rolling hills.

Jun

Tagy Replaces Rows Of App Icons On Your Home Screen With A Tag Cloud, Lets You Know What You Don't Use

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

One of the nicest things about Android that gets taken for granted is the ability to customize your user interface. While most folks tend to stick to app icons for launching their apps, Tagy offers an alternative approach: a tag cloud. Tagy is actually a set of widgets that let you specify a list of apps, contacts, or bookmarks to appear in a single widget. Then, as you use the widget, the items you use more often will get bigger.

Users can customize the color of their tags to fit into whatever theme they're already using. Additionally, because the items you use get larger the more you use them, you can isolate the less-used apps, which you can then either remove from the list or uninstall altogether.

May

Apex Launcher For ICS Gets Bumped To Version 1.2, Supports Themes, Adds CM9 Settings Integration

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

When we first took a look at Apex launcher, we loved it. One of the better ICS launchers is about to get even better, as the app gets bumped to version 1.2. The update brings, among other things, support for themes and a ludicrously high 10x10 grid of icons on phones. For those of you that like have touch screen phones, but hate how easy it is to tap on things without machine-like precision.

Here's a full list of the new features:

What's in this version:

Support for Apex Launcher themes

Support for selecting icons from LauncherPro and Go Launcher icon packs

New gestures and Apex actions: toggle dock and recent apps

Added CM9 settings integration

Up to 10x10 grid on phones

Support for ADW, LauncherPro, and GO Launcher themes (pro)

Unread count notifications for icons in folders (pro)

Improved desktop gestures

Fixed a wallpaper position issue

Fixed a icon scaling bug

Various bug fixes and improvements

Updated translations

A couple of the new features are for the pro-version only, which costs $4, but the rest of the update is free on the Play Store right now, including support for using Launcher Pro and Go Launcher icon packs, just in case you want the best of all worlds.

Apr

[New App] Apex Launcher Pro Brings New Features To An Already Great Home Screen Replacement

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Apps/Games, News

The launcher on Android 4.0 is quite nice when compared to what Google was shipping before. If there is one complaint, it's that the stock launcher is a little light on features. But that's what custom home screen replacements are for, right? We took a look at Apex Launcher when it first came out and were impressed with the initial release. Now Apex Launcher Pro has appeared, bringing with it even more customization.

Apex Launcher Pro comes with all the goodies from the free version, like a customizable grid, scrollable dock, transition effects, and locking the desktop. The Pro app fills in some of the gaps with features including: