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Mar

GO Launcher HD Hits The Play Store, Bringing GO Goodness To Tablets Running 3.0 And Above

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

The team behind the awesome GO suite of apps have brought the functionality and style of GO Launcher to Android-powered tablets everywhere today (as long as they're running 3.0+), bringing GO Launcher HD out of beta. You may remember our beta coverage earlier this month, in which we got a sneak peak at GO's tablet launcher, and it looks like little has changed. For a launcher that aims to be minimally intrusive yet offer a ton of functionality, however, that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

With GO Launcher HD, users can utilize the dock bar characteristic of ICS' phone interface, adding and rearranging up to 10 shortcuts.

Mar

[Hands-On] Apex Launcher For Android 4.0 Devices Leaves Beta And Hits The Store, Brings Numerous Features To ICS Devices

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News, Videos

A couple of weeks ago, we took a look at Nova, a new launcher for Ice Cream Sandwich devices that brings some nice features over the stock offering. Another new launcher designed for Android 4.0, dubbed Apex, landed in the Store this morning and it, too, is pretty incredible. I spent some time playing around with it earlier today; here is a quick look at what Apex has to offer.

Apex is definitely heavy on features, including:

Customizable homescreen grid size and up to 9 homescreens
Scrollable dock with up to 7 icons per page and up to 5 pages
Infinite & elastic scrolling (homescreen, drawer and dock)
Fancy transition effects (tablet, cube, etc.)
Hide elements as you want (persistent search bar, status bar, or even the dock)
Customizable icons and labels for shortcuts and folders
Choose different folder preview styles and background
Multiple drawer styles (transparent/opaque, horizontal/vertical, paginated/continuous)
Drawer apps sorting (title, install date, mostly used)
Hide apps from the drawer
Lock your desktop to prevent accidental changes
Enjoy homescreen gestures (pinch, swipe up/down, double tap)
Backup/restore settings and data
Optimized for both phones and tablets
Lots of other customization options!

Mar

GO Weather Widget Released, Brings Beautiful, Simple Weather To Your GO Launcher EX Home Screen

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, News

The GO team is, by now, pretty well known - and for good reason. They offer an unbelievable number of ways to overhaul your phone - such as GO SMS Pro, GO Contacts, and GO Keyboard - not to mention dozens of themes for all of their apps. But they are perhaps most well known for GO Launcher EX, and the tons of widgets (and more!) Now, they've released a new one to go with the Launcher: GO Weather Widget.

Three widget sizes are offered (as shown in the left image above): 4x2, 4x1, and 1x1.

Feb

Awesome 3D Launcher 'TSF Shell' Now Available In The Android Market, Complete With A Massive $17 Price Tag

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

Back in December, we told you about a new launcher called TSF Shell that was set to raise the bar for custom launchers. After two and a half months of waiting, that app is now available in the Android Market, albeit for a ridiculously high price of $17. For a launcher. These people have lost their minds.

Still, if you can get past the immediate shock due to the high price and start reading the Market description, you'll immediately realize that, well, it's not all that easy to follow. In fact, it looks like a straight-up copy/paste from Google Translate.

Feb

[New App] Nova Launcher Hits The Market, Brings An Awesome Custom Launcher To Android 4.0 Phones

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

The stock launcher in ICS is, without a doubt, the best launcher that Google has ever produced. It offers some great features that previously required the use of a custom launcher, like customizable dock shortcuts and drag-and-drop folder support. Despite being a definite improved over its predecessors, it's still not perfect.

With that in mind, the devs behind WidgetLocker took the ICS launcher to the lab and made it even better. The result is a blazing fast new launcher called Nova Launcher. Nova builds off of the stock 4.0 launcher while retaining the same look and feel, but brings advanced customization and improved features to all Android 4.0 handsets.

Feb

[Weekend Poll] Are You Using A Custom Launcher?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Do You Use Live Wallpapers?

We've said it many times before, and I'll say it again: one of the best things about Android is how customizable the entire experience is. One of the easiest and most comprehensive ways to customize your device - aside from rooting and ROMing, that is - is to use a custom launcher such as ADWLauncher EX, GO Launcher EX, and Launcher Pro. Even stock, these apps can revamp your device's appearance and basic behavior, and coupled with the bevy of themes that can be found on the Market, the possibilities are nearly endless.

Jan

[Monthly Home Screen Challenge] And The December 2011 Winner Is…

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Development, Home Screen Challenge

December's Home Screen Challenge – like our first two challenges – gave us a look at some extremely impressive home screens, pushing aesthetics and home screen tweaking to their limits. It was tough to pick just one winner, but in the end, suprafreak1000's zen-like reimagining of the Android interface won us over. Like always, we'll break down the winning home screen and explain each of its parts, so you, the reader, can design your own creation using the same elements.

Winner – SupraFreak1000

Suprafreak1000 (known as Scott on myColorscreen) has built a unique, practical, and visually impressive home screen, blending a cohesive color scheme with a simplistic interface.

Dec

[Video] Upcoming TSF Shell Pro 3D Android Launcher Takes Launcher UI To A Whole New Level - Tie Your Jaw To Your Mouth Before Watching

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News, Videos

There is no shortage of launcher replacements for Android, but once in a while a new one comes along and takes the launcher experience to a new level. Such is the case with TSF Shell Pro, a new launcher currently in development by a team of developers who call themselves C3D. TSF, their brand, stands for The Special Forces, and special they are - just take a look at what the team cooked up.

TSF Shell Pro has a UI so polished that your favorite launcher will feel like it was designed in 1999. How about 3D widgets with interactive modes and animations?

Nov

[Updated: Not An Easter Egg But A Screensaver!] Weird, Star Wars-Like Light Speed Launcher Found Hidden In The Depths Of Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Off-Topic, Videos

Apparently, this and Nyan Droid are both part of a new screensaver feature Google called "Android Dreams" that was disabled by them before Ice Cream Sandwich was released (presumably because it wasn't ready for prime time yet). Here is a picture of the re-enabled feature in CM9, courtesy of Steve Kondik who stopped by our G+ post.

We're not sure whether what you're about to see is yet another Easter egg in Ice Cream Sandwich (remember the Nyan Droid?) or the next amazing launcher that will do your dishes and fly you into space, but it turns out the stock ICS launcher actually has another launcher buried inside.

Oct

[New App] Want Your Android Launcher To Look Like iOS? There's Now An App For That - Espier Launcher

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

I'm not sure I would personally ever do that (wait, I'm sure - I'm shrugging just thinking about it), but let's say that you really love the look and feel of the the iOS desktop UI found on Apple's iPhone, with the launchpad, rounded corners, folders, trembling icons with little X's, etc. However, you also love the flexibility that Android offers. Can both be combined? The answer, as it turns out, is yes - Espier Launcher, which just landed in the Android Market (probably immediately infringing on a few dozen Apple patents).

The app is openly advertising its similarity to the iPhone desktop layout, icons, and functionality - if it ever picks up, I give it a few days on the Market before Apple wheels in the ~~big guns~~ lawyers.