One of our readers spotted this neat trick in the latest update to the Google Now Launcher (which is part of the primary Google app). A single tap on the app drawer icon will open the app drawer as usual, but a long-press will open it and immediately highlight the app search field. It will also automatically open your default virtual keyboard, quickly and easily allowing you to type and search for apps.
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Most Xposed modules add a simple change or tweak one or two settings. The Xposed GEL Settings module, colloquially known as XGELS, is a bit more ambitious. This tool for customizing the default Google Experience Launcher keeps adding new features every few months, and the latest actually adds something that isn't available in erstwhile competitors like Nova or Apex. You can download it on the Play Store now, though you'll need root and the Xposed Framework to run it.
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Xposed GEL Settings, or XGELS, is an Xposed Framework module that aims to make the default Google Now launcher (AKA the Google Experience Launcher) just as customizable as alternatives like Nova. The latest update adds a handful of new options for customization nuts, including tweaks to the icon display on the homescreen and app drawer. You can download XGELS via the Play Store, but you'll need a rooted device and the Xposed Framework (sideload) to make it work.
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To the excitement of many, Google has finally made the Google Now Launcher available for all Android devices running Android 4.1 or later.
The GNL is what Google thinks your Android device should look like, in a basic sense. A dedicated Google Now homescreen pane, a permanent Google Search shortcut at the top of every screen, and a very bare-bones app drawer. It's simple, fast, and Google-y. What's interesting is that, despite some degree of love for the GNL in the wider Android community, it's really not an enthusiast's launcher at all.
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It seems like it's hard to find a non-Nexus device that uses anything close to stock Android. Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony, Asus, Acer - everywhere you look there are customizations to a greater or lesser extent. Even Motorola, formerly Google's own subsidiary, uses a custom launcher. Chinese manufacturer ZTE is looking to break that trend, however. The company is planning to launch new smartphones that use the Google Now Launcher (AKA the Google Experience Launcher) by default.
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I don't think the developer behind the Xposed Google Experience Launcher Settings (XGELS) module will be satisfied until he's made the stock Google Search launcher every bit as flexible as Nova and Apex. The latest update to the popular module adds even more customization options. Premium users can now assign custom icons to a single app or the app drawer icon, with or without a full icon theme applied, like most of the more advanced launchers allow.
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As useful as the Google Experience Launcher (GEL) is, it's not exactly what you'd call "customizable." But intrepid modder Alexander Schulz has been working on that, making the GEL bend to his will through the magic of root and the Xposed Framework tool. The latest update to Xposed GEL Settings adds some really cool features. The most impressive is probably the dynamic home button: the home button on the virtual nav bar will switch to the app tray icon on the default home screen if that's the function you've selected.
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Google has pushed out an update to the Google Search app, which now means there's also an update to the Google Experience Launcher. We've got the APK for you to install below, and this is looking like a substantial update – it looks like the new (and probably official) name for the Google Experience Launcher is Google Now Launcher.
Heads up, Android users: there's a Google Search update that just landed in the Play Store. Google's tendency for staged rollouts means that some of you might not get an automatic update for a few days, but as usual, we've got the APK download below. There are a few noticeable visible changes in the integrated Google Experience Launcher, but that's about it as far as new features go. This is an incremental update after the massive 3.1.8 update from last month.
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Last week, Google released a massive update to the Search app for Android 4.1+ phones and tablets. Inside that refreshed APK, though, is a somewhat sneaky surprise: all the necessary bits for the Nexus 5's "Google Experience" launcher. All you need to get it working is the launcher app pulled from the Nexus 5, and you'll be up and running GEL-style.
If you want a detailed look at the new launcher, be sure to check out the relevant sections of Liam's Getting To Know Android 4.4 post, which goes into crazy detail as to all the changes you'll discover over the old AOSP launcher.
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