Wednesday, June 13, 2012

2 Android Launchers for Android 4.0 ICS


What’s a good OS without a good launcher, The Android Vanilla launcher is OK, but with the three next, you will see for yourself. Whether they are better or the vanilla part. There are many good launchers for Android, but most of them have not been updated for Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich. We find some of them, which have been updated for the newest Android bot here. They good and also popular in the Google Play Store.

The vanilla launcher sure is better then the older counterparts of Android like the Gingerbread, Froyo and etc. But, some times we just need better then ever and here is where the new two launchers come to help us.

Apex Launcher


Apex launcher offers more customizable options for Android 4.0 then the basic UI. It surely looks beautiful with all the detail intact.Apex Launcher supports multiple drawer styles, drawer apps sorting, tablet specific optimizations, infinite and elastic scrolling, fancy transition effects, homescreen gestures etc. And the whole package in completely free too. Further details

Features:
- 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)
- Advanced theme engine (icon packs, skins, etc.)
- Backup/restore settings and data
- Optimized for both phones and tablets
- Lots of other customization options!

Apex Launcher Pro (Paid Version) Features:
- Multiple configurable drawer tabs
- Unread count notifications
- Dock swipe gestures
- Two finger gestures
- More transition effects
- ADW, LauncherPro, and Go Launcher theme support
- Batch add option for folders
- Option to merge folder contents
- Widgets in dock (1×1 only)
- Overlapping widgets

Nova Launcher


Apart from Apex, there is just one another launcher that is only made for Android 4.0 ICS and its name is Nova Launcher. Though Apex dominates the play store, but Nova still is not far behind. Its just 19:20 ratio of who is better then who. There are two versions of the Nova launcher, one is free and the other is paid. Where paid offers a little feature then the free version. Basically the free version is very good and only if you want some more detail like message counts, drawer groups and gesture, then you might go with paid version.

Here are some of it features from the play store

Color Themes
Change the ascent color of the launcher, full color picker support

Icon Themes
Apply ADW or Go launcher icon themes to all app icons

Scrollable Dock (for Tablets and Phones)
Keep all your favorite apps on the dock, with up to 7 icons per page and up to 3 pages.

Customizable App Drawer:
Transparency
Scrolling style, choose between horizontal paginated or vertical continuous

Scroll Effects
Enjoy eye candy when scrolling your desktop and drawer. Effects include Cube and Cardstack and more for Prime users.

Infinite Scroll
Never be far from your favorite page, loop through your desktop continuously.

Folder Icons
You can chose a background, preview style or even replace the whole icon.

Backup/Restore
Export your settings and layout before a wipe to quickly get back up and running.

Widgets in dock
Add any 1×1 widget to the dock

Widget Overlapping
Overlap on resize or placement, long-press to send to back or bring to front

Bulk Add
Add multiple apps to the desktop or a folder at once

Activities shortcut
Select hidden activities from your favorite apps

*Nova Launcher Prime Features (Paid version)*

Nova Launcher Prime unlocks the following features in Nova Launcher:

Drawer Groups:
Folders in App Drawer
Unlimited custom tabs
Organize apps into tabs and folders in the app drawer

Gestures
Quickly start Nova Actions or Apps from gestures on the desktop, such as pinching, swiping or two-finger swiping.

Hide Apps
Keep a clutter free drawer by hidding never used apps.

Dock Swipes
Get more use out of your dock apps by setting swipe-actions

Unread Counts
Never miss an email. Unread count badges for SMS, Missed calls and Gmail. Counts show in the dock, desktop, drawer and folders.