10 best Android launchers: amazing ways to supercharge your phone
Surrender unto the mods
Spend more than
three minutes with any Android fanboy, and you'll quickly learn that
the real beauty of Google's operating system lies in the potential to
customise it.
Any problem can
be solved by downloading enough apps. Nowhere is that more true than
for Android's homescreen - so we've rounded up the best alternative
Android launchers for your modding pleasure.
On an Android
phone, the launcher is the app responsible for the home screen, the
app 'grid', and launching the aforementioned apps. Phones generally
come with either the stock Google launcher, or more commonly, a
launcher whacked on top by a hardware manufacturer like Samsung.
But, if you
don't get on with your phone's default launcher, installing a new one
just takes a quick visit to the Google Play Store.
1. Google Now Launcher
Google's
very own stock Android launcher strips
thing down to the basics, but just because it's the Android standard,
doesn't mean it's boring. For your money (well, actually, it's free),
you get easy access to Google Now, button-free voice controls, and
enough transparent window-bars to make you think you're back in
Windows Vista.
It's compatible
straight out of the box with all Nexus and Google Play Edition
devices, and two minutes with a computer will get it running on all
Android 4.x handsets. Just be careful what you say around it - the
Big G's always listening, probably.
2. Yahoo Aviate Launcher
Yahoo
snapped up Aviate in
the early stages of its development, and it's turned into one of the
best contextually-aware launchers available. Aviate collects apps
together based on different activities, and will then suggest items
that you're likely to use.
By telling
Aviate your home and work location it'll know which apps to offer
when you're in those locations. Heading to the office? The moment you
leave the house, Aviate will offer navigation apps and anything else
you regularly use on your journey, such as Spotify. Another example:
at night, Aviate will give you shortcuts to set an alarm, see the
next day's weather forecast, or put your phone into 'do not disturb'
mode. It's not the most customisable launcher out there, but Aviate
is a smart, simple and effective personal assistant.
3. Nokia Z Launcher
Nokia's
own Z
Launcher is
another one that helps you get to your most used-apps and sites more
quickly. By learning your habits and taking into account your
location and the time of day, the Z Launcher will surface what it
believes to be the most appropriate items. Plus, the more you use it,
the better it gets, as the app learns more about your habits over
time.
Another neat
trick lets you get to an app faster by simply drawing the first
letter of its name in order to produce a narrow list of results. And
the more often you use a certain app, the Z Launcher will remember.
It also has a pleasingly simple, unobtrusive interface, with apps
arranged in a neat line.
4. Buzz Launcher
Buzz
Launcher packs
the standard set of customisation options, but with a killer
advantage: a user-created library of thousands of themes and widgets
you can browse, download and tinker with. Whereas other launchers
feel like masterpieces of efficiency - trying to find you the app you
want, with minimum hassle - Buzz is all about the aesthetics.
There are
certainly more powerful launchers out there, but if you're all about
matching the colour of your shoelaces to your cravat (and don't have
an iPhone), then this is probably the launcher for you.
5. Nova Launcher
Nova and
Apex (below) are the two standout Android launchers - both strike an
excellent balance between having enough features to customise things,
without bogging you down with unfeasibly long options lists and 17
levels of sub-menu hell.
Nova's
arguably the better of the two, with a few more options available in
the free version (there is also a Prime
version),
and slightly better performance - but really, we're splitting tiny
Android hairs trying to find a difference between the two.
6. Apex
Apex
Launcher,
just like Nova, blends smooth performance and ease-of-use with a good
level of customisation to create a genuinely appealing alternative to
most standard Android launchers.
Standout
features on Apex include a superb tablet mode (finally allowing Nexus
7 owners to rotate the home screen); and the Pro
version has
the fantastic Apex Notifier service, which pushes notifications to a
widget on your home screen. (Although, Notifier requires running an
extra app in the background, which is a small drain on battery life.)
Once again, the Pro version does cost money, so it's worth
downloading the free version first.
7. Action Launcher Pro
YouTube :
Action
Launcher has
some nifty, unique features - stuff like a quick-access set of
shortcuts (all customisable, of course), special gestures for
launching apps from within folders, and a cool one-touch method of
creating widgets from apps.
Sadly, you have
to pay the requisite couple of quid for the premium version if you
want to get your hands on the goodies.
8. ADW Launcher
ADW's
probably the ultimate modder's launcher - anything you want to tweak
is tweakable, from the particular shade of Gmail red, to the precise
gesture needed to open an app.
Sadly, it all
comes at a price - ADW is complicated to use and sluggish compared to
other offerings. More worryingly, development has ground to a halt,
with no new releases to support versions of Android after 4.1.
9. Next Launcher
Some
will consider Next
Launcher jaw-droppingly
cool - a 3D launcher that's completely different to the standard
grid-with-some-widgets-whacked-on-top. Of course, it's insanely
impractical and a complete battery hog, but it might just impress a
girl at the bar on Friday night.
However, it
costs more than a Blu-ray, which is money that could be better spent
buying drinks at the aforementioned bar instead.
10. Zeam
Zeam is
at the other end of the spectrum to the rest of these launchers - all
the developers seem to care about is speed. It's the stripped-out
racing version, ditching pretty much all the customisation options or
swanky floating menus of the other versions, in favour of a
minimalist code-base.
The upside of
course is super-smooth performance, even on the oldest, crummiest
phones around. If you're looking for a speed boost for a handset
running Gingerbread (that's Android 2.x to you and us), Zeam fits the
bill pretty well, and it's also free.
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