Top 5 Android Launchers

Launchers in Android devices keeps them refreshed and new every time you change them. A correct launcher and a correct hardware combination can make your device faster, smooth and stylish. There are plenty of free Android launchers available on the Play store. Some are marvelous and work on any hardware specs while some require hardware customizations.

In this article, we list our top 5 Android launchers, both paid and free –

1. GO Launcher EX

Searching for a reliable home launcher for your Android? Then undoubtedly try the most popular home launcher Go Launcher EX of Google Play.

Go Launcher is no less than any premium launcher which come per-installed in many Android devices. If you compare the features, this launcher even crosses HTC’s sense and Samsung’s touch Whiz interface. The basic reason for this launcher’s popularity is the number of customization options available in it.

It has many themes available ranging from Windows 8 theme to Jelly beans to Ubuntu theme. Some of the best features about this launcher includes: Smooth transitions, great custom GO widgets, strong app management functions like hide app, sort app, search app and clean cache options.

Features:

• Provides extremely smooth transition animation.
• Smoothness in flipping operation.
• It contains more than 5000 personalized themes.
• Amazing custom gestures.
• Many needful including GO widgets like weather, switcher, calendar etc.
• Strong app management function like sorting, hide app, search, cleaning memory and refresh.

2. Apex Launcher

Apex is a great launcher that comes out looking like Jellybean out of the box, no hunting for themes required.

The menus are all every easy to get around and figure out what they do, and the launcher itself is designed, ultimately, the way you want it to look. That’s the beauty of Apex, you can get it looking and working the best possible way for your personal style.

It has up to 9 customizable home screens, infinite elastic scrolling, fancy transition effects, Multiple drawer styles, Lock your desktop to prevent accidental changes and many more features.

Features:

• You can customize homescreen grid size and up to 9 homescreens.
• Scrollable dock with up to 7 icons per page and up to 5 pages.
• Fancy transition effects (tablet, cube, etc).
• You can hide elements as you want (persistent search bar, status bar, or even the dock).
• Customizable icons and labels for shortcuts and folders
• You can choose different folder preview styles and background.
• You can hide apps from the drawer.
• You can 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
• It is optimized for both phones and tablets

3. NOVA Launcher

Nova launcher is another best free Android launcher which is very similar to Apex launcher. It allows use of ADW or Go Launcher themes to change the looks. You can even change the color of the launcher from the launcher settings. It gives full freedom to select an icon pack from GO launcher or Apex launchers. It has infinite scrolling, folders options, transparent drawer, widgets overlapping option, backup and restore options and hide apps options.

Features:

• Completely coloured themes.
• You can change the accent color of the launcher and it is full color picker supported.
• Customizable App Drawer
• Icon Themes – You can apply ADW or Go launcher icon themes to all app icons.
• Scrollable Dock (for Tablets and Phones) – You can keep all your favorite apps on the dock, with up to 7 icons per page and up to 3 pages.
• Transparency – Scrolling style, you can choose between horizontal paginated or vertical continuous.
• Scroll Effects – You can enjoy eye candy when scrolling your desktop and drawer. Effects include Cube and Cardstack and more for Prime users.
• Infinite Scroll – You will never be far from your favorite page, loop through your desktop continuously.
• Folder Icons – Chose a background, preview style or even replace the whole icon.
• Backup – Export your settings and layout before a wipe to quickly get back up and running.
• Widgets in dock – Just 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 – You can add multiple apps to the desktop or a folder at any time.
• Activities shortcut – You can select hidden activities from your favorite apps.

4. Smart Launcher

Unlike all other launchers out there, with almost the same kind of layout (at a basic level), Smart Launcher is characterized by its minimalist design, low memory usage and a user-friendly UI that lets you start any application with a few taps. You have to use it to know it. My only gripe is that, the Quick Start screen does not have native icons for generic apps such as Google Maps.

Features:

• It is ready to use without special configurations.
• It can support for Live Wallpaper and screens of different sizes.
• It can support of set of icons for Launcher Pro and ADW Launcher.
• It support Widgets but available for only PRO version.
• Main screen with Quick Start.
• Drawer organized by categories.

5. ADW Launcher

This is one of the oldest launcher apps on the market. The reason why it’s number 5 is that it was for the longest time neglected by the developer. It looks like it is again being updated with the latest version being totally rewritten for Android Jellybean, and also coming with a new default theme. There are several versions of this on the market, but we found the premium Ex version the best one.

Features:

• Highly customizable home replacement application.
• It’s compatible with android versions from 1.6 to 4.1.
• It contains thousands of skins and themes with support for most popular launcher themes
• You can mix and match your skins, icons, docks, folders, etc.
• It can configure your applications in unlimited groups and hide unwanted apps.
• Fast setup screen with fast access to add items or configure everything.
• It has configurable visual desktop indicators.- Easy folder tweaking and management, content previews, arrangement, colors, etc.
• New AppWidget picker for devices running Android 4.1 and newer.
• Icons editor to create your own customized shortcuts or edit existing ones
• You can resize AppWidget.
• It contains AppWidget backup/restore (only for android 4.1 and newer).
• Customizable applications dock with support for unlimited shortcuts with paginated scroll.
• Lots of settings to play with: texts, colors, animations, sizes, you should dig in.

What do you think? Did we miss out on any? Let us know your top 5 below!