Saturday, August 27, 2011
Nemus Launcher and Go Launcher EX: two alternative launchers for Android
Launchers are very important for Android based devices because you need to use them all time. Since there are many Launchers on Android Market, it may be difficult for you to choose an appropriate one. If you want a stable Launcher, Nemus Launcher should be a good choice. You can also try Go Launcher EX which provides you many options.
NEMUS LAUNCHER (NL)
Basically, Nemus Launcher does not provide many different interface features compared to the default Launcher in Android 2.2 and 2.3. The button "App Drawer” which lists all apps is placed at the center. The Home-screens are listed on the top of the screen. Nemus Launcher supports maximum 9 Homes-screens.
NL is not good at its interface but its features. First, Dock at the bottom is a outstanding feature of this Launcher. Dock, which helps you launch an app faster, supports many app shortcuts. At one time, Dock displays 4 icons and App Drawer.
Another awesome feature of NL is App Drawer can be explored as Expose in Mac OS or as the list of Home-screens of HTC Sense. If you have many apps installed in your smartphone, NL can help you save a lot of time for searching and launching an app.
App Drawer also contains an useful feature that highlights recently installed apps. This feature helps to find apps easier.
During the test on Motorola Milestone with ROM Android 2.3 Cyanogen Mod 7, NL runs very smoothly without any errors. Therefore, it should run well on other Android smartphones. This app also uses a small amount of RAM. NL is one of the best performance Launcher for Android devices so far.
NL also provides a built-in Task Manger. To access this feature, go to App Drawer > Running. All apps will be listed with Close option (cross icon) to close a specific app or all apps at once.
GO LAUNCHER EX
Go Launcher has been known as a stable, smooth and beautiful Launcher. EX is an extended version of Go Launcher. In this version (3 Aug, 2011), several bugs were fixed and some features (such as changing widget theme) were added. GO Launcher EX also allows you to add free plug-ins from Android Market.
In default, icons on main screens are simple but beautiful. Similar to NL, Go Launcher allows you to create several Docks. You can add apps to Dock by drag and drop them or choose icon + in the context menu when you touch and hold on each app icon.
Go Launcher EX allows you to change app icons in the main screen with default icons or new icons downloaded from Go Launcher EX library. You can search icons on Android Market with keyword: “go launcher icon set”. To change icon, click and hold on the app icon and choose icon.
With Go Launcher, you have several options for working with widgets on the main screen. In addition to 2 basic actions: move and delete, you can change the size of widget or choose theme for each widget. You can access these feature using the context menus.
Resize a widget
App Drawer of Go Launcher EX has 3 tabs:
+ All: display all apps.
+ Recent: display currently used apps.
+ Running: display running apps.
You can use running app tab as a Task Manager.
Go Launcher EX support you many options to customize your screens. In Home-screen, chose Menu > References to customize your screen:
+ Themes Settings: You can choose one from many themes. You also can download more themes from Android Market with keyword: “Go Launcher theme”. Some theme can simulate the themes of other devices (such as theme of HTC, or the interface of Android Honeycomb). Of course, you can change the background in this setting.
+ Screen Settings: You can change the interface of the main screen here, such as display or hide the app names, grid size, wallpaper scrolling, screen transition effect, # of Docks, and screen loop mode.
+ App Drawer Settings: similar to Screen Settings.
+ Effect Settings: changing the desk transition effect. You can choose one from 10 different effects. You also can change effects for Enter/Exit transition and Icon.
+ Operation Settings: changing options of screen rotation, home key action, glide up/down action.
+ Advanced Settings.
+ Backup/Restore: you can backup and restore your settings. The backup data are saved on SD card.
Go Launcher EX also supports Go Widgets which only run with Go Launcher. Most of Go Widgets are free and can be downloaded from Android Market. These widgets are more beautiful, support more features compared to the default widgets of Android. After installing Go Launcher EX, you can download 2 following Go Widgets: contact and calendar inside this Launcher.
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