Are you getting bored with the stock look of your android phone? Why not go ahead and change the launcher and get a better UI matching your taste.
If you still not sure that what we are talking about then launchers are apps that change the home UI of your Android devices. They allow you to change icons, animations, App drawer settings, add more home screens, hide apps, allows wallpaper sliding while viewing different home screens, 3D effects, transition effects, themes etc.
Below we’re going to list some of the best launchers or home replacements available in Google Play.
Nova Launcher
Nova launcher is by far the best launcher or home replacement we’ve used so far. It’s very stable and simple.
But there are few cons, it doesn’t have variety of features as we’ve seen in other competitors. There is limited amount of transition effect in it, but it’s stability and performance leaves every other launcher behind.
Nova launcher is quite similar to the stock launcher of ICS, But it’s a great change if you are coming from Touchwiz, HTC sense etc. Nova launcher brings many themes that can be found in Google Play.
Nova launcher has paid version and free versions. Paid version costs $4.00 that adds some premium features.
GO Launcher EX
GO Launcher EX stands at a great place of respect in Google Play, that’s probably because of the large number of themes widgets and some side apps that can customize the device even more. It has tons of features that’ll surprise you when you go through its settings.
The theme collection is huge and most of them are free but some are paid. When you download the launcher it comes with a market, From there you can download add-ons, widgets, go locker, themes etc.
But this launcher doesn’t offer that much of stability nor the performance. We experienced that device gets really laggy and slow if you’re using a mid end or low end android phone. Having said this, we don’t mean that launcher is bad, in fact you won’t notice that lag and slow performance in high end android phones.
GO Launcher EX is free in Google Play.
Vire Launcher
Vire is pretty fancy looking launcher. It comes with this very catchy 3D effect. If you tilt the device you can notice the glass reflection on vire widgets and other animation while using the launcher.
The launcher runs quite smooth and performance is good as well. The features in the setting menu are limited but we appreciate how simple and glassy interface it has. The app drawer seemed a little blurry even though the transition effect was pleasing but vire launcher needs more improvement to stand in the competition.
Smart Launcher
Smart launcher is for people who find normal android launchers complex and they want something different and easy to use and want more organized launcher. The UI here is very simple, clean, very easy to use and apps are placed in categories. Launcher is pretty stable, light and snappy.
Biggest con is that you can’t place widgets on home screen.
Next Launcher 3D
Next launcher 3D is Super customizable launcher we’ve ever used. It’s pretty fancy looking, snappy and very stable. Even the icons here show animations. This launcher is probably the most highly polished launcher available in the market.
Even the smallest things are kept in mind and shows something different, something unique than others. The only con is that it comes with is its ridiculously expensive price tag of $15.99.
Splay Launcher
Splay launcher is very gorgeous looking piece of the art. The launcher has categories and sub categories from where you can open apps.
It’s hard to get used to it and sometimes things don’t work that well. But this launcher is unique, It doesn’t make your device look like an android. The graphics are great but they need little polishing. it’s snappy and very stable.
You can’t use widgets on this launcher as well, but instead of using widgets you can have shortcuts.
Launcher 8
If you’re a fan of the UI of windows phone 8 and you want to have those animated live tiles that smoothness that looks and feel than Launcher 8 is for you.
It’s not exactly the same thing as windows phone 8 but It feels quite similar. you can install different themes on it and make it much more customizable.
This launcher also comes with windows phone lock screen where you have to swipe up to unlock. Launcher 8 is very snappy and is stable as well but while using this launcher we noticed significant battery loss, it tends to eat more battery.
Next launcher and windows launcher the best in all..
I am using Next Launcher 3D. This best thing I experienced is smooth performance and least resource usage. Tried all launchers but I recommend this one. (Using it in HTC Evo 3D) …
apex launcher not good enough to be listed??? 0_o
windows launcher is best
for me original touchwiz ui is best on my s3
Nova launcher is the best
I prefer Stock Android in Nexus Devices… Device gets slow/hang after installing those Launchers.
I never used a launcher default look is good
Nice review but consider adding links to the play store for all of them.
I still prefer the stock launcher.
Apex and ADW are other good launchers, I prefer Apex or Nova over others because of their customization options, mix it up with UCCW Widgets and you can create your homescreen the way you want to.
Apex Apex Apex …
…or use the default one
End of story -_-
#Hasan! Are you kidding me by not mentioning TSF Shell? The greatest launcher ever made on Android?
Here is the thing. Don’t just tag any launcher as “best” because sometimes visuals may be best, but performance won’t be.
To be a better judge of “Optimization” run a launcher on a Low End device and see how it behaves.
ANY launcher which can provide greater functionality and best visuals at the same time “SHOULD” be tagged as “best”.
And after experiencing Countless Launchers like these, i am confident to say that “TSF Shell” is the best thing ever happened to Android. Based on an older “Yandex Shell” or even older “Shell 3D” … it can really surprise you with its different nature, supreme performance and ravishing visuals (themes are available)
One minute silence for the brother living in the dark ages of android hahaha lol..im not a supporter of propakistani but im a supporter and a fan of go team they did a great job and yeah id like to thank author for listing these names . But go launcher ko number one pe hona chahiye tha… And yeah every single update is about efficiency of the os itself not to make it more complex dear
How naive of you. Basing your judgment on the number of “Downloads” a launcher has. I salute your IQ level.
Nearly $17 is not cheap. Most of the people have pirated it anyway. Thats the reason for “less downloads”. And 4 star rating is because of those dumb people who when faced a tiny problem or bug, would never contact the developer to sort the issue out. Instead would leave the low rating and move on. You can read the comments section to get an evidence of that.
Just for your information, being famous is NOTHING to do with how “Good” a product is. A brilliant product may not be very “famous” while a mediocre product like GO Launcher can top up the charters, simply because:
1. Its free
2. It has wide themes available (out of which 90% are pretty useless)
That being said, I don’t know which pair of eyes do you need to check it out but GO Launcher is one of THE worthless piece of “Unoptimized” Crap ever made on Android. Its a bloody memory hogger. Has the ability to lag even the most high end Android phone out there.
But hey, there is no one to complain about it. You know why? Because ITS FREE.
I salute the days of ADW like Launchers when everything was equally important, Optimization along with the Visuals.
Now, the “Next Launcher”. Costing nearly the same as TSF Shell, it provides minimal functionality, same traditional UI (with a taskbar below) … basically NOTHING NEW. Maybe thats the reason people prefer it over other products because hey, most of the people are actually “Lakeer k fakeer” who never like anything new, despite how much revolutionary and would rather base their opinion on the first 5 minutes of usage. huh
Why Apex Launcher not listed above? I uses it for a month before switching to Smart. Its good though but I was bored
See Personal Launcher at google play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imaginea.lockedlauncher . Simple design and great idea.
How can i install Galaxy S3 or S4 themes on my Qmobile A900?
Themer Launcher Is Best !!!