Android Launchers - Android OS Tips and Tricks

The Android launcher is what you see on the bottom of your home screen and is used to do things such as start apps, bring you back to your home screen and allow you to move between multiple home screens. It's one of the most commonly used parts of the Android OS so why not customize it to make it even better? There is not much you can really do to your existing launcher so the way to customize it would be to install a different one.

You can install different launchers on your Android to get custom configurations including better shortcuts, extra home screens, and themes. Some launchers will allow you to enable auto rotation of your home screen when you rotate your device and let you choose a different action for the home key.

You can get new launchers from the Android Market as well as download them from websites. Some are free, some you have to pay for and some offer pay for versions of the free versions that offer more features. Just be careful if you download one off of a website to make sure it is a legitemate app. Once you install the launcher on your device, whenever you press your home key you will be prompted for which launcher you want to use. If you check the Use by default for this action box then it will use that launcher and not ask you each time.

Here is an example of a stock Android launcher. It has 3 buttons in the middle and the dots on each side tell you which one of your home screens you are on and how many you have on each side of it.

One popular third party launcher is the ADW Launcher.

ADW offers many ways to configure your home screens. It allows you to have up to 7 screens, and offers the ability to choose how many rows and columns of apps you want on your home screen if you need fit more shortcuts (up to 8). It also gives you the option to set a custom action to the home button such showing a home screen preview or hiding the notification bar.

One of the things people like about AWD the best is its ability to change the theme on your Android device. All you need to do is download a theme from the Market and choose it in ADW's settings.

One drawback of AWD though is that it can be very slow and bog down your phone especially if you have an older one.

Here is an example of the ADW Launcher with a theme applied.

Another launcher you can use is called LauncherPro. It offers great performance as well as many other features. One of its nicer features is the ability to remove apps from the app drawer giving you the ability to hide the junk apps that come with your phone that you can’t remove otherwise. With this feature you can also hide apps that you want running in the background but don't want cluttering up your drawer.

LauncherPro offers a scrollable, customizable dock that features 5 shortcuts along the bottom instead of the usual 2. This gives you 15 shortcuts along the bottom of your screen that you can scroll through. LauncherPro gives you the ability to have 3, 5 or 7 home screens. Plus you can choose which one out of the 7 screens will be your default home screen. LauncherPro offers a plus version which costs $2.99 and comes with some many useful widgets.

Here is an example of LauncherPro

Feel free to try a few out to see which one or ones you like. You can always uninstall them if you don't like them.