What is an Android launcher?

What is it?

Does the word, “launcher” make any sense to you? If it doesn’t then you may not know what one is, but you are using one every time you use your Android mobile. Still not making any sense? let me give you an example.
Have you noticed how each Android mobile manufacturer ships their phones with a different type of Android. They are all the same at their heart, but they look different and work slightly differently. In case I’m not making any sense, here is an example.
The image the left is HTC Sense. It doesn’t change Android that much but customizes it slightly. There are a few extra features added and it looks different.
The one on the right is LG Touchwiz. It makes Android look a bit like iOS. All app icons get a square border, there is a rectangle with four favourite apps at the bottom and you can swipe through apps from left to right.

So why am I talking about these customizations? Well, the manufacturers make these customizations by creating a new launcher.
Think of Android launchers as the desktop on Microsoft Windows. When you turn on a computer which runs Windows, you can open up an app/program by either clicking an app on finding it in the start menu. The Android launcher is there for exactly the same reason, to let us easily open up apps.
Tomorrow, we will talk about why you should use a custom launcher such as Launcher Pro and Go Launcher EX