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The Big List of Home Launchers - June 8, 2013

Scur

Android Expert
May 1, 2011
1,394
481
Illinois
Launchers are listed by minimum Android version needed. The list was getting rather populated and it needed a new way of being organised, as well as split into separate posts.

If you know of any new ones, bad links, incorrect info, etc. let me know and I'll edit the list and throw you a thanks! Any guides or mods are more than welcome to edit as needed.

The Big List of Home Launchers - Varied, Jelly Bean,
Ice Cream Sandwich, Honeycomb, Gingerbread, Froyo



Varies With Device

Free


Paid

  • no paid launcher listed with a minimum requirement that varies by device

Jelly Bean

Free


Paid

  • no paid launcher listed with Jelly Bean as a minimum requirement

Ice Cream Sandwich

Free


Paid


Honeycomb

Free


Paid


Gingerbread

Free

 
The Big List of Home Launchers - Eclair, Donut, Cupcake


Eclair

Free


Paid


Donut

Free


Paid


Cupcake

Free


Paid

 
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So which one is the best or should I say NO LAG. I put CM6.1 on my G1 then went to Zeam launcher because its supposed to be the lightest BUT when in a heavy app it can take 8 seconds for my icons to come up when returning to home. I have tried all the performance settings and have only 8 icons in the dock and only 2 on the home screen but still the lag.
 
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So which one is the best or should I say NO LAG. I put CM6.1 on my G1 then went to Zeam launcher because its supposed to be the lightest BUT when in a heavy app it can take 8 seconds for my icons to come up when returning to home. I have tried all the performance settings and have only 8 icons in the dock and only 2 on the home screen but still the lag.


Zeam does seem to be one of the lighter launchers for what it does. But if your having issues like that, a new launcher isn't going to be your solution. I'd explore other avenues, like a good cache cleaner, Auto Memory Manager, DT's a2sd, SD-Booster, cutting down on apps, etc.
 
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It might not be a bad idea to add a market link to these launchers just to make it one step easier for others to find.

I thought about that after the list was about done, and I was running out of time. I might yet. I definitely will if anyone mentions any launchers that are found somewhere other than the Android market.
 
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Just did a "Launcher" search in Appbrain and there are 2 more just on the 1st page (Wave and PlugIn)... I typically try to use apps with the highest rating (always above 4 stars), and lowest memory usage... GO has my vote on this list, but I've only tried GO and Zeam (and Car Dock, which I don't think qualifies as a "main" launcher).
 
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Just did a "Launcher" search in Appbrain and there are 2 more just on the 1st page (Wave and PlugIn)... I typically try to use apps with the highest rating (always above 4 stars), and lowest memory usage... GO has my vote on this list, but I've only tried GO and Zeam (and Car Dock, which I don't think qualifies as a "main" launcher).

Saw those.

Wave Launcher is a bit of an overlay launcher that can launch a max of 5 shortcuts I believe. SwipePad is similar. They might be handy for starting apps when you don't want to exit your current one.

Plug In Launcher is an app that automatically launches certain apps when you connect bluetooth, WiFi, or various cables.

As far as Car Dock goes, I haven't tried it yet. I'm not convinced from reading the details
that it can't be used as a home launcher, but I'll re-categorize it, since it does seem that it isn't meant to be the main home launcher.
 
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This is a very helpful thread. I am going to add a link to this from the intro/guide sticky (with your permission of course :)


Go ahead. I've spent some time on this, and it would be nice to know it helped others. It was originally a much shorter list in a notepad file, but when I decided to hunt deeper for more and found out how much time it was actually taking me, I realized how much I wished a list was in the forums.
 
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I've given ADW (free), Launcher Pro, Go Launcher EX, and Zeam, pretty thorough looks on my Dinc2 and I keep going back to Go Launcher. ADW and Launcher Pro lack developer support.

Zeam for what ever it is supposed to be (light on resources and very fast) has bad lag issues on my Dinc2. I really want to like Zeam, their dock is very nice, but I've tried all the recent updates, gone as far back as version 2.88 that was supposedly their best version before version 3, but I just don't have a good experience using it.

Go Launcher EX, which many don't like because they copied features from other launchers, works the best for me. It's the smoothest and is constantly being updated...literally once a week.

I tried Launcher 7 as well and it may be a nice alternative but it requires work to get it to what most would want. It's not the easiest to customize but it looks like a good launcher is you're willing to put in the time to get it to where you want it and like the Windows Phone look.
 
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Looking for different launchers, as most of them are the same style and just differ in small things (GO, LPP, zeam, ADW etc). So i played with MXHome, which i liked very much with its 3D effects, but it's not customizable at all. Now i am playing with Claystone, a nice launcher, different as it uses panels and stacks.
 
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Looking for different launchers, as most of them are the same style and just differ in small things (GO, LPP, zeam, ADW etc). So i played with MXHome, which i liked very much with its 3D effects, but it's not customizable at all. Now i am playing with Claystone, a nice launcher, different as it uses panels and stacks.

Yeah, I noticed most of them look pretty much the same. There are a couple of bare bones launchers, and a few that play with 3D, but there are a few here and there that really are different, like Claystone Launcher or Honeycomb Launcher.
Myself, I like Zeam for the single scrolling dock, running full screen, with Apps Organizer shortcuts in the dock and wp clock wallpaper. ATM anyway.
 
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This is a really great forum entry. It's good to know the alternatives and it's hard to look for launchers beyond the big ones. I've found Go to be the most stable and smooth and it's the one I keep coming back to. I just made it my default again after using Zeam for the past 2 weeks. It was okay, but didn't run any better then Go and has fewer bells and whistles. Launcher 7 was also nice, but lasted only a day on my phone as did LauncherPro. I think today's launcher will be Nemus Launcher.
 
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