AnderWeb rises from the grave with all new ADW Launcher and ADWLauncher EX

ADW Launcher is a launcher app that nearly every single Android user has used for at least a few years. It was fast, customizable and just plain awesome. We all used to have it installed on our previous devices prior to Ice Cream Sandwich being released. Even after that many people still stuck with it and never made the switch to Nova or Apex. We missed ADW Launcher and all the wonders that it first brought to our devices. My poor G1 and Vibrant just wouldn’t have been the same without it.

We wondered if AnderWeb would be making an update to his pride and joy, but nothing ever seemed to come out. Then all of a sudden out of the blue, there it was. ADW Launcher and ADW Launcher EX versions 1.3.3.7. AnderWeb just released a major rewrite to ever so popular launcher and pushed it to the Play Store just yesterday. The ‘What’s New’ section leaves you wondering what all has been done as he lists “New almost everything :)” After watching the video preview below and having a vague memory of what it used to be, we would have to agree. Check it out.

He almost moves to fast for us to even see what the heck just happened. The compete changelog for those of you that like to really know what is new can be found below.

Latest changes:

Revamped engine to merge ADW/ADWEx functionalities.

Settings to modify icon sizes

Settings to modify text colors, shadows, etc

New visual configuration helper

New ADWSetup screen for an easier way to add items and access tweaking functionality

Improved android compatibility from 1.6 to 4.1!

New visual AppWidget picker (android 4.1+ only)

New theme engine with improved support for most popular launcher themes

New ADWSettings layout

New animations when moving desktop items

Fling desktop items to send them to the trash

New optional ActionBar for most common actions

New desktop transitions

New desktop indicators

New way to hide apps from your app drawer

New app drawer tabs to manage unlimited application groups

New app drawer visual styles

New app drawer open/close animations

New gestures settings to perform common actions

New easy way to manage folders

New different folder visual styles

New folder previews styles

Manually reorder folder contents by drag-and-drop

Double tap desktop icons to bring up editing menu

Double tap desktop icons to bring up editing menu

Long press desktop Widgets to bring up editing menu

New easy way to adjust screen sizes/margins

New backup/restore system

Pretty much huge, I know. The update is live for both the free version and the paid EX version of the app. If you bought ADW EX, like I am sure many of you did in the past, simply go install it again for all the latest little goodies. If you are fairly new to Android and have never experienced ADW, then you should pick up the free version first and spend a few days customizing it. It does a whole heck of a lot. You can click or scan either app below to head straight to the Play Store and have some fun. Guess we should start digging out some awesome ADW themes again huh?