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Ice Cream Sandwich Gets Another Launcher. Meet Apex Launcher

Ever since Ice Cream Sandwich has been slowly delivered to our wonderful phones, replacement launchers have been coming out as well. So far, if you did not want to stick with the stock launcher, you have your choice between CyanogenMod’s Trebuchet launcher, and Nova Launcher. I have given both a try, and I pick Nova Launcher over Trebuchet, because it simply is smoother and very fast on my phone. Now there is a new kid on the block for us to try.

In comes a beta ICS launcher called “Apex Launcher” by dennisxl . I gave this launcher a run and it still has much to improve. Not nearly as smooth and as good as Nova Launcher, but it has potential. Here are the features it has and what is to come:

Features

  • Custom number of homescreens and homescreen grid size
  • Infinite & elastic scrolling (homescreen and drawer)
  • Transition effects (homescreen and drawer)
  • Customizable scrolling indicator (homescreen and drawer)
  • Homescreen gestures (pinch, swipe up/down)
  • Enable/Disable auto-rotation
  • Enable/Disable wallpaper scrolling
  • Show/Hide persistent search bar
  • Show/Hide notification bar
  • Show/Hide icon labels (homescreen and drawer)
  • Lock/Unlock desktop
  • All/Downloaded/Widgets tabs in drawer
  • Drawer apps sorting (title, install date, mostly used)
  • Add widgets from drawer (must install as system app) or system picker
  • Resize any widget
  • Backup/Restore settings and data

Planned Features

  • Customizable dock (scrollable and gestures)
  • Edit app icons and labels
  • Hide apps in drawer
  • Easier homescreen management (on preview screen)
  • Enhanced folder support (unlimited icons etc.)
  • More transition effects for homescreen and drawer

So if you are rocking some ICS on your phone and feel like testing out a new launcher, give Apex Launcher a try. Link to the thread below for the apk file. Have fun with it my Android friends.

Thread: Apex Launcher