Custom Launchers, What, Why and How?

Another normal day, you pick up your phone and look at your home screen. It may be a "flagship killer" or have "earth-shattering power" but unless you have a Nexus device or something similar like a Moto device, most certainly you will have an intrusive UI on top of vanilla Android put there by your OEM. While some OEMs manage to pull off a skin on top of Android (*ahem*HTC) others are not so successful(Yes Samsung, Touchwiz is a terrible idea.). Chinese OEMs which have become very popular off late due to their low specs-to-price ratio, they have among the worst UIs there can be. Most are single layered iOS wannabes who don't even pull it off properly. They are just one step away from outright declaring their aim of copying iOS be it the app icons, the interface or just the system apps themselves, all are cheap knockoffs.

(From the left: LG's too vibrant Optimus, Chinese OEMs, Horrendous Touchwiz in its glory, Xperia in all its dysfunctional glory)

Google has a definite vision for Android with its emphasis for clean, functional design under the Material Design mantle, OEMs often add tweaks to android sometimes making it almost unrecognisable. In the same vein, often these heavy UIs make the phone slow and unresponsive. There is however a way to make your device appear better like stock or have customizability options that you may otherwise lack. These can truly make your device unique like you. You don't have to be another

mindless drone. With custom launchers, you can make your device look like stock Android, or customize in everything. Now to a beginner, the sheer amount of apps can overwhelm, each with its own selling point. Now we will guide you through the best custom launchers there are and also one for what your vision for your phone home screen.

A launcher basically is a program that controls your phone's physical UI elements like the home screen and the app drawer. And if your phone has a single layered interface then you can add an app drawer if you like. There are mainly three major custom launcher apps which are namely:

1. Google Now Launcher by Google Inc.
2. Nova Launcher by Teslacoil
3. Apex Laucher by Android Does

Each will be discussed in detail in following posts but in brief each serve their own purpose and have their own pros and cons. As for Nova and Apex, they both have "Pro" paid versions with extra functionality for an added price. Nova even has a beta program which is nice for extra features earlier.