6 Best Free Launchers for Android

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The Android operating system is one of the leading or should I say the best operating system available in today’s era. An Android based Smartphone or Tablet is full of various amazing features and provides us number of useful and exciting applications to download. The developers out there try their best to make new and extra ordinary applications to make our Android experience better and better. There are many well-known popular applications of Android which are becoming a part of our day-to-day life like Flipboard, Whatsapp, Instagram, Viber etc, and also not forgetting the games like Temple Run, Hill Climb, Subway Surfers, Cut the Rope etc. giving us a nice time of entertainment.

But today we’re talking about the Launchers for Android devices, the best free launchers available on Google Play Store (Android Market). There are some people like me who don’t really like the user interface installed by the manufacturers on their android devices. Like I have a Samsung mobile, but i’m not really a big fan of TouchWiz. Rooting can be helpful to solve this problem, but I don’t really want to risk my device and spoil its warranty. So now there’s only one option left which is a “Launcher”.

Launcher-tile

There are many different launchers available on Android Market and every one of them provide a whole new different look and style to your device. So I just explored the Google Play Store to find the “6 Best Free Launchers for Android”.

1. Nova Launcher:

Nova Launcher is really a great home screen replacement launcher for you android device which is highly customizable and great in performance. Its various features makes it the most popular launcher on Android Market.

Nova Launcher

Features:

  • Color Themes and Icon Themes
  • Scrollable Dock
  • Customizable App Drawer
  • Transparency and Scroll Style
  • Scroll Effects
  • Infinite Scrolling
  • Customizable Folder Icons
  • Widget in Dock and Widget Overlapping
  • Bulk Add and Activities Shortcut
  • Import Layout

Average Rating on Google Play Store:

4.7 out of 5 with 60,290 “5 Star” ratings.

Download:

2. Smart Launcher:

Smart Launcher has a beautiful design and really user-friendly interface which allows launching your favorite applications in few keys. The Automatic Sorting and Cataloging feature is one of the reasons behind the popularity of Smart Launcher.

Smart Launcher

Features:

  • Categorized Drawer
  • Quick Start Main Screen’
  • Support Live Wallpapers
  • Support every device
  • Widget Support
  • Use without Special Configurations
  • Hide Apps
  • Quick Search
  • Various Global Themes
  • Easy Access to Apps info
  • Works Fine on Landscape Mode too
  • Hide Status Bar
  • Change icons in Drawer
  • Icon Themes

Average Rating on Google Play Store:

4.6 out of 5 with 20,656 “5 Star” ratings.

Download:

3. Apex Launcher:

Apex launcher is a smooth and really fast launcher which allows you change your device’s looks completely. It helps you to create a different customizable home screen experience.

Apex Launcher

Features:

  • Customizable Home Screen
  • Scrollable Dock
  • Infinite and Elastic Scrolling
  • Cool Transition Effects
  • Hide Elements
  • Multiple Drawer Styles
  • Different Folder preview Styles and Backgrounds
  • Customizable Icons and Labels
  • Drawer App Sorting
  • Hide Apps
  • Lock your Desktop
  • Gestures
  • Various Themes
  • Backup and Restore

Average Rating on Google Play Store:

4.5 out of 5 with 36,222 “5 Start” Ratings.

Download:

4. Launcher 8:

Launcher 8 is best to experience the Windows 8 UI on an Android device. It is a beautiful, fast and easily customizable launcher and gives a real feeling of having a Windows device.

Windows 8 Android

Features:

  • Full Windows 8 UI
  • Add different size Tiles
  • Variety of Tile Colors
  • Save and Restore Theme
  • Edit Start Screen Layout
  • Customizable Background Style
  • Add Android Widgets in Tiles
  • Set the wp8 style Lock Screen and Status Bar
  • More than One Hundred Theme Colors
  • Hide Apps
  • Add Special Features

Average Rating on Google Play Store:

4.5 out of 5 with 27,309 “5 Star” Ratings.

Download:

5. Holo Launcher:

Holo Launcher is a very fast and highly customizable launcher which allows you to experience the feel and looks Android Ice Cream Sandwich on your old Gingerbread or Froyo Android device.

Holo Launcher

Features:

  • Full Ice Cream Sandwich Style
  • Customizable Desktop Pages
  • Customizable Drawer
  • Scrollable Dock
  • Infinite Scrolling
  • Gestures
  • Customizable Shortcut and Folder Icons
  • Customizable Icon Label Color
  • Apply Icon Packs
  • Pinch to access Desktop Previews
  • Backup and Restore
  • Hide Apps and Labels
  • Customizable Home Action
  • Keep in Memory

Average Rating on Google Play Store:

4.6 out of 5 with 18,648 “5 Star” Ratings.

Download:

6. Go Launcher:

Go Launcher is another fast and smooth home screen replacement launcher for your android device. It’s the one of the popular and oldest launcher of Android Market.

GO Launcher

Features:

  • More than 10,000 Personalized Themes
  • Super Smooth Flipping
  • Over 25 Transition Effects
  • Over 15 free Widgets
  • Gestures
  • 3D Core

Average Rating on Google Play Store:

4.5 out of 5 with 1,021,788 “5 Star” Ratings.

Download:

These were 6 best free launchers for you to bring a whole new change on your Android device. There are also some more nice launchers on Google Play Store like , , , , etc.

So what you guys think about these launchers? Do share your experience and precious views in comments below.

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Install Spotify on Ubuntu Linux

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Spotify LogoSpotify is a new music streaming service which is fast gaining popularity. Even the free user has access to great content. Till now, it is supported only on Windows and Mac but they are working to bring it to Linux platform as well. If you have a premium account on Spotify (not available for free users), you can install it on Linux by following steps:

# 1. Add this line to your list of repositories by 
#    editing your /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free

# 2. If you want to verify the downloaded packages,
#    you will need to add our public key
#    adding the key may take several attempt
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 4E9CFF4E

# 3. Run apt-get update
sudo apt-get update# 4. Install spotify!
sudo apt-get install spotify-client-qt spotify-client-gnome-support
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