My app of the week: Action Launcher

So far, the Nova Launcher has been the only option for me when it comes to a launcher. At the beginning of June I came across the Action Launcher. Has he taken the Nova Launcher for its place in my heart?

If you open the launcher for the first time, you notice that nothing has actually changed. In my case, huge app icons, my widgets, a 4 × 4 app grid and the typical material design of Android came to light. But you can still change everything completely and give your smartphone a completely different look.

The settings: the usual bells and whistles on board

Of course, you can adapt the basic structure of the Action Launcher like that of any other third-party launcher. It doesn't matter whether I want an app drawer in the style of Google Pixel or the background of a folder should be orange. It all works. Icon size, app grid and icon pack can be adjusted both in Appdrawer and on the primary home screen without major restrictions.

The characteristics of Saori weaving

quicktheme

First of all, there is the setting point quicktheme. There you can adjust the colors of the individual home screen elements, such as the search bar, the dock or the folder background. You can do this by letting the software adapt the colors to the wallpaper, but also by using ready-made presets. But you can also set everything manually. It is also worth mentioning that you cannot simply choose any colors. Unfortunately, only colors such as black, white or gray are available.

Android O app and notification shortcut

With Android O 8.0, for example, you can hold down apps like YouTube or Twitter for a long time to get a shortcut list that contains things like quick access to the YouTube subscription box or the Twitter messages. This saves you a few clicks and you get to the desired destination faster. This is basically the same as Apple's 3D - Touch App Shortcuts, only without the "3D". With Android, the received notifications of the respective app are also displayed above the shortcuts. Apple could definitely copy that for an upcoming iOS version.

quickpage

I don't know about you guys, but I have this one widget that I always need to have on hand. My calendar. In order to be able to call this up quickly and at any time from my home screen, the developer has come up with something really cool. If he swipes left from the right edge of the display, a completely empty panel appears. There you can place apps and widgets that you need very often. For my part, that's the calendar.

My quickpage with the calendar widget (screenshot: © 2017 TechnikNews)

quickdrawer

The Quickdrawer is something like that. You call it up with a swipe from the left edge of the display to the right. All installed apps are displayed there in a vertical list, through which you can then scroll quickly. Practical feature, definitely saves some time.

Shutter - the coolest feature ever

After a while, my home screen was just cluttered with widgets, so that there were only a few apps on one page. That got on my nerves. But Action Launcher solves this too Proproblem with the so-called Sutter to me. Now there is a corresponding widget behind every app on my home screen. So it doesn't take up any space on the actual home screen. The feature is basically activated for every app that has widgets. If this is not the case, you can activate it as follows: Open the shortcut menu with a long press on the desired app and select the tab there Edit .

Then a small window appears in the lower half of the display, where a drop-down menu can be found in the top left. There should be the option Shutter be selected. If this is not the case, you will be directed to the widget list as soon as you have activated the feature, where you can then select something suitable. If you don't like a widget that is set at the factory, you can easily change it. Simply open the shutter of the app you want and select the W option behind the three dots in the lower right cornerchange idget select from the drop-down menu. You can now open this shutter by swiping your finger up on the desired app. In the case of apps with shutters, a small circle is also displayed as a hint.

Folder cover with shutter

Be honest: folders look ugly. However, in the same breath, they are also very handy for avoiding chaos on your home screen. Apparently the developer thought so too and has an interesting solution to this Proproblem found. If you create a new folder, it works basically the same as with the shutters for widgets. In addition, the usual preview image does not appear for a folder, but you only see the first app in the folder, the cover.

If you now press the cover, the folder does not open, only the first app in it. That's the one that's shown as the cover. If you swipe up like the shutters, you will see the entire contents of the folder. In any case, it looks better than the normal folders.

My Google folder, opened via a shutter (screenshot: © 2017 TechnikNews)

Conclusion

Action launcher. The name fits. If you look at the peculiarities of this launcher, then it really has its name Action earned. Do I now prefer this launcher over the Nova Launcher? Yes. Once I have the Nova Launcher off againproand switched back the same day. The Action Launcher is available for free in the Playstore. With an in-app purchase of about four euros, you get the opportunity to save the layout of your home screen on Google Drive or the SD card. In my opinion, the purchase is not necessary if you don't change your smartphone every month. All other features are also available in the free version of the app.

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