Launcher 7 on Android is pretty cool

[NikolaeVarius]

https://market.android.com/details?id=info.tikuwarez.launcher3&feature=search_result

Download from here. It's just a Win 7 skin for Android, and it surprisingly works pretty well. I'm not a huge fan of the Win 7 UI because I think it wastes way to much space, but it's pretty fun to see what its like on Android.

It's extremely smooth, but considering its only rendering colored boxes, you can't really expect anything else.

Try it out. I'm personally probably gonna try it out for a week before going back to Launcher pro.

After a quick try out, the app list is pretty interesting. It has a very GPU accelerated feel. I wonder why there is such a performance difference between app drawers, all they are supposed to be is icons on a black background.

 

[Dulanic]

Pretty sure I bought Android to not be like a iPhone or WP7 device... but that's just me.

 

[AstroManLuca]

DLing now. Worth a shot but I doubt I'd replace Launcher Pro.

 

[zerocool84]

Pretty sure I bought Android to not be like a iPhone or WP7 device... but that's just me.

At least you get the option. Choices is what life is all about.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

At least you get the option. Choices is what life is all about.

yet another quick jab at closed operating systems?

 

[shortylickens]

yet another quick jab at closed operating systems?

You should put more time and effort into killing Lois.
I'm pretty sure right now she's fucking the fat man.

 

[SunnyD]

Pardon me if I'm skeptical of the safety of anything that has "warez" in the URL/title.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Pardon me if I'm skeptical of the safety of anything that has "warez" in the URL/title.

It's a direct link to the Android Market.

 

[Red Storm]

I tried it when I had my Droid X, was cool to use, however the whole appeal to the Win7 UI is the metro thing that extends the text beyond the edge of the screen to let you know that you can scroll over to other things. This just emulates the homescreen tiles, which - while nice - aren't all that much on their own.

 

[dguy6789]

Tried it out. Pretty neat. However it was buggy and has ads in the app drawer which is completely unacceptable.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Very cool. It's actually very smooth on my Galaxy S too.

 

[slightlyhuman]

nice. i like it but it defaults to portrait mode for my moto flipout for some reason. not sure how to change it to landscaping.

 

[Red Storm]

Tried it out. Pretty neat. However it was buggy and has ads in the app drawer which is completely unacceptable.

Really? There weren't any ads in the earlier versions when I tried it. I hate when app makers pull that crap. Either put ads in from the beginning or simply make it paid from the start with no ads.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Tried it out. Pretty neat. However it was buggy and has ads in the app drawer which is completely unacceptable.

++ on the app drawer ads. Ugh. I know devs want to make money but this guy has said his app is alpha quality.

With Launcher Pro (and probably many other apps), the devs start out making them free to build up a following and then introduce a paid/premium version or donation add-ons later. You put ads in your very early app and don't have a way of getting rid of them, I'm not sure how many people will bother sticking with it.

It is kind of cool, works better than I thought, but I'm going to hold off. I'll just leave it installed and try it out as it's updated.

 

[dguy6789]

An appropriate way to deal with the ads would be to label the app Launcher 7 Lite and have a pay version on the market without ads. That I would have no problem with. Ads are acceptable depending on the app, but I'd never use a launcher as my main one if it has ads(If it is good enough I'd pay for an ad free).

 

[simonizor]

I like it a lot. After playing with it a bit, I think I'm going to make the switch from Launcher Pro. I don't see any ads in mine. It was a bit slow at first, but after it ran for a bit, it seems to be working great.

The only thing that I can think of that I would like to see is an option to add unread count to my Google Voice icon.

:EDIT: Now I see the ad.. it's at the bottom of the application list. Not really noticeable, although I would definitely pay to get rid of it. The ad doesn't show up very often, and it goes away when you scroll through your app list, so it's not really a deal breaker.

: DOUBLE EDIT : I've got it all set up the way I want it now, and I'm really happy with it. It's MUCH snappier than even the default launcher.

 

[simonizor]

The development just added a paid version over the weekend that removes ads for like $1.20.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Yep, I noticed that. I don't think it's good enough to be worth buying but it is a pretty nicely made app.

 

[arod]

Tried this out on a spare android device I don't have activated just to try things like this out.... I have a windows 7 phone as my "real" phone so I need to put that out there.

The app does give android users a glimpse of what the metro is all about. However like redstorm said metro UI goes WAY beyond just the home screen (which is all this is replicating).