There’s a lot of options out there when it comes to third-party Android launchers, AKA homescreens. But when making the jump to Ice Cream Sandwich (whether through a new device or an updated ROM) all of them seem to leave something to be desired. I’ve tried out all my favorites on my Galaxy Nexus over the last two months, and the one I keep coming back to is Nova Launcher. It’s not that other launcher’s don’t work – it’s that Nova Launcher works better. This modified version of the open-source stock launcher comes from a familiar face: TeslaCoil Software, maker of the popular lock screen replacement Widget Locker.
Nova Launcher isn’t a fancy, flash home screen replacement, it simply adds in all the features that you wish the stock launcher already had. The most obvious of these include a landscape mode option and the ability to manually remove that annoying and persistent search bar at the top of the screen. Other small but extremely welcome adjustments include a scrolling dock bar, allowing up to three “pages” of up to 7 pinned apps or folder each. That’s a great way to keep your homescreens uncluttered.
Old custom launcher standbys include defining the number of active screens (between one and seven), setting all widgets to definable widths and heights, changing the number of rows and columns and (a personal favorite) enabling or disabling the text labels beneath shortcuts. Little touche abound, like dragging shortcuts to the top of the screen to uninstall their apps and a backup/restore function. Nova Launcher is designed for smartphones running Ice Cream Sandwich and won’t work on earlier versions of Android. It willwork on ICS tablets, but not all that well.
Nova Launcher is still in free beta, and isn’t yet available on the Android Market. There are two ways to install it: the basic non-Market method, and the rooted method. To get the full functionality you need to move the APK file to your system/app folder with ADB or a file manager. Don’t sweat it if you aren’t rooted, though: the only real difference is that you have to tap “widgets” in the app drawer instead of swiping. Check out the app’s current home, this XDA thread, to download the latest version. By the way, if there’s a feature you want to see, submit or vote for it on the User Voice page.
Recall, if you will, the glorious top-down shooters of yesteryear, like 1942. (If you can’t recall, stop reading this – it’s past your bedtime, kid.) Now shift the perspective by 90 degrees and add a considerable amount of crazy, and you get Gray Fin Studios’ MiniSquadron. It’s a charming, addictive little game, and our App of the Week, considering that we’ll need lots of airport distractions on the way to CES 2012.
The game is deceptively simple: steer your plane with your left thumb and shoot with the right. Each level consists of 12 waves of flying enemies, everything from ducks to flying saucers, in increasingly difficult circumstances. Rudimentary physics rule both your plane and your foes: fly too high and you’ll stall, but get aligned again and you’ll be flying right. Turn upside down sharply, and you’ll perform an automatic Immelmann, ready to go guns blazing at an enemy behind you.
And oh, there are so many guns. Depending upon which plane in your squadron you choose, you get a single, double or triple cannon, homing missiles, cluster bombs, dropping bombs, and (whoop!) lasers. Each of the 50+ unlockable planes gets a unique combination of armor, speed and weapon, and with so many to collect you’ll want to try out a different one on each of the eight levels. Power-ups like speed, health, 1ups, and a gigantic screen-filling beam ocassionally drop into play, but you’ll need to be quick to get them before your enemies do.
The whole game is wrapped in charmingly simple animation, sound effects and tinkly interpretations of classical music. It’s perfect for a quick play in line, and addictive enough to stick with you through the higher levels, which can get quite challenging. The main game is $2.99 on the Android Market, with a sequel,MiniSquadron Special Edition, at the same price. To get a taste of the gameplay, you can try MiniSquadron Lite for free.
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