Last month, the Android 8.1 Developer Preview officially brought over many of the Pixel 2’s new features and UI changes — including an updated Pixel Launcher — to the original Made by Google phones. There were some notable differences, but fortunately an update rolling out today is reconciling the disparities.
One of the more unique features about the Pixel Launcher on the Pixel 2 is its bottom Google bar. While odd, it is quite clever given how on large phones — like the XL — it is harder to reach the top of the screen to perform a Search. While the new Made by Google phones won’t be available until next week, you can install the launcher right now.
Over the past month, some Pixel users began noticing a transparent Google Feed to the left of their homescreen. Over the past few days, Google has been more widely rolling out the redesigned interface, with many users now seeing the new design this evening.
Getting quick access to your Google Now feed directly from the home screen can be a little tricky. Apps using the Google Now API aren’t allowed to be published in the Play Store, so some developers have had to get a little crafty with workarounds. Still, if you don’t need all of the customizable options that a launcher like Nova has to offer, why not just use the official launcher?
Yesterday afternoon, the Pixel Launcher surpassed one million installs according to its Play Store listing. You might assume this means Google has sold 1 million Pixel phones, and for that you’d be partially correct. For a variety of reasons, it’s unlikely that this install count directly correlates to sales figures for the Pixel and Pixel XL.
Google’s Pixel smartphones don’t bring a ton of completely unique software features, but one that immediately stands out is its launcher. The “Pixel Launcher” is Google’s new take on what an Android homescreen should be, with a unique app drawer implementation and a great overall style. While it’s easy enough to sideload the launcher on any device, it does break quite a bit of the functionality — until now.
Debuting on Google’s first wholly-made phone, the Pixel Launcher has not received a significant update since October. Rather, there have been minor tweaks and continuing in that line is a slight change to the Google Search pill.
Sometimes Google can be a bit of a leaky ship, and its latest accidental leak relates to the Pixel Launcher. We spotted a phone being demoed at a Google I/O Sandbox with an as-yet unreleased version of the Pixel Launcher installed, and it packs some interesting new features…
While playing with the Galaxy S8 earlier today, I quickly noticed something interesting — there’s no app drawer. At least, there’s no visible one. Quickly I found out that Samsung has implemented a new gesture to access the app drawer, and it works a lot like Google’s Pixel Launcher…
Exclusive to Google’s flagship devices, the Pixel Launcher appears to be A/B testing a new layout that ditches the handy weather/date widget for a more conventional search bar.
The Pixel Launcher is another part of the experience that Google has crafted for their first wholly made phone. Besides circular icons and a redesigned app drawer, the launcher conveniently displays the weather. However, there was one gripe with said widget that has finally been resolved.
Over the past year or so, Google has been adding a lot of stock apps to the Google Play store, and today it’s debuting two new ones ─ the Pixel Launcher and Wallpapers.
Ahead of the release of Google’s upcoming Pixel smartphones, we’ve heard a lot regarding a new Android launcher originally known as the “Nexus Launcher”, which has now become the “Pixel Launcher” to reflect Google’s new smartphone branding. The launcher brings a new look and feel compared to standard Android launchers, but as it turns out, that’s not all it will bring…
One of the most-used customization features in Android is the ability to change your device’s launcher. This allows you to customize the look and feel of your home screen, app icons, as well as functionality of the app drawer and folders on your device. This comes especially in handy when you don’t like your device’s customized skin — like TouchWiz on Samsung devices or EMUI on Huawei devices…
