When comparing KISS Launcher vs LAUNCHER 8 PRO, the Slant community recommends LAUNCHER 8 PRO for most people. In the question“What are the best launchers for Android?” LAUNCHER 8 PRO is ranked 12th while KISS Launcher is ranked 13th. The most important reason people chose LAUNCHER 8 PRO is:
Like Windows Phone 8, the design of Launcher 8 consists of brightly colored tiles on either a black or white background. The result is a simple and appealing design. Although simply changing the tile color is not as personal as wallpaper in conventional launchers. Fortunately though any color is possible on Launcher 8 not just the preselected colors on Windows Phone 8.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Simple
There's not exactly much to go wrong with KISS, because of the philosophy of the same name it uses.
Pro Open source
Pro Minimal mode
You can go completely minimal with no status bar, favourites bar, History. Favourites and history will appear only when you touch the screen. Otherwise it will be completely blank. You can enjoy the wallpaper fully and when you need to see the apps, just touch the screen. It's a feature no other launcher has. It's simple and powerful.
Pro History mode
All the apps, calls and shortcuts you used will be shown as a long list on the home screen. It will adjust to usage patterns so most used items will be always within the reach.
Pro Incredible search functionality
You can search everything from apps, contacts, shortcuts, web. You can even add custom search providers as you wish. Search results are shown near the keyboard which is great for one hand usage.
Pro Complete
Supports icon packs, customize search engine, etc.
Pro Windows Live Tile-like vibrant interface
Like Windows Phone 8, the design of Launcher 8 consists of brightly colored tiles on either a black or white background. The result is a simple and appealing design. Although simply changing the tile color is not as personal as wallpaper in conventional launchers. Fortunately though any color is possible on Launcher 8 not just the preselected colors on Windows Phone 8.
Pro Separate widget pages
Windows Phone 8 was never designed to work with Android widgets but that doesn't mean you can't use them with Launcher 8. The developers of Launcher 8 have finally found the right solution to using widgets on the tile interface with new separate pages. In the previous version of the launcher, Launcher 7, the widgets would be squeezed into tiles and the result was rarely good. The new separate widget pages accessible with a swipe to the right are a big improvement.
Pro Transition effects
Launcher 8 uses the same transition effects when opening apps and returning to the home screen as the Windows Phone 8. Not only is this appealing but apps seem to load quicker. The transition to open an app takes a few hundred milliseconds which gives apps extra time to load. The result is an interface that seems quicker than it actually is.
Pro Notification bar can be hidden
This feature may seem counterproductive at first but it provides a minimalistic appearance that stays true to the original Windows Phone 8. The notification bar will still appear everywhere else on your Android but Launcher 8 will be just tiles.
Pro Unread counts
Launcher 8 supports basic unread counts like phone calls and text messages in the free version.
Cons
Con Rigid
As a result of the KISS philosophy, there is very little to customize. Not even widgets are allowed.
Con Apps are presented as long list
Rather than being presented as a grid, all the apps are shown in a long list format.
Con Difficult to set up
As expected this launcher is much harder to set up than the real Windows Phone 8 launcher. Apps must be assigned to their their corresponding tiles, live tiles are difficult to set up, and setting tiles up to display contextual information is difficult. Fortunately though the developer has been consistently improving these issues.