When comparing ADW.Launcher vs Z Launcher Beta, the Slant community recommends Z Launcher Beta for most people. In the question“What are the best launchers for Android?” Z Launcher Beta is ranked 7th while ADW.Launcher is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose Z Launcher Beta is:
Users use their finger or a stylus to write the first letter of an app they are looking for in order to find it and launch it. It allows for a fast way to find and launch apps.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Great theme support
New themes compatible with ADW Launcher can be downloaded directly from Google Play. The launcher conveniently provides a link from the Themes page in the ADW Settings menu. More impressively, the Themes page provides previews of each theme you've installed on your device, as well as info about whether the theme supports icons, folders, the dock and the wallpaper. However, the best feature, by far, proved to be the ability to mix and match functionalities from a variety of themes to create an entirely custom look. And most of the themes are free.
Pro Infinite scrolling
Infinite scrolling lets you loop through home screens without requiring you to change direction.
Pro Tablet support
ADW.Launcher, despite being old and abandoned does work well on a tablet with the icons and everything else scaling correctly.
Pro Customizable app drawer
The margins, rows and columns of the app drawer also can be modified to fit your preferences. In addition, ADW Launcher supports a variety of visual styles for the app drawer, such as Horizontal Paginated, Vertical New and the standard Ice Cream Sandwich Paginated style.
Pro Customizable desktop
Adjust the size of the margins or the number of columns and rows on the desktop to a maximum grid size of 10 rows and columns.
Pro Stock Android experience
Made to look like stock Android with additional features.
Pro Group app drawers
ADW Launcher allows you to create your own groups in the app drawer.
Pro Apps can be searched for by scribbling letters
Users use their finger or a stylus to write the first letter of an app they are looking for in order to find it and launch it. It allows for a fast way to find and launch apps.
Pro Allows searching contacts and websites directly from the launcher
By gesture writing the name of a contact or website on the home screen the launcher will show results for the user to click on to go to the corresponding contact or webpage.
Pro Keeps your most used apps at the forefront
The launcher learns what the users most used apps are and adapts what it shows on the home-screen to that usage.
Pro Simplifies your homescreen
Z Launcher is a very minimal launcher where the home screen is 4 shortcuts at the bottom, 6 of the most used apps and phone numbers on the home screen and a clock at top.
Pro Nicely designed context-aware multi-app widget on homescreen
A clean and minimal designed widget that contains info from multiple apps, letting the user scroll between them intuitively.
Pro Unread Counters for docked Apps
Having apps like Hangouts or the Phone Dialer in the docked apps will allow for unread counts on the icons.
Cons
Con Last updated July 27, 2013
ADW.Launcher has not been updated since 2013, basically meaning it is abandoned.
Con A severe lack of customization options
Being that this is meant as a minimal style launcher, there is not many customization options. It is of course still in beta, so more options may wind up in the app over time.
Con Scribble feature is inconsistent
Just as with writing recognition for keyboards it is not always exact, especially depending on the users own handwriting.