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Add to SafariWhen comparing LAUNCHER 8 PRO vs Lightning Launcher eXtreme, 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 14th while Lightning Launcher eXtreme is ranked 15th. 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
Question Ranking
Pros
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.
Pro Highly customisable
You can choose a grid of any size or drop the grid completely and arrange everything freely on the canvas. It even comes with its own scripting language if you want to completely customise any aspect of the launcher.
Pro Supports icon packs
specify per item - icons from packs can be set as foreground or background icons and can be scaled independently.
Pro Great themes available
Pro Small Memory Footprint
Depending on how how in-depth you customize, a bare-bones launcher experience uses very little memory.
Pro Practically unlimited number of desktops
By utilizing folders users can create what are essentially mini desktops with each one.
Pro Desktops can be greater then the visible area, allows for panning around
Pro How-to videos available
The developer, Pierre Hébert, provides YouTube video guides.
Cons
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.
Con High learning curve to fully customise
It will take a lot of time and patience to perfect your screens to exactly what you want. You can, however, download and build off of other users' models. The dev provides several YouTube how-to guides as well.
