When comparing LAUNCHER 8 PRO vs Themer: Launcher, HD Wallpaper, 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 Themer: Launcher, HD Wallpaper is ranked 32nd. 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
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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 Offers a wide variety of themes to choose from
Once Themer is installed it will direct the user to a theme library with hundreds of unique themes that can then be set up with a single click.
Pro Provides a way to create a completely unique homescreen
Themer includes a powerful theme editor that allows creating unique homescreens. It includes a collection of highly customizable widgets as well as custom icons and wallpapers that can be used to customize the homescreen in a wide variety of ways. It of course also allows using any other third-party components.
Homescreen customizations including settings and various components can be bundled as shareable themes by exporting them as zip files.
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 Drains battery quickly and uses up a lot of resources
Themer is not yet well optimized. It will considerably reduce how long the battery lasts and requires a a mid to high end phone to run smoothly.
Con Lots of poor quality themes
Majority of themes lack animations, tend to stutter or have clunky functionality.
