Gadgetory

hello again ladies and gentlemen I'm Joe handy the Android authority app guy when the Nexus 5 and Android KitKat were first announced a bunch of apks were pulled so people could get early access to a bunch of KitKat and Nexus 5 goodies so in this video we're gonna take a look at the Google launcher first let's talk about the UI the first two things most people will notice are the sudden disappearance of blue whom just about everywhere and the much larger icons the blue was replaced by white and this combined with translucent elements gives it a color neutral look this means it goes well with pretty much any wallpaper and theme which is a solid improvement over prior offerings upon further investigation you'll no doubt notice the completely built-in Google now as it was before the search bars at the top of every homescreen and to the left of the main screen isn't always open Google now as reports have indicated Google search is essentially the launcher now you can also access Google anytime on the home screens by simply saying OK Google as you move around the UI you'll notice other changes the widgets are no longer in the icon drawer you'll have to long press the home screen in order to get to them this is also how you change the wallpaper the settings deal exclusively with Google now options like whether or not to turn it on or off and various other tweaks so here's what we like the new aesthetic is color neutral and with the translucency and larger icons everything seems to look more colorful even on phones not optimized to use it the performance is buttery smooth ok Google and the Google now pager great additions it makes the devices feel more interactive all empty home screens are automatically deleted you can have as many as you need but if you clear one out it's gone this is great because you're no longer bound by the forced 5 home screens and you can have as few as one and here's what we didn't like Google now kind of pulled a blinkfeed we're in Google now takes up a home screen and you really can't get it back even if you disable Google now you still can't scroll left of the main home screen unless Google makes this app in the Google Play Store issues like broken Google now and bad scaling on tablets probably won't be fixed for a while lastly we wish there were more options for customization this is a very simple launcher that you can't really tweak at all to your tastes insofar as performance and looks are concerned at Google launcher is a win it goes with any theme it looks bright and it runs buttery smooth the issues with voice search and landscape mode and tablets is unfortunate but we have to remember that this is optimized for Android 4.4 which means not for devices so there is a chance that those issues will never get fixes overall if you can deal with the problems or if you have route and can fix them this is a great and simple launcher to have once again I'm Joe handy the Android authority app guys feel free to subscribe to our YouTube channel and if you like this video check out some of our other ones you can find the written companion written by Adam COO waiter in the video description along with our social media links thanks for watching and have a wonderful day