Google Launcher

There's no shortage of cool customizations for my Samsung Galaxy S3, except when it comes to the launcher. Sure, there a ton of Android launchers out there, like Nova Launcher or Apex Launcher, that allow you to customize app placement, app grouping, infinite scrolling, etc. T ...more

Samsung has finally rolled out the Android Oreo update for the Galaxy S8 and S8+. If you're just now getting the update, you'll be happy to know that your Galaxy just got upgraded with plenty of cool new features. Like previous updates, Samsung has improved upon its software b ...more

It turns out that the new Galaxy Samsung S8 Active (codenamed Cruiser) will be headed for AT&T in the US later this year, just like previous Active models. SamMobile revealed that the device would be exclusive to the network with a model number SM-G892A. The Merriam-Webster d ...more

We recently covered a set of ported apps from the new cloud-based smartphone, the Nextbit Robin. These ported APKs brought two of the Robin's slick new stock apps—Camera and Gallery—to any other device, but the launcher was conspicuously absent. Don't Miss: Get the Nextbit Ro ...more

When you swipe from page to page on your home screen, the contents on your screen change, but the wallpaper always remains the same. And while Android does include plenty of ways to customize your device, setting a unique wallpaper for each home screen page isn't one of them. ...more

As it stands, Firefox OS isn't a very popular third-party operating system for Android devices, especially when compared to others like CyanogenMod, but Mozilla developer Fabrice Desré is attempting to change that. With the introduction of his new application called B2GDroid, ...more

AMOLED display panels like the one found in most Samsung Galaxy devices, including the Galaxy S6 models, are known for their deep blacks and vivid colors. The downside here is that the colors tend to be over-saturated and not very realistic. Samsung countered this issue by of ...more

After the Galaxy Note 3 firmware updated to NF4, Samsung decided to remove the option to hide apps in the app drawer, replacing it with an uninstall/disable feature instead. Before, with the hide feature, you could simply hide third-party apps that were barely used or that you ...more

When Yahoo! purchased the home screen replacement app Aviate back in January, many were wondering if the internet giant intended to continue development of the launcher or if the transaction was just another acqui-hire. Those questions have been answered today, as Yahoo has r ...more

Remember the feeling you had the moment you removed your shiny new Nexus device from its packaging and booted it up for the first time? You swiped through the app drawer at lightning speed and thought to yourself, "This is the last Android phone I will ever need, they just are ...more

One thing almost every Android launcher has in common, from stocks to skins, is the way they handle organizing and launching apps and widgets. Tap an app icon to open the app. Drag apps together to create a folder. It's simple, it works, and it's what we know. But just becaus ...more

In a world where more features are king, sometimes it's a good thing to breathe, take a step backwards and keep it simple. With home launchers, this isn't often the case, as developers add a galore of features to their apps in order to be at the top of the game. Unfortunately ...more

Facebook just released its new "home on Android" last Friday, appropriately called Facebook Home. Taking a cue from Amazon's Kindle, Home serves as an "operating system" that runs over Android. While the HTC First will be the first smartphone to ship with Home out of the box, ...more

Facebook Home was just released in the Google Play Store a couple days ago, and for those of you eagerly waiting to get it on your Nexus 7, you'll unfortunately be stuck with this message: The new Facebook Home launcher app is blocked on the Nexus 7, because Facebook only rele ...more

Have you ever been listening to the radio and a song comes on that you can't identify? But you're driving, so you can't open your phone and use your favorite app to find the song's name. Well, with a feature called "Now Playing" on Pixel phones, Google has solved this problem. ...more

One of the best things about Android is the ability to customize every aspect of your device to make it your own. However, unless you have prior knowledge or experience with every single setting available to you, you might have missed a few critical features without even knowi ...more

Sorry Samsung. I know you really wanted Bixby to be the next Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa — but it just isn't. Burying the option to disable the app won't change that. Sure, Bixby has some redeeming qualities, but there are many of us who don't want it shoved down our thro ...more

One of Android's biggest strengths is its flexibility. There's usually more than one way to perform the same task, which makes it easy to find an alternate method that works better for you. Android also has some hidden features that newer users might not be aware of, so we mad ...more

Google updates the Play Store periodically, but the changes are usually subtle. A recent server-side update, however, is shaking things up quite a bit. In past versions, app installation pages have had images or videos at the top of the page to give app developers a chance to ...more

Android O doesn't have an official code name yet, but it's certainly got plenty of cool new features. The OS won't officially debut until Q3 2017, but we've gotten our hands on some of the updated stock apps thanks to the Android beta program. Developer krisyarno went ahead a ...more

SoundCloud is one of the most popular music streaming services for good reason. You can upload your own music, listen to remixes from your favorite DJ, check out the latest releases from mainstream artists, and even discover new artists. But while you've always been able to li ...more

The Galaxy S8 and S8+ are the first Samsung flagships to use virtual buttons, which means this is the first time we're seeing Samsung's design style applied to Android's software navigation bar. Even though the on-screen keys look fairly different from what other OEMs have put ...more

Even though the Galaxy S8 and S8+ are only just now being released to the public, the software leaks have been rolling in for a while. Everyone seems to have gone crazy for the new look Samsung is pushing out with Samsung Experience, the successor to TouchWiz. As a result, the ...more

Despite its battery issues, the Samsung Galaxy Note7 is one impressive piece of machinery. Packed to the brim with loads of RAM, a top-notch GPU, and one of the best processors on the market, this thing should be able to zip through any task you throw at it with lightning-fast ...more

I was skeptical when I first heard about GifWidget, an Android widget that lets you place GIFs on your home screen. As much as I love GIFs, did I really need to see this, this, this, or this, or even this, forever repeating on my phone? But then I tried out GifWidget, and sud ...more

There was a somewhat recent outbreak of malware on Android, and it came from an unlikely source—the Google Play Store. Several established apps have received updates a few months ago that contained an unwanted add-on called either DU Quick Charge, DU Battery Boost, DU Boost Ch ...more

While it took Apple a damn-long time to finally include widgets in iOS, I do admire their implementation. Accessible from within any screen by pulling down the Notification Center (or, more correctly, the "Today" view), the home screen remains clean and minimal, which some of ...more

Google's Chrome browser is evolving into a very powerful platform. Not only can it be used to view your favorite website or mirror tabs to your Chromecast, but now that it has an App Engine, more powerful tools can be run within Chrome. Android developer Koushik Dutta has jus ...more

Android's beauty is in its customization; you can have widgets for anything, launchers that look and feel completely different from one another, and fonts you can change at any time. And it doesn't stop at aesthetics—you can go much deeper than looks. For instance, you can ma ...more

On more than one occasion, I've wanted to check out the Google Play page for an app I was currently using, whether it was to get contact information or read recent reviews to see if others were experiencing issues that I was. To do so, I'd have to hop out of my current app, g ...more

Android gets a lot of love for its immeasurable amount of customization, and for the most part, you don't even have to do any heinous hacking to swag out your Samsung Galaxy S3 or other Android device. From live wallpapers and custom launchers to 3D panoramic backgrounds and ...more

While millions eagerly await the arrival of the Galaxy S9 and all the new features it has to offer, we can actually get a glimpse of its capabilities right now — if we know where to look. The S9's home screen, in particular, is one such area that has new features we can previe ...more

TeslaCoil's Nova Launcher is one of the best home screen apps on the Play Store. It's about as fast as it gets, and it's always among the first to add the latest Android features. However, it looks like Nova Launcher isn't showing users all of the customization options availab ...more

Google's new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL have a new camera mode called "Motion Photos." As the name implies, it's quite similar to Apple's Live Photos feature or HTC's Zoe before it. For every picture you take, a few seconds of video footage from before and after the shot was taken ...more

If you're like me, you change your wallpaper often. After maybe a week of looking at the same picture, you just have to have something different. Depending on the new wallpaper, you may spend another hour changing the background color of folders, the app drawer, and even Quick ...more

Eventually, we all get tired of our home screens. There's nothing wrong with it, but after hundreds of times seeing the same thing, it all starts looking a bit stale. You can rearrange icons and widgets, or even just pick a new wallpaper — but sometimes, your layout is perfect ...more

Samsung's new personal assistant, Bixby, is making its debut on the Galaxy S8 and S8+. In addition to taking voice commands and performing visual searches, a new Hello Bixby feature predicts what you might want to do next with an integrated home screen feed. All of these featu ...more

The Galaxy S8 and S8+ haven't even hit shelves yet, but some of the stock apps from Samsung's latest flagships have already been leaked. The biggest one so far is the new Samsung Experience Launcher, which replaces TouchWiz Home, and is quite a bit different from anything you' ...more

While their merger with Microsoft has lead to a seemingly complete halt of new device development, some Nokia employees are still hard at work to bring new software to the table. Nokia's latest project, Z Launcher, is a home screen launcher that aims to give you what you need ...more

Koushik Dutta, the developer behind the Android app AllCast, has made the leap over to the realm of personal computers with his latest offering. AllCast Receiver for the Chrome browser, much like its Android counterpart that turns older devices into media servers, allows you ...more

Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP) is a custom recovery for Android devices and the one used by most softModders, mainly because it has touch-based actions, as compared to the more time-consuming button-based approach that ClockworkMod (CWM) uses. With TWRP, you can flash new R ...more

There are two types of tablet users in the world—those who like their quick settings up top, and those who want them on the bottom. I fall into the latter category, and there are a couple of reasons for it. The first is because the Nexus 7 has both notification and quick sett ...more

If you've never played with a Nexus 10 tablet, then you probably have no idea that your Nexus 7 actually has a different user interface. For some reason, Google decided it was better for the Nexus 7 to use a phone UI instead of a tablet one, but luckily for us, we don't have t ...more

Dorothy had it right: "There's no place like home." This is especially true when it comes to using your Samsung Galaxy S3, or pretty much any other smartphone, whose most vital button is the Home key. But what happens when that button no longer works? Replacements can be pri ...more

Without an available browser, it is challenging to enjoy media on your Nvidia Shield outside of the apps on the Play Store. It is because of this limitation that file transferring is vital, as only then can you enjoy your movies and music. Initially, we set out to showcase al ...more

It wasn't too long ago that the power menu for stock Android didn't offer much beyond turning the device off, but Google has steadily added more functions, like capturing screenshots and provisioning access to emergency information. The latest function is the Quick Access Wal ...more

OnePlus has always pushed the boundaries with specs. They give their phones the premium treatment, which, yes, includes the camera nowadays as well. But even though they have become pretty solid in the photography department, it could always be better. One of the tricky aspec ...more

By default, most Android phones will instantly lock once you turn the screen off with the power button. Doing so is a surefire way to secure your device when you walk away, but what if there was another way to accomplish this even faster? If you're using the OnePlus Launcher o ...more

When Google finally gave us a dark theme for YouTube, it was a bit disappointing. They didn't use a pure black background, reducing some of the battery savings you'd get with an OLED panel. But with the help of another app, we can fix this, and not only get a real dark mode, b ...more

Android Pie is bringing in plenty of changes, but the headlining feature is a set of navigation gestures like the iPhone X uses. With Android 9.0, you can now navigate through your phone using a total of seven new swipe gestures. The gesture controls are not enabled by defaul ...more

When it comes to mobile gaming, you have a lot of fantastic options. Most flagship devices on the market, such as the Galaxy Note 8, iPhone 8 Plus, or OnePlus 5T, are perfectly capable of giving you an excellent, immersive experience. If you're looking for the ultimate way to ...more

Who likes to buy apps? The answer is no one, of course. Unfortunately, as in life, the best apps and games don't come free. That's why it makes sense to wait until those apps go on sale before handing over your hard-earned cash. And what better day to find discounts in the iOS ...more

One of the best parts of being an Android user is the countless awesome features. Many of these features are well-known and user-facing, like custom icon packs and launchers, but some get lost in the shuffle. Back at Google I/O 2016, Android Instant Apps were introduced to dev ...more

Shortly after we detailed several indicators that the Galaxy S8 Oreo Beta Program would begin rolling out in the month of November, we now have a full changelog for the update. Many users on Reddit already found references to the beta in the Samsung+ and Samsung Members app. ...more

I don't know about you, but I love options. Personally, I think Android's notification system is easy to use — providing access to new notification with a swipe down from the top of the screen. But, as Android users, we like the ability to do things differently whenever we see ...more

Most Android launchers limit you to three choices: Icons, widgets, and folders. It's better than nothing, but it's still pretty hard to find the best look without overcrowding your home screen. You could fill everything up with icons, but then you'd have an iPhone. You could t ...more

The Augmented World Expo (AWE), the biggest event for augmented, virtual, and mixed reality companies, developers, customers, and connoisseurs, is happening right now. You know what that means for us here at Next Reality? Companies presenting and exhibiting at AWE are releasin ...more

Google's own devices have always been the first to get new Android features — but unlike the Nexus series, last year's Pixel phones have a handful of exclusive tweaks that were never intended to trickle down to other devices once the newer Android version rolled out to them. T ...more

For years now, Xiaomi's smartphones, as well as any phone running Xiaomi's MIUI ROM, have had a subtle feature that makes the interface look all the more refined: Rounded display corners. But now, other manufacturers are getting in on the rounded corners craze, as the new LG G ...more

Google makes Android, but now, Google makes its own phones, too. Until this point, they've always stayed on the software side of things and let Samsung and friends handle the hardware, but their new Pixel phones are changing all of that. Related: The Pixel Exemplifies Google' ...more