Wave Launcher a Cool & Unique Way to Launch Android Apps
by Paul Wilks
Sep 23, 2011 8:17 AM –
Install
Wave Launcher is a cool and unique way to launch apps. Whether you want to launch your email from the middle of a news application, or your Twitter while in the middle of Angry Birds, Wave Launcher lets you do it smoothly and easily. Unlike any other form of launcher I’ve seen on the Android Market, Wave Launcher is a superb gesture-controlled navigation tool that posits short-cuts to any app you like, from any screen.
Price: $1.99
Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content Rating: Everyone
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Ability to add apps and folders from simple gestures!
- Lets you launch your short-cuts from any other app or game!
- Customizable icons, including icon support from ADWLauncher themes!
- Saves home screen space by launching Widgets!
- Waves are smoothly animated and simple to launch!
Cons
- Launching widgets from folders is great but a bit fiddly to perform.
Features:
I don’t think I’m alone in that I like to tweak my home screen every now and again. I enjoy trying out new launchers to see how they look and changing the way I use my Android. Wave Launcher is something altogether different from other apps within the ‘launcher‘ genre, in that it’s more standalone and works with any other primary launcher like HTC Sense, LauncherPro or ADWLauncher EX. If you are a former Palm Pre owner or have used WebOS, I believe that had a similar concept.
Basically what you do is sweep your finger upwards and you get a previously hidden ‘wave’ containing whatever apps, folders, shortcuts or widgets you like. If perhaps you like a minimalist look to your phone, this hides away any number of shortcuts, allowing your home screen to look as clean as you want. Alternatively, you might have all kinds of apps clustering to truly run out of space on your home screen. Here, you can add a number of other shortcuts to Wave Launcher. Using the app is quite fun and very intuitive. It is such a simple idea and executed brilliantly.
Wave Launcher has been around for a while, but there has been a few new features added recently, most notable of which is the ability to launch widgets directly from the app. Simply sweep the wave up, then from side to side to select the widget- then that widget becomes fully interactive until you remove it… and it looks pretty damn cool too. 
There are stack of customizations available too as Wave Launcher supports icon editing, in addition to changing the way the Wave itself looks; effects, transitions, colors, etc. The Wave can be altered and changed and editied exactly how you want it to. So, if you have a specific theme, and have some cool icons, these can fit right in using Wave Launcher.
Watch on Mobile
Watch on Mobile
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Wave Launcher – Bring up the wave from your homescreen
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Wave Launcher – Allows you to access short cuts from any page, including apps
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Wave Launcher – You can bring up your wave from whatever you are running
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Wave Launcher – Wave configuration (1)
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Wave Launcher – Wave configuration (2)
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Wave Launcher – Notification settings
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Wave Launcher – Gesture Area settings
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Wave Launcher – App settings
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Wave Launcher – Attach any widget to the wave for easy access
Usefulness:
Hugely useful anyway you look at it as a concept. It makes it simple to launch apps, shortcuts, etc. from anywhere and at any time- no need to head back to the home screen or app draw. It also saves you valuable home screen space and looks really neat. One thing that strikes me as a good idea is the fact you can hide away all those ugly widgets that are useful but just don’t blend with your home screen ‘look‘. Hide them in the wave, then simply bring up and launch when needed!
Ease of Use:
It takes a little bit of time to create the wave exactly how you want, and then it’s a bit ‘trial and error‘ to ensure each space on the wave has a useful shortcut; whether it be a folder, a widget or an app. But with tweaking, which on its own is quite cool and fun to play with, the app is immensely easy and intuitive to use. One thing I did find a bit tricky was opening widgets from a dedicated shortcut folder. The margin for error (that is, moving your finger so that it changes the wave rather than the folder scroll) is very small, and you sometimes end up losing your place in the folder and having to re-launch it. While the use of folders is great, gestures have to be very accurate.
Frequently Used:
Depending on the shortcuts you place in the wave, you could be using Wave Launcher all the time. While it isn’t your primary launcher (like say HTC Sense, ADW or LauncherPro, etc.) it compliments whichever you might use.
Interface:
The interface would be in two parts. The wave itself is incredibly smooth and responsive and looks very cool indeed. The ‘background’ settings look a little dated to be honest but they are functional and useful. There is loads of help and useful instructions contained in this part and they guide you through all the facets of the app (plus we’ve included a few videos to easily get you started.) It is a completely different concept to most other launchers, and the app is sympathetic to ensuring users know what they are doing.
Tags:
ADWLauncher EX,
Android App,
Android Apps,
AndroidTapp.com App Review,
Custom Android Home Screen,
HTC Sense,
Launcher,
Launcher Replacement,
LauncherPro,
Wave Launcher
Categorised in: Tools
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