Smart Launcher 3.21 is rolling out in these hours. A minor release that brings many fixes and improvements and introduces support for a lockscreen background on Android 7.0.

NEW: you can set the wallpaper for the lockscreen (only Android 7.0 Nougat)
IMPROVEMENT: Now you can use the STOP button also on Nougat
IMPROVEMENT: Chrome is not forced anymore to open search results
IMPROVEMENT: new animation for popup widget
IMPROVEMENT: reduced APK size
BUGFIX: fixed a bug that caused SL to crash while the lock screen is active
BUGFIX: fixed a bug that caused SL to crash while trying to uninstall hidden system apps
BUGFIX: fixed a bug that prevented to use picture picked from gallery for the categories icon
EXPERIMENTAL: you can now select the max number of results for the searchbar (available in the Developer options)

Proprio in queste ore Smart Launcher sta ricevendo l’aggiornamento alla versione 3.20. Prima di lasciarvi al changelog, vi proponiamo un piccolo focus su una delle novità più interessanti dell’ultimo aggiornamento:

Icon Generator

Gli Icon Generators sono un nuovo formato di icone ideato dal team di Smart Launcher. A differenza dei formati più diffusi, un Icon Generator “genera” dinamicamente le icone necessarie portando diversi vantaggi:
– Tutte le applicazioni installate vengono coperte
– Lo spazio occupato dall’icon pack è inferiore al solito (-75%)
– Le icone sono personalizzabili nell aspetto e possono adattarsi a fattori ambientali
Alcuni esempi

Changelog SL 3.20

Following the premium version also Smart Launcher Free is receiving the update to version 3 just now.

The most visible change is the new Material UI. Every part of the app has been redrawed during the last 6 months following Google guide lines. The result is a cleaner look and a new user experience.

New features

One of the features introduced with the update is the new smart search bar that helps you to find quickly apps, contacts or web results. There is something more, for example by selecting a contact you will be able to start a dial or send an short message just with a tap, also you can personalize it with custom text and colors.

The new build in lockscreen shows notifications when the phone is locked also on Android versions older than Lollipop; the lockscreen offers now also a customizable secondary shortcut.

Some weeks ago I was contact by the Google marketing team. They were interested in publishing my story on their developer blog.

They come in my little town, Manfredonia, and they filmed for 4 unforgettable days. This is the result.

A very little story that talks about dreams, effort, learning, and doing day by day.
This is a big goal to be caught by Google team, and a big opportunity to share what is important for us.

The team

Smart Launcher is one of the most famous home replacement for Android. In few years we get more than 15 million downloads and now our goal is to propose a new user experience for the whole operative system, by proposing new solutions and quality software.

About the Role

We need a senior android developer that could work full time on the project. We need someone who loves our same principles. Our keywords are efficiency, ergonomics, smart design.

Requirements and Skills

• 2+ years experience in Android application development
• Experience with the development of interfaces and animations
• Deep understanding of the Android internal frameworks
• Expert level on Java and Android application development
• Deep knowledge of Google and Facebook APIs
• Very high attention to details

APPLY FOR THIS POSITION

“[…] we have to say that the latest update of Smart Launcher Pro 2 is a winner, merging a simple interface with a rich set of functionality” – Phonearena.com

Since the first version of Smart Launcher users were asking us about editable categories, it required some time but finally we added this feature. We also worked on some new features, like popup widget and the possibility to turn off the screen with a double tap. Now Smart Launcher 2.5 is out, here you can find the changelog. Smart Launcher Free and Pro are available on Google Play Store and Amazon App Store.

Ricordo quando Ubuntu sembrava poter portare una rivoluzione. Un sistema stabile, ben funzionante e adattabile a qualsiasi esigenza con poche azioni. Si installava anche sui vecchi computer per ridargli vita. Ai tempi di windows XP, c’era già il cubo di compiz e tanti effetti grafici da far impallidire anche i sistemi attuali. Si poteva passare il mouse su un file audio per ascoltarne l’anteprima senza dover avviare il player musicale. In giro non si vedevano due sistemi uguali, ognuno lo personalizzava scaricando temi, pacchetti di icone, script e mod varie. Si aspettava ogni aggiornamento come un assaggio di futuro…e cosa ne è stato?

Non c’è più nulla, il minimalismo si è trasformato in una corsa all’auto limitazione e quello che si aspettava 5-6 anni fa, si aspetta ancora ora. OpenOffice ha cambiato 2-3 nomi ma ha ancora la sua vecchia interfaccia, Gimp non ha ancora adottato l’interfaccia a finestra singola, compiz, gnome, nautilus, Xorg…sono rimasti tutti li, spolpati, passati da “a prova di scemo” a “per scemi”…la novità più grande da 2 anni a questa parte, è stata la pubblicità di amazon nella dashboard.

Hi guys. I introduced some weeks ago theme support in Smart Launcher. This features is still in a early stage and at the moment it only change the appearance of the drawer. However, if you’d like to create your personal theme, you can follow this tutorial. He contains a link to a sample project that you can import in Eclipse.

Click here for the tutorial (it contains a sample template) 

If you need any help or if you’d like to share your works with other users, don’t hesitate to email me.