Google Doodles appear in a number of prominent places from Google.com to Chrome’s New Tab page. On Android, it appears in the Google app, and now in the Google Discover feed available to the left of the Pixel Launcher.
To coincide with the company’s 20th anniversary, Google in September announced big updates to Discover — previously known as the Google Feed. Besides the rebrand and other visual tweaks, it is more interest-based and will feature other types of content. This is beginning to more widely roll out today, along with a proper dark theme for Discover on the Pixel Launcher.
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During the Android P developer beta earlier this year, Google tested a Pixel Launcher that featured an even quicker shortcut to launch Assistant. While it did not ship in August, Google eventually launched it on the Pixel 3. With the new November security patch, that Assistant button returns to the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.
One of my favorite small touches on the Pixel 2 when it first launched was the addition of a dark theme to match your wallpaper. It’s a great change if you ask me, but having it based on your wallpaper is sometimes a bit annoying. Now, it’s looking like Google will give users a manual toggle in the future.
In previous versions of Android, when you held down on an empty portion of a homescreen, the Pixel Launcher would load a shelf with options for the Home settings, Widgets, and Wallpapers. That has changed with Android P DP2.
One of the more useful features of the Pixel Launcher is the “At a glance” widget that shows your calendar appointments and acts as a shortcut to Google’s built-in Weather app. In the latest beta version of the Google app, this widget is available on the latest Android phones.
The Android P Developer Preview introduced a handful of changes to the Pixel Launcher like a more clearly defined shelf and a shortcut to launch Assistant. Google might be testing another tweak that adds an interesting and new “bubble” design for the search bar.
Earlier this week, we spotted Google testing a redesigned search bar for the Google Feed on the Pixel Launcher. It appears that Google is A/B testing another design in parallel as today we’ve encountered an entirely different design.
To the left of the homescreen on the Pixel Launcher is a specialized version of the Google Feed with a minimal search bar, Upcoming shortcut, and transparent design that supports the dark theme in Android 8.1. Google now appears to be A/B testing a new search bar for this screen.
Google constantly changes up minor UI aspects of its various products, and often those changes aren’t received well by users. Currently, it appears that Google is testing a new change to the Pixel Launcher which adds text to the search bar, and it’s…bad.
Last month, the Android 8.1 Developer Preview officially brought over many of the Pixel 2’s new features and UI changes — including an updated Pixel Launcher — to the original Made by Google phones. There were some notable differences, but fortunately an update rolling out today is reconciling the disparities.
One of the more unique features about the Pixel Launcher on the Pixel 2 is its bottom Google bar. While odd, it is quite clever given how on large phones — like the XL — it is harder to reach the top of the screen to perform a Search. While the new Made by Google phones won’t be available until next week, you can install the launcher right now.
Over the past month, some Pixel users began noticing a transparent Google Feed to the left of their homescreen. Over the past few days, Google has been more widely rolling out the redesigned interface, with many users now seeing the new design this evening.
Getting quick access to your Google Now feed directly from the home screen can be a little tricky. Apps using the Google Now API aren’t allowed to be published in the Play Store, so some developers have had to get a little crafty with workarounds. Still, if you don’t need all of the customizable options that a launcher like Nova has to offer, why not just use the official launcher?
Yesterday afternoon, the Pixel Launcher surpassed one million installs according to its Play Store listing. You might assume this means Google has sold 1 million Pixel phones, and for that you’d be partially correct. For a variety of reasons, it’s unlikely that this install count directly correlates to sales figures for the Pixel and Pixel XL.
Google’s Pixel smartphones don’t bring a ton of completely unique software features, but one that immediately stands out is its launcher. The “Pixel Launcher” is Google’s new take on what an Android homescreen should be, with a unique app drawer implementation and a great overall style. While it’s easy enough to sideload the launcher on any device, it does break quite a bit of the functionality — until now.
Debuting on Google’s first wholly-made phone, the Pixel Launcher has not received a significant update since October. Rather, there have been minor tweaks and continuing in that line is a slight change to the Google Search pill.
Sometimes Google can be a bit of a leaky ship, and its latest accidental leak relates to the Pixel Launcher. We spotted a phone being demoed at a Google I/O Sandbox with an as-yet unreleased version of the Pixel Launcher installed, and it packs some interesting new features…
While playing with the Galaxy S8 earlier today, I quickly noticed something interesting — there’s no app drawer. At least, there’s no visible one. Quickly I found out that Samsung has implemented a new gesture to access the app drawer, and it works a lot like Google’s Pixel Launcher…
Exclusive to Google’s flagship devices, the Pixel Launcher appears to be A/B testing a new layout that ditches the handy weather/date widget for a more conventional search bar.
The Pixel Launcher is another part of the experience that Google has crafted for their first wholly made phone. Besides circular icons and a redesigned app drawer, the launcher conveniently displays the weather. However, there was one gripe with said widget that has finally been resolved.
Over the past year or so, Google has been adding a lot of stock apps to the Google Play store, and today it’s debuting two new ones ─ the Pixel Launcher and Wallpapers.
Ahead of the release of Google’s upcoming Pixel smartphones, we’ve heard a lot regarding a new Android launcher originally known as the “Nexus Launcher”, which has now become the “Pixel Launcher” to reflect Google’s new smartphone branding. The launcher brings a new look and feel compared to standard Android launchers, but as it turns out, that’s not all it will bring…