Sometimes Google Android’s default launcher, and many third-party launcher crash, and freeze during startup, and while I use Google Android. Crashing and freezing on a mobile device is very annoying because it sometimes takes many seconds to recover from a crash, or a full system restart by holding down on the ON/OFF button in Android. But, Keyword Launcher is a great launcher for slower and older Google Android based Smartphones, and tablets with a slower CPU like 700MHz Single Core, less RAM like 256MB of Memory, and low storage space like 2GB of free space. It is also a great launcher for users who want to squeeze as much free RAM, and free CPU resources out of their Google Android smartphone or tablet to make games, and apps run faster by switching to a very lightweight launcher like Keyword Launcher which uses very little system resources.
Using a launcher which uses less RAM, and CPU resources may increase your battery life because Keyword Launcher uses less RAM, and CPU resources, so it uses less power to power the RAM, and CPU.
I switch to using Keyword Launcher which is a lightweight and fast Launcher for Google Android. In my experience, it rarely crashes, freezes, or slow down Google Android installed on my Google Android Asus Nexus 7 2012 tablet, and 2011 Kobo Vox Google Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread tablet with only a 800Mhz CPU, and 512MB of RAM. Scrolling up and down the Apps list, and launching apps with Keyword Launcher is very fast. Keyword Launcher also does not use a lot of RAM/Memory or CPU resources in my experience. The shortcut icons also load quickly in Keyword launcher right after the startup animations are over unlike other launchers I tried where the shortcut launchers, widgets, etc disappear for many seconds after the Google Android Homescreen Launcher has launched after the startup task has finished.
I like that this launcher displays shortcuts as a list, and I can search for apps which makes it easy to uses with one finger on smartphones. It is also similar to the Windows Vista-7 Startmenu where users can search for programs, and settings to launch, or search for files. The shortcut icons also don’t use much space in Keyword Launcher, and are easy to click. The grey divider lines also make it easy to see the line the shortcut for an app is located on the screen. I also like the dark simple theme of Keyword Launcher.
What makes Keyword Launcher different from other launchers is that you can use keywords to search for apps like Chrome, Gmail, and YouTube to launch rather than searching your home screen or the All Apps section of Google Android. All I have to do is type the name of the app like File Manager, or a word like “File” to search for apps like File Manager, or apps with the word “file” in its app title. Once I find the App I want to launch by searching for it in Keyword Launcher, I tap on the app which I want to launch, and the app would launch on Google Android. You can also clear the keyword launcher search box by hitting the Clear button on the right of the search box, or the clear button in the settings. You enter the settings by clicking the three dots on the bottom right of the Android’s screen, or tapping on the menu button on your phone or tablet.
Keyword Launcher can also be used to search Google.com search engine when you type in a search phrase like “Mobile games for Android”, and click the Search Google button at the bottom of the list. Once you click the Google Shortcut Android will ask you which mobile web browser like Google Chrome, Opera, or Firefox you want to use to launch your Google Search results.
If you are using Keyword Launcher on a phone, you can dial a number from the search box in Keyword Launcher.
All the Apps installed on Google Android are shown automatically when the keyword search box is empty. You can organize the Apps in recently used, or alphabetical ABC order to make apps easier to find if you forgot the name of the App you want to open, but know the first word in the title of the App, or you recently installed or used the app.
There is also a refresh, and re-build apps list in Keyword’s settings to refresh your apps list when you do not see an app icon, or an old app icon which you recently uninstalled is still showing on Keyword Launcher.
You can also switch back to your default launcher in Android by taping on the Launcher shortcut in Keyword’s settings, and clearing the defaults, or data to clear Keyword as the default launcher. After you cleared the defaults, you need to tap the home button, and pick another launcher or the default launcher you want to use.
The Close feature in Keyword Launcher settings make it easy for you to Close or restart Keyword Launcher. There is even an uninstall shortcut in the settings of Keyword Launcher to make it easy for you to uninstall Keyword Launcher if it is not for you, or you want to uninstall and reinstall it.
There is also a wrench next to each app shortcut to make uninstalling, seeing info about the app, and managing your apps easier. Some Apps have a green, and yellow circle next to the wrench which means it is running in the background.
Keyword Launcher has no fancy animations, multi-homescreen features, and does not support widgets, so it would make Android feel faster while in the launcher. It also could make running games, and playing videos slightly faster if your Android phone or tablet slows down because of having too little of RAM like 256MB, or a slower CPU like a single core 700MHz CPU.
Keyword Launcher is only 94kB in size, so it uses very little space on your storage drive compared to some launchers which uses many MBs like 30MB of space. It also works on Google Android devices with Google Android 2.2 Froyo, and up. I use Keyword Launcher in both Google Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread, and Android 4.4.2 Kitkat, and it runs great on both Android operating systems.
You can download Keyword Launcher at Google Play at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simlauncher