THE BEST LAUNCHER

THERE ARE TONS OF LAUNCHERS AVAILABLE FOR ANDROID — THESE ARE SOME OF THE BEST!

Launchers are the way Android users customize their smartphone and tablet experience. There's superficial stuff, like changing screen transitions, icons, and fonts, but the best Android launchers out there enable users to tweak the device's behavior to suit their daily usage, so long as you're willing to put the time into defining those customizations. You can make your home screens as simple or complicated as you wish, while tweaking every little detail or just taking what's given to you by default — but either way you can replace what your phone's manufacturer gives you with the install of a single app.

If you're looking for a change of pace from the out-of-box software experience on your phone, consider a new launcher. We've found the best ones available today, and listed all of the pros and cons of each.

 1.ACTION LAUNCHER

Action Launcher is a great option that mixes things up and changes the interface paradigm from what you'd expect in a "normal" launcher. There's no regular dock and app drawer, instead replacing it with a slide-in drawer to house your apps. You also get Shutters and Covers, which give you innovative ways to launch into folders and widgets with swipes — it's all about getting to your apps and content quicker.

The newest version, Action Launcher 3.5, takes things up to a new design that fits in with Android 5.0 Lollipop, and introduces a few new features as well. There's a free version of Action Launcher for everyone to try, with a pro upgrade costing just $4.99 — and after you figure out the time-saving features you'll want to unlock it.

DOWNLOAD: Action Launcher (Free, $4.99 pro unlock)

NOVA LAUNCHER

Nova is a massively popular launcher that offers a whole bunch of animation options, folder views, and desktop behaviors. If you shell out $4.00 for the premium upgrade you can program gestures to perform certain actions, and fully customize unread badges including corner radius, border, background and text color. One particularly cool addition is swipe actions, which allow app icons to act as a folder with a swipe, or a standard app launch with a tap. If that's not enough, you can always explore the wide world of Nova-compatible themes in Google Play to dramatically change the look and feel of your Android device. You'll even find some Android 5.0-style options tucked away in Nova.

Nova is a highly functional launcher that can be as subtle or as loud as you like, making it completely unique if you spend the time.

DOWNLOAD: Nova Launcher (Free, $4.00 pro unlock)

 GOOGLE NOW LAUNCHER

The Google Now launcher is the obvious pick for anybody looking for a pure, clean Android experience. It comes right from Google (and is pre-installed on Nexusphones), so you can shear away anything the manufacturer has loaded up in one install. Transitions are quick and clean, and there's nothing superfluous getting between you and your apps and widgets. Beyond that, the left-most home screen becomes Google Now, so you can launch into searches, view cards populated based on the time of day, your location, and general browsing habits, and execute all sorts of hands-free "OK Google" commands. The only real downside here is that you won't be able to enjoy the level of customization available on more robust launchers — you get what Google gives you here.

Use the Google Now launcher if you're looking for high stability and a consistent Android experience. Pair it with the Google Keyboard for the full experience.

DOWNLOAD: Google Now Launcher (Free)

4.AVIATE

Aviate builds collections of your apps based on different types of activities. You can, of course, tweak those collections manually as well, and Aviate can offer suggestions to fill in collections. Aviate figures out where you are and what time of day it is, and serves up relevant collections in custom-built interfaces called Spaces so you can better handle those activities. For example, if you plug in your headphones, it offers you quick access to media controls and your favorite music apps. Hit the road, and you'll be offered shortcuts to navigation home and to the office.

Aviate excels for having a high amount of polish and requires minimal maintenance, even though you might lose out on some customizability. .

DOWNLOAD: Aviate (Free)

5.GO LAUNCHER EX

The Go Launcher is a particularly flashy launcher with a great range of screen transitions, including 3D ones. Launcher settings are available through a readily accessible drawer that's summoned with an upward swipe from the home screen. There's a dedicated theme storefront app that lets you cruise through available Go Launcher compatible apps and punts you out to the Play Store when you're ready to download. It even has a section of dedicated custom lock screens via the Go Locker app. For $5.99 you can upgrade to Go Launcher Prime, which offers security lock for individual apps, removes ads and adds a few more bells and whistles.

It's impressive that even Go's settings menus manage to stay flashy with all of the functionality the launcher provides.

DOWNLOAD: GO Launcher EX (Free, $5.99 pro unlock)

 6.APEX LAUNCHER

Apex offers a similar range of functions as Nova. You can tweak the icon tray size and scrolling, change animations, adjust home screen behaviors, and customize gesture commands for various pinches, taps, and swipes. A plug-in allows notification data to be fed to Apex from a variety of apps, and out to any Android Wear devices, too, so long as you're willing to upgrade to the pro version for $4.49. There are a wide range third party themes available in the Google Play Store which let you change the overall look of your Android experience, but as a functional core, Apex does extremely well.

Android power users will have a field day with the Apex launcher.

DOWNLOAD: Apex Launcher (Free, $4.49 pro unlock)

7.HONORABLE MENTIONS

Though we spent the most time on our absolute favorite launchers, there are quite a few more out there worth your consideration:

• Buzz Launcher
• EverythingMe Launcher
• Solo Launcher
• Smart Launcher 2
• Themer
• Z Launcher

YOUR FAVORITE LAUNCHERS?

The Google Play Store has a ridiculous number of Android launchers available, so we're always interested to hear what you guys are using. We're curious to see how you've customized your own launchers too — sound off in the comments!

The truth behind the mysterious Magnetic Hill of Ladakh

Ladakh, the very word creates an image in our minds of a mysterious land and people who have been there would agree that it certainly lives up to the expectations. Centuries ago Shah Jahan said that if there is a paradise on earth then it’s in Kashmir. To that I say that he did not visit Ladakh or would certainly have changed his opinion. Or maybe he did and included Ladakh as well when he said the word “Kashmir”.

Out of the several enchanting places in Ladakh, there is one that has mystified people for long and still continues to do so. It is a small stretch of road located about 30 kms from Leh towards Kargil and known as Magnetic Hill of Ladakh. On this particular part of the Srinagar-Leh highway, you would clearly see the road ahead going uphill. Yet if you turned off the engine and let your vehicle stand in neutral, it will slowly start moving and can go up to a speed of 20 kms per hour on its own. Mysterious? I agree.

What is believed to be at work behind this mysterious phenomenon is a magnetic force so strong that it can pull cars uphill. It is in fact so notorious that even the aircrafts that fly over this region increase their altitude in order to avoid magnetic interference. Every tourist driver that passes through here would kill the engine to let the tourists experience how the car still kept moving. Some people are not aware about Magnetic Hill and just pass through here but the ones who do know stop their cars to verify whether what they heard was true or merely a made-up tale.

Magnetic Hill, Ladakh

If you however would speak to the locals about it, villagers in particular, they would tell you a different version of the story. As per them, here once lied a pathway that led straight to heaven. People who were deserving of it would automatically get pulled up however the undeserving ones could never make it up the path, no matter how hard they tried. For them, this entire concept and area is supernatural.

As it usually happens with all places that have this kind of phenomenon attached to, some people believe it and some just waive it as merely a story. Some people blame the drivers for duping them stating that the vehicle was still in motion when he killed the engine so it was quite obvious that it will continue to move. Some other people did not realize where this exact part of the road was hence they stopped elsewhere and when their vehicles remained still, they believed the story of Magnetic Hill to be a fake one. But let me clarify first that it does work. If you are at the right spot, which is in fact marked by a BRO, your vehicle will start to move very slowly even after you killed the engine. I was there on my Royal Enfield and upon reaching here, I bought the speed to bare minimum so I don’t have to put my feet down and then turned off ignition yet the motorcycle continued to move. We stopped and then waited for a car to arrive. The folks in the Safari brought it to a complete halt but moments later their TATA Safari, a vehicle completely loaded with luggage and passengers still slowly gained momentum, So yes it definitely works but how and why is a different story altogether that has nothing to do with a magnetic field and definitely not supernatural stuff.

There is a concept of optical illusion in neuroscience which in layman’s language means that you either see something that is not there at all or you see things different than how they physically are. Out of the numerous optical illusions recorded, there is one of Gravity Hill which means that a very slight downhill slope appears to be an uphill slope. Why it appears that way can actually be attributed to obstructed horizon, either completely or mostly. Our eyes and minds are used to using the horizon as a reliable reference to be able to tell if a particular slope is straight or if there is a slant. Without the horizon, we will not be able to tell for sure. The same concept works in aviation as well. Pilots up in the sky cannot see the horizon and if it weren’t for the electronic equipments and gadgets, they would never be able to tell if the plane is flying straight, upwards or downwards. If the horizon is obstructed, our minds get confused and can often perceive things to be horizontal or vertical when they are actually not. This illusion is much similar to that of Moon Illusion where the moon appears to be much large to the horizon or Ames room Illusion where balls can appear to roll against gravity.

There are several such mistakenly characterized Gravity Hills all over the world. Several roads that appear to be going uphill while the slant is actually downhill. There are rivers that appear to be defying gravity and flowing uphill which is again an optical illusion because the water is in fact flowing downhill. Tulsishyam in Gujarat, Electric Brae in Scotland and Gansu in China are just a few examples of such places.

This same concept applies to our Magnetic Hill in Ladakh. This is purely a natural optical effect caused by the specific layout of hills that obstruct the horizon. That short stretch of the road that appears to be uphill as a matter of fact is downhill and this is the reason why cars slowly gain momentum. The hills in front of your eyes at this stretch are naturally laid out in such a manner that they will deceive your mind and lead it to believe that you are going up. Since your eyes cannot clearly see the horizon, there is no way for your mind to contradict.

So when you visit Leh, stop at Magnetic Hill and be amazed but not by the fact that your vehicle is moving on its own but by how your mind is getting tricked into seeing something exactly opposite to how it actually is.