Holo Launcher HD: Jelly Bean home launcher

Some people might be sick of hearing about Android 4.1 Jelly Bean right about now, but we can’t imagine why they would be. We love the new update and the features it packs with it. If you’re scared to try flashing any of the Jelly Bean-based custom ROMs that developers have been cooking, that’s okay. Perhaps you need a little preview to whet your appetite.

Introducing Holo Launcher HD. This launcher lets you get a taste of what Jelly Bean’s interface is like. To be able to run this Jelly Bean home launcher on your Android device, you need your phone to be running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The moment you launch the app, you’ll find the clean and minimalist stock Android clock gracing your homescreen. In our case, it replaced our HTCSense icons with pure Android 4.1 Jelly Bean ones. If you have hundreds of apps, browsing through them is certainly no problem. Flip through them like you’re flipping a book page.

Experience the full Jelly Bean UI features, including up to 9 desktop pages and a 10×10 grid, infinite scrolling, swiping up and down to launch apps quickly, customizable shortcut/folder icons, and customizable icon label color.

You can also apply icon packs. The launcher it supports the ADW icon pack and Launcherpro icon pack.

Pinch to access desktop previews, backup and restore your settings and a number of other customization options. When you first launch the app, you won’t have to root through several screens to access the Settings menu. There’s a handy widget on your home screen for you to jump right in and tweak the launcher to the finest detail.

Want even more features? You can enjoy more Holo Launcher HD features when you purchase Holo Launcher HD Plus. These features include unlimited configurable drawer tabs, unread call, SMS, and Gmail. You even have customizable notification badge colors, more desktop gestures, support for the GO Launcher pack, more transition effects, and the ability to overlap widgets.

I tried Holo Launcher HD on our HTCSensation test phone and it was gorgeous. Unfortunately, right after I took my first screenshot, I experienced some lag. Switching from the home screen to the app drawer also gave me a bit of lag.

If your mouth is watering after giving Holo Launcher HD a spin on your Android device, give in to the temptation and flash one of the many custom ROMs that developers have been working on.

If you’re still on the fence about making the change from Ice Cream Sandwich to Jelly Bean but you want to enjoy Jelly Bean’s features, you can download Holo Launcher HD from the Google Play Store for free. You can enjoy the launcher’s extended features by purchasing Holo Launcher Plus. Make sure that your device is running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich before you download and install this launcher.