Google has started following the trend of putting aside some special features exclusively for their own products. This trend started with the Pixel and is continued to the Pixel 2. The launcher available in the Pixel series is unlike any other launcher available in the market. The consumers, though, enjoy all these ‘new’ features in their older or different devices by using the latest version of Nova Launcher. Nova Launcher has been doing this for quite some time now.
Among the changes brought exclusively in the pixel series, the most talked about one is the new position of the Google search bar. The search bar is repositioned at the bottom of the screen. Google thinks it will increase the usability of the search bar among the users who prefer to use the phone with one hand only. Nova Launcher 5.5 beta allows the users to place the search bar on the dock, either above or below the dock icons.
The visual style of the popup menus that arise when icons are pressed for a while is changed from ‘Pill’ in Android 7.1 to ‘block’ in Android 8.1, both of which are available in Nova Launcher. If the users want the notifications in the popup menus, they have to purchase the Nova Prime key and activate Nova Launcher. If the device is running at least on Android 5.0 lollipop, the users will be able to activate either the ‘Dots’ or the ‘Dynamic badge’ style of notification pop-ups. By long pressing the volume down button while in the Nova settings, the users can change the adaptive icons to the old icons as well.
