Nova Launcher 3.0 Beta 1 now available, introduces a handful of new features for the brave

Developer Kevin Berry from Teslacoil has just announced that a new version of Nova Launcher is in the works. To help get it ready for prime time, Kevin is looking for brave Android users willing to test out Nova Launcher 3.0 before it’s ready for public consumption. The update is said to be large, one of the biggest we’ve seen in months. It’s a pretty huge changelog and if you’ve got the stomach for it, you can find all the details below.

Nova Launcher 3.0beta1

• Subgrid positioning, snap widgets/icons to half cells. Greater control of placement/size without shrinking/cropping app icons
• Support Today Calendar’s dynamic icon, also supported by icon themes from Kovdev including Domo, Lumos and Tersus and PHLASH’s new KEX theme.
• Custom label colors (desktop, dock, drawer)
• Individual drawer tab colors (tap on the tab and select Edit)
• New tab style Colorblock
• Vertical drawer scrolls under transparent navbar
• Backup/Restore using Kitkat’s Document Provider (supports ext-sdcard, Drive, Box, etc)
• Full 4×1 widget support in dock
• Individually toggle widget padding (long-press on widget and select Padding)
• Nova Action for First Item In Folder (Use with swipe/tap action of folders)
• Honeycomb style persistent searchbar available on phones
• Slight visual refresh (settings screen, menu icon, color picker)
• Fix Samsung KitKat bluetooth settings shortcut
• Fix home button action on Verizon Motorola
• Restore “Force” wallpaper scrolling for HTC KitKat
• “Show Shadows” on HTC One M8 perfectly blends from semi-transparent system bars

Other changes include:

• Tab configuration is a bit stricter. Now one and only one All Apps tab is required, and zero or one Widgets tab can be used. These tabs can be renamed and recolored.
• All Apps tab dropdown menu no longer includes filters for New/Downloaded
• The dropdown menu indicator has been removed from the tabs, though the menu still exists (with some modification)
• Persistent Search Bar is either enabled or disabled, the landscape only option has been removed
• Persistent Search Bar style is consistent between landscape and portrait
• Icons are now centered vertically in their cells, rather than being top aligned
• Phone landscape mode fills available space horizontally, rather than reserving space for the search bar/dock even if those elements were hidden.
• Honeycomb style search bar no longer includes the menu button (which was not authentic to honeycomb anyway)

To get started, you’ll first need to be apart of the Nova Launcher Beta community here. Once you’ve joined up, you can opt-in for the beta releases on Google Play here. Once you’ve done all that, simply hit up Nova Launcher on the Google Play Store to begin downloading the new Nova Launcher 3.0 Beta 1.

Should all that sound like too much work, the app can always be sideloaded directly from TeslaCoil here. Enjoy!