Say what you will about the iiSU drama last year, if there’s one good thing to come from the saga, it’s that we’ve seen a renewed interest in Android launchers. iiSU is still alive and well, with v0.0.5 being released last week. Console Launcher v2.0.0 Beta 5.1 was also released last week, and now, Cocoon Shell is here to provide yet another alternative solution.
Technically, the Cocoon launcher has already been around, but was previously named “CocoonFE.” However, after the last update was published in December, some might have been wondering whether the project was being abandoned. As it turns out, it was just in the process of a complete redesign.
As with the other aforementioned launchers, the goal of Cocoon Shell is to offer “best in class dual screen support.” But what makes this a bit more interesting is that the developers seem to be borrowing a bit of inspiration from iiSU. Right from the start, we can see the clear nod to the DS and 3DS days, complete with background music and cute sounds heard when navigating the UI.
The “changelog” for the Cocoon Shell 2.0 Beta is about a mile long, but here are the headlining features:
- Background Music & Sound Effects
- Themes
- Meet Grub — The Setup Wizard
- Single-Screen Layout
- Better Game Tracking
- Games & Platforms
- Scraping Overhaul
- Grid & Navigation
- Folders
- Hero Display
- Custom Icon Overlays
- App Drawer & Dock
There are actually quite a few more features, changes, and improvements, so I recommend heading over to the announcement post to learn more.
Arguably, the best part about all of this is that you don’t have to wait to try out the Cocoon Shell launcher for yourself. The 2.0 Beta is available to download, for free, from the official GitHub repo. So head on over, check out what’s new, download the beta, then take it for a spin on your Android handheld of choice. We just got it downloaded onto the AYN Thor and Pocket DS and will be putting it through its paces to see how it stands up.
Let us know what you think about Cocoon Shell and if you’d like to see some kind of roundup or comparison of the various Android launchers out there.
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