GEL or not, not clear for me ?

[bagou01]

Hi
i, of course, am still waiting for the 4.4 ota, but i read here and there that the last week update of google search contains the GEL, which won't be included in kitkat for nexus 7.
Is it true? if so, is there a way to simply "activate" it ? or will i still have to dowload the separate APK from the web and install it?
it's not clear to me... i read that it's present but not activated, but can't find a way to activate it (for when i'll receive kitkat OTA ... somday...)

thanks for clarifying this

R?gis

 

[NoraMelua]

GEL is not included in KitKat per se. A couple of days ago, however, Google issued an update to their GoogleSearch.apk which is the underlying foundation for the new launcher. This update is available for every device. You still need to download and install an additional apk (GoogleHome.apk), which is more a less a dummy that merely actives the new interface.

 

[bagou01]

ok that clarifies it.
sh..t google why do they not simply activate it by defaut ? AND WHEN WILL THIS OTA ARRIVE !

 

[NoraMelua]

Well, GEL is not really optimized for tablets so far. The icons are a tad too big for my liking and icons and widgets can overlap with the Google Search bar at the top of the screen. You won't miss much without GEL, and Nova Launcher Beta already emulates most of its features.

 

[bagou01]

i know i read about it but i'm kind of a "pure android" freak... any app i haven't used for more than 2 weeks i uninstall, i like to keep my devices as clean as possible, and even it's not, i feel like a custom launcher is a step away from the pure android experience, and a step closer to the samsung/lg/htc bloated overlayer

 

[NoraMelua]

I'm with you there, but Nova is so functional, it performs so well and it even looks very much like the stock launcher that I made an exception to this rule.

Also, I'm in Europe and Google Now is not really useful to me, unfortunately. I don't need the tight integration into the launcher for the time being.