We know Google was trying to bring all the features from Honeycomb into Ice Cream Sandwich but not all of these features translated perfectly. The absence of the dedicated search key, even in software form, is something I missed dearly and the static search box on the top of the homescreen was something I never used. If you’re like me and want to rid yourself of the search box and reclaim your search key, follow along.
Paul O’Brien of MoDaCo has had a search button modification for a few weeks now and it simply adds a search key to the bottom row of navigation buttons, and more if you so choose. While it’s definitely nice to have, my only wish for this mod is that a long press on the search key would launch a voice search but that has yet to be implemented.
One could just be happy with having a search key on their phone at all times but the search box on top of your homescreen may seem completely useless now. Well, thanks to a modified launcher, you can get rid of the search box and have an extra row for apps and widgets.
The modified launcher comes in a couple of different forms, and some have their own caveats. The versions are:
- Five panels with landscape support
- Five panels without landscape support
- Three panels with landscape support
- Four panels without landscape support
If you’re interested in using one of the mods with landscape support, then you should know that when in landscape, the bottom row of icons is cut off.
Our suggestion for these mods is to just install MoDaCo’s custom Galaxy Nexus ROM, which comes with the search key in the navigation row by default and then flash the modded launcher over it. Of course, to accomplish any of this, you must be rooted and have the ClockWorkMod recovery installed.
The Ice Cream Sandwich launcher pretty much brings everything from home replacement applications I loved but that doesn’t mean there isn’t other things you can do with it. Not only will these two mods give you some extra space to throw apps and widgets on your homescreens but the dedicated search key makes it much easier to adjust to Ice Cream Sandwich. For me, at least.
Hit up the XDA links below to get started!