Correction and Observation:
The GoogleSearch I had restored from Titanium was not the 4.4 version. Why it worked as it did. Sorry. (that 2.* version never supported UI for teams and flights and stuff so how I got that now, I do not know--this ALL should have implemented server-side in HTML5 but tell Google what to do!)
So I placed the 4.4 version, regular jni_1, etc. Here is the scoop:
Using any other launcher, GoogleSearch will FC immediately. No exceptions, apparently. Booo.
Firing up ITS launcher, it will come up, even attempt to initialize its speech recognition. Won't get there. It will FC often but one can get search results. It did not work at all with the Voice Search Assistant. The interface between the searchbox and the launcher is very flakey.
Reported on another thread: Play pushed an upgrade to GoogleSearch and bang: No more launcher. Here is the skinny: This launcher/search marriage is for the Nexus. Apparently not for general Kitkat on other phones. So ultimately, one might need to sideload recent GoogleSearch and install launcher3.apk to get the Kitkat launcher feel. There is a socalled "internation version" on XDA, might be worth a try for a more recent Google Now.
IF the thing were more stable on the launcher, I might go with that, adjusting the DPI for better results. Otherwise, I am tempted to go back to what I had which was at least stable. BTW, the best way to get voice into the thing is using swype's dragon input. Must hit search to use but it is quick, most accurate and I wish that engine were exposed to other programs (Nuendo, after all
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