What is launchMode really?

The manual is not enough: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html#lmode

Is there an article with examples somewhere开发者_StackOverflow that is less encyclopedic and more story-like?

Check out the answer at Android singleTask or singleInstance launch mode? - which does a good job of explaining the documentation and refers on to an excellent blog / android app (at http://blog.akquinet.de/2010/02/17/android-activites-and-tasks-series-an-introduction-to-androids-ui-component-model/).