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Im noticing that theres alot of launchers like ADW, LaunchPro, Open Home, etc...I would like to get some input of people who has some experience with each one. Which one has the most options? im looking for more transparent kinda stuff...so maybe which one has the ability to make specific windows transparent. Also ease of use, which one has more themes/icons avialable?
Thanks
I think you will find most people use either launcher pro or adw launcher.
From my experience i had MAJOR force crash issues with OpenHome. I wasnt a fan of pandaHome it was sluggish for me.
Between ADW and Launcher Pro, I think they have very similar features if you arent paying for launcher pro plus for the sense like widgets.
ADW has more themes on the market however you can download any icon you find on the web (usually .png files) i believe for both so you can customize your "theme" and layout very easily to what ever you want.
I personally have the paid version of launcher pro (only available ont he website) because it gives you a sense like people and book mark widget and i wanted to support the developer.
I dont think you can go wrong with either one.
personally, I'm a big fan of adw launcher. I like that I can modify how many rows and columns the home screens have, and also I can set the size of widgets on the screen. I don't know if launcherpro will do that as well, but even besides that, ADW is hugely customizeable, and I swear by it.
I tried Launcher Pro, but it wasn't (imo) a very good Launcher replacement. ADW.Launcher is much better, and with the Paper theme it is my favorite out of all. PHome was very slow, and I didnt really like it in general.
Sent from my Droid using XDA App
I use ADW because of how its integrated into Cyanogen.
However Launcher Pro seems to move quite a bit faster in terms of scrolling and app drawer opening/scrolling.
Just my $.02
~Jasecloud4
I think the two top ones are ADW Launcher and LauncherPro.
I find myself switching between the two.
Personally find myself favoring ADW Launcher recently because it is open-source, and you know how Android fanboys loooove open source.
Thanks for all the great replies guys, im currently using the built in adw that comes with CM6 it is highly customizable...but i did find launcher pro to have a lot more options tho...anyways im going to stick with adw for now its working out pretty good so far.
omegasun18 said:
I think you will find most people use either launcher pro or adw launcher.
From my experience i had MAJOR force crash issues with OpenHome. I wasnt a fan of pandaHome it was sluggish for me.
Between ADW and Launcher Pro, I think they have very similar features if you arent paying for launcher pro plus for the sense like widgets.
ADW has more themes on the market however you can download any icon you find on the web (usually .png files) i believe for both so you can customize your "theme" and layout very easily to what ever you want.
I personally have the paid version of launcher pro (only available ont he website) because it gives you a sense like people and book mark widget and i wanted to support the developer.
I dont think you can go wrong with either one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I get the bookmark widget? I only see "people" in my launcher pro plus.
I had to update and they changed the process. Bookmark widget seems a little flakey with images.
If I could have the dockbar from adw put onto LauncherPro I'd have my dream launcher.
Yea seems most (like with roms) will swear by one launcher or another. IE the person saying launcher pro wasnt a good launcher replacement. I have use both and cant see how someone using ADW could say launcher pro wasnt a good launcher replacement since they are so similar in features and performance over all (in there current state, it is possible the person tested it a while back and maybe it had issues or something then).
I get slightly faster speeds on launcher pro as well. You can set the number of vertical icons on launcher pro same as you can on ADW for horizontal icons you can get more icons app to let you have 8 on any.
As for making the dock bar the same on ADW and launcher pro i may play with my launcher pro and see how similar i can get it. sice you can set each action and create different dock images/icons and can clear icons i can probably get it to be very similar at least in look i will let you know and if i can i will place a tut.
I use both since I play around with CM6 as my experimental rom. I just never worry about customizing deeply my non daily drivers.
LauncherPro Plus, for the win!
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Sent from my HTC EVO 4G using Tapatalk Pro.
Maybe I am the minority here, but i think Sense blows Launcher pro and ADW out of the water, both in smoothness and just plain usefulness. I have used both LP and ADW for extended amounts of time and have always returned to sense and was glad I did.
Launcher pro for its sheer beauty and fluidity. ADW just seems to stutter around like the waterboy.
I gotta say Launcher Pro. especially now that it is coming out with some very nice looking widgets for people who liked the Sense UI stuff.
I do really like the customizations of ADW though. I wish Launcher Pro would incorporate the widget size customizations you can do. That would rock.
if ADW had the 3D drawer and was as smooth and pretty as LauncherPro I may switch.
takmsdsm said:
Maybe I am the minority here, but i think Sense blows Launcher pro and ADW out of the water, both in smoothness and just plain usefulness. I have used both LP and ADW for extended amounts of time and have always returned to sense and was glad I did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And what makes Rosie so superior? Its complete lack of customization and features?
TheBiles said:
And what makes Rosie so superior? Its complete lack of customization and features?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldnt say that it cant be customized? There are a ton of themes out there for Rosie. What features are you exactly looking for?
Sorry, but a herky jerky "3D" app launcher isnt exactly mind blowing. Its a waste of screen real estate on the top and bottom. Launcher Pro STILL (as of last week I believe when i tried it again) will not allow you to change the message button to handcent instead of the default messaging app.
Its little things like that that are more annoyances. Sense, no matter what rom, or kernel, I am using, has always been smoother and done everything I asked. Plus some of the HTC widgets are downright useful and better looking then their vanilla counterparts.
This is all my experiences of course, and YMMV, but so far I just havent been impressed by other launchers.
takmsdsm said:
Launcher Pro STILL (as of last week I believe when i tried it again) will not allow you to change the message button to handcent instead of the default messaging app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using LauncherPro Plus v0.7.1.0 and it does allow you to change the message button to handcent. It also allows me to change it on the people widget.
Am I the only one that just likes plain old Launcher 2? I mean Android is so customizable already, I don't see why you would want so many different options.
I tried Launcher Pro and ADW and of the two I liked Launcher Pro better but the plain Google-made Launcher 2 is still the smoothest in my opinion.
takmsdsm said:
I wouldnt say that it cant be customized? There are a ton of themes out there for Rosie. What features are you exactly looking for?
Sorry, but a herky jerky "3D" app launcher isnt exactly mind blowing. Its a waste of screen real estate on the top and bottom. Launcher Pro STILL (as of last week I believe when i tried it again) will not allow you to change the message button to handcent instead of the default messaging app.
Its little things like that that are more annoyances. Sense, no matter what rom, or kernel, I am using, has always been smoother and done everything I asked. Plus some of the HTC widgets are downright useful and better looking then their vanilla counterparts.
This is all my experiences of course, and YMMV, but so far I just havent been impressed by other launchers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "message button?" Do you mean the dock icon? If so, mine has been set as Handcent for quite some time.
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Sent from my HTC EVO 4G using Tapatalk Pro.
takmsdsm said:
Maybe I am the minority here, but i think Sense blows Launcher pro and ADW out of the water, both in smoothness and just plain usefulness. I have used both LP and ADW for extended amounts of time and have always returned to sense and was glad I did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Total agree, Sense is just so much smoother and doesn't crashes/freezes like adw and launcher pro. Plus I've use both for a while and got really frustrated with the constant freezing and force close and alway end up switching back to sense. Until stock froyo comes out on my phone I'm sticking with sense.
which is the best do you think? and if there are more what are they?
i try them all and always go back to launcher pro
I'm a LauncherPro Plus fan myself. I like widget resizing, hiding apps from the launcher, and putting custom icons on my dock. (Note that these things are not exclusive to LauncherPro--it's just that I think LauncherPro's implementation is better).
You should also check out:
GO Launcher
SlideScreen
Zeam
Zune Home/Faded Home
Metro UI/Windows Phone Android
Helix Launcher
Spark*
HE Launcher
Launcher (stock Gingerbread)
Launcher2 (stock Froyo) [NOTE: I'm unsure of the name]
GO LAUNCHER - feature-filled newcomer. It's taken the best features of LauncherPro AND ADW.Launcher. Comes highly recommended by my girlfriend. If you want those features, though, just nab the Plus version of LauncherPro--the features are easier to use.
SLIDESCREEN - great if you have LOTS of incoming information. Displays missed calls, texts, emails, upcoming calendar events, twitter, stock, rss, and facebook all right on your home screen. Very intuitive (but completely non-standard) design. I wish I could use it, but I only average one phone call per day.
ZEAM - a longtime contender in the "fast launchers" category. It's designed to be lightweight and easy on old machines. Fortunately, it does this without giving up features. Widget resizing and gestures are both supported here, competely free.
METRO UI/WINDOWS PHONE ANDROID - gimmicky, fun, and pretty. I most definitely wouldn't recommend them for day-to-day use, but they'll fool all but, well, the kind of people who hang out on XDA.
SPARK* - Spark* is another one of those very non-standard launchers. It'll display news, facebook, twitter, messages, and slew of other things on your home screen. Again, it's great if you want to sift through a lot of information easily. For me, though, it's a bit slow and busy. If I want the news, I can open the news app.
LAUNCHER/LAUNCHER2 - They're exactly what they sound. Launcher is available on the market, and I believe Launcher2 is hidden on XDA somewhere (can't remember exactly where I nabbed it, though). They're feature-starved, but really fun to have. I like to open up the Gingerbread Launcher periodically and remind myself of all the things I love about alternative home replacement apps.
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Unfortunately, I haven't used the following in a very long time, so I can't tell you anything about them. Sorryyyyyyy.
ZUNE HOME/FADED HOME
HELIX LAUNCHER
HE LAUNCHER
I feel like GO launcher EX is a great launcher but just does not fit me, but it can be great for other people.
ADW EX just makes you go oooohhh ahhhhhh with too many settings
I have not tried Launcher Pro Plus.
ADW, Launcher Pro, and many others are for all intents and purposes the same. They're all smooth, they all have great features, updated often enough. It really comes down to personal preference, I started out with the launcher pro beta, then switched to ADW, and have pretty much stuck with it for the last four or five months. Launcher Pro really separates itself from the rest with it's widgets, but since I don't really feel the need to use them, ADW has pretty much done the job for me. Try the launchers Ireyn mentioned, because your own opinion matters much more than ours.
It called dx and That home replcement is the best i tryed an iv tryed all the homes check it out on the store it pretty nifty
I'm gonna have to go with go launcher ex.i started on launcher pro plus then switched to adw ex but go has all if the best features of then both and scrolling is ultra smooth.which if great since I use a lot of widgets so adw lags after a while
Sent from my icy cold glacier freezing every phone in its path
Launcher Pro all the way... Ive tried ADW Ex twice but never gave it a fair shot because i loved LP soo much.
I loved Launcher Pro Plus for a long time, simply for the widgets they added to the paid version. The Facebook widget in perticularly is better that any other Facebook app/widget.... until I found an app called "Colorize Widget". It is a free app in the market that is a collection of widgets very simmilar to the paid "Plus" widgets in Launcher pro but free, faster, and overall better.
I now use Zeam Launcher as it is insanely fast (by far the fastest of all the launchers), combined with Colorize Widget's facebook and agenda widgets, and am very happy.
I also have used Go Launchers EX for a while and although it is a great launcher, I diskliked the app drawer.
LauncherPro Plus.. enough said
Zeam seriously kicks ass imho. I started using it a couple months ago and never looked back.. the smooth side scrolling of the dock PWNS any other setup.. ADW has this feature, but ONLY for the "secondary/hidden" dock which imho is useless.. should be an option for the main dock, but oh well..
UNFORTUNATELY, Zeam launcher is no longer being developed I am hoping that someone picks up where the original dev left off, but it's upto the Dev.
I went back to LauncherPro Plus, as it's my next personal fav.. but if Zeam comes back into dev, I will drop it in a heartbeat for zeam
I have no issues with my stock launcher on my Epic 4G. However for curiosity since getting the phone in October I've played with ADW, LauncherPro and more recently, Zeam.
It wasn't until just this weekend I started to really look into using one. 7 home screens filled, I ran out of room.
ADW offers alot of themes, however most of them you have to buy. This being the initial turn off, I spent a few hours playing with ADW and the settings. I recall the dock changing previously, but it wasn't even when using another theme. With a max of 5 icons, it was only 1 more than my stock launcher and no additional home screen.
LauncherPro being simple and to the point, like ADW offered very little in terms of upgrade from what I was already content with, however no custom themes to add to it.
Zeam... This little gem as simple as it is, does do something the others don't. It allows me increase the apps on the dock, resize the icons, etc. I now have 7 icons viewable
(phone)(contacts)(voicemail)(APPS)(messaging)(internet)(email)
and find it rather convenient. Even more that I can add more apps and scroll the dock left or right to access them. While it doesn't resolve the whole issue, I find it much better than my other options. There's more to it, but that was what attracted me to it.
With that in mind, I am using Zeam. If I could do the same in ADW, I would probably use it in a heartbeat because there's much more that can be done with ADW.
Hi, I am interested in developing themes for Android devices and wanted to know how do you make a theme support multiple launchers? I know how to make a theme work with a single launcher like Go Launcher, Nova Launcher, ADW Launcher, etc. but I want to know how to package the theme to work with all these launchers without having to make separate files. Any advice, tips and resources are greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!
I have been using Go launcher happily for a while. Was going to buy it. I started getting into theming when I found the mycolorscreen site.
Many of the stuff I see on that site people use Nova Launcher. I am curious as to what makes it so much better for theming than go launcher?
I have read before about bloat in Go launcher, haven't noticed any issues with it though, I suppose that could change when I start slapping widgets on?
So my question mainly.
What's your preference for theming launcher?
Also, I'm using many apps that go 1:1 with Go launcher. Go locker. Go SMS. etc. Are there apps to replace these? I can assume I'll find bugs if I use them without go launcher.
Any other recommended apps good for theming?
GamerXavier said:
I have been using Go launcher happily for a while. Was going to buy it. I started getting into theming when I found the mycolorscreen site.
Many of the stuff I see on that site people use Nova Launcher. I am curious as to what makes it so much better for theming than go launcher?
I have read before about bloat in Go launcher, haven't noticed any issues with it though, I suppose that could change when I start slapping widgets on?
So my question mainly.
What's your preference for theming launcher?
Also, I'm using many apps that go 1:1 with Go launcher. Go locker. Go SMS. etc. Are there apps to replace these? I can assume I'll find bugs if I use them without go launcher.
Any other recommended apps good for theming?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Themer is probably the king of the launchers when it comes to theming. There is a whole forum dedicated to it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/themer and the app is available from here.
I don't think you will lose functionality of Go locker or Go SMS if you use a different launcher. A lot of people use Apex, Nova, and Holo launchers because they are also easy to theme, with icon packs and what not...but still nothing compares to themer when it comes to changing the look of your launcher.
Friends,
I love all android launchers especially that has some 3d effects to it. Suddenly i came across two beautiful launchers, TSF and Next.
Frankly, l love both the launchers and i have both installed on my S5.
I have been searching the web to find some homescreen setup with one of these launchers and it's really hard to find them. So i decided to create this thread where you can share your 3d launcher setup with either of these launchers.
In case there are any new launcher with such an expectation and recognition, it will be included in this thread as well.
I will be posting mine soon....
Sorry!
Already a place for these!
here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=476483
or even here...http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1391561