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Hey...
I love Sense UI, but for the last 5 days I have been running froyo and wanted to find an alternate Home Launcher. After downloading several free ones I have come by 2 that i like..
The first one is Zeam--There are settings to allow you make the home screen go full screen which removes the status bar and you can have 9 screens.
The second one is Tag Home Launcher--It has a nice launcher and lets you set the transparency on certain things.
I also want to know what launcher you prefer and why. Please don't say Sense.
ADW launcher or try LauncherPro
Launcher Pro. 3-7 screens, scrollable dockbar, pretty smooth, nice app drawer. The only downside is Sense widgets don't work in it, if you use those a lot.
killerxx2 said:
ADW launcher or try LauncherPro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had ADW Launcher, but found the ones I mentioned before and liked it better. I am going to post some screen shots of them. They are nice. I'm running froyo which is an AOSP ROM. No Sense.
I've tried ADW and LP in the past, but for some reason I keep going back to Helix. It's pretty responsive and is nice and clean.
Home++ in the market seems to be pretty good. Seems to be faster than Zeam.. up to 7 screens and has a nice powerbar at the bottom.
IMO its between launcherpro and adw. Check any poll on this site and you'll see everyone else agrees. i personally use and lover launcherpro (3d gallery, fast, 3-7 screens, scrollable widgets, pinch to zoom home screens, 5 row home screens, dock shortcuts, and the list goes on and on lol even though this one is long enough)
Tried 'em all. LauncherPro wins for 1 reason only (for me, anyway) - 5 rows of icons on the home screens!
Just put launcher pro on. I like it. It might be the one to keep.
typeadam said:
Tried 'em all. LauncherPro wins for 1 reason only (for me, anyway) - 5 rows of icons on the home screens!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ADW has this as well. I like LPb though the best. He keeps coming up with new sweet features. Love the scrolling dock bar. 3d app drawer could use some help. Just seemed clunky for me...but it was alright.
ADW FTW. The gestures alone make it better. Plus, its open source so you can do whatever you want to it.
daPorkchop said:
ADW has this as well. I like LPb though the best. He keeps coming up with new sweet features. Love the scrolling dock bar. 3d app drawer could use some help. Just seemed clunky for me...but it was alright.
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Click to collapse
Same here I prefer launcherpro to ADW. I like how customizable the dock is in launcherpro, you can have the dots just like ADW or you can have all icons. I know you maybe able to do the same with ADW since its open source but customizing on launcherpro is so simple.
Try Launcher Pro. Trust me it is good!
UnknownDude said:
Try Launcher Pro. Trust me it is good!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You fail for resurrecting a year old thread, and all you added was crap people said a year ago....
Zeam FTW or Launcher7 for something different
all of us have different needs,
why don't u install all the launchers you are considering and test all of them and finally choose your launcher.
i use adw launcher ex runs smooth with alot of eye candy and settings to play with just my 2 cents
I have no idea what people are complaining about. This UI is even better than HTC Sense, IMO, and manages to one up even the super simple to use iPhone UI.
- Slide the screen to unlock. Brilliant.
- Easily rearrange icons and programs.
- Music player has drop-down interface on locked home screen.
- Notifications drop down has WiFi/BT/Silent/Vibe settings built in.
- I can add/remove pages! I just want 3 pages? Done. Simple.
- Camera loads INSTANTLY. The Droid X (I returned) was so slow to load.
- Memo program! Thanks!
- My Files file manager, no need to download AndExplorer
and it's easily as snappy as the iPhone4. Every other Android phone (except the Aria for some reason) was obviously slower than the iPhone when it came to navigating the interface. This phone is smooth as silk at all times. BETTER than the iPhone.
Am I alone here or what?
I agree. It's actually usable once I removed the Samsung widgets from my homescreens to reduce the lag. I like the custom options available with LauncherPro and the additional dock icons, though. I'm doing battery testing with a few different launchers right now and I'll probably go back to trying Touchwiz again after today.
grinr said:
I have no idea what people are complaining about. This UI is even better than HTC Sense, IMO, and manages to one up even the super simple to use iPhone UI.
- Slide the screen to unlock. Brilliant.
- Easily rearrange icons and programs.
- Music player has drop-down interface on locked home screen.
- Notifications drop down has WiFi/BT/Silent/Vibe settings built in.
- I can add/remove pages! I just want 3 pages? Done. Simple.
- Camera loads INSTANTLY. The Droid X (I returned) was so slow to load.
- Memo program! Thanks!
- My Files file manager, no need to download AndExplorer
and it's easily as snappy as the iPhone4. Every other Android phone (except the Aria for some reason) was obviously slower than the iPhone when it came to navigating the interface. This phone is smooth as silk at all times. BETTER than the iPhone.
Am I alone here or what?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is MY first android device.. Coming from a old sidekick, then windows mobile, then iphone 3g, this is my first step towards android.
As far as the interface, I've used other Android devices before and the experience wasn't so hot. The Galaxy S is not only fast, but has tons of options. The UI is simple, fast, and easy to manage.
The only thing that I don't like is all the bloatware that ATT puts on the phone.
I agree.
Touch wiz adds so many nice little tweaks that add up to big improvements. I love everything in your list and would like to add the amazing brightness control by swyping the top bar.
I saw the screenshots for Touchwiz before I bought the phone was was convinced that it'd be the first thing to go. In fact, simply because of the dock at the bottom I was still convinced I was going to drop it when I picked up the phone. then I discovered that you can change which applications show up on the dock! It's so much more customizable than I had previously thought, and it's not as laggy as I imagined it would have been. And it really does have a lot of nice little tweaks. I'm quite happy with it.
You're definitely not alone. I too thought I was going to replace touchwiz, but I find it to be smooth and awesome! I was just about to make a duplicate thread of this one asking who kept touchwiz.
Add another these your list:
You can rearrange pages.
Swype to call/txt
Touch top dots to swap screens.
I like the status bar music player and wireless toggles. That is the perfect place to put them. I like the transparent sliding lockscreen, and the music player on the lock screen.
I thought the side scrolling of the applications would be annoying, but then I realized that it unifies the mechanism of icon pages. The home screen has pages for all homescreen apps. Why not simplify it and make pages for the applications too? You don't use the applications button often anyway as much as your homescreen. The only thing I don't like is the random color backgrounds. They could've left those out.
I don't use any samsung widgets and it's TW is faster than Launcherpro and on the same tier as ADW.
I do need to use a better file explorer though, myfiles is a bit too basic. You should try ES explorer since astro has ads now. File operations, views, and etc. are perfect.
This is also my first Android phone (had 3G and 3GS before), but as far as I can tell, almost none of the things you guys like are Touchwiz-specific. They are just Android features or apps.
Touchwiz is the homescreen manager. Replace it with Launcher Pro and you'll see what changes (and also see the 95% that stays the same).
I use Launcher Pro because it 1) is quick to swipe between screens, with no stutter; 2) has the ability to "pinch" the screen or hit the Home button to do a mac-like "expose" of all the home screens for fast switching to the exact page you want; 3) has the ability to have the 3D Apps drawer, which is much better than the dumb iPhone-like one (and don't even get me started on the "alphabetical list" that only shows one column of apps); and 4) the bottom icon bar can hold up to 15 launchers that you can swipe back and forth from any screen.
You can still swipe the notification bar for brightness, music player works the same, the lock screen is the same, all the apps that come on the phone are still there and accessible, you can customize it exactly the same as the Touchwiz homescreen...basically everything mentioned is the same. Except Launcher Pro is faster, easier to use, and prettier. Yes, you lose the Samsung widgets, but they all have replacements in the market.
only loss i see is the media from lock screen. I can live without it. Just try launcher pro a maybe u will feel the diff in speed or maybe u will sacrifice some speed for pretty widgets.
caelestis2 said:
You're definitely not alone. I too thought I was going to replace touchwiz, but I find it to be smooth and awesome! I was just about to make a duplicate thread of this one asking who kept touchwiz.
Add another these your list:
You can rearrange pages.
Swype to call/txt
Touch top dots to swap screens.
I like the status bar music player and wireless toggles. That is the perfect place to put them. I like the transparent sliding lockscreen, and the music player on the lock screen.
I thought the side scrolling of the applications would be annoying, but then I realized that it unifies the mechanism of icon pages. The home screen has pages for all homescreen apps. Why not simplify it and make pages for the applications too? You don't use the applications button often anyway as much as your homescreen. The only thing I don't like is the random color backgrounds. They could've left those out.
I don't use any samsung widgets and it's TW is faster than Launcherpro and on the same tier as ADW.
I do need to use a better file explorer though, myfiles is a bit too basic. You should try ES explorer since astro has ads now. File operations, views, and etc. are perfect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also dislike the random colored backgrounds, in the app drawer. Does anyone know where those graphic files are? I want to replace the images with straight black images so they will blend into the app drawer background seemlessly.
They are the only reason I will not use TW. I hate those damn backgrounds.
chvybeatsford said:
only loss i see is the media from lock screen. I can live without it. Just try launcher pro a maybe u will feel the diff in speed or maybe u will sacrifice some speed for pretty widgets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still have the music player access from the lock screen, with Launcher Pro. Just use the music player, lock the phone, hit the power button, drag the little half-cd icon down, and good to go.
You lost that?
k2snowboards88 said:
Touch wiz adds so many nice little tweaks that add up to big improvements. I love everything in your list and would like to add the amazing brightness control by swyping the top bar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG, can't believe I didn't notice that before. That's awesome.
I have to say I am also impressed with the Touch Wiz UI. I am coming from a sense device and was very unimpressed with HTC Sense. That UI kind of took over the phone. TouchWiz doesn't really take over much it just adds some kewl extra options.
asrrin29 said:
I saw the screenshots for Touchwiz before I bought the phone was was convinced that it'd be the first thing to go. In fact, simply because of the dock at the bottom I was still convinced I was going to drop it when I picked up the phone. then I discovered that you can change which applications show up on the dock! It's so much more customizable than I had previously thought, and it's not as laggy as I imagined it would have been. And it really does have a lot of nice little tweaks. I'm quite happy with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you change the applications on the dock. I can't find it.
KewlRobD said:
How do you change the applications on the dock. I can't find it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you must go into the applications menu, and press the menu button, and change the ViewType to "Customizable Grid" Then you can hit the menu button again, and press Edit, and it will allow you to delete icons, rearrange icons, and drag them to the app dock.
asrrin29 said:
you must go into the applications menu, and press the menu button, and change the ViewType to "Customizable Grid" Then you can hit the menu button again, and press Edit, and it will allow you to delete icons, rearrange icons, and drag them to the app dock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks my friend. I liked the applications layout so I had not bothered going into the edit menu.
autoxer said:
This is also my first Android phone (had 3G and 3GS before), but as far as I can tell, almost none of the things you guys like are Touchwiz-specific. They are just Android features or apps.
Touchwiz is the homescreen manager. Replace it with Launcher Pro and you'll see what changes (and also see the 95% that stays the same).
I use Launcher Pro because it 1) is quick to swipe between screens, with no stutter; 2) has the ability to "pinch" the screen or hit the Home button to do a mac-like "expose" of all the home screens for fast switching to the exact page you want; 3) has the ability to have the 3D Apps drawer, which is much better than the dumb iPhone-like one (and don't even get me started on the "alphabetical list" that only shows one column of apps); and 4) the bottom icon bar can hold up to 15 launchers that you can swipe back and forth from any screen.
You can still swipe the notification bar for brightness, music player works the same, the lock screen is the same, all the apps that come on the phone are still there and accessible, you can customize it exactly the same as the Touchwiz homescreen...basically everything mentioned is the same. Except Launcher Pro is faster, easier to use, and prettier. Yes, you lose the Samsung widgets, but they all have replacements in the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touch wiz is not just a homescreen manager. Launcher pro is just a homescreen manager. When you load launcher pro you still get all of touch wiz's small and useful enhancements that wouldn't be available on vanilla android.
k2snowboards88 said:
Touch wiz is not just a homescreen manager. Launcher pro is just a homescreen manager. When you load launcher pro you still get all of touch wiz's small and useful enhancements that wouldn't be available on vanilla android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, all our points are valid to touchwiz. If you say they stay with launcher pro, thats because touchwiz is still running.
If you don't like sidescrolling appplication then why do you sidescroll homescreens?
Edit: Oh one more thing to add to the list:
Music player has virtual surround sound that makes a noticeable difference!
I also much prefer the tw launcher over any of the others I have tried. I have tried pretty much all of them too. I like the way the app drawer works. I like that when you select an app, then return to the app drawer, it remembers where you were. I also like the sliding setup vs an app drawer that just scrolls up or down. The icon backgrounds make it easier for me to see the apps and find them.
There are a lot of other nice touches to the overall Android experience as well. The changes they made to the corporate mail client are great. I also like the changes to the notification bar and I really like the lock screen.
Not to mention how the Black/Blue theme looks over the standard, nasty looking Android theme. Everything from the dialer to the status bar is a major improvement(not a detraction) over stock Android. But it's still not as obtrusive as Sense.
I'm liking TW as well, however from a launcher perspective I much more prefer the Launcher Pro (Expose`, the 3D App Drawer, customizable icons, etc).
I agree, after i got rid of the samsung widgets and went to a normal wallpaper and it doesnt lag at all.
I relise this is a question but it is very theme related.
I think so. Can you give more information on what you want it to do or look like?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Lol I didnt want to explain it like this because I dont want to offend the developer at all. Basicly with launcher pro (another great launcher not as good as ADW in my mind but another great launcher none the less) you can actually load your own created dock bars or dock bars someone else created. So basicly can you cusomize the lower dock bar? I know you can change it from 5 icons to 3 icons but other then that can you actually change the dock bar background?
Sorry I dont exactly know how else to explain it.
i think the best you can do is hold down the app drawer button for a few seconds and then swipe up. it'll change to an OSX style launcher bar with mini icons of whatever shortcuts you place on it. took me forever to figure it out after seeing it in the screenshots.
bboydru said:
i think the best you can do is hold down the app drawer button for a few seconds and then swipe up. it'll change to an OSX style launcher bar with mini icons of whatever shortcuts you place on it. took me forever to figure it out after seeing it in the screenshots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can set up swipe up and down guestures too. Yeah I know about this bar I actually store my quick contacts down under there.
He's talking about the separate dock background, not the actual dock.So you have a wallpaper, and then a separate small dock wallpaper too.
blulitespecial said:
He's talking about the separate dock background, not the actual dock.So you have a wallpaper, and then a separate small dock wallpaper too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am talking about the Dock the clear bar at the bottom of the screen that holds 3 to 5 icons. Not the hidden dock underneath the dock or just the clear bar.
bboydru said:
i think the best you can do is hold down the app drawer button for a few seconds and then swipe up. it'll change to an OSX style launcher bar with mini icons of whatever shortcuts you place on it. took me forever to figure it out after seeing it in the screenshots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when i do this my dock just disappears! why? how do i get it back besides rebooting my droidx?
ADW vs. LauncherPro..... um.... keeps me up at night.
I like both devs... I like the fact ADW is open source and has themes, and sometimes I feel like using the sideways drawer. But LP has great customization options like the dock theming, and now has some really well done widgets.
Nice to have a hard time choosing between two great choices.
pattherat said:
when i do this my dock just disappears! why? how do i get it back besides rebooting my droidx?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Set something to change it. It is possible to access it, and not have anything set to turn it off.
In the settings for ADW you can either have it close after opening an item from it, or set one of the swipe gestures to bring it up and down.
bboydru said:
i think the best you can do is hold down the app drawer button for a few seconds and then swipe up. it'll change to an OSX style launcher bar with mini icons of whatever shortcuts you place on it. took me forever to figure it out after seeing it in the screenshots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok tried this for nearly 20 mins and also played around with the ADW Settings and I still dont see a change. Is it an add on ? a png replacement ? How do I get this ?
bboydru said:
i think the best you can do is hold down the app drawer button for a few seconds and then swipe up. it'll change to an OSX style launcher bar with mini icons of whatever shortcuts you place on it. took me forever to figure it out after seeing it in the screenshots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sir just blew my mind.
Sent from me to you via the interwebs.
I actually have the opening and closing of the second dock tied to my home button. I love it. To any of you that don't know how to open the second dock, you long press the regular dock and swipe up.you'll see little up arrows when you long press pointing in the direction you should swipe. When you do that and you think it's just hiding your dock, it's not. Drag an icon that area and see what happens.
laydros said:
ADW vs. LauncherPro..... um.... keeps me up at night.
I like both devs... I like the fact ADW is open source and has themes, and sometimes I feel like using the sideways drawer. But LP has great customization options like the dock theming, and now has some really well done widgets.
Nice to have a hard time choosing between two great choices.
Set something to change it. It is possible to access it, and not have anything set to turn it off.
In the settings for ADW you can either have it close after opening an item from it, or set one of the swipe gestures to bring it up and down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from the void...
Also, I did this part through the home button binding setting in the awd settings menu.
wuclan48 said:
I actually have the opening and closing of the second dock tied to my home button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from the void...
I never knew about the second dockbar in ADW. This changes almost everything layout wise for me. Also, I found a great setting under ADW. Auto close dockbar after application launch, will bring your original bar up after application launch. Pretty cool tip guys thanks alot!
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I never knew about the 2nd hidden dock bar either. Sweet! That has really helped to clean up my homescreens, getting rid of most of the clutter.
Something I'm still trying to figure out on ADW though... is it possible to change the actual dock? Not the dock icons, but the dock itself. Launcher pro has a page with tons of user submitted docks you can use, was just curious if i could do this with ADW. I'm thinking there has to be a way, because I've installed some ADW themes from the market and they actually changed the dock as well... just need to figure out how without having to install a theme.
I'm also looking for a way to change the dock bar background. A work-around you can do is just apply a bar to the bottom of your wallpaper. However, this only works if you want a dockbar that is the same all the way across.
i thought i already replied to this thread. there is a complete guide on customizing the adw dock bar in the link below.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=851834&highlight=adw+guide
t3project said:
i thought i already replied to this thread. there is a complete guide on customizing the adw dock bar in the link below.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=851834&highlight=adw+guide
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This doesn't tell you how to change the dock background; probably because you can't without a using a theme.
It is possible to change the dockbar background without changing themes...but it's not nearly as trivial as with Launcher Pro and I believe your phone must be rooted. I have succesfully used Ninjamorph to dynamically swap out the drawable resources in the ADWLauncher apk file which make-up the dock background. Unlike LauncherPro, which uses a single image as a background, the ADWLauncher background is made up of multiple images corresponding to the right, middle, and left action buttons (in both their selected and unselected forms). I was able to replicate one of my preferred LauncherPro docks by using photoshop to slice the image into its right, middle, and left components, and then injecting those images into the apk file with Ninjamorph. The end result was a dockbar identical to the LauncherPro dockbar...but it was quite a bit of effort to get there. Not very practical if you like to frequently switch your dock (though once you've broken the dock down into it's components, it's not too bad switching between them). Theoretically, it would also be possible to change the background for the hidden alternate dockbar using this approach, though I"ve not attempted this.
I too would love to see an easier way to customize the ADW Launcher dock without applying a completely new theme or resorting to using Ninjamorph. After the recent releases of ADW, that's the one remaining thing from LauncherPro that I really miss when I use ADWLauncher. Maybe that's a feature which will show up in the new "EX" version soon.
you can always just unpack the adw apk and change the png then repack/sign and push it to your phone
I was looking for something new and tried out a few Sense ROMs. I really like the Sense widgets and their little touches like the calendar and menus. However I had a lot of problems with these ROMs so I decided to go another route. I've been using Launcher Pro plus for a while, but development has slowed.
I tried Go launcher yesterday and am really liking it. If you haven't tried it in a while, it's come a long way. It has nicer widgets than Launcher pro and most of the features that launcher pro has like to eliminating the text on icons, transition effects, etc.
Themes are a little slim, but switching them is easy. The only thing that seems to lag on my phone is the homescreen preview, other than that as smooth as launcher pro.
I'd highly suggest adw ex. It doesn't have widgets but its the most stable launcher I have ever used.
Have checked it out for a while, thanks
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA Premium App
GRZLA said:
I'd highly suggest adw ex. It doesn't have widgets but its the most stable launcher I have ever used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oddly enough the only launcher I've had problems with is ADW. I purchased LP a year ago and have to say its been very solid.
I love Go Launcher. I've used ADW and Launcher Pro during my Eris days, but once I tried Go, I never went back.
Go Launcher is running real nice for me. Turn up the fling speed in preferences to make it feel a little more snappy. It has some cool icon effects for the app drawer like cylinder and sphere.
n00b question.......does Go Launcher EX play nice with all Sense ROMs? I'd hate to jack-up my current setup to make it look prettier. Looking for a little info because Go Launcher Ex looks pretty sweet.
BSquaredB2 said:
n00b question.......does Go Launcher EX play nice with all Sense ROMs? I'd hate to jack-up my current setup to make it look prettier. Looking for a little info because Go Launcher Ex looks pretty sweet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The layout you have to Sense will stay intact when another launcher is installed. So if you uninstalled a launcher because you want to go back, everything will be there. You just won't be able to get Sense widgets.
I keep trying Go from time to time, but I always end up uninstalling it. I find it highly annoying that I have to install every widget separately, but I understand this might be to make the base launcher lightweight.
I find it a bit laggy - and dont get me wrong, the screen transitions are like butter. However, there seems to be a delay from when I swipe to when the screen actually animates. I'm used to LP's instant reaction. Plus, I sometimes notice jerkiness with Go that I don't get with LP, but I'm just being picky. Finally I dislike the acceleration curve when swiping between screens. I feel it doesn't respond to how fast I'm swiping, at least when using a custom speed without elasticity (causes lag!).
Man I am picky about my launcher. Maybe I'm just spoiled! I did like Go's Widgets with the transparent theme though. Very well done.
Sent from my Droid Incredible using the XDA app.
Go Launcher is great!
Anyone else bothered by the big open space at the top of the first row of icons? Why wouldn't they use the space, make the icons smaller and get another row in there? Wasted space.
did you remove Google search bar by any chance?
Yes. I did!
But irrelevant as it also tops out with the same gap
cwoodffr said:
Yes. I did!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did this the first day. It was nice being able to remove Google search, as some users don't need it. However, this leaves a gap as described.
I installed Nova Launcher (free) and it fixed the gap. Also my phone feels a lot smoother and faster. :good:
This gap definitely bothered me. It was the prime reason I left the sony launcher and moved to the google now launcher. Don't know why they have it designed like that, just seems like a huge waste of space. Even nova launcher does a better job. Was really frustrating. I liked to have the google search bar there. Followed by a 2x4 (4x2?) calendar widget. Below that I have 4 folder icons holding my most used apps. With the sony launcher, thanks to the space, I could only have a 4x1 calendar widget which was so bothersome cause there was that extra space we couldn't use! I've had every single android phone for the last 5 years set up this way and I'm not about to change, lol.
installed nova, went 5x5 and happy as hell. Thanks for the advice. This phone rocks.
cwoodffr said:
installed nova, went 5x5 and happy as hell. Thanks for the advice. This phone rocks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might want to try Moonshine in addition to Nova to change your icons. Looks so clean!