Related
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!
-------------
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.
-------------
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.
Im currently on bionix rom but even on stock i had this problem
i want to know if anyone else is experiancing this problem
Launcher pro plus (paid)
stock launcher gives you 3D scrolling stock with gingerbread witch is great! but when u switch to launcher pro they replace your stock app drawer with theres, witch is not 3d then you may go into settings and switch it to there "May be buggy" 3d drawer on my other devices this is great looks/feels 100% real but on my nexus i scroll down perfect but soon as i tap the screen without scrolling motion it pops straight to the top of list and if i just want to scroll up just a bit it will go straight to the top VERY annoying i cant find the app i actually want..but i love launcherpro lol could it be the stock 3d drawer is conflicting with theres?
Doesnt do that on mine. 3D app drawer works great. Im runnin cm 7 btw
This is a known issue with Launcher Pro (hence the "may be buggy" warning).
I reported it on the Launcher Pro support web site on December 18th. No acknowledgement from the author yet. You might want to go there and add your two cents worth.
There's posts in that thread that say it happens in CM6 ROMs as well as the Nexus One Gingerbread builds, so if it's working for chris in post 2 than Cyanogen has fixed it, or he's not running Launcher Pro.
Me Too
I have switched to ADW again...because of glitchie 3d drawer and icons disappearing from Folders that i create. The icon is there, just not the icons image...it goes to the default green and white android icon after reboot. Also, ADW's screen transitions are beautiful.
yeah this identical problem even happens on the latest cyanogen nightlies for the nexus one. it is some incompatibility with launcher pro and latest builds, and i guess it exists on gingerbreadd as well. hopefully it will be fixed soon. for now i just use the non-3d app drawer on LP.
counting on launcher pro is a paid app they should really get into this ....but ya it sucks when your friends have inferior phones, and use 3d app drawer and my nexus s is so plaaainnn lol
What is the best launcher? In terms of functionality, ease of use, features, design, speed?
Also is there anyway to customize the "Launcher2" on the Nexus S or is it just stuck that way?
- ADW Launcher
- ADW Launcher EX (If you like ADW Launcher, try this.. it's even better; paid app)
- LauncherPro
- Go Launcher EX(never used this but have heard good things about it)
.. this is going to stirr up a debate between ADW Launcher vs. LauncherPro.
My opinion? ADW Launcher, but try out both of them and see which one fits you.
And Launcher2 on NS stock.. nope.
Thanks, I think I'm going to use ADW EX, seems to have what I want and I've used ADW before so a better version of it should be better?
Yeah, EX was initially missing a few features from the free version, but I think those have all been added now, so it's pretty much a straight upgrade.
That said, a launcher is a UI element, so the best launcher is the one with the features you want and which you find most attractive and easiest to work with. There's a reason multiple launchers enjoy success in parallel; one size doesn't fit all.
Serious_Beans said:
Thanks, I think I'm going to use ADW EX, seems to have what I want and I've used ADW before so a better version of it should be better?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Adw ex is way more fluid. Not sure what makes the difference, but it performs significantly better. Almost as buttery smooth as stock launcher.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
I've used all of the popular ones; Zeam, GO, LauncherPro Plus, ADW, and ADW Ex and personally, the one that does everything I need it to without much fussing about is definitely LauncherPro. Zeam is nice but I couldn't figure out how to customize icons and for me that is a necessary function. GO is basically a freeware version of LPP but when I set custom icons they all came out slightly pixellated. Not very noticable but considering I've never had such an issue with LPP I saw no reason to switch to one that seems less functional. ADW just isn't customizable enough. Period. ADW Ex has a lot of functionality but when I tried to set my custom icons they came out as black squares, again why use a launcher replacement that I can't seem to get to match my theme?
kenvan19 said:
I've used all of the popular ones; Zeam, GO, LauncherPro Plus, ADW, and ADW Ex and personally, the one that does everything I need it to without much fussing about is definitely LauncherPro. Zeam is nice but I couldn't figure out how to customize icons and for me that is a necessary function. GO is basically a freeware version of LPP but when I set custom icons they all came out slightly pixellated. Not very noticable but considering I've never had such an issue with LPP I saw no reason to switch to one that seems less functional. ADW just isn't customizable enough. Period. ADW Ex has a lot of functionality but when I tried to set my custom icons they came out as black squares, again why use a launcher replacement that I can't seem to get to match my theme?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
for zeam, just use desktop visualizer and then drag it into the icon bar.
FaithCry said:
for zeam, just use desktop visualizer and then drag it into the icon bar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know but I'd rather not have to have another application installed just to change the icons in the already installed launcher.
there are more to Go Launcher EX, than Launcher Pro Plus + ADW EX combined
(IMO, i think that is actually why the DEV of GO launcher renamed it to GO launcher EX)
on top of all the LPP + ADW features, you can added any amount of screens, where most launcher usually maxes out at 7 screens,
re-size widgets,
add more columns & rows for the widget screens,
same can be done with the app drawer,
you can custom arrange the app drawer icons position, or default to some sorting of your choice,
you can change individual icons or you can change the entire skin,
very easy to apply any skin / theme with the skin chooser
you can make your own skin
it integrates itself with Go SMS, which also have matching skins, or you can customize your own
there is the build in Task Manager/Killer in Go Launcher EX
and so much more options under the hood.
it's build for customization, there are way too much options, so much that you don't know from where to start and all in a easy to use user interface
no need to edit anything manually on the file system, nor need to replace any files to change the theme/skin
just download the skin/theme that you like from the market and enable it.
Zeam all the way, baby!
Sent from my Nexus S
I prefer ADW as well.
Though I wish I could say stock. =T
Stock
Can I give ADW ex looks of stock launcher ?
Can I add more home screens to stock launcher ?
onthecouchagain said:
I prefer ADW as well.
Though I wish I could say stock. =T
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why do you wish you could say stock? Don't get me wrong the stock launcher works great and I used it for months on my MT3G but it wasn't perfect. The only reason I prefer LauncherPro is that I absolutely can't stand it when icons don't match my theme so I use a custom launcher.
LP Plus just does what I want and its dead simple to set up too. ADW had few issues. Still, one mans Cameron Diaz is another mans Oprah Winfrey
Can LPP be configured to do swipe down on home screen to drop down the notification bar?
I´m using launcher pro and its more stable than the original launcher. But every time I have to reboot, the launcher pro come with black screen then force close and then restart normally... go figure.
alexcinci said:
I´m using launcher pro and its more stable than the original launcher. But every time I have to reboot, the launcher pro come with black screen then force close and then restart normally... go figure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's a weird one, never seen that before, when i was using LPP
AllGamer said:
that's a weird one, never seen that before, when i was using LPP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just adding: non rooted, stock kernell and rom
eventhough I´m having this issue, its way better than the original launcher
alexcinci said:
just adding: non rooted, stock kernell and rom
eventhough I´m having this issue, its way better than the original launcher
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a similar issue. Doesn't happen every time but it does happen. Really isn't that much of a bother.
kenvan19 said:
I have a similar issue. Doesn't happen every time but it does happen. Really isn't that much of a bother.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree
Hi, i have seen a lot of interesting launcher pro widgets skin and find it great but i can't seem to get to like the launcher pro interface (loved it on my phone but on a big tablet... ) So i were wondering if there would be a way to tweak (noob here) launcher pro so all the icons/app drawer could be really similar to stock honeycomb? or is there a way i could use the themed launcher pro widgets (made by bisto321) in the stock honeycomb?
Thanks a lot!
Oh and also, i have seen a couple of person having icons down their screen with only text (and more rectangular than square icons...) anyone know if it can be achieved in stock honeycomb?
thanks again
sackofnoise said:
Hi, i have seen a lot of interesting launcher pro widgets skin and find it great but i can't seem to get to like the launcher pro interface (loved it on my phone but on a big tablet... ) So i were wondering if there would be a way to tweak (noob here) launcher pro so all the icons/app drawer could be really similar to stock honeycomb? or is there a way i could use the themed launcher pro widgets (made by bisto321) in the stock honeycomb?
Thanks a lot!
Oh and also, i have seen a couple of person having icons down their screen with only text (and more rectangular than square icons...) anyone know if it can be achieved in stock honeycomb?
thanks again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not sure you are going to find a way to get a Launcher Pro / stock hybrid version yet.
As for text icons you should be able to find a pack of icons that would do the trick - try this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=797194.
other text widgets can be created with apps like this -
https://market.android.com/details?id=net.hubalek.android.makeyourclock&feature=search_result
https://market.android.com/details?id=de.devmil.minimaltext
ive tried the first and it works great. ive not tried the second one.
I'm using ADW EX on mine and it's a huge improvement over the stock launcher.
i just ordered an f1
has anyone used a different launcher on it? ive heard it mentioned in reviews but nothing definite
I use smart launcher pro and works well. Only issue is sometimes after a reboot the colour OS launcher kicks in as default.
Sent from my F1f using Tapatalk
paul_cad44 said:
I use smart launcher pro and works well. Only issue is sometimes after a reboot the colour OS launcher kicks in as default.
Sent from my F1f using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
coolio
I use google now launcher, Only issue is sometimes after a reboot the colour OS launcher kicks in as default.
Make sure you go into app management and default apps and select your preffered launcher as default. IMO, it's actually a better way to do it than other phones where you just start the launcher and wait for the OS to ask which one is to be default.
I also use Smart Launcher Pro on both my phones, and my wife's. I regularly try different launchers but always come back to SL Pro. It's elegantly simple but hiding some pretty good customisation tweaks and that app drawer is the best I've ever seen.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=8663477108975404679
I installed Ubuntu theme as that is how to get the nicer icons in the app drawer tabs.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ginlemon.sltheme.ubuntu
In my Find 7 I also have the MIUI Icon pack applied to homescreen and app grid.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ginlemon.sltheme.miui.transparent
For a nice clock I have Digital Clock Widget Xperia.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sonyericsson.digitalclockwidget2
Set a nice wallpaper (I have a bright Lollipop one).
The phone looks stylish and well integrated with theming, like it came that way from Oppo.
If you must use the ColorOS launcher, you can install an app drawer app from Google Play instead of having to sort through pages of homescreens with a bunch of icons and folders.
I have this one in my oppo Find 7 for the rare times when I use the ColorOS launcher.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=JakedUp.AppDrawer
Simple, small and has barebones permission needs.