[Q] How many Android homescreens do you use? - Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]

I've been wondering how many of their homescreens do people actually use?
I use LauncherPro on my T-Mobile G2x, and I've only ever felt comfortable with just one homescreen. I find the app drawer to be much easier than swiping screens.

I have over 100 apps so I use all 7 screens.
Sent from my MikG powered Evo

I use all of mine, 2 for news, 1 home, 1 twitter and fb, and one for a 4x4 calender widget

I only use one, and even then I dont use widgets or icons.
I use Launcher Pro and the 3 docks and that does the trick for me.
Love the clean look.

I use adw ex with my screens set to 4x4 and no dock. I kind of use an i phone look with every app displayed on my homescreens so right now im at 6 pages. But i use simplistic black icons and it all comes together great

I'm forced to use at least 6 homes in my sense rom because of widgets, but in aosp rom i used someone less (adw launcher ex FTW! )

3 screens for me.

More widgets
I need more widgets for my homescreens

One here.
I am boring and don't use much of my home screen.
A clock at the top row, and a couple of app icons I use a lot, arranged in an arc that I can reach with my thumb in normal position
I can do my daily tasks on this phone often without even moving my thumb to select, due to the position of the icons

I have 4 but only use 3.
Sent from my X10i

One here using launcher pro with just a beautiful widgets clock and a dock with gmail phone texting and web.use the app drawer for the rest
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

I use 3, I rather consolidate my apps within folders than spread them across multiple homescreens.

I use Launcher Pro and 5 screens. One for all my rooting/modding apps, one for games, one for frequent contacts, one for tool/productivity apps(no root), and the middle one blank except for the alarm clock app.
Also use all 3 docks.
Droid 2 Global
[ROM]Hexen 1.0.1 (Final)

I use animated Widgets to group similar programs together (all map,navigation; family;messaging) etc and I have it kept to 4 homescreens. I do use and rely on social,task and calendar widgets though.
Also running with Go Launcher Ex or whatever and have frozen/blocked most of the blur/motorola bloatware.
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using XDA Premium App

3 screens seems to be the sweetspot.
i like to use that as well.
left for music widget center for weather/calendar widgets and right for appfolders

I use 3-4 on my Dinc, but I like to go either 5x5 or 6x6 for rows and columns. Always beautiful widgets. Ever since cm7 was released, I only use adw launcher ex. For my Nook, I use only one homescreen, and no dock. Both are OCed CM7.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA Premium App

One home screen here. As someone else mentioned, I find the vertical scrolling app drawer easier to navigate than the horizontal navigation of home screens.

Related

ADW Launcher or Launcher Pro

Which program do you prefer? And what is a feature that you like about the 1 you chose? I have personally used Launcher Pro which came with Fresh ROM on my Evo but while I was browsing the market I noticed ADW Launcher and seen numerous themes.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
ADW for me
I keep coming back to ADW. The single feature I love over Launcher Pro is the swipe action. Nudge up and Notification Bar hides or shows. Nudge down and the notification bar opens. In Launcher Pro you have to set up swipe areas in the dock, too specific for me.
Just my personal preference...
Put me in the launcher Pro group.
I like to run a clean screen and its scrolling dock combined with folder organizer allows me to access everything I want quickly without the screen clutter...
YMMV
Smac61 said:
Put me in the launcher Pro group.
I like to run a clean screen and its scrolling dock combined with folder organizer allows me to access everything I want quickly without the screen clutter...
YMMV
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I prefer ADW because of the horizontal page by page apps scrolling. If LP did this I would probably use it.
ADW - Swipe actions ftw
One more vote for LPP. Paid version is well worth it.
LP
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Like the swype action of ADW. But I love the lp icons. Both are good
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
ADW lacks scrollable launcher bar.
Launcher pro +
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
launcher pro for me. somehow ADW app drawer seems to lag..
I started with ADW but moved to LP.
The smooth animations alone makes it a better choice for me.
I used too use ads but launcher pro is way better
Sprint Htc Hero
CM6 Froyo 2.2
Firerats recover mod 368 Internal Memory
Uncapped Kernal
Overclock to 710
Collin_ph battery tweak
Envy Port Theme
I Love My Phone
Launcher Pro Plus. Between the Plus widgets and the Beautiful Widgets clock, I don't really miss anything from the Sense launcher.
I haven't really tried ADW, though.
I'm an ADW guy, the swipe actions are very handy. Also, the custom icon ability makes my home screen much cleaner.
Yeah, those are Launcher Pro icons, so I guess it's a bastardized ADW, oh well.
LauncherPro for me...I too love the scrollable dock. I don't like clutter
Noob question Im learning to use ADW coming off Launcher pro, how do you change the dock icons around or add new ones.
I started with LP then went to ADW when it was included in my ROM. Tried LP again because I love the scrollable dock but LP just seems to lag a bit on my phone. I don't know why
So anyways, ADW for me...........for now.
ADW for me. I like launcher pro but I've just grown accustomed to AdW more. Either way I don't think they're that much different to make a bad choice.

Is 7 Widgets a lot?

I'm currently using 5 home screens with 7 Widgets. The scrolling isnt as smooth as I hope it to be. Just want to see how many other people have.
Services also hovers around 100-130
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
That's not too many at all. But the smooth home screen scrolling comes when you turn off live wall paper and use a static one. That's what I've found matters, not the widgets.
This is what I have on my Nexus S, with ADW.Launcher EX:
1st. power control widget,switchpro widget, flashlight widget, gv widget
2. facebook, twitter
3. none.
4. google search, buncha shortcuts for folder organizers.
Buttery smooth.
one thing i forgot to mention is that on all other android phone's i've used, launcher pro and ADW make the home screen scrolling buttery smooth. but the stock launcher is never as smooth, even brand new with nothing loaded.
i believe it's something that the dev's did to enhance these aftermarket launchers, so its highly recommended to use one of them over stock.
If im using launcher pro, is it best to delete all the widgets in the stock launcher or wont it matter?
KidCold said:
If im using launcher pro, is it best to delete all the widgets in the stock launcher or wont it matter?
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Click to collapse
yes definitely delete all items off the stock launcher as i'm pretty sure that still is in the background so the less resources it needs to keep in memory the better since you're not using it anyway.
I have 7 widgets: 2 1x1, 4 4x1, and 1 4x2. I'm also using the clock live wallpaper. Scrolling is smooth as butter on stock. No roms, optimizations, or 3rd party apps. Perhaps the live wallpaper I've used (clock, microbes, and nexus) didn't use much resource.
I use several Widgets, Facebook, twitter, clock, NHL gamecenter, tweetdeck post, and use the matrix live wallpaper on bone stock and scrolling is smooth for me ad well.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
RogerPodacter said:
yes definitely delete all items off the stock launcher as i'm pretty sure that still is in the background so the less resources it needs to keep in memory the better since you're not using it anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK does anyone know how to launch the original launcher instead of launcher pro? Tried looking in settings but can't find it.
Edit: Found it. Thanks
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

A Launcher Comparison

Have tried a few launchers over the past few weeks, and made a comparison spreadsheet, take a look-
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc...4NmJ4X29sRk43dGc&authkey=CMfSjJgH&hl=en#gid=0
My thoughts
For a fast lightweight launcher, zeam (perfect apart from no notifications in the dock).EDIT - i have since found the appdrawer to be laggier in scrolling than go launcher / launcher pro, so cannot stand by my original near perfect opinion)
For a launcher with themes and lots of visual customisation - ADW EX
For an all round launcher - Go Launcher EX
For an all round launcher with its own widgets - Launcher Pro Plus
I use actualy crazy home pro and is very useful you have 3 desktop whit 5 pages each. Try and add to spreadsheet.
Sent from my X10minipro using XDA App
I use Arc Launcher. It isn't the most customised one but is indeed one of the most stable and refined. I just love the effects of one removing a widget on Arc Launcher!
thanks~~~~~~~~``
Nice, only thing I noticed was that ADW does have notifications with ADW Notifier, but very well done
You compltely missed on the most important thing, SPEED. For me launcher pro has absolutwly no lag at all on an htchero where as all other except zeam do. AdW has a clunky was to organize the homescreens in my opinion and although go launchwr was good, it was a bit laggy and the style didnt suit my taste
Sent from my EVO3D using XDA App
dre89 said:
Nice, only thing I noticed was that ADW does have notifications with ADW Notifier, but very well done
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
spreadsheet amended. thanks for the update
fowenati said:
You compltely missed on the most important thing, SPEED. For me launcher pro has absolutwly no lag at all on an htchero where as all other except zeam do. AdW has a clunky was to organize the homescreens in my opinion and although go launchwr was good, it was a bit laggy and the style didnt suit my taste
Sent from my EVO3D using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, i have to agree with you that speed is important. i have only ever had lags with adw, but until i have the launchers set up with identical widgets i felt it was unfair to rank them on their perceived speed.
What you put in the "home screen notes" row is the reason I didn't use LP or Zeam.
I suggest you separate the "gestures" row into two, one for home screen, and one for dock bar.
Question for those with GO Launcher and Launcher Pro installed -
For the scrollable widgets, how do you find widget scrolling using Go Launcher compared to launcher pro? i find Go launcher very sensitive to left / right movement while trying to scroll the widget making it more difficult to vertically scroll the widgets than launcher pro. I tested this using pure messenger scroll with both.
fowenati said:
You compltely missed on the most important thing, SPEED. For me launcher pro has absolutwly no lag at all on an htchero where as all other except zeam do. AdW has a clunky was to organize the homescreens in my opinion and although go launchwr was good, it was a bit laggy and the style didnt suit my taste
Sent from my EVO3D using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, i have to agree with you that speed is important. i have only ever had lags with adw, but until i have the launchers set up with identical widgets i felt it was unfair to rank them on their perceived speed.
EDIT
Had lags on LPP this weekend...half second delays or so when swiping between screens...
nxdu said:
What you put in the "home screen notes" row is the reason I didn't use LP or Zeam.
I suggest you separate the "gestures" row into two, one for home screen, and one for dock bar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
done!
cheers
nepentanova said:
done!
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GO has a up swipe for dock gesture.
tanjinjack said:
I use Arc Launcher. It isn't the most customised one but is indeed one of the most stable and refined. I just love the effects of one removing a widget on Arc Launcher!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ARC Launcher added (though i don't share your love!!)
nxdu said:
GO has a up swipe for dock gesture.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i thought there were only 2 gestures in GO Launcher, swipe up / down on home page (not just dock). perhaps we have our terminology mixed up..
Maybe you should add SPB Shell 3D as well - the launcher for users with too much money
nepentanova said:
ARC Launcher added (though i don't share your love!!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the addition of my favourite non-Sense launcher in it. Really like some of the effects that other launchers will probably never implement (like the effect of moving a widget, deleting a widget, going into app drawers etc.)
There are actually 7 screens version out there, and I got it here also from the link below. And there are some variants as well, including landscape mode (something I think is missing in other launchers.)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=11856283&postcount=43
I manage to put apps into the dock as well (Miren browser and Dialer One).
Also about GO Launcher, I believe it does support swipe gestures on dock as well - it pretty much does whatever the free Launcher Pro does, except for the all home-screen views.
Maybe you may want to take a look at the NetFront Screen as well. A launcher of different concept, which I still think more works need to be done and more performance upgrade (have lags on my AOSP-loaded Desire).
Other wise, really good jobs on the spreadsheet. Appreciate it.
Have you tried Sweeter Home?
this is great, but just to let you know LPP has "resizable home screen" of 10x10 also
nepentanova said:
i thought there were only 2 gestures in GO Launcher, swipe up / down on home page (not just dock). perhaps we have our terminology mixed up..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can set swipe up actions for dock icons. Just long=tap a dock icon and hit "change gesture."
This means that the dock of GO Launcher can do 10 things instead of 5, or 30 if you use the scrollable dock option.
When you update the dock notes you may want to update the app drawer notes too. You can change the default 4x4 view in the app drawer to 4x5 and 5x5, just like you can for the home screens.
Another GO Launcher note: when you use it it sends data home (probably usage stats). If you don't want GO to phone home you should block it with DroidWall. (Maybe the other launchers phone home too?)

Tweetcaster pro scrollable widget?

Ok, this probably needs to be moved to G2x Q&A. Sorry about that.
Hey all. A bit frustrated with twitter clients because I have two twitter accounts and I was looking for one app to optimize both. I love the Plume scrollable widget, but it doesn't separate tweets well for multiple accounts (i.e. - each in its own widget).
For some reason, the scrollable widget in Tweetcaster has worked only a couple of times - that is, I've placed it on my home screen, physically scrolled it and saw it work. That was... Awhile ago. I desperately want the scroll widget to work because there's no sense in using more than one app if one does what I need. Now when I select one of the three options, I don't get a scrollable widget at all. I've tried it under multiple conditions, and I've either been using the stock, Hellfire Phoenix ROM, with no custom launcher, Launcher Pro, and most preferably GO Launcher. Scrollable widgets option is on and operational because Plume's widget works without fail.
Does anyone know what's going on here?

Highly recommend Nova Launcher for S3

Hey folks,
I highly recommend replacing the touch Wiz launcher with nova launcher. I have found it much more intuitive, and much easier to use. (I am not affiliated with Nova in any way.)
Several advantages:
1. The bottom bar (dock) of apps is highly customizable, with as many apps as you choose. You can also create multiple pages of docked apps, so it's possible to access 10 or 15 apps on the lower dock.
2. The App drawer is automatically alphabetized, unlike touch Wiz, which I find so much easier to use. There are of course workarounds on touch Wiz, but why bother? I just dock the icon for the app drawer on the lower dock so it's always available.
3. Nova has one step back up of your screen layouts so that if you are wiping your phone regularly in order to reflash ROM's, it's trivial to reset your screen layouts by doing a restore from nova. This saves a lot of tweaking time.
4. You can customize the layout of your desktop with variable margins, a persistent search bar on all pages, gestures, and with nova launcher prime ($4), you also get unread counts for SMS, missed calls, and Gmail, which is very nice.
5. Basically everything is customizable and modifiable. I greatly prefer it over the stock touch Wiz launcher. Check out the free version of nova, as it has virtually all the features other than the unread counts.
I personally prefer apex but I can see the appeal in nova. They are pretty similar.
jsb5388 said:
I personally prefer apex but I can see the appeal in nova. They are pretty similar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried Apex but had a super annoying rendering hug that would display a box on the main home screen for a split second...
Not even considering that I spent a few hours tweaking Apex for a few hours (loved that it had so many options) but 90% of the Nova defaults were perfect for me and after going from Apex to Nova was convinced that it was right for me.
Sent from my Galaxy S3
android94301 said:
Hey folks,
I highly recommend replacing the touch Wiz launcher with nova launcher. I have found it much more intuitive, and much easier to use. (I am not affiliated with Nova in any way.)
Several advantages:
1. The bottom bar (dock) of apps is highly customizable, with as many apps as you choose. You can also create multiple pages of docked apps, so it's possible to access 10 or 15 apps on the lower dock.
2. The App drawer is automatically alphabetized, unlike touch Wiz, which I find so much easier to use. There are of course workarounds on touch Wiz, but why bother? I just dock the icon for the app drawer on the lower dock so it's always available.
3. Nova has one step back up of your screen layouts so that if you are wiping your phone regularly in order to reflash ROM's, it's trivial to reset your screen layouts by doing a restore from nova. This saves a lot of tweaking time.
4. You can customize the layout of your desktop with variable margins, a persistent search bar on all pages, gestures, and with nova launcher prime ($4), you also get unread counts for SMS, missed calls, and Gmail, which is very nice.
5. Basically everything is customizable and modifiable. I greatly prefer it over the stock touch Wiz launcher. Check out the free version of nova, as it has virtually all the features other than the unread counts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*1. Love Nova
lowg said:
I tried Apex but had a super annoying rendering hug that would display a box on the main home screen for a split second...
Not even considering that I spent a few hours tweaking Apex for a few hours (loved that it had so many options) but 90% of the Nova defaults were perfect for me and after going from Apex to Nova was convinced that it was right for me.
Sent from my Galaxy S3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried Go launcher?
Just fyi... the "work around" to get the app drawer alphabetized is clicking the menu button with the app drawer open and then clicking, "view type" and switching to alphabetized. Not exactly complicated. Or even a work around.
Nova is great, but I'm actually enjoying touchwiz. I do want to switch over and play with nova more... But eh, not seeing a huge need. Coming from sense (which I hated) I'm quite happy on tw.
Though I do miss being able to back everything up
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
How does ADW work on it. I have been rocking them for a while. I am picking my S3 up next weekend when I get back in town. My wife already has hers though and she is rubbing it in my face lol.
adw for ics is apex, is it not?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
doeboy711 said:
How does ADW work on it. I have been rocking them for a while. I am picking my S3 up next weekend when I get back in town. My wife already has hers though and she is rubbing it in my face lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i start to use ADW ex on my old EVO and is really good launcher, by personal reasons i movo to iphone and now that i back to android i found more launchers, and Nova is really good maybe even better than ADW ex, IMO
Using Apex launcher plus. I tried Nova first, but Apex has a few more features. Just my opinion. Coming from my Dinc running Holo launcher after a VERY long run with LauncherPro (rip).
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
badseed767 said:
Using Apex launcher plus. I tried Nova first, but Apex has a few more features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, I prefer Apex Plus also.
Installed Nova and noticed it was killing my batter so I uninstalled it.
Apex here... Nova didnt impressed me
Sent from Verizon Galaxy S 3 w/ XDA APP
I've been using nova launcher for about a week and I like it a lot. It's very smooth and very fast. It is easily customizable as well.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
I noticed Nova was a bit smoother than Apex for me, so I've been using Nova and loving it
Sent from my SCH-I535 using XDA App
Any idea what's up with the widget selector for Nova? I click on the widgets tab and instead of the expected widget drawer I get a list of widgets similar to ginger bread.
Is this a feature that's unlocked with nova prime? Or is that widget drawer option something different? Other than that Nova is pretty sweet!
tars16 said:
Any idea what's up with the widget selector for Nova? I click on the widgets tab and instead of the expected widget drawer I get a list of widgets similar to ginger bread.
Is this a feature that's unlocked with nova prime? Or is that widget drawer option something different? Other than that Nova is pretty sweet!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried this? On my last rooted phone, Droid Incredible, it worked perfectly. Haven't tried it on this phone though cuz I don't feel the need to root. REQUIRES ROOT:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=780828
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
piiman said:
Have you tried Go launcher?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm running GL - i like it allot.. runs great on the sgs3 with/ICS theme
Apex and Nova are both based on the stock 4.0.x ICS launcher, so they're very similar, but Apex gives more features for free.
You're definitely making a mistake if you use Go Launcher or ADW or LauncherPro on this phone, since those are Gingerbread-based. The ICS launcher is just a much, much better base.
tars16 said:
Any idea what's up with the widget selector for Nova? I click on the widgets tab and instead of the expected widget drawer I get a list of widgets similar to ginger bread.
Is this a feature that's unlocked with nova prime? Or is that widget drawer option something different? Other than that Nova is pretty sweet!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You just need root.
If you have root you can go to Nova Settings... Drawer and enable Widgets in Drawer.
Sent from my Galaxy S3

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