[Q] Three questions from a new HTC/Android user coming from iphone - HTC Sensation

Hi fellow Sensationalists
I have three quick questions for you all and hope you will help me
1. Is there a way to replace the rosie dockbar without forfeiting Sense?
I know about launchers and tried a few of them, but then I lose Sense and it's widgets, which are the main reasons for going with HTC. I dont want just a different skin, I actually want a dockbar like Launcher pro gives me - with dedicated buttons for mail, sms, phone and browser, if it can be scrolled, it'd be even better! The Rosie Dockbar is useless as it has only 3 buttons of which I actually only need "Phone". At least this was much better on the iphone
2. Is wallpaper scrolling gone for good with Sense 3.0? I have it with the launchers but I want it in Sense :'( Any mods out there?
3. I just can't find a 2g/3g toggle widget. There are only Shortcut widgets that take me to that seetings page. But I want a one-tap button that switches between them (Note: I am not looking for a widget that deactivates mobile data completley)

1 and 2 is no. Can't help you with 3
Swyped from my HTC Sensation

I've asked the same thing....I too came from an iPhone.....the best thing your gonna get is go launcher. That's ok I love this phone over the iPhone
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App

Question 1. Answer is no.. but if you get adw launcher and beautiful widgets you will be as close to sense as your going to get.
Question 2. I have been using Live wallpapers and I am 95% sure they still work with adw launcher.
As for question #3 Not really sure.. Everywhere I go I have 4G

Bleh. So no sense for me then
I just like the scrolling wallpapers too much, and the dockbar is an essential part of any OS because I don't want to go 3 screens back just to launch the webbrowser. In both areas, HTC failed big time (oh, that and the 768mb Ram instead of 1gig)
Question 3 is also a no, it seems the super-open Android prohibits this. Cyanogenmod is reportedly the only Rom where this is possible. Some recommended me "extended quicksettings" and such, but all of them cost $$$ and I don't know if the really work.
Here in Switzerland we have no 4g at all, but for checking mails and whatsapp I prefer 2g anyways as it saves alot of juice, everything else is overkill for such small data transfers. I only switch on 3g when browsing or youtubeing. Extended the battery ALOT on my iphone.
at least that part was better on my iphone.

Related

Best Home Screen Launcher

What is the best or most functional home screen launcher on the market for the Droid X? Not sure witch one to buy.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
I love launcher pro
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
I woulnd't buy anything. I'd with one of the free ones like ADW or Launcher Pro.
Launcher Pro...
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
I love Launcher Pro, which is free. But if you buy Launcher Pro Plus you get some AWESOME widgets, including the Facebook widget which is the best facebook app available IMHO. Also get messaging, twitter, calendar, and people widgets. They are some of the nicest widgets on the market and you get them all while supporting a great developer who is always improving his app.
+1 for LP. Use the free one first, then you will be UPgrading in no time.
picked up launcher pro not sure why many use adw. IMO LP works much better. gl with your choice.
Droid X 7 said:
What is the best or most functional home screen launcher on the market for the Droid X? Not sure witch one to buy.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it really depends on who you talk to. Some like ADW, others (like myself) love or prefer Launcher Pro (or Pro Plus, which is the paid version).
I like LP+ because of the very functional widgets that come with, along with the very nice widget resizer that works on ALL widgets. Both of these features come with the paid version of LP+. What really endeared me to LP+ over ADW was the memory settings. ADW when I tried it really ran my system down into stutter territory. LP+ in stock settings did this, but what it had over and above ADW was the ability to custom tweek its memory settings. I found a balance of settings in LP+ that really allowed it to run lightly on my system and aside from giving it time (say about 10 seconds or so) initially to build the caches on startup and after a long time out of the launcher, it really flies. That's b/c I have it set to load up all its relevant caches first and keep them unless heap memory is needed. That means valuable cpu clock time isn't spent building caches or spent refilling the cache for redrawing when I switch homescreens.
Also, the customizable dock and icons was a major selling point. I also like having the ability to have multiple docks (only running just one right now, but still, I can see future situations where it would be nice to have multiple docks) and have gestures enabled on top of the dock icons, giving each the possibility of an alternate function (doubling the amount of stuff one can launch from the dock.... including custom-programable activities).
I don't know about the responsiveness of the devs for ADW, so don't take this as any statement concerning them, but the developer for LP+ is quite active and listens to his users. His own forum is quite active and he's involved on there, as are his forum mods. Suggestions are listened to, and if viable and practical they are implemented, and we've seen this happen.
So, all in all, I really love LP+ and find it to really be a superior launcher program. The brief time I spent using ADW I felt it was neat but didn't really offer anything that made it shine above LP+, but it did have some flaws that while not deal-breakers collectively or in and of themselves, still essentially turned the balance of favor for me clearly over to LP+.
I prefer LauncherPro. Have used ADW briefly but always go back to LP. Even upgraded to the Plus version.
In the LauncherPro settings under General, I checked the Droid Hack and noticed some apps would hang when I would exit them. Unchecked this option and it improved performance, but there is still some lag sometimes.
Was wondering if anyone can post optimal settings here so we can try them out. I purchased the Pro lisence.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
+1 on LauncherPro Plus! Hard to beat, and the sense type widgets are awesome! I barely miss the sense ui on my incredible.
they are both fantastic. LP widgets (especially themed) and 3d drawer look awesome and another plus with the dock. ADW though i find to be nices scrolling through homescreens and the upswipe to bring up a new osx-like dock is appealing. That being said im running both with ADW as my hard button default home, 10 homescreens between the two of them, LP used for "large" widgets and ADW for shortcuts and smaller widgets. It switches launchers instantly thru dock shortcuts so i wont be getting rid of either one of them. Attempting to skin them 2 different colors isnt going so well tho...
How do you keep your phone from stuttering and lagging running two cpu-demanding launcher setups? With all those screens and the need for quick redraws, your heap memory has GOT to be ready to burst.
I was actually pretty surprised. Android does a pretty damn good job managing resources it seems. I do keep setcpu at 1k all the time unless the screen is off or im under 20%, which is never. That probably helped. I honestly didnt expect it to work this well though
add me up on the LP users...
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Launcher Pro....no contest. ADW launcher is ok but Cyanogen like to talk @#$%
Launcherpro ftw!!!! never use ADW it is pure crap compared to LP
I am surprised no one has mentioned Zeam. Pretty good. And there is a thread right here on XDA...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=664149
I like some of the settings (swipe up for app drawer, swipe down for taskbar, double tap for dialer etc).
I have LaincherPro+, but right now I am using Zeam.
I’ve been using launcher pro plus since I bought my DX at launch. It's been great and has lots of options to customize the hell out of the phone.

[Q] What is the appeal of Sense?

I've had several HTC phones and I really don't see the appeal of Sense. Disable Sense, either with script, new launcher, or new rom is literally the first thing I do when I get a new HTC phone. Yet I see a steady request from people to make more Sense ROMs or add Sense features to nonSense ROMs. I know it's blasphemy around here, but I actually like TouchWiz and the iPhone UI. So I ask:
What is it about Sense that you find attractive?
EDIT: I want to add that I'm not trying to "troll" or be confrontational or contrary, more wondering if there is something about Sense that I'm missing or possibly haven't taken advantage of. Obviously HTC is doing really well right now and I'm sure that their Sense UI plays a role in that.
MHO, im in the same boat you are sir, the only thing I do like is the social networking features built in, although now, i use launcherpro, so i am just waiting till i can root, then its CM time!
Its simple and very user friendly. The UI is very eye appealing to me. Its really all personal choice. I always find myself enjoying things built into sense roms like the ringtone trimmer is pretty stellar!
Sense 4+ and Sense 5 are awesome implementations to HTCs new devices, I got my HTC One in the mail yesterday and I have been enjoying the less intrusive side of Sense 5 but blink feed needs to go ASAP
Sent from my HTC One using XDA App
I don't see anything in it, except more battery and more heavy. Deleting it is the first thing I do in any ROM. Well, the ROMs I use now don't have Sense bundled
Edit: I have been using ZEAM launcher for months now... both on Captivate and Inspire.
I hate how it reaches to every aspect of the phone. I never liked TouchWiz, but at least TouchWiz was pretty much just a launcher. I really don't like anything besides AOSP, though.
I like the themeing, but I hate Sense itself. That's why I'm using CM7 themed like Sense.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
I don't like Sense either. I find that it normally slows my phone down dramatically and drains the battery. I rarely used anything in Sense, so I have also always disabled it!
I'm in the middle.. I enjoy sense because it is pretty much one thing EYE-CANDY. Its awesome to see and show off as well as some of the features built in especially friendstream and the weather. I love AOSP as well, reason I have widgetlocker and a few other apps to bring me my AOSP goodness. Sense roms dont really drain battery.. I get amazing life on Kingdom Sense 3.0 and Honey Sense HD 1.5.
This is gonna be a stupid reason, but the clock/weather widget.
I also think that it's the #1 replicated part of Sense.
I like it as it looks sweet. It also hooks me into my entire social world. When I have a sense rom running anyone and everyone can hit me up, Facebook friends, google friends, tweet friends. Everything shows me as logged in and ready to communicate.
That said I am running Gingerbeast ASOP, with Go Launcher EX and Widget locker right now and loving the Battery Life. while still looking amazing.
I'm on the fence on Sense, seem to flash back and forth between AOSP roms and sense roms like clockwork. I can say that my preference is stock Gingerbread with Launcher Pro widgets.
Here are some of the Sense pros:
-The lock screen on Sense 3.0 is almost enough to keep me using sense.
-I also like the better integration with Facebook and LinkedIn in my contacts.
-It's near impossible and expensive to re-create all of the HTC Widgets in a non-sense rom. The closest alternative is Launcher Pro, paid version to get the extra widgets, plus Beautiful widgets for the home screen clock. You can find comperable widgets, but if your a design purist, it's hard to get all of them looking consistant
- You can actually get decent battery with the right custom roms. I run TBFusion with the Lee kernel, undervolt, setcpu, and it's good for a full day.
Dislikes:
-Dialer - very old-school number search approach I have never liked. It was designed for when phones had only numberpads to allow you to find contacts quickly. Basically the deal-breaker for me on Sense.
-Keyboard layout; hide key is too close to space and shift, plus very cluttered (easily fixed by installing another keyboard)
-Not a fan of the way they implemented quick settings in the notifications. Having to slide down, then tab between notifications and settings is an extra step. Seems silly, but gets annoying if you've ever used CM7 or something like that.
I really like the simplicity, speed, and battery performance of pure AOSP Gingerbread. I'm running Gingerbeast at the moment. Very smooth.
IMO - if you like iPhone and touchjizz, try MIUI
IMHO, Sense is a very cool thing. I love Sense ROMs and wish that Sense was open source so that many of its features could be added to CM7 or vice versa. For me, the cons list is short so I'll start there.
---CONS---
-Battery life is reduced
-System is slightly slowed
-RAM is hogged by Rosie, Sense, and Sense apps
+++PROS+++
+The keyboard is very good IMO
+The UI is clean and appealing
++Menus are colorful and therefore easier to navigate IMO
++Organization and useability of things such as the Customizations menu is superior to Android Stock
+The widgets are all built in and are very functional (Mail, News, Settings, Stocks)
+Many HTC apps are superior IMO to the stock Google apps.
+Seven home screens as opposed to 5 for stock. (However, I know CM7 and many others can add screens, I like the layout of Sense better as you do not have to choose whether home key goes to default screen or overview as you do in CM7. Sense home key toggles between the two)
Yes, I realize many will argue that the genie widget is great for news, but HTC's News widget (Google RSS reader) is the most visually appealing and easiest to use of all news widgets I have tried.
I do have to give HTC props on their implementation of Select/Copy/Paste, it is much better than AOSP - the magnifying glass method is definitely better than the stupid little marker method.

[Q] Looking for a good launcher that isn't a launcher

Hi folks, I'm looking for what I'd call a "launcher". But I DON'T want a Sense-Replacement like ADW, SPB Shell or things like that. I'm looking for a WIDGET that allows me to place app shortcuts. Like Multicon. Unfortunately, Multicon has only 1x1 to 1x4 vertical widgets, but no horizontal ones. I need a horizontal one because I want to be able to put more apps on the screen - on a Sense-Screen, there's only 16 shortcuts possible, but you could easily fit 25 with even larger icons. Can you recommend any widget? Performance is quite important for me. Don't need background picture and scrollable content or stuff like that. Just a plain launcher that allows for more icons than Sense would. And the icons have to be large enough - 1/4th of the normal icon size is too small.
Have you looked at circle launcher
I might have the wrong idea, but maybe elixir (in market) may be useful. Has a range of sizes (1*4, 4*1 etc.) allowing for a large number of apps/switches to be placed on home screens.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e
Wave launcher is awesome imo. I use it daily and I use it with all launchers (I swap launchers). It takes about a week to get used to. But after that, It's smooth sailing.
You say you don't want a Launcher
Even though you say you don't want a Launcher, you should look at LauncherPro... I use it with 9 down by 5 across easily (Could probably do 6 across) which gives my 45 icons on one screen. Isn't that what you are looking for? You just choose the number of rows and columns you want in the options.
I turn off labels since they aren't needed.
Wave launcher for me also
jersey_609 said:
Have you looked at circle launcher
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, and I think its quite good, but it doesn't allow for very many icons. 8 will still look fine, but that's about the upper limit. Plus, its cumbersome that you have to tap twice - once to open the circle and once to select the app. It doesn't react instantly.
melloyello said:
I might have the wrong idea, but maybe elixir (in market) may be useful. Has a range of sizes (1*4, 4*1 etc.) allowing for a large number of apps/switches to be placed on home screens.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but Elixir has like ten thousand other features that I don't need/want, so it's like Bloatware in my case. I had tried it weeks ago, but I don't think the icons were any good at all. Too small. Maybe I missed something?
Thanks also for the suggestions about WaveLauncher. I tried that, but it doesn't really work well for me. When I'm on the homescreening, I'm always turning around the Sense screens instead of opening the wave.
Any other suggestions?
try wave, circle launcher, quickdesk, widgetlocker (set it as longpress search key), swipepad, powerstrip, more icons... those come to mind.
Hope that helps.
Hi Firefall
I'm in the same situation as you! The one I'm using now (after some searching) is Launch-X. They have the free and paid version. If aesthetic is not key, and you don't need more than 5 shortcuts per roll (this is ideal I think, not too small, but better than 4 per roll which I think is too sparse), free version is good enough I think.
In fact, Launch-X can go to the next 5 shortcuts (it comes with left-right buttons). If used on launcher which allow scrolling, you only need to swipe.
I combine it with Folder Organiser (this type has aplenty to choose from) which can group various apps into a folder (e.g. System, Apps, Games, Multimedia, etc.). So, now I have 5 folder shortcuts (in Launch-X) on my Sensation desktop, and each shortcut opens up another 10-20 apps. I find this two steps acceptable for a clean desktop.
Alternatively, you can consider Swipepad, which I'm using for quick access (esp to switch off my Sensation) in whichever app I'm currently running. Another alternative you can consider is Smart Taskbar.
Didn't Folder Organizer do this? You can also do it with Extended Controls.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G
TheBiles said:
Didn't Folder Organizer do this? You can also do it with Extended Controls.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point.. I think for such nested folder feature, you need the paid version of Folder Organiser. I haven't tried it yet.
If you're looking for a very simple launcher, You can download this :
simplehome
it was on the market, I worked on it for translation.
Here is a screenshot
apk is just right here
mrassol said:
If you're looking for a very simple launcher, You can download this :
simplehome
it was on the market, I worked on it for translation.
Here is a screenshot
apk is just right here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for the APK, I couldn't find it on the market. I will try it soon. It takes up the whole screen though, right?
Folder organizer also looks somewhat useful, but I'm not sure if it is what I want. Will also try that. Extended controls doesn't really look like a launcher from the market screenshots, do you actually use it as a launcher?
@leyvatron: I've tried SwipePad, that's not what I want, it should be on the homescreen as a widget. PowerStrip seems to be similar to it. The QuickDesk concept however looks interesting. Thanks for that! Also, WidgetLocker MIGHT be a good alternative for the Sense lockscreen.
@Sian: Thanks for sharing your experience with Launch-X. I tried it and it seems quite good, the free is too limited in my opinion. But it comes closest to what I'm looking for so far when configured appropriately.
Personally I just create a folder on my homescreen using GoLauncher, works great for the task you are trying to accomplish!!
i, a newbie and cant find anything on how to install a launcher, no matter what i do it goes back to sense, im swithing between using home switch.....help please.
i just got my new sensation as a free upgrade cause they could not fix my desire hd........much better phone
Go clear the defaults associated with HTC Sense or try Home Switcher.
how do i clear the defaults on sense when i cant get an option??????
donaghb said:
how do i clear the defaults on sense when i cant get an option??????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
settings/ applications, sense launcher, Clear defaults
and thanks for replying
No problem bro

My not so good review

Went from a G2 to this One S yesterday. I'm not too impressed.
No dedicated menu button
There is enough room for one on the bottom but they only put 3.
What happens now is that Android (or Sense or something) detects when there are menu options and puts a button on the screen for it taking away real estate from the application.
No trackball
I used this a lot on my G2 especially on web pages with small links that I didn't want to missclick. I already miss it. I also used the trackball wake feature in CM on my G2. Now there is only one way to turn the screen on and its a little hard to do one handed. The trackball was in a very natural position to turn on with your thumb. Now without it, it is very awkward to power on with your thumb, you have to hold it very high and I'm affraid of dropping it. Alternatively I could turn it on with my index finger but it spreads my hand way out and still feels weird.
No folders
I'm not sure if this is an ICS thing or a Sense thing (because this phone is an unholy bastardization), but I can't figure out a way to create folders on my home screens. I'm not talking about the Sense folders for applications either. In normal Android builds you can add shortcuts, widgets, folders. The Pandora application shipped with a folder called "My Stations" or something like that. I used this because it only took up 1x1 on a homescreen and let me choose which station was opened. Without it, you need to open the application and it immediately starts playing the last radio station. This is annoying.
Resolution
The DPI isn't any better than my G2, its just a bigger screen. This is pretty disappointing. I would like a crisper display in a flagship device.
Bloat
Its pretty bad. I know most users want Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, etc... but how about you let us select what we want during the phone setup.
Misc
This is my first Sense device and my first ICS device so again, not sure where this crap is coming from.... When you install an application it creates a shortcut for it on one of your home screens. Putting a shortcut is the simplist thing you can do in Android, why not leave it for the use to do if they want to do it.
On my way to work I was listening to I Heart Radio and while the live streams were okay when I went to the "pandora"-like functionality it would only play one song and then stop. This never happened on my G2. Don't know whats going on here.
I don't care for the browser (which they stupidly call "internet").
I don't care for all of the account options. I went to share a page in the browser, I wanted to email it to myself. So when I went to share page it let me select how to share it. I got "Facebook for HTC Sense", "Mail", "Twitter for HTC Sense", and "Dropbox". I did set up Facebook, but I did not set up mail, twitter, or dropbox. What I wanted was GMail which I had to select "See all..." Then I saw a plethora of garbage bloat that they bundle with the phone and had to scroll down to get to GMail. After I went though this experience I went to share another page to see if GMail showed up at the top... it didn't.
I'm sure I'll have more complaints the more I use it. I used my fiance's upgrade for this one but I get an upgrade in 3 months. If CM9 isn't out by then she'll be using this phone and I'll upgrade to a SGSIII or that yet to be named quad-core LG phone.
Summary
CM9 can't come fast enough.
EDIT
I'll add some good things here.
Good things
Again, this is coming from a G2 so in 2 years things should be better anyways....
It is very thin, and very light.
It has a front facing camera which my G2 did not.
The flashlight, though not as bright as the "High Brightness" Cyanogenmod setting on the G2, is still pretty bright.
The speaker seems to put out a lot of sound. Can't attest to the quality yet but the volume is there.
EDIT #2
Some more good and bad....
Skype Useless
... probably related to Wifi crackling. One of the things I was looking forward to with this phone was the ability to make video calls via Skype. My fiance has an iPad2, my in-laws each have a G2X, and my brother has a SGSII. Skype is useless on this device. There is echoing / cracking and video lag even when on Wifi. I called my brother with this One S and it was useless. I then called him on an iPad2 and it was great. I'm wondering if the problem has to do with Beats Audio. We'll have to wait for an AOSP ROM without Beats to find out.
So I unlocked/rooted/ROM'd ...
I am now running Black Dragon 4.0. I LOVE the menu hack to get rid of the stupid 3 dot menu on all the screens. I like that they kept the ability to longpress home to get the default behavior as well. The launcher seems nice though I haven't played with it too much (which is a good thing, means they have good defaults).
Can't wait for the kernel sources to be released so we can make some more CM9 progress. I really miss the buttons in the dropdown for wifi, brightness, bluetooth, etc. Now I have to dropdown, click settings, scroll down and find brighness.
How's the battery life? My G2 has some HORRENDOUS battery... like it can drain 20% an hour... I go to school for like 6/7 hours and I can leave with like a <20% battery life. Currently using MIUI because that seems to be the best battery life.
Edit: As for a menu button, Google is trying to get rid of that. I read a post about it a couple of months ago. They say it was useless. I completely disagree because I use it quite a lot. I use it way more than the search button which I have literally probably used less than 30 times and I've been on an Android device since the G1 came out.
For everything you just said mostly there are workarounds.
The deidcated menu button now exists through roms...the three button thing on screen is removed. Change of dpi works fine on no sense roms I'm set on 195 on sense not as good. Play market you can stop adding apps onto screens
Bloat just remove yourself root explorer..
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA Premium App
Battery lifes good also...
As I said workarounds exist
Also get a different launcher and ditch sense or just get Nova or apex
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA Premium App
Love this. G2 FOORRREEEVVVAAAAHHHH
.ili.music.ili. said:
How's the battery life? My G2 has some HORRENDOUS battery... like it can drain 20% an hour... I go to school for like 6/7 hours and I can leave with like a <20% battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm the wrong person to ask about battery life (at least during the week). I work in one of these new fancy energy efficient "Green" buildings. We have coating on our windows that block UV with the side effect of also blocking cellular signals. Everyone that works here puts their phones on airplane mode to save battery because we have 0 signal and the phone search all day.
I'll know better this weekend about battery life.
arknailed7754 said:
For everything you just said mostly there are workarounds.
The deidcated menu button now exists through roms...the three button thing on screen is removed. Change of dpi works fine on no sense roms I'm set on 195 on sense not as good. Play market you can stop adding apps onto screens
Bloat just remove yourself root explorer..
Battery lifes good also...
As I said workarounds exist
Also get a different launcher and ditch sense or just get Nova or apex
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did they implement the dedicated menu button?
How do I ditch Sense?... what is Nova / apex?
Do I need root to install another launcher?
--
FunkyELF said:
How did they implement the dedicated menu button?
How do I ditch Sense?... what is Nova / apex?
Do I need root to install another launcher?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no you can install launchers without root..from market just look for them
to ditch sense though you will need root..and to change dpi you will need root..my advice root lol
by ditching sense i mean install a non sense rom like black dragon or untouchables that strip sense away so the majority is ice cream sandwich without the bloatfest. some apps will be kept in but just use root explorer to rid the rom of it.
the dedicated menu button and ridding the screen of the three dots at the bottom is also because its been taken away and remapped by devs..so again..you need root
most of all..development will kick in soon..so better to root..or if not just use a different launcher but you dont really accomplish what your setting out to do
leedroid should be here soon with a rom,and will do away with most of the bloat anyway...so youll keep sense and most things you complained about will be sorted..
the main thing here is..root..worth it..yes..without..pointless and youll be stuck with htcs crap stock rom..pretty poor for me..but coming from another phone with loads of development..probably biased of how it should be
No Folders?
Just long-tap on the icon and drag it to another icon. THe folder will creat automaticly.
FunkyELF said:
Went from a G2 to this One S yesterday. I'm not too impressed.
No dedicated menu button
Root and ROM it. People are remapping the multitask key as the menu button, and hold-home now does the multitask. You're on XDA, so I assume you're enthused enough to root and ROM it.
No trackball
Seriously. Please find me an Android device with a trackball nowadays. It's gone...you're just gonna have to deal with it.
Resolution
This display seems pretty crisp. We're working with phones with relatively small displays. There's only so many pixels you can pack into until it doesn't even matter. 720p is about as far as we need to go on phone screens. The qHD screen on this phone has vivid colors and all the qualities of Super AMOLED. The resolution seems plenty high to me. Are you starting 1inch away from the phone and observing pixels?
Bloat
Welcome to flagship carrier devices. Again, you're on XDA, and fully capable of rooting it and removing all that crap. The G2 was a 1-off device that had pretty much stock Android. Consider it a Nexus device, more or less. With a flagship phone, you're going to get bloatware.
Misc
This is my first Sense device and my first ICS device so again, not sure where this crap is coming from.... When you install an application it creates a shortcut for it on one of your home screens. Putting a shortcut is the simplist thing you can do in Android, why not leave it for the use to do if they want to do it.
Sense has nothing to do with this. The new Google Play Store now by default places new apps' icons on the homescreen. It's as easy as going to the prefs in Play Store and disabling. Blame Google if you're going to blame someone.
On my way to work I was listening to I Heart Radio and while the live streams were okay when I went to the "pandora"-like functionality it would only play one song and then stop. This never happened on my G2. Don't know whats going on here.
Don't know what to tell you, but it's obvious that you're describing some sort of software issue, not a hardware issue. If it worked fine on the live streams, then your data connection worked. Talk to iHeartRadio.
I don't care for the browser (which they stupidly call "internet").
So install a new one! ICS Browser+ is exactly like the stock browser. There's also Chrome and Opera. Cmon...
I don't care for all of the account options. I went to share a page in the browser, I wanted to email it to myself. So when I went to share page it let me select how to share it. I got "Facebook for HTC Sense", "Mail", "Twitter for HTC Sense", and "Dropbox". I did set up Facebook, but I did not set up mail, twitter, or dropbox. What I wanted was GMail which I had to select "See all..." Then I saw a plethora of garbage bloat that they bundle with the phone and had to scroll down to get to GMail. After I went though this experience I went to share another page to see if GMail showed up at the top... it didn't.
This is the one thing I disliked and will agree with you on, although once again, rooting and ROMing can take care of it. That or removing bloatware.
I'm sure I'll have more complaints the more I use it. I used my fiance's upgrade for this one but I get an upgrade in 3 months. If CM9 isn't out by then she'll be using this phone and I'll upgrade to a SGSIII or that yet to be named quad-core LG phone.
Suit yourself. 4.7 inches is just too big, and at these speeds, you're at the mercy of your data connection, not the processor.
Summary
CM9 can't come fast enough.
AMEN
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think nearly all of your points are moot. A lot of your review seems to be based on your lack of willingness to change some preferences and MANAGE your device. If you were on a G2, then you never had to manage stuff like this. Consider it a new experience. If you wanted stock Android, you should've gotten a Galaxy Nexus. I just upgraded from a Nexus S and while I screamed at first at all the Sense crap, I quickly had it rooted, debloated, de-Sensed, and up and running with a nice, fast ROM (Black Magic 4.0).
Give it time. The phone JUST came out.
nickmv said:
I think nearly all of your points are moot. A lot of your review seems to be based on your lack of willingness to change some preferences and MANAGE your device. If you were on a G2, then you never had to manage stuff like this. Consider it a new experience. If you wanted stock Android, you should've gotten a Galaxy Nexus. I just upgraded from a Nexus S and while I screamed at first at all the Sense crap, I quickly had it rooted, debloated, de-Sensed, and up and running with a nice, fast ROM (Black Magic 4.0).
Give it time. The phone JUST came out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agree with you there,its all about learning curves..no sense roms are fairly close to stock..its just the settings that are different now..he_stheone has already added certain elements of stock android..so its fairly close..just the settings..that are the main difference now.
jacakowal said:
No Folders?
Just long-tap on the icon and drag it to another icon. THe folder will creat automaticly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those aren't the folders I'm talking about. I think what I'm talking about are called live folders. In AOSP builds of Android when you long press on an empty space on one of your screens you can choose widgets, folders, shortcuts, contacts, and other things I can't remember.
With Sense you only get widgets and shortcuts.... no folders, no contacts, etc... just widgets and shortcuts.
Isn't that minor thing?
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA Premium App
nickmv said:
I just upgraded from a Nexus S and while I screamed at first at all the Sense crap, I quickly had it rooted, debloated, de-Sensed, and up and running with a nice, fast ROM (Black Magic 4.0).
Give it time. The phone JUST came out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't see this one listed in the ALL ROMS post here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1584163
Where is the info on that ROM?
Dude its in development section
Black dragon 4.0
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA Premium App
nickmv said:
I think nearly all of your points are moot. A lot of your review seems to be based on your lack of willingness to change some preferences and MANAGE your device. If you were on a G2, then you never had to manage stuff like this. Consider it a new experience. If you wanted stock Android, you should've gotten a Galaxy Nexus. I just upgraded from a Nexus S and while I screamed at first at all the Sense crap, I quickly had it rooted, debloated, de-Sensed, and up and running with a nice, fast ROM (Black Magic 4.0).
Give it time. The phone JUST came out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Going to have to side with you on this one. This phone is definitly a great device, give it some time, dig in a little bit. Much better than my Tmo-SGS2.
most of things you mentioned isnt a "bad thing" just you dont know how to operate the phone, or its just different (opinion at that point).
Also you didnt like things which are for all devices, not just one S
FunkyELF said:
Those aren't the folders I'm talking about. I think what I'm talking about are called live folders. In AOSP builds of Android when you long press on an empty space on one of your screens you can choose widgets, folders, shortcuts, contacts, and other things I can't remember.
With Sense you only get widgets and shortcuts.... no folders, no contacts, etc... just widgets and shortcuts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The long press, dragging and combining of icons together is AOSP folders in Ice Cream Sandwich. The long press on the desktop to add folder is long gone and is not coming back.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
arknailed7754 said:
Dude its in development section
Black dragon 4.0
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry... you said Black Magic, not Black dragon.
I'll give it a try in a couple weeks. I like to use my phone a bit before rooting to make sure I didn't get a lemon.
Does the camera work on this one?
Just got the phone and here are my negatives:
1. With lowest brightness setting the screen is horrible (but if you increase it a bit, its ok)
2. No switches in pulldown menu ? I though Sense always had that.....
3. Bottom plastic is not 100% flush at one corner (maybe will exchange, maybe not)
4. In navigation I just couldnt find "setting" button anywhere.....whats up with that ?
gonna go to Verizon and compare to Nexus....I still need Tmo SIM and stores are in same place anyway....I am not a phone freak not wasting time here
Its also very true that until you have 2 devices in hand you cant really compare screen quality...I though my G2x IPS panel for super great, but compared to One S its very warm colored and whites have red tint. Its also hard to use in lowest brightness even in dark room....but with G2x case its because screen is simply too dark, with One S its bright but disgusting to look at due to some "noise"

most customizable launchers

as many people are customizing there phones, i thought the launcher is the first screen that people always see, and they seem to provise the most customizable attributes. i am curious and on the search for the most versitile lancher out there and what they can do.
i know there is a post your homescreen thread out there and there is quite a few responses and nice pics, but not all list their lancher preferences or apps they used to get those.
posting screenshots and tools you used would be great
super simple laucher pro, but not done yet
Haven't had much success with it but sslauncher is pretty customizable. Really though most of the launchers give you roughly the same features.
Looking through the post your home screen threads many use apex, adw, or launcher pro. They let you replace homescreen icons with custom ones.
Uccw is a popular clock and weather widget but us rough to figure out.
Those are the main 2 I would say. A good place to start anyway.
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
You can surely find plenty of launcher reviews, if you search.
Some require Android 4.0.. I haven't looked at those.
Among remaining it seems frequent mentions are ADW, Go Launcher, Launcher Plus, Holo
I haven't done a lot of comparison. I tried Holo launcher first and have mostly stuck with it. It does what I want, and I'm not interested in spending a ton of time comparing and setting up launchers.
I did try ADW later. It has more options but also more complicated interface so I stick with Holo. (I may change in the future...maybe if I learn about something big that I'm missing during this thread)
Attached are screenshots.
The first one highlights something I like about Holo (only the pro version) - you can put any widget into the dock area at the bottom.
So the first two icons on the left of the dock are Tasker toggle widgets in there for Wifi and Data. The color changes when the status changes (grey for off, green or red for on depending on what parameter). They are controlled manually or by Tasker which changes status based on location. Then in the center/right of the dock, I have Elixir widgets displaying battery level, MB free, number of applications running. Clicking on these widgets launches handy menus - the memory free sends you to settings/applications, the running applications lists running applications with option to switch to any running application... I use this often to make sure I have closed out all the applications I've used recently (may not be required but makes me feel better).
The 2nd screen highlights easily resizable widgets - I use them heavily for lists on my homescreen. I have 9 screens available, so plenty of room to have many lists on homescreen and move them around. Also of course I can change which note is displayed in a given position or get rid of a note from home screen and it remains (stored in Color Note).
Also I like the gestures. For me swipe down laucnhes a Tasker tasj to turn the screen off (save wear and tear on my power button). Swipe up launches a Tasker task for brightness control... if no response in 7 seconds it sets to max brightness (handy when you're in bright sun). There are several other gestures available to be assigned to whatever you want (applications or shortcuts)
That's not all the features, just a few that I like. I suspect most or all of above features are available in other launchers. And I suspect most of the others have more than Holo. I like Holo for simplicity and good useful tools. Not what you asked for... just throwing in my opinion.
Like any launcher, Holo has a few non-optimum features that are discussed in the Holo thread. There is only one that bugs me a little but I learned to cope. The main screens and three dock screens move independently of course. When you press home button with main screen not in home position, both the dock and main screen jump to their home position. But if you press home button with the main screen at home position and dock in non-home position, the dock does not jump to home position. Not a big deal since it's not hard to manage scrolling within 3 dock screens, but I'd like home to take me to home on main/dock screens regardless of where I started.
electricpete1 said:
You can surely find plenty of launcher reviews, if you search.
Some require Android 4.0.. I haven't looked at those.
Among remaining it seems frequent mentions are ADW, Go Launcher, Launcher Plus, Holo
I haven't done a lot of comparison. I tried Holo launcher first and have mostly stuck with it. It does what I want, and I'm not interested in spending a ton of time comparing and setting up launchers.
I did try ADW later. It has more options but also more complicated interface so I stick with Holo. (I may change in the future...maybe if I learn about something big that I'm missing during this thread)
Attached are screenshots.
The first one highlights something I like about Holo (only the pro version) - you can put any widget into the dock area at the bottom.
So the first two icons on the left of the dock are Tasker toggle widgets in there for Wifi and Data. The color changes when the status changes (grey for off, green or red for on depending on what parameter). They are controlled manually or by Tasker which changes status based on location. Then in the center/right of the dock, I have Elixir widgets displaying battery level, MB free, number of applications running. Clicking on these widgets launches handy menus - the memory free sends you to settings/applications, the running applications lists running applications with option to switch to any running application... I use this often to make sure I have closed out all the applications I've used recently (may not be required but makes me feel better).
The 2nd screen highlights easily resizable widgets - I use them heavily for lists on my homescreen. I have 9 screens available, so plenty of room to have many lists on homescreen and move them around. Also of course I can change which note is displayed in a given position or get rid of a note from home screen and it remains (stored in Color Note).
Also I like the gestures. For me swipe down laucnhes a Tasker tasj to turn the screen off (save wear and tear on my power button). Swipe up launches a Tasker task for brightness control... if no response in 7 seconds it sets to max brightness (handy when you're in bright sun). There are several other gestures available to be assigned to whatever you want (applications or shortcuts)
That's not all the features, just a few that I like. I suspect most or all of above features are available in other launchers. And I suspect most of the others have more than Holo. I like Holo for simplicity and good useful tools. Not what you asked for... just throwing in my opinion.
Like any launcher, Holo has a few non-optimum features that are discussed in the Holo thread. There is only one that bugs me a little but I learned to cope. The main screens and three dock screens move independently of course. When you press home button with main screen not in home position, both the dock and main screen jump to their home position. But if you press home button with the main screen at home position and dock in non-home position, the dock does not jump to home position. Not a big deal since it's not hard to manage scrolling within 3 dock screens, but I'd like home to take me to home on main/dock screens regardless of where I started.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow, that was one lenghtly response.
i am not really on a search for a launcher, i have done that. i know how to do my homework. i was basically creating a social type of environment for those who really love their Infuse and fully exploit all the freedom we have in customizing.
the other thread, again, has a lot of great pics and i am really like liking some of the more simplified screens. however, most do not post the tools they used.
i have just discovered the SS launcher yesterday and it is pretty unique. still trying to figure it out. another one i found intresting was FullScreen launcher and of course, i still need to dive into that one too.
captemo said:
wow, that was one lenghtly response.
i am not really on a search for a launcher, i have done that. i know how to do my homework. i was basically creating a social type of environment for those who really love their Infuse and fully exploit all the freedom we have in customizing.
the other thread, again, has a lot of great pics and i am really like liking some of the more simplified screens. however, most do not post the tools they used.
i have just discovered the SS launcher yesterday and it is pretty unique. still trying to figure it out. another one i found intresting was FullScreen launcher and of course, i still need to dive into that one too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I misunderstood.
Hopefully you didn’t view my post as being in conflict with your goal of social post (would that make me anti-social )
Launchers are of interest to me, but maybe for a different reason than for you. I have only done a litle exploring them but have been using Holo for a few weeks.. It strikes me that changing launchers has a big impact on our experience, but we don’t discuss that very much on these forums, even though chaning launchers is much eaiser and less risky than changing Roms. I guess maybe that’s because Roms are Infuse-specific and launchers aren’t.
I did think my setup is unorthodox having lots of things indicated on the bottom dock. By the way, my Data icon shows not only data on/off but also how many MB used this month (91.2MB in the first screenshot)... it’s updated daily by Tasker sending an SMS to AT&T requesting data usage and putting the value from the AT&T response into my widget label. Putting Tasker widgets like that into the dock seems pretty useful/versatile to me. I just don’t know if the other launchers allow the same approach. Lots of ROMs have similar stuff up in the notification area but I don't really like that as they tend to be small and also a busy notification area makes it harder to recognize new stuff popping up there.
electricpete1 said:
Sorry I misunderstood.
Hopefully you didn’t view my post as being in conflict with your goal of social post (would that make me anti-social )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not anti social, you responded in the first place. i was trying not to sound as if i was being a ****. i understand the reaponse though. there are way to many people who wont even look at the previous post, and ask a question that was just addressed. so many questions would be answered if they just did some reading. instead they are pissing off developers who then decide to leave our device.
with all the Jellybean work being done, which is amazing, however JB is pretty much JB. not a lot of individualism. with everything working so good, there is not a lot of movement on the threads. so i have gone back to gingerbread and contiuing my quest for the ultimate set up.
i love the idea od swapping my icons for text, and simple text is pretty easy to work. i would love some vertical text though. i am running the JW8 v2 version of Saurom and like it pretty good. pretty fast. trying to find everything else to complete the package.
i would say most customizeable would be go launcher but i hold tru to ftl launcher pro, basically becuz of the cube scrolling effect for your apps
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Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium
I would use launcher8 its smooth and nice, look for it on the play store
Ive used Go Launcher, ADW and Holo in the past. I used Go launcher extensively on my Infuse and my Gio since it was so customizable but after playing around with other phones using more recent versions of android I felt it was too resource hungry. Holo I used for a bit for that ICS look but found it lacked a few options when compared to Go. But I actually DLed it recently and the experience is now closer to true ICS and reminds me a lot of Trebuchet and its simplicity. Currently Im using Trebuchet since putting my infuse on a CM10.1 ROM and I really like it. Very smooth and simple.
I used GoLauncher for a long time, but have used Nova for almost 4 months now, and I love it! Very customizable and easy to save and reload between flashes
I personally love Apex pro mycolorscreen.com has customization guides that use mostly apex you'd be amazed.
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I use nova and like it a lot!
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I have tried them all my friend. GO, ADW, Holo, Apex, Nova, Are all pretty close in the number of options. I used Go forever because of the folder system in the app drawer. Unfortunately it didnt seem to behave very well with all the ROMs I started flashing (thanks Faux.) Now I use the HoloHD+ and will likely continue to do so ...until the KLP hits me.
Just started using sslauncher and i have to say this is by far one of the most customizable launchers if ever used although there is a learning curve
Slim SON
Ss launcher gives pretty new styles of launcher.
You might want to try this launcher.
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Nova
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Nova + rom control.
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