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Why is there so much wasted space between icons/widgets on homescreens?

Is there anyway to make better use of the real estate available on the homescreens? The current setup with so much space between icons/widgest seems like a colossal waste of the real estate the higher res N1 screen offers.
IMO, it also detracts from the aesthetic appearance of the homescreens. Especially coming from an iPhone.
I'm hoping this is a legacy issue, due to previous phones having lower res screens and google wil fix this.

So you want them closer together so you can't see your desktop? It's not a "legacy problem", that's how it has always been. There may be a home replacement that will do what you want though.

I think a major effect that seperates the iPhone and android ui is android's spacious desktop. I may be misunderstanding you but it sounds like you're asking why the android desktop isn't more like iphone's cookie cutter application squares, which are somewhat claustrophobic in my humble and often stupid opinion. I personally like the desktop feel of android. Feels like I've got a computer in my pocket...

DMaverick50 said:
I think a major effect that seperates the iPhone and android ui is android's spacious desktop. I may be misunderstanding you but it sounds like you're asking why the android desktop isn't more like iphone's cookie cutter application squares, which are somewhat claustrophobic in my humble and often stupid opinion. I personally like the desktop feel of android. Feels like I've got a computer in my pocket...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 Agreed.

Never run out of screen icon space again. Place 3 icons in the place of 1. Pay version has up to 16 icons in the place of 4!
Now with MyBackup support!
v2.2: Fast AppList, Preview mode, Redone Backup/Restore, Config all from main app!
Update your ratings to 5!
Contains: 1x1 (2x1 & 4x1 in pay version)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-reeyees-moreiconsfreewidget-xjED.aspx

The space between icons is what expresses the live wallpaper & impresses me & others ...awesome looking!

DMaverick50 said:
I think a major effect that seperates the iPhone and android ui is android's spacious desktop. I may be misunderstanding you but it sounds like you're asking why the android desktop isn't more like iphone's cookie cutter application squares, which are somewhat claustrophobic in my humble and often stupid opinion. I personally like the desktop feel of android. Feels like I've got a computer in my pocket...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+2 Agreed.

I think they could have a fifth row

OrganizedFellow said:
http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-reeyees-moreiconsfreewidget-xjED.aspx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome widget. Paid for it the second I found out about it.

djnutz said:
Awesome widget. Paid for it the second I found out about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been using it a while on one screen you can potentially have 60 apps or so!!!
Mwhahahahahha.........

Because if you add more rows, and then rotate the phone, you will not have enough room without rearranging your home screens.
4 rows in landscape dictates the 4 rows in portrait mode.

muncheese said:
Because if you add more rows, and then rotate the phone, you will not have enough room without rearranging your home screens.
4 rows in landscape dictates the 4 rows in portrait mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But at the time of the phones launch and still, the home screens are portrait only unless you install the hacked mod.

Other android devices (droid/cliq/etc) support landscape views.
They're not doing seperate os's for seperate devices.

OrganizedFellow said:
moreiconsfreewwidget
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thankyou for that, solves my problem for now

DMaverick50 said:
I think a major effect that seperates the iPhone and android ui is android's spacious desktop. I may be misunderstanding you but it sounds like you're asking why the android desktop isn't more like iphone's cookie cutter application squares, which are somewhat claustrophobic in my humble and often stupid opinion. I personally like the desktop feel of android. Feels like I've got a computer in my pocket...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The aesthetic bit was just a secondary comment. I may well get used to liking the android layout as much, it may just be that i'm used to seeing the iPhone desgin/layout.
However, the bigger point for me was that I am unable to have anymore icons, despite the higher res screen. Which is particularly annoying when you can see all that space going to waste. It definately looks like another row would fit cofortably.
Only 5 home screens and limited folder functionality, make the problem worse for me.
Which brings me onto my second question, is there a simple app to skin folders and allow you arrange icons as you wish? If this were possible easily, I wouldn't need more homescreens. I don't want to use a new theme as I like the current one for now and would like to use it for a bit while I get used to the phone.

OrganizedFellow said:
http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-reeyees-moreiconsfreewidget-xjED.aspx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the widget work with Bettercut? Am I able to customize the icons?

muncheese said:
Because if you add more rows, and then rotate the phone, you will not have enough room without rearranging your home screens.
4 rows in landscape dictates the 4 rows in portrait mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so the height and number of rows is fixed so that they can be mapped without any manipulation to landscape mode. Which from rough measurement appears to be the case.
I guess the issue is not so much with icons/shortcuts which can be easily rearranged as they are 1 x 1 units. But moreso with widgets which may not be rearrangeable with a simple rotation. I.E. You couldn't fit five 4 x 4 widgets in landscape without altering the widgets dimensions.
Guess the simplest ways around it would be to prevent rotation if you select more then the standard 4 rows. Or enable scrolling of the home screen in Landscape.
Anyway, thanks for enlightening me.

5to1 said:
Which brings me onto my second question, is there a simple app to skin folders and allow you arrange icons as you wish? If this were possible easily, I wouldn't need more homescreens. I don't want to use a new theme as I like the current one for now and would like to use it for a bit while I get used to the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Apps Organizer.

so in another thread (which was closed and pointed here) similar to this, there was the following instructions
Edit /system/build.prop and change this line:
ro.sf.lcd_density=240
Try using 160 instead of 240. I don't think it allows you to fit more on the screen, but definitely changes the effective resolution.
which I used to increase the resolution of the system, it is BEAUTIFUL...but it doesnt map to well with the nexus tray, wondering is someone could point in me the right direction to get the tray to look better, maybe another value in build.prob that needs changing or....?

I would like to see a 5th row, is there an app for that ?

What are your favorite widgets?

Let me apologize in advance for this first post in this thread, I didn't want to create a bunch of separate threads for my opinion and experience with the G Tablet, and I didn't want a bunch of threads about my uses for the tablet and the apps I use. So instead, I'll first ask the original topic and then I'll give you some information about how I use the tablet and the widgets/apps/etc. that I use. Hopefully someone from Google will find this insightful, because I think my setup could be a great generic "spring board" for anyone who wanted to use this tablet for taking notes on images, and personalize it to their needs.
What are your favorite widgets?
Does anyone know of some widgets that do the following (screenshots are greatly appreciated as well!):
- I wouldn't mind a news reader that displayed more than just the first line of the news article and/or title. Currently I am using Express News, but it only does one line... it's better than the others I've tested, but it doesn't even automatically scroll the news. You have to tap left/right to make it change.
- Is there some weather widget that perhaps does 5 or 7 day forecasts ? I'm using Fancy Widgets right now, it says the temperature, the high and low, and the time. I dont really need the time, not a big deal since it already says it on the top right.
- I wouldn't mind a task management widget, a decent sized one would be nice.
Some other thoughts:
With the new G Tablet I got yesterday, I've quickly discovered the screen is quite HUGE (obviously). I have a Evo 4G, rooted since the day I got it, and I've got some favorite apps. But being a tablet, it has some different purposes that it works better at, than a phone.
For instance, as a bathroom reader, the tablet works great. The phone is kind of small, hard to read a lot at a time, constant scrolling, etc. The tablet also makes playing games like Slice It, a lot more fun.
I'm a web developer and manager of a small team, so sometimes it's nice to be able to take screenshots of a site we're working on and add arrows and notes to it - the best solution I've found that lets you load images and write on them and save it, is called "Pocket Sketchbook Pro" - and it switches to landscape mode automatically THANK GOD! Honestly, one of the main reasons I bought a tablet is because I wanted to be able to sketch things on a "near" paper sized display, and then immediately share it via Bluetooth to my computer or Email it or print it. My printer is a HP Officejet Pro 8500A Plus, my point in telling you that is because it has its own email address. If I email my printer, it will print the email & attachment I send it. Very useful when I'm out with a client and I want to print off my notes or mockups, etc. so that I have it waiting for me when I get back.
Forgot to mention that I'm using Toshiba Home Launcher, on my phone I use LauncherPro (paid version) and I love both. They've both got their benefits, Toshiba Launcher is just amazing on a tablet. Vegan 5.1 Beta.
One of my few complaints (other than many apps not switching to landscape mode..) is that when I'm holding the tablet in portrait mode, sometimes my screen will turn off. I guess the power button is receiving enough weight/pressure on it that it's going off. And then sometimes it will reboot on me when I go to wake it up! How annoying is that?! I know that I could just switch the tablet upside down.. but I should be able to hold it any way I want.
Oh, and the Rain-X idea was great. Definitely fewer finger prints and my fingers seem to glide across the screen now.
Also, Multi Picture Live Wallpaper is great.. I was getting tired of seeing the scrunched/weirdly resized wallpapers!
Lastly, Dolphin HD with a few addons = awesome. Web2PDF so I can email the PDF to my printer, Screen cropper which lets me save as an image so I can write notes on it with Pocket Sketchbook Pro, and the Blue Theme make it really awesome.

Weather Widget
Weather forecast widget is free, but the text is too crumped together and the 4x1 just doesn't look right.
Then I tried "weather widgets", but it kind of sucked.
Then I found out that Fancy Widget has a Pro version which does what I need for $1.99 - works great.
Task Widget
Taskos looked very promising, as it syncs with Google Tasks and offers a 4x4 widget on the home screen - something I was excited about. What killed my excitement was placing the widget on my home screen and finding out that - yeah it's 4x4 alright, with only 2x2 actually having any freaking content!! The rest of it was black! On the phone it looks correct, so this is definitely a tablet issue. That sucks hard.
So finally I found one that actually works, it's called Ultimate To-Do List, the licensed version is $5 and it syncs with ToodleDo which costs $14.95/yr and up (if you require subtasks like me).
I haven't done any digging yet on a good news widget. With almost 100 page views I'm surprised nobody has any widgets they recommend

Scrollable news widget and a home launcher that allows you to change the number of rows and columns on your screen. I have mine set to 10 columns and 7 rows and I can make my news widget as large as I want and it will fill the Widgets space
Oh and springpad is one of the best to do lists ever with a very nice expandable widget as well

kpowr82 said:
Scrollable news widget and a home launcher that allows you to change the number of rows and columns on your screen. I have mine set to 10 columns and 7 rows and I can make my news widget as large as I want and it will fill the Widgets space
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LauncherPro lets you set your own # col/row and you can drag widgets to resize them on the screen, but I like the Toshiba launcher more because of the nice scrollable application list and they way they cleaned it up and put it at the bottom even though it's landscape mode - I love it. I can live with the defined # of cols/rows and screens, thats not a big deal. I know I'm limiting myself to just the widgets that exist that can take advantage of the tablet's size, but there has to be SOMETHING out there by now, right?

kpowr82 said:
Oh and springpad is one of the best to do lists ever with a very nice expandable widget as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm I will check that out, thanks

For weather related Widgets I recommend this app:
Palmary weather app. Tried to paste the appbrain link here but my GTab wont let me!

Bigger text in menus etc? Possible?

Hi all,
I would like to buy a Transformer. It looks great.
But I have a problem with my eyesight. I am short sighted and therefore need everything bigger on the screen. Be bigger I mean I use 4 times magnification on my laptop screen. Everything means everything: icons, menus, text, everything.
Is it possible? How?
Thanks in advance.

The guy at my local shop mentioned using a different theme or skin? Would that be the answer? Thoughts?

hi,
i own a transformer and i'm looking for a way to change font and/or icon size too. not for me but me wife is visually impaired and needs a working screen magnifier to use the tablet.
i did a lot of research in the internet but until now i haven't found a solution.
theer are serverl apps for mobile devices (spare parts, lcd densitiy, etc.) but none of them seems to work as supposed on the transformer.
so i think until now there is no way to do what we are looking for. but if you fid a solution please let me know.

With adw ex i know you can change the icon size and the font size for the icons.

thx, i will give it a try

hanswurschtus said:
hi,
i own a transformer and i'm looking for a way to change font and/or icon size too. not for me but me wife is visually impaired and needs a working screen magnifier to use the tablet.
i did a lot of research in the internet but until now i haven't found a solution.
theer are serverl apps for mobile devices (spare parts, lcd densitiy, etc.) but none of them seems to work as supposed on the transformer.
so i think until now there is no way to do what we are looking for. but if you fid a solution please let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
custom ROMs has spare parts working. spare parts has option to change global font size.
i haven't tried the spare parts font size menu but it should work.
currently on Android Revolution HD 1.2.1 ROM by mike1986

Why I like Freenote+ over S Memo

Hi all,
a few people have asked me why I like Freenote+ and why I think it's better than S Memo, or other note taking apps.
I made a video to try and show the features that are the most useful for me.
I haven't shown all of the features of Freenote+, there are a lot of other useful features like the To Do list, shortcuts for commonly entered text (like your email address) and the paint function.
I've found similar features in other note taking apps, but Freenote seems to get in the way less for me and allow me to get notes down the quickest.
I hope you find it useful if you are looking for an alternative to S Memo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdHh4gSZK6Y
Cheers,
Rich

That looks superb, exactly what I was looking for.
Silly question, but is Freenote+ the same as Freenote? (Thats the only one showing up on the Google Play store for me)

I think they've just added the + to the paid version.
This is the free version
This is the paid version
I don't think there is any difference in functionality, except for the nag screen on the free version. Once I had decided how much I liked it and how much I used it, it was worth paying the few bucks to get rid of the nag screen and to support the developer.

hi richlum,
thanks for the video.
to be honest, i didnt watched it till the end since i'm im quite aware of the functionalities.
but one thing i havent found so far, is how i increase the font size. i'm on ics stunner with 240. and i think the font is too small for me.
Do you have any solution?

Preferences> Editor> Handwritten
You can set the size of the handwriting there.
I have mine set at 50.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA

it doesn't support pressure sensitivity. and it's slow as hell. no use for me.

In Paint mode it is pressure sensitive. Press hard to get a think line, lightly to get a thing line.
But if your note taking involves a lot of drawing and artistic sketching (as opposed to just drawing some shapes and diagrams) there are a lot better drawing/sketching apps like Sketch Book Mobile and Infinite Painter.
But I don't do much drawing for my note taking.
And I'm not worried about the handwriting mode not being pressure sensitive.
Different people are going have different work flows. For me, Freenote is the quickest way I've found to get notes down without the interface getting in my way.
That's why we're lucky to have so much choice to be able to find what suits us best.

When i add it to my home screen as a widget, the words look blurry, what size did u set ur widget as and font scale? Thx!

My handwritten font size is 50.
I just inserted the largest widget and then resized it in ADW (I have mys screen setup to be a 10x10 grid).
Typed text looks clear than handwritten text on the widget for me, but it's still easily readable.

Arthur Hucksake said:
That looks superb, exactly what I was looking for.
Silly question, but is Freenote+ the same as Freenote? (Thats the only one showing up on the Google Play store for me)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi ... I noticed a difference that adds to the beauty of this application :
If you use the big widget of it on the home screen , In freenote+ , you can toggle between pages right from the home screen .. while in the free version you can't ...
But in both versions , you can perform all other functions shown on the home screen "Except for editing" .

[Q] Interested in printing currently active icon theme for use in Zooper widget

Hi, all!
I, and I'm sure many of you as well, have a lot of icon themes / sets installed to my device (currently a VZW Samsung Galaxy Note 3). Lately, I've been sticking with Nova Launcher Prime, and I've noticed that I can click through a few layers of menu to see my currently active icon set. I tend to change these sets pretty often, and sometimes I can't remember which one I'm running. Now, granted the answer is only a few taps away at any given moment, but I'm interested in hooking into wherever Nova is storing that variable and making it available to Zooper Widget Pro so that I can stick it in a cute little box on my home screen.
Yes, this is more an academic pursuit than a functional necessity, but does anyone have any idea if that's doable, and even better where I would start?
Any ideas will be greatly appreciated
Thanks!
Tom.