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Hey guys been reading for a bit...Actually about 2 days now lol
Anyone else have a hard transistion over?
A few things im excited about is the wifi calling and possibly tehtering.
Right now Im tring to accomplish getting a different theme and removing the bloatware and might just wait for ICS to come out before I start playing with roms I feel like I got the phone a bad time because soon we will be transitioning over.
So right now,
Get a theme where I can access and change my music with out opening the to the home screen...
Wifi calling
And possibly tether but I think I need to install a custom rom and freeze the tether option.
Other than that just figure things out.
Firstly, you cant remove bloatware, truely, without rooting your phone. However, you can hide certain apps with a themer/launcher.
Root free, the most iphone-like launcher is Espier launcher 5.x . Espier also has a safari like browser called Espier Browser. Both of these apps can be found in the market place and will fool you into thinking you have an iphone.
The best iphone like lock screen is the miui lockscreen on the market.
Yea I don't know if I want to go iphone style theme I was looking at some other threads even tried a few widgetlocker I couldnt figure this one out find some nice ones on this site just couldn't get them to look like that one mine.
The other was lockbot its was a bit cheesy.
I will have to look into launcher(s)
blazin6969 said:
Yea I don't know if I want to go iphone style theme I was looking at some other threads even tried a few widgetlocker I couldnt figure this one out find some nice ones on this site just couldn't get them to look like that one mine.
The other was lockbot its was a bit cheesy.
I will have to look into launcher(s)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The girlfriend and I both really like golauncher and golocker, but you'll have to play with them and figure out which works best for you.
Give it a bit of time and you'll really like the phone I think. It takes a bit to get used to finding things. The OS has a ton more depth to it so it can be a bit overwhelming at first, but once you get the lay off the land you'll be able to enjoy it a lot more.
Both my girlfriend and I had iPhones before Android and couldn't go back. Unless you're really itching for some new feature you can only use by rooting the phone I'd just take some time to familiarize yourself with the phone and it's menus. New roms add a lot of flexibility and new features, but the new options/moved menus may just add to the frustration for now.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
I would personally suggest WidgetLocker, as you can put a music player widget(I'd suggest pure music widget 4x2), and DX Home as the homescreen. It's just iphone-like enough to look really nice, but it has android where it counts.
Android Heaven
Welcome to Android Heaven.
Here you'll find many choices during your PERMANENT stay
1) Awesome Customization
2) CIQ free
3)Games with better graphics
4)No Bloatware
5) Customs rooms and kernals
6)Google and Social Integration
7)Bigger Screen
8-9999999999999999999999999999999999999) Tell you the those reason later. Going to destroy something with my build in android phone camera laser/rocket/hologram
peconaut said:
Welcome to Android Heaven.
Here you'll find many choices during your PERMANENT stay
1) Awesome Customization
2) CIQ free
3)Games with better graphics
4)No Bloatware
5) Customs rooms and kernals
6)Google and Social Integration
7)Bigger Screen
8-9999999999999999999999999999999999999) Tell you the those reason later. Going to destroy something with my build in android phone camera laser/rocket/hologram
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't forget the kernel update for the Valkyrie rocket.
Any who back on topic. If your completely new, you're gonna want to wait a bit to root and ROM, as it can get overwhelming. Get a good feel of how it works. Look at a lot of reviews for your phone on YouTube, then search around the forums for some good tips. Especially stickies.. and yea
That's about it.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
if you don't really want a launcher that bad you can play around with the Samsung Launcher thing, and add music instead of contacts etc... Home Button > Settings > edit > switch >take out whatever you want and add whatever you want, sure it goes out of order but you can always put it back in order by Home > Settings > View Type > Alpha, etc..
blazin6969 said:
Hey guys been reading for a bit...Actually about 2 days now lol
Anyone else have a hard transistion over?
A few things im excited about is the wifi calling and possibly tehtering.
Right now Im tring to accomplish getting a different theme and removing the bloatware and might just wait for ICS to come out before I start playing with roms I feel like I got the phone a bad time because soon we will be transitioning over.
So right now,
Get a theme where I can access and change my music with out opening the to the home screen...
Wifi calling
And possibly tether but I think I need to install a custom rom and freeze the tether option.
Other than that just figure things out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best launchers are Go Launcher EX, ADW Launcher, or Launcher Pro in my opinion. If you want an iphone-like experience, MIUI is a good way to go but i dont think its quite ready for prime time for our phone though theres a MIUI Launcher standalone available, which has many of the same features from a UI standpoint.
As for lock screen controls, apps like Poweramp have lock screen controls for music. There are also lock replacements like Go Locker and Widget Locker that have customizable lock screens.
peconaut said:
Welcome to Android Heaven.
Here you'll find many choices during your PERMANENT stay
1) Awesome Customization
2) CIQ free
3)Games with better graphics
4)No Bloatware
5) Customs rooms and kernals
6)Google and Social Integration
7)Bigger Screen
8-9999999999999999999999999999999999999) Tell you the those reason later. Going to destroy something with my build in android phone camera laser/rocket/hologram
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is is strapped to a shark?
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Like jumping to any platform you get your pros and your cons, You have a more flexible OS but Battery might not be as good the list goes on. and not every OS is made for everyone just give it a shot you have 30 days to change your mind.
Thanks for the info guys! Yea been playing with it a bit more I think the screen is a million times better than my 3gs I might try go locker or the launcher today
Get qq launcher. I use it now and love it. it's free in the market and had s bunch of different internal themes.you can use.
I'm using the iPhone theme for obvious reasons
There's a thread called home screenshots in the theme and apps section where you can take a look at how some ppl have their home screens set up with different launchers, themes, widgets, and icons that way you can get some ideas of how you might wanna set things up as for roms it's really up to you and which you like better there's no harm in trying each one til you find your daily driver remember you can always mix different roms and kernels and find what combo works best for you (just remember to stick to roms and kernels that are for our specific model you don't wanna end up with your first android paper weight) .. Btw I was the same had been using iPhones since the first one to the iphone4 and this was my first Android and haven't looked back since love this phone it's a beast!
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk
If you want to change the lockscreen around, try milocker. Its free and there are alot of options, plus you can change your lockscreen wallpaper.
http://chameleon.teknision.com/
Anyone hear about this app? I read on another forum it works with Nexus7 now. What are your thoughts?
It hasn't been released yet. It looks good i would def but it ones is out.
I'm thinking about preordering it. It looks too boss!
If the pre-order would give me an apk after my payment I'm in.
Preorder gives out early access to the app, which is n august. It will officially launch at play store n sept
Thanks guys...yeah looks like I'll think about it when it does come out. Got too many other things to worry about when my Nexus 7 arrives tomorrow!
I'm definitely going to be looking at this when it comes out. I'm looking to use my $25 play store money on tablet apps and might have to save some for when this gets released
Yeah same...don't see any other must have apps that can't be downloaded.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Chameleon is useless
phoneaddict13 said:
http://chameleon.teknision.com/
Anyone hear about this app? I read on another forum it works with Nexus7 now. What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before you ask yes I have used it I have been trying it for two days now. Chameleon is not worth your time or money and despite the intention of the creators is NOTE deeply customizable. What it is is a series of widgets on a a couple of nice looking backgrounds. That's it in it's entirety. You have very little control over where you place the widgets (there is a strict grid pattern to use) or how much you can resize them (according to this grid pattern) and when you resize them smaller these widget they lose a lot of info (ie what they display). Only widgets desgined by Chameleon can be used and right now there are only 5 (twitter, gmail, facebook, instagram, and news...with very limited sources), so forget about using any widgets from your favorite apps unless chameleon deigns to create one in the future. These widgets also have limited functionality and you have no control over that limited functionality. Say you want to manually set your location on a weather app, or set your facebook app to update manually or perhaps every two hours instead of one. You are out of luck, it's chameleons way or the highway. Want an app (not a widget) on your desktop, well you can but only along the bottom edge of the screen and only five. Have multiple gmail accounts and would like notifications for each one better be prepared to have multiple large widgets taking up screen real estate or your out of luck. As for the supposed context wonderfeature, it's been tried before. Do you really want to have to jump through extra hoops to do something because it is a certain time of day or you are logged on to a certain network, if you like those extra steps then this is for you, if you like everything ready to go at your finger tips when and where you want it then this is best left alone. For crying out loud hitting the home button at the bottom of your screen doesn't even take you to your homescreen. This home screen replacement has limited functionality, so unless twitter, facebook, and instagram updates are your entire world (and even then there are better widgets included with other apps) this app will not be worth even 15 minutes (the refund window) of your time. If you have broader interests, and need something that you can set up exactly how you want it, to be useful for work and play AVOID THIS HOMESCREEN.
Druter said:
Before you ask yes I have used it I have been trying it for two days now. Chameleon is not worth your time or money and despite the intention of the creators is NOTE deeply customizable. What it is is a series of widgets on a a couple of nice looking backgrounds. That's it in it's entirety. You have very little control over where you place the widgets (there is a strict grid pattern to use) or how much you can resize them (according to this grid pattern) and when you resize them smaller these widget they lose a lot of info (ie what they display). Only widgets desgined by Chameleon can be used and right now there are only 5 (twitter, gmail, facebook, instagram, and news...with very limited sources), so forget about using any widgets from your favorite apps unless chameleon deigns to create one in the future. These widgets also have limited functionality and you have no control over that limited functionality. Say you want to manually set your location on a weather app, or set your facebook app to update manually or perhaps every two hours instead of one. You are out of luck, it's chameleons way or the highway. Want an app (not a widget) on your desktop, well you can but only along the bottom edge of the screen and only five. Have multiple gmail accounts and would like notifications for each one better be prepared to have multiple large widgets taking up screen real estate or your out of luck. As for the supposed context wonderfeature, it's been tried before. Do you really want to have to jump through extra hoops to do something because it is a certain time of day or you are logged on to a certain network, if you like those extra steps then this is for you, if you like everything ready to go at your finger tips when and where you want it then this is best left alone. For crying out loud hitting the home button at the bottom of your screen doesn't even take you to your homescreen. This home screen replacement has limited functionality, so unless twitter, facebook, and instagram updates are your entire world (and even then there are better widgets included with other apps) this app will not be worth even 15 minutes (the refund window) of your time. If you have broader interests, and need something that you can set up exactly how you want it, to be useful for work and play AVOID THIS HOMESCREEN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are however going to (have already?) release an SDK that allows developers to develop their own widgets so hopefully you won't be stuck with just the ones they provide. Whether this actually takes off is another matter. I might well buy it myself to try it out but at $10, and, currently, a limited widget selection, can't see it really flying off the shelves myself.
Yeah. I can't believe anyone funded this. What a joke.
Easily done with minimal effort on existing, free software.
I searched for a Chameleon thread in all the Nexus 7 forums and didn't see one, or I wouldn't have created a new thread. However I made a video for anyone interested to see it working.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUI2oPNqBW4&hd=1
But as everyone else is saying, its very limited, and after using it for over a day I am getting bugs and the out of the 5 widgets I have 3 broke and I had to recreate it to make it work again.
They had a concept video that looked very promising and one of the reasons why I wanted to support. Wireless Media streaming while still being able to use your tablet for other things, separate user profiles, and a stylish looking UI that can evolve to what you need. You can see that here: http://youtu.be/eWZ7guxro2g
So many flaws with your statements I have quoted.
Druter said:
You have very little control over where you place the widgets (there is a strict grid pattern to use) or how much you can resize them (according to this grid pattern)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Apex, Nova, GoLauncher, LauncherPro, etc. all force you to use a "grid" for your widgets. This isn't a flaw with Chameleon, it's called Android. YOu can have a widget take up th whole screen or just one single square. f course, most the widgets will be useless taking up just one square, but that's the case for most widgets unless the app maker made a 1x1 specific idget. Great thing with Chameleon though is that the widgets adapt to what size you make them. THe overwhelming majority of widgets you use on Apex or any other launcher don't unless the appmaker designed multiple size widgets.
Only widgets desgined by Chameleon can be used and right now there are only 5 (twitter, gmail, facebook, instagram, and news...with very limited sources), so forget about using any widgets from your favorite apps unless chameleon deigns to create one in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2) Right NOW the only widgets that are available are from Chameleon. It's a BETA. It's goin to ave limited functionality. They haven't released the API yet. Once they do that, which they will, anyone that can code HTML5 can create a widget for Chameleon. One will not have to know how to code for Android. Saying that the only widgets you'll ever get are from Chameleon is a 100% lie unless not another single sole on the face of the earth decides to make a widget.
These widgets also have limited functionality and you have no control over that limited functionality. Say you want to manually set your location on a weather app, or set your facebook app to update manually or perhaps every two hours instead of one. You are out of luck, it's chameleons way or the highway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3) It's a beta. The app and the widgets are not finalized. Just because you can't edit it now doesn't mean you will never be able to. They have a very long list of things they still want to do with it. That's why it's called BETA.
Want an app (not a widget) on your desktop, well you can but only along the bottom edge of the screen and only five.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Partially false. You can have a lot more than five. THe bottom dock scrolls, you can put as many apps as you want in the dock.
Seriously, if you are going to come on here and criticize an app, at least learn a thing or two about it instead of spouting out a bunch of false and/or misleading statements.
scottharris4 said:
So many flaws with your statements I have quoted.
1) Apex, Nova, GoLauncher, LauncherPro, etc. all force you to use a "grid" for your widgets. This isn't a flaw with Chameleon, it's called Android. YOu can have a widget take up th whole screen or just one single square. f course, most the widgets will be useless taking up just one square, but that's the case for most widgets unless the app maker made a 1x1 specific idget. Great thing with Chameleon though is that the widgets adapt to what size you make them. THe overwhelming majority of widgets you use on Apex or any other launcher don't unless the appmaker designed multiple size widgets.
2) Right NOW the only widgets that are available are from Chameleon. It's a BETA. It's goin to ave limited functionality. They haven't released the API yet. Once they do that, which they will, anyone that can code HTML5 can create a widget for Chameleon. One will not have to know how to code for Android. Saying that the only widgets you'll ever get are from Chameleon is a 100% lie unless not another single sole on the face of the earth decides to make a widget.
3) It's a beta. The app and the widgets are not finalized. Just because you can't edit it now doesn't mean you will never be able to. They have a very long list of things they still want to do with it. That's why it's called BETA.
Partially false. You can have a lot more than five. THe bottom dock scrolls, you can put as many apps as you want in the dock.
Seriously, if you are going to come on here and criticize an app, at least learn a thing or two about it instead of spouting out a bunch of false and/or misleading statements.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why is though that if I run Apex, Nova...etc. the majority of widgets in the play store work with these but wont with Chameleon? ..because they are written for Android and not html5? Now forgive as I dont know much about how it all works but are you saying that from now on anyone making an app and a widget for that app must build their widget to work with all standard launchers and then re-build it again to work with Chameleon seperately? How many app Devs are actually going to go through this much trouble? I'm starting to feel like I have been suckered out of 10 bucks for an app I will most likely never use now. I should have read the fine print because all I saw was a really cool looking launcher that I assumed ran all the current widgets like any other launcher.
look very nice
its not worth it tried it out myself big dissapointment. grab a couple nifty backgrounds and use the widgets out in andriod market and you can basically have same thing. what a joke this was.
emmabellachristian said:
its not worth it tried it out myself big dissapointment. grab a couple nifty backgrounds and use the widgets out in andriod market and you can basically have same thing. what a joke this was.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? Do you know of an app that changes the theme/home screen your Nexus 7 based on the time of the day, or based on your location, etc.?
Update.
I received my registration and was able to install and test the Chameleon beta launcher. I have tested plenty of beta and even alpha ROMs and apps over the last few years and this is a first. Most betas of anything I have ever tested were buggy at times but you still got the feel and general idea for what the ROM or app was about. In fact a beta of anything generally has the look and functionality of the finished product with maybe still needing some bug fixes and tweaks here and there.
So how is this a first? Its the first time I have seen any Android developer take an idea and spend an hour to code into something that will at least boot or load and call it a beta. The crap I just tested isn't even an alpha!!! Honestly I don't even know what it was??? The only thing I can compare it to would be to take your home computer, uninstall windows 7 and then install one of the earliest version of windows from like 1992. Sadly I'm not even exaggerating a little bit. I'm confused!! This has to be some kind of joke or at least a scam. I still can't wrap my mind around what I saw other then I added 3 of the 5 or so silly widgets to the 3 ridiculous screens and didn't get much farther then that before the app crashed. The wallpaper has the resolution of a flip phone and was apparently made in windows paint using the paint brush tool. You do however have the option of changing the wallpaper to something exactly like it in a different color.
This has to be a scam. I'm worried because they make you authenticate using your Google credentials, password and all through their app. If you haven't spent the 5 or 10 on this yet then nows your chance to run from this as fast as you can. I'm not so worried about the 10 bucks I lost as much as I'm about what it was I really installed, what was running in the background that I don't know about and is my identity at risk. Yes folks it was that atrocious.
Pretty much you guys have posted my disappointments with the launcher. I am going to uninstall and keep up to date as to how it improves over time. I had been stock jb and was satisfied but will give nova or apex a try now.
So far, like many others, I am unimpressed with the launcher and sort of expected a bit more from it even if it is only in BETA but I don't mind. I am interested to see in what comes of it... so far, stock Android launcher suits me just fine and has done so since flashing Oxygen ROM for my HTC Desire way back when.
Thought I throw out this question as see if someone knows the rational behind this.
Why does Sense only have 7 screen when all other launchers have 9? Any idea how HTC thought there? (or if they?)
/Abs
Stock android has 5 and touchwiz has 7...
Sent from my faster than SGS3 HOX.
How many pages does it go to ?
absolon_se said:
Thought I throw out this question as see if someone knows the rational behind this.
Why does Sense only have 7 screen when all other launchers have 9? Any idea how HTC thought there? (or if they?)
/Abs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You clearly haven't checked before making this thread.
7 screens is more than enough. I rarely use more than 3 anyway.
Brac20 said:
You clearly haven't checked before making this thread.
7 screens is more than enough. I rarely use more than 3 anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe 7 screen is enough for you, but not for me. Most of the non-sense launchers use 9 and it's not the
question on what is enough but if anybody know why it's 7 when "MOST" launchers have 9.
Apex/Nova/Go/Next/ss etc
And as a note. I have one screen for my month view in calendar and another half for my agenda and then one
screen for the todo-list. If you count your homescreen where you have your clock you are already using more then
half. If you then want some widget for something else, like Pubmed or Medicalcs 7 screen isn't THAT much. I'm having
problems to get into place with 9...
absolon_se said:
Maybe 7 screen is enough for you, but not for me. Most of the non-sense launchers use 9 and it's not the
question on what is enough but if anybody know why it's 7 when "MOST" launchers have 9.
Apex/Nova/Go/Next/ss etc
And as a note. I have one screen for my month view in calendar and another half for my agenda and then one
screen for the todo-list. If you count your homescreen where you have your clock you are already using more then
half. If you then want some widget for something else, like Pubmed or Medicalcs 7 screen isn't THAT much. I'm having
problems to get into place with 9...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All the launchers you mention there are downloadable extras. I don't think 9 is that common on stock devices (correct me if I am wrong).
I didn't mean to come across as rude btw (rereading my reply I think it sounded a be blunt). Each to their own I guess. I used to try to fill all my homescreens but now I use 4 at the most and just dip into the app draw when needed. I'm in the process of setting up my screens again after some flashing and redoing Apex. Down to three now and they're not full.
Why not just switch to Apex or Nova or something? I think they are better than Sense launcher anyway (that's why I have removed it from my phone)
Brac20 said:
All the launchers you mention there are downloadable extras. I don't think 9 is that common on stock devices (correct me if I am wrong).
I didn't mean to come across as rude btw (rereading my reply I think it sounded a be blunt). Each to their own I guess. I used to try to fill all my homescreens but now I use 4 at the most and just dip into the app draw when needed. I'm in the process of setting up my screens again after some flashing and redoing Apex. Down to three now and they're not full.
Why not just switch to Apex or Nova or something? I think they are better than Sense launcher anyway (that's why I have removed it from my phone)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it was a bit blunt but forgotten
Well, I've used the Go Launcher EX for a while, but then I went back to Sense after the big release of the Viper-rom but
I'll guess I have to go back to someone else. I never got friends with neither Apex/Nova for instance. Don't know why
they are so glorified? Go is a great launcher but they start to be intrusive with this buy our awesome themes and I prefere
a really clean look and then have the apps that I use right under my nose. Have enough drawers as it is. Sometimes a
widget is a nice thing especially when it comes to calendars etc.
I wanted to give Sense a shot again but of course, this question came up. Then of course next question is why just 9?
Maybe I'll go with a non-sense rom again or "desense" the current one.
Peace!
Hello. I have a quick question for you guys.
My aunt showed up at my house with a new gn2. The only problem is she has vision loss and is finding it difficult to see the icons on the phone even with size set on huge.
Is there a way to create a custom widget? I'm thinking if I can make a widget the size of the home screen (for phone, contacts, Internet etc) and then have as many home screen size widgets as she needs.
I would probably only need a few.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Ultimate Custom Widget will do the job.
There are tutorials on youtube, and a few threads on xda here.
Lightning Launcher may be worth a look too. Infinite home screens, and can enlarge text and widgets.
Why not ask or make yourself a custom rom specifically for people like this.
Something that heavily incorporates/based on svoice.
Svoice imho is her best bet
Honestly if her vision is that bad its not going to get better.
Maybe someone can make a rom like this
For people with disabilities?
Why dont you start a bounty and maybe others will donate. I would.
For now now that she has some vision to
See maybe the easist is to make an icon that is so visually different she would recognize it. This icon would takes her right to svoice.
I guese for now home button is her friend have it start svoice and she should be gtg.
Hope you work it out ....
Edit: in reply to tpam cuz im a slomofointyper... I dont think another launcher is the key.
My granma started losing her vision late 80's and eventually "bigger" was not better. You gotta think of longterm in her case. She eventually became "legally blind" she could stil see shapes and light but even after we got her a digital projector to project news or we from the computer it didnt matter.
I miss her so much
Superdoubleedit: for icons use 8bit believe it or not she will be able to see or recognize them better. Like an 8bit icon of we will be a lot easier for her to process then some high rez image.
Ok im done ...I promise
You can try this launcher that comes with everything big
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=name.kunes.android.launcher.activity&hl=en
Hello, as of today, which is the best 3D launcher for the GNOTE PRO 12.2? I used TSF Shell and SPB Shell 3D on my Note 2. The transition effects looked very cool. However, they don't look good on my large screen Note PRO 12.2. Probably the effects were developed with small screens in mind. I tried Next Launcher 3D and EX, there seems to be a bug as my device got long pauses. On two occassions, I had to force boot my device.
petercohen said:
Hello, as of today, which is the best 3D launcher for the GNOTE PRO 12.2? I used TSF Shell and SPB Shell 3D on my Note 2. The transition effects looked very cool. However, they don't look good on my large screen Note PRO 12.2. Probably the effects were developed with small screens in mind. I tried Next Launcher 3D and EX, there seems to be a bug as my device got long pauses. On two occassions, I had to force boot my device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought SPB Shell over 3 years ago and it's been abandoned for well over a year now. Can NOT recommend using it. I've also bought TSF, and the others, and Next Launcher looks the best so far if you want a 3D'ish environment.
tdetroit said:
I bought SPB Shell over 3 years ago and it's been abandoned for well over a year now. Can NOT recommend using it. I've also bought TSF, and the others, and Next Launcher looks the best so far if you want a 3D'ish environment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, bought SPB years ago when it was probably the only 3D Launcher on the market. I think the company that developed it was bought out by Yandex because for a while they changed the name. I haven't checked out the Yandex Launcher in a while, it was the updated version of SPB.
Been using Nova launcher on all my devices and am really happy with it. Nice smooth effects and lots of customization available. Liked it so much I paid for it. Active development on it.
rhricik447 said:
Been using Nova launcher on all my devices and am really happy with it. Nice smooth effects and lots of customization available. Liked it so much I paid for it. Active development on it.
Click to expand...
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I have a question about that one for I've been thinking about installing it on my own Galaxy Note Pro because it looked like one a beginner with launchers can manage and not too heavy on resources - and it supports icon packs. Sorry if this 'should' be self-explanatory. The Nova website does not offer me even a FAQ, let alone a complete tutorial for beginners. I want to use my own wallpapers, not theirs and I don't want to be stuck with just a choice of ready-made themes. I just want to customize what I want where I want. Will the Nova launcher allow me to do this? I have spent the last 2 days with my search engines trying to get the answer to this one question, so I'm afraid to install any launcher at all until I know.
Just install it and try it. You're not going to hurt anything, and if you decide you don't like it, then uninstall it and you'll be right back where you started. Using a 3rd party launcher doesn't do anything different except change the look and feel of your device. It's not going to mess anything up, if you don't like it you can uninstall it to go back exactly like it was previously, but be sure you go through all of the settings and mess around with it first. Look and see exactly what you can do differently. Don't just install a launcher like Nova, come to the first screen you see, and then decide you don't like it. It's kinda like taking a car for a test drive before buying it. There are tons of launchers available today, probably 10 times as many as 2 years ago. I've tried many of them. Some people like certain effects, some people like a minimalistic launcher, some people like tons of widgets, different icons, etc. Everyone likes their launcher for different reasons, but like I said, I've used many, I still try something new if I see it, but I've always gone back to Nova.
Rolldog said:
Just install it and try it. You're not going to hurt anything, and if you decide you don't like it, then uninstall it and you'll be right back where you started. Using a 3rd party launcher doesn't do anything different except change the look and feel of your device. It's not going to mess anything up, if you don't like it you can uninstall it to go back exactly like it was previously, but be sure you go through all of the settings and mess around with it first. Look and see exactly what you can do differently. Don't just install a launcher like Nova, come to the first screen you see, and then decide you don't like it. It's kinda like taking a car for a test drive before buying it. There are tons of launchers available today, probably 10 times as many as 2 years ago. I've tried many of them. Some people like certain effects, some people like a minimalistic launcher, some people like tons of widgets, different icons, etc. Everyone likes their launcher for different reasons, but like I said, I've used many, I still try something new if I see it, but I've always gone back to Nova.
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Thanks for such an encouraging message. (just got told I reached my limit for the thanks button today) If an experienced and knowledgeable user comes back to Nova so consistently, I feel yet more confident about trying it. I don't suppose there's any point in asking you, since you know that launcher so well, if you were able to use your own wallpapers? Because you're not going to tell me! :laugh:
I really do have to get over being a chicken about this and dive in. It's too easy to get into real states of apprehension when I spend all my time by myself on this mountaintop and have such a vivid imagination for disasters and doom - well, alone except for my dogs and cats, who've been thinking me an idiot already for years and won't offer me any advice.
My internet connection in this least-populated county in the state isn't stable or fast enough to deal with widgets that need to update online. I like looking at them but I can't run them, same problem with news feeds. I have the stock weather and still end up checking it on my phone mostly since that is faster. System widgets only tell me what it would be little bother to go check on myself. I even wasted my money getting windowblinds on my PC because I never remembered to use it much. I put weird icons on document files so I can find them when my eyes blur on text titles late at night; it's never just for looks. I change colors to relieve my eyes when I'm staying up on the computer and tablet too long, like now. I do like to be able to find things easily and put them where they're handy for that's what I do in my house too, so I can reach for them in the dark and grab them without mishap. So that's what I'll shop for in a launcher: compulsively neat organization for doomer hermits who already spend too much time looking at a monitor.
Yes, you can use any wallpaper you wish.
Rolldog said:
Yes, you can use any wallpaper you wish.
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Thank you, dear. I installed Nova this morning. Now, I'd like to put another launcher on my Note 4, so I can learn about that one at the same time, perhaps something a bit lighter. Slowing down the operation of my phone could be considered more directly dangerous to my security out here than hanging up my tablet so I'll go for simpler there. Have you a recommendation? That CM Launcher advertises itself as 'light and fast' but it also comes laden with 'security apps' and cleaners that I'm not so sure I want to bother with. I don't do much online browsing with the phone, at least not for long and I don't use social media on it. I also never share my devices because there's nobody around for miles anyway. I'd rather a launcher just be a launcher.
One Launcher that I like a lot, I use it on my phone but it won't work on my tablet because I use my tablet in landscape mode, is Buzz Launcher. Using this Launcher, you can go into their Buzz Launcher themes and download from about 500,000 different themes that other people have created. You can have as many as 9 different screens, all with different themes, and you can use their layout, their widgets and/or icons, and customize it to work with your apps. So, if you download a theme someone on the other side of the earth developed, you click on the icons they have, and if they used an app that you don't have, like if you use a different browser, the after you press on an icon, you can select the browser you use. This way, you can customize their entire themes to work with your specific phone and your specific apps. I change my themes fairly regularly, since it only takes a couple of minutes, and I feel like I have a different phone everyday.
Rolldog said:
One Launcher that I like a lot, I use it on my phone but it won't work on my tablet because I use my tablet in landscape mode, is Buzz Launcher. Using this Launcher, you can go into their Buzz Launcher themes and download from about 500,000 different themes that other people have created. You can have as many as 9 different screens, all with different themes, and you can use their layout, their widgets and/or icons, and customize it to work with your apps. So, if you download a theme someone on the other side of the earth developed, you click on the icons they have, and if they used an app that you don't have, like if you use a different browser, the after you press on an icon, you can select the browser you use. This way, you can customize their entire themes to work with your specific phone and your specific apps. I change my themes fairly regularly, since it only takes a couple of minutes, and I feel like I have a different phone everyday.
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I wish I had seen your post before I got misled by all the complaining in the reviews for that one! In fact, they ought to be paying you to write about their app's features for you've done a much better job than they did at the playstore. There seemed to be an issue of things 'disappearing' for no good reason, themes and icons and such and people were annoyed after having spent hours to download them. Then, 'folder contents get changed every time the phone restarts.' And then there's the 'upsidedown heart butt' icon that apparently no one can get rid of that has caused some consternation, lol. Oh, and multiple 'crashes' too. As usual, few indeed even say what kind of phone they have. I'm inclined to try it anyway now, since you like it and I rather liked their community-based approach to begin with.
So, what I downloaded to the phone yesterday, just to check it out, was one I haven't seen mentioned yet, (maybe just because I don't know where to look) Microsoft's Arrow launcher. I won't mind the howls of laughter. Just plain curiosity, for I haven't tried any of their stuff for android. This is another one that will only work on my phone, not for tablets. I know how annoying they can be on PC's, like everyone else who spends a lot of time on one. They remind me of certain supermarkets that like to constantly rearrange things so that every time I go in, I can't find anything and we all know Microsoft plays the same game with every new OS. They don't really want us getting to know the guts of their systems too well, do they? I was interested in finding the launcher to be free, since their Office apps clearly are anything but and in seeing if they can build an android app that isn't a resource-hogging monster. We'll see.
I've never used Arrow, but sometimes, it's necessary to go into a widget that has been designed and change the settings to customize it to your layout, your location, your calendars, etc, and I'm pretty sure the people who complain get frustrated because they can't figure out how to scale the widget, customize the information, change the icons, update the location, etc, and then they just give up. I usually try to save a couple of homepacks with widgets I like, and then I might try combining them into my own layout and custom icons too.
Getting recommendations isn't worth much, most of the time you have to try it out for yourself. For example, if you asked someone about a new movie that was just released because they just saw it, they might say it was horrible. You might go see it anyway, you find out it's scary, you love scary movies, the person who's advice you got hates scary movies, so it boils down to personal opinion.
Rolldog, may I hear more about 'homepacks and widgets?' If you have a few widgets that you like, do you, and can you, generally keep them with most other launchers you try out? Something you said before, I think it was you, about, if I got tired of a new launcher, I could go right back to Touchwiz and find my widgets and layout just where I left them, stuck in my mind and has me wondering about that little detail: why wouldn't the widgets still be there anyway, no matter what launcher I used? I ought to know all that already but I've had some 'rural life' issues keeping me too busy to spend much time with my devices or even read about them online. But I sure did a lot of shopping on the playstore, paid apps too and pretties for Nova! I'll have to watch that; it's too easy to do when I have a card on file and my budget will suffer. I have managed to discover that the ads in 'free' apps were draining my resources much more than getting the widgets I would like so if I really want something, I support the developer and ditch the ads with the constant 'phoning home' they have to do.
That 'Next' launcher has some nice 3-D effects doesn't it? But it isn't cheap, I notice.