Hey,
im trying to do a nice theme and what id ideally like is the option to have on the main page to have shortcuts to folders containing just specific items such as games/utils/general apps instead of linking to the full app catalog and having to sort through.
at the min im just using one of the main pages thats full of games and it looks untidy so id like to sort it out
cheers
Touch the screen for a prolonged period of time and it should pop up a menu with "folders" in it
As above or get Smart Shortcuts from the market....
or search for apps organizer in the market, this allows you to create folder and add any app you want to them. from there you can use these folders as widgets
there's this "folderorganizer" in market...... lite is free, but pay for full features...
Is there a way to install folders? In other words on the home screen, you have the tiles , thats great , move to the left and you have a line of a thousand apps, would be nice to be able to make folders , that way I can move all my utilities to a folders, and have sub categories for all the apps, just curious! It would be easier to get to the stuff I need right now!
at present, no. maybe it would be good to take a look at the pinned threads in this section first as it will give you better insight into what is there and what isn't, and perhaps if work arounds exist yet.
I'm not sure why you'd need folders, the app list works very well with its SPIN-STOP-TAP numminess. Folders would just add extra taps and complications.
I personally use the app list very rarely because my most-used apps have tiles on the start screen. If you're using the app list much, consider adding your commonest apps as tiles.
Yep, the alphabetical list seems to work surprisingly well (and notice how people aren't complaining about it, while there was lots of talk about it before real devices got out).
Also, there are some folders. They are called hubs. Games, Office, Pictures, Music+Videos contain links to all relevant applications. That, and pinning most frequently apps to Start Screen, does a good job organizing things for me.
Custom/additional hubs could be a nice addition, though I'm not sure how that should be implemented.
Im not complaining at all , I love the ui , but I think folders should be available , not just HUBs , with a hub you have set apps for the hub , now if you had a folders you could add the apps you want to those folders , If I had a folder called Utilities ,I could add Registry Editor, settings, accent changer, samsung tools, diagnosis, one for Mail, add all my emails and mms ,sms , just thinking it would be easier to group certain items and be less cluttery! Sure scrolling is nice and easy, but like on my desktop , I group programs and it makes it easy to get to them!
a small correction, there aren't set apps for hubs, app devs can make their app associate with the hub, for example third party app that does this which isn't made by an oem are Fantasia Painter, Apict, and Lyrics.
I too want folders. I have a lot of apps and scrolling can be long and tiresome. A grid would be better as more icons per page could be shown. I don't want to add lots of apps to the homescreen because then that will become a long list too!
I would love folders like Travel, Fun, Utilities, System, Audio, Video, Photo etc.
There has to be a reg tweak somewhere....
tboy2000 said:
I too want folders. I have a lot of apps and scrolling can be long and tiresome. A grid would be better as more icons per page could be shown. I don't want to add lots of apps to the homescreen because then that will become a long list too!
I would love folders like Travel, Fun, Utilities, System, Audio, Video, Photo etc.
There has to be a reg tweak somewhere....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
eww, grid? No thank you, don't want my phone to be an iOS ripoff (I'm looking at you, Android). Customizable folders would be awesome. Long hold on start screen, create new folder option, name folder, drag apps to folder, choose hub background pic, done. That'd be wicked. I'd love to create a Business folder with MS Office, Notes, stocks, realtor.com, handyscan, financial calculator etc.
eternalemb said:
eww, grid? No thank you, don't want my phone to be an iOS ripoff (I'm looking at you, Android). Customizable folders would be awesome. Long hold on start screen, create new folder option, name folder, drag apps to folder, choose hub background pic, done. That'd be wicked. I'd love to create a Business folder with MS Office, Notes, stocks, realtor.com, handyscan, financial calculator etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Erm hello? What are you talking about? The old windows microsoft OS (5 and up) had the grid system layout before IOS so how could a grid system layout be a rip off of IOS?????
The current windows phone 7 list view shows 9 and a half applications per screen view. If you had a grid layout you could get anywhere between 12 and 18 app icons per page view. I thought the whole point of the WP7 marketing system was to spend less time on your phone. Who want to spend ages flicking their thumb up and down to get to applications when you could tap and maybe scroll once or twice if the apps were in a grid layout. Surely that would be a more time efficent layout. I love the OS but wish the app list view could be better.
create new folder option, name folder, drag apps to folder,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly!
I too love the home screen the way it is , but if I had the folder system I could employ a utitlities folder on the home screen , drag an app, drop it , pinning is fine too , I like to keep the homescreen limited to apps i use frequently!
The grid system would be a killjoy. It would require more hunting. With multiple apps in line you are not only reading the first letter as you are with WP7, I can scroll through my apps, see the letter and stop, with android I had to scroll through my apps, see the letter, read through the next 2 rows to find it... with WP7, much quicker. Plus it would just make it uglier.
A grid wouldn't serve many of us. With them ou need to keep looking for icons instead just the application names as in WP7 applications list.
Folders should be a neat addition. You have a folder in there, TAP and then a list like a contextual menu appears and TAP the app. This, without living the applications list would a be a great addition.
Also, adding search capabilities to the list is a much needed feature.
I have tried deleting com.htcstreamplayer.apk from /system/app but the icon in question is still there. I searched on the internet and found a thread talking about the icon is part of htcmusic.apk, so I deleted that too and it is still there.
The persistence of such icons makes me want to free my app drawer of it more badly! So if you can show me how to do it, I am much obliged!
Hello !
I have "upped" the topic because I have the exact same question.
I have rooted my device and was able to delete HTCMusic.apk and a lot more, but I am unable to find which .apk file or which application is launched when the "Videos" icon is pressed.
I would like to froze the application related to that icon. I know it's possible because I've done that for the "Miror" icon (which is in fact a component of the Camera application) in order to make it disappear from the drawer.
Can you help us please ?
Thanks in advance. (Sorry for my English, I'm French).
The solution
Hi all,
I'm sorry to double-post but I've found a solution for those who are still interested (I have an HTC ChaCha, but I believe it also works for Desire HD).
You must download an app remover from the Google Play Store, which includes a feature called "Freeze", and which is able to disable application components.
For example I have paid for ROM ToolBox Pro (it includes the Advanced Freeze feature).
The component used by Video icon is in fact packed into the "Gallery" application : .TabPluginDevice.ActivityAllVideos, you can disable it safely.
After .TabPluginDevice.ActivityAllVideos is disabled, the Videos icon disappears from the drawer.
I'm coming from the OG Droid (Android 2.3). There the favorite contacts list was a simple scrollable list.
In ICS 4.0.2 its a ridiculously oversized mosaic with pictures for each contact. I have too many favorites for that to be practical.
Where is the option to change the list from Icons to a Scroll list? Will I be forced to use a 3rd party app for that?
absoluteparanoia said:
I'm coming from the OG Droid (Android 2.3). There the favorite contacts list was a simple scrollable list.
In ICS 4.0.2 its a ridiculously oversized mosaic with pictures for each contact. I have too many favorites for that to be practical.
Where is the option to change the list from Icons to a Scroll list? Will I be forced to use a 3rd party app for that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, it's so, so crap isn't it?
And I have almost no contacts with pictures so it looks even worse. I've un-stared all of my contacts for this reason.
I also made some additional mods to the contacts app linked below:
* Removed contact picture from Recent Calls list - now a simple list
* Removed contact pictures from Frequently Called - now a simply list
Since I now have no favourites I don't have the problem you have with that list and my mod does *not* address that sorry... but it might help a bit.
Indeed I have no need for favourites any more because the Frequently Called and Recent Calls lists are sufficient for me.
I may look into the favourites section at some point but as I say, since I don't use them it's not a priority.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10492238/Contacts.apk
Feel free to use this one if you like... it's free!
Hi all, So i as usual installed Nova to use some of their gestures (such as bringing down status bar from swiping down anywhere on screen etc)
In the process i lost access to the google weather widget (as it isn't available through Nova launcher)
Any lightweight suggestions to replace it? or is there any way to get the google weather widget functioning on 3rd party launchers?
What about alternatives to google photos? To be honest i never really used photos , I'm going to try to start doing so but i notice that it doesn't even pick up all my folders such as facebook folder (pics downloaded from facebook).
How do i get it to recognize folders like this ? What other lightweight yet useful gallery app is out there? (not quickpic please that purple font is killing me)
Thanks in advanced!
quickpic version 3.4.9.1 doesnt have pink icons for me and its neutured down so no google drive, dropbox etc linking - just pure gallery.
virtyx said:
quickpic version 3.4.9.1 doesnt have pink icons for me and its neutured down so no google drive, dropbox etc linking - just pure gallery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got a trusted source for that APK?
I am seeing some of the benefits of Google photos though... wondering why i didn't use it sooner
Edit: found a trusted apk for quickpic.
How do I get google weather widget in nova
masri1987 said:
Got a trusted source for that APK?
I am seeing some of the benefits of Google photos though... wondering why i didn't use it sooner
Edit: found a trusted apk for quickpic.
How do I get google weather widget in nova
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was about to upload
how do you find it? its slim, lightweight, fast - and gets the job done without any extra add-ins which is what i like, almost like the huawei launcher plus you can change the display and it recognizes ALL your images on your phone (im looking at you google photo)
masri1987 said:
Hi all, So i as usual installed Nova to use some of their gestures (such as bringing down status bar from swiping down anywhere on screen etc)
In the process i lost access to the google weather widget (as it isn't available through Nova launcher)
Any lightweight suggestions to replace it? or is there any way to get the google weather widget functioning on 3rd party launchers?
What about alternatives to google photos? To be honest i never really used photos , I'm going to try to start doing so but i notice that it doesn't even pick up all my folders such as facebook folder (pics downloaded from facebook).
How do i get it to recognize folders like this ? What other lightweight yet useful gallery app is out there? (not quickpic please that purple font is killing me)
Thanks in advanced!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too use Nova, for weather, I've been using Weather XL by exovoid for years, link
Action launcher has the Google widget and weather baked in. I switched from Nova to it years ago and while I'll go back to Nova briefly for change of pace purposes I never leave Action for very long. Once I got used to and understood the blinds and shutters features in Action everything else became dad's old launcher; including Nova. You can also set the Now page, assign gestures, all the usual staples of fully featured launchers.
I've used Piktures as my main gallery app for a few years. Great app.
NepoRood said:
I too use Nova, for weather, I've been using Weather XL by exovoid for years, link
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, tried it out, looking for something a bit more lightweight, just for the purpose of widget use.
krabman said:
Action launcher has the Google widget and weather baked in. I switched from Nova to it years ago and while I'll go back to Nova briefly for change of pace purposes I never leave Action for very long. Once I got used to and understood the blinds and shutters features in Action everything else became dad's old launcher; including Nova. You can also set the Now page, assign gestures, all the usual staples of fully featured launchers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So i installed action launcher and I cannot find the option to build out tabs or folders within the drawer itself? Also can't remove the multidot drawer icon and just use the swipe up feature by itself
Cool thing is it did import everything almost from nova
Fuzzy13 said:
I've used Piktures as my main gallery app for a few years. Great app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i just discovered that app ,
I also discovered that any motion photo or any other like top shot (to show you the whole selection of photos taken) etc doesn't show up in 3rd party gallery apps
You just long press and drag the icon up and out, you'll see the remove label at the top of the screen, drop it there and it's gone. The rest will take a bit of reading as Action doesn't work the way normal launchers do so it takes some explaining. Before I do you can create folders in the drawer section of the home settings, it's under folders. I'm saying this because Action doesn't really work the way Dad's old launcher used to do and there are some new paradigms in play. Don't want to deal with that then just imagine the post ends here.
In action you don't really need to make folders in the drawer as it's laid out to use it's killer features, the covers and shutters. For covers you can drop a shortcut you tap as normal to open that app and then you can also swipe or tap the shortcut and it will open a folder with whatever apps you want inside of it. Those are created by dropping one app onto another to create a folder as with most launchers, open the folder you just created and tap the menu (3 dot), choose create cover and now you have it. Tap the first icon you placed and it will simply open that app, swipe it (or double tap if you select that as the opener) and it will open up the folder underneath. I'm not sure if there is an app limit for the folders, I've had 14 in one now. Using my setup for example I use Hangouts as my personal primary text and instant message app but I also use several others; I have a hangouts cover set in the dock, as its a cover I tap it and open hangouts in most cases. Because it's a cover I have the apps for texting that I use infrequently underneath that which I access by swiping the icon instead. This goes on for all the shortcuts I set in the dock. I use a 2 page dock which is all covers save for one which is a shutter and through those have quick access to 47 applications. Much quicker than finding them in a drawer, even when folder the drawer because you will need more touches to get to the app than with a cover.
The shutter is an app shortcut which you use to either open the app or by swiping it open one of that apps widget. An example would be Whatsapp is my work messaging app. I have the icon set and use it as a shutter. I touch it and go into the app as normal. I get a lot of junk messages though that really aren't for me so sometimes I'll swipe it and open up the unread messages widget. This allows me to skip straight to the more important messages first rather than sort through them all in the app itself. The menu(3 dot) when you first open up the shutter will allow you to select the widget you want to use.
Despite all that you can still access the built in long presses if the app/icon has them. What happens in all this is the app drawer itself becomes more of an initial setup bin where the apps are laying until you set your covers and on the odd occasion you go in there to open a seldom used app. In the rare cases you do need to get into the drawer the sea of icons pulled out of the bottom ala Pixel may look cool but it's slower than using the side drawer which I would highly recommend folks try. While not looking cool it's more efficient; particularly for those with many apps. Still want the bottom drawer pullout it's the default action, just get rid of the shortcut and it's there.
You're going to want to menu dive with Action because there is a lot more going on than meets the eye. You can have it match your wallpaper for the launcher theme in the quick theme section. In quickbar you have what amounts to the Goog searchbar with extra functionality that you can adjust. I don't use it as I find little need for it with all the different ways you can get to the search function and it takes up space which can be better spent showing off my carefully selected wallpaper. The icon pack section is self explanatory. Icon appearance will let you change functions and visual cues like notifications counts. App drawers is where you will decide on trying that side drawer and other related settings. Recommend if you do go to a side drawer to tell it to remember where you left it. Otherwise it will always default to the top of the alphabet. Desktop is where you will do the meat and potatos of setting your desktop, the grid, icon scale, scroll effects, infinite scrolling, etc. One thing of interest in the desktop section is it will allow you to create a quickpage. This is a page you can "pullout" from the side that is separate from simply the page to the right of home. I use it for my travel apps of which I have a fair few but only use during that time. Desktop shortcuts will take you to the settings for which functions will show up when long pressing the home screen out in the open. You'll be able to add typical actions like wallpaper, widgets and so on but also custom actions. Docks is where you'll set up the number of dock pages if any, style of dock, dock seperators (or not), etc. Folders and shutters will allow you to change functions there for those tasks. Shortcuts is where you'll define whatever gestures you want.
While all that seems like a lot when you start fiddling with it it'll start making sense. Sorry for the length of that and I hope it wasn't too boring for those that made it this far.
---------- Post added at 04:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:39 PM ----------
Oh, yeah... If you use a launcher that allows you to set custom action widgets (Nova, Action Launcher, etc.) you could simply install Action launcher, never use it but get use of the weather widget via custom action in Nova or any other launcher which supports that function.
Huge fan of Today Weather! Can choose which service to receive forecasts from and has a number of widgets.