Develop Bugs

home replacements

Does anyone running non hero roms use any of the home replacements out there like sweeter home, dxtop, panda , ahome or any other ones?

i used open home recently on JACxROMv1.3 to change the ugly palm pre app tray. it worked for a while, but then it really started making the phone lag.

Open home was great but im using now stock home on CM3.9.10 build.. its better

http://sweeterhomeskins.blogspot.com/search/label/Themes

Nope, only used aHome on 1.1 before I rooted. Using the stock launcher on Cyanogen 3.9.11, loving global search

Advanced Launcher + Ted's Hero. I found all of them slow compaired to a themed phone.

Open Home is awesome... But it slows your phone down way too much

With Cyans ROMs a home replacement may not slow down the phone too much. The CPU scaling could help with the slowdown issues. There may be a little slowdown, but I doubt it would ever be slower than a stock build not running a home replacement.

I use the Home program that comes with the sdk samples. It's only got one home screen, an app drawer (lower right) and 3 icon spaces that list your most recent apps. It's all very basic and it's got a bug where it loses the wallpaper when you switch portrait-landscape, but here it is anyway if you want to try it. I'll be using this app as the base for a launcher i'm working on (I'll add 4 more home screens, widget capability, I'll turn the "recent apps" strip into a scrollable "favorites" strip, and maybe toss in some default, full screen widgets (like hero's, kind of like search is bundled as a widget for Launcher). It'll be a good long while though, i'm still brushing up my java.
to install this, connect your phone, put it in your C:\, and do:
Code:
adb remount
adb push C:\Home.apk.zip /system/app/Home.apk

jubeh said:
I use the Home program that comes with the sdk samples. It's only got one home screen, an app drawer (lower right) and 3 icon spaces that list your most recent apps. It's all very basic and it's got a bug where it loses the wallpaper when you switch portrait-landscape, but here it is anyway if you want to try it. I'll be using this app as the base for a launcher i'm working on (I'll add 4 more home screens, widget capability, I'll turn the "recent apps" strip into a scrollable "favorites" strip, and maybe toss in some default, full screen widgets (like hero's, kind of like search is bundled as a widget for Launcher). It'll be a good long while though, i'm still brushing up my java.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would defeat the purpose of a home replacement. Whole point is to make it look pretty. I'm not sure how the default home and a home replacement program interacts. If the default home runs in the background even when using a home replacement, then a lighter weight default home could help the system run faster.

ahome doesnt work at the moment on latest cyanogen experimental roms, DXTOP is nice i like the "diamond" shape screen layout, the speed is good but can sometimes be a little slow loading apps in launcher, sweeter home looks amazing the preview one is not really usable but a preview 2 will be out soon and it has amazing potential with being able to customise so many aspects of the layout. I loved the standard home with advanced launcher but am having issues with the advanced launcher i think where screen goes black. Currently i am on panda, I had tried this when it came out and really didnt see the point but it has come along and has some very nice touches will probably stick with this until I can resolve the issues with advanced launcher, overall speed is good on the home replacements but the standard home is the quickest, the launcher is so smooth and there is no lag at all.

I'm using dxtop... its pretty quick now.
I was having lag issues many iterations of CM and dxtop ago. But both are working very well with eachother now. dxtop also added a categories view for the tray and you can have live folders of those categories on the desktop.
The dev is also constantly working on this to optimize it and add features. (I beta for him)

I would like for a home replacement to incorporate the sense UI bar.

I am beta testing SweeterHome right now. IT IS AWESOME. The new and improved SH will have some options that will just blow the others AWAY! (IMHO)
With the current Beta options I only need to use about three of my total screens (with widgets and ALL)... And, the third screen is used for the Application Grid.
I'll be sure to post something in the Apps section when it comes available.
There are some seriously great new options in the new SH and the image handling has all been updated - so, it works much faster.
There are a few features that just blow me away. But, I have to wait to speak about them until the app is ready!

What Happens if I turn Sense Off?

After looking at some stock images I've noticed that you get more icons on the bottom, whereas on Sense you get the menu, phone and add.
So basically what would I lose by turning HTC Sense off apart from the bottom bar? I currently use the Power Tools widget I think it is, the gaint clock/weather and the calendar.

You can't turn sense off on the desire unlike the hero as far as I know. I've been wanting to goto android basic for a while don't think anyone has worked how to do it
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Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2Amcaot1Us

LaWrona said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2Amcaot1Us
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried and failed.

Did a search of sorts, came across launcher pro, seems good, a slight slow down at times but I think I can work with this. Lack of leap though is a bit off ...

Launcher seems alright but I tad some at times and I miss some of the HTC widgets so off it goes . Back to Sense.
HTC please let me change that bloody useless bottom bar!!!!

Agreed, its not very attractive but this will most definately be changed with the 2.2 Froyo update
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Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App

I am so looking forward to it!
Saves me money though as I don't need beautiful widgets or the widget similair to the power tweak widget.
Also it remembered the last state so no moving around once I reverted back :O.

i tried the ADWlauncher and Launcher Pro too for the same reason, the bottom bar i wanted with shortcuts. but i really can't compromise the speed and smoothness of the sense ui with those ones (even if ADW is the fastest 3rd party if you tweak the settings) but most important is the DATA-INTERNET widget which cannot be added in without sense.
i hope that with froyo HTC will enable both launchers and be a user choice which one to use but still have the HTC widgets.

Any way to have 5 homescreen rather than 7 in Sense?!

I know... I know... but why?!
Why not?! For the time being, I'm barely using 4, so why the extra 3?! Any way to get it down to 5 for now?! Until more is needed?!

Try LauncherPro

Umm just curious but just don't go to the last left or right screen. The home button can take you back to the middle and you are good to go?
Launcher Pro is an alternative but perhaps you like Sense...well..Refer to first suggestion.

mrmomoman said:
Umm just curious but just don't go to the last left or right screen. The home button can take you back to the middle and you are good to go?
Launcher Pro is an alternative but perhaps you like Sense...well..Refer to first suggestion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obviously I know I can avoid the last 2 screens, but I was wondering if it was possible in order to avoid going to that screen by accident. It would also make it easier to select the proper screen when pinched out.
How different is Launcher Pro?! The only reason I like Sense is due to the widgets they have. Will the same ones work with Launcher Pro?!

Just switch to LauncherPro.

akarol said:
I know... I know... but why?!
Why not?! For the time being, I'm barely using 4, so why the extra 3?! Any way to get it down to 5 for now?! Until more is needed?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally hear you. If widgets weren't starting to get so big I think I would be pretty happy with 3.
No, Sense widgets will not work with LauncherPro (or any other launcher) but there are some good market replacements. Also LauncherPro is moving towards having it's own set of widgets that replace most of the functionality of sense, which I think is a great idea.
It is probably possible that someone could open up the Rosie (Sense Launcher) apk and edit a line somewhere to tell it to only have 5 screens, but I haven't ever seen anyone do it. It would only be usable on a rooted phone too, since Rosie is in the Nand, and you can't change it out without root.

ADW.Launcher. how many desktops would you like today? 1 or 7? with adw it's your easy to make choice. along with many many other swell customizations.
i have reduced my total number of desktops as well. i use SmartShortcuts to condense my more commonly used apps and place those icons on the adw bars.
it will have the same issue with widgets. if a widget has been written specifically for Sense it won't work. however, there are many nifty cool things in the marketplace.
for example you you can use:
SmoothCalendar - a calandar widget (there are many on the marketplace depending on style preference)
Beautiful Widgets - many folks love this product. (not a free product)
DigitalClock Widget - what i use to get time/date on my screen.
SmartShortcuts - allows me to keep a very clean main desktop...the 4 visible icons pull up custom application groups. (see chess screenshot)
i would also suggest trying out:
QuickDeskBETA - see screenshot with all the icons? that is QD, it will popup over top of any existing window simply w/ a long press of the search button. so i can turn on my screenshot tool without going all the way back to main screens or turn on 4G without having to exit the browser.
one last thing, i would suggest that you install either launcherpro or adw and play with em. what will happen the first time is this. when you click on the home button it will ask you which launcher you wish to use (Sense, adw or launcherpro). there is a check box that says 'make this choice default' ... check that button when you feel semi confident as to which launcher you wish to use. 2 days later when you decide that you want to try using Helix2 (or whatever) simply go to Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications -> go to the current default laucher and "clear defaults" (see the adw screenshot)

Aversion to LauncherPro?

I ran a few searches and while there are some topics on other sub-forums just thought I'd ask here. Is there a general aversion to using this app?
I've used it on all the ROM's I've flashed and have found that it is more efficient than a stock launcher. It most often runs smoother as well especially the app drawer.
I know there are many who use it here, but overall rosie's get the win on XDA hance all the rosie/Sense mods.
Is it because it is not an open source launcher? Is it the aesthetics? Is there such a thing as "Android Purists"?
What say you!

I love it but won't use it because i love my sense widgets too much and it acts funny.with widget locker
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App

Been using it since almost Day 1. I change backgrounds and clocks fairly often. Wouldn't use anything else.

You lose all the sense widgets. And in the new sense roms which have been ported to the inc, there are great new ones - so on the new sense roms I can't afford to use launcher unless they have equivalent widgets.
I use launcher pro on cm6.1 which is an aosp rom. There it is the better option because I don't have any possibility of getting the sense widgets anyways...
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Thanks for the replies so far! I use one widget (smooth calender) and forgot about all the sense widgets folks like to use.

I use launcher pro as well. I think its a great home replacement. Gives great options in settings to change almost everything. I currently just have it set to give me 3 home screens and that is it. I don't need any more than that currently.
I replaced the Sense widgets with beautiful widgets and extended controls. I also love launcher pro's ability to make custom shortcuts that can take you directly a page in the setting menus that may be 2 to 3 pages in. Saves a lot of time as I currently have one set directly to the development page. Have to turn that thing on to use PDAnet.(The 3g hotspot just doesn't work for me very well as it drops my laptop every 10 minutes and then it cannot join it again till I restart the hotspot on the phone.)
Additional Info:
I never really liked senses giant phone button at the bottom of the screen all the time. With launcher Pro I can make the dock look like stock android. Once I made the switch I never went back

boomertwo said:
I use launcher pro as well. I think its a great home replacement. Gives great options in settings to change almost everything. I currently just have it set to give me 3 home screens and that is it. I don't need any more than that currently.
I replaced the Sense widgets with beautiful widgets and extended controls. I also love launcher pro's ability to make custom shortcuts that can take you directly a page in the setting menus that may be 2 to 3 pages in. Saves a lot of time as I currently have one set directly to the development page. Have to turn that thing on to use PDAnet.(The 3g hotspot just doesn't work for me very well as it drops my laptop every 10 minutes and then it cannot join it again till I restart the hotspot on the phone.)
Additional Info:
I never really liked senses giant phone button at the bottom of the screen all the time. With launcher Pro I can make the dock look like stock android. Once I made the switch I never went back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Launcher Pro is great, and Launcher Pro Plus is worth every bit of $2.99. It's one of the only apps I've paid for and it has all of the sense widgets; including multiple bookmark and calendar widgets for example. In addition, having the ability to resize any widget to your liking I find makes it that much more attractive. Like you also said the shortcut option basically eliminates the need for apps like Bettercut. And of course the obvious options to change docks and icons make it a fun alternative for people.

Good stuff I've always like LP as well and got the + version as soon as it went live. A lot of proponents so far!

I think i remember seeing something that the dev of Launcher Pro asked that it not be cooked into custom roms

Therev29 said:
I think i remember seeing something that the dev of Launcher Pro asked that it not be cooked into custom roms
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the stock launcher isn't used, they cook ADW or launcher 2 into ROMs. But you always have the option of installing LP and even removing the launcher you had previously

How do you feel about Sense 4.0

Seriously, I did not like it on my WinMo5 phone. I still don't like it on my 1X.
cons found so far:
- Launcher crashes when you add a widget too wide for the current screen
- Launcher eats so much memory it crashes randomly (or at least, pressing home gives you a loading spinner for a short while)
- Contacts app looks ancient, froyo style.
- CLOOOOCKS ! Why do they need a dozen clocks, each eating storage for nothing.
- IME is weird. Used smartkeyboard pro before finding the basic ICS one perfect.
- No power toggles in the drawer
- No widgets in the drawer.
- Lock screen seems twitchy, phone tried to call from my pocket this morning.
- Most of the app skins are really ugly compared to ICS' ones (settings, contacts..)
Don't get me wrong, the phone is a real beast. Even with sense obviously cluttering the performance, it's a real breeze, it's really fast as hell. Once we get a clean ICS build, I can only imagine how faster it'll get.

First real user review of Sense 4.0, thanks. I'd have to agree with you on some of these, esp the Contacts/Dialer looks like it hasn't changed at all.

only thing I like about sense is the lockscreen (weather skin is amazing!) and answerscreen
settings menu is also nice now
I hate the launcher.. always changed it, I mean it only looks good with the htc clock but then you only get 2 rows for apps on the homescreen..meh
so yea I wonder why so many people praize sense and it feels odd that htc was the only one who could make a animated lockscreen..

Please tell me what is the point of an animated lockscreen? I really don't like knowing my phone is using juice to show me some nice floating clouds.

Is it even possible for a capacitive touch screen phone to pocket dial unless you've got your hand in there with it?
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA

eyecandy mostly I always like seeing that animation, it also gives it a high tech feeling like it's suposed to be
a wow factor for people who grab your phone as well
some care about it.. some don't , I do.

I cannot imagine what you are doing with your phone thats causing so much crashes ... i would suggest looking at your apps and stuff first ...
Of course, most apps are not yet ICS optimized and causes memory issues and what not ... so not necessary that its HTC Sense's fault !!

Crashes are frequent and Sense starts pretty fast, but it's definitely not my apps. Crashed a few time without installing a single thing. Anyway, stable or not, ICS base launcher is way better, IMHO.

I like the new lock screen showing your unread messages but I dont like the email app. The font size is too big even when set to small.
I have a Sensation and there was a smallest setting that worked really well. Its like they made the fonts too large over compensating for the higher resolution of the screen.

I had my One X for 4 days now and I have to say I can't wait to get a rom without Sense. I hope for CM9 since I am coming from a Galaxy S with CM9.
The Lockscreen that launches 4 Apps is the only good thing about sense.

I actually love the look and feel of Sense 4.0, can't agree with you.

ICS builds I tested had ring lockscreen with up to 8 shortcuts.
EDIT: ok, now everytime I hit the "home" button, sense reloads -_-'

I might be wrong but didn't Google say that every phone using ICS should provide an option to the user to use stock launcher..am sure read on some tech blog....I dont have the phone, but if thats the case then in theory u should be able to clear the default setting for sense launcher in settings/apps menu and hopefully then get a prompt to select launcher
either way...do let me know , if this works
Edit :- or else there's always Go Launcher (with ICS theme done by the GOLauncher Team)
Cheers,
M

meletios said:
I might be wrong but didn't Google say that every phone using ICS should provide an option to the user to use stock launcher..am sure read on some tech blog....I dont have the phone, but if thats the case then in theory u should be able to clear the default setting for sense launcher in settings/apps menu and hopefully then get a prompt to select launcher
either way...do let me know , if this works
Cheers,
M
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You wish... You have to use sense AND sense keyboard.
I restored from titanium a MeDroidMod Launcher (looks very ICS-ish to me, don't know what has been modded here) backup from my old N1 sd, and it works. Status bar still sensucks, but at least I have a stable and simple ICS launcher without all the candies. According to the app/running/cached memory usage value, the launcher eats 22Mo where Sense ate 55...

meletios said:
I might be wrong but didn't Google say that every phone using ICS should provide an option to the user to use stock launcher..am sure read on some tech blog....I dont have the phone, but if thats the case then in theory u should be able to clear the default setting for sense launcher in settings/apps menu and hopefully then get a prompt to select launcher
either way...do let me know , if this works
Edit :- or else there's always Go Launcher (with ICS theme done by the GOLauncher Team)
Cheers,
M
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I remember the statement but if it's only to include the launcher then it's pointless
even on stock ics everyone gets nova or apex launcher lol, think they'll have to use the default android skin as well
btw. it only has sense launcher now

As useless Rosie was, it was at least pretty.. sense 4.0 looks like pre ICS stock android, and doesnt seem to be much less bloated.
Thankz god we have XDA, just a pity ure buying a phone knowing you wont be able to fully enjoy as stock.

You are using apex or nova, maybe. But surely not everybody. All the people around me like the stock ics. Why bloat the OS ? For a colored battery bar ?
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

ok Sense 4.0 looks great, BUT what happened to the wonderful rotating carousel? Now Sense rotates three screens to the right, then you have to come all the way back to get to screens to the left of the home screen. Surely it would have been easier to let Sense rotate through all the screens, making selection far faster?

I'd like it (the widgets are AWESOME) IF it
- didn't crash all the time
- had 5 rows as an option!!!!!!!
running nova now due to the crashing. Unbelievable how unoptimised it is

If I could have 6 rows instead of 4 I'd use sense launcher instead of nova, i mean we have a 4,7" 720 screen and it's just a big waste of space to have 4x4 grid, and I really don't like the cube style flipping, I feel a bit old for that. I even disable wallpaper scroll. I want it clean and smooth.