I'm about to get my Galaxy Nexus, on intending to root, but will probably use a custom launcher, am happy to pay for pro version, how do you think they compare? Smoothness is secondary to features for me.
I use apex launcher. It is very customisable and I like the ability to use gestures. It is also very smooth. I highly recommand it!
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I'm using Nova Prime on my phone and am quite happy with it. Has plenty of customisation, and runs smooth for me. I personally paid for the full version of Nova as that added the ability to hide apps in the app drawer, which is a feature I am a huge fan of.
You can get free versions of both though, so if you're not sure you can download the free versions of each, and then see what additional features the paid version provides, and determine if you feel you need them.
Was using nova prime until I tried apex and I've stick to it ever since. Both are really good but apex gave me a little more customizations; being able to change what holding down screen does and tapping on screen twice.
Give both a try and see which one you like. I would recommend you to push the apex apk yourself from the beta version found on this forum here.
Nova Launcher just dropped a nice little update
I'm using Apex currently only because of customization. It lags like a mother though. I emailed the devs and every time they release a new beta they just tell me to try it instead of telling me they've fixed the issue...which they haven't.
Nova launcher is smooth.
bow chicka wow wow.
Loving Apex. Smooth as butter and LOVE the customization options.
I've been using nova prime for about two months. The gestures are convenient for voice search and text search. I also like the backup feature, which is essential for saving time if you flash alot of roms.
Sprint GN, Tapatalk2
Nova, feels smoother than apex. Apex was buggy with its animations too
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Apex is a little more polished a little smoother (in the latest beta 1.1 update) especially the drawer fly in animation
Apex is smooth. Don't know what people are complaining about. It's awesome if you like the stock look with varying degrees of customization.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Personally, I bought Nova Prime and am loving it so far
I really like Apex, it's like stock with some good and useful customizations..
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I currently use Nova. I used Apex for a while but it occasionally caused extremely high battery drain. Nova seems a bit more responsive to me, but Apex was not slow.
I turn the animations off on my phone, so that may affect how things feel versus others who like the animations on.
I'm using Nova prime. I liked the stock launcher but missed some features like gestures. Nova with prime upgrade gave me those features and I'm happy now. Didn't test Apex though.
So basically both are good.
I love the double tap on anywhere on the screen to open options from Apex launcher. That’s my decision maker between Nova and Apex
I've been using Apex since I got my Gnex last week. I love it. Great customization options, really fast--never have any problems with it.
There's already a huge thread about this in the themes and apps forum.
Apex for me.
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Related
I was wondering what launchers everyone was using besides stock TW. Just kinda of getting bored with it and seeing what else is out there. So basically, any recomendations?
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I use Apex. I have tried Go, Nova, and Apex. Prefer that one.
A lot of people love Nova though too so really you need to try them out yourself and see what fits you best. But I'd start with apex, nova, go, etc. they are the main ones.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1635930
enjoy. find hwat works best for you
apex
I've tried Nova, Apex, Go...Go was my favorite as it handles scrolling widgets and have all the features I wanted/needed baked in, I just couldn't get it as fast and fluid as TW. Nova was my second favorite but you have to pay for the Pro version that has the gesture features, among others, it also doesn't support scrolling widgets. Nova was pretty fast and fluid though so long as I had power saving mode off and it set to "faster than light", but that drained battery. So for the time being, i'm back to TW.
always used adwex, i still find it snappier than nova, apex, etc.
Apex for me is the best outta the ics launchers
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LG Home or Trebuchet for me
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I have found the cause of the issue I was experiencing above, I was only changing the animation speed...there is also a scrolling speed to adjust as well. I changed both to "fast as light" and it's all good now.
I've found that no matter what android I an on one of the first t things I download is Zeam launcher droid, nook color ,nook tablet ,HTC flyer, hero, epic, etc4g and now s3. Only thing it forest have for me is folders as icons.
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I was using Go for a while until I came across Nova. For me it seemed like Go was using a lot of resources. That doesn't matter now with this phone. I like the small things about Nova. Pay for prime, well worth the money imo.
OhioDroid80 said:
I was using Go for a while until I came across Nova. For me it seemed like Go was using a lot of resources. That doesn't matter now with this phone. I like the small things about Nova. Pay for prime, well worth the money imo.
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Click to collapse
I agree. They also have been adding features. I like the unread count add-on as well.
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OhioDroid80 said:
I was using Go for a while until I came across Nova. For me it seemed like Go was using a lot of resources. That doesn't matter now with this phone. I like the small things about Nova. Pay for prime, well worth the money imo.
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Click to collapse
Same here! Nova Prime is lovely
via Galaxy S III
I tried lots and I always come back to ADW EX, I use the same on my TF201 tablet they go well but I'm still searching
adwex has been the best launcher for me. Everything about it is great.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
Launcher 7 is all I care to use. Once I used it, I realized, Android makes it too difficult to find/touch the simple things.
I love apex launcher.. that 5x5
Felnarion said:
Launcher 7 is all I care to use. Once I used it, I realized, Android makes it too difficult to find/touch the simple things.
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Really? If you say so
blackte4 said:
I love apex launcher.. that 5x5
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Click to collapse
Nova goes up to 7x7
Nova prime
Nova prime
__________________
Samsung Galaxy S III I747
I just recently got my GS3. On my old phone, Launcher Pro was the best for me. In fact, it was one of my few paid apps. Launcher Pro does not work very well anymore. I just don't think it has been updated to newer hardware / ICS / JB. In any event, I've come across two that I like fairly well. Apex and Nova. Both are fairly similar. In fact, I'm having a hard time finding many differences between the two.
What ARE the differences between the two?
Which is worth buying (for the premium version)?
I've been running Nova launcher over APEX purely because of the ability to backup and restore widgets to your homescreens. This saves some time when you flash ROM's. Also if you are coming from another launcher, Nova allows you to import (to some extent) most of the homescreen layouts from your previous launcher. This helped when I first made the transition from APEX to Nova. I can't really comment on the difference between the paid vs free because I've only used the paid version of Nova. In regards to fluidity, I'd say they are almost exactly the same.
^ agreed. both are essentially the same. i'm with Nova for the backup and restoring feature as well. ^_^
Been using both, for me, I like Apex, you can mix different themes.
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I switch to Nova after using Apex for a really long time. Nova has more gestures and email notification counts. Both are really good.
vw671 said:
I switch to Nova after using Apex for a really long time. Nova has more gestures and email notification counts. Both are really good.
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Click to collapse
Exactly the same here. Used Apex for probably a year and just made the switch to Nova a few weeks back. Glad I did. As mentioned above, more gestures and back-up/restore features.
I used to use Apex launcher but switched to Nova launcher because the color theme option.
I do prefer Apex launchers for their better screen lock and their UCCW widgets can fill the screen better.
Don't forget that there is a labs option for nova launcher which lets you have additional features. Hold down volume for like 2 seconds to get them.
If you flash a lot of ROM's and use lots of widgets, then Nova is the better option IMO.
The reason is because Nova restores Widgets (using backup/restore settings) soooo much easier.
Restoring backed up desktop widgets with Apex was a PITA compared to Nova.
Also, Nova has better drawer options, IMO.
I do wish both would offer more theme/transition effects though.
I purchased the pro/donate version for both and ran both for alternating periods of time.
My vote goes to Nova, however I have used Apex in the past and it is also very good. Nova for backup though.
Used Apex on my S2, but using Nova on my S3. Not sure why, but Nova seems to be smoother to me on the S3.
Nova all the way!
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Nova
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Nova here as well
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Nova all the way!!
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Abhinandh Ajay said:
Nova all the way!!
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Nova Prime.....apex who?
They seem to be the same. My only problem with both Apex and Nova is the swiping screens isn't fast enough.
tanda4 said:
They seem to be the same. My only problem with both Apex and Nova is the swiping screens isn't fast enough.
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Have you tried adjusting the animation and transition speeds in Nova Settings? It has an option for increased speed performance. It may take away from the graphical fluidity, but should increase speed between page swipes.
Nova make wallpaper non scrollable?
I have used Apex but lots of people seem to prefer Nova. Does Nova have an option to make wallpaper screens non scrollable?
joseph473 said:
I have used Apex but lots of people seem to prefer Nova. Does Nova have an option to make wallpaper screens non scrollable?
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Click to collapse
Sure ... there's even an option to have it scroll in the opposite direction of the swipe if you will!
I always used Trebuchet because im a CM10 loyalist, but after reading this thread I took a dive on Nova Prime without previewing the free version. It was a great decision, everything seems smoother and the backup/restore features are awesome. Which is one of my gripes with trebuchet, I always had to set everything up after flashing.
Go Nova! :good:
Ever since I got my Note 2 I've been using ADW Launcher. Ever since they released a huge update a couple of months ago it works very well and I'm very happy with it. But I did notice people using Nova Launcher as well and was wondering what the pros and cons were with Nova compared to ADW. I'm eventually going to try it out but wanted to some first hand experience from people who like using Nova.
BTW, I've tried other launchers and they were not as smooth or they have too much going on vs ADW. Nova is the only launcher that I haven't tried yet.
Just got my Note2 yesterday, I had ADW in the past on an HTC Sensation, Dell Streak, and Samsung Captivate. I really liked it, but decided to try something else, so I went with Nova Launcher. I like it.
With VERY little experience to speak of with it, the only thing I can say I prefer about Nova is the way it groups folders on the dockbar. It looks just like Vanilla Android. That's a big plus for me. I'm trying to turn my Note 2 into a Nexus Note 2.
i actually have learned to love APEX launcher...the tablet transition compliments the note 2 very well...plus its more visually smooth than nova, at least to me. i could never get in adw, as hard as a tried, even when he first dropped the app back in the old launcher pro days...
omg whens the last time you even THOUGHT about launcher pro lol!!!!!!!!
I started off with Nova on my Note 2. I would also like to know how Nova compares with ADW. It seems like ADW has more tweaks and options but I personally haven't tried it.
i rotate between Launcher8 and Nova.
I've tried ADW, Go, Apex and nova among many others...I currently use nova prime and I love it
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Which launcher is the LESSER memory hog, I want a launcher that does not require lots of memory. can anyone please tell me one.
The lightest launcher is Zeam...
It's fast. .and anorexic. ..g
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i have tried many launchers on my Note 2 over the time but i found Nova Launcher Prime best so far..+5...
I use Nova prime can't say enough good things about it!
Another +1 for Nova with Prime
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Same here .....Nova launcher
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Hi,
I wanted to know which launcher is running smooth on our S4 Mini.
I'm happy with the ADW.Launcher at the moment but maybe there is a better launcher on the market.
I personally use Apex launcher. Used Smart launcher on my old, slow android phone.
I'm using FTL Launcher - it's pretty fast
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lowveld.ftllauncherlite&hl=en
Here I use nova prime
There are various great customizable launchers for Android 4.2 like Nova, Apex, Next Launchers.
I myself run Go Launcher EX in combination with Go Locker, Go Weather & Go Toucher, which runs perfectly smooth & fast and just does things i cannot do with Apex or Nova (Like removing status bar & docks) and other things. I didn't experience lag or ram dropping rates.
You should try some out and see which one fits your needs.
Apex launcher is more pro, like you get to set the dock icon size, some more features. You cannot change an icon app on drawer, only desktop/dock. That sucks.
Nova launcher has few features, but you can change any icon on system. Quite cool.
Both run pretty fast and stable.
I use TSF Shell and I like it a lot.
It's weird at first but when u get used to use, all the options and things are nice to use and change
It runs really stable and fast on mine at least
Holo launcher HD.
Stable, fast, clean - yet customizable.
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Next launcher 3d is the best......!!
Just try it out and find the difference.....!!
SS Launcher Original rocks
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I personally liked the Holo Launcher HD Plus.
Since there were constant FCs with Carbon Rom,
I switched back to Apex, which I was already using on my tablet.
They're both fast and stable launchers, Apex seems to be a bit more customizable, though.
I recommend Nova launcher, use it for a long time and no problem.
Apex or Nova!
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Nova user too
Holo did not scroll smooth enough
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GO Launcher is the best. IMHO.
I use Perfect Launcher and is very smooth and customizable. I like it alot.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pk.com.android.launcher
isn't that obvious ?
Anything but
Samsung TouchWiz !
I'm currently using Google GEL and works fine except the always listening feature
Holo
Consider me a third vote for Holo. Very simple with a small cpu/ram footprint. Keeps things working in the background nicely.
I've been using Nova because well... it's Nova! But Apex has an option to use the tablet UI found on many 10' tablets and I'm interested in that. But how does it stack up against Nova for speed, smoothness, lack of lag, stability, battery, and memory use?
omnius1 said:
I've been using Nova because well... it's Nova! But Apex has an option to use the tablet UI found on many 10' tablets and I'm interested in that. But how does it stack up against Nova for speed, smoothness, lack of lag, stability, battery, and memory use?
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Never used Nova but I've been running Apex since purchase and it's great.
Its a preference really, apex spaces things better than nova. Apex will look like stock on the device while nova wont.
Apex vertical widget scrolling is slow and choppy. Nova isn't.
Both are free. Install them and see what you like better.
i use nova on my nexus4, i downloaded it on the tablet and i felt lag in the app drawer so i decided to go with apex, havnt had scroll lag yet:good:
also apex has tablet ui mode, It looks and feels much better that way, for me at least
I use nova but SS launcher is going to be given a whirl
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Nova is running flawlessly for me.
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I use Smart Launcher and it is very fast, lightweight, and is functional.