I'm not going to ask which launcher or anything like that. I already have one in mind if I do decide to go that route.
What I want to know is if they are worth it or not? Do they slow the phone down at all? As it seems as an overlay to an overlay.
I see some, like nova, have a add-on for unread counts for messages and calls and things. Is this saying that without this add-on I won't have a count for missed messages or a notification at all?
Thanks you for the input
launchers
In comparison to the stock LG launcher you'll find you'll actually have a smother experience. Launchers like holo or nova are really light weight and have a smaller footprint in memory than the stock launcher. When you choose a new launcher as default the lg launcher is closed. Or at least resources are being prioritized to the default launcher. I'm a beginner when it comes to how android handles processes so maybe someone else can offer a better explanation. The addons for nova add unread counts to icons on homescreens, app drawer and folders. You'll still get all notifications through the status bar. Its just eye candy and extras you get for the paid version of the launcher.
BadFish79 said:
I'm not going to ask which launcher or anything like that. I already have one in mind if I do decide to go that route.
What I want to know is if they are worth it or not? Do they slow the phone down at all? As it seems as an overlay to an overlay.
I see some, like nova, have a add-on for unread counts for messages and calls and things. Is this saying that without this add-on I won't have a count for missed messages or a notification at all?
Thanks you for the input
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Won't hurt to check out other launchers. If you dont like them simply uninstall and your back to where you were
ADW is old school and basic, I prefer that. Holo is decent so is Apex, but my go to is always Nova. They're all fun to play with.
It's worth it. I use Nova and it's faster and has more organization and customization options than stock LG or AOSP. Just the speed and being able to hide apps from the app drawer is worth it for me. For reference, Nova runs way faster on my Nexus 7 than the JB launcher.
lots of good options. Nova is a great one, but I like Apex and Holo.
To answer your question, if you don't install extensions, then you won't have the message count on the app icon, but that's all it does. I personally don't like it, so I have never installed it.
Honestly though, if you aren't a "power user" who likes to tinker with all of the options in the launcher, Apex, Holo and Nova are all very similar.
Can someone explain the dock as overlay option? Isn't the dock always visible on the home screen?
Sent from my LG-LS970
BadFish79 said:
Can someone explain the dock as overlay option? Isn't the dock always visible on the home screen?
Sent from my LG-LS970
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Default, the dock is basically an extra row of icons ON the desktop, that carries over from screen to screen.
Dock as overlay changes your dock to being a row of icons that is on a layer separate from your desktop. As an example, you can turn this on and turn on a slide up gesture to toggle dock, which would give you a kind of mini app drawer on top of the desktop. If you did not turn this on, toggling dock would bump your desktop icons up and down, as it would then be a part of the desktop and not be a layer on top of it.
Related
Can anyone tell me the pro's and con's of both launchers.. I might give them a try sometime next week..
you can try yourselve both its better than reading. ADW Launcher users tell you adw is faster beter etc and LP userr tell you the same about LP just try it.
I use adw about 1 day and I change to LP becouse I dont use all options on adw he have a lot settings Lp is easyier for me.
or try zeam very quick and low memory usage
If a launcher doesn't have touch wiz like app drawer it's useless. Hundreds of apps aren't manageable in other ways.
I choose ADW because it's more smooth when swiping between homescreens. And there's a lot of themes for this launcher, too. I have tried LP but it's not that good. It has better widgets though.
I switched to ADW, launcher pro just isn't as snappy. The app bar is a nice feature too. Launcher pro does have some nice widgets though.
Launcher PRO PLUS for the widget and popup!!!
Bec07 said:
If a launcher doesn't have touch wiz like app drawer it's useless. Hundreds of apps aren't manageable in other ways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Launcher pro is not able to arrange applications ?
EarlZ said:
Launcher pro is not able to arrange applications ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, at least not yet
frauhottelmann said:
Nope, at least not yet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But it does have the very cool scrolling 3D app drawer where everything is in alphabetical order. I find it much much easier.
Launcher Pro has really nice widgets. Also ADW hides the status bar on me every so often - not sure why... very annoying and makes it unusable.
Bec07 said:
If a launcher doesn't have touch wiz like app drawer it's useless. Hundreds of apps aren't manageable in other ways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what makes touchwiz a great launcher.
I really hope LP follows suit, I need a customizable app drawer.
btw, ts I use launcherpro, /w donated version.
The widgets that come with lp are irreplaceable
I've tried both and love that lo is capable of hiding bloatware apps. Since I'm new and not into rooting, I like that I can get crap outta my face if I don't want it!
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App
brendonsled said:
This is what makes touchwiz a great launcher.
I really hope LP follows suit, I need a customizable app drawer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But the fact that you can't hide icons make it horrible for me. That's a major reason I use LauncherPro, apps that already have homescreen shortcuts or that I don't use wont clutter up my app drawer.
ADW has the same feature I believe, I might try it sometime.
The actual process of organising apps in touchwiz into some reasonable order is so slow and painful that I couldn't stand to do it anyway. Alphabetical order with all the crap hidden works just fine for me.
A nice feature that was added recently to LauncherPro is changing the grid size in the homescreens. You can use that to get more fine control of your widget positions and to fit more shortcuts and widgets. You can choose whether or not to re-size the widgets according to the new grid as well.
i personally like LauncherPRO better than the rest.
it works & feels very much alike ZLauncher from PalmOS
it has all the options i was exactly looking for.
well worth the $3 for the extra features, even though i don't even use them
I use LP plus.
I´ve used the option to hide stuff that I install, and insted have a folder for games and one for tools on my home screen. means that the app window wont get cluttered up.
Both are really good and I won't say one's better than the other.
I've always used ADW since I owned the Magic and the launch of the Galaxy, and in that time I've flirted with LP but alwys went back to ADW, however, last week I tried LP again and I've stuck with it this time.
Basically I can't choose between both but I'm extremely happy using either, try both and make your choice.
frauhottelmann said:
Nope, at least not yet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi
what you can do is :
creat folders on the last home screen for exemple.
lets say a games folder : stick all your games in it, and go to LP settings, take the link for the game apps you put in that folder and hide them so they dont apear any where else.
i dont know about adw but LP has scrollable widget possibilities and combined to some market aps it really is neat.
as usual its allways a question of personal preference.
plemen said:
Launcher Pro has really nice widgets. Also ADW hides the status bar on me every so often - not sure why... very annoying and makes it unusable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your disappearing dockbar is probably due to you pressing the app drawer and swiping upwards. Just go to ADW settings and disable the dockbar. This dockbar is a relatively new feature that enables you to have 2 dockbars (something similar to the scrolling LP dockbar).
ADW has a custom groups feature in its app drawer so you can select what apps you want to see. Unfortunately you can only view one group at a time, but its definitely a much better way of organising your apps than just in alphabetical order. And you can hide apps easily this way too. I really like ADW's swipe actions on home screens as well, last time I tried LP it didnt have this option.
Despite all the features of ADW, Launcher Pro feels just way snappier. Its customisation settings are well enough. The widgets are good too.
Too bad it's not open source like ADW. A may goto ADW when the animations are made smoother.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I'm looking for an app icon widget for Sense that has the following properties....I have tried what feels like dozens but there are so many I simply can't try them all.
Ability to hide specific apps that I don't want displayed (so, a blacklist not a whitelist)
No text labels
Ability to be clear or at least mostly clear (see the wallpaper behind it)
Scrollable!
Preferred 5 column grid but not absolutely necessary
The closest I've found is the Folder organizer widget, but it doesn't seem to refresh the apps list ever so anytime I add a new app I have to recreate the widget again. Also, the scrollable function only works in third party launchers (not Sense). I have tried Launcher Pro and ADW but not a huge fan.
Shane112358 said:
I'm looking for an app icon widget for Sense that has the following properties....I have tried what feels like dozens but there are so many I simply can't try them all.
Ability to hide specific apps that I don't want displayed (so, a blacklist not a whitelist)
No text labels
Ability to be clear or at least mostly clear (see the wallpaper behind it)
Scrollable!
Preferred 5 column grid but not absolutely necessary
The closest I've found is the Folder organizer widget, but it doesn't seem to refresh the apps list ever so anytime I add a new app I have to recreate the widget again. Also, the scrollable function only works in third party launchers (not Sense). I have tried Launcher Pro and ADW but not a huge fan.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to remember that sense is closed source, so it can only do so much. Most widgets that I've found have extra functions for 3rd party launchers such as the ones you've listed.
If you want to hid or get rid of apps, the only way to do that is to hack-uninstall the apps (from what I've been reading around here). Not sure about being "clear", could you be more clear with that? I'm guessing you want transparent widgets?
You can use Desktop Visualizer to help you with your hidden text labels. I use that in combination with folder organizer and launcher pro. Launcher Pro is pretty well designed IMO. It does what sense does, plus more and there's a lot of widgets that seem to support it. You should take a look at the Launcher Pro screenshots created here, there's a lot of excellent customization that I believe will meet your demand. It's possible that you haven't found the look you want that will be efficient for you.
groovdafied said:
You have to remember that sense is closed source, so it can only do so much. Most widgets that I've found have extra functions for 3rd party launchers such as the ones you've listed.
If you want to hid or get rid of apps, the only way to do that is to hack-uninstall the apps (from what I've been reading around here). Not sure about being "clear", could you be more clear with that? I'm guessing you want transparent widgets?
You can use Desktop Visualizer to help you with your hidden text labels. I use that in combination with folder organizer and launcher pro. Launcher Pro is pretty well designed IMO. It does what sense does, plus more and there's a lot of widgets that seem to support it. You should take a look at the Launcher Pro screenshots created here, there's a lot of excellent customization that I believe will meet your demand. It's possible that you haven't found the look you want that will be efficient for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your thoughts. Does LauncherPro have scrollable email and agenda widgets like Sense? (I know it has messenger although I don't love the implementation...)
I would like to have the notification bar off the (top of the) screen so I can have a full screen. If I want to see it I would just touch the top and it would appear and drag down as usual to see notification bar. I do not want to change my launcher as I would rather modify that one feature only.
If anyone could direct me how to do this on my own or with an already available application I would be very grateful.
Im on stock (rooted) G2 Tmobile Rom.
Yo I know you said you didn't want to change your launcher BUT if your using LauncherPro like 90% of the rest of the android community give Go Launcher a shot, it has the almost the EXACT same features as LP but it also includes the ADW ability to set actions for swipe up and down on the home screen (not just the dock) so you can hide the bar and then set down swipe on the home screen to pull down notifications, that's what I do
I just use ADW Launcher, it works very well, i don't care to change launcher.
LOL you don't wanna change your Launcher hmm ur a tuff cookie guy. Joking but for real Launcher Pro is the Best well in my opinion.
I like adw, more customizability. You can do it on lots of launchers but as far as I know you can't do it outside of the launcher. What launcher are you using now? Stock?
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
BryanKatz said:
Yo I know you said you didn't want to change your launcher BUT if your using LauncherPro like 90% of the rest of the android community give Go Launcher a shot, it has the almost the EXACT same features as LP but it also includes the ADW ability to set actions for swipe up and down on the home screen (not just the dock) so you can hide the bar and then set down swipe on the home screen to pull down notifications, that's what I do
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will not take sides, but adw ex have more options in settings than LP. and can I ask where you read that 90% of users use android LP?
Yea it seems that I needed to replace my rom to fix it as it was a rom based feature.. thank you for all your assistance.
Nothing came up in the seach so thought I'd get some input on launchers. It would be nice to hear why you prefer certain launchers over others.
Feel free to add my rom and kernel are great, I dont bother with any extra launcher.
Ive been using Go Launcher for a while now, I really like it.
A quick thing I noticed was that they put a settings button back on the bottom with back and home where it belongs. Not sure why google took this out, theres room for it.
The abundance of customization is nice.
Lots of homescreen transitions (I love the cylinder one)
Lots of dock control, really like how clicking and swiping a dock icon can launch separate apps.
App drawer settings are good, I really dislike the iphone horizontal page turn set up of the standard app drawer so having a vertical scroll is a great option. Changing the grid size, easily hiding apps, having the all/recent/running tabs.
Gesture settings, already so many ways and apps to get to things quicker, having this built in is a bonus. I got used to it in dolphin browser so it was a welcomed addon. Also simple things like swiping down anywhere on the screen to pull down the notifications bar is something Im not sure I could go without now.
Nice theme selection, Although I dont bother with any.
Lots of other great GO apps and go widgets.
I used to really like the whole menu system they have when you long press on a homescreen to pull up widgets, wallpapers, themes etc until ICS added the widget previews right in the app drawer. Thats missing in Go Launcher and is one of the few things I wish it had.
I have liked Apex a lot. Seemed like I could setup a single 6x6 screen with smoothness better then I could with Nova. In both cases I used the betas with Jelly Bean patches in them.
Also, there is a whole thread here about launchers:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1771170
whitedragonz83 said:
Also, there is a whole thread here about launchers:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1771170
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice, I guess since I put favorite in the seach it didn't come up.
My favorite is whatever comes stock on my current ROM. To me, the advantages of different launchers aren't that great to have to mess with one more thing.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Nova Prime
i have nova prime but since jellybean i've taken a liking to the stock launcher.
nova prime
I use Apex. I would use stock but I need a scrolling dock
After mostly lurking XDA for some time, I'm starting to get more involved here. I just broke down and purchased ADW EX, to setup a custom theme. I'm looking to use a combination of icons from Aw0ken ADW Theme, Elegant, and Simple Text. Naturally I'd like to use ADW EX, as I just purchased it, like it's options, and is compatible with the icon packs I like.
What I need to figure out is how exactly I can specifically edit different icons in the app drawer it's self. I find it relatively simple to change them on the home screen, but see no obvious way to change them in the drawer. My OCD in me is having a hard time here. Too many apps that I use regularly, either do not have a icon in the pack(s) at all, or one that does not look aesthetically appealing imo.
TL;DR - I'm open to any options that could get me to a result in which I could mix and match icons from different packs. Specifically, I want them to mix and match in the app drawer. Can't seem to get to any edit mode there, after trying long presses and multi-presses of icons.
Thanks in advance, let me know if I need to elaborate.
The app drawer that lists all of your applications, or the dock on the bottom of the home screen? Pretty sure u can't edit in the app drawer itself...
DMF1977 said:
The app drawer that lists all of your applications, or the dock on the bottom of the home screen? Pretty sure u can't edit in the app drawer itself...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The app drawer itself. I know nova launcher lets you, my problem is that I don't see a way to make one of the icon packs work for it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
I use nova prime, and have for a while, and there is no way to change an icon in the app drawer itself!