Develop Bugs

OpenHome and Bettercut

So far I've stuck with free apps from the Market, haven't seen the need to spend money on one yet. But, I've been reading a lot about how people are using BetterCut to change icons, etc., (still not sure how that works, but I haven't spent much time on it, too busy flashing ROMs!), and I've just found OpenHome.
Two questions: Is BetterCut worth buying and what does OpenHome do?
Thanks!

ElectricWraith said:
So far I've stuck with free apps from the Market, haven't seen the need to spend money on one yet. But, I've been reading a lot about how people are using BetterCut to change icons, etc., (still not sure how that works, but I haven't spent much time on it, too busy flashing ROMs!), and I've just found OpenHome.
Two questions: Is BetterCut worth buying and what does OpenHome do?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Open Home is a home launcher (others are Launcher Pro and ADW). Basically it is a replacement for the Sense GUI (or home) you see
They have a free version of open home that you can try out. I believe the feature it banks on is its "live" folders. Personally i had a LOT of force Crashes but it was a while ago now.
I personally recommend Launcher Pro as a home replacement or ADW launcher
As for bettercut. If you want to change your Icons for individual apps then yes it is worth it. (i use app organizer and just make folders for groups and custom icons for the folders)

ElectricWraith said:
So far I've stuck with free apps from the Market, haven't seen the need to spend money on one yet. But, I've been reading a lot about how people are using BetterCut to change icons, etc., (still not sure how that works, but I haven't spent much time on it, too busy flashing ROMs!), and I've just found OpenHome.
Two questions: Is BetterCut worth buying and what does OpenHome do?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i haven't tried openhome, but i love bettercut. you can see the different icons i have implemented on my dock, and a few on my screens. as you may have guessed, on the dock, camera, phone, app drawer, handcent, contacts, market, where, app drawer again, maps/navigation, remote droid, browser, voice search, barcode scanner, note monkey, and weatherbug elite. i've also made a toggle for silent mode (the ninja, lol), and a custom yelp icon
totally not necessary, but i like the customization, and i think the icons looks tons better than stock. and, there are oodles of them to pick from. you can even use downloaded icons sets from your pc, just load the folder onto your phone.

timothydonohue said:
i haven't tried openhome, but i love bettercut. you can see the different icons i have implemented on my dock, and a few on my screens. as you may have guessed, on the dock, camera, phone, app drawer, handcent, contacts, market, where, app drawer again, maps/navigation, remote droid, browser, voice search, barcode scanner, note monkey, and weatherbug elite. i've also made a toggle for silent mode (the ninja, lol), and a custom yelp icon
totally not necessary, but i like the customization, and i think the icons looks tons better than stock. and, there are oodles of them to pick from. you can even use downloaded icons sets from your pc, just load the folder onto your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To change the icons on the dock you dont need bettercut you can do that through LauncherPro itself. Though the ninja silent icon and the yelp one you needed it for since they are on the screen itself.

omegasun18 said:
To change the icons on the dock you dont need bettercut you can do that through LauncherPro itself. Though the ninja silent icon and the yelp one you needed it for since they are on the screen itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ah yes, you're right. but, if i didn't have the apps loaded on the dock, i'd want to change the icons anyway

[Q] How To Customize Folder Icons

First of all I apologize if there is already a thread for this. 30 minutes and about 200 google searches later I have not found what I'm looking for.
Basically what I want to do is create custom folder icons for the folders i have on one of my homescreens. For the sake of organization and saving room, I've grouped app shortcuts into folders, but all the folders look the same. I would like to change the folder icons. I downloaded Better Cut thinking that would help but maybe I'm just not doing it right. Any suggestions or tips will be greatly appreciated.
Let me know if screenshots are needed to further explain what exactly I'm trying to do.
Setup:
Fresh 3.3
AmonRA Recovery
King's #11

You using Launcherpro? That lets you change icons, if not you can try Desktop Visualizer. I just use Smart Shortcuts then create a shortcut to my shortcut lol

I've been using "Apps Organizer" by Fabio Collini. It includes icons and works really well. Instead of creating folders, it allows you to categorize your apps and then add the categories to your home screen as a widget. It also lets you "star" items, so that you can have only the apps you use most often in each category be listed first, or be the only things displayed.
There is a minor delay when you click on categories that have a lot in them, but I find this a great way to manage my apps.
Hope that helps.

Apps Organizer is doing exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the help.

Folders

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.

[Q] I'm going to be switching from an iphone....Will the nexus/android do this...

Hey guys,
I have finally decided to make the switch to Android with this phone, however I do have a question I was hoping to answer before I switch...
One of the features I missed on my Iphone was being able to turn on my phone and have the homescreen display my outlook calendar and to do list(windows phone). I have tried doing some research and some hands on the Verizon store so I know about widgets...although the ones on the droidx I played with were very small.
So my question is...can I set my homescreen to give me half the screen worth of outlook events/tasks and then move everything else to other pages? Sorry if this is a repeat/stupid question but I appreciate the help!

The calendar app has a widget which will show your calendar apps, you can sync to outlook via various means including exchange activesync for your e-mail.

You also can download a app like Jorte it has several different widgets sizes like. 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 of the screen size.

I use Launcher Pro Plus. Great widgets (calendar, agenda, facebook, tweeter, etc). I hope app will get updated for ICS

Also the CalenGoo app has tonnes of different size widgets for all your needs!

kkh786 said:
Also the CalenGoo app has tonnes of different size widgets for all your needs!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this looks like it will work great!
soon as I switch there will be no more excuses why I forgot to do something!

you can also install widget locker and display all of this on your lock screen (the initial screen you see when you turn the screen on)

Haha as you see there are many ways to do things on Android. +1 for Possibility.

you can do almost anything on android. super customizable! That's the beauty of Android.

Jorte can do this

There is also an app called Pure that is a highly customizable widget for your ToDo app of choice and Calendar, and looks much better IMHO. Jorte is the best calendar I've seen and that's what I use as an app, but with Pure you can skin the widget (I like highly transparent) and set all sorts of options so it looks perfect on the home screen...
So yes, the beauty of Android is you have TONS of options to do what you are looking for... Granted I haven't used an iPhone before, but I venture to guess you'll have many more options than you have now.

[Q] Suggestions for Alternative apps for weather, photos etc.

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.