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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!
U guys tried out LL yet?? Its pretty impressive as in speed and how different it is..im rockin wit it for now
Was reading this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1523859 and there was a mention of lightning. So I am trying it now. Seems to be a completely different approach to launchers. Kinda liking it. Not sure if it is just the "newness" but i am going to stick with it for a bit and see. Really like the approach except would like to see a horizontal and vertical options for the home screen. I would definitely recommend people to give it a shot.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
Looks interesting, think I'll give it a try.
Edit..Hmmm. this is really different. Can't figure out a way to add any widgets except their own ones, can't figure out a way to add dock items. Not for me. uninstalling
There is no dock.
Have to spend a dollar on the LL widget add on. (There's always a catch)
I still like the creative concept. Been using it for a couple of hours and is taking some time to break the traditional launcher layouts. Still haven't defaulted it though as i do like GO Launchers features. Time will tell.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
I like it. Nice and simple. Thanks for pointing it out.
Yeah thanks for mentioning this, I'm using it now too..
Kinda disappointed at the $.99 cost to use widgets outside of his, but otherwise it's pretty cool, definitely not like the other launchers I've used
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I like the concept behind it using next to no RAM. Otherwise though I'm just not feeling it.
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Thanks for everyones feedback..i thought it was different..u know how we are..gotta try to it all to find the best!! Im bout to throw this beta cm9 on so i might come back to it lol...happy rooting!!
OK, my mind is now officially blown. Lightning Launcher has turned my Android world upside-down.
With Froyo and GB, I happily used LauncherPro - Had to have my scrolling dock and nothing else really mattered. On CM9, I experimented with Zeam (my favorite dock--smooth scroll instead of paged) and Nova (really nice-lots of options-but IMHO the dock wasn't as good as Zeam) and Go (blecch-too many links to commercial sites for me). I'm now on CM10 and tried Trebuchet (blah), Apex (really nice-a lot like Nova) and was using Zeam, then Holo HD (nice-a lot like Nova and Apex). I still missed the smooth-scrolling, scaled-down icons in the Zeam dock, though.
Today, I went on a quest for the "perfect" launcher and ran across a really good thread on the Experia S forum that lays-out all the launcher options -->here
For no particular reason, I decided to try Lightning. Holy #@$%! It is sooo different from the rest (and no dock either, but I'll see if I can do without it). It's a whole new way of approaching launchers - no pages, no grid if you don't want it, no sizing limitations, free rotation of elements, just one big zoomable scrolling page. I'm sure there are a lot more options to explore. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. And I CAN put my old favorite widgets on there without an additional paid app. The possibilities are seemingly endless. There's a 10 minute video demonstration of Lightning in the Play Store that sucked me into loading and trying it.
Just wanted to share this with all of you fellow Epic users - I now have a new toy that will keep me occupied for hours and hours :laugh:. Lightning might be cooler than Android, itself.
Al
Clean and simple. I dont like the fact all your apps seem to be right on top of each other though
Figured it out. Make less columns in the app drawer.
I can't seem to find it where do you get it.
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bigboose1234 said:
I can't seem to find it where do you get it.
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Click to collapse
Its in the play store. Just search "lightning launcher" and it should be the first one.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda app-developers app
I just downloaded this and noticed a few things that others may find useful.
First, the any widget addon is free
Second, a dock effect can be achieved by pinning the items you would otherwise place in a dock bar. First, press the home key to center the screen (or you might pin an item off-screen, making it useless). Then long-press to enter editing mode (or menu->customize). Then position your chosen icon where you would like to stay (relative to the physical screen). Then long-press the icon and select customize. From there, go to common item settings and scroll down to the pinned option. Click the ball to turn it green, then check the box. Now the icon will stay in place as you scroll and zoom, just like a dock. The only problem (or feature, depending on perspective) I've found is that pinning an icon at the bottom of the screen in portrait mode will cause it to be off-screen in landscape mode - it will take some experimentation to get things just right. A similar problem exists for the right side of the screen in landscape, causing the icon to be off-screen in portrait. Basically, the position is based on the top left corner, so you could make a dock along either of those sides without issue, as long as they are not longer than the short side of the screen (you'll see what I mean, if my description isn't clear enough)
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda app-developers app
styles420 said:
I just downloaded this and noticed a few things that others may find useful.
First, the any widget addon is free
Second, a dock effect can be achieved by pinning the items you would otherwise place in a dock bar. First, press the home key to center the screen (or you might pin an item off-screen, making it useless). Then long-press to enter editing mode (or menu->customize). Then position your chosen icon where you would like to stay (relative to the physical screen). Then long-press the icon and select customize. From there, go to common item settings and scroll down to the pinned option. Click the ball to turn it green, then check the box. Now the icon will stay in place as you scroll and zoom, just like a dock. The only problem (or feature, depending on perspective) I've found is that pinning an icon at the bottom of the screen in portrait mode will cause it to be off-screen in landscape mode - it will take some experimentation to get things just right. A similar problem exists for the right side of the screen in landscape, causing the icon to be off-screen in portrait. Basically, the position is based on the top left corner, so you could make a dock along either of those sides without issue, as long as they are not longer than the short side of the screen (you'll see what I mean, if my description isn't clear enough)
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the report, styles. I'll give that method a try.
This Lightning Launcher has some amazing capabilities but is pretty complicated to navigate all the settings and options. Still worth the effort for me, tho -- it's fun to learn new stuff.
Al
arschend said:
Thanks for the report, styles. I'll give that method a try.
This Lightning Launcher has some amazing capabilities but is pretty complicated to navigate all the settings and options. Still worth the effort for me, tho -- it's fun to learn new stuff.
Al
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is an interesting concept with a lot of potential, but there are still some blatant rough edges... for example, using a wallpaper image or any transparency will cause the icons to streak and leave trails while zooming and panning. It can be considered a neat effect, but basically the screen doesn't truly redraw - each frame is just drawn on top of the existing one, so you need to use a solid color bg at with absolutely no transparency to cover the previous frame and eliminate the trails. I'll be keeping my eye on this launcher though
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda app-developers app
Hmmm...I just tried this with one of my standard wallpapers from my gallery and had no issues whatsoever. Everything scrolls and zooms above the wallpaper layer, although scrolling wallpaper would be nice.
FWIW, I'm running stock CM10, 9/26 nightly.
Had it on my nexus s....it was the slim roms base launcher
Sent from my SPH-P100 using Tapatalk 2
OscarTangoMike said:
There is no dock.
Have to spend a dollar on the LL widget add on. (There's always a catch)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can fake a dock:
- Create a folder
- Insert phone, browser etc in it and arrange it
- Keep the center of the screen free from other widgets
- Set folder settings not to close, if an app was startet
Now you have permanently (as long as you don't click on free space of the desktop) a dock in the middle of your screen.
Yes, a dock (even a scrollable one) is very easy to set up = create a panel at the bottom or on the side, add icons (with AllApps icon as menu launcher), pin it. You can have it scrolling sideways like Nova, or up/down, all inside the "dock" panel.
For the last two years I have been using ADW Launcher. When it came out at the end of 2010 I paid for ADW_EX. It has been great for me. I have tried to use the TouchWiz on the S3 but there have been two main things that kept me from using it regularly. One was fixed (by an answer in another forum).
The one that was fixed was the ability to have shortcuts to individual files on my home screen. In ADW I was able to create a shortcut with Astro File Manager. For some reason Astro does not have a way to do this with TouchWiz. Then someone pointed out that a long press on a file in ES File Manager would create a shortcut. I use a lot of individual files and that feature was great.
Now the last deal breaker for me is the lack of a 5x5 icon grid. Again, in ADW you can have a choice of icon numbers both horizontally and vertically. While 6 or 7 is too much, I like the choice. 4x4 with that gigantic screen indicator is useless. I use a couple of big widgets on my main screen and there is no room left for the important icons.
Now for the question. Is there any way to create a 5x5 icon grid on stock unrooted touchwiz?
From my point of view, Samsung is copying Apple by limiting the choices and configurability. If we could choose our icons and how they act, it would be a lot less like Apple. Personally, when I try an Apple device, I get frustrated because of the lack of control I have. I don't like someone else making my choices. One last part of my rant: I recently tried Windows 8 on a laptop. It looks like everyone is trying to copy Apple.
All this is because the motion scrolling features and eyeball sensor are TouchWiz only. I would like to move my phone to move icons around. I would like to keep the screen on time short to save battery but still be able to have it stay on when I am reading a long web page.
I'm pretty sure all the TW features stick around even if you use a different launcher. I know smart stay and tap to top work on Nova and those are the only ones I use.
Edit: all the motion features still work on other launchers. I just went through them all. Liberate yourself. I use Nova.
Alternatively, if you are rooted you can find a modded stock launcher. Or even flash a more heavily modded rom. This is where Android shines anyway. Not because of what the manufacturers allow, but what open source allows!
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
dkmdlb said:
I'm pretty sure all the TW features stick around even if you use a different launcher. I know smart stay and tap to top work on Nova and those are the only ones I use.
Edit: all the motion features still work on other launchers. I just went through them all. Liberate yourself. I use Nova.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use nova also with the motion featres
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This is my first idea for anything smartphone related so please do not flame me or call me names! Okay. So my my idea is for a launcher design, and maybe an OS later, where the idea of Windows OS and IOS come together under Android software with a custom GUI never before seen. This is going to be very hard to explain since I just got this off the top of my head; Basically the UI is 'Circular' and fluid while requiring less clicks and menus through the entire phone compared to all the other operating systems. Here's an example, The dock is scrollable to the left/right and when scrolled you see these options:
1. (Home Screen) Menu-Home-Return, 2. (Notifications) Instead of reach up to the top of the phone the bar slides up, 3. (Phone) Phone-Contacts-Message-Internet, 4. (Camera) Camera-Editor-Video
To make the UI more fluid and smooth the 'Open" action for these apps isn't to click them, like a button, but to slide them up from their position on the dock. Like so, 1App / 2App / 3App Grab the number 2 app and slide up which it then opens like a vertical page(imagine windows 7 mobile unlock screen) except that it directly opens the app like it was waiting there the whole time to be opened.
The second part is the "app drawer" which is non-existent in this launcher, like in IOS, because the home screen serves as a widgets / app drawer where the apps are accessed by sliding down the dock, which leaves a button to return the dock, and then sliding left and right.
The neat part is that the "Real" home screens are seemingly connected to the app drawer. To put it basically, if the dock is up and you swipe the screen you are swiping through the home screens. If you lower down the dock nothing on the screen changes, except the dock, and then if you swipe you're suddenly in the apps/widgets.
To place a widget on the screen you swipe it up to the screen selection, you select a home screen by scrolling horizontally through a bar above the widgets and the apps, in which it "loads up" your selections into something I call a "Case" where it stores the apps and widgets for that specific home screen until you're down selecting and tap the home screen. After you enter the screen the "Case" slides up from the bottom, with the dock on top to keep the dock usable, and then you can place the items one by one specifically.
To adjust the size of the widgets or X items touch and hold the item and then pinch outwards to expand.
I have more of this design in my head but I want to know what you guys, and gals, think of this launcher and/or OS.
Sounds cool, but I like my app drawer. Lol. That's the main reason I don't use MIUI.
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oh wow
d3athsd00r said:
Sounds cool, but I like my app drawer. Lol. That's the main reason I don't use MIUI.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
Thanks for reading my post! =] Everyone on here thinks they're too good to post on such an insignificant thread. lol
I agree with you about the app drawer actually that's why I mentioned the "seamless" integration of the app drawer with the home screens.
In my honest opinion I'd prefer a full renovation of the android layout to give it some new life.
No problem. I'm always interested in what ideas people have, and yours sounds really nice, but also very deep in the android framework.
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oastval bellum,
Even I was thinking of something similar and tried to find on net but there isnt anything like it. I like the idea of just sliding the homescreens into app drawer and then coming out to quick settings like the ones motorola has, and then back to homescreen completing a circle. In MIUI it gives an iOS feel but a transition to black background for App drawer like windows UI with the sliding effect would look awesome. kinda like meego effect...
Do tell if you find anything like this or lets just cook up one of our own...
I would try it!
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SSLauncher
Hey,
Did you find/make anything as per your idea?
I found this launcher SSLauncher which is really cool
lets you do a lot of stuff. Give it a try maybe. You might be able to fill a lot of your requirements. There are like wild home screens that people have created with it.
I've switched from a Note 4 to an S6 Edge and I love my new phone, but there are two things I miss and I'm wondering if there is a hidden setting somewhere that I'm missing: large album art on lock screen and infinite scrolling of home screens. Looking to keep touch wiz and don't want to root.
I'm also interested on this topic. I haven't been able to find the option to enable infinite scroll on my S6. I was able to deactivate the Magazine page by unchecking the box at the top but it won't scroll to the left after it reaches the home screen.
jrobertiko said:
I'm also interested on this topic. I haven't been able to find the option to enable infinite scroll on my S6. I was able to deactivate the Magazine page by unchecking the box at the top but it won't scroll to the left after it reaches the home screen.
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Click to collapse
Thinking this is more Samsung conforming to Googles guidelines and using lollipop as they intended. Another annoyance is the lack of alphabetical order in the app draw again a lollipop thing.
I think a launcher maybe the only option.
PaulGG said:
Thinking this is more Samsung conforming to Googles guidelines and using lollipop as they intended. Another annoyance is the lack of alphabetical order in the app draw again a lollipop thing.
I think a launcher maybe the only option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best thing to do if this is important to you is download a launcher. Nova is a really good one and I can confirm that it does offer infinite scrolling, as well as many, many other options. 5 pages of docks, scrolling left/right or up/down, etc.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher