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ADW.Launcher
So, after trying out a few Home Launchers, I have settled upon ADW.Launcher. I must admit, I didn't think anything would be able to replace Helix Launcher, but ADW has all of the speed, eye candy, tweaks, and features that I am loving right now! I also love the feature of Tag Home, which has labels for your different apps when you open the drawer, so I do wish it had that. But aside from that one feature, everything else on ADW OWNS!!!
- It can have up to 7 screens (9 would be great though).
- You can hit nexus style buttons on the bottom to flip to the next screen, instead of sliding with your thumb across the screens (which sometimes hits icons and launches them instead of sliding, I guess because our screens aren't the most sensitive anymore - always happened to me, so I appreciated this navigation option. Does anyone else have this problem? Or needing to swipe a few times to get it to go to the next screen?).
- Since we don't have multitouch, we can't pinch-to-zoom out on our home screen to preview all of our screens. ADW overcomes this via TWO Preview methods:
Method 1: When you hit the home button from any of the screens, or...
Method 2: You can preview JUST the screens to the left or right of whichever screen you are on at the moment, by holding down on the nexus style buttons on the bottom-left or bottom-right, flanking the dock
- The animation of the screens sliding left and right looks awesome.
- You can choose either Galaxy Spica S style navigation of your apps, or the 3-D Fly-In (which I prefer), when you open the drawer. Unfortunately, no option for just sliding the drawer up I don't think.
- You can choose which of your 7 screens (or 5 or 3, whatever) you want to be your "Home" screen (very cool!).
- Customizability:
-you can adjust the speed that you change screens
-you can adjust the "overshoot"
-you can adjust the speed of the Fly-In when opening drawer
-you can adjust the tint of the docked icons
-you can adjust the size of the docked icons
-you can hide the app titles
-you can show or hide the background screens when apps or the app drawer is open, and also adjust the shading of them
-You can customize almost everything!!!
- There are still more features that I haven't discovered yet
I found the creator's thread here, he's an xda member of course
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=645550
And a Youtube video here of many of the customizable features:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5gRgpuQE_k
I just installed ADW.Launcher from the Marketplace.
Please feel free to leave your Home Launcher reviews in this thread if you like! Tell us why you have chosen what you have, and which features are particularly important to you and why. Hopefully this will help people or newbies to be able to weed out the less useful or non-working launchers. Maybe I'll start a poll too
Reserved. Just because I've always wanted to be in a position where I can "reserve" posts like devs lol.
Thanks for the post. Id like to see some reviews of the other launchers in this thread.
Launcher Pro is Good As Well. 2.1 only though
thebulletfromhell said:
Launcher Pro is Good As Well. 2.1 only though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about a review?
Just tried it out for myself. Great launcher. The only thing I miss from Helix is the double tap to preview. The button isnt super hard though. ill have to make my way to the dev to suggest
blindguyinanorgy said:
Just tried it out for myself. Great launcher. The only thing I miss from Helix is the double tap to preview. The button isnt super hard though. ill have to make my way to the dev to suggest
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which launcher are you talking about? If it's Launcher Pro, then yeah, I agree with you, that's why I went back to Helix, and since then have stuck with ADW. I love the preview!!
helix had preview with double tap on background. preview does rock
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)
DISCLAMER and WARNING: I'm not responsible for bricked devices, dead SD cards, thermonuclear war, or the current economic crisis. Please do some research if you have any concerns about this app.
THIS IS PREVIEW!
Distribution policy:
This app provided exclusively on xda-developers, please post link to this thread instead of copying files to other resources, so users will be able to track changes and report bugs in one place.
However, I allow distribution in the rooting/sideloading packages such as MinimalTouch, Nooters, etc..., but only if credit/thanks and link to this thread are given and I'm notified.
Preview version attached.
It's still missing features, but fully functional as my (and few other testers) daily driver.
Known bug (not implemented/fixed yet): Not working in force landscape.
Also, this app is straight from my nook signed with debug keys, once beta will be launched you will have to uninstall and reinstall.
I travel at least every other week, so I have little time to dedicate to the project.
I'm considering to move source to github, so that other developers can contribute in order to speedup development.
Plz PST me if you are android dev and interested.
OLD TOPIC:
subj!
I found myself not liking android type home on my NST, but I do not have good design/look and feel ideas (Of course besides Partial Refresh and gamma friendly functions).
Please drop ideas and if we can come up with something interesting I can implement it.
Update:
Features to consider:
* http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/gadgetlab/2010/01/dsc00387.jpg
Recent added files widget
* High contrast icons and text, e.g. http://www.asus.com/websites/global/products/47XM7SydX7IhkXP3/theme.jpg
* Partial refresh
* Ability to open as dialog (as soft keys) with soft keys?
* app Drawer widget?, similar to https://market.android.com/details?id=com.th.android.widget.SiMiFolder
Yeah that kind of things sounds great.
Personally, I think that a mix between the (stock) nook launcher and a standard android launcher could be interesting.
For example, a screen with the last opened books (if it is possible) + links to favorite apps or something like that
BTW, there is already a Nook specific launcher (Relaunch). It has interesting features but I don't use it as I don't really like how it looks ...
mdall said:
Yeah that kind of things sounds great.
Personally, I think that a mix between the (stock) nook launcher and a standard android launcher could be interesting.
For example, a screen with the last opened books (if it is possible) + links to favorite apps or something like that
BTW, there is already a Nook specific launcher (Relaunch). It has interesting features but I don't use it as I don't really like how it looks ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Relaunch looks terrible.
I'm thinking of partial refresh/color theme friendly aosp launcher with widgets for recently added books and will have to check about last access info.
May be high contrast recent/running apps widget as well.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using xda premium
i have a idea, cause i think some limitation of the eink display
i don't think we need too many scrollable effect, this only have one page at the main screen
it would be simple & high contrast
attached is some demo
chriscsh said:
i have a idea, cause i think some limitation of the eink display
i don't think we need too many scrollable effect, this only have one page at the main screen
it would be simple & high contrast
attached is some demo
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Click to collapse
Awesome, I like it. Will start tinkering next week.
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chriscsh said:
i have a idea, cause i think some limitation of the eink display
i don't think we need too many scrollable effect, this only have one page at the main screen
it would be simple & high contrast
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great demo, I like it too.
I´m using Zeam launcher 2.8.8.
yeah i like the demo of chriscsh too...
(maybe round the corners, the squares are too windows phone like )
and Id like to have a bar or something where you can place books with covers like on stock home or your demo...
the idea with a "native" nook touch launcher is very exciting
rev0l said:
yeah i like the demo of chriscsh too...
(maybe round the corners, the squares are too windows phone like )
and Id like to have a bar or something where you can place books with covers like on stock home or your demo...
the idea with a "native" nook touch launcher is very exciting
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't even remember how the stock home looks like lol!
XorZone said:
I don't even remember how the stock home looks like lol!
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Click to collapse
I know what you mean
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp?PID=35699#productimg
Guys mayby the best idea would be to edit stock home app, in order to look like that image from first post http://www.asus.com/websites/global/products/47XM7SydX7IhkXP3/theme.jpg
I think it is so cute.
I think the idea of a NST specific launcher would be great. I prefer Zeam, but am using Go launcher because of widget management. Go Launcher allows you to resize widget once created AND there is a simple click here to delete. I have always had a problem deleting widgets using Zeam because I can't always tell when the widget is in the trash bin, i.e. 2x4, or 4x3 widgets. If the nook launcher could have go launcher like widget management that would be great OR if you go with the trashcan idea once item is in can have an x or something like that appear on the widget.
Well, i think it would be easier to use a modified version of a popular launcher. The things that would need to be changed are transitions, animations, contrast and colours(nook touch themes i suppose).
To i use to minimize refreshing and ugliness i use Do it theme for go launcher ex, the change the app drawer background to a white one(just a white.png) and a wp wallpaper. The transitions for both the desktop and the app drawer is named shutter(go launcher ex, haven't tried others).It lets me go through the app drawers with out a full refresh. One last thing i did was changed the Icon set to the default.
It would be nice to have a small widget with next calendar envent (taken from google calendar acount) on the launcher
How is called the clock widget in second post before?
IF you are talking about my post, its Wp clock .Not really a widget as it replaces your wallpaper with the clock.
There are a couple of *minor* things wrong with the android standard launcher types;
1) Colors should be inverted. Most are black with colored icons over them. This makes sense on color LCDs, particularly AMOLED displays, because it saves power. Not on eink though.
Instead of colors on black, it should be colors on WHITE.
I am using golauncher, it is ACCEPTIBLE when the proper THEME is applied and background images are changed to plain white backgrounds.
2) Scrolling. Eink displays DO NOT SCROLL. The ideal launcher would get rid of all scrolling/moving/swiping/whatever cuteness effects and just flip from one state to the final without ANY intermediate states.
Features I'm thinking right now:
0. Based on aosp launcher or launcher-plus (at least partially)
1. Ability to set size of the app launch button to 2x1 or 3x1 as in http://www.asus.com/websites/global/products/47XM7SydX7IhkXP3/theme.jpg
2. Option to set higher contrast to the icons as I do in quicknav in my mod now.
3. I plan gestures in addition to arrow buttons, but w/o any animations.
4. Instead of darg'n'drop to uninstall and maybe for homepage cell action selection I plan to show action select popup.
5. Widgets with popups covering part of the screen for all apps, settings, recently added files (selected by the masks, e.g. *epub, *.fb2, *.txt, etc.) if possible with covers
6. Back/Menu/Home/Search buttons will not require root (will not show granted root Toast at top) if launcher running with my mod.
WOW!!! If someone did a launcher that looked like this
with partial refresh for the nook touch, I would pay for it with pleasure, its gorgeous!
Hope this idea dosnt die, and development starts on this.
Mantain us informed XorZone, and thanks!
eded333 said:
Mantain us informed XorZone, and thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In progress. Unfortunately I'm flying a lot this weeks so can not concentrate on this atm.
Looking forward to it, thanks for the update, and keep us informed when you have time to advance on this.
Thanks
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 $.99 cost to use widgets outside of his, but otherwise it's pretty cool, definitely not like the other launchers I've used
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA
I like the concept behind it using next to no RAM. Otherwise though I'm just not feeling it.
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Thanks for everyones feedback..i thought it was different..u know how we are..gotta try to it all to find the best!! Im bout to throw this beta cm9 on so i might come back to it lol...happy rooting!!
OK, my mind is now officially blown. Lightning Launcher has turned my Android world upside-down.
With Froyo and GB, I happily used LauncherPro - Had to have my scrolling dock and nothing else really mattered. On CM9, I experimented with Zeam (my favorite dock--smooth scroll instead of paged) and Nova (really nice-lots of options-but IMHO the dock wasn't as good as Zeam) and Go (blecch-too many links to commercial sites for me). I'm now on CM10 and tried Trebuchet (blah), Apex (really nice-a lot like Nova) and was using Zeam, then Holo HD (nice-a lot like Nova and Apex). I still missed the smooth-scrolling, scaled-down icons in the Zeam dock, though.
Today, I went on a quest for the "perfect" launcher and ran across a really good thread on the Experia S forum that lays-out all the launcher options -->here
For no particular reason, I decided to try Lightning. Holy #@$%! 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
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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
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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.
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Click to collapse
I use nova also with the motion featres
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