GO Launcher EX is the extra version of GO Launcher, one of the most popular stock home replacement app in android market, provides beautiful themes, fast flip speed and tons of useful functions. Don't know how many of you use it. Its very fast has an inbuilt task killer also!!
Check out the website!!
http://www.goforandroid.com/
I've been using GO Launcher for a while now, it's by far the best out there. Only strange thing i noticed is that with GO Launcher EX you need to install a separate module in order to have missed call and message notifications down in the dock.
Can you organize apps into different categories?
Destroyer-XDA said:
Can you organize apps into different categories?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No but u can put them into folders.
Awsme launcher thanx
I've tried other launchers and this is the only one moving smoothly on my Optimus. In addition to that it has icon personalization and you can make those annoying never-used apps disappear in your app menu.
it has enough customization options and the battery use is quite low. A must-have!
very good ...... n.n
Go Launcher EX in my opinion has to be the best one out there.
I am one of the people who actually enjoyed Touchwiz at first....well, until my app drawer reached over 10 pages (That's 160 apps and I even had the bloatware hidden with TiBackup)
Anyways. I have just this completely crazy and awesome thing going with Go Launcher on my phone. The best thing is, I've gone from 10 pages all the way down to 4. This launcher has so much customization and features, and on top of it all, it runs extremely fast.
I have posted several screens of what I have done on my phone using Go Launcher as well as just some screens so people can see it and understand it more.
The 1st is a preview of the ui swiping side to side, the 2nd is all my home screens, the 3rd is what the new app drawer looks like (notice the folders INSIDE the app drawer), the 4th is just all the options I have on my main home screen. The 5th and 6th Images are showing how you can switch the dock back and forth. The 7th is showing the modded facebook app available here on the XDA and my personal mod of the Picture Dial widget. And the last is the Screen Shortcut Screen (when you pinch the screen at home).
I hope you all enjoy.
NOTE: The "theme" I have is purely from the customization features I had available. I did not mod it at all (with the exception of one widget) nor did I actually create a theme for the Launcher like those which are available for ADW.
You can find almost all of what you see via internet. I had to photoshop a few icons (you'll notice them on the screen shots showing my different dockbars as those images are more recent).
gunna have to give this one a try adw launcher just isnt cuttin it for me any more
Using 2.3.2 Mur4ik ROM what I find is that Home Manager shows both Go Launcher EX and stock launcher are running at the same time, stock can take up to 40mb RAM, and second that for Go Launcher EX, so I've changed to stock because I want more mem and when I AutoKill stock then Go launcher Running tab says there's more ram.
How can I customize stock 2.3 launcher?
I need to change number of screens to 3 from 5, I don't need more.
Is there any way to create folders in menu instead in "desktop" only?
Screen transistions are not my priority, but Go Launcher is much user friendly anyway, and allows quick access to most commonly used options by me.
Yeah just hold one app and drag ontop of another to put them both in a folder
Sent from my GT540 using XDA Premium App
How much memory did you say Go Launcher used up? when I'm in it's app drawer tab and kill everything I can only get a max of about 150 out of a possible 303Mb
I will say that you can clear up some memory if you "Freeze" your default launcher using Titanium Backup.
Oh and one of the coolest things about Go Launcher is that since I made a Titanium Backup of it before changing Roms, when I got my phone back up and running again, all I had to do was go into Go Launcher's Preferences, scroll down and hit restore configuration (I had made a back up, can't forget that) and all my custom icons were restored. I had to add my widgets back manually, but that wasnt too big of a deal (I didn't make a titanium backup of that, but I think you can).
...hold on, actually Titanium Backup just restored all my apps, the Go Launcher's configuration is completely separate from titanium backup. GO Launcher creates it's own folder on your SD card for it's backups. It's pretty cool.
Soooo..... has anyone happened to have talked to the developer or anything to find out about making custom themes? I haven't had any experience making themes for other launchers, but I'd like to give a shot at making one for Go Launcher and I haven't seen anything on how to make one unfortunately.
nice but crashes too frequently
for my it is the best launcher for now, and in the oficial page says that it going to have customs themes
Is there any way to decrease the number of screens? I find it incredibly irritating to see have 5 screens, I only need and use 2.
I found GO Launcher to work best with stock 2.1. There are buch of themes for it, but only several of them are good for me.
revan17 said:
Is there any way to decrease the number of screens? I find it incredibly irritating to see have 5 screens, I only need and use 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just swipe up, and you'll get all screens.
i used SPB Shell 3D and its great no FCs icons can be modified you choose any interface like iphone, samsung galaxy and HTC style
This app jus got better!!! besides its all new awsome looks,its fast n smooth!!
I love this launcher as you can resize widgets and mess around with almost anything in it.
Sent from my GT540 using XDA App
Related
it's amazons free app of the day. pretty neat function, im using it to replace the long press for multitasking. runs smoothly
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
I thought about posting this too when I downloaded it earlier today. But then I tried it out and found that its really not for me.
Agreed, I looks like a great idea, but doesnt function as good as it could. Not for me either.
I downloaded Wave Launcher and I'm attempting to make use of it. My current setup is ADW.Launcher EX, Folder Organizer, and Beautiful widgets. I really liked this setup, but I'm looking for a new look for my phone. Having five Folder Organizer widgets on the desktop is pretty sweet. I can get to the 20ish programs I use all on one home screen via the folder organize widgets.
I was hoping to use Wave Launcher to re-do my setup so make the home screen more "empty" and clean.
The app is very easy to setup, but its use seems a bit limited. I was hoping to be able to have multiple Wave Launchers so that if I swiped from the left side of the screen it would like X apps, if I swiped from the right side of the screen it would display a different set of Y apps, and if I swiped from the bottom it would bring up a different set of Z apps. Unfortunitally, the app only allows for one swipe location and one set of apps to launch.
I am going to keep it installed, and I am going to try to make it work for me. I can free up some screen real estate via Wave Launcher, though I'm not sure what to launch with it. Should I put in my most used apps? It does make them a bit harder to launch versus having links on the screen or a Folder Organizer widget on the scren. So should I put some apps I don't use often into the wave launcher so that they don't use screen real estate as either links or a folder organizer widget.
Long story short... this launcher seems to be a great idea. A swipe motion brings up a "waved bar" with links on it. However, those links are harder to "choose" since you have to slide your thumb / finger into the right place, so folders might work better. However folders take up screen real estate. So... its a good idea, and it might work out for me. I wish that there were more options like the ones lacking that I listed above.
We'll see what I come up with over the next few days.
DK
SwipePad is A LOT better!
https://market.android.com/details?id=mobi.conduction.swipepad.android
I too got this from amazon but while I was playing angry birds it kept popping up alot and pissed me off so... I uninstalled it for now!
I just keep forgetting it's there. until it comes up at the worst possible moments.
facetubespam said:
SwipePad is A LOT better!
https://market.android.com/details?id=mobi.conduction.swipepad.android
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 it was slow to start but they keep making it better with the add-ons and speed increases
Sent from my GreyBlurred Bell Atrix
+1 for swipe pad, nothing comparable so far.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Swipepad drove my cpu usage up to 100%, ive been using wave launcher and it has been working fine. I really like how it looks like the palm os wave which is what i came from. Pretty nifty.
this app was making Contacts appear when I clicked PowerAMP. Had to uninstall Wave Launcher then reboot phone so PowerAMP operates properly.
Sent from my Motorola Atrix 4G using Tapatalk
Wave Launcher
mario925 said:
this app was making Contacts appear when I clicked PowerAMP. Had to uninstall Wave Launcher then reboot phone so PowerAMP operates properly.
Sent from my Motorola Atrix 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can customize the size and location of Wave Launcher's gesture-area, try "Bottom Left - 20%" in the "Gesture-area presets" setting.
Upcoming version of Wave Launcher will allow 3rd party apps to disable / enable Wave Launcher. (Currently supported by the upcoming version of WidgetLocker) It will also include a quick disable/enable option via the notification bar.
DeathKoil said:
I downloaded Wave Launcher and I'm attempting to make use of it. My current setup is ADW.Launcher EX, Folder Organizer, and Beautiful widgets. I really liked this setup, but I'm looking for a new look for my phone. Having five Folder Organizer widgets on the desktop is pretty sweet. I can get to the 20ish programs I use all on one home screen via the folder organize widgets.
I was hoping to use Wave Launcher to re-do my setup so make the home screen more "empty" and clean.
The app is very easy to setup, but its use seems a bit limited. I was hoping to be able to have multiple Wave Launchers so that if I swiped from the left side of the screen it would like X apps, if I swiped from the right side of the screen it would display a different set of Y apps, and if I swiped from the bottom it would bring up a different set of Z apps. Unfortunitally, the app only allows for one swipe location and one set of apps to launch.
I am going to keep it installed, and I am going to try to make it work for me. I can free up some screen real estate via Wave Launcher, though I'm not sure what to launch with it. Should I put in my most used apps? It does make them a bit harder to launch versus having links on the screen or a Folder Organizer widget on the scren. So should I put some apps I don't use often into the wave launcher so that they don't use screen real estate as either links or a folder organizer widget.
Long story short... this launcher seems to be a great idea. A swipe motion brings up a "waved bar" with links on it. However, those links are harder to "choose" since you have to slide your thumb / finger into the right place, so folders might work better. However folders take up screen real estate. So... its a good idea, and it might work out for me. I wish that there were more options like the ones lacking that I listed above.
We'll see what I come up with over the next few days.
DK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can also use it for:
direct-dial contacts.
Any Android shortcut, not just apps.
Show recently-used apps
Show its built-in app-drawer (by swiping or by long-pressing the gesture-area
I'm response to LoirG I use the wave launcher to open folders from folder organizer which helps open space on NY homescreen. Wave launcher is one of my more valuable apps. It has a learning curve but the limits are almost endless
Sent from my rooted 1.8.3 Honeyglow themed Gingerblur Atrix
the stock launcher for sgs2 is touch widz.
i'm used to it and did not find anything seriously wrong with it.
due to curiosity, i tried out other launcher such as launcher pro. go launcher. zeam launcher, adw launcher.
many users like to support their favourite launcher, and often bash at other launchers.
but honestly i feel they are all very similar. just some minor difference.
non of them are perfect to me,
launcher pro: epic fail due to vertical scrolling app tray, hard to find the app i want. cant create folder in app tray
adw launcher: cant create folder in app tray, otherwise very similar to launcher pro. at least got horizontal app tray
go launcher: nice effects, able to create folder in app tray, but battery drain, so fail
touch widz: very nice, but has bug, apps in folder gets rearanged randomly each reboot
zeam launcher: cant make folder in app tray
so finally i'm using touch widz. it has a neat trick as well to be able to pinch to zoom at the app tray, not useful, but nice effect.
despite the problems i find in other famous launcher, they are still highly popular.
is there some other goodness that i miss out?
or is there some major flaw in touch widz that i dont know of?
please enlighten me.
(tell me the hidden pros of other launcher, or fatal weakness of touch widz)
apparently it's the "hip" or "in" thing to do.
just go with what you want. I personally prefer touchwiz as well.
There is no flaw with twlncher. After u modify something in app drawer, u need to press menu > save to keep the changes after reboot.
Twlauncher is my fav launcher, I tried 10+ other launchers, but twlauncher is the best to my liking.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
I don't hate TouchWiz.
I actually do like it, there's a lot of good things about it and things I like better when compared to the "original" Android launcher.
I prefer GoLauncherEx though (it's what I use on my "daily use setup") because it gives me even more options for customizing my launching and app browsing experience - for one I love cusomizing my stuff and I am also one of those with like 4398 icons on their desktop (and similar as much apps on their homescreen) so the 7 screens of TouchWiz are just not enough for me and GoLauncherEx allows me to use virtually unlimited screens.
my 2ct
Stick with what you like. It's the only thing that matters, not the opinions of others (Esp deluded fanboys).
PS - I do NOT prefer TW, but, that's my opinion.
Ray1 said:
the stock launcher for sgs2 is touch widz.
i'm used to it and did not find anything seriously wrong with it.
due to curiosity, i tried out other launcher such as launcher pro. go launcher. zeam launcher, adw launcher.
many users like to support their favourite launcher, and often bash at other launchers.
but honestly i feel they are all very similar. just some minor difference.
non of them are perfect to me,
launcher pro: epic fail due to vertical scrolling app tray, hard to find the app i want. cant create folder in app tray
adw launcher: cant create folder in app tray, otherwise very similar to launcher pro. at least got horizontal app tray
go launcher: nice effects, able to create folder in app tray, but battery drain, so fail
touch widz: very nice, but has bug, apps in folder gets rearanged randomly each reboot
zeam launcher: cant make folder in app tray
so finally i'm using touch widz. it has a neat trick as well to be able to pinch to zoom at the app tray, not useful, but nice effect.
despite the problems i find in other famous launcher, they are still highly popular.
is there some other goodness that i miss out?
or is there some major flaw in touch widz that i dont know of?
please enlighten me.
(tell me the hidden pros of other launcher, or fatal weakness of touch widz)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it seems you're judging launchers on a very limited number of criterion. creating folders on homescreens, included widgets and themes, ability to configure and modify themes, and widget resizing are just a few other factors. i use 'Go' and battery drain is not an issue for me at all, actually, at (on average) <10mA consumption it tested better than the others for me. but these are mostly subjective evaluations.
also, TW and other stock launchers for other phones (i.e. Sense) are NOT evil. actually, i really like sense. but often stock launchers mean tolerating other stock crapware, and that's not something i was willing to do.
those are my thoughts and opinions...but when it comes down to it, the user-interface affects the user-experience. which again is not objective.
trying to convince someone that the TW launcher (or Go, or whatever launcher) is better than another is like trying to convince someone that chocolate ice cream is better than vanilla.
Ray1 said:
epic fail due to vertical scrolling app tray
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why do you consider that feature a epic fail? I personally prefer it since horizontal paging is to slow. I use vertical with Zeam launcher since with horizontal I have to swipe my finger over my screen repeatedly (anything over 4 times starts to feel like a waste of time)
With vertical I flick once and it scrolls the whole way and at any time I can press my finger to stop it in the middle. Or smoothly scroll slower.
1 second vs 10 seconds to get to the end of the list.
But I am not trying to force the feature I think all launchers should provide the toggle-able option after all that is why I like Android, the options.
ADW Launcher EX is what I use as my daily driver and is by far the smoothest I have used.
I find TW the less responsive of them all and customization is just none existent. It's a good launcher to say it came stock with the SII but for people like me who like to customize their launchers and the overall experience, TW is simply not enough.
My top 5:
1) ADW Launcher EX
2) LauncherPro Plus
3) Go Launcher EX
4) Zeam Launcher
5) Nemus Launcher
Rizur.
I have been playing around with my tab 10.1 for a while now, and considering to change the launcher for another one.
Is they're anyone around with a experience using adw ex?
Looks nice but would love to hear some users ...
I have tried to instal go launder ex, but Al lot plugins in the market show not compatible with your device....
Suggestions?
Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk
I am using adw ex pro and it works like a charm. So far no problem. The only thing is, when you try to move your apps from one place to another place on the screen, you might get confused
But it works so smooth and fast
gokhansancar said:
I am using adw ex pro and it works like a charm. So far no problem. The only thing is, when you try to move your apps from one place to another place on the screen, you might get confused
But it works so smooth and fast
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yup
I'm using ADW Ex and I wouldn't go back to something else.
So fast and smooth that it makes you wondering why google can't get a better launcher. Maybe ICS will be the answer...
ADW EX is the best for our tab. Day and night difference when compared to stock launcher
I am in the same boat as everybody else and I agree with everything everybody has already said.
Think i Will buy this one then ... Thanks
Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk
Related question, does anyone have insight on free version of ADW? It seems to do most of the same stuff, just curious if there are features on the paid version that would be must-haves.
Differences between ADW.Launcher and ADWLauncher EX
ADWLauncher EX is based on the ADW.Launcher opensource core with a lot of new additions and improvements, like for example:
-5 different app drawer styles/behaviors
---3D Nexus One like application drawer
---2 different plain vertical drawer styles, the "old one" and a new fast and smooth one
---2 different Iphone-like horizontal application drawers, a traditional paginated one and a new one with continuous fling
-Different desktop transitions: new animations while navigating through your desktop screens. Try them all, they're crazy!!!
-New Icons configurations/look and feel: Tweak your desktop icons, change its sizes, add coloured backgrounds, change font size, color, etc!
-New fast presets mode: Quickly change the whole desktop configuration by 1 click!
-Editable desktop icons for applications, shortcuts and folders!
-Lots of code improvements
-More, more more to come!!
thats straight from the market hope this helps
Thanks, I did read that on the market. I guess my question was more related to actual use and experience, but I guess I will just go ahead and try the free version, and if it doesn't do enough of what I want I will buy the pro version. I just didn't want to spend a lot of time working on it just to have to do it all over again if I upgrade.
I totally agree.. ADW EX is definitely the way to go here. I haven't found anything that even compares. It's good on my Droid X but when they ported it to the tablet they added so many nice touches!
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Funny, the free version was available two days ago, but now says it is not compatible with my device...
Guess I'll cough up the $3.32 to check this out.
Bought this launcher and happy with it!
Thanks, have to put in some more time add there are a lot of options here!
Thanks!
Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk
I'm using ADWLauncher Ex, and i'm very happy with it.
Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk
I guess I'm alone in thinking that adw is trash but oh well. Prior to using trebuchet on the ics kang I used SPB shell 3d. Its 15$ but its completely worth it, imo. Go launcher isn't tablet ready yet and probably won't be for awhile. Or you just flash the ics kang and be done with it (and save the money)
I have both AdwEx and SPB Shell on my tab. I like adw way better. SPB shell looks good but I think it compromises productivity for the look.
Just purchased ADW EX after reading through this thread, liking it so far , very quick and responsive. I'll be sticking with it for a little while.
i use go launcher just because i can make folders in app drawer. i find i gets super cluttered when you have 20+ games all the **** Samsung apps and Google apps you suddenly start to see three pages of apps. i never find what i just downloaded if i want to try some new app/game, so its nice to putt all games in one folder all productivity apps in one etc.
so far non of the other launcher have this feautere. oh and iphone like uninstall, just hold down on an app and click red x to uninstall. brilliant.
larsenfaen said:
i use go launcher just because i can make folders in app drawer. i find i gets super cluttered when you have 20+ games all the **** Samsung apps and Google apps you suddenly start to see three pages of apps. i never find what i just downloaded if i want to try some new app/game, so its nice to putt all games in one folder all productivity apps in one etc.
so far non of the other launcher have this feautere. oh and iphone like uninstall, just hold down on an app and click red x to uninstall. brilliant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, bought adw but the ability to create folders in app drawer is a plus. If adw had this feature it would be amazing. That and the option to
to use the home soft button to open app drawer.
Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk
So umm, I see a lot of people talking about "changing the launcher". But I do not know what a launcher is. I see it in my settings (running MIUI on my Infuse 4G).
So my question, and yes I know I probably sound like a knowledgeless-fool. But, what is a launcher?
A launcher is an interface replacement that gives u a new home screen and app drawer. U can customize it a lot according to ur choice
Best are go launcher, adw and launcher pro
I think this will help you. if it does please THANK me.
Sent from my Blade
Like ICS said, a launcher changes your homescreen and appdrawer, making it prettier and sometimes even more useful. I haven't used MIUI personally. Maybe it comes with a launcher, and maybe it has some features that a new launcher would duplicate. I know CM7 comes with ADW Launcher.
My favourite things about LauncherPro: First, you can change the homescreen grid size. Second, you can swipe between multiple docks. You can make dock icons link to activities, not just applications. And you can assign different shortcuts for swiping a dock icon. So if I press the phone icon, it goes to the dialer; if I swipe it, it goes to the call log. Plus any launcher is going to be prettier than stock, but MIUI is beautiful itself.
There's no harm in trying out a couple of different launchers. I prefer LP, others prefer Go or ADW. I know Go and ADW are much more theme-able. The only thing is that with a rom like MIUI that already looks good, a new launcher might look out of place.
Launcher is the bit you see and use when your not running an app or making a phone call.
You can change it easily by going to the android market and downloading a new one like nemus launcher or go launcher ex.
Once downloaded they will auto install. You can try the new launcher without changing your current one by pressing phones home button.
Menu pops up asking which launcher to use, choose the name of the new one and try it out.
If you want to keep it press home again but before choosing new launcher this time tick the box it shows saying "use as default launcher".
If you don't like it just do the same with the tick but choose your original launcher instead.
Dave
Sent from my LG P920 using Tapatalk
I.. do not understand.. So it is like a theme?
Not exactly. It's a replacement.
For example, suppose ur running the stock eclair with the slide up vertical app drawer
Now, u want a button to launch the drawer., and u want it to be horizontal. How will u do it?
Enter Launchers
It replaces the drawer with its own, and its own dock bar
In short, it is not a theme, but a replacement that CAN BE THEMED
Sent from my Blade using xda premium
You know Sense, AOSP and Touchwhiz? Well they are default "Launchers"
Launchers can be downloaded from the market w/o root.
They are like a different style of homescreen...
The launcher is the programm you use to launch or start an app on your phone. The launchers UI (User Interface) is what you see as your home screen. Changing the launchers behaviour means changing the way icons are displayed or the pages flip. It lets you customize the way your phones OS feels and looks.
Does this answer your initial question?
Andy
Sent from my DesireS using XDA
Exactly on my mind
Well.put
Sent from my Blade using xda premium
If you are running ICS, Nova Launcher is a good one to check out too. It can be found in the Google Play Store. There is a pay version, but the normal one is fully featured IMO. Of course, try out a few and see what you prefer for your setup. When I hit the home button on my phone, it lets me select which launcher it uses by default so you can swap them out.
Nova launcher used to be (arguably) the best free Android launcher - until now - so what's better?
Unfortunately, the day after Branch Analytics acquired Nova launcher, it grew in size by 150% (8MB to 12MB) without anyone noticing that "something" huge (but as yet unknown) is going on inside of the previously venerable Nova launcher.
So now, I, like anyone else who is logical, is in the market for a new "best Android launcher" app APK.
But which Android app launcher replaces the venerable Nova free APK?
Mostly what I loved about Nova was that the homescreen could be organized by any grid - or no grid (see screenshot example below).
What best launcher do you recommend to replace Nova [now that Nova was sold out and as such, it has (apparently) gone over to the dark side]?
I take you're on a Samsung device?
One UI shreds Nova on my N10+; faster and uses less battery even has some features Nova lacks. It's missing a trick or two that Nova can do. One UI is rock solid stable on my device, no issues.
After a 3rd party launcher boot looped me twice, back to back over 2 years ago I stopped sampling them One UI won.
blackhawk said:
I take you're on a Samsung device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. But I've been using Nova free launchers since the dawn of time on Motorola, LG, and other phones - simply because Nova did what nobody else could do - which was allow me to place any icon on any grid or no grid at all.
But now that Nova went over to the dark side - it's time for a new "best launcher" that works for more than just one brand of phones.
blackhawk said:
One UI shreds Nova on my N10+; faster and uses less battery even has some features Nova lacks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With batteries being five amps and more nowadays, I don't have any problem going days without a charge, but it's interesting you say that you found that one launcher uses more battery than another.
I've never tested how much battery power two different launchers use. But I've done a lot of battery power testing over the years.
The fact is that you can only use one launcher at a time - so it would be hard to test two of them side by side given only one can work at any given time frame on any one phone.
Sure you can test two launchers with two exact same phones side by side, but did you really run a test that detailed to conclude what you did?
Given that practical problem set, how could I tell if one launcher used more battery than another?
blackhawk said:
It's missing a trick or two that Nova can do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Besides putting icons on any grid (or no grid at all), what I next like best about Nova is I set up EVERY phone in the house, for years, with the same well-managed set of apps and icons.
Motorola
LG
Nexus
Samsung
They ALL have the same homescreen.
For years and years and years.
Note that what you do on a computer never changes so the organization of the homescreen never changes.
Does the Samsung OneUI launcher save a backup file to be used on any brand of phone?
Nova launcher easily saves a backup file which is imported into the new phone. It's TRIVIAL to re-install all the apps in the EXACT same place from the old phone to the new phone, even when you move from an LG phone to a Samsung phone.
There's no way any Samsung launcher could possibly do that, right?
blackhawk said:
One UI is rock solid stable on my device, no issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My only experience with One UI is that I originally saw it when I got a handful of Samsung Galaxy A32-5G phones from T-Mobile for free.
I didn't like it at all but maybe it does the two most important things that Nova free does?
1. Put any icon on any grid (or no grid at all), and,
2. Save a backup file of the homescreen to load onto any other device
Note that this backup file includes all installed apps in the location that they are installed in - which - for me - is important since EVERY app icon is placed in an EXACT location for a reason.
There's a third thing I love about Nova free launcher but I don't know if it's part of the launcher or part of Android 12, which is:
3. Place a widget INSIDE any folder on the homescreen
Is THAT last feature of being able to resize a widget and then place it INSIDE a folder on the homescreen part of Android 12 or Nova launcher? (If it's part of Nova, then can One UI do that too?)
blackhawk said:
After a 3rd party launcher boot looped me twice, back to back over 2 years ago I stopped sampling them. One UI won.
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I have nothing against One UI because my only experience with it was that it was the first launcher I saw when I received my free Samsung phones from T-Mobile and the last Samsung I had was about ten years or so ago (the S3) but what I asked on the Samsung groups what apps from Samsung were worth getting just about a month ago.
Is there any app in the Samsung Galaxy Store worth the login requirements?Note the screenshots show you can resize widgets and then place those resized widgets INSIDE folders on the homescreen.
That homepage is way too busy and not AMOLED friendly at all.
In 24 hours this is what One UI used...
One UI supports folders which are a lot better than burning up pixels. Over time this will happen. I rotate my icons, folders and widgets to spread out the wear. The icon packs are red for a reason, red pixels have the longest lifespan, blue the shortest. No wear if a pixel isn't light and it's easier on your eyes.
I'm not too concerned with backup. I want a clean load if I have to factory reset to avoid doing another one. The current load on this phone is over 2yo and running strong. I keep a screenshot to help with setup. SmartSwitch will preserve some homepage settings but it can also cause issues.
Apex Launcher Classic, get the PRO and Apex Notifier.
You can use ancient Launcher and Icon packs, I've kept many old Apex Themes from 2013 and on, and they all still work with the latest Apex Classic.
Offers the same features as Nova.
Its clean.
I understand you are looking for a FREE launcher, but with the launcher being so integral to your device experience, maybe thats the one app you should be prepared to pay for.
I have been using what I think is the most powerful and customizable launcher. Not only does it do the few things you mentioned:
Put any icon on any grid (or no grid at all), and,
Save a backup file of the homescreen to load onto any other device
Note that this backup file includes all installed apps in the location that they are installed in - which - for me - is important since EVERY app icon is placed in an EXACT location for a reason.
Place a widget INSIDE any folder on the homescreen (yes thats launcher specific)
So it does ALL what you listed (i know its a quick list), but also (among many MANY other things..)
Folders inside folders, inside folders.... and widgets n deep in the folder structure
Any widget can be Resized, Scaled (Different to resize which I think is more on the widget to resize itself), Rotated, transparency, Skewed (think parallelogram), positioned to a decimal pixel position
All visible (or even hidden transparent hot-spots) have complete control of the event (eg start ab app, start a script etc) or I *thinik* even multiple actions (I dont use that feature)
All items covered by 3 above also have short AND long press events (Tap, Long Tap, Swipe Left, Swipe Right, Swipe up, Swipe down) I personally have transparent hot-spots (on top of other widgets that respond to their default tap), that I swipe uy[p on to turn on AUID and down to turn off AOD. I also have a long press on my navigation, which turns on GPS, Bluetooth (to connect and call handsfree), starts my music player, starts playing the music and finally starts the Navigation app ready to navigate.
Lots of visual effects such as shadow of the text
Control of the Font, Size, position/offset
"Reflections" on the icons, as if they are hovering above a crystal clear pool/puddle of water
You can have/add code to make your own things. There is an example out there how to add a analogue clock simply with code. Well beyond any of my needs.
and on and on and on...
My personal experience is, if you can imagine it, then there is a way to do it. I have been using it since gingerbread, and as I upgrade device and/or ROMs, I use the backup / restore to get the launcher config started. NB: The private widget data/config doesn't come across in the launcher backup, but a "fallback" image/placeholder is show, reminding you of how you previously had it set up. So although there is a steep learning curve, and with ALL the different options/function can take some time to set up how you want, a lot will transfer onto your next device or ROM. But since its a paid app, you can only run it on one device at a time.
Now, the thing to REALLY take note of, the default set-up on first install is utter TOTAL rubbish ,and so are the preview/demo images on the PlayStore. It really is a case of "if you can imagine it, you can do it"
Oh, and the launcher is called "Lightening Launcher Extreme"
The following are some screen shots I qui8ckly snapped, but the actual config is of course very personal. And because its so customizable, I can do things others will hate I just quickly flashed through the screens I personally use the most in set-up, but didn't scroll through anything or ensured I got everything that is beyond the screen and there are many more options/features I dont use; or even know about.
Part of the problems Nova is having maybe the same that ones Samsung is having dealing with scoped storage and other changes starting with Android 10. I have 2 N10+'s, one still running on Pie, the newer one on 10. The look and behave almost identically except the Android 10 has a 100 or more small Samsung system apks.
I prefer Pie because it's easier to troubleshoot and provides better functionality for trusted apps. I don't even want to see what 11, and especially 12/beta 13 look like. Maybe it's not so much Nova but rather Android that has turned to the dark Apple side...
imonxda said:
Apex Launcher Classic...
Offers the same features as Nova.
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Thanks for that suggestion of the Apex Launcher to replace the functionality of the Nova free launcher, specifically:
a. Place homescreen folders on any grid, or no grid at allb. Export homescreen and import into ANY brand of phonec. Resize widgets and place widgets INSIDE folders
Assuming the free version of the Apex Launcher is this one...
Apex Launcher by Android DOES teamFree, contains ads, contains in-app purchases, requires GSF,rated 4.2 out of 354K reviews with 10M+ Downloads
That sucks in terms of requiring GSF (Nova free doesn't spy on us with GSF, and no app should ever need to use GSF calls) and requiring ads (again, Nova free doesn't have any ads and no launcher should, IMHO); but unfortunately, the description on the Google Play Store doesn't say whether Apex Launcher can do the three most important things that I feel ANY "best" launcher should do (see above).
Bear in mind there are a billion app launchers, where there's a good REASON Nova free was almost universally hailed as the best out there.
If Branch Analytics didn't take over TeslaCoil software, I wouldn't even be LOOKING for a better app launcher... (sigh)... but no free app launcher with ads and lack of privacy can possibly be on the list of the "best" there is.
That's just impossible (IMHO of course).
No app can be the "best" if it has ads and if it sucks out your privacy.
BTW, I know full well what I'm asking is NOT an easy question to answer... otherwise I'd have found the answer already, but I do appreciate the suggestions.
In order to be "better" than Nova free, it can't be worse.
GalaxyA325G said:
Thanks for that suggestion of the Apex Launcher to replace the functionality of the Nova free launcher, specifically:
a. Place homescreen folders on any grid, or no grid at allb. Export homescreen and import into ANY brand of phonec. Resize widgets and place widgets INSIDE folders
Assuming the free version of the Apex Launcher is this one...
Apex Launcher by Android DOES teamFree, contains ads, contains in-app purchases, requires GSF,rated 4.2 out of 354K reviews with 10M+ Downloads
That sucks in terms of requiring GSF (Nova free doesn't spy on us with GSF, and no app should ever need to use GSF calls) and requiring ads (again, Nova free doesn't have any ads and no launcher should, IMHO); but unfortunately, the description on the Google Play Store doesn't say whether Apex Launcher can do the three most important things that I feel ANY "best" launcher should do (see above).
Bear in mind there are a billion app launchers, where there's a good REASON Nova free was almost universally hailed as the best out there.
If Branch Analytics didn't take over TeslaCoil software, I wouldn't even be LOOKING for a better app launcher... (sigh)... but no free app launcher with ads and lack of privacy can possibly be on the list of the "best" there is.
That's just impossible (IMHO of course).
No app can be the "best" if it has ads and if it sucks out your privacy.
BTW, I know full well what I'm asking is NOT an easy question to answer... otherwise I'd have found the answer already, but I do appreciate the suggestions.
In order to be "better" than Nova free, it can't be worse.
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Click to collapse
Yes, absolutely correct, Apex Launcher DOES NOT have all the features your looking for, but AndroidDOES has brought back the Classic launcher (I'm assuming because of popular demand) it is called Apex Launcher Classic - this is FAR superior to the new-ish Apex Launcher. BTW, some of the best features of Apex Classic are unavailable without the paid Pro but most features work with free version.
As for privacy concerns, you can use something like My Android Tools Pro, it will tell you exactly what an app like Apex is doing behind the scenes and it gives you control over all hidden activities. https://www.myandroidtools.com/ it has been kicked out of Google play store, I don't know the reason, but I've been using this app for years, I have never seen any evidence of malware in it, and it has revealed the spying, reporting activities, and ad activities of all other apps I use and I can actually STOP these activities, I trust it.
It takes a bit of getting-used-to, but it works great once you do (get used to it). Some advice, check the About in settings for automatic detection of newly installed or updated apps feature, and check the Apps tab at the bottom, then select any app and then tap "see all component info", this is really helpful and easily overlooked feature.
@DiamondJohn That's a cool Launcher I've never heard of, I will certainly check it out
GalaxyA325G said:
Nova launcher used to be (arguably) the best free Android launcher - until now - so what's better?
Unfortunately, the day after Branch Analytics acquired Nova launcher, it grew in size by 150% (8MB to 12MB) without anyone noticing that "something" huge (but as yet unknown) is going on inside of the previously venerable Nova launcher.
So now, I, like anyone else who is logical, is in the market for a new "best Android launcher" app APK.
But which Android app launcher replaces the venerable Nova free APK?
Mostly what I loved about Nova was that the homescreen could be organized by any grid - or no grid (see screenshot example below).
What best launcher do you recommend to replace Nova [now that Nova was sold out and as such, it has (apparently) gone over to the dark side]?
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Love Niagara launcher
Pear Launcher - Apps on Google Play
Download Pear launcher — a launcher designed for performance and customization.
play.google.com
Just started using this app and it's pretty good so far