I had ordered this without ever even giving touchwiz a thought. Figured the phone would show up, I would play with it about 5 minutes, install new launcher, never look at touch wiz again. After I ordered it I downloaded the user manual and did some reading and it appears that there is some interesting and useful work here that without having the phone I think I like. Watching videos to see if I could see some of the stuff in action seemed to me to confirm that there is some good stuff there.
My question is how are you liking touchwiz? Not the phone, the phone with touchwiz. I Have encountered an older version and was left heavily underwhelmed. Please be specific, I like this, I hate that, and give a reason. If its just because that works fine but have a reason.
Remember guys this is mostly about opinion and little about fact. Leave folks be with theirs and vice versa.
edit.... Also please add in your predilections toward flashing roms, or not, as it were. An opinion from a daily flasher is much different than one from someone who never flashes and runs the stock rom.
I thought I'd hate it but I'm actually really liking it! Some features I love:
- The lockscreen is great and you get little tabs you can slide when you get a text or missed call.
- You can reject a call with a text message (So handy)
- Resizable widgets
- Customiseable dock
- Hold down 'Menu' for search in apps
- Quick settings in the notification tray
- Movable homescreens
- Customisable app tray
and more Besides you could always replace it with another launcher and I'm sure custom ROMs are on the way.
I changed it within seconds to launcher pro. However the drawer in launcher pro isnt smooth at all, im actually thinking of changing back.
rocketpaul said:
I changed it within seconds to launcher pro. However the drawer in launcher pro isnt smooth at all, im actually thinking of changing back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Go Launcher EX
It is faster than Launcher Pro
I have a lot of time flashing roms and all that fun stuff so I have an idea about the possibilities going that route. Going to edit the op in regards to people adding their experience and preferences as far as flashing roms and such go. Thanks for your input. As a question Im on a custom rom now and the widets are all resizable. Are you talking about the touchwiz widgets then?
Another question would be can you access some or all of the touchwiz widgets from another launcher or do you give them up?
krabman said:
Another question would be can you access some or all of the touchwiz widgets from another launcher or do you give them up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you go use a third party launcher, you usually lose access to manufacturer widgets, since they work in a slightly different way from plain stock ones...
But if you go Launcher Pro Plus (it's a couple of dollars for the plus version) you get more "custom" widgets like that in return I guess it just depends what look you are going for.
So you have the handset and can confirm they are toast? Figured they would be but I haven't done touchwiz yet.
krabman said:
So you have the handset and can confirm they are toast? Figured they would be but I haven't done touchwiz yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, hence why I say "usually". I've been in this business for a while, but not got the SGS II yet.
I have to admit that I like Touchwiz. On SGS, I dont have a SGS2 yet. In my opinion, Samsung Glass lockscreen is a way better than the Android stock lockscreen.
At the moment I'm in love with Zeam laucher but I always come back to Touchwiz from time to time. Launcher Pro and ADW have always left me cold.
Did more reading, I see that you can change the fonts system wide. Does this carry over to a new launcher or do you lose that? Pretty nifty feature.
In my personal opinion, touchwiz 3 was dire. But after using my Galaxy S II for a few days touchwiz 4 has come a long way. I'm sticking with Touchwiz for now
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
I've been playing with the demo models at the office solidly for the past 2 days, and as a Sense users for the past 2 years, I really don't like Touchwiz even in it's newest incarnation.
Probably more down to being used to how everything works in Sense though, I don't like change
Touchwiz 4 is a huge improvement over 3 in my opinion. Using it on both my SGS and SGS2 now. The new calendar widgets on the SGS2 are awesome as well Touchwiz 4 can also put folders in the applications menu now
Semi-regular flasher (ooer) - would generally flash a new rom every couple of months. Been with Android since the G1 so have a pretty good idea of what's possible.
Things you KEEP going to another launcher:
Lockscreen
Dialler (reject call with text etc)
Holding down Menu to search
Settings toggles in the notification bar
You can resize widgets with LauncherPro Plus
Things you might LOSE
Movable homescreens (most launchers do this, but not with the motion sensing twist action like touchwiz)
Customisable app tray (again, most launchers do this)
Resizable widgets (possible with LauncherPro Plus)
Customisable dock (most launchers do this)
Overall, I don't miss the touchwiz launcher, but I like some of the other features. Looks like the Samsung widgets are standard and work in other launchers too - just added Mini Paper, Ap Mobile, and Yahoo! Finance, and they seem fine.
krabman - I've changed my system font to Helvetica S (Settings -> Display -> Screen Display -> Font) and in general it looks great! Carries over to most apps too. The only downside is that it's slightly wider, so you get some buttons wrapping For example, the password "Remember / Not Now" dialog has one, I forget which . . .
Overall, ditch the launcher (I like LauncherPro, smooth for me) but enjoy the other aspects
TW4 is not as bad as many are saying. its still not nearly as good as SENSE 2.x. and I wont even attempt to compare it to the new 3.0 version. I sure hope someone port it.
darkalchemist said:
Touchwiz 4 is a huge improvement over 3 in my opinion. Using it on both my SGS and SGS2 now. The new calendar widgets on the SGS2 are awesome as well Touchwiz 4 can also put folders in the applications menu now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, playing with both the SGS and SGS2 and yes it is an improvement for sure, but I am still not liking the iphonish looks.
DJGibbon said:
Things you KEEP going to another launcher:
Lockscreen
Dialler (reject call with text etc)
Holding down Menu to search
Settings toggles in the notification bar
You can resize widgets with LauncherPro Plus
Things you might LOSE
Movable homescreens (most launchers do this, but not with the motion sensing twist action like touchwiz)
Customisable app tray (again, most launchers do this)
Resizable widgets (possible with LauncherPro Plus)
Customisable dock (most launchers do this)
Overall, I don't miss the touchwiz launcher, but I like some of the other features. Looks like the Samsung widgets are standard and work in other launchers too - just added Mini Paper, Ap Mobile, and Yahoo! Finance, and they seem fine.
Overall, ditch the launcher (I like LauncherPro, smooth for me) but enjoy the other aspects
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You pretty much mentioned what I was about to! Using launcherpro plus with widgetsoid and pure calendar widget. I have to say that launcherpro work a bit smoother on the original SGS for be, but with the upcomming update that should be fixed.
Overall, combining the best of what I had on my SGS before, with the new functions from touchwiz 4!
Related
Since the day the Galaxy s came I've fallen in with loved Touchwiz as matter of fact it is one of the reason i will not be trading in my Vibrant for Nexus s, well until touchwiz is ported nexus s at least.
But I've notice others with vibrant and other galaxy s phones hate Touchwiz and i want to know why? Please leave response as to why you love or hate touchwiz?
I like some things about TouchWiz...but...
its not customisable
the icons are too big and iphone-like
a lot of screen real estate is lost because everything on the homescreen is too big (should have grids of 5x5 instead of 4x4)
I like the app drawer...jumping to screens when clicking the small dots etc
and its quite fast for me
I really like touchwiz to. I tried launcher pro and adw and i really didnt like them. But i did just installed nero from tw and the gingerbread launcher is sweet.
Fear the beard...
For me it's not so much the TW Launcher as it is the widgets. I've found that I really use Feeds & Updates and Daily Briefing quite a lot, and though there are vaguely comparable ones, none of them have grabbed me.
The notification bar is also unique and extremely useful, so much so that Cyanogen largely copied it.
I think the biggest reason why people hate Touchwiz is because it has been blamed for much of the initial lagginess of the phone. Now we know this is largely not true.
It's childs play to use another launcher however, and people may prefer widgets that do not bind to TW. To each his own, which is the true beauty of Android.
What I don't like about TouchWiz:
-the page indicator on top can't be turned off or set to auto-hide
-the dockbar icon labels don't match the rest of the UI (they don't have black bubbles around the text, it looks mismatched)
-cannot change the number of rows on homescreens
-no swipe actions (ADW ruined me for swiping down anywhere on the screen to get the notification pulldown)
-no activities shortcuts (Wireless AP requires a shortcut!)
-seems to run slower/laggier than ADW or launcherpro
What I do like about TouchWiz:
-FEEDS AND UPDATES
-FEEDS AND UPDATES
-FEEDS AND UPDATES
Soooo much better than the Facebook widget...
Edit: I use ADW.Launcher myself and love it. I really miss Feeds & Updates though.
The app drawer can not scroll like a stock android launcher.
The docks can not be customizable to the level Android allows.
The icons look like an iPhone - AND I hate scrolling left to right (and I dont like the view for scrolling up/down)
I switch ROMs often, TW does not backup it's settings like LP/ADW can.
Other than those things, TW is great... I also prefer the widgets that come with LauncherPro Plus and the speed/customizations that it allows. TW COULD be able to duplicate those features..... but until it does, no thanks.
I love touchwiz. Love the left to right scrolling of the app drawer.love the look and feel. Love the icons. The dock icons are custamizable. This is one reason i dont like custom roms without touchwiz because i love it sooo much.
Things i hate. You cant hide the notification bar and it starts to Burn into your screen. Errrr
It's the iPhone clone look that turns me off. It was bad enough that the samsung made the phone look physically like an iPhone, but to skin Android to look like the iPhone's software was over the top. I don't want people to think I have an iPhone.
youre right
monstah_rain said:
It's the iPhone clone look that turns me off. It was bad enough that the samsung made the phone look physically like an iPhone, but to skin Android to look like the iPhone's software was over the top. I don't want people to think I have an iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i got tired of the ipod touch i had and it resembles the ipod touch iphone too much for me. plus i dont like lines on my screen. i use adw and minimalist theme with black background, totally awesome for me. i can do with out the non sense.
"I love that Google is innovating the Smartphone technology space at an amazing rate. Android is growing fast and holds so much promise. For instance Google voice actions which I am sure you are all familiar with is such a great idea and I cant wait to use it with 2.2. The updated Gmail client and services as well, Chrome to phone are both awesome ideas but will never work on 2.1 so I am looking forward to 2.2 or higher. I own a car and well I do take calls while driving and would like to use voice search or voice dialing to be hands free. Obviously Android can do this just not with 2.1 this is a pretty cool feature also available on 2.2 or higher. What Samsung has done with Touchwiz is pretty cool too. Let's face it Google is perhaps innovating the space a bit too fast. Samsung has developed Touchwiz not only to slow that hectic innovation down. But, perhaps stall it completely on Samsungs devices that way we can enjoy 2.1 with Touchwiz just a little bit longer. It also sets the Galaxy S devices apart from all the other Android smartphones in the market running Google's latest innovations. But also because we like it and it is so good.
That new android Keyboard for Gingerbread is just what the Doctor ordered isn't it? How about the new Google personalized voice recognition for Google voice? Nice, but no thanks I like taking it slow with Touchwiz and 2.1. Who needs location services and GPS anyway right? What are your favorite 2.1 features?" - by Countbunny from the other forum.
That is how I feel about it.
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 don't know about you guys, but I'm still forced to use good old Launcher Pro on my SGS II. Reason being that it's the smoothest launcher I've tried - in a sense that it's the most responsive to swiping screens. Also, its calendar widget is very nice, same as in Go Launcher.
I admit I'm a bit over-sensitive to even slightest lag. Even a several millisecond delay when swiping screens or opening the app drawer pisses me off.
My personal experience:
Go Launcher Pro - best customization, worst response. Heavy and sluggish. After deep sleep, there's a huge delay when swiping screens, until screens are cached. Until they are, it feels slllllloooowwww. Same on my Nook Tablet - horrific delays after deep sleep.
TouchWiz launcher - pretty damn fast and responsive, but even TW 4.5 has very limited customization. Also, when using multiple widgets, I start noticing an FPS drop in swiping from widget-heavy screens. For example MIUI Clock (from market) - swiping to and from the screen with it will always have noticable frame-skip.
Zeam Launcher - very smooth, but same frame skip problem as TW launcher. Unfortunatelly, very little customization.
Launcher Pro - fastest, lag-free swiping. Sadly, an abandoned project and missing lots of customization that'd be nice for modern ROMs.
Nova Launcher for ICS - fast and smooth, but still FCs every once in a while, lack customization. It's in beta, obviously.
ADW Launcher - haven't tested it for a while, but I remember not-so-great swiping response and lacking customization that I wanted.
What's your experience like? What do you recommend?
DarkDvr said:
I don't know about you guys, but I'm still forced to use good old Launcher Pro on my SGS II. Reason being that it's the smoothest launcher I've tried - in a sense that it's the most responsive to swiping screens. Also, its calendar widget is very nice, same as in Go Launcher.
I admit I'm a bit over-sensitive to even slightest lag. Even a several millisecond delay when swiping screens or opening the app drawer pisses me off.
My personal experience:
Go Launcher Pro - best customization, worst response. Heavy and sluggish. After deep sleep, there's a huge delay when swiping screens, until screens are cached. Until they are, it feels slllllloooowwww. Same on my Nook Tablet - horrific delays after deep sleep.
TouchWiz launcher - pretty damn fast and responsive, but even TW 4.5 has very limited customization. Also, when using multiple widgets, I start noticing an FPS drop in swiping from widget-heavy screens. For example MIUI Clock (from market) - swiping to and from the screen with it will always have noticable frame-skip.
Zeam Launcher - very smooth, but same frame skip problem as TW launcher. Unfortunatelly, very little customization.
Launcher Pro - fastest, lag-free swiping. Sadly, an abandoned project and missing lots of customization that'd be nice for modern ROMs.
Nova Launcher for ICS - fast and smooth, but still FCs every once in a while, lack customization. It's in beta, obviously.
ADW Launcher - haven't tested it for a while, but I remember not-so-great swiping response and lacking customization that I wanted.
What's your experience like? What do you recommend?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where do you get that LauncherPro is an abandoned project? Yeah, it hasn't been updated in quite some time (May 2011, I think), but the forums on their website looks active, and it's still available in the market? I'm just curious, as I use LP, and I'd hate to see development on it stop.
ctomgee said:
Where do you get that LauncherPro is an abandoned project? Yeah, it hasn't been updated in quite some time (May 2011, I think), but the forums on their website looks active, and it's still available in the market? I'm just curious, as I use LP, and I'd hate to see development on it stop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Development on it has stopped a long time ago. Last update was simply to add transition effects.
Francisco has moved on to music app and other things. His "representatives" (whatever that means) kept telling everyone on the forums that development is not dead, he simply hasn't touched the code for past, oh, year or so. So yeah. It's as dead as it gets.
Forums are active mostly because people are asking when development will continue, begging for updates.
I find ADW Launcher EX to be smooth, and its far better than normal ADW.
DarkDvr said:
Development on it has stopped a long time ago. Last update was simply to add transition effects.
Francisco has moved on to music app and other things. His "representatives" (whatever that means) kept telling everyone on the forums that development is not dead, he simply hasn't touched the code for past, oh, year or so. So yeah. It's as dead as it gets.
Forums are active mostly because people are asking when development will continue, begging for updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that sucks. LauncherPro is definitely my favorite launcher at the moment.
DarkDvr said:
TouchWiz launcher - pretty damn fast and responsive, but even TW 4.5 has very limited customization. Also, when using multiple widgets, I start noticing an FPS drop in swiping from widget-heavy screens. For example MIUI Clock (from market) - swiping to and from the screen with it will always have noticable frame-skip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This, for some reason the Program monitor seems to do this whenever I use it, I can have the digital clock and accuweather widget running along with the google search bar and droidstats and its smooth. Use the program monitor widget and it starts to stutter
Go launcher EX is the one that i have fallen for. Fast and stable with alot of customization.
And check out Nemus launcher too.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
mariosraptor said:
Go launcher EX is the one that i have fallen for. Fast and stable with alot of customization.
And check out Nemus launcher too.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^
This. Been using GoEx for a couple of months now. Have tried other launchers (incl Touchwiz), but keep coming back to GoEx for the reasons Mariosraptor mentioned.
I flipflop between LPP and adw Ex. Given up GO, I found it sluggish and I hate the home icon on the dock.
adw>LPP for customisation, LPP>adw for speed. If LPP had more gesture actions and we could resize dock icons it'd be perfect for me, but development is deader than a dodo.
Haven't installed/used TW for 6 months.
B3311 said:
I flipflop between LPP and adw Ex. Given up GO, I found it sluggish and I hate the home icon on the dock.
adw>LPP for customisation, LPP>adw for speed. If LPP had more gesture actions and we could resize dock icons it'd be perfect for me, but development is deader than a dodo.
Haven't installed/used TW for 6 months.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like ADW Launcher EX as well... But the thing I REALLY like about LPP over ADW is the scrollable dock, allowing for 10 more shortcuts. If ADW had that, I would move over in a heartbeat.
Was a launcher pro plus user but go launcher is what I prefer due to its widgets, the Facebook and twitter ones are useful for quick updates. Calendar widget is good as well.
I find the supported decant not as smooth as launcher pro but no big issue.
ADW ex is also good use it on my tablet and its fast and customisable.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
ctomgee said:
I like ADW Launcher EX as well... But the thing I REALLY like about LPP over ADW is the scrollable dock, allowing for 10 more shortcuts. If ADW had that, I would move over in a heartbeat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the dock you can have other five apps in go launche. How? Just make use of the gesture feature on every icon on dock. That is what i have done for a long time.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
the only thing that annoys me with ADW EX is that you can not have folders in your app screens like go launcher. yes i know you can have them on your desktop but not really the point is it and makes the app screen full of apps...specially if you have over one hundred...or the feature is there and i do not know how to work it? any ideas from someone to correct me please
mariosraptor said:
In the dock you can have other five apps in go launche. How? Just make use of the gesture feature on every icon on dock. That is what i have done for a long time.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough - but then you have to remember what each of the icons' gestures launches. It won't display it, right? I still prefer the scrolling dock.
EDIT: also, in LPP, you can add gestures to each of the possible 15 icons in the deck as well. Leading to a whopping potential 30 shortcuts, just in the dock. I don't use the swipe gestures though; 15 total dock shortcuts suffices for me for now.
Personally, i prefer and use 360 Launcher from XDA, that is surely the most customizable, fast, smooth and easy to use launcher ever seen!
Inviato dal mio GT-I9100 usando Tapatalk
Tested some launcher and a lot of rom (most with an other launcher or modded TW)
I always get back to launcher pro!
Sure long time no updates but maybe because most users are happy with it ;-)
CHEERS ;-)
Sent from my Galaxy S2 - I9100 with SensatioN Rom!
I would say that the Go Launcher is the most beautiful one in the matket but from time to time you have lags here and there when you turn on effects like sphere or cylinder. for smoothness you can go for ADW Launcher imo I dont like the aesthetics of Launcher pro at all...
Definitely Go Launcher for me. Highly customisable and zero lag.
Of you have lag on wakeup, maybe try a different kernel and governor etc.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
mariosraptor said:
Go launcher EX is the one that i have fallen for. Fast and stable with alot of customization.
And check out Nemus launcher too.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried Nemus yesterday and I liked it, but it needs a "hide status bar" option IMO.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
imo go launcher ex
Hi,
I wanted to get a sense of what others are using for their launcher interface for their TS.
I have tried a handful but nothing really seems to fit the bill all that well.
I have tried
Google Now Launcher
Launcher 8
Smart Launcher
Various "Big" and "Senior Phone" launchers
Nova Launcher
among others....
I seem to be constantly going back to the stock launcher (not OUI 2.0 as that is just crap)
What are you guys using or recommend trying?
One thing I seem to really hate about going to alternative launchers is the loss of the "real" status bar..... I have tried Swipe Status Bar, but that just introduces issues with having to swipe down when you need to access touch points that are near the top of the screen. (Plus the last version that was released completely made icons no longer clickable)
D.
Stock launcher for me seems fine.
I switch between stock Android launcher and GEL. I never use OUI2.
"OK Google ! Find me a smart watch like the TrueSmart was promoted to be during Kickstarter..."
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
trent999 said:
I switch between stock Android launcher and GEL. I never use OUI2.
"OK Google ! Find me a smart watch like the TrueSmart was promoted to be during Kickstarter..."
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Smart Launcher for me, Operative style.
I'm pretty happy with lucid launcher across all my devices.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I have used ADW EX on my other devices for a few years, so I installed it. After tweaking the icon/text sizes and a few Gravity box tweaks, seems to work quite ok.
I think pretty much any launcher will do, as long as you can customize it around the limited screen space.
Lightening launcher with x3 UI layout.
Just tried smart launcher 2 as mentioned on here. It's really good! all the elements fit perfectly on the screen almost like it's made for the TS.
I really use the OUI... But I only tried stock and OUI, didn't try any others yet, so this might change
nova for me just with the icons set very big like my status bar to much and not a fan of the status bar app that will give you access to it never worked quite like the stock status bar should.
I've been using Mini Launcher... although only for a few days and haven't tried many other options yet, so i might change if there's anything better
+Lokifish Marz. Can you please elaborate a little on your set up.
Thanks in advance.
Right now it based on Lightning but really needs to be a standalone.
Thank You Sir?
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Would love to have this for my Watch!
Personally, I really liked the WP8 launcher. Could fit lots of useful info and apps on the watch screen.
jd
I keep falling back to the stock launcher. I've tried a few (nova, apex, and similar), but the status bar is the biggest issue. I'm really fond of the bar for easy overview of new notifications, and can't really live without one. Swipestatusbar solution works ok:ish, but not having the bar there after exiting apps and having the bar interfere with touch event at the top makes it a dealbreaker.
OUI is almost there - it has widgets, app drawer and screen sorting, and the status bar. It does however lack in other ways, like missing an indicator for which screen you are on, and everything looks very blurred, together with almost no customization. Some widgets looks as if they are rendered at like 50x50 pixels and zoomed to fit the screen. Also seems unstable, it has crashed a ton of times.
If the stock launcher could just get widget support, an app drawer and preferably a way to add/remove/sort your screens, I'd be happy with it. For now it works though, and seems fast and stable with status bar working..
EDIT: After playing around a few hours with different launchers today, I finally went back to Nova. It takes some getting used to, but the status bar issue now feels like an acceptable loss compared to all the gains. It works very well, and renders on small screens better than most other launchers (some have too much paddin in the grid, some render icons very pixelated or blurry, and so on). Nova does a good job, my only peeve is that icons are aligned to the top of their grid position, and widgets are aligned to the center. This means that if you place an icon next to a widget, they will not align, and also the icons come a bit too close to the top. However, it's still better than the alternatives I've tried, so sticking with Nova for now.
When?
Lokifish Marz said:
Lightening launcher with x3 UI layout.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When will you be releasing it??? :highfive:
I am using launcher 8.
The tiles uses most of the screen at any given time, as opposed to a more regular android launcher.
Android launchers in general wastes a lot of screen real estate. This is because of the way the icons are organized, with lots of empty space between them.
The tiles you get in launcher 8 is quite tight, like in a proper windows phone.
I like this.
The tiles are also customizable in size, so stuff that is often used will have big tiles, while the lesser used programs get smaller tiles.
Launcher 8 also runs smoothly.
jdommer said:
Personally, I really liked the WP8 launcher. Could fit lots of useful info and apps on the watch screen.
jd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
am using this too
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i use tsf shell for many years on all my phones and tablets.
now i use it on the truesmart and it really works great.
its smooth, it looks cool, you reach everything you want in short time.
shure i have to use swype status bar, but that is not really a problem.
ok it is not really cheap, but you only pay one time and can use it on all devices, so i think the price is fair if you have more devices
Hey guys. Just wondering what launchers you have rocking on your Tab S.
I currently have Nova Launcher and Smart Launcher Pro. Both are very light on memory and I can zip through everything without a lag on my Tab S.
Any others?
domo325 said:
Hey guys. Just wondering what launchers you have rocking on your Tab S.
I currently have Nova Launcher and Smart Launcher Pro. Both are very light on memory and I can zip through everything without a lag on my Tab S.
Any others?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Going to try my apex shortly!
Using TSF Shell, works great without any lag.
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I've been running Nova. It's pretty much my go to and I like it, but I'm looking for other options as well.
Works well and nice and smooth.
Nova is always my goto as well.
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What grid size do you all use on Nova? I always have it looking weird where I have too many icons or they are too far apart.
Go Launcher Ex is far more feature packed than Nova and has cooler animations and themes. Additionally it seems to make whites whiter which means your browser will have more contrast and you can turn brightness down. It also has an extensive list of custom widgets. In addition when holding the tablet in landscape mode the icon dock goes vertical on the right side which is very handy because you can scroll through icons with your thumb.
Go Launcher bothers me. I've tried it on other tablets. It looks nice and does lots of things but there are so many addons that I feel I'm being sucked into something (not quite sure what). I like Nova or for simplicity CM's Trebuchet.
TonyBigs said:
Go Launcher bothers me. I've tried it on other tablets. It looks nice and does lots of things but there are so many addons that I feel I'm being sucked into something (not quite sure what). I like Nova or for simplicity CM's Trebuchet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chinese mind control ☺
I use NEXT launcher which is made by the go launcher team. I'm sure it's a system hog but I like the themes from Magic4works. I also like 3d mode on my phone. I do use Xprivacy to block personal information though.
Nova is my go too also very smooth experience and no lag on my note 3 and my g pad 8.3
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mitchellvii said:
Chinese mind control ☺
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(In robotic voice) Must download another addon...
I'm loving Lightning Launcher Extreme. It takes a bit to learn and get used to, but it's the *most* flexible and customizable launcher I've seen, and I went through about a dozen in the last year or so.
The trick to LL is to remember that it's a tree, and that all the branches are containers and all the leaves are single objects, and that all properties are inherited from the parent.
Each container is essentially a separate desktop that can have it's own size and grid, so my desktop can be a 10x16 grid, and my launcher bar can take up a 10x1 space, but internally be a 9x1 space.
Each container is individually zoomable and scrollable, unless you tell it not to be.
Containers and objects both can be unpinned from the grid and moved, rotated, skewed, and scaled with subpixel precision. This includes widget!
LL can also designate a desktop as the lock screen... so you can customize that as well.
As a topper, the Extreme edition allows scripting in JS with a few launcher specific extensions.
As mentioned, it took a bit to figure out, but my home screen is *exactly* how I want it.
Go Launcher is horrible. Are you being serious? I'm running Nova currently, but I've used, and purchased, the premium version of every launcher that's been out for longer than a year. I just get tires of the layout, or the interface, or something, so I go through all of them, shortly after I remember why I didn't like it, and I always end up back using Nova. It seems like the market has been flooded with new launchers over the last 6-12 months, too many to give them all a try so I'm trying to figure out which one to use next. On my Galaxy S5, I'm using Buzz Launcher, which is pretty cool because you can download entire homepacks, or screens, that other people have designed and all the widgets, icons, layouts, backgrounds, etc install automatically and since it supports 9 screens, I could n have a new look on my phone everyday. Unfortunately, it doesn't support landscape very well. I might go with Next Launcher next. I kind of miss the 3D effects it has. I always like to show it to friends who have an iPhone.
Any of you tried TSF launcher?
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Rolldog said:
Go Launcher is horrible. Are you being serious? I'm running Nova currently, but I've used, and purchased, the premium version of every launcher that's been out for longer than a year. I just get tires of the layout, or the interface, or something, so I go through all of them, shortly after I remember why I didn't like it, and I always end up back using Nova. It seems like the market has been flooded with new launchers over the last 6-12 months, too many to give them all a try so I'm trying to figure out which one to use next. On my Galaxy S5, I'm using Buzz Launcher, which is pretty cool because you can download entire homepacks, or screens, that other people have designed and all the widgets, icons, layouts, backgrounds, etc install automatically and since it supports 9 screens, I could n have a new look on my phone everyday. Unfortunately, it doesn't support landscape very well. I might go with Next Launcher next. I kind of miss the 3D effects it has. I always like to show it to friends who have an iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have tried all of the launchers and you have not like any of them then maybe it isn't go launcher that is horrible but rather your expectations of a launcher. It sounds like you have like a relatively simple and straightforward launcher with a clean interface. With that in mind I'm not sure why you keep looking.
HughesNet said:
maybe it isn't go launcher that is horrible but rather your expectations of a launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, Go launcher just sucks...
Freakstyler said:
Nope, Go launcher just sucks...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? I've used Nova and Go and prefer Go quite clearly. Better screen contrast, better widgets, better animations, better themes, vertical dock in landscape. Go is constantly updated and improved whereas Nova doesn't seem to have significantly improved in years.
Please list for us the ways that Go Launcher sucks, what you prefer and specifically why it is superior.
Buzz is cool but almost too much for my tastes.
HughesNet said:
Any of you tried TSF launcher?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love TSF Shell on my S5, but for tablets, I prefer more simplicity for some reason. Therefore Apex is my daily launcher since it's customizations seem to meet my needs best. For some reason I've always had trouble with slight lag with Nova, especially with the dock.
Nova Launcher is by far the best launcher to use. So plain but customizable. You can do pretty much what you want with it. Not a fan of go launcher its bulky, and tries to force there cheesy widgets on me. Just my 2 cents.
On my S5, I use Go Launcher (for now) because I like to always change. For this tablet I still don't know what I want to use, I tried go launcher, nova, TSF but I haven't found the one yet. For now, I'm using the stock launcher for lack of a better choice .
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