Related
I'm making this thread both to share what I feel are good apps and to discover other apps for myself. I have not installed Dexters 2.2 or rooted yet (though I intend to) so I'm not going to list anything that requires it, but feel free to do so yourself.
So:
Lockscreen: GOTO Lockscreen. I saw this a while back but never actually checked it out. It was featured on DroidLife today so I decided to check it out now and it's great. Great, elegant look to it, great functionality as well. I've been using WidgetLocker for ages and it doesn't compare. There were some issues at first but after rebooting everything seems to work perfectly for the most part(I saw someone mention this as well in the comments so I did it). It's also on sale right now. Might be a bit of a drain on battery.
HomeLauncher: LauncherPro (Plus). I love the look and functionality of this and most of all, the widgets (which are greatly enhanced by Signal's themes -that can be found in Android Themes section). Truth be told, ADW (/ADW EX) probably has more options and functionality at this time (and you can use Colorize Widgets app to replace LP widgets for free). For now ADW might be better, though I'm just waiting for LauncherPro rewrite to happen (going so slowly). GoLauncher as well is fantastic. As is Zeam. There are many great options right now (and so many more on the horizon).
Whatever the case, something that is crucial when using one of these (at least for me) is to select the option to "Keep in memory." I think all of the above have that option (not sure about Zeam). My biggest issue with launchers is that my screen always redraws itself so much (this is a problem with XT720 stock launcher as well), so I have to wait forever for my icons and widgets to load itself, which is really annoying. I've tried things to reduce it, but the only thing that ever got rid of it was to select that option. Now using LP with that option and no lags at all.
I also recommend getting home switcher for easy switching between launchers.
EDIT: SPB Shell 3D
Keyboard:
Stock XT720 keyboard isn't bad (for me). I tend to alternate between that and Swype. I prefer stock keyboard for use in landscape mode. Once I'm rooted I plan to install that app that lets you choose a keyboard for portrait mode (i.e that would be Swype for me) and another in landscape (stock).
EDIT: Stock Gingerbread keyboard
Music Player:
Stock is decent, but nothing special really. I do like the album cover flow in landscape mode though. I alternate between that and Connected music player, which is the ripped music player from the atrix and droid bionic I believe (I'm not sure where to get it since that thread has since been locked). Winamp is also pretty good. PowerAmp has a lot of features, but you get annoying popups after two weeks unless you buy the full version ($5). I'd love to know what others use.
Some apps specifically use stock music player so that's another reason I use stock. i.e. when using GoTo lockscreen, the lockscreen changes when you're playing music to give you music player controls, but only seems to do when using stock music player.
EDIT: Google Music/ PowerAmp
Browser:
Stock is not that great. Has that nice bookmark cover flow in landscape mode, but in terms of functionality there are better ones. I use Dolphin Browser HD now (blue theme). Best UI for browser out there currently imo. A lot of people seem to love Miren and Dolphin Browser mini, for reasons I can't understand (everyone says they are super fast but I never notice any difference on my already fast browser).
EDIT: Opera Mobile
Games:
Really loving Stupid Zombies right now, it's a lot of fun (though has slow loading times). Ninjump is great for quick little fun. Angry birds also remains fun, though repetitive. Would love to see what else runs great on XT720.
Customization/Widgets/:
Beautiful Widgets is great and has a huge range of themed clocks and toggles. The recently introduced "Super Clock" was a great improvement. So much customization with this. Colorize Widget is great if you're using something other than LauncherPro, Signals has themes for it also. Widgetsoid and MySettings, are great for quick access to settings.
Task Switching:
SwipePad is just phenomenal and has a great UI, I recommend you check it out if you don't have it already. Together with long press on home button, I have amazing task switching going on.
File Explorer:
File Explorer is a must for me on my XT720. It's how you can install APKs and browse your sdcard and everything and change things easily. ES File Explorer is great for that and has a nice UI.
There's more that I wanted to add I'm sure, but here's this for now. Feel free to share what apps you use on your XT720.
I really like Zeam mainly for the small footprint & speed, I've used LPP & the widgets are very cool. My preferred keyboard is SwiftKey, once you use it for a while the predictive text feature is really nice. I'm still using the stock browser, that along with ChromeMarks gives me access to all my desktop bookmarks. For music I've got MusicMod (Froyo) for the widgets & the MIUI music app. I'd also recommend SIMI Clock (Time, weather & battery level in 1 1x4 widget & a built in launcher) & SIMI folder widget. I also find SwiFTP very usefull, just fire up the FTP on the phone & copy files between the phone & my pc without a USB cable.
Lockscreen: default--dexter froyo
HomeLauncher: GoLauncherEX---no lags n a lot of options.....nice interface
Keyboard: swype---easy n handy
Music Player:winamp---no equalizer but fast n flexible
i ll recommend mixzing also.
Games:angry birds, world`s hardest game, fruit ninja, ninjump, soccerball, drop,pinball deluxe, brick breaker---all f em addictive
File Explorer:andrpzip, astro
Tools-- android assistant, set cpu---both help a lot in makin ure phone fast n unlaggy
Great post. I loved some of the suggestions.
Customization/Widgets/:
I use Sense Analog Clock. It gives me SD Storage, Internal Storage, Internal Memory, Battery Level and Temperature in one place. Edit: it gives me weather, time, lunar phase (even tough I don't use that info) and quick access to my alarms as well.
Music Player:
Because of the media scan bug, I've tested loads of music players. Most of the players based on folder navigation did not impress me. So I chose the simplest one for now: Gtunes. Once the media scan is back to business, I intend to come back to stock or winamp.
BTW, where do I get Connected music player?
Games:
Andoku is a must have for Sudoku lovers.
I'm starting to play Pocket Legends, but I don't see it getting very amusing in the near future...
Memory Trainer is nice if you wanna test yourself.
Misc:
Pulse - for news
Evernote - for note taking and journal
Gtasks - to synchronize my gmail tasks
AppMonster - to save my apps
Looking for:
A good personal finance app with online support. Unfortunately, Mint doesn't work down here.
just a reminder guys, before some one gets in trouble
no reference to WAREZ related apps here on XDA
it's the XDA Forum rules
aCCleaner
clear the cache nicely. worth a try.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.a0soft.gphone.aCCleaner.free
hello, from argentina ,for radio app ?
very good. thx u
What about a boot animation changer? I tried BAC lite and it disabled my touch screen and I had to do a recovery to get it back. I am using the CBW update and universal androot on my 720. Thanks for any suggestions
Browser
Opera mobile
Why I download from many sites and no fail on downloading.
Launcher
Go launcher 2.31 beta great 3d and many launcher.
Filemanager
Efile work good for me.
Radio
Tunein radio best radio around.
Sent from my XT720 using XDA Premium App
By far the best app for me is Absolute system, it's paid but has so many goodies and is super well supported!
Just about the first app I install after Titanium Backup is Quick Settings and set it to have a status bar shortcut with hidden icon.
I have 186 apps installed on my phone, but those are my favorite:
Top 50:
aCalendar - cool looking
Adobe Reader
Alarm Clock Xtreame - ascending alarm
ALYac Adnroid Antivirus - best looking antivirus with awesome preformance also
AppBrain App Market - find it useful
Angry Birds - fun game
Battery Doctor - overcharging battery before calibration
BattStatt -Widget
BobClockD3 - Widget
Broken Screen - To [email protected]#$ your friends
CacheMate - easy to use cache cleaner
Call Faker - for annoying people
Catch Notes - Never used it, but I still find it useful
Compass
Desktop VisualizeR
Digitally Imported Radio - DI.fm app
ES File Explorer
Fancy Widget
Flash Player
Font Changer
Glow Hockey 2 - Game
Labyrinth - Game
LauncherPro Plus
Lyrics App
MissedIt! - widget
MoboPlayer - video player
Notepad
Optimize ToolBox - awesome app
QR Droid - barcode scanner
Quadrant Standart Edition
Robotek - Game
Root Explorer
SetCPU
ShakyTower - Game
Shazam - music finder
ShootMe - I like ShootIt! Trail more, but don't know why it seem to capture only black screen now
SiMi Clock Pro - widget
SoundHound - music finder
Skype
Stop Skype
SwithPro Widget
System Info Widget
SystemApp Remover
TeamViewer - Manage your PC from phone
The Worlds Most Pointless App
Titanium Backup
TuneIn Radio
Unit Converter
XDA-Developers app
Zedge
P.S.: Almost forgot - Battery Calibration... awesome app after flashing new ROM. (Thanks Mioze for letting me know it.)
P.S.P.S: Lockscreen Widget pro too...
OriginalLucy said:
What about a boot animation changer? I tried BAC lite and it disabled my touch screen and I had to do a recovery to get it back. I am using the CBW update and universal androot on my 720. Thanks for any suggestions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolute system has many excellent tool, boot animation downloader included.
It's a paid app, but totally worth it Sherry, euh i mean Lucy .
I really like the functionality of "BusyMe (Lite)" which automatically set your ringer to vibrate (or: to quiet) during meetings on your Google Calendar and then return to normal afterwards.
No more hassle due to phone calls during meetings ;-))
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.fernandodunn.android.busyme.lite
Taken quite a while for this thread to get any attention.
Some more apps:
Pulse
Speed X 3D
Afroid (XT720 light)
Apparatus
Cover Art Downloader
Androidify
Google+
SPB Time (I love this alarm clock though it's $6 as opposed to $2 when I bought it)
PowerAmp (really looking forward to the massive V2 update)
OriginalLucy said:
What about a boot animation changer? I tried BAC lite and it disabled my touch screen and I had to do a recovery to get it back. I am using the CBW update and universal androot on my 720. Thanks for any suggestions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this problem too. Really annoying. The home screen would come up and the touch screen did nothing. I was finally able to get a different bootup screen, but I had to work through a couple before I found one that wouldn't have that problem. I'm currently using the one where the apple logo is displayed and then pulled off the screen by our favorite android sporting a red and white stripped suit.
I noticed a couple things while messing around with it:
1- the boot animation sounds never worked for me
2- If I tried copying over larger boot anims, I would run out of space, but the CLI never told me that, so only part would be copied. (I think this has to do with the memhack/cache tweak)
3- When the touch screen went out I would just use ADB to recopy the original bootanim, then restart and then touchscreen would work again. (Save you a recovery).
In the end, I had to put a smaller file size on there but it's better than that eyeball bootanim, that was freaking me out lol.
With Dexter's Froyo installed and Gingerbread theme upgrade
So:
Lockscreen:
See Music Player
HomeLauncher:
LauncherPro (Plus), Launcher7(I simply enjoy it for being slick, and its status bar, but with a black status bar from gingerbread I've no need for it anymore.)
Slidescreen, this is a beautiful launcher that can also be ran as an app overlaying your current launcher.
If you simply want information, details stats, this is the one for you
Slide screen is slick and its advertisement for the free version, is an add to get the paid version.
sidenote--Home Switcher for Froyo
Keyboard:
Better Keyboard 8
Music Player:
Cloud Skipper
Serves as both a very accessible player and has its own lock screen with full access to the player itself upon hitting the unlock key.
Browser:
Opera Mini
xScope
Games:
Fruit Slice (not my slice of pie but some may like it, ran well)
Glow Hockey (Great game, if it supports vs over wifi, then wow)
Hex Defense (Plays like defense Grid)
Ninja Dash
Ninjump
Pew Pew (was interesting, but a little awkward for me)
Return Zero (interesting racer, and not too taxing on the system either)
Speedx 3D
YooNinja
Customization:
Metamorph is what i use for themes at the moment. May change to something else later on.
File Explorer:
OI File manager
I love saving space, and OI looks simple and efficient and runs extremely smooth.
Media Player:
Mobo Player
Management:
1-Click Clear
Appkik
As for games and excess apps, the ones that can't be ran from SD i backup with Appkik for later use to free up memory and space on the phone.
@ OriginalLucy
I used the following two videos for switching the boot animation
Search youtube for:
ANDROID Boot Animation (How-To Change It)
CyanogenMod Boot Animation
Got it running to replace that really bad boot animation from Dexter's Froyo
Great rom but the Boot animation was driving me bonkers.
Hope this helps out.
An easy way to change your boot animations is set up a folder on your SD card named Boot Animations and put the zip in there. Then go into /system/media and copy the original and put it on your SD card in case something ever happens and you can replace it with the original. Take your new boot animation and just replace the one that is in /system/media and reboot.
Obviously make a back up before you do this b/c not all work well.
Also watch your size. While they do look cool, some take up a ton of space.
wondering why no one mentioned some of these:
- "LBE privacy guard" --> control & take away the rights of your apps, e.g. don't allow facebook to access your contacts or send SMS , in my opinion one of the best apps so far. only for rooted devices!
- "history eraser"
- for users in Germany: "Öffi" -> great app for public transport, in germany we call it "öffentliche Nahverkehrsmittel"
- SMS Backup & Restore
- Titanium Backup
- WhatsApp -> like SMS , but works via internet connection and sends messages via internet -> no costs for sms
GO Launcher EX v2.20 (Complete Collection)
Requirements: All Android versions.
Overview: GO Launcher EX is the extra version of GO Launcher , one of the most popular launcher app in android market. All themes and notifications are included.
What's in this version (v2.20):
!!!Fix the force-close issue, freeze and reload problems
GO Launcher EX is the extra version of GO Launcher, one of the most popular launcher app in android market, provides beautiful themes, fast flip speed and useful functions.
Collection includes:
+ GO Launcher EX v2.20
16 Official Themes (Updated):
+ All Official GO Launcher Themes: Backyard, Wood, Sketch, Ink, Festival, Cartoon, Classic, Valentine, Love
+ All secondary ZT Art Themes: Cracked!, Gre, Angrybirds, BluX, UR (Symbian), BluX AS, Pray for Japan, Metal, Colors
Plug-ins:
+ Dock bar notification plug-in.
Features:
-Fancy home screen transition (MENU-preferences-display settings-screen transition)
-Themes supported (search “go launcher ex theme” to download)
-Smooth scrolling experience (set the flip speed in display settings)
-Icon popup menu (long press icon on the screen)
-Folder and task manager in app drawer (long press icon to enter edit mode)
-Gesture supported (both screen and dock icon)
-Scrollable & resizable widgets supported (free)
Tips:
-If you have lag issue on home screen, try to change the value of flip speed in display settings. (Menu-Preferences-Display settings-Flip speed)
- Long press icons in app drawer to edit location, uninstall apps and create folders.
- Pinch fingers together to enter preview screen and edit home screen pages.
What's in this version (2.20):
1. Support to replace the fonts (preferences- advanced settings)
2. New batch adding function of “Add to screen” list
3. Improve performance of Windmill transition of app drawer
4. Repair lag problems of drawer folders
5. Optimization of dock bar
Download link attached
GO launcher is super SLOW. Slows phone down.
I have lag when opening app drawer, I have lags ON app drawer, I have lags on HC's, change fling speed is helping only a little bit.
Uses too much RAM.
For example: I have beetween 60-90MB free when using ADW Ex, even after extended use.
When using go, I have beetwen 40-60MB of RAM free. After extended amount of free RAM is around 50MB. Task killers don't help.
This is launcher is very future rich, but it's so laggy.
I've been running GO EX for about a month now on my Incredible without any performance issues. I personally think it's the best out there. I previously used ADW EX and love it as well, but always find myself going back to GO EX.
it's true it's too slow, but apart from that I think has no problem and is better than the ADW.. Whith the Honeycomb theme looks great
go launcher?>
i wonder whether it is come from my country ,china . try it later.
Personally I have had no problems using this launcher, combined with the go contacts and dialer, along with some widgets it is very feature rich. Now my phone is rooted and I have freezed a lot of bloatware (blockbuster wtf?). Considering this is a blur replacement, just how much blur services can be frozen if I were to run all the necessary GO apps?
Using a Motorola Droid 2 Global, Rooted.
I think Ex version isn't so laggy. using auto memory manager with go launcher ex in agressive mode, i'm getting around 85mb of free ram.
I tried some early versions of go launcher and it was VERY laggy! But 2 months now i use it and it is very fast! Also it is updated every week. Not like launcher pro that has to be updated 2 months now!!!! The same with ADW. I think GO is the best launcher out there
The way my phone is set up I manually clean the ram but even after a while of leaving the phone on i might barely just slide under 100mb(assuming i am opening up browsers and uploading stuff). Now when i clean up the ram i always end up in the 230 to 270mb free area right after cleanup.
Gemini App manager and Gemini widget. Plus a lot of frozen(blocked) unused apps along with auto-runs tweaked to my preferences.
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using XDA Premium App
For me, the best out there is Launcher Pro + ... I've NEVER had lag issues and it run's super smooth, and with all that widgets and new theme updates it's great. Yes, it looks a bit stock, but for performance is the best thing.
Go Launcher... The Best
Go Launcher is the most complete and customizable launcher I know.
Today I installed and uninstalled GDE... .
I tried adw-launcher or launcher Pro, but nothing, everyone is missing something with the other.
Go Launcher has it all ...
and it is free (the others are not).
I have in my X8 Go Launcher and runs great. is not slow.
Thread Closed, warez inside.
Hi guys,
im still bothered by the crappy performance of my app-drawer.
The best thing I foud yet is AltDrawer (k just tested it 2min but really was smooth)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1154299
But since i got many apps on my 101 I really miss the category function of VTLaucher wicht I currently use.
I already tried out ADW, ADW EX, LaucherPro but all run fine on my wildfire but as soon as high res screen comes into play - performance massively goes down.
Any suggestions?
I use Apps Organizer. Works great.
FrEcP said:
Hi guys,
im still bothered by the crappy performance of my app-drawer.
The best thing I foud yet is AltDrawer (k just tested it 2min but really was smooth)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1154299
But since i got many apps on my 101 I really miss the category function of VTLaucher wicht I currently use.
I already tried out ADW, ADW EX, LaucherPro but all run fine on my wildfire but as soon as high res screen comes into play - performance massively goes down.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
VTL launcher, v1.7.0, has categories in app drawer.
This is the best launcher for tablets.
Sent from my A101IT using XDA Premium App
Thanks, just stumbled upon Apps Organizer - but its loading time on start up annoys me (3s blackscreen) + its still lagging a bit while scrolling
AltDrawer is faster but no categories
VT im currently using - but hey there is a v1.7.0 ? cool
will check out
EDIT: damn it isn't free anymore and i dont own a credid card so i have to stay with 1.6.5 atm
EDIT2: anyway - i just tried updating - installed an adw honeycomb theme - removed pulse service - and somehow drawer is nice and speedy now ?!!? perhaps affected by the other theme?
I've seen a few comments here and there about poor performance with Go Launcher EX on various ICS ROM's.
The symptom for me was very slow performance opening the app drawer (over 100 apps), as well as screen transition slow downs when I had lots of widgets on my seven home screens (I use several Android Pro widgets). Go Launcher appeared to reach a point where it needed to ask for more memory and I would see an su request (granted successfully) and then transitions between home screens would be painfully slow. Eventually, Go Launcher would typically crash and restart and things would be fast again temporarily.
What appears to have worked for me was to increase the dalvik.vm.heapgrowthlimit setting in build.prop from 48m to a larger value (I'm at 96m now, but I think 64m worked fine). I made the change using Rom Toolbox, rebooted and things have been silky smooth with Go Launcher since then.
No promises that it will work for anyone else, but thought I would share in case it does. FYI I'm using BAMF Rezound 0.6, but tried this on at least one other ROM as well with success.
I noticed this myself. Switched back to CleanROM GBE. Runs like butter.
I never really had a problem with it, but then again I had mine OC'd to 1.7 GHz and always on performance. I've recently switched to Nova Launcher since it's essentially the ICS launcher which is pretty damn smooth.
brando56894 said:
I never really had a problem with it, but then again I had mine OC'd to 1.7 GHz and always on performance. I've recently switched to Nova Launcher since it's essentially the ICS launcher which is pretty damn smooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 for nova launcher, silky smooth on any ICS rom!
same problems here with go launcher so i uninstalled it. launcher pro works good but the icon resolution is far too small. i also think nova is a bit on the buggy side yet.
Another +1 for nova launcher. It is smooth as silk and the aosp look is just awesome! Had it on my Inc, transformer, and now my rezound
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
Another +1 for nova not one problem and everything is ridiculously smooth i love it
go launcher is super slow on gingerbread too. it's alot of lag when opening and closing the app drawer. any solutions for this?
If you're on ICS, why not take advantage of that and run NOVA launcher?
if you're into the widgets that come with golauncher then a better alternative for gb or ics is using adw ex with APW.the widgets with APW are far better than go widgets. this setup is so exquisite on Scott's newest 3.6 release.
Title say it all. Now we can save hours of time to re-setup the home screen when we have a new launcher. Copy home screen settings over from one launcher to another. Free app
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ma.deskmigrate&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDMsImNvbS5tYS5kZXNrbWlncmF0ZSJd
I copied my settings from apex launcher and went to nova launcher bit when I ran the app, it only gave me the option to copy from a previous launcher and not restore. either that or I must be doing something wrong.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
ICS 4.0.04 with Lean Kernel, battery mod, and enhanced power menu v3
Tried copying from stock Launcher to Apex Launcher (installed in system) ... nothing happened.
On CDMA GNex fwiw