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Ok, so now that we all have Froyo or at at least most of us. I find that the general feeling toward the Dell Stage widgets is negative. My question is what is everyone else using for widgets? I'm having a heck of a time trying to find widgets that scale with the screen. Everything seems to place the widgets in the wrong place because of the screen size. For example one of my favourite widgets is TypoClock. However the widget can't seem to find the TOP MIDDLE of my screen like it looks in ALL the Nexus One screen shoots with it. It always hangs to the left of the screen. Has anyone modded certain widgets to fit the screen better? There is a post, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=761517 ,that shows some AMAZING Themes and set ups but I can't seem to get anything to look that good on the Streak. If anyone has a sweet Theme or look to their Streak and could you please post a screen shoot and how you did it. PLEASE!
I think your better off ultimately changing the UI itself and get either ADW Launcher or Launcher Pro. I've just brought Launcher Pro Plus ($2.99/£1.95) and its def worth it as its so customizable, you can set the layout grid size and then manually alter the size of the widgets in real time. I tried to use Dell's Stage and just didn't like it, so much wasted space and it felt like a poor HTC Sense UI.
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!
Hi There!
I am on CheckROM v4, I am really liking it.
I have been running SPB Shell 3D for quite a while and I quite like it, but I am wondering what the current best launchers are and what the pro's and con's are?
Anyone know of a breakdown of the most popular I can read up on?
I have a license for ADW Pro.
Not a breakdown as such, but an exhaustive list of all launchers known to mankind with discussion is here.
I've tried ssLauncher recently and I really liked it... Now I'm on Launcher7 'cause i like changing my homescreen style!!
Sent from my Galaxy S II powered by CheckROM
Currently go launcher - tons of customisation
i don't think there is one really ultimate out there, 'cause it always depends on your personal requirements.. have a look into that http://www.xda-developers.com/android/android-launcher-round-up-xda-tv/
cheers
^^
This.
It's a matter of taste. My perfect launcher would have:
Resizable dock icons
No stupid home icon
Ability to hide status bar
No dock (or transparent dock)
No indicator of page or scrolling icon
Folder support
Extended gesture support
Small footprint
Ability to hide icons
If anyone can tell me of one launcher that fulfills every one of these criteria, I'll give them a big sloppy wet internet kiss...
Currently on Launcher Pro. Doesn't do #1 and limited with #7, and development stopped 400 years ago (which is why it would be the only app I'd take a warez version of, if I did that kind of thing. But I don't. So I haven't. Honest).
Nemus and FTL look promising - will be looking out for them.
I'm looking for a launcher that can do the following:
- Group apps into folders on the home screens (like touchwiz)
- Group apps into folders in the app drawer (also like touchwiz)
- Display a folder as an icon that looks like a folder (this bugs me more than anything else)
- Put widgets into a folder
- change the number of rows and columns in the app drawer and home screens
I'm pretty happy with touchwiz, but it can't put widgets into folders, and I hate-hate-hate it when folders don't look like folders. Silly as it may sound, that is probably my number one reason for looking. But the other features would be super good too.
Can anybody point me towards a launcher that has these features? Or alternately, a way to make touchwiz display folders as icons that actually look like folders? Because honestly that would make me so happy.
I've briefly tried ADW, Nova, apex, Lightning, but haven't found any of them do what I want. Perhaps with more work they could, but it's surprisingly difficult to figure out these different things, so I thought I'd put the question out there.
What I really *don't* need to hear is things like "I like XYA" or "ABC got laggy for me so I switched" ... I just want to find a launcher with the features that are important to me! I wouldn't mind seeing a comparison of *features*
Thanks y'all!
I ended up with Lightning Launcher. It can do all these things and much more, but it takes some wrangling.
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?
---------- Post added at 01:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:28 PM ----------
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
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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