Best launcher for Photon 4G? Or custom ROM? - Motorola Photon 4G

I'm the proud owner of a Motorola Photon 4G as of today. This is replacing my Sensation, and will only be used internationally (Asia, so 900/1800 Mhz 2G and 2100Mhz 3G).
Now, I see that there is a way to get rid of the Sprint hands-free activation on every boot, and I presume I can delete some of the Sprint bloatware as well. I noticed that the stock Blur launcher is kinda laggy even scrolling from screen to screen, but the rest of the phone performs very well. So if I do get a different launcher, what should I get?
Otherwise, should I do a custom ROM? I've had every phone of mine all ROM'ed up but I don't know if its worth doing that to a Motorola phone since they usually have encrypted bootloaders. Any stable ROMs that are well-suited for international use?

Im using Nemus Launcher. Its not too bad.
Good luck with getting rid of the lag tho. My whole phone is laggy even with another launcher.

If you unlock, try this ROM. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1587770 Sprint bloat is removed, rom is fast, works great. Or you can use Loki's bloat remover. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1575259
Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2

I use Launcher Pro with ICON Pack in it..
Its butter smooth and i have 450mb Ram free all time

I have no lag at all -- I'm using Go Launcher, and have "DeBlurred" the phone as bricky23 mentioned (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1575259
).
Also just fyi, I've read that some folks feel a daily reboot does wonders to keeping the Photon running smoothly (just opinion, no facts/data to back that up).
Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

I'm currently using MX Launcher. It's got some nice features, but shallow customization and some weird quirks. See my list of caveats in the topic about it. I still think it's worth using, but it's nowhere near as polished as some of the others.
I rephrased my issues with it to a more positive light and emailed the developer. I'd like to see this launcher get better as it does a couple things really well.
1. Cover screen. The center icon on the dock (and you can't change it) brings up the cover screen, which has a clock which follows you based on the tilt sensor. There's a power control widget here, the clock is beautiful, and it has some preset launcher icons on it. You can change them (open the clock by long-pressing 12, 3, 6, or 9 to set that icon) but you can only pick from a few and you have to use stock apps.
2. Long-press icons brings up a menu. Other launchers have this, but in MX, you can hit Info to pull up that app's Settings > Applications > Manage Applications page. Good for clearing the cache or force closing it.
Don't bother looking at the skins. Half are incompatible with our phone. The other half cost money. There is one that is free and compatible, but it's just a cover screen. No home screens. Might be a bug but I removed it promptly.

Thanks for the advice, y'all. I rooted the phone today and deblurred it already. I'm quite liking ADW Launcher right now. What's a good AOSP icon pack I can download? I'm not familiar with customizing launchers.

slick69 said:
Thanks for the advice, y'all. I rooted the phone today and deblurred it already. I'm quite liking ADW Launcher right now. What's a good AOSP icon pack I can download? I'm not familiar with customizing launchers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just search the market ( whoops, "play store" ) for adw icon packs or adw themes -- there's tons of free ones.
Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

JustSomeDude said:
Just search the market ( whoops, "play store" ) for adw icon packs or adw themes -- there's tons of free ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I downloaded a free ICS icon pack/theme. My phone works pretty well now!
However, I'm sad that it doesn't play a bunch of my video files that always used to play on my other devices, mostly HTC ones but some AOSP as well. When I downloaded MX Player to view them, it told me that it is using SW decoding.
Is there a way to get better support for media files? The videos in question are plain old mp4, downloaded from Youtube. Some 480p, some 720p and a couple 1080p which worked on my Sensation, so I thought they'd work on the Photon as well since it has a similar chipset.

hi just curious,
which one is better on photon
ADW launcher
or
Go Launcher ?
and if we apply the "deblur" mod, how to get rid of the ADW to replace it with the Go launcher ?

I think GO is better than ADW but if you ask any 2 people, you're liable to get 2 different answers. I can't tall ya why I prefer GO. For one, it's free, but then again it pushes its widgets and locker on you. Two, ADW rubs me the wrong way. I don't know why. So no real, valid reasons. Try both. Use both, use Home Smack to switch.
Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk

I normally use adw ex but i got bored with that recently and have been using launcher 7 which is a windows phone launcher and i love it works great and is a nice change
Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2

Welp, I did some more reading and found out that since the Photon uses a Tegra 2 chipset, it is very picky about what it can decode in hardware. Luckily for me, a lot of my simple stuff works fine in SW decoding mode with MX Player. However, 720p and 1080p videos will need to be recoded.
I'm gonna try using Handbrake and report back. Too bad I don't have a more powerful CPU to re-encode stuff. Re-encoding stuff is why I was wary of my Zune client (I also have an HTC Titan).

MadFlava said:
Im using Nemus Launcher. Its not too bad.
Good luck with getting rid of the lag tho. My whole phone is laggy even with another launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 for Nemus launcher. Easily my favorite launcher I've used so far. Tops the heavy hitters ADW, Launcher Pro, and Go Launcher easily.

Juts posted an analysis of a couple popular launchers.

Just started using mobo launcher yesterday, and after getting used to the different u.i. I really like it.https://play.google.com/store/search?q=mobo+launcher

I'd go with the miui rom =) its amazing!
Sent from my MB855 using XDA

EggSpawn said:
I'd go with the miui rom =) its amazing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've used MIUI extensively when I had an EVO and a Defy, and I loved it. At this time, I didn't feel like it was the best since I want a stable experience and stock seemed the most stable.
Maybe when there's an ICS MIUI based on a stock Moto ROM.

Lokifish Marz said:
Juts posted an analysis of a couple popular launchers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the analysis. I'll make a comment in that thread since I'm using GO Launcher now. Thank you for your work on Deblurring the Photon!
I've found that even though ADW uses less memory, GO Launcher seems to run smoother. Luckily, the Photon has 1GB of RAM.

I would definitely recommend going the custom rom route.
Right now I am using cm7.2[kang] with jokers 1.3 oc kernel and it works great. This is the most stab, much faster than stock although the battery only lasts about 4/5 as long for me. I have tried cm9 but there are still many issues right now and I am waiting for some of these to be ironed out before switching over.
As far as launchers go, cm7.2 came with ADW installed stock, and it is very snappy, especially if tuned to take out extra visual effects etc.

Related

Launcher Pro bogging down?

It seems like LP bogs down SO much after a while.. to the point where everything hangs. I revert to the TouchWiz Launcher and it's like night and day, with the same widgets + feeds and updates.
What gives? Anyone else notice the same?
Yeah I notice it for sure. I haven't noticed it since the lag fix, but it has only been a couple days.
Launcher pro is way quicker than touch wiz for me. Before and after I applied the lag fix. I also try and reset my phone every other day our so.
dashed said:
Yeah I notice it for sure. I haven't noticed it since the lag fix, but it has only been a couple days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did one of the lagfixes but I undid it and decided to do a factory format. I don't notice much difference, except for when LP lags up the whole phone. I've gone back to the TWL and things are snappy again.
Dougefresh91 said:
Launcher pro is way quicker than touch wiz for me. Before and after I applied the lag fix. I also try and reset my phone every other day our so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never seen the need to reset every other day. But I do notice LP seems really fast with transitions.. but there are some bugs here and there like the preview cards getting jumbled together and such.
Uh. use ADW Launcher? no problems with it with lagfix, I don't know why so many users of the Vibrant community dislike ADW Launcher and is mainly biased towards Launcher Pro.
the only thing i liked about ADW was the option to make more icons fit on the screen. other than that i think TWlauncher is smoother and less buggy. plus the multicons app does what i liked from ADW anyway
Lp is the best! I hate that adw replaces the menu> settings with its own preferences....stupid. Plus lp is faster than anything else
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
zephiK said:
Uh. use ADW Launcher? no problems with it with lagfix, I don't know why so many users of the Vibrant community dislike ADW Launcher and is mainly biased towards Launcher Pro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have nothing against ADW, but I'm using LP right now so that's why I posed the question.
I use launcher pro for one reason. I love the calendar widget. I do notice that it gets a little laggy every once and a while and most of the time a reboot takes care of it.
heygrl said:
I have nothing against ADW, but I'm using LP right now so that's why I posed the question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like you have a pretty big grudge against ADW Launcher. Using another launcher would "solve" your problem. What does LP have to offer that is making you stick with LP? Both are great launchers and the winner depends on the users' personality.
@disturk: It replaces the notifications button on the menu. Is notifications on your menu really necessary? Plus. I believe LP also replaces one button with Settings.
@bromat80: There are other alternatives to the widget, and if a launcher is lagging me then to my opinion it wouldn't be worth having if it lags. At least not until the developer fixes the problem. Try CalWidget as a alternative if you were to experiment with another launcher.
zephiK said:
Seems like you have a pretty big grudge against ADW Launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are you talking about? Seriously though. Yeah, I've got it out for ADW launcher!
zephiK said:
@disturk: It replaces the notifications button on the menu. Is notifications on your menu really necessary? Plus. I believe LP also replaces one button with Settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was referring to being on the home screen..stock is menu, bottom right is settings for phone...lp keeps this whereas adw puts adw settings on the bottom right and moves phone settings to the bottom middle...(unless they've changed it..haven't used adw in a month)
Photo is lp menu
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Sorry forgot to attach photo
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
zephiK said:
@bromat80: There are other alternatives to the widget, and if a launcher is lagging me then to my opinion it wouldn't be worth having if it lags. At least not until the developer fixes the problem. Try CalWidget as a alternative if you were to experiment with another launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess what I was getting to is that I like both ADW and Launcher Pro equally and what makes me choose LP is the calendar widget. The lag doesn't bother me. I was just pointing out that I do notice that it does get laggy and normally a reboot takes care of it.
I personally find Launcher Pro more elegant.
No lag that I notice.
zephiK said:
Seems like you have a pretty big grudge against ADW Launcher. Using another launcher would "solve" your problem. What does LP have to offer that is making you stick with LP? Both are great launchers and the winner depends on the users' personality.
@disturk: It replaces the notifications button on the menu. Is notifications on your menu really necessary? Plus. I believe LP also replaces one button with Settings.
@bromat80: There are other alternatives to the widget, and if a launcher is lagging me then to my opinion it wouldn't be worth having if it lags. At least not until the developer fixes the problem. Try CalWidget as a alternative if you were to experiment with another launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whoa whoa, whats with the attitude bro? if the OP likes a certain product and want to support it, he can do whatever he wants. It sounds like you are the one with the grudge against LP. I personally like LP because it does 3D App Drawer and 5 icons columns on desktop. AND it's fast as **** on my phone.
Dougefresh91 said:
Launcher pro is way quicker than touch wiz for me. Before and after I applied the lag fix. I also try and reset my phone every other day our so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, launcher pro all the way, my phone used to lag with touch wiz all the time.
LP here. Absolutely no issues at all. Incredible.
Hands down TouchWiz is most definitely the fastest launcher of them all. I see no reason to use third party launcher other than to customize a few things. Does TouchWiz look like the iPhone? Yes! Does the Vibrant overall look like a better version of the iPhone clone? Yes!! lol. Do I love my Vibrant with all of my hear? *$#@ YES!!! but that is besides the point I am trying to get at
Launcher Pro sucks in my opinion, and is much much slower than TW. You can tell by that it takes a few seconds longer to initially load the icons when going into Applications. Transitions just aren't as fast either.
ADW is probably a tad bit faster, but you still can not compare it to TW. I do wish that I had an option to go back and forth between stock and TW. Hopefully that will be made available in 2.2.
I would say stick with TW, make life easy
You can change the speed at which the applications load in the drawer on lp. I don't think anything is farr than instantaneous
I prefer lp because I don't like the side to side scroll in the app tray. I have my speed set higher than the default values for lp and experience no lag.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

[Q] Any way to make SGS2 desktops "silky smooth"...

My worse nightware with SGS1 was the laggy desktops - I loved the phone - but the lag was too much for me I hate the lag. so i decided to invest on the SGS2 beast. Problem is I still can see some lag, tiny, but its there i'm sure. In a microscopic scale.
Tried several kernels to workaround the problem and a couple of rom (with I removed cos I love the oficial rom).
Maybe theres some savior on this forum that can help me out.
Anyone?
Different kernels won't fix your problem.
Looks like you have a dilemma. You say you want your phone as fast and lag free as possible. But you also say that you want to use the stock rom.
You could try the rom in my siginature if you really want a lag free and fast rom. It's an AOSP rom, you ain't gonna find any faster.
Cons: Samsung apps don't work. Bluetooth is not fully working at the moment.
You could try a different launcher.
if you want speed try Zeam launcher off the market its very lightweight.
Thanks guys I'll into both options after work, have a good day!
launcherpro is also very smooth. On my 720mhz motorola xt720 it was very smooth and customizable.... So i assume on a 1.2ghz dual core with 4xram it would be gd
MIUI - I've been converted. Without doubt, it's the fastest and smoothest UI I've seen on any phone.
One thing to keep in mind: The more graphic load you'll have on your screens (icons, widgets etc) the more lag will appear.
That being said I'm running Go Launcher EX and have busy screens, yet no noticable lag at all. Running latest VillainROM, no other fancy mods.
Can you elaborate a little on that? In kinda newb in this >.<
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
johncmolyneux said:
MIUI - I've been converted. Without doubt, it's the fastest and smoothest UI I've seen on any phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
John. What's miui? Does it change much the stock one?
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orate.cl said:
Can you elaborate a little on that? In kinda newb in this >.<
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can flash so called ROMs on your device which replace the stock software.
They are often tweaked towards better battery life, speed amongst other stuff. You can find all of these ROMs here on this board.
E.G. Lightning Rom 6.1 is very popular.
MIUI is another ROM, all are based on Android but have a different style and approach. MIUI -though very promising- is still very new and quite beta, so I wouldn't advice going with it yet. VillainROM and Lightning Rom are very stable and safe to install.
Search around for tutorials on how to flash them, there's plenty of how to's ;-)
As for the Launcher, "Go Launcher EX" is one of many launchers you can replace on your phone. The stock one by Samsung is called Touchwiz, others basically look and feel different and have other tweaks on board. Here is where tastes differ. But with any launcher you'll have lag if you overload the screens and most will be quick and responsive if you use them in a minimalistic way.
It's not because of the phone itself, it's because of the poor coding in the widgets etc. Most don't really optimize for speed, unfortunately.
GO launcher EX is by far the smoothest launcher I've used, so give that a shot. Launcher pro and ADW launcher are both smooth as well but I find them to be more undertake unstable and have more problems when it comes to mounting apps that are installed to sdcard.
I also heard that fugutweaks also help smoothen the UI though I've never confirmed this myself.
Sent from my non-Apple device via XDA App
orate.cl said:
John. What's miui? Does it change much the stock one?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MIUI is a Chinese made ROM that is clearly built on the Android base, but bears very little resemblance to it. At first use it looks very similar to iOS, which I know will put a lot of people off, but it is ridiculously customisable, and all from the UI, without the need for flashing anything. For example, there's a themes app where you can completely re-skin the whole device at the click of a button, and it has an online database of themes that can be downloaded, again with just the click of a button. But once you have themes on your device you can then mix and match elements of each one to make your perfect theme.
I've literally never seen customisation like it.
If you're interested, read more here...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1130951
starstuff said:
You can flash so called ROMs on your device which replace the stock software.
They are often tweaked towards better battery life, speed amongst other stuff. You can find all of these ROMs here on this board.
E.G. Lightning Rom 6.1 is very popular.
MIUI is another ROM, all are based on Android but have a different style and approach. MIUI -though very promising- is still very new and quite beta, so I wouldn't advice going with it yet. VillainROM and Lightning Rom are very stable and safe to install.
Search around for tutorials on how to flash them, there's plenty of how to's ;-)
As for the Launcher, "Go Launcher EX" is one of many launchers you can replace on your phone. The stock one by Samsung is called Touchwiz, others basically look and feel different and have other tweaks on board. Here is where tastes differ. But with any launcher you'll have lag if you overload the screens and most will be quick and responsive if you use them in a minimalistic way.
It's not because of the phone itself, it's because of the poor coding in the widgets etc. Most don't really optimize for speed, unfortunately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey man many thanks for your answer.
So if I understood right, theres no way I can have a silky smooth touchwiz on my phone. I must choose another one...
...and if that right, which one you recomend based on smoothness and looks similar to touchwiz?
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orate.cl said:
Hey man many thanks for your answer.
So if I understood right, theres no way I can have a silky smooth touchwiz on my phone. I must choose another one...
...and if that right, which one you recomend based on smoothness and looks similar to touchwiz?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First thing you could try is this:
1. Download Go Launcher EX from the market.
2. Install this GO Launcher Ex theme: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.gau.go.launcherex.theme.TouchWiz&hl=nl
It has the looks from touchwhiz.
If you are not satisfied, start learning about flashing roms. Then choose a rom and start the procedure from above.
Lennyz1988 said:
First thing you could try is this:
1. Download Go Launcher EX from the market.
2. Install this GO Launcher Ex theme: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.gau.go.launcherex.theme.TouchWiz&hl=nl
It has the looks from touchwhiz.
If you are not satisfied, start learning about flashing roms. Then choose a rom and start the procedure from above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks man I will try it after work.
You may want to try other launchers as well: I love Zeam, which is a lightweight launcher. It doesn't have a huge lot of features but it is always fast to startup and it has enough features for me. If you need to customise the icons on your dock, you should use the Desktop Visualiser and long press on the homescreen>add>shortcut>Desktop Visualiser.
Launcher Pro is another alternative, as is ADW launcher.
You'll need a launcher switcher to toggle between all the launchers--well, as long as you have more than one!
Thanks man. I'll dig into that as well and I did tried some roms too but as I stated before I just want to fix the stocks lag. Nothing more I love everything on it...
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im very surprised that your phone doesnt operate perfectly smooth with TW4! I actually find that launcher incredibly smooth!
blunted09 said:
im very surprised that your phone doesnt operate perfectly smooth with TW4! I actually find that launcher incredibly smooth!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It stutters ocassionally, it IS smooth, but it stutters too.
I think it began happening when I updated through kies to 2.3.4.
If you really don't need all the Samsung stuff (Kies, Samsung Apps etc) then I recommend Oxygen Rom and Zeam Launcher.

Launcher?

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 $3.32 to check this out.
Bought this launcher and happy with it!
Thanks, have to put in some more time add there are a lot of options here!
Thanks!
Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk
I'm using ADWLauncher Ex, and i'm very happy with it.
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I guess I'm alone in thinking that adw is trash but oh well. Prior to using trebuchet on the ics kang I used SPB shell 3d. Its 15$ 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.
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[Q] any good launchers? can't use apex/trebuchet or nova

they either don't let me resize my widgets or ignore and try to force the widget to the centre of the homescreen with a massive border of space all around.
going to try zeam again but i think after that - there's no more h/w accelerated launchers right?
tommo123 said:
they either don't let me resize my widgets or ignore and try to force the widget to the centre of the homescreen with a massive border of space all around.
going to try zeam again but i think after that - there's no more h/w accelerated launchers right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure about h/w acceleration, but try (free) Nemus launcher from the Market.
It has got a nice group/folder feature for the homescreen.
thanks, i'll see if it does the trick. i need something accelerated though since every other launcher lags. zeam is quick but doesn't do scrollable widgets
Go launcher works well as does Zeam launcher
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I think I heard launcher2 is quite good... Not sure though..
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nemus launcher seems to be the best i've tried so far. zeam doesn't support scrollable widgets anymore so that's not an option.
i used go launcher till a few hours ago and it's laggy as hell once you add widgets etc. it's widgets were nice though. launcher pro is dead now with the author claiming something new is coming out to (i assume) get people to buy the old version
i'm using my old pure messenger for fbook and sms widgets. gmail now includes a decent full screen widget. i just need a decent scrollable calendar one.
Found SS launcher the other day and I'm hooked. Man, it is so different I love it. Can even add things below the screen and scroll vertically on a page. It lags a bit sometimes but with updates it will get better.
Also, 360 launcher. Top stuff. Heaps of themes available from the launcher like go launcher.
Sent from my GT-I9100T
sxi200 said:
Found SS launcher the other day and I'm hooked. Man, it is so different I love it. Can even add things below the screen and scroll vertically on a page. It lags a bit sometimes but with updates it will get better
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1. Bought the pro version, ridiculously customisable, have hardly scratched the surface yet. Had some bootloops and lag, but they seem to have disappeared today.
My current setup with it is intensely boring, but I'm into lists at the mo, and my battery time is huge.
Only downside is centring widgets - a PITA.
B3311 said:
+1. Bought the pro version, ridiculously customisable, have hardly scratched the surface yet. Had some bootloops and lag, but they seem to have disappeared today.
My current setup with it is intensely boring, but I'm into lists at the mo, and my battery time is huge.
Only downside is centring widgets - a PITA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice! I did notice it on the desktop thread earlier. The beauty of it are the endless possibilities.
As for widgets, yeah they can be tricky to centre. Sometimes they are a bit small as well so I drag half to the next page, enlarge then centre. I have a few hidden out of view like the power and music widgets.
Sent from my GT-I9100T
guys how can we use nova and apex launcher..wen i try to install it is showing there is problem in parsing the package..any ideas??
p.s sory my bad it was a corrupted file..
vivekrules said:
guys how can we use nova and apex launcher..wen i try to install it is showing there is problem in parsing the package..any ideas??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are only compatible with ics.
Sent from my GT-I9100T
Nova allows you to resize widgets on the ics beta. Works quite well too.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
after changing the density to 160 (from 240) there was something up with all the stock launchers (mentioned in the subject). some wouldn't allow the resize option at all, another did but i couldn't move widgets to the top or sides. there was this big border where i couldn't have any shortcuts or widgets.
h/w acceleration...
So, I don't get is Go Launcher h/w accelerated? If not which are?
go definetely isn't. zeam feels like it is but has no scrolling support so not worth looking at.
ok, trying nova again. for some reason it works properly now i've installed it off the market.
Zeam is too simple and minimalistic for me, I really like the "TSF Shell" but it's not complete yet, a lot of things to do... and it's EXPENSIVE... But it has H/W acceleration and it has a lot of interesting functions... just watch on youtube. It's nice and smooth!
Didn't try NOVA because I'm still on GingerBread (LA4), and as far as I know it's only for ICS...
I wonder why GO developers are ignoring H/W acceleration =(
me too. go launcher with hw accel would be worth a go again. at this point, anything without that isn't worth looking at IMO. far too laggy in comparison. nova now (even with 7 screens full of widgets) is nice and fast. like the stock samsung browser

Best launcher to use for Tab S

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.
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk
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.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using XDA Free mobile app
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
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app
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?
---------- Post added at 10:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:41 PM ----------
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 .
Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk

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