Related
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!
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?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
orate.cl said:
Can you elaborate a little on that? In kinda newb in this >.<
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
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?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
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...
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
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.
I like the new TouchWiz, I have full version of apex but I like to keep using the new TouchWiz...
The only issue is that after you go back from applications sometimes and not always touch wiz redrwas... As if it is not persistent in the RAM...
Anyone else?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Question. When you use Apex, do you get scrolling wallpapers back??
Redraw
hazem77 said:
I like the new TouchWiz, I have full version of apex but I like to keep using the new TouchWiz...
The only issue is that after you go back from applications sometimes and not always touch wiz redrwas... As if it is not persistent in the RAM...
Anyone else?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same issue, it is really frustrating with the new "powerful" SGS3...any solution?
Also, is it possible to change the Grid size?, I mean, with so big screen how is possible that the TouchWiz only uses 4x4
carabassot80 said:
I have the same issue, it is really frustrating with the new "powerful" SGS3...any solution?
Also, is it possible to change the Grid size?, I mean, with so big screen how is possible that the TouchWiz only uses 4x4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only 2gb ram may solve this issue.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Yes mine does it too. When I have used an app for the first time some times it will take a while to go back to the home screen after pressing home. The bottom buttons will appear then a second or two later the widgets then another second or two the rest of the icons appear. Makes the phone appear to be SOOO slow. I was showing it to a friend and he just laughed and walked away with his WP7 handset saying... stupid android. HAHAHA
Same here - can not reproduce when it happens. Mostly while going back from "settings" - very annoying
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=26695189
Sahn-J said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=26695189
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That really has nothing to do with the Galaxy S III.....
My one x had this problem with sense reloadng. Custom Rom fixed it by making it persistent. Just have to wait for devs..
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Baldilocks said:
That really has nothing to do with the Galaxy S III.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry... I figured that since it is for the s3, but theyve had it longer... And reported fixing the redraw, that maybe it was related...
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
Sahn-J said:
Sorry... I figured that since it is for the s3, but theyve had it longer... And reported fixing the redraw, that maybe it was related...
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could be, but it would have to be adapted for a totally different phone.
Baldilocks said:
Could be, but it would have to be adapted for a totally different phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need the lib that comes with it. Its nit standard in ALE.
I've seen the launcher reload I think twice now but it only happened to me when the browser crashed due to a locked up flash plugin. The launcher reloaded fast though so I sort of thought it was acceptable due to the flash crash. But yeh it's not ideal. Hopefully an update will fix whatever is causing it.
I can confirm this issue. I this its due to the RAM. The launcher takes up a lot off RAM, sometimes I only have 100mb of free RAM left and Im not playing games etc.
Ui redrawing
I like the new TouchWiz, I have full version of apex but I like to keep using the new TouchWiz...
The only issue is that after you go back from applications sometimes and not always touch wiz redrwas... As if it is not persistent in the RAM...
Anyone else?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium[/QUOTE]
Where is the rply to this problem. ....please rply asap...
ui redrawing
Ui redrawing problem in my galaxy s3 ....its taking 5 secomds or more to load......pls help asap ??.....
The fix is simple, download Xposed, then install AppSettings for xposed, when done, activate and reboot the phone. When all that done, open AppSettings and find TWLauncher.apk (i think that's the name, not sure, double check), click on it, tick Permissive, then tap save in the upper right corner, reboot the phone, benefit!
No more TW launcher redraws, xposed will keep it in memory.
Cheers
Ui redrawing
lsalamun said:
The fix is simple, download Xposed, then install AppSettings for xposed, when done, activate and reboot the phone. When all that done, open AppSettings and find TWLauncher.apk (i think that's the name, not sure, double check), click on it, tick Permissive, then tap save in the upper right corner, reboot the phone, benefit!
No more TW launcher redraws, xposed will keep it in memory.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont want to root my phone....Xposed modules modules mostly for root phones....CAN u provide me any other option ??? Or tell me abt xposed in explain ??? Ur help will be appreciated.
himanshu gup said:
I dont want to root my phone....Xposed modules modules mostly for root phones....CAN u provide me any other option ??? Or tell me abt xposed in explain ??? Ur help will be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, there is no other way, but why don't you want to root your phone?
I mean, you will enter a whole new world and you can have a faster phone (not simply with rooting it), but with for example, installing xposed and getting touchwiz into memory, installing greenify from playstore and hibernating your apps (significantly improves battery life), installing cusotom kernel in wich you can set various settings (for speed or battery life), also, you will have a lot of custom roms to choose, wich improve the speed of your phone with their tweaks.
You don't know what you're missing
But, if you don't want to root your phone, and read all the posts on how to do it, how to install roms/kernels or modify your phone, then you can simply download Nova Launcher, which is IMO the best, fastest and most customizable launcher which uses smaller amount of memory than touchwiz, believe me, you won't see any redraws from it.
If you decide to do this, you dont have to have root, just install it from playstore
And please, use only nova, or apex, because others are just like touchwiz, full of bloat, ads, and useless stuff that'll make things slow.
Cheers
Ui redrawing
lsalamun said:
Well, there is no other way, but why don't you want to root your phone?
I mean, you will enter a whole new world and you can have a faster phone (not simply with rooting it), but with for example, installing xposed and getting touchwiz into memory, installing greenify from playstore and hibernating your apps (significantly improves battery life), installing cusotom kernel in wich you can set various settings (for speed or battery life), also, you will have a lot of custom roms to choose, wich improve the speed of your phone with their tweaks.
You don't know what you're missing
But, if you don't want to root your phone, and read all the posts on how to do it, how to install roms/kernels or modify your phone, then you can simply download Nova Launcher, which is IMO the best, fastest and most customizable launcher which uses smaller amount of memory than touchwiz, believe me, you won't see any redraws from it.
If you decide to do this, you dont have to have root, just install it from playstore
And please, use only nova, or apex, because others are just like touchwiz, full of bloat, ads, and useless stuff that'll make things slow.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obviously I will root my phone....but not right now...for now I vl install apex or nova only . Thnk u so much for helping me. HOPING nova wont create any lagging problem for me.
Hello everyone
I have a little problem , im in love with this rom from the beginning , i have never had a problem.
But now with the 1.5A i have only a little question.
In the last release i was able to resize the enviorment density ( like dock icon , icons in application menu , and the standard icons bar , like telephone , sms etc.)
But now i have some problem to figure how to resize it, the menu's are really pretty with low dpi , but the others things are really huge!.
Any suggestion?
dibbellas said:
Hello everyone
I have a little problem , im in love with this rom from the beginning , i have never had a problem.
But now with the 1.5A i have only a little question.
In the last release i was able to resize the enviorment density ( like dock icon , icons in application menu , and the standard icons bar , like telephone , sms etc.)
But now i have some problem to figure how to resize it, the menu's are really pretty with low dpi , but the others things are really huge!.
Any suggestion?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello.
Go to parameters, paranoid settings, (list of apps).
I think you know how. Then you have to "juggle" (sorry I'm missing an english word here) between User default density, system default density , system UI DPI, and framework DPI. Its kind of a balance... I personnaly ended up customizing manually the specific app I wanted to customize. It's faster than guessing whenn you don't know "in which category" belongs the screen you want to customize.
Version 1.6 was just released. And beside a bug on one of the screen (doesn't take changes into account), its density screens are juste perfectly set. only a couple of apps to personnalize to make it your own.
regards.
Take version 1.6a. Most (if not all) density issues are solved in it.
Hey Guys,
I am in dire need of a launcher I like. I have a Galaxy S II i9100 running CM10. The only Launcher I have used that I love 100% is TouchWiz ironically... But the battery control is too poor to justify a switch back to Stock Roms (And no Jelly Bean!?)
I have tried the extracted TouchWiz launchers and they provide everything I want but all of them crash far to often...
So I am looking for a launcher that will meet my desires (I am willing to pay for it).
1) App View type Ordered List of Apps in Alphabetical Order. (Not the 4x4 grid I want the 1x30 ordered list)
2) Pinch Zoom of the Home Screens to view all home-screens
3) Re-sizable widgets
Thanks Guys,
Joshua Puckett
djpuckett said:
Hey Guys,
I am in dire need of a launcher I like. I have a Galaxy S II i9100 running CM10. The only Launcher I have used that I love 100% is TouchWiz ironically... But the battery control is too poor to justify a switch back to Stock Roms (And no Jelly Bean!?)
I have tried the extracted TouchWiz launchers and they provide everything I want but all of them crash far to often...
So I am looking for a launcher that will meet my desires (I am willing to pay for it).
1) App View type Ordered List of Apps in Alphabetical Order. (Not the 4x4 grid I want the 1x30 ordered list)
2) Pinch Zoom of the Home Screens to view all home-screens
3) Re-sizable widgets
Thanks Guys,
Joshua Puckett
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use the nova launcher, works pretty well. i use it on my sg2 i9100 with AOKP M1. so far battery life has been great no issues
2) & 3) it does show u all home screens but pressing the home button, and all widgets are resizable its extremely customizable .. love it
1) it does sort the apps but i wish i could custom sort the Apps myself. give it a try
hope this helps
ashish
Nova Launcher Response
budong said:
I use the nova launcher, works pretty well. i use it on my sg2 i9100 with AOKP M1. so far battery life has been great no issues
2) & 3) it does show u all home screens but pressing the home button, and all widgets are resizable its extremely customizable .. love it
1) it does sort the apps but i wish i could custom sort the Apps myself. give it a try
hope this helps
ashish
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I looked at Nova a while back, I will re-download it and check it out, thanks. I seem to remember that I couldn't do a list style, Attached is a screenshot of the feature mentioned in 1)... it is the one I want the most.
EDIT: Confirmed that Nova doesn't have the Ordered List feature. Thanks for the advice though.
djpuckett said:
I looked at Nova a while back, I will re-download it and check it out, thanks. I seem to remember that I couldn't do a list style, Attached is a screenshot of the feature mentioned in 1)... it is the one I want the most.
EDIT: Confirmed that Nova doesn't have the Ordered List feature. Thanks for the advice though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yhea i am not too pleased with its sorting style but apart from that i am very much pleased with the launcher. perhaps there is a way to sort apps the way u want as well as custom place the apps especially inside the apps menu
have u tried apex? i love it. used on my s2 & s3..