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Since the day the Galaxy s came I've fallen in with loved Touchwiz as matter of fact it is one of the reason i will not be trading in my Vibrant for Nexus s, well until touchwiz is ported nexus s at least.
But I've notice others with vibrant and other galaxy s phones hate Touchwiz and i want to know why? Please leave response as to why you love or hate touchwiz?
I like some things about TouchWiz...but...
its not customisable
the icons are too big and iphone-like
a lot of screen real estate is lost because everything on the homescreen is too big (should have grids of 5x5 instead of 4x4)
I like the app drawer...jumping to screens when clicking the small dots etc
and its quite fast for me
I really like touchwiz to. I tried launcher pro and adw and i really didnt like them. But i did just installed nero from tw and the gingerbread launcher is sweet.
Fear the beard...
For me it's not so much the TW Launcher as it is the widgets. I've found that I really use Feeds & Updates and Daily Briefing quite a lot, and though there are vaguely comparable ones, none of them have grabbed me.
The notification bar is also unique and extremely useful, so much so that Cyanogen largely copied it.
I think the biggest reason why people hate Touchwiz is because it has been blamed for much of the initial lagginess of the phone. Now we know this is largely not true.
It's childs play to use another launcher however, and people may prefer widgets that do not bind to TW. To each his own, which is the true beauty of Android.
What I don't like about TouchWiz:
-the page indicator on top can't be turned off or set to auto-hide
-the dockbar icon labels don't match the rest of the UI (they don't have black bubbles around the text, it looks mismatched)
-cannot change the number of rows on homescreens
-no swipe actions (ADW ruined me for swiping down anywhere on the screen to get the notification pulldown)
-no activities shortcuts (Wireless AP requires a shortcut!)
-seems to run slower/laggier than ADW or launcherpro
What I do like about TouchWiz:
-FEEDS AND UPDATES
-FEEDS AND UPDATES
-FEEDS AND UPDATES
Soooo much better than the Facebook widget...
Edit: I use ADW.Launcher myself and love it. I really miss Feeds & Updates though.
The app drawer can not scroll like a stock android launcher.
The docks can not be customizable to the level Android allows.
The icons look like an iPhone - AND I hate scrolling left to right (and I dont like the view for scrolling up/down)
I switch ROMs often, TW does not backup it's settings like LP/ADW can.
Other than those things, TW is great... I also prefer the widgets that come with LauncherPro Plus and the speed/customizations that it allows. TW COULD be able to duplicate those features..... but until it does, no thanks.
I love touchwiz. Love the left to right scrolling of the app drawer.love the look and feel. Love the icons. The dock icons are custamizable. This is one reason i dont like custom roms without touchwiz because i love it sooo much.
Things i hate. You cant hide the notification bar and it starts to Burn into your screen. Errrr
It's the iPhone clone look that turns me off. It was bad enough that the samsung made the phone look physically like an iPhone, but to skin Android to look like the iPhone's software was over the top. I don't want people to think I have an iPhone.
youre right
monstah_rain said:
It's the iPhone clone look that turns me off. It was bad enough that the samsung made the phone look physically like an iPhone, but to skin Android to look like the iPhone's software was over the top. I don't want people to think I have an iPhone.
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i got tired of the ipod touch i had and it resembles the ipod touch iphone too much for me. plus i dont like lines on my screen. i use adw and minimalist theme with black background, totally awesome for me. i can do with out the non sense.
"I love that Google is innovating the Smartphone technology space at an amazing rate. Android is growing fast and holds so much promise. For instance Google voice actions which I am sure you are all familiar with is such a great idea and I cant wait to use it with 2.2. The updated Gmail client and services as well, Chrome to phone are both awesome ideas but will never work on 2.1 so I am looking forward to 2.2 or higher. I own a car and well I do take calls while driving and would like to use voice search or voice dialing to be hands free. Obviously Android can do this just not with 2.1 this is a pretty cool feature also available on 2.2 or higher. What Samsung has done with Touchwiz is pretty cool too. Let's face it Google is perhaps innovating the space a bit too fast. Samsung has developed Touchwiz not only to slow that hectic innovation down. But, perhaps stall it completely on Samsungs devices that way we can enjoy 2.1 with Touchwiz just a little bit longer. It also sets the Galaxy S devices apart from all the other Android smartphones in the market running Google's latest innovations. But also because we like it and it is so good.
That new android Keyboard for Gingerbread is just what the Doctor ordered isn't it? How about the new Google personalized voice recognition for Google voice? Nice, but no thanks I like taking it slow with Touchwiz and 2.1. Who needs location services and GPS anyway right? What are your favorite 2.1 features?" - by Countbunny from the other forum.
That is how I feel about it.
i see people here and other places talking about rooting their thunderbolt (and dinc, before i upgraded) to get rid of sense. well why did you buy the phone then? to me, sense is a dealbreaker. i don't like vanilla android and sense doesn't "muck" stuff up as long as the hardware is decent (cougheriscough). so to you who don't like sense, maybe provide some insight to your perspective? is there something that vanilla offers that sense doesn't and i just don't know about it? please, explain.
For me it's just a personal preference. Sense runs fine on the TBolt, sure. But, I prefer the layouts/customizing I can do with LauncherPro, so that's what I use instead.
I don't care for sense myself. Maybe it's because I started out on a Moto Droid, but I prefer the basic Android applications by far. I can live with Sense, but when vanilla ROMs come out, I'll switch. For now, LauncherPro is close enough. The only thing I really can't stand is the text messaging app, but that's why they make 3rd party!
I've had the Incredible and Droid X, and didn't care for Sense or MotoBlur much on those, either. I'm just happy that there are so many options to keep everyone happy!
I have no clue, and would like to know this as well? I love the look, and feel of sense myself personally.
Short answer because sense sucks, real answer because I started out on the original droid I got use to vanilla android. I don't really like the way sense is laid out just doesn't work as well for me.
I bought the phone because it's great hardware and I was reasonably certain I would be able to dump sense. If I was stuck with the phone bone stock... Ugh.
I like Sense but I like the customization of ADW EX better. Also I'm beta testing SPB Mobile 3D and running it on top of Sense drains the battery. Other than that, Sense is pretty cool.
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk
Odinist said:
For me it's just a personal preference. Sense runs fine on the TBolt, sure. But, I prefer the layouts/customizing I can do with LauncherPro, so that's what I use instead.
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yeah for me i use launcher pro, have five icons at the very bottom of the screen at 185 DPI that open 5 different apps, and then if you swipe those icons they open 5 more apps. very clean look.
then WP Clock wallpaper and it is clean and totally awesome.
I guess some people like having an unmolested version of Android, the way Google wants it to be.
I personally love Sense. I love the dialer, the widgets, and some of the social aspects of it. I really don't have any negatives about it at all.
i dont mind sense, but i like the customization with other launchers that sense doesnt offer. and if its not going to offer it and im going to use something else then there is no reason for it to take up space and recourses. its not that its bad it just that some people are more anal about removing stuff from their phone they are not going to use. same with bloat apps. if im not going to use them i want the option to delete them.
Well to me sense slows the phone down a little bit more than stock vanilla android. Also having sense instead of stock android slows getting updates, if we had a stock vanilla android phone, we would get gingerbread faster.
Luckily that is one of the reason I root and put other roms on the phone like CM7.
I personally like SenseUI. I had it on a Hero before, and it ran like crap, but the Thunderbolt runs it really nicely. I like the way things integrate with the contact list, etc. I haven't really had a vanilla Android device, but I'm guessing soon I'll be trying one out Oh yeah, and CM7 too
laters
Sense is one of the main reasons I'm an HTC fan.
I had it... (sort of..) on my old VZW TP2. Ran like a slug. Now that I have an actually functioning version, it is great! I also like how many people hate Sense, but still want the HTC flip clock.. lol.. best of both worlds?
*EDIT*
I do have to add... thank God for 3rd party SMS apps....
Sense runs fine on TB hardware and the "new" Sense has made improvements over "old" Sense... but I still prefer AOSP.
I like CM7 particularly (among other AOSP-based ROMs) because of speed and I like the vanilla look and feel. I find it to be more appealing... and I use LPP or ADW whether I am on CM7 or stock Sense.
I also hate the crappy DPI of Sense. Everything looks blown up and pixelated on such a big display. I also hate the Sense dialer and contacts app... along with SMS. I much prefer stock (or third-party like GoSMS and GoContacts).
Need to figure out how to change the DPI. Looks like you can do it with Launcher Pro... any other way to do it?
It looks like fischer price. The friend stream widget you can only see like 1 or 2 peoples status per page. The launcher pro version of this is much better. There's a huge ass phone button in the middle of the dock. Launcher pro is much better with the ability, as someone earlier mentioned, to do 5 icons. You can swipe those 5 and get 10, then you can have up to 3 docks you can rotate between for even more. I use all 15 icons, with the swipe gesture on all of them for a total of 30 apps that I don't need to clutter up my homescreen to get.
The clock is massive and a waste of screen real estate. There's already a clock in the top right of appropriate size, why do I need a gigantic flip clock that does nothing but drain my battery.
The stuff where you can flip it over to silence it or turn on speakerphone is nice though, I like that. But the launcher and the widgets really suck.
This is my first sense phone, and i must say that i really like sense. Unless it really starts to be a liability to the phone, i will always use it or keep it around.
I actually dont mind sense at all, and i think it is a huge improvement over motoblur (from what ive seen on my friends phones) but i was running a rooted launcher pro OG droid, so in the end ill probably switch (already rooted).
To people that havent really been on android though I can see the love they have for sense (at least on the T bolt).
I personally have already gotten used to the launcher tray and I am a fan, but the messaging app on the droid was better, and while i like the dial pad itself, the way the contacts and call log are i have to go + to droid as well.
I love Sense. I mean all the others (Blur, Touchwiz) they all SUCK, but I think sense actually adds to the android experience.
i can see the statements about the huge widgets, but you can add or remove those as you see fit. i personally don't use any sense widgets on my home screen, but i like that they are scrollable. i use the calendar and people widgets as book ends (far left and right screens within the scene). but i find that sense brings a LOT of good features to android to integrate and make the use of the phone better. the pinch zoom out/tap "home" to show all screens to quickly jump to one instead of having to swipe left or right, etc. i like how it syncs facebook contact info with people, i like the color scheme especially. there are other things i like that i don't have on my work phone (OG Droid). as far as stock apps, i use handcent and gmail. i can say for certain i DO NOT like the stock people or contacts app. it sucks epically.
RE: being able to delete apps you don't use, i actually wrote a letter to corporate about that (don't put bloatware on my phone. put it in the market or if you put it on let me delete it) due to backup assistant, the moron at the store started to set my phone up for me, and was past that stage when he handed me my phone. i've been on android for over a year and before that was with blackberries using google sync also, haven't used backup assistant since my enV.
anyways, i can see some of the "customization" options on having different home screens, but sense is more than just a launcher. you can use 3rd party launchers and still keep the benefits of sense, which is the best of both worlds, if that's what your into. i personally like the sense stock look and once a good and stable root is available i'll root (no roms for me, they all suck one way or another IMO) to get my titanium and screen cap, then delete bloatware. FTW!!!
I tried liking adw but even with homescreen button lock on I found myself accidentally dragging the homescreen button off the screen and had to reload the launcher.
Plus adw looks too much like my Droid and I was ready for a change so this fits perfect. Seems like some wanna over customize just for bragging rights. To me Sense has plenty of options put of the box
Sent from my Tbolt from Tapatalk
I'm one of those people who, for various reasons, like the current stock ROM. In particular, after trying a number of launchers I keep coming back to TnT. I rarely use the "dashboard," but it is nice when I'm using the tablet on a stand and can turn it on and in a moment get the time, weather, and a news headline. For the most part I use the "classic" mode which just works for me. There are no inappropriate and useless phone-related icons or features and the on-screen Menu and Back icons are very helpful. My presbyopic eyes like the large notification icons and the simple layout.
On the other hand, there are some very nice aspects to the recent CyanogenMod 7 ROM. A biggie is the location feature that works surprisingly well.
I'd probably use modded ROMs more if I could find a launcher that I like. Given that I think I've tried just about all of them, it looks as if what I really want is the TnT one. Is this installable on a ROM that didn't come with it?
yes you can. on the caulkin rom you get a folder with the "home" and other missing apps to install the tnt launcher also you can go to droidpirate.com and search for a bunch of stuff to download including the launcher there.
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.
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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?
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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!
So having flashed to ICS last night - while I do love the Sony launcher in all it's greatness, I'm starting to feel a craving to use Google's stock Holo launcher as seen on the Galaxy Nexus.
I know one can install Nova/Apex launcher to imitate the look and feel, however the level of detail just isn't enough. To fully replicate everything, I'd have to download large plethora of extra apps such as Go Locker and various icon themes; and in the end just slowing my SXS down in general.
So the question for me is, will there ever be a method in the future to somehow flash the Nexus' Holo launcher and lockscreen, or the entire system UI of the Nexus into our SXSs?
sure wait for aosp or aokp rom
im install Apex and kick out the Xperia Home out of the system (got root) - in my opinnion it runs damn fast