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I had ordered this without ever even giving touchwiz a thought. Figured the phone would show up, I would play with it about 5 minutes, install new launcher, never look at touch wiz again. After I ordered it I downloaded the user manual and did some reading and it appears that there is some interesting and useful work here that without having the phone I think I like. Watching videos to see if I could see some of the stuff in action seemed to me to confirm that there is some good stuff there.
My question is how are you liking touchwiz? Not the phone, the phone with touchwiz. I Have encountered an older version and was left heavily underwhelmed. Please be specific, I like this, I hate that, and give a reason. If its just because that works fine but have a reason.
Remember guys this is mostly about opinion and little about fact. Leave folks be with theirs and vice versa.
edit.... Also please add in your predilections toward flashing roms, or not, as it were. An opinion from a daily flasher is much different than one from someone who never flashes and runs the stock rom.
I thought I'd hate it but I'm actually really liking it! Some features I love:
- The lockscreen is great and you get little tabs you can slide when you get a text or missed call.
- You can reject a call with a text message (So handy)
- Resizable widgets
- Customiseable dock
- Hold down 'Menu' for search in apps
- Quick settings in the notification tray
- Movable homescreens
- Customisable app tray
and more Besides you could always replace it with another launcher and I'm sure custom ROMs are on the way.
I changed it within seconds to launcher pro. However the drawer in launcher pro isnt smooth at all, im actually thinking of changing back.
rocketpaul said:
I changed it within seconds to launcher pro. However the drawer in launcher pro isnt smooth at all, im actually thinking of changing back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Go Launcher EX
It is faster than Launcher Pro
I have a lot of time flashing roms and all that fun stuff so I have an idea about the possibilities going that route. Going to edit the op in regards to people adding their experience and preferences as far as flashing roms and such go. Thanks for your input. As a question Im on a custom rom now and the widets are all resizable. Are you talking about the touchwiz widgets then?
Another question would be can you access some or all of the touchwiz widgets from another launcher or do you give them up?
krabman said:
Another question would be can you access some or all of the touchwiz widgets from another launcher or do you give them up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you go use a third party launcher, you usually lose access to manufacturer widgets, since they work in a slightly different way from plain stock ones...
But if you go Launcher Pro Plus (it's a couple of dollars for the plus version) you get more "custom" widgets like that in return I guess it just depends what look you are going for.
So you have the handset and can confirm they are toast? Figured they would be but I haven't done touchwiz yet.
krabman said:
So you have the handset and can confirm they are toast? Figured they would be but I haven't done touchwiz yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, hence why I say "usually". I've been in this business for a while, but not got the SGS II yet.
I have to admit that I like Touchwiz. On SGS, I dont have a SGS2 yet. In my opinion, Samsung Glass lockscreen is a way better than the Android stock lockscreen.
At the moment I'm in love with Zeam laucher but I always come back to Touchwiz from time to time. Launcher Pro and ADW have always left me cold.
Did more reading, I see that you can change the fonts system wide. Does this carry over to a new launcher or do you lose that? Pretty nifty feature.
In my personal opinion, touchwiz 3 was dire. But after using my Galaxy S II for a few days touchwiz 4 has come a long way. I'm sticking with Touchwiz for now
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
I've been playing with the demo models at the office solidly for the past 2 days, and as a Sense users for the past 2 years, I really don't like Touchwiz even in it's newest incarnation.
Probably more down to being used to how everything works in Sense though, I don't like change
Touchwiz 4 is a huge improvement over 3 in my opinion. Using it on both my SGS and SGS2 now. The new calendar widgets on the SGS2 are awesome as well Touchwiz 4 can also put folders in the applications menu now
Semi-regular flasher (ooer) - would generally flash a new rom every couple of months. Been with Android since the G1 so have a pretty good idea of what's possible.
Things you KEEP going to another launcher:
Lockscreen
Dialler (reject call with text etc)
Holding down Menu to search
Settings toggles in the notification bar
You can resize widgets with LauncherPro Plus
Things you might LOSE
Movable homescreens (most launchers do this, but not with the motion sensing twist action like touchwiz)
Customisable app tray (again, most launchers do this)
Resizable widgets (possible with LauncherPro Plus)
Customisable dock (most launchers do this)
Overall, I don't miss the touchwiz launcher, but I like some of the other features. Looks like the Samsung widgets are standard and work in other launchers too - just added Mini Paper, Ap Mobile, and Yahoo! Finance, and they seem fine.
krabman - I've changed my system font to Helvetica S (Settings -> Display -> Screen Display -> Font) and in general it looks great! Carries over to most apps too. The only downside is that it's slightly wider, so you get some buttons wrapping For example, the password "Remember / Not Now" dialog has one, I forget which . . .
Overall, ditch the launcher (I like LauncherPro, smooth for me) but enjoy the other aspects
TW4 is not as bad as many are saying. its still not nearly as good as SENSE 2.x. and I wont even attempt to compare it to the new 3.0 version. I sure hope someone port it.
darkalchemist said:
Touchwiz 4 is a huge improvement over 3 in my opinion. Using it on both my SGS and SGS2 now. The new calendar widgets on the SGS2 are awesome as well Touchwiz 4 can also put folders in the applications menu now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, playing with both the SGS and SGS2 and yes it is an improvement for sure, but I am still not liking the iphonish looks.
DJGibbon said:
Things you KEEP going to another launcher:
Lockscreen
Dialler (reject call with text etc)
Holding down Menu to search
Settings toggles in the notification bar
You can resize widgets with LauncherPro Plus
Things you might LOSE
Movable homescreens (most launchers do this, but not with the motion sensing twist action like touchwiz)
Customisable app tray (again, most launchers do this)
Resizable widgets (possible with LauncherPro Plus)
Customisable dock (most launchers do this)
Overall, I don't miss the touchwiz launcher, but I like some of the other features. Looks like the Samsung widgets are standard and work in other launchers too - just added Mini Paper, Ap Mobile, and Yahoo! Finance, and they seem fine.
Overall, ditch the launcher (I like LauncherPro, smooth for me) but enjoy the other aspects
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You pretty much mentioned what I was about to! Using launcherpro plus with widgetsoid and pure calendar widget. I have to say that launcherpro work a bit smoother on the original SGS for be, but with the upcomming update that should be fixed.
Overall, combining the best of what I had on my SGS before, with the new functions from touchwiz 4!
Hi,
I wanted to get a sense of what others are using for their launcher interface for their TS.
I have tried a handful but nothing really seems to fit the bill all that well.
I have tried
Google Now Launcher
Launcher 8
Smart Launcher
Various "Big" and "Senior Phone" launchers
Nova Launcher
among others....
I seem to be constantly going back to the stock launcher (not OUI 2.0 as that is just crap)
What are you guys using or recommend trying?
One thing I seem to really hate about going to alternative launchers is the loss of the "real" status bar..... I have tried Swipe Status Bar, but that just introduces issues with having to swipe down when you need to access touch points that are near the top of the screen. (Plus the last version that was released completely made icons no longer clickable)
D.
Stock launcher for me seems fine.
I switch between stock Android launcher and GEL. I never use OUI2.
"OK Google ! Find me a smart watch like the TrueSmart was promoted to be during Kickstarter..."
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
trent999 said:
I switch between stock Android launcher and GEL. I never use OUI2.
"OK Google ! Find me a smart watch like the TrueSmart was promoted to be during Kickstarter..."
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Smart Launcher for me, Operative style.
I'm pretty happy with lucid launcher across all my devices.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I have used ADW EX on my other devices for a few years, so I installed it. After tweaking the icon/text sizes and a few Gravity box tweaks, seems to work quite ok.
I think pretty much any launcher will do, as long as you can customize it around the limited screen space.
Lightening launcher with x3 UI layout.
Just tried smart launcher 2 as mentioned on here. It's really good! all the elements fit perfectly on the screen almost like it's made for the TS.
I really use the OUI... But I only tried stock and OUI, didn't try any others yet, so this might change
nova for me just with the icons set very big like my status bar to much and not a fan of the status bar app that will give you access to it never worked quite like the stock status bar should.
I've been using Mini Launcher... although only for a few days and haven't tried many other options yet, so i might change if there's anything better
+Lokifish Marz. Can you please elaborate a little on your set up.
Thanks in advance.
Right now it based on Lightning but really needs to be a standalone.
Thank You Sir?
---------- Post added at 01:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:28 PM ----------
Would love to have this for my Watch!
Personally, I really liked the WP8 launcher. Could fit lots of useful info and apps on the watch screen.
jd
I keep falling back to the stock launcher. I've tried a few (nova, apex, and similar), but the status bar is the biggest issue. I'm really fond of the bar for easy overview of new notifications, and can't really live without one. Swipestatusbar solution works ok:ish, but not having the bar there after exiting apps and having the bar interfere with touch event at the top makes it a dealbreaker.
OUI is almost there - it has widgets, app drawer and screen sorting, and the status bar. It does however lack in other ways, like missing an indicator for which screen you are on, and everything looks very blurred, together with almost no customization. Some widgets looks as if they are rendered at like 50x50 pixels and zoomed to fit the screen. Also seems unstable, it has crashed a ton of times.
If the stock launcher could just get widget support, an app drawer and preferably a way to add/remove/sort your screens, I'd be happy with it. For now it works though, and seems fast and stable with status bar working..
EDIT: After playing around a few hours with different launchers today, I finally went back to Nova. It takes some getting used to, but the status bar issue now feels like an acceptable loss compared to all the gains. It works very well, and renders on small screens better than most other launchers (some have too much paddin in the grid, some render icons very pixelated or blurry, and so on). Nova does a good job, my only peeve is that icons are aligned to the top of their grid position, and widgets are aligned to the center. This means that if you place an icon next to a widget, they will not align, and also the icons come a bit too close to the top. However, it's still better than the alternatives I've tried, so sticking with Nova for now.
When?
Lokifish Marz said:
Lightening launcher with x3 UI layout.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When will you be releasing it??? :highfive:
I am using launcher 8.
The tiles uses most of the screen at any given time, as opposed to a more regular android launcher.
Android launchers in general wastes a lot of screen real estate. This is because of the way the icons are organized, with lots of empty space between them.
The tiles you get in launcher 8 is quite tight, like in a proper windows phone.
I like this.
The tiles are also customizable in size, so stuff that is often used will have big tiles, while the lesser used programs get smaller tiles.
Launcher 8 also runs smoothly.
jdommer said:
Personally, I really liked the WP8 launcher. Could fit lots of useful info and apps on the watch screen.
jd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
am using this too
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
i use tsf shell for many years on all my phones and tablets.
now i use it on the truesmart and it really works great.
its smooth, it looks cool, you reach everything you want in short time.
shure i have to use swype status bar, but that is not really a problem.
ok it is not really cheap, but you only pay one time and can use it on all devices, so i think the price is fair if you have more devices
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
Hi all, this is my first post on here (ever) so go easy!
After owning 3x Mate 9's (MHA-L09 & L29) over the course of the last year, I decided to treat myself and have just received my shiny new Mocha Brown Mate 10 (ALP-L29), imported to the UK from Singapore.
I've noticed one or two "teething" issues however, most niggling being the size of the icons/home screen grid and notifications on the pull down menu, they're all huge!
I have view mode and text size set to "small" in display settings though it doesn't help.
I think, could be wrong, that EMUI 5.0 on the Mate 9 had a "smallest" setting?
Anyway, I was able to shrink the icons, widgets etc to a much smaller size.
Can anyone help with this or am I going to have to hope (and pray) for a software update that addresses this?
It's such a big, beautiful display and is a shame filling it with giant icons....
Any suggestions appreciated!
Thanks.
When both view mode is set to small on mate 9 and Mate 10, yes the mate 9 icons are slightly smaller.
tboy2000 said:
When both view mode is set to small on mate 9 and Mate 10, yes the mate 9 icons are slightly smaller.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought so, must be a coming fix for this?
Just feels like the fantastic screen real estate is wasted.
There should really be a 6x6 grid option built in to stock Emui don't you think?
I know Nova can provide it, but really want to stay stock for now with phone being so new!
(I may even be first in UK with it, not sure!)
Hymastar said:
(I may even be first in UK with it, not sure!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had it for a week and am in the UK ?
tboy2000 said:
I have had it for a week and am in the UK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2nd then! What's your impressions so far?
Especially relating to launcher scale?
I've also noticed another issue where I can't delete Gmail emails from the notification shade.
any fix for this? i tried to use nova launcher but it crashed every time after i added weather widget.
olbapnauj said:
any fix for this? i tried to use nova launcher but it crashed every time after i added weather widget.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone said Huawei Widgets and Nova launcher together has some problems. Maybe try another weather widget from play store?
Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk
olbapnauj said:
any fix for this? i tried to use nova launcher but it crashed every time after i added weather widget.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the last nova update, no crash anymore dude
I tried to persist with the stock launcher but it got the best of me. It just lacks so many features.
I've used alot of launchers but obviously Nova is a good starting point ( it didn't crash for me) and also evie is another one. My every day launcher is action launcher and it is excellent on the mate 10. Launchers come down to personal preference but in my opinion there are plenty out there that are better than the stock one.
Also pixel 2 launcher apk on this great forums is very good and smooth
Mario_Wiznycia said:
Someone said Huawei Widgets and Nova launcher together has some problems. Maybe try another weather widget from play store?
Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the crash when I add the Huawei weather widget. I guess it is not compatible with Nova Launcher.
windozeanti said:
I got the crash when I add the Huawei weather widget. I guess it is not compatible with Nova Launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. BLA-029 .119(C636). Latest version of Nova launcher. Can anyone confirm if they are NOT having this problem? Thanks all.
Same problem here. Seems like view mode doesn't affect the size of the icons on the home screen and the size of the notification toggles. I've had the phone for 2 hours and its been bugging me ever since. I hope someone can fix this. I really hate my icons looking so big.
For smaller icons in stock launcher you have to find an icon pack with smaller icons size. I did it in app Huawei Themes https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.deishelon.lab.thememanager You can install new theme from this app which is called "card", and then apply icons from this theme in the native Huawei's theme app. For me icons from card theme look nicely and are smaller than original ones. Give it a try.
Currently using Pixel Launcher and icons are smaller now but the notification toggles are still huge.
When choosing one of the launchers mentioned in this thread, can you still use the navigation dock?
Nova launcher used to be (arguably) the best free Android launcher - until now - so what's better?
Unfortunately, the day after Branch Analytics acquired Nova launcher, it grew in size by 150% (8MB to 12MB) without anyone noticing that "something" huge (but as yet unknown) is going on inside of the previously venerable Nova launcher.
So now, I, like anyone else who is logical, is in the market for a new "best Android launcher" app APK.
But which Android app launcher replaces the venerable Nova free APK?
Mostly what I loved about Nova was that the homescreen could be organized by any grid - or no grid (see screenshot example below).
What best launcher do you recommend to replace Nova [now that Nova was sold out and as such, it has (apparently) gone over to the dark side]?
I take you're on a Samsung device?
One UI shreds Nova on my N10+; faster and uses less battery even has some features Nova lacks. It's missing a trick or two that Nova can do. One UI is rock solid stable on my device, no issues.
After a 3rd party launcher boot looped me twice, back to back over 2 years ago I stopped sampling them One UI won.
blackhawk said:
I take you're on a Samsung device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. But I've been using Nova free launchers since the dawn of time on Motorola, LG, and other phones - simply because Nova did what nobody else could do - which was allow me to place any icon on any grid or no grid at all.
But now that Nova went over to the dark side - it's time for a new "best launcher" that works for more than just one brand of phones.
blackhawk said:
One UI shreds Nova on my N10+; faster and uses less battery even has some features Nova lacks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With batteries being five amps and more nowadays, I don't have any problem going days without a charge, but it's interesting you say that you found that one launcher uses more battery than another.
I've never tested how much battery power two different launchers use. But I've done a lot of battery power testing over the years.
The fact is that you can only use one launcher at a time - so it would be hard to test two of them side by side given only one can work at any given time frame on any one phone.
Sure you can test two launchers with two exact same phones side by side, but did you really run a test that detailed to conclude what you did?
Given that practical problem set, how could I tell if one launcher used more battery than another?
blackhawk said:
It's missing a trick or two that Nova can do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Besides putting icons on any grid (or no grid at all), what I next like best about Nova is I set up EVERY phone in the house, for years, with the same well-managed set of apps and icons.
Motorola
LG
Nexus
Samsung
They ALL have the same homescreen.
For years and years and years.
Note that what you do on a computer never changes so the organization of the homescreen never changes.
Does the Samsung OneUI launcher save a backup file to be used on any brand of phone?
Nova launcher easily saves a backup file which is imported into the new phone. It's TRIVIAL to re-install all the apps in the EXACT same place from the old phone to the new phone, even when you move from an LG phone to a Samsung phone.
There's no way any Samsung launcher could possibly do that, right?
blackhawk said:
One UI is rock solid stable on my device, no issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My only experience with One UI is that I originally saw it when I got a handful of Samsung Galaxy A32-5G phones from T-Mobile for free.
I didn't like it at all but maybe it does the two most important things that Nova free does?
1. Put any icon on any grid (or no grid at all), and,
2. Save a backup file of the homescreen to load onto any other device
Note that this backup file includes all installed apps in the location that they are installed in - which - for me - is important since EVERY app icon is placed in an EXACT location for a reason.
There's a third thing I love about Nova free launcher but I don't know if it's part of the launcher or part of Android 12, which is:
3. Place a widget INSIDE any folder on the homescreen
Is THAT last feature of being able to resize a widget and then place it INSIDE a folder on the homescreen part of Android 12 or Nova launcher? (If it's part of Nova, then can One UI do that too?)
blackhawk said:
After a 3rd party launcher boot looped me twice, back to back over 2 years ago I stopped sampling them. One UI won.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have nothing against One UI because my only experience with it was that it was the first launcher I saw when I received my free Samsung phones from T-Mobile and the last Samsung I had was about ten years or so ago (the S3) but what I asked on the Samsung groups what apps from Samsung were worth getting just about a month ago.
Is there any app in the Samsung Galaxy Store worth the login requirements?Note the screenshots show you can resize widgets and then place those resized widgets INSIDE folders on the homescreen.
That homepage is way too busy and not AMOLED friendly at all.
In 24 hours this is what One UI used...
One UI supports folders which are a lot better than burning up pixels. Over time this will happen. I rotate my icons, folders and widgets to spread out the wear. The icon packs are red for a reason, red pixels have the longest lifespan, blue the shortest. No wear if a pixel isn't light and it's easier on your eyes.
I'm not too concerned with backup. I want a clean load if I have to factory reset to avoid doing another one. The current load on this phone is over 2yo and running strong. I keep a screenshot to help with setup. SmartSwitch will preserve some homepage settings but it can also cause issues.
Apex Launcher Classic, get the PRO and Apex Notifier.
You can use ancient Launcher and Icon packs, I've kept many old Apex Themes from 2013 and on, and they all still work with the latest Apex Classic.
Offers the same features as Nova.
Its clean.
I understand you are looking for a FREE launcher, but with the launcher being so integral to your device experience, maybe thats the one app you should be prepared to pay for.
I have been using what I think is the most powerful and customizable launcher. Not only does it do the few things you mentioned:
Put any icon on any grid (or no grid at all), and,
Save a backup file of the homescreen to load onto any other device
Note that this backup file includes all installed apps in the location that they are installed in - which - for me - is important since EVERY app icon is placed in an EXACT location for a reason.
Place a widget INSIDE any folder on the homescreen (yes thats launcher specific)
So it does ALL what you listed (i know its a quick list), but also (among many MANY other things..)
Folders inside folders, inside folders.... and widgets n deep in the folder structure
Any widget can be Resized, Scaled (Different to resize which I think is more on the widget to resize itself), Rotated, transparency, Skewed (think parallelogram), positioned to a decimal pixel position
All visible (or even hidden transparent hot-spots) have complete control of the event (eg start ab app, start a script etc) or I *thinik* even multiple actions (I dont use that feature)
All items covered by 3 above also have short AND long press events (Tap, Long Tap, Swipe Left, Swipe Right, Swipe up, Swipe down) I personally have transparent hot-spots (on top of other widgets that respond to their default tap), that I swipe uy[p on to turn on AUID and down to turn off AOD. I also have a long press on my navigation, which turns on GPS, Bluetooth (to connect and call handsfree), starts my music player, starts playing the music and finally starts the Navigation app ready to navigate.
Lots of visual effects such as shadow of the text
Control of the Font, Size, position/offset
"Reflections" on the icons, as if they are hovering above a crystal clear pool/puddle of water
You can have/add code to make your own things. There is an example out there how to add a analogue clock simply with code. Well beyond any of my needs.
and on and on and on...
My personal experience is, if you can imagine it, then there is a way to do it. I have been using it since gingerbread, and as I upgrade device and/or ROMs, I use the backup / restore to get the launcher config started. NB: The private widget data/config doesn't come across in the launcher backup, but a "fallback" image/placeholder is show, reminding you of how you previously had it set up. So although there is a steep learning curve, and with ALL the different options/function can take some time to set up how you want, a lot will transfer onto your next device or ROM. But since its a paid app, you can only run it on one device at a time.
Now, the thing to REALLY take note of, the default set-up on first install is utter TOTAL rubbish ,and so are the preview/demo images on the PlayStore. It really is a case of "if you can imagine it, you can do it"
Oh, and the launcher is called "Lightening Launcher Extreme"
The following are some screen shots I qui8ckly snapped, but the actual config is of course very personal. And because its so customizable, I can do things others will hate I just quickly flashed through the screens I personally use the most in set-up, but didn't scroll through anything or ensured I got everything that is beyond the screen and there are many more options/features I dont use; or even know about.
Part of the problems Nova is having maybe the same that ones Samsung is having dealing with scoped storage and other changes starting with Android 10. I have 2 N10+'s, one still running on Pie, the newer one on 10. The look and behave almost identically except the Android 10 has a 100 or more small Samsung system apks.
I prefer Pie because it's easier to troubleshoot and provides better functionality for trusted apps. I don't even want to see what 11, and especially 12/beta 13 look like. Maybe it's not so much Nova but rather Android that has turned to the dark Apple side...
imonxda said:
Apex Launcher Classic...
Offers the same features as Nova.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that suggestion of the Apex Launcher to replace the functionality of the Nova free launcher, specifically:
a. Place homescreen folders on any grid, or no grid at allb. Export homescreen and import into ANY brand of phonec. Resize widgets and place widgets INSIDE folders
Assuming the free version of the Apex Launcher is this one...
Apex Launcher by Android DOES teamFree, contains ads, contains in-app purchases, requires GSF,rated 4.2 out of 354K reviews with 10M+ Downloads
That sucks in terms of requiring GSF (Nova free doesn't spy on us with GSF, and no app should ever need to use GSF calls) and requiring ads (again, Nova free doesn't have any ads and no launcher should, IMHO); but unfortunately, the description on the Google Play Store doesn't say whether Apex Launcher can do the three most important things that I feel ANY "best" launcher should do (see above).
Bear in mind there are a billion app launchers, where there's a good REASON Nova free was almost universally hailed as the best out there.
If Branch Analytics didn't take over TeslaCoil software, I wouldn't even be LOOKING for a better app launcher... (sigh)... but no free app launcher with ads and lack of privacy can possibly be on the list of the "best" there is.
That's just impossible (IMHO of course).
No app can be the "best" if it has ads and if it sucks out your privacy.
BTW, I know full well what I'm asking is NOT an easy question to answer... otherwise I'd have found the answer already, but I do appreciate the suggestions.
In order to be "better" than Nova free, it can't be worse.
GalaxyA325G said:
Thanks for that suggestion of the Apex Launcher to replace the functionality of the Nova free launcher, specifically:
a. Place homescreen folders on any grid, or no grid at allb. Export homescreen and import into ANY brand of phonec. Resize widgets and place widgets INSIDE folders
Assuming the free version of the Apex Launcher is this one...
Apex Launcher by Android DOES teamFree, contains ads, contains in-app purchases, requires GSF,rated 4.2 out of 354K reviews with 10M+ Downloads
That sucks in terms of requiring GSF (Nova free doesn't spy on us with GSF, and no app should ever need to use GSF calls) and requiring ads (again, Nova free doesn't have any ads and no launcher should, IMHO); but unfortunately, the description on the Google Play Store doesn't say whether Apex Launcher can do the three most important things that I feel ANY "best" launcher should do (see above).
Bear in mind there are a billion app launchers, where there's a good REASON Nova free was almost universally hailed as the best out there.
If Branch Analytics didn't take over TeslaCoil software, I wouldn't even be LOOKING for a better app launcher... (sigh)... but no free app launcher with ads and lack of privacy can possibly be on the list of the "best" there is.
That's just impossible (IMHO of course).
No app can be the "best" if it has ads and if it sucks out your privacy.
BTW, I know full well what I'm asking is NOT an easy question to answer... otherwise I'd have found the answer already, but I do appreciate the suggestions.
In order to be "better" than Nova free, it can't be worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, absolutely correct, Apex Launcher DOES NOT have all the features your looking for, but AndroidDOES has brought back the Classic launcher (I'm assuming because of popular demand) it is called Apex Launcher Classic - this is FAR superior to the new-ish Apex Launcher. BTW, some of the best features of Apex Classic are unavailable without the paid Pro but most features work with free version.
As for privacy concerns, you can use something like My Android Tools Pro, it will tell you exactly what an app like Apex is doing behind the scenes and it gives you control over all hidden activities. https://www.myandroidtools.com/ it has been kicked out of Google play store, I don't know the reason, but I've been using this app for years, I have never seen any evidence of malware in it, and it has revealed the spying, reporting activities, and ad activities of all other apps I use and I can actually STOP these activities, I trust it.
It takes a bit of getting-used-to, but it works great once you do (get used to it). Some advice, check the About in settings for automatic detection of newly installed or updated apps feature, and check the Apps tab at the bottom, then select any app and then tap "see all component info", this is really helpful and easily overlooked feature.
@DiamondJohn That's a cool Launcher I've never heard of, I will certainly check it out
GalaxyA325G said:
Nova launcher used to be (arguably) the best free Android launcher - until now - so what's better?
Unfortunately, the day after Branch Analytics acquired Nova launcher, it grew in size by 150% (8MB to 12MB) without anyone noticing that "something" huge (but as yet unknown) is going on inside of the previously venerable Nova launcher.
So now, I, like anyone else who is logical, is in the market for a new "best Android launcher" app APK.
But which Android app launcher replaces the venerable Nova free APK?
Mostly what I loved about Nova was that the homescreen could be organized by any grid - or no grid (see screenshot example below).
What best launcher do you recommend to replace Nova [now that Nova was sold out and as such, it has (apparently) gone over to the dark side]?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Love Niagara launcher
Pear Launcher - Apps on Google Play
Download Pear launcher — a launcher designed for performance and customization.
play.google.com
Just started using this app and it's pretty good so far