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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!
I don't know about you guys, but I'm still forced to use good old Launcher Pro on my SGS II. Reason being that it's the smoothest launcher I've tried - in a sense that it's the most responsive to swiping screens. Also, its calendar widget is very nice, same as in Go Launcher.
I admit I'm a bit over-sensitive to even slightest lag. Even a several millisecond delay when swiping screens or opening the app drawer pisses me off.
My personal experience:
Go Launcher Pro - best customization, worst response. Heavy and sluggish. After deep sleep, there's a huge delay when swiping screens, until screens are cached. Until they are, it feels slllllloooowwww. Same on my Nook Tablet - horrific delays after deep sleep.
TouchWiz launcher - pretty damn fast and responsive, but even TW 4.5 has very limited customization. Also, when using multiple widgets, I start noticing an FPS drop in swiping from widget-heavy screens. For example MIUI Clock (from market) - swiping to and from the screen with it will always have noticable frame-skip.
Zeam Launcher - very smooth, but same frame skip problem as TW launcher. Unfortunatelly, very little customization.
Launcher Pro - fastest, lag-free swiping. Sadly, an abandoned project and missing lots of customization that'd be nice for modern ROMs.
Nova Launcher for ICS - fast and smooth, but still FCs every once in a while, lack customization. It's in beta, obviously.
ADW Launcher - haven't tested it for a while, but I remember not-so-great swiping response and lacking customization that I wanted.
What's your experience like? What do you recommend?
DarkDvr said:
I don't know about you guys, but I'm still forced to use good old Launcher Pro on my SGS II. Reason being that it's the smoothest launcher I've tried - in a sense that it's the most responsive to swiping screens. Also, its calendar widget is very nice, same as in Go Launcher.
I admit I'm a bit over-sensitive to even slightest lag. Even a several millisecond delay when swiping screens or opening the app drawer pisses me off.
My personal experience:
Go Launcher Pro - best customization, worst response. Heavy and sluggish. After deep sleep, there's a huge delay when swiping screens, until screens are cached. Until they are, it feels slllllloooowwww. Same on my Nook Tablet - horrific delays after deep sleep.
TouchWiz launcher - pretty damn fast and responsive, but even TW 4.5 has very limited customization. Also, when using multiple widgets, I start noticing an FPS drop in swiping from widget-heavy screens. For example MIUI Clock (from market) - swiping to and from the screen with it will always have noticable frame-skip.
Zeam Launcher - very smooth, but same frame skip problem as TW launcher. Unfortunatelly, very little customization.
Launcher Pro - fastest, lag-free swiping. Sadly, an abandoned project and missing lots of customization that'd be nice for modern ROMs.
Nova Launcher for ICS - fast and smooth, but still FCs every once in a while, lack customization. It's in beta, obviously.
ADW Launcher - haven't tested it for a while, but I remember not-so-great swiping response and lacking customization that I wanted.
What's your experience like? What do you recommend?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where do you get that LauncherPro is an abandoned project? Yeah, it hasn't been updated in quite some time (May 2011, I think), but the forums on their website looks active, and it's still available in the market? I'm just curious, as I use LP, and I'd hate to see development on it stop.
ctomgee said:
Where do you get that LauncherPro is an abandoned project? Yeah, it hasn't been updated in quite some time (May 2011, I think), but the forums on their website looks active, and it's still available in the market? I'm just curious, as I use LP, and I'd hate to see development on it stop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Development on it has stopped a long time ago. Last update was simply to add transition effects.
Francisco has moved on to music app and other things. His "representatives" (whatever that means) kept telling everyone on the forums that development is not dead, he simply hasn't touched the code for past, oh, year or so. So yeah. It's as dead as it gets.
Forums are active mostly because people are asking when development will continue, begging for updates.
I find ADW Launcher EX to be smooth, and its far better than normal ADW.
DarkDvr said:
Development on it has stopped a long time ago. Last update was simply to add transition effects.
Francisco has moved on to music app and other things. His "representatives" (whatever that means) kept telling everyone on the forums that development is not dead, he simply hasn't touched the code for past, oh, year or so. So yeah. It's as dead as it gets.
Forums are active mostly because people are asking when development will continue, begging for updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that sucks. LauncherPro is definitely my favorite launcher at the moment.
DarkDvr said:
TouchWiz launcher - pretty damn fast and responsive, but even TW 4.5 has very limited customization. Also, when using multiple widgets, I start noticing an FPS drop in swiping from widget-heavy screens. For example MIUI Clock (from market) - swiping to and from the screen with it will always have noticable frame-skip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This, for some reason the Program monitor seems to do this whenever I use it, I can have the digital clock and accuweather widget running along with the google search bar and droidstats and its smooth. Use the program monitor widget and it starts to stutter
Go launcher EX is the one that i have fallen for. Fast and stable with alot of customization.
And check out Nemus launcher too.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
mariosraptor said:
Go launcher EX is the one that i have fallen for. Fast and stable with alot of customization.
And check out Nemus launcher too.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^
This. Been using GoEx for a couple of months now. Have tried other launchers (incl Touchwiz), but keep coming back to GoEx for the reasons Mariosraptor mentioned.
I flipflop between LPP and adw Ex. Given up GO, I found it sluggish and I hate the home icon on the dock.
adw>LPP for customisation, LPP>adw for speed. If LPP had more gesture actions and we could resize dock icons it'd be perfect for me, but development is deader than a dodo.
Haven't installed/used TW for 6 months.
B3311 said:
I flipflop between LPP and adw Ex. Given up GO, I found it sluggish and I hate the home icon on the dock.
adw>LPP for customisation, LPP>adw for speed. If LPP had more gesture actions and we could resize dock icons it'd be perfect for me, but development is deader than a dodo.
Haven't installed/used TW for 6 months.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like ADW Launcher EX as well... But the thing I REALLY like about LPP over ADW is the scrollable dock, allowing for 10 more shortcuts. If ADW had that, I would move over in a heartbeat.
Was a launcher pro plus user but go launcher is what I prefer due to its widgets, the Facebook and twitter ones are useful for quick updates. Calendar widget is good as well.
I find the supported decant not as smooth as launcher pro but no big issue.
ADW ex is also good use it on my tablet and its fast and customisable.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
ctomgee said:
I like ADW Launcher EX as well... But the thing I REALLY like about LPP over ADW is the scrollable dock, allowing for 10 more shortcuts. If ADW had that, I would move over in a heartbeat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the dock you can have other five apps in go launche. How? Just make use of the gesture feature on every icon on dock. That is what i have done for a long time.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
the only thing that annoys me with ADW EX is that you can not have folders in your app screens like go launcher. yes i know you can have them on your desktop but not really the point is it and makes the app screen full of apps...specially if you have over one hundred...or the feature is there and i do not know how to work it? any ideas from someone to correct me please
mariosraptor said:
In the dock you can have other five apps in go launche. How? Just make use of the gesture feature on every icon on dock. That is what i have done for a long time.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough - but then you have to remember what each of the icons' gestures launches. It won't display it, right? I still prefer the scrolling dock.
EDIT: also, in LPP, you can add gestures to each of the possible 15 icons in the deck as well. Leading to a whopping potential 30 shortcuts, just in the dock. I don't use the swipe gestures though; 15 total dock shortcuts suffices for me for now.
Personally, i prefer and use 360 Launcher from XDA, that is surely the most customizable, fast, smooth and easy to use launcher ever seen!
Inviato dal mio GT-I9100 usando Tapatalk
Tested some launcher and a lot of rom (most with an other launcher or modded TW)
I always get back to launcher pro!
Sure long time no updates but maybe because most users are happy with it ;-)
CHEERS ;-)
Sent from my Galaxy S2 - I9100 with SensatioN Rom!
I would say that the Go Launcher is the most beautiful one in the matket but from time to time you have lags here and there when you turn on effects like sphere or cylinder. for smoothness you can go for ADW Launcher imo I dont like the aesthetics of Launcher pro at all...
Definitely Go Launcher for me. Highly customisable and zero lag.
Of you have lag on wakeup, maybe try a different kernel and governor etc.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
mariosraptor said:
Go launcher EX is the one that i have fallen for. Fast and stable with alot of customization.
And check out Nemus launcher too.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried Nemus yesterday and I liked it, but it needs a "hide status bar" option IMO.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
imo go launcher ex
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
In playing with the G4 over the past few weeks, I've discovered some interesting things about launcher performance, so I thought I would share.
After using Google Now Launcher for several days, I began to notice that it was sometimes dropping frames and stuttering a bit much for my liking when swiping between screens. I switched back to the stock LG Home launcher and amazingly, scrolling was almost perfectly smooth with hardly any dropped frames.
Curious as to why this was, I began testing various launchers... Nova, Action Launcher, Apex Launcher, L Launcher, an AOSP launcher3 build from KitKat, etc. Finally, I noticed a pattern. Launchers based on the KitKat AOSP launcher source all ran very smoothly, while launchers based on the Lollipop AOSP launcher source all dropped frames too often when scrolling around the home screens and app drawers.
So from this, we can deduce two things:
1) The stock LG Home launcher is based on KitKat or earlier AOSP launcher source code. No surprise there.... just look at the page indicator dots, the app drawer background, and the three dot menu style in the app drawer. They all have KitKat styling.
2) LG optimized the G4 to run KitKat based launchers more smoothly since that's what their own launcher is.
So what can we do about it? Well, use an old version of your favorite launcher, of course. Action Launcher 2 is still available in the Play Store and has its own listing. I went with an old version of Nova (Classic v3.3 from http://novalauncher.com) and find it performs more smoothly than the newly released Nova v4. And not to fear, Nova v3.3 can still be configured to look and act like a Lollipop based launcher by changing a few settings. See my screenshots of Nova v3.3 below to see for yourself.
Hope all of you who are driven crazy by the slightest stutters find this information helpful. Let me know about your experiences.
Thanks for this. Will give it a try.
I was surviving with the stock launcher but went crazy after installing the tempered glass protector. After removing the glass all of my swipes or scrolls were being registered as taps.
Sent from my LG-H815
I too have been trying out the top 10 most know launchers in the playstore and have seen that issue as well compared to the stock launcher. What makes me go back to the stock launcher is two things. Health widget for step counter, and the smart notice widget.
wadamean said:
I too have been trying out the top 10 most know launchers in the playstore and have seen that issue as well compared to the stock launcher. What makes me go back to the stock launcher is two things. Health widget for step counter, and the smart notice widget.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know me too. How nice will be to add those into nova.
I'll be honest, I am running the latest Nova launcher and I haven't noticed any dropped frames or hiccups whatsoever. Everything seems buttery smooth.
Ken4G said:
I'll be honest, I am running the latest Nova launcher and I haven't noticed any dropped frames or hiccups whatsoever. Everything seems buttery smooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
apex is the smoothest launcher at the moment. nova ( i have the paid version ) is not that smooth like action launcher 3,
i'm only running apex for now
The app drawer and everything runs better , try and see yourself , you'll be impressed.
Great discovery. Nova and Google Now was always my go-to launcher but I have noticed frame drops. Very minimal, but I guess some of us are cursed to notice these things.
I always end up reverting to the stock launcher after awhile. I'll try the suggestion above and give Apex a run for a few days.
Also, anyone find it weird that some widgets like the default clock widget can't be used with other launchers?
Sent from my LG-H818
JustinDulay said:
Also, anyone find it weird that some widgets like the default clock widget can't be used with other launchers?
Sent from my LG-H818
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not weird at all, LG based widgets are baked into the LG launcher. Same thing happens with Samsung based widgets, can only use them on the TW launcher.
I'm using stock LG's launcher and it works very nice for me. I disabled Smart Bulletin option from settings and the launcher flies. With this feature enabled the launcher was getting laggy after a few hours of use ,now it's just perfect.
The only thing that drives me crazy about the Stock launcher is the lack of backgrounds for the icons. I like all my icons to feel somewhat uniform. I know the LG Launcher supports themes (basically icon packs)... but the Verizon model has this ripped out. I know it is accessible through some song and dance but the icon packs were pretty bare, only like 20 icons to cover the basics. Some custom packs have more but still barely cover the grand scheme of play store apps.
Overall good find though. I actually really like Action launcher 2 and run it on my tablets but I am unsure about on a smaller device I intend to use with 1 hand. I know you can setup swipes to pull open the drawer. At least we have options. I wonder if this happens on other devices, or just LG?
Very interesting to see that Lollipop based launchers stagger. Although KitKat was the best Android experience I ever had. Lollipop is fun but on the LG (or other skinned devices) the change is miniscule. KitKat ran like a beast on the G2 but started having problems when it upgraded to Lollipop.
I use KISS Launcher. No framerate loss there.
I guess not? Pretty annoying as I never use it.
Biggenz said:
I guess not? Pretty annoying as I never use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get/use a custom launcher like Nova launcher -So much easier to customize and so many more features.
ƒ
This is really bothering me. I dont want a 3rd party launcher, the launcher is fine except for that stupid search bar. Also I had many problems with 3rd party launchers in the past, and I'd rather keep the stock one which is tailored to the Pixel 6 series.
biTToe said:
Get/use a custom launcher like Nova launcher -So much easier to customize and so many more features.
ƒ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought perhaps Nova would take care of it. Thanks.
surprised someone finds 3rd party launchers like nova buggy
nova hits 10years old in december and its been pretty solid since forever
Likewise, I want to get rid of that screen wasting 'At a Glance' widget at the top of the screen!!
Don't fancy an alternative launcher - but may have to bite the bullet...
squee666 said:
surprised someone finds 3rd party launchers like nova buggy
nova hits 10years old in december and its been pretty solid since forever
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using it for the last 6 years. It is feature-rich and less buggy and annoying than the four previous pixel launchers.
harryw66 said:
Likewise, I want to get rid of that screen wasting 'At a Glance' widget at the top of the screen!!
Don't fancy an alternative launcher - but may have to bite the bullet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The beauty of Nova is, you can run both launchers, customize each as you like and switch between the two on-the-fly.
Infinite scrolling, custom bottom bar, multiple grid layouts...
When I get my P6P (today in theory) I will load all my apps from the Play store and restore my Nova backup. BOOM! my new phone will look and function exactly like my old phone... only bigger and cooler.
ƒ
biTToe said:
I've been using it for the last 6 years. It is feature-rich and less buggy and annoying than the four previous pixel launchers.
The beauty of Nova is, you can run both launchers, customize each as you like and switch between the two on-the-fly.
Infinite scrolling, custom bottom bar, multiple grid layouts...
When I get my P6P (today in theory) I will load all my apps from the Play store and restore my Nova backup. BOOM! my new phone will look and function exactly like my old phone... only bigger and cooler.
ƒ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks - I went with the Microsoft one - as it was the last one I had tried on my OnePlus over a year ago.
I will see how it goes - if not I will try Nova - I have the paid version also from 1-2 years ago.
Cheers
harryw66 said:
Thanks - I went with the Microsoft one - as it was the last one I had tried on my OnePlus over a year ago.
I will see how it goes - if not I will try Nova - I have the paid version also from 1-2 years ago.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Switched to Nova overnight (insomnia!) - did not like the news choices of the Microsoft Launcher left swipe page - stuff from Hello Magazine, Daily Express and Daily Mail -???
Added the Nova Companion and now got the Google Left swipe and no wasted screen space on the main page.
paysen said:
This is really bothering me. I dont want a 3rd party launcher, the launcher is fine except for that stupid search bar. Also I had many problems with 3rd party launchers in the past, and I'd rather keep the stock one which is tailored to the Pixel 6 s
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Click to collapse
paysen said:
This is really bothering me. I dont want a 3rd party launcher, the launcher is fine except for that stupid search bar. Also I had many problems with 3rd party launchers in the past, and I'd rather keep the stock one which is tailored to the Pixel 6 series.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Plenty of good third party launchers.
harryw66 said:
Switched to Nova overnight (insomnia!) - did not like the news choices of the Microsoft Launcher left swipe page - stuff from Hello Magazine, Daily Express and Daily Mail -???
Added the Nova Companion and now got the Google Left swipe and no wasted screen space on the main page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had never heard of the MS launcher, or maybe never really given it any mind. I looked at it yesterday after you mentioned it and it looked awful. I really hate the tiles and the forced news that I could care less about... too much work to make it what I wanted.
paysen said:
This is really bothering me. I dont want a 3rd party launcher, the launcher is fine except for that stupid search bar. Also I had many problems with 3rd party launchers in the past, and I'd rather keep the stock one which is tailored to the Pixel 6 series.
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Click to collapse
Then you're missing out IMHO.
There is nothing "wrong" with the Pixel launcher per se, as long as you don't care that Google, like Apple, dictates how you interact with your phone; but, if you want to customize your phone to your liking, a custom launcher is the only way to go.
Nova has been rock-stable for a long time and has a myriad of great features, most of which are free.
ƒ
+1 for Nova.
Nova is my launcher of choice.
It has been for a decade or so now.
I've tried many others but always come back to it.
Sometimes I use Action Launcher or will try something new but again always come back to Nova, which I am actively using on my new Pixel 6 (received it yesterday) as I find the stock launcher extremely lacking in features - haven't suffered a single launcher related performance or stability issue for a very long time, including on my P6.
I don't like having an app drawer or icons / widgets cluttering up my home screen so I assign gestures to launch specific frequently used apps such as Chrome and YouTube and for Nova's integrated "app search", which also displays other recently used, newly installed or frequent apps in tabs separate from the search bar.
I have a single Google "At A Glance" widget
and use the Maxelus Galaxy Pack Live Wallpaper app for additional personalisation and because I'm a nerdy space cadet.
+2 Nova. Double tap to lock gesture is something I have implemented for years and the customization is endless.
harryw66 said:
Added the Nova Companion and now got the Google Left swipe and no wasted screen space on the main page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait, what's Nova Companion? I just put the Google icon on my home screen so I could tap it to get to the Google interface, but a left-swipe would be way cleaner...
If you root your phone, you can get rid of the search bar in the Pixel Launcher, add rows/columns, and more.
Biggenz said:
I guess not? Pretty annoying as I never use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use adb to disable it.
I use a package disabler to do that.
For me it's called "com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox"
I'm not missing it...
rwald said:
Wait, what's Nova Companion? I just put the Google icon on my home screen so I could tap it to get to the Google interface, but a left-swipe would be way cleaner...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nova Launcher
The premier custom launcher for Android, loved by over 50 million.
novalauncher.com
Allows you to access Google now by left swiping
blackhawk said:
Use adb to disable it.
I use a package disabler to do that.
For me it's called "com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox"
I'm not missing it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which package disabler are you using if you don't mind?
A little late to the party. Always used Lawnchair launcher on my Pixel3. Just got my P6 a few days ago and upgraded to Lawnchair again. Seems pretty stable on Android 12. I add Lawnfeed to enable Google feed left-swipe. Lawnchair is pretty similar to Pixel launcher except you can customize much more than stock (ie, disabling the bottom search bar).