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there seem to be much of Touch/Finger Friendly apps looming around..
how about a Finger Friendly application launcher? i know, Most, now uses HTC HOME as their all in all, time, profile and app launcher plugin.. but the HTC HOME launcher only permits 7 shortcuts and the icons are ugly, and shortcut name is not supported..
and for those who don't want their homescreen/todayscreen be eaten up by a 180 pixel high plugin (HTC HOME), maybe a better touch friendly launcher is a good approach..
how about a 40 pixel height single-row app launcher.. it can't go higher than that.. what makes it different? it can stack lots of shortcuts even it is on a single row..
HOW IT SHOULD LOOK?
initially it shows only 5 icons.. but if you swipe your finger left or right.. it moves or slides the icons and reveals other icons/shortcuts in the horizontal list (originally hidden off screen).. when you reach the end of the list, you are then looped back to the first icon.. much of a carousel.. maybe icons can be changed using TGA or PNG, and customizable shortcut names is applicable..
the concept saves a hell lot of Today Screen space (so faster to redraw) and is fun to use, also, it would be the first Today plugin to utilize the Touch drivers/concept..
how about it guys? if only i have programming prowess, i'll be the one to create this..
Good thought, but one thing i hate about the HTC Home is it is bog memory hooging application.
I want one with less memory consuming.
Very nice concept hope someone will take up this project.
Such thing exists already. Just google for RLTODAY. It's not only a clock, but also does a good job as launcher. Can be easily customized for any requirements.
I use clauncher, works great, icons the size you choose, tabs etc. but sometimes it doesn't appear after a sr. with wm6. Ilauncher is similar, but I think not free.
I second the vote for RLToday, highly vertasile, and very easy to use.
http://www.pdagold.com/software/detail.asp?s=1519
Hmm, I'll have to look into what famewolf posted, but I'm still a fan of either HTC Home or RLToday. I know a while ago there was a post on how to exactly duplicate the iPhone look with RlToday and some themes, but I believe it's been taked down due to copy right reasons by Apple.
yes i know and already used RLTODAY CLAUNCH and ILAUNCH.. the only drawback is, as i said earlier, is the todayscreen usage..
RLTODAY and ILAUNCH eats up today screen estate.. as you add additional icons, additional space is required and more columns are made.. imagine, if you want 16 shortcuts at 32-40pixels each, that means you will have 4 columns having 4-5 shortcuts each.. eating up almost 200pixels of today screen space..
separating the shortcuts in TABS, once again eats up space, for TABS eat about 16-24 pixels of estate and they are uber ugly.. added the fact that they are NOT FINGER FRIENDLY..
a feature i want to utilize in my concept is the DRAG AND SWIPE method.. USE TOUCH CONCEPT ON TODAY SCREEN!
USE ONLY 1 COLUMN OF SHORTCUTS and HORIZONTALLY SWIPE YOUR WAY TO THE LIST.. no need of itching the tabs..
and NO! (@famewolf) i think we don't need another AYEPHONE clone.. it's time we stick to what we have and THINK OF NEW CONCEPTS on how we utilize OUR own interface.. another FULLSCREEN AYEPHONE like launcher is another RAM killer and a launcher takes more time to load than the application you want launched is crazy..
The launcher I posted is the "whoneedsaniphone.com" launcher which uses flashlite 2.1(adobe flash). It leaves the today screen alone. It's been mentioned in multiple threads on this board.
@famewolf.. i appcreciate the reply and the link.. thanks..
yes i know WNAIP.. i've participated on the beta testing of that app (tried it more than once).. and that's my point.. it is a LAUNCHER application.. it is not a today screen plugin..
using a LAUNCHER APPLICATION means, you need to START the LAUNCHER first, before launching your desired application.. it takes more time and RAM.. and it runs on FLASH.. and rendered in full screen makes it more slower to redraw.. and as far as i can see.. it IS an IPHONE springboard (the original iphone launcher interface) clone.. and i can say for most that it is starting to become SICKENING..
we're killing the ESSENCE of our TODAY plugin.. why not just improve what we have instead..
ytsejam_ said:
@famewolf.. i appcreciate the reply and the link.. thanks..
yes i know WNAIP.. i've participated on the beta testing of that app (tried it more than once).. and that's my point.. it is a LAUNCHER application.. it is not a today screen plugin..
using a LAUNCHER APPLICATION means, you need to START the LAUNCHER first, before launching your desired application.. it takes more time and RAM.. and it runs on FLASH.. and rendered in full screen makes it more slower to redraw.. and as far as i can see.. it IS an IPHONE springboard (the original iphone launcher interface) clone.. and i can say for most that it is starting to become SICKENING..
we're killing the ESSENCE of our TODAY plugin.. why not just improve what we have instead..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YOu asked for:
there seem to be much of Touch/Finger Friendly apps looming around..
how about a Finger Friendly application launcher?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe I gave you what you asked for. As far as a "today screen launcher" various solutions already exist..everything from the laucher built into batterystatus to claunch, the favorites in pbar..etc. I personally like my today screen just like it is showing my appointments and status of various things.
As far as the flash interface...all new PROVIDER rom's are going to start coming with adobe flashlite installed by default..the trend in future will be to use more flash based apps so you might as well get used to it at some point. Personally the "launcher" I like most is Microsoft voice command..hit a button and say "run xprogram" and it does.
Check out V2R. Think this is one company and product most of us here are not familiar
Tried it before. Pretty good. But I'm using iLauncher, so didn't want to add this in.
Can't you do a scrolling row of apps with SPB PocketPlus?
What you are looking for is UltimateLaunch:
http://www.ultimatelaunch.de/index_en.html
Other softs
You can use Vito winterface or panoramic launchpad (all are not free).
Vito : http://vitotechnology.com/vito-mobile-shell.html
Panoramic : http://www.panoramicsoft.com/mobileapps/launchpad/LaunchPad.php
Hope it will help.
That thread was 2 years ago @[email protected]
Very nice concept
squint said:
What you are looking for is UltimateLaunch:
http://www.ultimatelaunch.de/index_en.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 for UltimateLaunch
It's fast, smooth, light and highly customizable.
Take a look at iphonetoday
iphonetoday is a good one. light and easy to use and is being supported in XDA forum. Highly recommended.
The notifications tray is great, easily pops down most of the time and the apps tray (with ALL the apps) is just as nice.
But i would like a extra tray for settings and/or favorite apps instead of clogging the "desktop" with shortcuts.
like a tray that flips out from the side of the screen.
is it even possible to add a off-screen container such as the above mentioned dropdown/up trays?
and if yes, are there any available at this time?
I know this isn't going to answer your query, but what is wrong with just populating one of your home screens with shortcuts?
I mean, if you do this with one of the screens either side of the "centre" home screen, you effectively get what you require.
Regards,
Dave
I do use the screens as placeholders for my everyday apps, but most of the time i need a app thats on another screen, meaning i have to go look for it.
With a pulldown tray that would pop out from the side, i could keep my most used apps more conviniently located, just a tap away, instead of 1 to 6 swipes away.
since the apps and notifications are dropdown/up i feel its missing dropdown left/right, witch is the real reason im wondering.
it would be great with apps on one side and settings on the other, then i wouldnt use more than one or two homescreens for widgets only.
I seem to recall one of the home replacement apps had this...I can't recall which.
I know, what you mean.
It's not so nice, to put hundreds of widgets and Shortcuts on the screen.
I don't like it on Windows Desktop, too.
Therefor, I have loaded Apps Organizer from Market.
I put my Apps in 5 Folders, sorted.
Is that something to try for you?
http://www.androidpit.de/android/de/de/market/apps/app/com.google.code.appsorganizer/Apps-Organizer
I love it, really.
Perfect thanks
Formel-LMS said:
I know, what you mean.
It's not so nice, to put hundreds of widgets and Shortcuts on the screen.
I don't like it on Windows Desktop, too.
Therefor, I have loaded Apps Organizer from Market.
I put my Apps in 5 Folders, sorted.
Is that something to try for you?
http://www.androidpit.de/android/de/de/market/apps/app/com.google.code.appsorganizer/Apps-Organizer
I love it, really.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recently converted from a strictly WinMo user to Android and having struggled to find apps stored on my phone because of a lack of folder organisation, am thrilled to find this app. Many thanks!
Formel-LMS said:
I know, what you mean.
It's not so nice, to put hundreds of widgets and Shortcuts on the screen.
I don't like it on Windows Desktop, too.
Therefor, I have loaded Apps Organizer from Market.
I put my Apps in 5 Folders, sorted.
Is that something to try for you?
http://www.androidpit.de/android/de/de/market/apps/app/com.google.code.appsorganizer/Apps-Organizer
I love it, really.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually you can do that with the stock sense widgets, as there are folders for the homescreen. afaik they don't support custom icons though.
I find myself just using the main home screen and putting my icons there, but the other screens don't get used and are blank. If I want an app, I press the dots and flick through the launcher.
Is it just me?
I only use 3 of the screens. main one (centre), the left and right one. Other ones are empty.
3 here, I removed the other two using Helixlauncher2
I'm using all 5 and they are all full heh. I have different themes for each screen with most used apps + clock/weather on the middle screen, social networking widgets on one, utilities on one, fun on another and one with an agenda and some other stuff.
Not really hard to fill those screens up imo, but I guess other people actually use the app-drawer.
I use them all and kind of wish there were more. LOL like the poster above, each page has a specific "theme".
I'm using all 5 and they are all full heh. I have different themes for each screen with most used apps + clock/weather on the middle screen, social networking widgets on one, utilities on one, fun on another and one with an agenda and some other stuff.
Not really hard to fill those screens up imo, but I guess other people actually use the app-drawer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you're screens are set up EXACTLY like I set my Nexus 1 screens up : -). but on my g1 I just use 1 screen
Sent from my HTC Dream G1 using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
I use Helixlauncher and am using all 7 screens. Although I noticed that with all of the widgets I'm using, there is some lag once in a while, but it's more that it's not as smooth as the stock homescreens really.
I use each screen for different types of task.
My home screen has Calls, SMS, GMail and the Browser icons. First screen to the left has facebook and twitter widgets and the second screen to the left has tool apps like netcounter, task killer, astro file manager and the power widget.
First screen to the right is for media so I have the news widget, music, camera and gallery icons/widgets. The second right screen has apps I want to find quickly like torch, calculator, dictionary and a few games.
Scrolling up and down the app drawer seems like a pain to me
C.Slater said:
I use each screen for different types of task.
My home screen has Calls, SMS, GMail and the Browser icons. First screen to the left has facebook and twitter widgets and the second screen to the left has tool apps like netcounter, task killer, astro file manager and the power widget.
First screen to the right is for media so I have the news widget, music, camera and gallery icons/widgets. The second right screen has apps I want to find quickly like torch, calculator, dictionary and a few games.
Scrolling up and down the app drawer seems like a pain to me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have almost the same layout but with the left and right reversed... might be because i am in a right handed drive country xD
C.Slater said:
I use each screen for different types of task.
My home screen has Calls, SMS, GMail and the Browser icons. First screen to the left has facebook and twitter widgets and the second screen to the left has tool apps like netcounter, task killer, astro file manager and the power widget.
First screen to the right is for media so I have the news widget, music, camera and gallery icons/widgets. The second right screen has apps I want to find quickly like torch, calculator, dictionary and a few games.
Scrolling up and down the app drawer seems like a pain to me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do have the exact same layout!
3 screens, apps to the left, widgets to the right, and calling, text, emails, contacts center. Not ruling out using the far screens but have no need for them with my usage. There is still plenty of room on the inboard 3 for future additions.
3 screens only & using the Helix Launcher
Using 3 main screens loaded with apps & widgets.
all 5, but not all full. home screen has most apps, with phone, contacts, notes, task panel widget, car home, voice, gesture search, sms, settings and spare parts. left 1 is gmail and weather
left 2 is pandora and facebook.
right 1 is some games, system widget (sync, locale, wifi, bt)
right 2 is the calendar pad widget covering whole thing. i need to see whole month.
SBS_ said:
I'm using all 5 and they are all full heh. I have different themes for each screen with most used apps + clock/weather on the middle screen, social networking widgets on one, utilities on one, fun on another and one with an agenda and some other stuff.
Not really hard to fill those screens up imo, but I guess other people actually use the app-drawer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. I have the calendar widget on my main screen, which takes up four "slots", and my most frequently used apps (mail, phone, camera, Twidroid etc.and a battery widget) One screen to the left I have other frequently used apps, two screens to the left I have the 4square widget. One screen to the right some frequently used widgets (like weather, Google Buzz and networks) ans two screens to the right: games.
I use 5 out of seven on my Desire ROM.
Center is most used apps plus weather clock.
To the right is two rows of apps. right of that is facebook and textsfromlastnight
the left of center is weather, but the expanded widget from sense
to the left of that is sticky notes and some media.
Always seems to be a ton of threads about why people hate touchwiz and how eager they are to get rid of it but...what do you like about what Samsung did different?
I absolutely love the pulldown menu modifications
I love the music/call controls in the pull down, and like the power widget there. This is something I really wish that Google would adopt/roll into stock android later on (or at least Cyanogen).
I also like the shortcut to adjust your phone's brightness (rolling finger across the top bar).
I personally prefer the way this phone handles making a call on a 2nd line and conferencing people in...it's much better than stock android (I came from a Moto droid and conferencing in a new # was always kind of a pain in the ass).
I personally prefer the way they redid the calendar to stock (I seem to be in the minority here though).
I use google voice for all SMS, so I can't really comment on that.
I use LauncherPro, so the actual look of the launcher doesn't bug me...
Actually, the only thing I truly hate about the modifications Samsung made was the damn alarm program..it's way worse than the droids, and it's way too easy to turn off...and the snooze button is hard to differentiate from the turn off alarm button.
Overall, Samsung has some nice stuff if they just abandon the cartoony iPhones look of the launcher and work on a few of the performance hickups here and there.
hydrogenman said:
I absolutely love the pulldown menu modifications
I love the music/call controls in the pull down, and like the power widget there. This is something I really wish that Google would adopt/roll into stock android later on (or at least Cyanogen).
I also like the shortcut to adjust your phone's brightness (rolling finger across the top bar).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other than the calendar (which is a near-total fail for me; maybe others' calendars don't have the same bugs as mine - which is a scary thought, b/c it makes a global "fix" seem less likely), I really like TouchWiz - particularly the features listed above. The "Power Control" Android widget (or whatever it's called) - which is normally crucial - becomes almost unnecessary, provided you're OK with using the pulldown for toggling GPS, Wifi, etc.; and sliding finger for brightness. (The only Power Control item you can't toggle using pulldown is "Sync," which I almost never turn off anyway).
I like how the TW icons look; and I dig the app drawer, b/c I prefer the "list" view that it offers. I may try another launcher someday, but right now I feel no need -- I'm digging TW (and much prefer it to stock Android).
Don't care for the Samsung widgets at all, but their functions can easily be bested with stuff in the Market.
pavvy said:
Other than the calendar (which is a near-total fail for me; maybe others' calendars don't have the same bugs as mine - which is a scary thought, b/c it makes a global "fix" seem less likely), I really like TouchWiz - particularly the features listed above. The "Power Control" Android widget (or whatever it's called) - which is normally crucial - becomes almost unnecessary, provided you're OK with using the pulldown for toggling GPS, Wifi, etc.; and sliding finger for brightness. (The only Power Control item you can't toggle using pulldown is "Sync," which I almost never turn off anyway).
I like how the TW icons look; and I dig the app drawer, b/c I prefer the "list" view that it offers. I may try another launcher someday, but right now I feel no need -- I'm digging TW (and much prefer it to stock Android).
Don't care for the Samsung widgets at all, but their functions can easily be bested with stuff in the Market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never once used any of the TW widgets...that's one thing that was a bit of fail
BTW, you can get the TW style of app drawer on 3rd party launchers
I was rather pleasantly surprised with TouchWiz. I think it's much better than Stock Android. I'm not sure exactly why people are complaining about it.
What I like about it.
1. WebOS like UI controls for Music and Toggles in the Notification drop down.
2. Paged scrolling of apps in the App Drawer. I hate inertial list scrolling.
3. Some of the widgets like dual clock and calendar clock. If there is no place to add a widget on that screen, it finds a screen with space. Buddies Now is a nice widget, but it's slow and buggy.
4. The interface to add/remove screens and move screens around.
What I dislike.
1. It syncs all contacts instead of just "My Contacts". Of course this is not the launcher, but the app. But other than this, the contacts and dialer are much better than stock.
2. Pressing the Home button, sends it off to Screen 4 on my phone instead of the center screen. Very annoying.
3. There is an Android bug that prevents folders from being opened. With LauncherPro, I can restart the launcher which fixes the problem. No such ability in TW.
4. Can only change two of the 4 icons at the bottom.
Likes:
Messaging/calling through contacts.
Power control in notification drawer
Launcher is starting to grow on me
The interface when a call is in progress
Puzzle piece notifications
Dislikes:
Music player can't distinguish between songs and ringtones
Nearly the same issue with gallery and album art
Can't set the home screen when less than 5 screens
Lock screen but that's purely cosmetic
The media scanner, but I don't think that's TW specific (Be awesome to have it scan on demand)
I really don't like how all the Samsung widgets want to take up an entire screen.
hydrogenman said:
BTW, you can get the TW style of app drawer on 3rd party launchers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, that's good to know... I'll have to try 'em sometime, I know they have lots of fans around here.
I actually prefer TW to LauncherPro or ADW. So far everything works pretty well.
I do wish that the samsung widgets were re-sizeable so they didn't take up the whole screen. I like the app drawer, it is just copying the iPhone, but I don't visit it a whole lot thanks to the FolderOrganizer widget. That widget should have come stock with the phone IMHO.
i really like some of the modifications that samsung has added, especially in the dialer and contacts apps (they have already been mentioned). i found another one last night in the calendar app, if you add a location to an entry it shows you a map of the location from the calendar entry.
wolfvgang said:
I actually prefer TW to LauncherPro or ADW. So far everything works pretty well.
I do wish that the samsung widgets were re-sizeable so they didn't take up the whole screen. ......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey. If I do understand you correctly, you are using ADW or LauncherPro and mention that 'everything is working pretty well, also referring to 'samsung widgets'?
How do you access 'samsung widgets' from say ADW Launcher - ESPECIALLY BuddiesNow ??
I can only access it from the default launcher, but do prefer ADW also - but am stuck
Thanks for your help or ideas.
I don't understand anyone wouldn't use LauncherPro.
The scrolling dock is genius. I have about 15 apps that I use regularly, so the dock does a really great job to accommodate that. Also, you can easily add your own custom icons, and do away with the default ones that come with TW and LP.
I also hate that on TW, you have the home screen # indicators at the top, giving you a lot less home screen space.
The app drawer, though not as easy to use as the Applications viewer in TW, is at least original. This phone already looks like an iPhone, so having a very Android-esque applications viewer is refreshing.
TW does a lot fantastic things, some of which you guys mentioned, but the general layout of it is pretty ****ty, and LauncherPro is just about perfect... and free.
I like the toggles on the notification pull down. I don't like how the brightness slider has no visual feedback to determine what the current bright is set at. If there was a slider widget attached to the bottom or a popup when the slider is in use that would make it easier.
I like the swipe on contacts for the call/sms.
After loading JI6, I tried using the TW launcher again, but I couldn't find any of the TW widgets compelling so I'm back to Launcherpro.
Just found this out, if you dislike the iPhone style of the app drawer, left to right, changing it to Alphabetical list gives me the normalish way we are used to the app drawer working, up and down.
Now if we could just remove the annoying outline on the icons I'd be set
Coming from an iPhone, Touchwiz was a bit too iphone-ripoff for me. I personally use Launcher+ but TW did have some good points.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
my biggest dislike is that contacts and dialer are no longer the same application. I never had a dialer shortcut on my phone before because I could just use contacts, now I have to use up 1 more space for the dialer.
Owenv said:
my biggest dislike is that contacts and dialer are no longer the same application. I never had a dialer shortcut on my phone before because I could just use contacts, now I have to use up 1 more space for the dialer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can access the contacts from the dialer, would be an extra click if you really want to not have that extra icon
z0phi3l said:
You can access the contacts from the dialer, would be an extra click if you really want to not have that extra icon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah but as far as I know you can't get to dialer from contacts, and I'm used to having the contacts icon on my home screen. I know I could just change it but you know what they say about old habits. however it isn't a problem since I have another contacts app that solved it for me.
My favorite feature is the dialer. I love the fact that it has speed dial unlike stock android. I also love the predictive dialing. These two are the biggest for me.
Had my Blade for about a month now, tried half a dozen roms, settled on Jap Jellyfish with some tweaks, overclocked kernel, black status bar, yadda yadda yadda.
I have looked at people's home screens, and think... why? I tried having a big clock or circle battery widget, I still instinctively look to the status bar up top. I've tried various other widgets, but everything just seems to get in the way.
I have only one home screen populated with stuff I use regularly, Droid48, Email widget, contacts, power control and google search. I have seen some things that I think look cool, but don't see the point in doing, does it really add enough to my user experience to be worth the juggling and hoops?
So far the only real modifications I would consider heavier than just applying a couple zip files (Forst paragraph), I have made involve Widgetlocker, and a couple sliders, plus... Droid48. Sometimes I just really, really need to have a calculator. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this pretty phone thing.
No offense, but whats the point of this post?
A few questions buried in there, will the heavy mods actually make my experience any better? Are there any changes that are. aactually worth the effort?
Sent from my ZTE-BLADE using XDA App
you've hit the nail on the head with "look cool". that's a pretty good reason. plenty of apple owning friends are pretty jealous of the widgets possible on my blade. and i remind them often that it's £100 vs £500.
i agree that overkill is possible but it all depends on what you want from your phone.
ive got a calendar and task widget on my home screen so i always know my next engagement.
ive got a widget showing what torrent my server is currently grabbing.
on one page i've got a page full of my best mates + family photos grabbed straight from facebook which i far prefer over going to the contacts app then favourites.
and everyone needs the instant buttons app so you're only ever 2 presses away from playing the tumbleweed sound effect after someone cracks an awful joke....
Ok some good ideas there, and I have gotten some other ideas elsewhere. The scrolling wallpaper that is making the rounds has given me the inspiration to try out some things, and I am starting to understand the allure of themeing.
Noticing somedistinct improvements with 2. 2 as well.
Sent from my ZTE-BLADE using XDA App
galorin said:
I have looked at people's home screens, and think... why? I tried having a big clock or circle battery widget, I still instinctively look to the status bar up top. I've tried various other widgets, but everything just seems to get in the way.
I have only one home screen populated with stuff I use regularly, Droid48, Email widget, contacts, power control and google search. I have seen some things that I think look cool, but don't see the point in doing, does it really add enough to my user experience to be worth the juggling and hoops?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty much from the same school of thinking with android. I only had my blade for a few weeks now & I've come from an iPhone & I really think less is more. I have launcher pro plus installed with only two homescreens.
One which simply has typo clock widget, a basic helvetica clock & a shortcut to my camera. The typoclock takes me to my alarm clock if i press it & obviously i got the launcher pro dock with browser, sms, gmail etc & swipe gestures for all 5.
The 2nd has a facebook widget, a setCPU widget, couple of folders for games/utilities & a few more short cuts to apps I use regularly (Astro, market, cal, maps etc....).
Have you tried the 0x90 addon for Jjelly? It let's you put the power control widget at the top of your notification bar, esier to get to & frees up home screen space! It also let's you tweak your home screen a bit, add a music player control (which works with spotify ) It's a brilliant mod, you should give it a try.
Awestome
Sent from my HTC Magic using XDA App
Downloading now, haven't found any widgets yet for fb that are both good and work well with a black theme.
Sent from my ZTE-BLADE using XDA App