Database Users

Question about Helixlauncher and such

Hey everybody,
First post here but i've been reading up on quite some info here.
Proud owner of the awesome HTC Desire since a bit over a week and very much a noob when it comes to all the config possibilities of these super-smartphones.
I just installed Helixlauncher2 and very much like the added options for the menu bar at the bottom and it also added the ability to let the homescreens function in landscape view.
One downside is that the phone seems to be a bit slower and less responsive compared to running the stock Sense GUI. I think i might switch back to Sense for the time being untill the phone gets rooted.
That is where my question comes in. When it gets rooted, does that mean option like the Helix menubar can be integrated in Sense? Helix now cancels all the HTC widgets and while it gives decent alternatives, the Sense GUI has some real gems which i'd love to keep.
So...does rooting mean "anything is possible" and you get a super configurable phone? Or is it more like people making the ROM lay the basics and you can only work within those lines?
Thanks for the help so far!

Nope, afraid not.
Not being able to get the HTC widgets in Helixlauncher2 has nothing to do with the phone not being rooted, it's to do with the app (Helixlauncher2) itself. It's not designed to pick them up. As far as the speed is concerned, try Helixlauncher rather than Helixlauncher2. It's really fast on my Desire. I much prefer it to the Sense UI but then I didn't have much use for the HTC widgets as I already had 3rd party widgets that I had purchased such as the Beautiful Widgets Pack. Another launcher you can try is Home++ Beta which has some great features.
Hope that helps.

CM6/AOSP has really helped me appreciate Sense!

I loaded CM6 when the nightly was first posted and had been loving it. I thought it was awesome that it was pure Android with all of the proprietary HTC stuff stripped out. I was sure that AOSP was the way to go and hadn't looked back until yesterday when I loaded AvaFroyo-V3. Not using Sense for a while has really made me appreciate the aesthetics and usability that HTC has put into their devices. I can see why they keep it so locked down because it really does make their devices stand out amongst the other Android hardware, especially to the majority of their users who could care less about rooting, open-source, etc. Who knows what I'll be running next week but I'm going to stick with Sense for now.

Really? It makes me realize how bloated and completely unnessecary Sense is, but that's just me... Personally, I don't have any problem with taking the time to download my own widgets and apps so I can customize everything exactly how I want it.

Sense is a bloated pig but to each his own.
Almost every sense widget has an equal replacement in the market if you know where to look. Launcherpro plus, fancy widget and others come to mind.

Aridon said:
Sense is a bloated pig but to each his own.
Almost every sense widget has an equal replacement in the market if you know where to look. Launcherpro plus, fancy widget and others come to mind.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only one I couldn't seem to find was a replacement for the favorite contacts slider. Which also happens to be the one I use the most.

cosine83 said:
Only one I couldn't seem to find was a replacement for the favorite contacts slider. Which also happens to be the one I use the most.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.launcherpro.com/?p=130

cosine83 said:
Only one I couldn't seem to find was a replacement for the favorite contacts slider. Which also happens to be the one I use the most.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LauncherPro Plus has the contacts widget.

PFx00 said:
I loaded CM6 when the nightly was first posted and had been loving it. I thought it was awesome that it was pure Android with all of the proprietary HTC stuff stripped out. I was sure that AOSP was the way to go and hadn't looked back until yesterday when I loaded AvaFroyo-V3. Not using Sense for a while has really made me appreciate the aesthetics and usability that HTC has put into their devices. I can see why they keep it so locked down because it really does make their devices stand out amongst the other Android hardware, especially to the majority of their users who could care less about rooting, open-source, etc. Who knows what I'll be running next week but I'm going to stick with Sense for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is it that you like about Sense?
I think most people like Sense cause it looks good out of the box, the iPhone type users like Sense a lot. Those of us that like customizing our phones usually hate Sense, because it's bloated and HTC disallows uninstalling programs until rooted.

A week or so ago there was a 'scrollable contact widget' in the market that worked great. It was free too. Maybe HTC C&D'd them too.

Yea it was called mecontacts I have it but it is no longer on the market, at least not for me

firemedic1343 said:
What is it that you like about Sense?
I think most people like Sense cause it looks good out of the box, the iPhone type users like Sense a lot. Those of us that like customizing our phones usually hate Sense, because it's bloated and HTC disallows uninstalling programs until rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love sense and customizing my phone. And i am not a Iphone type user.. You shouldnt really categorize people. it just boils down to the old saying "to each their own"

CM6 + Launcher Pro blows sense out of the water...
No bloat + more options
It takes some time to set up, but once you figure out what you are doing Sense will be a thing of the past.
CM6 + Launcher Pro FTW!

firemedic1343 said:
What is it that you like about Sense?
I think most people like Sense cause it looks good out of the box, the iPhone type users like Sense a lot. Those of us that like customizing our phones usually hate Sense, because it's bloated and HTC disallows uninstalling programs until rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm all for customizing but I like for my phone to have a consistent look and feel between all of the widgets too. Like I said, it took not using sense for a while to appreciate this.
xero187 said:
CM6 + Launcher Pro blows sense out of the water...
No bloat + more options
It takes some time to set up, but once you figure out what you are doing Sense will be a thing of the past.
CM6 + Launcher Pro FTW!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No doubt that there are more options and, with some effort, you can get close to the same experience. I thought CM6 and Launcher Pro was the way to go until yesterday. Now I'm torn.

xero187 said:
CM6 + Launcher Pro blows sense out of the water...
No bloat + more options
It takes some time to set up, but once you figure out what you are doing Sense will be a thing of the past.
CM6 + Launcher Pro FTW!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's getting really, really, really hard for me to pick between froyo+sense and cm6+launcher pro plus (which I recommend every true lover of launcher to get; support your devs!!!).
Pros for sense: Widgets-Bar none, the implementation htc has with sense's widgets are just plain awesome, I mean friendstream, bookmarks, messaging, mail, everything is right there and accessible from the get-go.
Cons for sense: Slow as balls, no customization, gives me some weird purplish tint on my nova,slow, has those stupid sprint apps, slow, aaaand did I mention slow?
Pros for launcher/adw/whatever's not sense: Customization is AWESOME, can do whatever I want, from changing the app drawer opening time to the color of my task bar (cm6), if I see it I can change it.
Fast as HELL- Pretty much gives you a brand new phone; really makes it feel worth the $350 I paid for it on launch.
Cons For launcher/adw/whatever: Customization- Some people really don't want the hassle of having to set up EVERYTHING to their liking, sense really simplifies the overall experience.
Widgets-While there are competitors out there, I've yet to find widgets that truly replace some of the htc widget's for me. And I can use my yahoo mail account with sense so that's definitely a factor to me lol
At the end of the day, it really is up to personal taste. After all, this is android and android DOES everything you want it to. What's great is we're given so many awesome choices; and even when finding flaws in both their still better than anything else you can find on the market. To me, the real winner is the evo+the supporters that have made this phone what it is today-awesome.
p.s-I hope this thread doesn't turn into a pissing ground against sense or people who choose something different than what you have; it's called an opinion and everybody's is different, grow up if you can't understand that.

To be more specific about what I like ... and remember this is personal preference with zero effort to setup:
Clock - Sure clock widgets are a dime a dozen but I've become accustomed to the Sense's clock and weather. You can use beautiful/fancy but neither have the full screen weather animation (which serves no purpose but I think its pretty cool).
Copy and Paste - I love that copy and paste functionality is built in across all applications. I use this most in the web browser. I'm not a fan of the select text feature.
Keyboard - I like the haptic feedback when I type, I also like having the arrow keys (both took a while to grow on me). Plus, the keys seem a little bigger so its easier for me to type on. I was using various keyboard mods but they stopped working on CM6
Touch to focus camera I never really knew how much I missed this until now. Such a handy feature. Hopefully they'll get this working when a new kernel source is released.
Facebook Contact Integration Sure you can load a hacked .apk but I also think HTC's integration is a little better than stock. Especially how they pull other peoples' pictures into the gallery.
Dialer- Was using Dialer One, but still like the look and feel of HTC's better. Also, the contact pictures that are synced from Facebook are much higher quality.
Calendar Widget- I never really found a good free replacement for the HTC Calendar Widget. Several people have recommended a paid calendar grid app.
4G Toggle Widget- Never really looked for an alternative but missed it when it was gone.
Radio- I never used this but thought I'd throw it in the list.
HTC Sync- This is the only option to get my work calendar on my phone because Google sync doesn't work with Office 2010 and Windows 7. There are 3rd party applications but I don't want to load them on the secured network at work.
Other Misc Widgets These are kind of useless to me but still nice to have options that are skinned to match perfectly - Music, Friend Stream, Day in History, News, Weather, Etc.
Don't get me wrong. CM has an awesome ROM that I'm sure I'll go back to at some point but I'm lovin' me some Sense right now.

edtate said:
It's getting really, really, really hard for me to pick between froyo+sense and cm6+launcher pro plus (which I recommend every true lover of launcher to get; support your devs!!!).
Pros for sense: Widgets-Bar none, the implementation htc has with sense's widgets are just plain awesome, I mean friendstream, bookmarks, messaging, mail, everything is right there and accessible from the get-go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I liked Sense when I first got the Evo (new to Android) I think your pros pointed out exactly why I sought out and found LauncherPro so quickly. I don't use any of the Sense widgets! the first thing I did was remove friendstream, book marks, messaging and mail widgets.
In any case, Sense UI is a good UI for people who take advantage of all the widgets but others may see it as 'bloated' if they don't. I like paring down my screen real estate and LauncherPro allows me to do that easily. But it does take up time and effort to set things up just so.

kong97 said:
Yea it was called mecontacts I have it but it is no longer on the market, at least not for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is still there. I just did a search for it.

Both have thier pros and cons. I personally love sense. The only things I wish it had is the normal bluetooth stack so that I could run wiimote and then I wish sense would go into landscape. And also I like the 3D app drawer.

Does Launcher Pro allow you to sync your contacts Facebook info (pics, statuses, birthday, etc) like in Sense? That is invaluable for me.

akarol said:
Does Launcher Pro allow you to sync your contacts Facebook info (pics, statuses, birthday, etc) like in Sense? That is invaluable for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That has nothing to do with LauncherPro. You do that with the Facebook app.

akarol said:
Does Launcher Pro allow you to sync your contacts Facebook info (pics, statuses, birthday, etc) like in Sense? That is invaluable for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Facebook will link some of that information to your contacts by default but that function is broke in 2.2 right now. There is a hack that you can run in the shell to fix it or search for the hacked .apk on these forums.

Not down with the TouchWiz UI

I just upgraded from a G1 to the Vibrant and I gotta say, I'm not impressed with the iphone like UI. Is there a way to install the stock android UI on the Vibrant?

I don't like it either. Give launcherpro a try...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

LauncherPro (what I'm using) or ADW will get rid of *some* of the iPhone-ish Touchwiz UI -- but not all of it. The drawer is much improved, but it leaves some of the decent Touchwiz features -- like the pull down capability to switch wi-fi, bluetooth, gps, etc.. Pretty cool, actually.
Give 'em a try.

I think the Touch Wiz UI improves on and polishes the Android UI quite as bit. I will say I'm not a fan of the app drawer nor do I like any of Samsung's included widgets. I do love what they did with the contacts menu. I think the whole swyping right to call or swyping left to text a contact is genius and original. Samsung also made it easier to navigate through the contacts. I also find the WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and silent toggles built in to the notification bar come in handy quite a bit.
I could go on but I need to get to bed.
If you can get past the visuals in TW it really isn't a bad UI.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I personally have no problem with it aside from the supposed performance issues and prefer it to the stock android user interface and some other custom android IU implemented by other companies.
Positives:
App drawer scrolls horizontally, which seems more natural to me(like turning a page in a book).
Wi-fi, bluetooth, GPS, and Vibrate controls integrated into the notification bar removing the need of the power control widget
Music App appearing notification area when screen saver is up removing the need to unlock the phone to switch songs
I still use launcher pro, though

Are you aware of the fact that the Launcher is NOT the only aspect of TouchWiz UI? Nope.. Stock Android is fugly.

heygrl said:
Are you aware of the fact that the Launcher is NOT the only aspect of TouchWiz UI? Nope.. Stock Android is fugly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, give another vote for TW from me. I always hated vanilla Android, on my G1 I used to change themes daily cause of it. I used LP for a bit but went back to TW. I Use that pull down toggle way too much.

TouchWiz actually had me against getting this phone before it came out. The whole "iphone-looking" app drawer icons was a huge disappointment. But being a big ADW supporter (and knowing this phone would have plenty of development behind it), I checked it out on launch day and walked out of the store with it.
Granted, I installed ADW before even paying for the phone. Plus side...the power and music controls are still there. I'd definitely give TW a thumbs up (minus the app drawer icons).

LauncherPro (my choice) and ADW are the best of both worlds. You get some of the more polished TW apps and skins, but no BS iPhone clone homescreen.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

The fact that the only thing people can complain about it is that it looks too much like an iPhone means to me that it's a pretty solid interface.
I love it in any case.
People need to get over their iPhone to Android superiority complex.

heygrl said:
Are you aware of the fact that the Launcher is NOT the only aspect of TouchWiz UI? Nope.. Stock Android is fugly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, to be fair, 2.2 android looks good, but when compared to touchcwiz, doesn't even compare. even on my nexus, I always run skins.
Anyway, I personally like the way vibrant looks.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I personally don't care for appearances, I prefer having the latest features and newest versions of Android. I care more about the features that is included rather than how it looks because honestly.. skinning isn't that difficult but waiting for these manufacturers to port their custom skins take too long. Skinning is just so simple in Android with metamorphing, alternative launchers etc.
Take a look at Nexus One, it already has Android 2.2 while other phones have to wait so much longer. Or even Motorola Droid, they're supposedly getting 2.2 this week and running vanilla Android. I rather have the latest and skin it on my own. This of course will definitely all change when CM6 is released for the Vibrant.

heygrl said:
Are you aware of the fact that the Launcher is NOT the only aspect of TouchWiz UI? Nope.. Stock Android is fugly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeppers. Big Android fan but the default Android UI is like the default UI on a Linux system, plain and boring.

Love ADW but need to port the TW widgets over, or at least install some of the stock widgets. One of these days...
For the moment I don't set a default for either and just select whichever one I need when I press home. I know it's an extra button to press but I like the option.

TW would be great if there was a way to customize things more. Like getting rid of the horizontal app drawer and changing the default home screen when the numbers of screens are changed.
I read on another post that LauncherPro might be causing a little extra battery drain. I just switched from LP to ADW to see if I can notice a difference.
The samsung video app is so much better. I had to use DoubleTwist to convert every movie I put on my myTouch but with my Vibrant almost every file I've tried works. The contacts app is nice but a little buggy for me sometimes.
Sent from my Samsung Vibrant using the XDA app

badaphooko01 said:
Agreed, give another vote for TW from me. I always hated vanilla Android, on my G1 I used to change themes daily cause of it. I used LP for a bit but went back to TW. I Use that pull down toggle way too much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That pulldown toggle is still there when you switch to launcherpro or adw.
sent from my Samsung Vibrant

I can't stand the ugly blue tabs they put on all their apps. They look like the 80s vision of 'futuristic' (and they're way too big). Also, they hid a lot of features of the stock google apps -- for instance, you can't set your alarm ringtone in calendar.

What functionality in Sense is broken when....

You change the the launcher? If i use LauncherPro rather than Sense, what can i not do that i could with stock sense?
Obviously i wont get the same dock, with the theming and the app drawer will change. But im more interested in the apps. Will all the Sense apps still work? Like for example will the camera app remain the HTC one with all the customizations rather than the bland Google one.

SupremeBeaver said:
You change the the launcher? If i use LauncherPro rather than Sense, what can i not do that i could with stock sense?
Obviously i wont get the same dock, with the theming and the app drawer will change. But im more interested in the apps. Will all the Sense apps still work? Like for example will the camera app remain the HTC one with all the customizations rather than the bland Google one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The stock apps will work just fine IIRC, but you wont be able to use HTC Sense's widgets.

phunkycow said:
The stock apps will work just fine IIRC, but you wont be able to use HTC Sense's widgets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
indeed and very true.. only the widgets will not work.. the apps will still work as its still under HTC Sense framework..
htc sense is sorta like the stock, but enhanced. I see that from my eye.. imho

override182 said:
indeed and very true.. only the widgets will not work.. the apps will still work as its still under HTC Sense framework..
htc sense is sorta like the stock, but enhanced. I see that from my eye.. imho
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont really like the look of the dock. I like the Froyo look MUCH better. Also with Sense much of the Froyo animations are disabled. LauncherPro brings those back i think.
About the widgets, that's the big drawback i guess.

SupremeBeaver said:
About the widgets, that's the big drawback i guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but LauncherPro Plus offers almost the same widgets as Sense.

Launcher Pro Plus User - Should I flash a ROM?

I'm committed to using Launcher Plus Pro, it's the ideal home replacement for me - has a lot of sense-like widgets that I love, plus a ton of added features/customizable elements that Sense couldn't even dream of competing with. I'm rooted, but still running stock, haven't flashed a rom yet, just a couple of system tweaks.
Anyway, my question is - should I flash an AOSP rom to run Launcher Plus Pro over? Would my phone run much smoother and more efficiently if LPP wasn't running over Sense? I've deleted all widgets/apps from my Sense set-up, and set LPP as default, but does the fact that Sense is still there take anything away from my phone's potential? I know if nothing else, sense takes up more MB than AOSP, so maybe that alone is reason to switch?
Assuming I do flash an AOSP rom - any suggestions, considering I'll be running LPP over it? Would one be better suited than another?

Being that this phone has 768Mb of memory. running LP over sense shouldn't be an issue. How ever i'm clueless as to why you want to use LP, due to the pretty widgets then turn around and delete the same exact widgets from Sense.
LP looks so much like Sense that it's not even funny. The only thing that is different is the actual launcher button.
But to answer your question I'd run Cyanogen(mod).

neidlinger said:
Being that this phone has 768Mb of memory. running LP over sense shouldn't be an issue. How ever i'm clueless as to why you want to use LP, due to the pretty widgets then turn around and delete the same exact widgets from Sense.
LP looks so much like Sense that it's not even funny. The only thing that is different is the actual launcher button.
But to answer your question I'd run Cyanogen(mod).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that's the thing that makes Sense - the widgets. LPP has similar widgets, so it can take on Sense in that respect. Yes, the widgets are similar, but IMO they actually work BETTER than their Sense equivalents. For instance, while Friendstream looks cool, it was painfully slow to use. The Friends widget on LPP is as fast as posting directly to facebook. Another example is the calendar widget, I love the way the LPP one functions, you get both grid and agenda in one sharp widget. So right there, LPP is better due to functionality. After the widgets, LPP has several other major benefits: transition effects if you're into that kind of thing, landscape mode, ability to resize widgets to your liking, and of course - the dock. The dock is really the main reason I decided to ditch Sense. I don't even use myfaves, so it was ridiculous to have a launcher that takes up so much screen space and offered very little functionality.
So in short - I replaced Sense with LPP because it has what makes Sense cool (the widgets) plus many other great features that are missing from Sense. No other replacement has the added functionality AND the widgets.
BTW, thanks for the tip on Cyanogen, that's probably what I'll wind up doing.

sunsean said:
Well, that's the thing that makes Sense - the widgets. LPP has similar widgets, so it can take on Sense in that respect. Yes, the widgets are similar, but IMO they actually work BETTER than their Sense equivalents. For instance, while Friendstream looks cool, it was painfully slow to use. The Friends widget on LPP is as fast as posting directly to facebook. Another example is the calendar widget, I love the way the LPP one functions, you get both grid and agenda in one sharp widget. So right there, LPP is better due to functionality. After the widgets, LPP has several other major benefits: transition effects if you're into that kind of thing, landscape mode, ability to resize widgets to your liking, and of course - the dock. The dock is really the main reason I decided to ditch Sense. I don't even use myfaves, so it was ridiculous to have a launcher that takes up so much screen space and offered very little functionality.
So in short - I replaced Sense with LPP because it has what makes Sense cool (the widgets) plus many other great features that are missing from Sense. No other replacement has the added functionality AND the widgets.
BTW, thanks for the tip on Cyanogen, that's probably what I'll wind up doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM7+LauncherProPlus is what i'm on. I used to be a big fan of ADW until I tried LPP. When you do this, you can completely remove ADWLauncher from /system/app and replace it with LPP. Just make sure you fix permissions before your reboot the phone. You want LPP to have rw-r-r permissions.

Christopher3712 said:
CM7+LauncherProPlus is what i'm on. I used to be a big fan of ADW until I tried LPP. When you do this, you can completely remove ADWLauncher from /system/app and replace it with LPP. Just make sure you fix permissions before your reboot the phone. You want LPP to have rw-r-r permissions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip! I think this is what I'll wind up doing - no sense having 2 launchers on the phone if one is never used. I'm just a little paranoid about screwing something up with the permissions and all that :-/

I was happy with the rooted stock rom and I also prefer Launcher Pro Plus over Sense. It has so many additional features and settings that Sense doesn't. I like the Facebook and Twitter widgets and the fact that rotation works on the home screen.
For 3 or 4 months, I used the stock rom, rooted, with a lot of the stock apps removed, and with LPP. But a few weeks ago I finally got around to trying out CM7. Today I'm running RoyalGinger. Yes, the aftermarket roms are slightly faster and it is nice being able to overclock. Plus, it's nice not having the Sense apks running in the background. Also, I like the call blacklist feature in Gingerbread. But the stock rom worked 99.9% of the time, whereas the aftermarket roms probably only work 99% of the time. I occasionally find bugs here and there.
The stock rom worked fine for me and there really wasn't anything that I couldn't do with it. I just wanted to try some aftermarket roms cause I like to screw around and hack stuff. But was there really a great deal of benefit from updating the rom? Not really. Would I do it all over again? Probably not.
But I'm relatively happy right now on RoyalGinger 1.6 and I'm too lazy right now to flash back to stock, so I'll probably leave it like this for a while. Take that for what it's worth.

sundayhustler said:
I was happy with the rooted stock rom and I also prefer Launcher Pro Plus over Sense. It has so many additional features and settings that Sense doesn't. I like the Facebook and Twitter widgets and the fact that rotation works on the home screen.
For 3 or 4 months, I used the stock rom, rooted, with a lot of the stock apps removed, and with LPP. But a few weeks ago I finally got around to trying out CM7. Today I'm running RoyalGinger. Yes, the aftermarket roms are slightly faster and it is nice being able to overclock. Plus, it's nice not having the Sense apks running in the background. Also, I like the call blacklist feature in Gingerbread. But the stock rom worked 99.9% of the time, whereas the aftermarket roms probably only work 99% of the time. I occasionally find bugs here and there.
The stock rom worked fine for me and there really wasn't anything that I couldn't do with it. I just wanted to try some aftermarket roms cause I like to screw around and hack stuff. But was there really a great deal of benefit from updating the rom? Not really. Would I do it all over again? Probably not.
But I'm relatively happy right now on RoyalGinger 1.6 and I'm too lazy right now to flash back to stock, so I'll probably leave it like this for a while. Take that for what it's worth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing your experience, it's actually very helpful and relevant as that's pretty much my exact scenario! Yeah I'm on the fence about whether or not to flash a new rom, especially after hearing that it doesn't change the performance of the phone too much. And I'm actually overclocking on stock right now - that was one of the main things I rooted for, to be able to set overclock/underclock profiles. Unless I'm missing something, you don't have to flash a rom to overclock, just a kernel (I'm using faux's smartass).