Trying to Kill My Sense Addiction - myTouch 3G Slide General

Coming from a G1 after two years and Cyanogen, I felt it was inevitable that I would hate Sense UI. I hated teh Hero version, but after being stuck with stock for two weeks and SlideMeRoot for another, I grew attached. I am now torn, whether I should move on to a more stock Android feel or wait for the Froyo update that will never come... I also ponder why we exist and how the universe works.

Yes it is for this reason I now establish the first SUAA. Sense UI Addicts Anonymous I thought I also would hate it, but I am close to installing the Launcher Pro Beta or whatever it's called to wean myself off of it.................... This group would have it's own steps: Step 1: Admitting that you have an addiction, but continue to clutter your device screen with widgets that aren't even really that useful and take up entire screens on the Home pages. Step 2: Install an alternate Home app Step 3: Don't look back and hope the update doesn't cause you to relapse.

How I got over my Sense UI addiction:
Switched to LauncherPro.
Got the Weather and Toggle Widget (you can also get Fancy Widget which is free). This replaces the HTC weather & clock widget.
Twitter + Facebook widgets on one screen. This replaces FriendStream.
That's about it. There's nothing else I liked about the Sense UI.

Original Sense UI = kickass
Espresso = Cheap TMO inspired UI with some real Sense UI widgets thrown in. IE. the weather widget.
I never understood how much I missed plain no-border icons until I finally installed one of Eugene's ROMs

chrisinaz said:
Original Sense UI = kickass
Espresso = Cheap TMO inspired UI with some real Sense UI widgets thrown in. IE. the weather widget.
I never understood how much I missed plain no-border icons until I finally installed one of Eugene's ROMs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't stand the Original Sense UI tho... Maybe I'll finally flash SlideM... it is still sitting on my SDCARD.

I just flashed it last night and it was a welcome change over Espresso... at least for me.
Launcher Pro does have a cool setup for the actual app drawer / call button, messaging, etc etc with some cool preferences you can mess with. It's definitely worth a try.

The Sense UI grew on me as well. I'm now using SlideM and just added a few things back to it like mytouch radio, IME, alarm clock and so forth.
This Rom is fast and I love launcher pro, it's just kick ass and looks great with LWP. I can live without the Sense UI now. This will hold me over untill CM throws something our way.
Props to everyone for all the work so far on the Slide!

I hate to say it but I don't think I can go back to stock without something similar to the MyModes option. I have gotten an amazing amount of use out of that program. Also, the Friendstream/Clock widgets are better than other widgets in the same category.
Plus, I don't want to feel like I simply have a faster G1 (even though I still want to KILL the MyFaves app)

simplyTravis said:
I hate to say it but I don't think I can go back to stock without something similar to the MyModes option. I have gotten an amazing amount of use out of that program. Also, the Friendstream/Clock widgets are better than other widgets in the same category.
Plus, I don't want to feel like I simply have a faster G1 (even though I still want to KILL the MyFaves app)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Down with MyFaves!!!! Lol If only they would get it right in the first place/

simplyTravis said:
I hate to say it but I don't think I can go back to stock without something similar to the MyModes option. I have gotten an amazing amount of use out of that program. Also, the Friendstream/Clock widgets are better than other widgets in the same category.
Plus, I don't want to feel like I simply have a faster G1 (even though I still want to KILL the MyFaves app)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. I like MyModes a lot, and the Faves app is terrible. (Really? We can only import one contact at a time? How's that for efficiency?)
Has anyone ever seen the amount of logging data that gets spit out by Faves and other Sense apps? It's like they forgot to switch "static final boolean DEBUG" to "false" before release. :-(

Related

No sense UI, but still widgets?

I know you can disable sense ui (hide it, I know it can't be killed), but I hate it!
I know you can also use the stock home, and I was using helix launcher on my Nexus 1. Does anyone know, can you still use the Sense ui widgets on the stock home screen? Thanks.
system6 said:
I know you can disable sense ui (hide it, I know it can't be killed), but I hate it!
I know you can also use the stock home, and I was using helix launcher on my Nexus 1. Does anyone know, can you still use the Sense ui widgets on the stock home screen? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
okay so you hate sense ui but you want the widgets..so then what do you hate about sense ui? because the only thing thats left after the widgets is the dock (and gallery, text messaging, clock, photos but these cant be changed)
and no you cant have the widgets without it
I just want the home screen and the widgets without all the other crap. XD
so no music, photo, sms, clock, browser, teeter, calender, and email?
i dont understand why people hate sense ui so much...its actually faster than stock android 2.1
|Jason8| said:
I just want the home screen and the widgets without all the other crap. XD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I in NO way want the home screen. There are a few widgets I like. I don't care for the slide to unlock thing and that ****ty dock. If it means no widgets, oh well...back to Helix! Just a question.... calm yourself.
Unfortunately there's no way to use the sense widgets without the Sense homescreen. But you can find Sense-like widgets on the market.
bobdude5 said:
so no music, photo, sms, clock, browser, teeter, calender, and email?
i dont understand why people hate sense ui so much...its actually faster than stock android 2.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sense is in NO WAY faster than stock android.
BTW, I've noticed a few apps/widgets in the market that have a note about not working properly on a Sense phone (I think beautiful widgets new live wallpaper was one of them). That's another thing I don't want to have to deal with.
nyijedi said:
Sense is in NO WAY faster than stock android.
BTW, I've noticed a few apps/widgets in the market that have a note about not working properly on a Sense phone (I think beautiful widgets new live wallpaper was one of them). That's another thing I don't want to have to deal with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^100% true and correct. I will just grab Helixlauncher again. I really liked that app as a home replacement. Really no bloat at all... just more screens.
If Froyo comes out the day the phone does or shortly there after, I won't sweat that either... just stock home. Thanks to those who understand and were actually helpful.

Can you disable Touchwiz?

Title says it all.
I hate touchwiz. Looks to iPhone-ish for me. Now that this phone has root access, all that's left for me is to kill touchwiz and get over to no LED flash
PS. Been looking for an answer to this question, havent found it so Im posting here.
TouchWiz is great. The only thing that looks "iPhoneish" is the app menu which you can change to a scrolling list view.
You can load up launcher pro on top of it...and afterwards maybe it can be token out of the source code that samsung released and flashed on as custom rom.
That said Touchwiz doesn't look too bad..I mean the iphone didn't invent icons on a black screen...I had icons on my windows 95 pc and chose black background...must have been copying the iphone back in 1995 >.> lol
I have Launcher Pro Beta installed and I love it. It takes away all the ugliness of TouchWiz, while still leaving a lot of the great features and apps that TouchWiz has to offer. My friend was very jealous of how my phone looked like this compared to his vanilla android Droid. Especially the text messaging field.
I really wish there was a way to use the standard contacts, calendar, messaging without the touchwiz integration, using something like adw launcher is nice until you go into the touchwizish apps and then it feels quirky.
Waiting for standard android 2.1/2.2 instead of just changing the launcher
So is there a definite answer to this?
Adw launcher
Check out adw launcher its awesome and its on the market
I am using launcher pro beta right now and it is working great.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Don't know how you guys can hate on TouchWiz. Only issue I have is it's a bit jerkier than LauncherPro, but looks wise it's nice.
LOL when the phone was first released in the Galaxy S version i was like WTF SAMSUNG? why did you make the phone look like an iPhone and make the icons and app drawer look like the iPhones? it seemed very unoriginal, but after the Vibrant came out and they took the single home button look away and added the 4 capacitive buttons i liked the phone and one of the first things i did was get adw.launcher and i couldnt be happier
only thing that blows about it is not being able to use any of the new Samsung widgets but no biggie adw.launcher is the best replacement IMO. Its super fast, you can use Live walls and you can make your task bar and notification bar go bye bye for a cleaner sleeker look
ADW all the way!
Thought the same thing when I first saw the Galaxy (threw up in my mouth a little). Realized it was TouchWiz and I knew I'd put ADW on first thing. Problem Solved!
cojonesx said:
I really wish there was a way to use the standard contacts, calendar, messaging without the touchwiz integration, using something like adw launcher is nice until you go into the touchwizish apps and then it feels quirky.
Waiting for standard android 2.1/2.2 instead of just changing the launcher
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can probably pull the APKs out of a standard vanilla ROM and push them to system/app dir to replace the touchwize apps. Just pull them out of a N1 rom or soemthing.
So there still hasn't been an answer to this. I have LauncherPro installed, and only 98MB memory available. Uninstalled, I have 140+MB available. I like how LP can have a customizable, infinite loop dock and all that. I like how its snappier than TW and how you can have a 3D "cube" style apps drawer. I just wish there was a TW style app drawer. I like the pages deal going side-to-side with customizable pages. I put all important apps on the 1st page, tools on 2nd, games on 3rd and rarely used apps on the 4th. I just don't like how I can't customize the dock and how slow it makes my phone (because it does and you can't deny it.)
also, how the heck do I "watch" a thread and make it email me on replies? I haven't figured out this board so much, but then again, I don't use my computer alot since I have this handy dandy vibrant haha.
You can customize the dock. Three of the four icons can be replaced (Not Apps). I replaced Messaging with Gmail. Check the full user manual (on T-Mo site).

[Q] Liberty Rom Launcher

Does anyone know if the launcher or "dock" is customizable in the Liberty Rom? I'm getting kinda tired of Launcherpro as I've been using it for 6 months now... The widgets don't seem to function like they use to for some reason, not updating like they should be, etc. I'm trying to find out if I can change the shortcuts and icons on the dock or add screens, since there are only 5... Any help would be great. Thanks.
Do you mean lack of updates with launcherpro? That is because fede(dev) is doing a complete rewrite of launcherpro so that's why there hasn't been alot of updates.. if you're tired of launcherpro why don't you change some icons around and such? i haven't really tried any other launcher.. but I've read that launcherpro is one of the few that allows customizing every aspect of it...hope i don't sound like a dbag if you already know all this
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Yeah, I knew all that, no big deal. lol. funny thing is, maybe i'm trying to be a little more simple. I think I've used every icon, color, option possible for LP+ and I'm just a little tired of it. GO Launcher is basically the same thing just more screens. Don't like ADW. that leaves the basic launcher. Like I said, the widgets just don't seem to be acting right on LP lately. Not updating properly even when I try to do it manually. So trying to customize the stock Liberty launcher/dock is my last option right now. Maybe if fede's rewrite is updated alot, I'll go back to it.
I've tried the other major players like Adw and GoLauncher, but I always end up coming back to LP mainly for the widgets. IMO, they are the best available on the market for my needs, especially the facebook and calendar widgets. Aside from that, LP seems to be the fastest because Fede kept everything simple and clean looking instead of loading it up with hidden dock bars and window transitions (I know, he added some with the last update). If you're really looking to spice it up some, check out Dreamlyfe for some nice docks and icon sets.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
where do i find this dreamlyfe??? doesn't show up in market and cant find an apk online anywhere..??
nevermind. found it at androidforums... thanks. getting ready to download now. looks sweet. kinda what I was looking for to "spice" it up as you say!

Touchwiz

I will probably have posters coming after me with torches & pitchforks for this. I keep seeing all these negative posts about touchwiz. I guess I'm too much of a noob to see why. I've tried other launchers like Launcher Pro, GoLauncher and even the stock froyo launcher and I keep going back to TW. Mainly it's because I miss some of the widgets that only work on TW. Can anyone give me some examples of things to look for that can show why it's so disliked?
Also if I do switch launchers, the one I'm running always shows up as a running program in Task Manager. Is there a way to get TM to ignore what launcher is set as your default?
Running EB01 debloated deodexed w/ Voodoo kernel
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
The reason I abandoned Touchwiz is not because I disliked the UI design (I really like it in fact...very clean), but rather the background scrolling was acting up. In other words, unless I had a particular Samsung widget on one of my screens, the background wallpaper would not scroll back to the correct position when pressed the home button. It would snap back only after I touched the screen again. Even when it did scroll back when it was supposed to, it was sort of laggy. This was happening right out of the box. Anyway, I switched to Launcher Pro and and homescreen scrolling is as smooth as can be with no lag at all.
There is nothing inherently "wrong" with TouchWiz, and there are in fact a good number of people who like it and continue to use it. I'm not one of them, simply because I feel my phone runs faster -- and I prefer the widgets -- with LauncherPro.
But that's just my opinion. This same sort of thread gets re-created every couple of weeks, and the bottom line continues to be this: if you like TouchWiz, use it. If you don't like it, don't use it.
That's why Android's so great -- you can make that choice for yourself.
I actually think TW is really nice and clean looking, and would probably have stuck with it if it offered slightly more comparability.
For me, the 4 icon dock is just too big, and I like to have 5 icons down there (phone, contacts, app drawer, e-mail, web). That and you can't do custom shortcuts on the home screens. ADW was free, and offered solutions to these issues, plus, with ADW you can backup your home screen and UI settings, so whenever I flash a new rom, I just install ADW, restore my settings and I'm back to how I like it.
But every time I reflash a stock rom, I do miss how clean TW is.

Why Sense 3.0? (and Sense in general)

Hey guys, just wondering why some of you sware by sense. I am currently on Unity and the only thing I really use is the weather lock screen. I had to switch to Launcher Pro due to the lag of the stock launcher. I love eye candy but not at the cost of speed. Sense has always kind of been associated with the word lag it seems. So what do you guys like most about Sense and what you keeps you from moving away from it? What am I missing about these Sense ROMs?
Notification bar offer the last used applications and you can switch view to rapidly disconnect your Wifi, GPS, etc.
It's Eye-candy,the camera app contains lots of effect, you can locate your phone via htcsense.com, etc.
Also when you plug the phone to your computer you have a better interface with a lot of options like hotspot, internet computer->phone, internet phone->computer to PC AND Mac OS x.
It's awfully purty...
Sent from my T-mobile G2
Im on the awesome mexdroidmod rom, but I do miss a few aspects of sense. The lock screen is amazing, but what I really miss is the dialer and camera. I have tried many replacement apps for these but haven't found anything that suits me. I also seem to get better facebook and hotmail contact integration on sense roms. Still the speed of the non sense roms is more important to me.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
I swear by sense because it is exactly what I am used to. I used the HTC touch pro using sense for winmo and now sense for android. I like the feel and integration HTC has done for their UI.
I don't really use the Sense 3.0 (or Sense 2.0 for that matter) weather app at all.
What I do like about Sense is that it has the wifi hotspot available out of the box; no need for any extra apps to get that function.
Sense 3.0 camera also comes with the panoramic function which I think is quite handy.
I also like the quick settings available after dragging down the notifications tray. Not too sure if that's from Sense 3.0 or is it an added feature of Unity though, but it's handy and saves me from having to install the toggle widgets.
I like sense because it has the extra conveniences just like everyone likes using. I like the integration of FB contacts with the contacts. I really love how you can launch apps in the lock screen with 3.0
I dont like using the weather that much either, but the overlay is just very very pretty. Htc sense is one of the reasons android is better than iOS.
i'm on MIUI now, love MIUI's notification settings toggles, way better than sense 3.0... any way to import MIUI notification bar to non MIUI roms??
not much to complain about MIUI, some gps problems tough :/
Senses dock is so nonfunctional :/ only 3 shortcuts, and 2 of them are "useles". no need to keep customize button available @ dock. And then the appdrawer button, like to use launcher pros swipe up to open appdrawer.
I like sense too because it gives selection of usb connection types, MIUI only asks if i want to mount sdcard. for internet share, need to go though all the settings.
I'm on Unity now as well, and the Sense 3.0 launcher actually feels less laggy than past versions, especially considering all the animations. But you're right in alternate launchers are still faster/smoother, and also much customizable. I'm using ADW EX. People often ask, why use Sense if you aren't using the Sense launcher. But there is actually a lot to Sense, besides just the launcher.
The Sense camera continues to completely pwn the stock Android one in layout, looks and features. I also prefer the HTC dialer and keyboard over stock Android, although many of the differences for those are aesthetic, and its just a matter of personal preference. Of course Sense 3.0 has "trace" on the keyboard, but Swype is still better at this style of text input.
The notification area (with quick settings) and lockscreen (with fast launching of your favorite apps) on Sense 3.0 are quite nice. The HTC stock and weather apps are pretty nice too. Nothing special that can't be matched or beat by Market apps. But its nice to have apps that are integrated with the general theming of the ROM, no ads, etc.
Agree with above comment that the Sense dock is pretty useless. It takes up a lot of space for so little functionality. HTC actually added the ability to customize the dock apps for the version of Sense on the Flyer tablet. Hopefully, this is a feature they bring to the phone version of Sense.
one more thing, i like senses web browser app, it's great, is there a standalone app for nonsense phones?
Almost There Sense
For me, the things I like about sense are the social (wish tweeter and facebook were separate) and weather widgets, the lock screen and the overall look and feel.
Things that keep me on CM7 (with launcher pro) are: configuring of the dock, scrollable widgets, speed and free memory, no "The application HTC Sense (process com.htc.as) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again" messages.
If the dock on the Sense ROM was more configurable (may have 5 icons instead of 3) and scrollable widgets, then Sense might become my DD.
On a side note, I haven't tried Launcher Pro with Sense, so maybe there is something to try. Curious how many people use Sense with non-sense launchers.
-brad
I use sense with laucherpro. Main reason for me to use sense are the following:
-Smart Dialer
-Email app (unified mailbox)
-Contact list
-Calendar (like the way how it looks)
You probably can get these options by downloading some other apps, but i like to keep my phone as stock and functional possible.
I've used CM6 and CM7 and I always end up back on a Sense ROM (lately, Sense Unity), for several reasons:
1. Camera - the stock (and CM) camera experience is ABYSMAL. Completely terrible. The Sense camera app has so many more options and just gives a MUCH better experience.
2. Sharing - this is hard to explain, but in AOSP-based ROMs, when you click to share something, the intents menu that pops up ISN'T scrollable - that means, if you have lots of apps that tie into that menu, it may crowd out the one you want to use. In Sense ROMs, this submenu is scrollable, so I can access EVERYTHING on that list.
3. Exchange mail - the Sense mail app has several improvements in functionality over the stock one, including the ability to subscribe to folders (so they automatically update), an integrated inbox with all your subscribed folders, etc. It also looks MUCH better.
4. The Sense 3.0 lockscreen is freakin amazing. Anything prior to Sense 3.0, CM7's is actually better
5. Settings - Sense has the extras that let the ringer mute itself when you pick up the phone, switch to speakerphone by putting it face-down, etc etc. I *believe* the later versions of CM7 have that as well, but it wasn't commonplace until recently.
I use LauncherPro Plus, and have on all my phones, regardless of the ROM. The customization options and lower memory profile make it a slam-dunk. I don't use Sense Launcher and I don't use ADW, so all my Sense benefits are on the backend.
I haven't used the ROM's stock launcher since my HTC Hero running 1.5. My current choice is GO Launcher EX with the paid version of Colorize Widgets or the free GOWidgerts. I would love to figure out a way to run the Sense 3.0 widgets with a third-party launcher.
As many people have already mentioned, the Sense 3.0 weather lockscreen is great. I also love the "cylinder tumblers" style of setting date and time values. I hate having to click + and - buttons. The only way it could be better is if tapping on the value allowed you to type in the number, like in stock Android. Check out the implementation in the Sense Calendar app... it has click-stops every 15 minutes.
I tend to use 3rd-party replacements for everything else (dialer, SMS, keyboard), although the camera app is quite nice. If it were possible to get just the Sense 3.0 lockscreen (with wake/sleep-on-trackpad), I'd probably go back to running CM.

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