How deep does Sense UI reach? - Android Software Development

I've got the Legend with Sense. I'm just not quite sure how much Sense includes, which bits are Sense and which are standard android..
I know the HTC widgets are Sense, but the only ones I use are the clock, calender and footprints (though I could do without the last 2)
Is the contact linking system where details from facebook etc are taken and merged with phone contacts part of Sense?
Is the smart dialer where you can put in a number or search for name at the same time Sense?
Basically, if I switched over to an alternative home app, what exactly would I lose?
I like the Sense bar down the bottom which has app tray button, phone and the +, it looks real smooth and borders nicely with the notification bar, looks better than the screen abruptly ending at the bottom imo. Are there non-sense clones/alternatives to this?
Cheers

If you keep the Sense ROM and use an alternative launcher you keep the same phone and contacts apps. But you lose the app tray and the ability to use the HTC widgets, they only work with Rosie as the launcher.

I see thanks. And I can still use all the HTC Apps e.g. Photos and Music?
Does anyone know of a similar app or something to replace the bar thing at the bottom of Sense, with app tray, phone and + button?

Try launcher pro or adw launcher. Both offer much more and better looking functionality than the sense launcher

le3ky said:
Try launcher pro or adw launcher. Both offer much more and better looking functionality than the sense launcher
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been tempted, but the main things I'm worried about losing from Sense is the bar down the bottom with the easy phone button, and the pretty weather animations that play fullscreen from the weather/clock widget after unlocking the phone.
I think that being a phone, the 'phone' part of it deserves the more integrated and dedicated phone button like that... rather than it just being like any another app

Snowtoad23 said:
I've been tempted, but the main things I'm worried about losing from Sense is the bar down the bottom with the easy phone button, and the pretty weather animations that play fullscreen from the weather/clock widget after unlocking the phone.
I think that being a phone, the 'phone' part of it deserves the more integrated and dedicated phone button like that... rather than it just being like any another app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The weather animations on the home screen are part of the Weather-Clock widget. Switching to an alternative home will make you lose the ability to use Sense widgets, so you will lose that.
LauncherPro and ADW.Launcher allow you to customize shortcuts you have next to the app button so the phone button is not a problem.

JAguirre1231 said:
The weather animations on the home screen are part of the Weather-Clock widget. Switching to an alternative home will make you lose the ability to use Sense widgets, so you will lose that.
LauncherPro and ADW.Launcher allow you to customize shortcuts you have next to the app button so the phone button is not a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah well there are clones of the Sense clock/weather widget but they don't seem to do the nice weather effects.
And yeah I could have the phone button down next to the app button, but it will still just be like an app icon, not a dedicated and integrated natural looking bar or something

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.

For those that like and use TouchWiz

I thought I just throw it out here since there are so many people complain about how bad touchwiz is.
What do you like about TouchWiz interface on Galaxy S?
One thing I really like is how music players stack up onto the pull down taskbar as well as on the lock screen where you can stop, change track and play your musics without unlocking your phone.
I only like the lock screen missed call or missed sms notification.
Other than that it's crap.
I use adw for everything else.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
is there any way to change it to something better without rooting or anything like that?
kcharng said:
I thought I just throw it out here since there are so many people complain about how bad touchwiz is.
What do you like about TouchWiz interface on Galaxy S?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sliding across the notifications bar to adjust brightness.
The Touchwiz Corporate Email client is MUCH better than stock Android. Much.
The Notification panel is the best stock panel on Android, and nothing aftermarket even comes close.
The stock Clock application has a great "Smart Alarm".
Task Manager, which is just a long-press of the Home button away.
Built in "My Files" application, no need to download something like Astro.
Memo and Mini Diary are quite useful.
Very solid SNS integration into Contacts, complete with pictures.
A pretty damned good stock dialer.
A pretty good stock keyboard (and Swype too!)
The best stock Music Player IMHO. Equalizer presets!
The best stock Video Player, bar none. Divx, MKV, AVI, it plays them all.
AllShare actually works, and is actually useful and fun.
Ability to change system fonts on the fly, and to download or create your own.
Road SMS just for ****s and giggles.
Integrated Calendar (Exchange, Google, etc.)
Car Home and Desk Home launchers are nice.
How friendly TW3.0 is to 3rd party launchers.
I'm sure there's more, but the long and short of it is, TouchWiz 3.0 is pretty damned good. I don't use the TWLauncher either, but most of that is habit, having used ADW and LauncherPro for months.
kcharng said:
I thought I just throw it out here since there are so many people complain about how bad touchwiz is.
What do you like about TouchWiz interface on Galaxy S?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love TW3.0 I've tried all other launchers and they dont really compare to the functionality that TW3.0 offers altho most of the launchers are just home screen and application drawer replacements.
My only gripe is that samsung should have added a msg counter on the messaging icon like on the wave... everything else is great for me!
Nothing of these things have to do with touchwiz. Im on launcher pro and can do the same. The only thing missing are the samsung widgets.
Ps. On launcher pro you get msg and call counter in the dock icons
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
What i like in TW3.0 is that apps are divided to pages. I don't like scrolling, scrolling and scrolling to find my apps in other launchers. I know on which page i have app that i need right now so i jump quickly there and launch it.
I tried ADW Launcher and LauncherPro but don´t like them. They feel a lot more incomplete and slower compared to TW3. I can´t complain about the speed of TW3 and i really like the the Screenlock, and the notifications for missed calls and sms
Twlauncher isn't the only part of the phone that's changed by TouchWiz, as listed above.
I also use LauncherPro, mainly because I prefer its vertical sliding application list, but the notification icons and integration with media players is nice. I have no argument with the lock screen either - again, the music player integration is useful. The Task Manager in newer builds is also pretty decent and good to see in a stock ROM.
The TouchWiz customisations you can't remove/bypass are pretty good, and because you can change default handlers in Android, it's no big deal to use alternative launchers and applications. I was concerned about not having HTC Sense, but happy with this.
I currently switched from LauncherPro to TouchWiz recently, just because I like variation. I might use ADW instead next week. There's nothing bad about TouchWiz to make me not use it. Nice to see other people supporting the stock software.
TouchWiz 3.0 is Good!!
I am not sure why there is so much of TouchWiz hate. But once one would come out of the "only Sense/ADW is good", they would really see what all functionalities have been added to TouchWiz to make it look good and actually work well.
I really like it.
And I really wonder if Sense can do this much!!
kcharng said:
One thing I really like is how music players stack up onto the pull down taskbar as well as on the lock screen where you can stop, change track and play your musics without unlocking your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This works on Launcher Pro too, it's not unique to TW
d3a said:
is there any way to change it to something better without rooting or anything like that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just download an alternative like Launcher Pro or ADW and Home Switcher to easily switch between them.
Croak said:
Built in "My Files" application, no need to download something like Astro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's just an application, irrespective of the launcher. Switch launcher and that is still there.
Memo and Mini Diary are quite useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As above, stock applications, not launcher specific.
A pretty damned good stock dialer.
A pretty good stock keyboard (and Swype too!)
The best stock Music Player IMHO. Equalizer presets!
The best stock Video Player, bar none. Divx, MKV, AVI, it plays them all.
AllShare actually works, and is actually useful and fun.
Ability to change system fonts on the fly, and to download or create your own.
Road SMS just for ****s and giggles.
Integrated Calendar (Exchange, Google, etc.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto, all stock, not dependent on launcher.
[/QUOTE]
yrizan said:
Nothing of these things have to do with touchwiz. Im on launcher pro and can do the same. The only thing missing are the samsung widgets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed!
I like certain aspect of TW, sort of like the horizontal scroll applications page but wish there was a way to reorder things alphabetically without clearing the data. Manually sorting applications according to type etc. is useful but then sort of duplicates what the home screens are for. Like the icon display on TW as well with their button backgrounds as opposed to plain icons in Launcher Pro.
I think touchwiz is pretty good, one cool feature is sliding your finger left or right on a contact either calls them or composes s message! Until someone ports Sense to the SGS ill stick to touchwiz
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I don't "like" touchwiz, but don't hate it either. The widgets that come with it are pretty cool. I like the people(social networking) and the yahoo finance widgets in particular.
MAMBO04 said:
I think touchwiz is pretty good, one cool feature is sliding your finger left or right on a contact either calls them or composes s message! Until someone ports Sense to the SGS ill stick to touchwiz
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is a feature of the contacts manager, not Touch Wiz. It works the same under a different launcher.
No greyish pull up tab underneath? Never liked that bit.
Croak said:
Sliding across the notifications bar to adjust brightness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you, but what do you mean by this? How do you adjust the brightness from the notifications bar?
This is probably some new addition like the task manager, right? I'm still using the JF3-firmware...
Think the touchwiz is pretty well thought out. I actually like it better then Sense tbh even though I figured I would miss sense after switchin to the sgs.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I love touchwiz that when I slide, if I touched the app icons first for like 0.2 sec and slide, it will still give me a slide.
If I do it on ADW or LauncherPro, it will act like I'm holding that icon. Like I hold icons from drawer to place at home screen.
I don't know how to explain this, my english is not very good. Hope you understand.

Things you like about Touchwiz/Samsung modifications

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.

[Q] weather widget not in widget list?

i mean the one on our homescreen by default.
if i go to the add widget list then straight away there's the accuweather one. if i add that all i get is a 2x1 widget and not the 4x1 that's there by default. i mean, if i removed it how would i get it back?
tommo123 said:
i mean the one on our homescreen by default.
if i go to the add widget list then straight away there's the accuweather one. if i add that all i get is a 2x1 widget and not the 4x1 that's there by default. i mean, if i removed it how would i get it back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its resizeble. Just tap and hold on widget
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
yea, just got it. but OMG is that annoying to resize. in LP/adw it's easy, this thing has a mind of it's own on whether i get that yellow box or not. seems freaking random!
anyhoo, what i'm trying to do is move to adw launcher and alls fine apart from the weather widget and the task manager
resizing the weather widget in adw doesnt work properly (big gap in middle) and i assume that the task manager is like HTCs apps? only shows in their launcher?
--
edit
hmm, never mind. adw launcher lagged like crazy
tommo123 said:
yea, just got it. but OMG is that annoying to resize. in LP/adw it's easy, this thing has a mind of it's own on whether i get that yellow box or not. seems freaking random!
anyhoo, what i'm trying to do is move to adw launcher and alls fine apart from the weather widget and the task manager
resizing the weather widget in adw doesnt work properly (big gap in middle) and i assume that the task manager is like HTCs apps? only shows in their launcher?
--
edit
hmm, never mind. adw launcher lagged like crazy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's exactly the same for me in TW and LP
hmm, i tried go launcher as well but that's the same.blue square in the middle that's empty. weather is forced to the far right.
weird
The TW widgets only work properly in TW.
The trick to getting in Resize mode is simple. You just put the widget on the homescreen. Then tap and hold it for 2 to 3 seconds (you know, a long press). But dont move at all during that tap and hold. Hold it STILL for a moment, and then drop. It will then go in resize mode.
I dont know if I explained it right. But I always get to resize when I want, not random at all lol
XDA mark said:
The TW widgets only work properly in TW.
The trick to getting in Resize mode is simple. You just put the widget on the homescreen. Then tap and hold it for 2 to 3 seconds (you know, a long press). But dont move at all during that tap and hold. Hold it STILL for a moment, and then drop. It will then go in resize mode.
I dont know if I explained it right. But I always get to resize when I want, not random at all lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Explanation was useful ... I even will manage to learn it some day LOL
It's dammed difficult !
What ? You can resize the widgets ? But it's pretty tricky ! Well .. why make it simple ?
Dr.Sid said:
What ? You can resize the widgets ? But it's pretty tricky ! Well .. why make it simple ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only very few Widgets (AccuWeather) supports resizing ... maybe that's why it's so difficult to use this feature LOL
tommo123 i think the weather widget that you are talking about is not the accuweather one. the one that comes default with the phone is a widget called "News & Weather", it will display the 1x4 widget directly. keep scrolling in the widgets towards the end and u will find it.
regards.
yea tried that too. it is the accuweather one but when you stretch that with the defaul launcher it looks ok. but not using other launchers.
using fancy widget at the mo though

Request - if possible

Not sure this is where I even post a request to a dev, but hopefully they see it
Anyway, I like the blink feed, just not a fan of it being on any of my home screens. I am also not a fan of the huge clock and weather icon currently in the feed.
Would it be possible to have the blink feed visible after a swipe UP from the bottom of the screen, much like the notification bar can be swiped down from the top? Also, an option to remove the clock and weather for an extra news tile. I already have a clock, and a weather widget so they are redundant.
Might not be possible, but worth a try
A easier method for your request might be a different launcher.
pradeepvizz said:
A easier method for your request might be a different launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But then the blinkfeed wouldnt work as its sense only.
Recommended from another user here: You could always try apex or another launcher and create a shortcut to htc sense, just remove the other screens on sense so it opens right to blinkfeed, works fine for me.
Sent from my HTC One
jcorv58 said:
Recommended from another user here: You could always try apex or another launcher and create a shortcut to htc sense, just remove the other screens on sense so it opens right to blinkfeed, works fine for me.
Sent from my HTC One
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is very cleve. I never thought I can creat sense shortcut. From where I can made it?

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