What is wrong with HTC Sense? - EVO 4G General

I would like to get some peoples ideas on what is wrong with HTC sense. I see a lot of people on here don't like it, but what is the reasoning behind it? I'm using a rooted evo with Fresh ROM, and I had a hero before it also running Fresh ROM. I personally love the sense interface, and when I see a plain jane phone like a friends Intercept with just 3 screens, or boring vanilla phones, it's like sense is soo much better. So what are some advantages that you guys don't use sense? Just would like some insight.

I personally love the sense UI. It does have glitches, but so does every other one. I like the seven screens... that is a big reason I love it, not to mention the weather and clock widget. I have tried different phones and don't like them...but that is just my preference!

I use ADW launcher which is more of a stock Android feel. Sense has a lot of great features but its not customizable enough with a launcher like ADW you can change almost any settning. Example my launcher has 5x5 apps and so does all of my screens have 5x5 apps. With Sense you have a wasted "+" key on the bottom right which I dont like who really uses that key.

1. I'm a designer/digital creative in the real world. I like to consider myself as having pretty good design sense and education, most people think so too. That said, HTC was so ugly and badly designed that I wanted to return my EVO until CM was finally released. The graphic design work is amateur at best and is simply a bad random mashup of Android and iOS elements. Although stock Android is simple (which I think is a good thing), the graphics are not badly made. I could go on to specifics but you can search my posting history because I've mentioned it a lot. I even was in the process of making a redesigned theme of HTC Sense and still get PMs to finish even to this day.
2. It's slow. Scrolling through a long contact list is laggy in Sense and isn't in stock Android. I could repeat that line for just about every Sense included app. On top of that there's a lot of Sense processes that eat RAM and processing power.
3. It's probably badly made. It's slow but what else is wrong? Who's idea was it to stick and sync insane amounts of XML into my Gmail contacts to store data? That's freaking stupid and so amateur. Remember how HTC peeps failed to authorize because they used a known depreciating method? Makes me wonder what other dumb decisions they implemented. Of course I didn't stick around to find out.
Bottom line is this: HTC is incapable of making a quality mobile OS on their own. If they could they would. I can pretty much guarantee you that. But they can't because they are not as talented as Google, it's as simple as that. The only reason they love Android so much, and they do, is because it's the next best thing. They can take all their amateur hour coding/design work, stick it into open source Android, and then call it HTC Sense with Google.

You can get the 7 screens with a lot of launchers. I use Launcher Pro plus. It also gives me just about any dock and dock Icon I want... 15 apps on a dock that scrolls + Tons of weather/clock skins from beautiful widgets and sense gets facerolled.
Not only that, AOSP like Cyanogen is just much more smooth, more fast that sense. I never was a fan of vanilla and it took a little bit to get used to Cyanogen.. but after a little bit, I can't go back to sense. I tried and they just aren't near as smooth.
When you first flash CM it is pretty ugly so I throw one of the great themes on top of it and makes things MUCH better.

My biggest complaint about sense is how much ram it eats up.

i don't think there is anything wrong with sense and i have no issues with it. With 2.2/2.3 and 3.0 its need and other custom skins could fade, but make no mistake sense was instrumental in bringing android to the masses. regardless of how you feel about it that was the most important thing. besides, for a hardware company, its not to bad astecically in my opinion either, my two cents. The more important factor is that its android based

xlGmanlx said:
i don't think there is anything wrong with sense and i have no issues with it. With 2.2/2.3 and 3.0 its need and other custom skins could fade, but make no mistake sense was instrumental in bringing android to the masses. regardless of how you feel about it that was the most important thing. besides, for a hardware company, its not to bad astecically in my opinion either, my two cents. The more important factor is that its android based
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sense was instrumental to bring Android to the masses? Huh? In what way? I'd say that Motorola's Droid campaign was more instrumental (at least in the US), and that was stock initially and near stock even with the blur crap.
HTC Sense is HTC's way of pretending to have invented their own OS. Pretty soon HTC Sense will be so modified that it'll be hard to tell that it's running on top of Android - especially once you realize how much lower the quality is.

Sense is my favorite because of the widgets. I have not found widgets that replace the FriendStream/Calendar widgets... (that look exactly the same or are the same size and show the same information)

The evo was the first phone touted for its interface and software that was on par with the iPhone and in some cases winning side by side comparisons. The droid for sure brought awareness but the evo took it to the next step. There were issues with the initial motoblur that sense didn't have. As the more we get into android the need for sense like overlays I think will subside
Award Tour said:
Sense was instrumental to bring Android to the masses? Huh? In what way? I'd say that Motorola's Droid campaign was more instrumental (at least in the US), and that was stock initially and near stock even with the blur crap.
HTC Sense is HTC's way of pretending to have invented their own OS. Pretty soon HTC Sense will be so modified that it'll be hard to tell that it's running on top of Android - especially once you realize how much lower the quality is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Top 5 Reasons why people DON'T like Sense:
5: Very "Busy" interface with too much to look at
4: Takes up WAY too much internal memory
3: Way too much bloatware running in the background and too many files associated with Sense
2: No smoothness to it, very jerky, very laggy
1: Very SLOW as far as overall performance, quadrant numbers, and overall feel.
There's just way too much going on with sense. A lot of bloatware and useless crap!
Personally, I enjoy the stripped down look and feel of AOSP, letting Android run the way it's supposed to without any third party interference.

Vipermuscle83 said:
Top 5 Reasons why people DON'T like Sense:
5: Very "Busy" interface with too much to look at
4: Takes up WAY too much internal memory
3: Way too much bloatware running in the background and too many files associated with Sense
2: No smoothness to it, very jerky, very laggy
1: Very SLOW as far as overall performance, quadrant numbers, and overall feel.
There's just way too much going on with sense. A lot of bloatware and useless crap!
Personally, I enjoy the stripped down look and feel of AOSP, letting Android run the way it's supposed to without any third party interference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sense is nice, I love the widgets it offers. I just dont like the dock really, and I agree with all five above and
6. Im just used to the vanilla feel from my g1 days.

Again, people care way too much about the aesthetics when it comes to the positives and negatives about the Sense UI. With as much customization as Android allows us, it's almost silly to say that a particular UI sucks because it doesn't look good; if users don't like the looks, they have every opportunity in the world to change that.
Given that the paint job on top of Sense UI is dynamic, I think most of the gripes are pretty invalid. Instead, let's talk about how seamless FriendStream is... or how Smart Dialer is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread... or how the Facebook integration is the best on any platform this side of the sun? These all count for something, and these all represent the true Sense we should be discussing. If people don't like the mechanics, that's fine. I think you're wrong, and the above mentioned features work great on my phone. But if you don't like how it LOOKS... just change it.

Great point man, especially if you are rooted
sobis1dm said:
Again, people care way too much about the aesthetics when it comes to the positives and negatives about the Sense UI. With as much customization as Android allows us, it's almost silly to say that a particular UI sucks because it doesn't look good; if users don't like the looks, they have every opportunity in the world to change that.
Given that the paint job on top of Sense UI is dynamic, I think most of the gripes are pretty invalid. Instead, let's talk about how seamless FriendStream is... or how Smart Dialer is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread... or how the Facebook integration is the best on any platform this side of the sun? These all count for something, and these all represent the true Sense we should be discussing. If people don't like the mechanics, that's fine. I think you're wrong, and the above mentioned features work great on my phone. But if you don't like how it LOOKS... just change it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I agree too, its just the look of it really I dont like, so I use ADW to get that vanilla look. The Facebook integration is the best feature I like.

Vipermuscle83 said:
Top 5 Reasons why people DON'T like Sense:
5: Very "Busy" interface with too much to look at
4: Takes up WAY too much internal memory
3: Way too much bloatware running in the background and too many files associated with Sense
2: No smoothness to it, very jerky, very laggy
1: Very SLOW as far as overall performance, quadrant numbers, and overall feel.
There's just way too much going on with sense. A lot of bloatware and useless crap!
Personally, I enjoy the stripped down look and feel of AOSP, letting Android run the way it's supposed to without any third party interference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically he went over the top complaints about Sense... the only thing that Sense has over stock Android is that HTC compiled the 4g code for capable phones and unfortunately it's still not available on vanilla roms. That would be THE ONLY plus to Sense but only for it's connection ability nd not its overall functionality...

Hey,
Believe me I can understand what there IS to like about Sense for those who like using its unique features. I'm simply stating what those who don't like Sense, such as myself, find irritating about the UI. It's really just a personal preference when it comes to Sense. Some people really concentrate on shear performance while others focus on functionality and features. I was coming from a rooted Nexus One with CM5 on it and running OH SO FAST and couldn't stand the difference with Sense UI running over Android. To me, AOSP had everything that was important to me and allowed me to access it and maintain it with a heck of a lot more responsiveness and eye-popping performance so I just wanted to keep that trend going with my EVO.

derekwilkinson said:
Sense is my favorite because of the widgets. I have not found widgets that replace the FriendStream/Calendar widgets... (that look exactly the same or are the same size and show the same information)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Launcher Pro Plus has the stock Android feel, and if you buy the paid version you get widgets that are very much like the Sense widgets. Best of both worlds.
Personally I don't use it, because I don't have the need for those widgets. If I did, though, I'd buy it in a heartbeat because AOSP outperforms Sense by a wide margin.

I agree... Friendstream means nothing to me except more battery drain. I do LOVE the sense facebook integration and the sense copy-n-paste...and a few sense widgets.
But its not worth the drop in overall performance for me to use it.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

I like sense. I also like AOSP. It depends on my mood I suppose. I like the widgets that sense offers, and I must say, using Myn's RLS 4, I experience nothing but extraordinary performance. Whatever he did in his RoM, it is faar smoother than when I was stock. Smooth, fast, and it looks waaay better than stock. Plus, you can customize the rosie buttons to launch mostly whatever app you want. I honestly don't even remember what an unthemed stock evo looks like. Either way, I think it's a personal preference. Try out all launchers and ROMS, see what tickles your fancy.

Related

Whether you hate to hear this or not

but, everyone loves Touchwiz.
At the onset of SGS release, a large portion of us, excluding me for sure, has harshly criticized the Samsung's iPhone-wannabe TouchWiz UI.
However, I have seen a trend lately. The TouchWiz UI has gained its popularity from other android device communities. For example, TouchWiz launcher has ported to Nexus One and HTC Desire .
What do you think? Love for SGS is emerging? :]
Remember, this is only for discussion sake, no need to flame. It's just an interesting finding for me.
I love it much much more than HTC's Sense because it is like iPhone. It's far more useable and functional this way. My sons and wife thought that it was a new iPhone. In fact, I think the body of the phone looks more iPhone than iPhone 4.
eaglesteve said:
I love it much much more than HTC's Sense because it is like iPhone. It's far more useable and functional this way. My sons and wife thought that it was a new iPhone. In fact, I think the body of the phone looks more iPhone than iPhone 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha Ha, well since the iphone 4 is broken and is about to have either a massive recall or suffer endless ridicule, the SGS might just be the "new" iphone
Personally I thought the widgets were annoying, too much clutter in them, like stocks and things that I didn't want, nor need.
The page-flips in the apps-listing was annoying, took me too long to go through it, and it made sorting a *****.
It's buggersome and slow, at least at the moment.
LauncherPro on the other hand, now there's a gem! Grey and sleek icons, sweet previews, and fast, even on the luggy SGS.
Morghus said:
Personally I thought the widgets were annoying, too much clutter in them, like stocks and things that I didn't want, nor need.
The page-flips in the apps-listing was annoying, took me too long to go through it, and it made sorting a *****.
It's buggersome and slow, at least at the moment.
LauncherPro on the other hand, now there's a gem! Grey and sleek icons, sweet previews, and fast, even on the luggy SGS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1. I feel much the same. Launcher Pro makes a big visual difference.
TouchWiz looks nothing like the iPhone -- it's garish and tacky.
I've seen quite the contrary, in fact the first thing i did to my phone was to install HTC sense UI
accinfo said:
but, everyone loves Touchwiz.
At the onset of SGS release, a large portion of us, excluding me for sure, has harshly criticized the Samsung's iPhone-wannabe TouchWiz UI.
However, I have seen a trend lately. The TouchWiz UI has gained its popularity from other android device communities. For example, TouchWiz launcher has ported to Nexus One and HTC Desire .
What do you think? Love for SGS is emerging? :]
Remember, this is only for discussion sake, no need to flame. It's just an interesting finding for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AllGamer said:
I've seen quite the contrary, in fact the first thing i did to my phone was to install HTC sense UI
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I wanted an iPhone look and feel I would have bought the iPhone 3gs, but I want something new, interesting, and completely original. Touchwiz is not that and the htc sense is. In addition the stock Android 2.2 is extremely powerful and very user friendly. I really wish the hardware developers started learning that all they need to do to the phone is customize the OS to work the best on the phone. Do not add any UI flavors, because the customer will do that. The android system was designed so that the customer can customize their phone. Yes the touchwiz is pretty cool, but that is not why I would buy the phone.
ritkit said:
If I wanted an iPhone look and feel I would have bought the iPhone 3gs, but I want something new, interesting, and completely original. Touchwiz is not that and the htc sense is. In addition the stock Android 2.2 is extremely powerful and very user friendly. I really wish the hardware developers started learning that all they need to do to the phone is customize the OS to work the best on the phone. Do not add any UI flavors, because the customer will do that. The android system was designed so that the customer can customize their phone. Yes the touchwiz is pretty cool, but that is not why I would buy the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you that manufacturers should not be adding any UI "enhancements."
I feel that TouchWiz is really ugly (colors, icons) and Sense is just tacky (the curved "dock" at the bottom). We should be able to go to the Market to get any UI customization we need.
I am hoping Google will just ban integrated "enhancements" on Android 3.0.
I hate Sense, if I could have TouchFlo 3D on Android that would be good.
TouchWiz is shameless iPhone rip-off but I prefer it over stock and Sense.
I really like touchwiz.. It's straightforward, very consequent and the widgets look not grey/boring like sense on my Hero. Only thing what's missing, is exchange widget. Also i like the fact that touchwiz is not drifting too far from stock android.
I must say that i'm not constantly comparing it to the iPhone and have an unbiased view of the shell.. And in that view: I like it!!
us1111 said:
I really like touchwiz.. It's straightforward, very consequent and the widgets look not grey/boring like sense on my Hero. Only thing what's missing, is exchange widget. Also i like the fact that touchwiz is not drifting too far from stock android.
I must say that i'm not constantly comparing it to the iPhone and have an unbiased view of the shell.. And in that view: I like it!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a nice UI enhancement, but it like trying to put a Ferrari body on a truck frame. Just does not work very well enough.
I have seen the video demo of Wiz3 earlier and I still have to say.. the UI is gay.
because of 2 main reasons:
1. no vertical scrolling of apps
2. no cool gadgets on home screen
if samsung ever fixes this, then the UI would be the best one out there.
emclondon said:
I have seen the video demo of Wiz3 earlier and I still have to say.. the UI is gay.
because of 2 main reasons:
1. no vertical scrolling of apps
2. no cool gadgets on home screen
if samsung ever fixes this, then the UI would be the best one out there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, I hate vertical scrolling. Love the way it's done in Samsung.
err.. well, its matter of user preference. I say samsung must include settings for UI where one can change the orientation to cater users with different preferences.
I personally "hate" the list view. been seeing list view ever since i was a kid, why do i need it in a smart phone?
i like some of its features but dont like that if set up a certain way it mimics ios. overall win though, just needs some optimization.
emclondon said:
1. no vertical scrolling of
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong
In the app drawer, press menu and select list view
though I can understand somewhat the similarity between touchwiz UI and IPhone UI, the similarity are so minor and stopped at the side scrolling applications.
If something works then it works, no point in avoiding it for the sake of being original. You could as well call iphone for copying palm device for the shape of their phone and windows mobile for the dail pad.

Gingerbread... What Is In Store For Us?

I'm interested in hearing peoples opinions on this.
1. Do you think Gingerbread will bring a complete interface overhaul? I'm talking animations, images, layouts, multi tasking, notifications, launcher & more
2. Do you think it'll be like sense, improving social network integration, tidying up a lot of images images and adding a bit more functionality to widgets etc?
3. Do you think it'll be like a skin, simply taking image files that exist throughout Android and making them look more modern?
If they do infact do (1), do you think we'll lose functionality of some applications? Will apps have to be designed or positioned differently on Gingerbread?
I'm very excited for this, especially after seeing a video of MeeGo OS running on a smart phone, it looked so fly. In my opinion Google is going to need big changes to compete with MeeGo's interface (Not saying MeeGo is gonna take out Android, just saying it looked really nice & polished compared to Android's current state).
Google did good work in 2.1 with the launcher, app draw, animated backgrounds etc. but the stock images, buttons etc look so old. I think it needs an overhaul!
Well apparently 3.0 is gonna give the whole UI and device a revamp of looks so i cant wait to see what they do, I hope they make android become as polished as ios and bring smoother scrolling in.
LevitateJay said:
I'm interested in hearing peoples opinions on this.
1. Do you think Gingerbread will bring a complete interface overhaul? I'm talking animations, images, layouts, multi tasking, notifications, launcher & more
2. Do you think it'll be like sense, improving social network integration, tidying up a lot of images images and adding a bit more functionality to widgets etc?
3. Do you think it'll be like a skin, simply taking image files that exist throughout Android and making them look more modern?
If they do infact do (1), do you think we'll lose functionality of some applications? Will apps have to be designed or positioned differently on Gingerbread?
I'm very excited for this, especially after seeing a video of MeeGo OS running on a smart phone, it looked so fly. In my opinion Google is going to need big changes to compete with MeeGo's interface (Not saying MeeGo is gonna take out Android, just saying it looked really nice & polished compared to Android's current state).
Google did good work in 2.1 with the launcher, app draw, animated backgrounds etc. but the stock images, buttons etc look so old. I think it needs an overhaul!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
msavic6 said:
...and bring smoother scrolling in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This... very much, this.
It's amazing to me that third-party launcher replacements offer perfectly smooth scrolling and the stock OS doesn't. I don't get it.
I also want a whole new camera interface with more control, and a built in note pad,to-do list, the basic functionality of a regular cell phone, better market support like the ability to block certain developers apps from appearing and higher quality apps as well as maybe a ui revamp in the market app. Also make more use of the gpu for graphcs. One last thing add a stock widget that displays time and weather and make it AMAZING.
Thats all i really want
OH and a better stock keyboard.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
My predictions.
- Hopefully a new Multitasking UI
- Improved or customizable notification bar( hasn't changed since 1.0)
- General graphic UI revamp.
A Google employee said of you look at the Nexus One gallery app,expect a similar vibe for the whole UI in Gingerbread.
Oh god, we're just two days into august, the speculation can't start now. Gingerbread was mentioned to be released at the end of the year, which probably means Q1 of 2011. That's quite a ways away!
Once you get this gingerbread speculation rolling, we'll never see the end of it, considering it's only august!
Forge94 said:
A Google employee said of you look at the Nexus One gallery app,expect a similar vibe for the whole UI in Gingerbread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really like the sound of this although I can't think of how they would do this? I really wanna see a web os like multi tasking too
erikikaz said:
Oh god, we're just two days into august, the speculation can't start now. Gingerbread was mentioned to be released at the end of the year, which probably means Q1 of 2011. That's quite a ways away!
Once you get this gingerbread speculation rolling, we'll never see the end of it, considering it's only august!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speculation can never begin too early!
If anything, we're late.
I think they are gonna allow us to customize the UI as we see fit. All those Themes and UI's in the Nexus Forum will be able to be added to stock Android's without rooting.
Blueman101 said:
I think they are gonna allow us to customize the UI as we see fit. All those Themes and UI's in the Nexus Forum will be able to be added to stock Android's without rooting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neat idea, although I think they'll still need a very nice & tidy stock version/overhaul to go with this as a lot of people will review the stock interface, rather than how you can customise it & many will never bother changing it too I imagine! (I don't understand those sort of people )
I think most of this UI overhaul is pure speculation based on the fact that google hired Palm webOS Designer Matias Duarte. He cannot possibly bring so much change in the few months he has been at google. But I will keep my hopes high that they can give a more smoother UI experience (where android phones/netbooks with additional graphics chip can take advantage of its hardware).
A strong and capable google official Theme Maker app (like metamorph) can bring alot of enthusiasm behind it. Would be tough though with so many unique android devices out there, how can they accommodate them all? :S
mythamp said:
I think most of this UI overhaul is pure speculation based on the fact that google hired Palm webOS Designer Matias Duarte. He cannot possibly bring so much change in the few months he has been at google. But I will keep my hopes high that they can give a more smoother UI experience (where android phones/netbooks with additional graphics chip can take advantage of its hardware).
A strong and capable google official Theme Maker app (like metamorph) can bring alot of enthusiasm behind it. Would be tough though with so many unique android devices out there, how can they accommodate them all? :S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agree. i also believe that many people speculate that Duarte will bring in many UI changes, but as you said we are talking about 3 months which isn't enough time for a person manage to change the whole look of an OS.
i would be happy if google could at least get their act together with the homescreen which is still laggy as hell and the app drawer which has laggy zoom animations on froyo.
Having all those great benchmarks is cool and sometimes froyo is really fast, but especially the homescreen is a huge letdown.
And the homescreen is the place which you will see most of the time...
Shahpur.Azizpour said:
i agree. i also believe that many people speculate that Duarte will bring in many UI changes, but as you said we are talking about 3 months which isn't enough time for a person manage to change the whole look of an OS.
i would be happy if google could at least get their act together with the homescreen which is still laggy as hell and the app drawer which has laggy zoom animations on froyo.
Having all those great benchmarks is cool and sometimes froyo is really fast, but especially the homescreen is a huge letdown.
And the homescreen is the place which you will see most of the time...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's laggy with you i suggest you return your device and get a new one... because this problem doesn't exist on the 3 nexus ones i've used.
I didn't realise he only had 3 months to work with it... :/
Although I imagine he has quite a team working with him to get a lot done in whatever time they have!
I'm running stock Froyo and I don't notice any lag in the homescreen and the app drawer. I installed Launcherpro before and I didn't notice any difference in scrolling. Both stock homescreen and Launcherpro homescreen have smooth scrolling.
Maybe someone can direct me with a video that can show me what a laggy scrolling is like.
yeah i dont get the laggy scrolling either, but then again i use launcher pro for so long now. i'm getting really sick of people comparing choppy scrolling, i want to make a video showing otherwise!! i'll admit certain UI lists do get choppy. but most are not so.
oh and doesnt anybody listen to android podcasts? last week android guys podcast leaked a little rumor that gingerbread was all about tablets, heard from someone directly involved. make of that what you will.
im personally against making the UI look more like iOS... i like the direction that windows 7 mobile is headed with the simplistic 2 tone menus and choice of text over icons.. things like pretty scrolling and fancy animated icons add more bloat
nobody said anything about making the UI look like an iphone, it was said to make the UI be AS POLISHED as the ios is.
norazi said:
im personally against making the UI look more like iOS... i like the direction that windows 7 mobile is headed with the simplistic 2 tone menus and choice of text over icons.. things like pretty scrolling and fancy animated icons add more bloat
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gingerbread will make Android look like the Gallery app. If you watch the Google I/O videos on YouTube you see that a new music app is being used which has the UI of the current Gallery app.
So when they were showing off FroYo back at the conference, they already had some work done for Gingerbread.

HTC Sense

I notice there are a few different ROM's for the DHD, some with Sense some without.
Whats the actual difference, does Sence in some way slow the phone down?
I use the clock, friends feed, messages, mail, agenda and the music widgets.
However the one thing that I really dont like is the slide down thing that sense brings, I much prefer the press/slide left/right that you get with the plain Android builds.
So, are there advantages to running a more vanilla android version with some widgets over the sense style ROMs.
I am on mike1986's Android Revolution.
I myself believe sense itself make things sense. For instance the iPhone-like copy&paste.
But yeah you're right it's huge and clumsy. But that's why desire hd has such big ram. I feel sick for not getting full advantage of my device.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Trig0r said:
I use the clock, friends feed, messages, mail, agenda and the music widgets.
However the one thing that I really dont like is the slide down thing that sense brings, I much prefer the press/slide left/right that you get with the plain Android builds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you root the phone using VISIONary+ you can delete/rename the Lockscreen.apk I believe and it will return to the vanilla lockscreen. As for jazzy widgets that's a Sense thing, unless you buy and install LauncherPro over ADW.Launcher, LauncherPro has People, Bookmarks, Calaendar, Messaging, Twitter, Facebook & Friends widgets that can be used. There is also music widget control using Cyanogen.
I find sense slow and garish, it slows down the phone for no good reason, ASOP ROMs are much lighter and look, IMO, much prettier and unique.
jokies said:
I myself believe sense itself make things sense. For instance the iPhone-like copy&paste.
But yeah you're right it's huge and clumsy. But that's why desire hd has such big ram. I feel sick for not getting full advantage of my device.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got rid of my Sense just recently, I prefer the phone this way, Sense just took too much space, try other Launchers out, if you prefer it, I suggest you try out the Cyanogen ROM, which I have done. A whole lot better.
i dont get it, people who have cyanogen seem to think its LOADS better, but its not though is it, iv used it on the hero and now running it on dhd.
its ok, just more theming options and alot uglier imo, dont like contacts, or phone or music or many of the default apps
thats where sense is LOADS better, its alot easier and nicer to use, has better features
saying this im on cyanogen and really cnt be assed to change back otherwise i would, and i wanna try ginger out when its out
apart from that sense blow cyanogen out the water
rosswaa said:
i dont get it, people who have cyanogen seem to think its LOADS better, but its not though is it, iv used it on the hero and now running it on dhd.
its ok, just more theming options and alot uglier imo, dont like contacts, or phone or music or many of the default apps
thats where sense is LOADS better, its alot easier and nicer to use, has better features
saying this im on cyanogen and really cnt be assed to change back otherwise i would, and i wanna try ginger out when its out
apart from that sense blow cyanogen out the water
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People like the simplicity of Cyanogen. Sense slows even the DHD down, it's aweful. And to boot pretty much everyone with an Android phone has it. It's better to be unique.
you think sense slows dhd down? yeh it makes it sooooo laggy, i get no slow downs using sense and never had not even on hero
people just go with what most say, to make themselves feel "unique", its mainly down to the rom dev if it has lag or not, although it ironic you say your unique for using cyanogen just like allll the others
rosswaa said:
you think sense slows dhd down? yeh it makes it sooooo laggy, i get no slow downs using sense and never had not even on hero
people just go with what most say, to make themselves feel "unique", its mainly down to the rom dev if it has lag or not, although it ironic you say your unique for using cyanogen just like allll the others
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Scroll down to the bottom of your app drawer and look at the lag as it reaches the bottom, and open your SMS's and scroll, notice the lag. Sense isn't well coded. And of all the people on XDA how many do I know personally? None. How many of my collegues and friends have Android phones? Lots, how many have Cyanogen? None. That makes it unique.
rosswaa said:
you think sense slows dhd down? yeh it makes it sooooo laggy, i get no slow downs using sense and never had not even on hero
people just go with what most say, to make themselves feel "unique", its mainly down to the rom dev if it has lag or not, although it ironic you say your unique for using cyanogen just like allll the others
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Point well made.
I really can't notice nay slow down due to Sense whatsoever. I really do think that someone should clearly "sell" the advantages of dumping Sense, other than just plain old enthusiasm for hacking something. I think it is more down to aesthetics than anything else. Try other ROMs and see if you like them, you might. I like the fact that HTC have at least tried to add value to Android.
A further irony is having come from the Magic I can vouch for the fact that much effort was put into porting Sense to that plain Android phone.
Sorry, no lag when I scroll my SMS or App drawer. The DHD can definitely deal with the demands of Sense.
Sense is pretty cool and only lags if you try to make it. I think that if all Android phones came with Cyanogen as the stock ROM then the Sense ROM would be a massive hit. Cyanogen is definitely a good choice because it's clean and fast but until i actually need my Desire HD to run faster and more efficiently i won't use it. That's why i will go sort of halfway and flash a cooked sense based ROM like Leedroid.
Kalavere said:
Scroll down to the bottom of your app drawer and look at the lag as it reaches the bottom, and open your SMS's and scroll, notice the lag. Sense isn't well coded. And of all the people on XDA how many do I know personally? None. How many of my collegues and friends have Android phones? Lots, how many have Cyanogen? None. That makes it unique.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
look at what lag? my app draw runs fine using launcher pro plus, sms's all run with no lag difference than cyan, just cyan is uglier
who says sense isnt well coded? its coded for normal peole who dont want to run and say i hacked my phone now everyone else says its loads faster so it must be
fair enough benchmarks might say it but is it noticeable? no
as i say its all down to the rom dev if its laggy or not
sHaHiN786 said:
I got rid of my Sense just recently, I prefer the phone this way, Sense just took too much space, try other Launchers out, if you prefer it, I suggest you try out the Cyanogen ROM, which I have done. A whole lot better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to admit I didn't try it out on desire hd but I tried it when I'm with a hero. Say, cyan is for dev and sense is for users. Whatever you get what you want.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
rosswaa said:
look at what lag? my app draw runs fine using launcher pro plus, sms's all run with no lag difference than cyan, just cyan is uglier
who says sense isnt well coded? its coded for normal peole who dont want to run and say i hacked my phone now everyone else says its loads faster so it must be
fair enough benchmarks might say it but is it noticeable? no
as i say its all down to the rom dev if its laggy or not
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, LauncherPro isn't the default launcher, so on a Sense based ROM it will be faster, I am simply pointing out that stock Sense, totally stock launcher and all, lags.
We could argue until the cows come home which is better, but I prefer the alternative that is Cyanogen. At least then I can have a totally black and white theme which is what I like. And it's only recently I have switched to ASOP previously I used a Sense based ROM on my Desire, but craved the ASOP lockscreens and dialer.
If we move to another ROM apart from sense, does this mean that we will be losing some features like "louder ring in the bag, flip over the phone for quite" etc... ?
Does Cyanogen ROM provide these all?
eozen81 said:
If we move to another ROM apart from sense, does this mean that we will be losing some features like "louder ring in the bag, flip over the phone for quite" etc... ?
Does Cyanogen ROM provide these all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You loose louder ring but flip to silence still works. You do loose quite a few of the jazzy features of Sense.
Kalavere said:
You loose louder ring but flip to silence still works. You do loose quite a few of the jazzy features of Sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there any exact list showing sense features we will be losing? I guess that's important to know before deciding to move a different ROM, right?
eozen81 said:
Is there any exact list showing sense features we will be losing? I guess that's important to know before deciding to move a different ROM, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that, I know of. Sense Copy & Paste is one of them, there is no magnification window when you copy and paste on the DHD, and the louder ring, that's all I can think of off the top of my head.
Kalavere said:
Lol, LauncherPro isn't the default launcher, so on a Sense based ROM it will be faster, I am simply pointing out that stock Sense, totally stock launcher and all, lags.
We could argue until the cows come home which is better, but I prefer the alternative that is Cyanogen. At least then I can have a totally black and white theme which is what I like. And it's only recently I have switched to ASOP previously I used a Sense based ROM on my Desire, but craved the ASOP lockscreens and dialer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol who said it had to be standard? sense comes with to much bloatware, so i remove most of it
have you tried this theme addon? http://classical-gas.blogspot.com/2010/12/jamt-htc-desire-cyanogenmod-610rc2.html
works real nice i have cyan set up alight atm but hopefuly not long till the ginger comes along
I am back on a sense rom. Rcmixhd since adfree and other components work correctly unlike on the other sense roms I've tried. I used to love Cyanogen on my Nexus One but the new sense is very slick indeed.
It does not lag. It does take a little longer to boot and use more memory but who cares when we have so much ram on the dhd. I don't know how the amount of room it takes can be an issue either considering we have 1.5gb rom. I still have 0.9gb free with 54 apps installed.
tbh I still love cyanogenmod but its htc locations which is keeping me on sense. Its the best android offline navigator I've tried in terms of routing here in New zealand and I love the fact I can just buy a cheap 1 month subscription for navigation in another country when I go overseas. Any other app one is forced to buy a complete package for that country at considerably larger cost.
Sent from my Desire HD
I really don't like the Sense launcher, I use adw, but sense has lots of little modifications that are just nice to have. Text selection, quick lookup, freaking awesome dialer, flip to speaker etc
I'm running android revolution hd, no lags, excellent battery (whole day with pretty heavy use. Needs charging every night but I can use all the phones features as much as I like and not give the battery a second thought) also 2400 in quadrant. So all in all i really rate sense.

Motoblur, is it any good?

Anyone with both Motoblur experience care to give their opinions, maybe a pro / con thing. It's the only aspect that has me a bit concerned as I am loving Sense right now.
I'm interested in this as well. TouchWiz was criticized by many people before I got my Captivate, but it turned out not to be that bad.
opensourcefan said:
Anyone with both Motoblur experience care to give their opinions, maybe a pro / con thing. It's the only aspect that has me a bit concerned as I am loving Sense right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have limited experience with Motoblur on the Dext but it's pretty good. Not as pretty as SenseUI on your Desire Z but I'm sure the new version on the Atrix will be improved.
I actually find Sense to be the worst. I'd prefer Motorola realize that nobody actually likes Motoblur, but they seem quite adamant to keeping it. It looks like Motoblur on the Atrix and the Bionic will look significantly different from either variation of Motoblur we've seen on phones so far.
I've not used Motoblur either but from what I have read and seen(in video) about it was that its really slow
but the Atrix running with the 1Gb of RAM and Dual-Core processor and from what I've seen on the videos it looks pretty fast.
Also what people don't like is the "crapware" you will get on it that you won't be able to remove and some other UI tweaks that may or may not be of use for your needs that you may or may not find annoying.
It looks like MotoBlur, especially the more recent versions, is much less obtrusive that most other custom UIs. They don't muck about too much with the core apps, and most of the UI is actually just a bunch of widgets that can be turned off if you want. If the launcher really bothers you, you can always replace it with one of the many available options in the Market.
I absolutely HATED Sense when I had it because of the cartoonish UI and how much the core apps get changed (for the worse). But MotoBlur seems to be much more manageable.
stoli412 said:
It looks like MotoBlur, especially the more recent versions, is much less obtrusive that most other custom UIs. They don't muck about too much with the core apps, and most of the UI is actually just a bunch of widgets that can be turned off if you want. If the launcher really bothers you, you can always replace it with one of the many available options in the Market.
I absolutely HATED Sense when I had it because of the cartoonish UI and how much the core apps get changed (for the worse). But MotoBlur seems to be much more manageable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's always been my impression as well. If Blur can be turned off (by using a different launcher, and they don't mess with core apps), then who the hell cares? Sense is immersed. It's just over looked because HTC phones are pretty easy to flash.
I have used the Moto Blur interface on a few different devices now. I can say that it is not horrible in terms of functionality. But it looks ugly and unfinished, and due to lack of polish looks like something that belongs on a child's phone.
That being said, it's nothing that a different launcher cannot fix. Motorola didn't really mess with the app interfaces too much, save for contacts and the phone dialer, it's mostly the home screen and launch bar they changed. I always used launcher pro and this took away the "ugliness".
I also like some of the moto blur features such as the phone locator (cannot remember exactly what they call it atm.)
If they have not polished how moto blur looks on the atrix, I will be using a different launcher for sure.
I have a Captivate and my boss has a DroidX. Whenever I have to use his phone to help him out, I really dont like Blur.
But i'm not an everyday user of it, so maybe its something that you can get used to, or just load launcher pro.
I like Sense and thank goodness because it is full integrated. If Blur is deeply integrated I sure hope it's good. Motorola's website doesn't really go deep enough but I guess right now it's all speculation.
i have yet to use a moto phone with it .. only messed with a few friends phones .. didnt care for it to much ... once the phone is released tho because of the specs i am seriously considering getting it ... if you can replace it with a different, then i will do just that.
I used the bravo found motor blur to be interesting and liked it.
MotoBlur in the past has been horrible because the hardware couldn't support all the shiny graphics. With the atrix, it flies, and is pretty cool. I'll probably still use launcher pro (which i suggest to anyone that doesn't like the skinned themes), mostly to just use as little ram as possible. MotoBlur is great if your a social network fiend, or really have to stay connected all the time.
link12245 said:
MotoBlur in the past has been horrible because the hardware couldn't support all the shiny graphics. With the atrix, it flies, and is pretty cool. I'll probably still use launcher pro (which i suggest to anyone that doesn't like the skinned themes), mostly to just use as little ram as possible. MotoBlur is great if your a social network fiend, or really have to stay connected all the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I love about Motoblur is that you don't have to have all those widgets if you don't want to, and you don't have to add all your social network accounts if you don't want to. Everything is optional more or less. And beyond those optional add-ons, they do relatively little tweaking to the underlying OS. This is in contrast to Sense which is there whether you want it or not, and makes major changes to the UI and functionality.
I'll probably end up using Launcher Pro as well. However you can still use the Motoblur widgets on LP if you want, which is a nice advantage. There are still some issues with resizing Motoblur widgets in LP, but hopefully the developer will get those taken care of soon.
The only complaint about Blur that I've heard is that it is a resource hog. It gives you push notifications for all your social networking needs. I think the Atrix is where we'll see Blur not be a hindrance. Plus, if you don't like it, wait for a vanilla Rom and flash it. The Atrix is going to be a winner either way!

Do you think sense is going to fade away after ice cream sandwich?

I dont think HTC has decided what to do with sense after seeing ics , most of the funcionality they offer wasnt present on any android version until gingerbread and now ics includes most of those, do you think they're going to do something similar to windows phone and use almost stock android but with their apps and services like weather, htc sense account etc?
I personally despise sense and hope HTC starts to give us little android virgins, but I am sure for marketing purposes they will keep cramming there software on there products so they have some claim to originality.
Chad_Petree said:
I dont think HTC has decided what to do with sense after seeing ics , most of the funcionality they offer wasnt present on any android version until gingerbread and now ics includes most of those, do you think they're going to do something similar to windows phone and use almost stock android but with their apps and services like weather, htc sense account etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We can but live in hope, and maybe they will make the apps user removable too
ghostofcain said:
We can but live in hope, and maybe they will make the apps user removable too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ICS has a feature that all apps can be disabled (equivalent to 'freezing' in titanium backup - not removed but can't run)
SupaAvenger79 said:
I personally despise sense and hope HTC starts to give us little android virgins, but I am sure for marketing purposes they will keep cramming there software on there products so they have some claim to originality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you root you can have anything you like - try CM7 (and when released, CM9 with ICS).
Chad_Petree said:
I dont think HTC has decided what to do with sense after seeing ics , most of the funcionality they offer wasnt present on any android version until gingerbread and now ics includes most of those, do you think they're going to do something similar to windows phone and use almost stock android but with their apps and services like weather, htc sense account etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What kind of functionality did sense add? It was very pretty and the widgets were very good (calendar, for example) - but did it add any extra features?
I actually like Sense. Of all "major frameworks" like TouchWize and Blur and what not, Sense comes on TOP (my opinion only).
Now, can we live without sense? Perfectly.
Will HTC abandon Sense in ICS? Doubt it.
P.S. i run a rom with Sense daily... so.. biased
I hope so. I hate sense. I only like the widgets and the social network integration on the contacts app. After getting rid of sense my phone became faster and battery lasts longer.
But now, the stock launcher and features of ICS is better than sense. Even the widgets looks better now.
But i doubt they will remove sense 100%. I just wish that they won't be changing the stock ICS UI that much.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using XDA App
peacekeeper05 said:
I hope so. I hate sense. I only like the widgets and the social network integration on the contacts app. After getting rid of sense my phone became faster and battery lasts longer.
But now, the stock launcher and features of ICS is better than sense. Even the widgets looks better now.
But i doubt they will remove sense 100%. I just wish that they won't be changing the stock ICS UI that much.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is my point! Pick Sense, remove social integration, custom widgets, dialer, sms app, and all the other minor things, and yout get AOSP. And the you miss those things.
I agree, Sense IS HEAVY. But for what it does, it's the best. How many apps would one have to install on AOSP to get the full sense functionality? And how slower would that device be with that amount of apps interchaining themselves?
^
in short. ditch sense for the ICS UI
HTC will always add there own interpretation on what they think Ice Cream Sandwich will look like, and that is the way it is. But what I do hope is that they build on top of what Google has done instead of stripping everything out.
For example, mail apps, people apps are not stock and they should try to keep it true to what Google intended and maybe use the API that are exposed by Google to add there on stuff on top.
Also they should try to build a launcher that is not so heavy integrated to how the whole OS works, instead decouple it away so if there are updates needed to the OS it can fit nicely on top.
So no I don't think Sense will fade away, but I do hope the way they implement it is as close to stock as possible, just adding features on top of it.
i don't see the point in complaining about this since pretty much all of us here on this forum have the ability to root and just install vanilla ROM, or whatever you want
for the average user (NOT US!) HTC don't seem to do a pretty decent job with Sense, since developers here can prepare some very highly optimised versions. What i would prefer is for HTC to look at the ROMs present over here and take note.
I run RCMix HD sense 3.5 daily without any problems at all and while comparing it to my brother's iPhone 4, 9 times outta 10 this ROM is as smooth as or even smoother, and lets be fair as far as UI customisations go, HTC are alot further ahead than everyone else, but if they realise the potential in their own skin as the developers have shown, they could take a really hard fight to Apple as far as usability goes (hopefully with less lawsuits than samsung have).
HTC is not gonna remove sense 100%, as they mentioned before they gonna take it to next level sense 4.
So get ready
Sent from my Desire HD using xda premium
Id tend to agree,the divide looks split with sense,personally i like sense. I tried cyn but reverted back,its different coming from say galaxy s to sense,you wont like it as much its your starting point dependant. Anyway yeah htc will continue. Nice
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using XDA App
HTC do something different with Sense and it's one of the reasons I (and others I know) bought an Android phone over another platform. The Sense UI seems to be much better than Touchwiz etc. (tried on Galaxy SII and was not a fan) - phones are a very personal choice at the end of the day and with Android we are a bit spoilt for choice between manufacturers.
Whatever HTC do now that Ice Cream Sandwich is inbound I look forward to their progress as they seem to be my preferred manufacturer right now, if I don't like what they come up with then I can always opt for the Galaxy Nexus or (judging by XDA currently) end up rooting and put stock a ICS ROM on there anyways.
I'm using sense and I must say I like it, when I saw the ics video launch it looked really similar to sense.
I really want to see what HTC is going to do and I hope it won't take too long...
Mymy, i love Sense, i have a Sense ROM in my phone everyday! I always thought that stock Android is ugly, but after i've seen ICS, i am ready to switch to ICS without regrets !
i concur with the observations of everybody one on this thread, sense is some times heavy , most times resource hungry but the most important aspect of it is the packaging, i tried every rom available here on XDA and found when i was on CM i always had to download additional stuff say for my calender's, social networking,word processing (apps to open .doc's and other stuff) and crucial of them camera !!! i am sure many will agree MIUI cam is heck of a lot better then what CM has !. But when i'm back on sense roms (RCmix,ARhd or lee) i dont need get these extra stuff.
The way is see it,if we are going to build some thing to have integration of various different aspects of using your phone with third party applications you are bound to have a heck up here or there but then its quite hard to see those kinda of heck ups happening on any these sense roms even on the beta one's ! so i guess coming from a sony branded x10 with there stupid philosophy and launcher , i believe integration and stability are the key factors of sense, the only other rom that i found such level of integration sans few heck ups are the MIUI roms but then there always the battery drain issue on them.
So as for ICS i believe HTC should try to carry the kind of integration they have sans the resource hunger nature of sense launcher , take some notes from other oem launchers like touchwiz where the complete os experience is not themed.
Just my observations
Actually i like sense but stock ICS looks promising to me. Would love to see a stock ICS with some sense widgets tho
srikanth.naidu said:
i concur with the observations of everybody one on this thread, sense is some times heavy , most times resource hungry but the most important aspect of it is the packaging, i tried every rom available here on XDA and found when i was on CM i always had to download additional stuff say for my calender's, social networking,word processing (apps to open .doc's and other stuff) and crucial of them camera !!! i am sure many will agree MIUI cam is heck of a lot better then what CM has !. But when i'm back on sense roms (RCmix,ARhd or lee) i dont need get these extra stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. I love how light and smooth CM feels but its just a whole lot more easier and convenient to have everything put on a platter in front of you....like Sense does. Especially with the social integration aspect in the people app and the calender.
Although an AOSP ICS Rom night change all of that for good. We do seem to have improvements in the contacts and calender apps.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App
srikanth.naidu said:
i concur with the observations of everybody one on this thread, sense is some times heavy , most times resource hungry but the most important aspect of it is the packaging, i tried every rom available here on XDA and found when i was on CM i always had to download additional stuff say for my calender's, social networking,word processing (apps to open .doc's and other stuff) and crucial of them camera !!! i am sure many will agree MIUI cam is heck of a lot better then what CM has !. But when i'm back on sense roms (RCmix,ARhd or lee) i dont need get these extra stuff.
The way is see it,if we are going to build some thing to have integration of various different aspects of using your phone with third party applications you are bound to have a heck up here or there but then its quite hard to see those kinda of heck ups happening on any these sense roms even on the beta one's ! so i guess coming from a sony branded x10 with there stupid philosophy and launcher , i believe integration and stability are the key factors of sense, the only other rom that i found such level of integration sans few heck ups are the MIUI roms but then there always the battery drain issue on them.
So as for ICS i believe HTC should try to carry the kind of integration they have sans the resource hunger nature of sense launcher , take some notes from other oem launchers like touchwiz where the complete os experience is not themed.
Just my observations
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree with this post totally... but what I am hoping now is that ICS is much better on a UI point of view that HTC would not need to change so much of the OS and just tweak it a bit to add a bit of differential. This hopefully mean that it won't be so heavy. But then saying so, HW acceleration will help so much in transitions on the UI that maybe it won't feel as heavy.
I feel HTC should add on top of the existing UI instead of stripping and re-writing most of the Google Code.
Sense is definitely one of the best UI customizations available for Android. The focus on social integration is its biggest strength. At the same time its so heavy that it brings my phone to a standstill sometimes, which makes me want to just go back to AOSP now and then.
To get to the point, I doubt HTC will let Sense fade away that easily. It is their identity, and as MrKaon already mentioned, they're going to take it to the next level. Because ICS has a lot of that functionality now built in, I'm hoping HTC will rework Sense to make it much lighter. I'm eager to see what more they do with it !

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