Database Users

Trying to Kill My Sense Addiction

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. :-(

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.

Updated ADW EX for tablets

You have to check out the new adw ex which is optimized for tablets. It is simply awesome especially the main dock
Screenshots below ...
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works great.

Can the bar being themed easily ?

DannyBiker said:
Can the bar being themed easily ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it can.

Cool ...i run into my market !

Liking it...mostly.
Adds a new dimension to wallpaper wonkiness, unfortunately.
My wallpaper (via wizardrii) is not properly centered in landscape mode. Have not fiddled with it yet.
Anyone have any tips?

I will definitely be purchasing this for my girlfriend's 10.1.. thanks for the tip, it looks great!

Am loving it just make sure if your rubbish bin bar is located at the bottom you enable auto scaling of desktop when bin bar is used, otherwise you won't be able to add icons to the docking bar !
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Mine works well for an hour or so, then takes an age for an app to return to the launcher. Only way to fix is to reboot the tab. Anyone else seen this?

Is there a light or trial version that I can try for free? I can't find one in the market.

TabGuy said:
Is there a light or trial version that I can try for free? I can't find one in the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Buy it from android market and you will have 15 mts to refund. I know not much you can do in 15 mts, but something better than nothing.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA Premium App

Pottsy said:
Mine works well for an hour or so, then takes an age for an app to return to the launcher. Only way to fix is to reboot the tab. Anyone else seen this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got the same problem, when i exits some app the screen goes black and nothing happens for a long time and then the desktop appears.
/qsec
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Wallpapers aren't rendered properly, and my dock bar just disappeared on mine. Still has a ways to go on tablets.

Dock bar going away is a common "problem" with ADW. Turn off hidden dockbar in the settings, turn off gestures.
I went ahead and set mine up without a dockbar, and with just the ADW settings menu item in the top right. Removed the trash bin as well (long-press then Remove from the desktop works just fine).
"Endless" page scrolling, page-turn animation of Tilt, 350 turn speed, 15 desktop bounce, and a theme that has a transparent top menu bar. Desktop has 9x7 columns/rows, icons scaled to 95%, density hack off. App drawer is 6x6, in 4D vertical scroll.
Basically, it looks pretty much like Honeycomb at a glance, but without the one-inch "tap space" wasted on the left and right screen edges. It's much faster and smoother. About the only performance issue I've had is that it doesn't handle "card" widgets like YouTube, Market or News360 as smoothly as stock, when you go to "fling" a card away.

Maybe I'm just getting old and simple, but I don't really see the point of having the excessive customization of ADW on a Honeycomb tab. I have my homescreen setup with two widgets and about 12 regular icons, then the next screen over has some lesser used stuff. If I need any other apps I just open the app drawer and easily locate them. I mean, it's neat to make things whiz-bang and all, but from a usability perspective there's already so much overkill built in to Honeycomb that ADW doesn't seem worth the time.
On my phone, ADW is great, however. Now get off my lawn.

burhanistan said:
Maybe I'm just getting old and simple, but I don't really see the point of having the excessive customization of ADW on a Honeycomb tab. I have my homescreen setup with two widgets and about 12 regular icons, then the next screen over has some lesser used stuff. If I need any other apps I just open the app drawer and easily locate them. I mean, it's neat to make things whiz-bang and all, but from a usability perspective there's already so much overkill built in to Honeycomb that ADW doesn't seem worth the time.
On my phone, ADW is great, however. Now get off my lawn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't have to use the power of ADW, it's just there waiting to be harnessed if you want it.
In fact, you can use ADW to simplify it, for example you can delete unused home screens, unlike stock Honeycomb. Doing things like adding widgets or changing wallpapers is also cleaner and quicker than the flashy Honeycomb interface. It's simpler.
I'm a card carrying member of the Curmudgeon's Club of Canada, by the way.

burhanistan said:
Maybe I'm just getting old and simple, but I don't really see the point of having the excessive customization of ADW on a Honeycomb tab. I have my homescreen setup with two widgets and about 12 regular icons, then the next screen over has some lesser used stuff. If I need any other apps I just open the app drawer and easily locate them. I mean, it's neat to make things whiz-bang and all, but from a usability perspective there's already so much overkill built in to Honeycomb that ADW doesn't seem worth the time.
On my phone, ADW is great, however. Now get off my lawn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So... You are saying that you need adw
I like simple too, and adw help me doing that.
I mean, I do not need the 3d cubic scrolling effects, neither than the futuristic widget selection screen, or the quick search bar at the top.
I didn't choose to display the dock too in adw.
And it is so fast, close to the ipad smoothness.

Croak said:
Dock bar going away is a common "problem" with ADW. Turn off hidden dockbar in the settings, turn off gestures.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not a problem but a feature hehe. If you slide one the dock, it disappear. I you slide again it appears. I think you can disable somewhere that movement.

ADW still sucks on the Tab..not only are the card/live widgets like Youtube slow to flick like someone said, but the worst thing is that for certain widget, like the Digital Clock stock Tab one...it looks fine when using the Tab landscape at first, then every single time I rotate to portrait view, the widget re-draws for new orientation and both left and right sides of the widget are not cut off. This does not adjust/fix itself instantly like stock launcher does and the only way to really fix it is to re-add widget or sometimes turn screen off and on.
I like the smoothness of the launcher/drawer but I aint dealing with this **** where a widget gets screwed up every single time....too annoying to deal with. Why is this such a hard thing to get right?? Is there a fix for this or no? I am not resizing the widget to begin with btw...just adding it as normal size. The homescreen size I use is 8 columns and 7 rows btw, just like stock.
Oh and why in the app drawer, the the top still unmatching/not dimmed like the rest of the drawer below it? Looks so stupid. They should dim it too and still keep the buttons in the top right corner, ughh.
EDIT: Here, compare landscape to portrait when flipped. Not only does that Digital Clock widget get cut off, but also look at the Wireless Widget..it looks ridiculous now.
EDIT2: I unchecked the ADW option for resizing widgets to fit blah blah but the same thing still happens where the Clock widget, for example, gets cut off after going vertical.. although the Wifi Widget looks a little less ridiculous now when turning. Anyone know about the widget issue though??

TabGuy said:
Is there a light or trial version that I can try for free? I can't find one in the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 15 minute refund policy really sucks, especially for apps like ADW EX where you really need some time to get a feel for how you like it and check out all the customizations. To get around it you can always buy it, pull the apk from /data/apps (requires root), refund it, and re-install the program using the pulled apk file. This way you can take your time to play around with the app before deciding if you want to keep it. If you do go ahead and re-buy it from market. If you decide not to buy it do the honest thing and uninstall the program.
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