Database Users

Stock / ADW or Helix

Ok so I am a great fiddler and pusher of buttons but I am not good on the techy side so I am asking...
1) Which one is best - ADW or Helix
2) Does your phone have to be rooted
3) If I don't like it, can I switch back to the SE stock one
4) Is it easy.... can I mess it up!?!
I have looked around at various threads but they mostly seem to be on rooted phones. I have watched Youtube videos demonstrating them both and they look pretty cool. So basically I just wanted some reassurance before I go off and jump into something a bit out of my depth.
Thanks!!

I prefer Helix, your phone doesn't have to be rooted for either, you can install it side by side with the stock launcher and switch between them and they're installed just like anything else so you can't really screw it up.

ADW has more features and is generally better but it force closes too much and tends to stuff up the quick settings widget after watching a divx movie - I have to reboot phone to get it to function again.
Helix is good but when you enter the app drawer you have to press the home button if you want to exit the app drawer as it doesn't have a virtual home key.
I use the stock home launcher as its the smoothest and least bug ridden.
Both Helix and ADW allow you to select the number of homescreens from 2 - 7, the stock one only has 3.

ADW for me. Give all 3 a try, but it's really down to personal preference. Install all 3 along with Home Switcher and try them out to see what suits you best.

ADW as it's better than Helix. But then again it's a personal preference
Sent from my X10i using XDA App

I prefer ADW. I used to use helix but swapped. I went to go back to the stock home but then I remembered that there is no option to have five rows instead of four. I find five rows better because I can fit everything I need onto the screen
I have no idea if helix can do that though.
That is also personal preference though as not everyone would want that extra row

Thanks for the replies guys. Think I will be doing some downloading tomorrow and playing around - I don't think my head is in the right place tonight. Thanks for the info on the Home Switcher too.
Basically I was looking for the extra number of screens so I can sort out my apps/widgets rather than just having it all in the app drawer and having to scroll thru. Does that sound lame!? Or maybe just a bit OCD.
I like the ability to view all your screens in miniature then quick select which one you want (its one of the things I liked about the HTC Desire when I was trying to choose but it was brown and ugly so X10 won).
Edit... OMG there are loads of different themes for ADW too. Choices, choices!

I used ADW for week then switched to Stock SE. I had issue with ADW it is not that smooth while scrolling program. I have swipe couple of time to get page swipe

Ok so I had a glass of wine, cleared my head and bit the bullet and downloaded ADW and Home Switcher.
Can't get the sense ui thing to work. Don't know what I am doing wrong... any clues?

You need to go into system preferences and bind the home button to previews.
Also, make sure sense previews are active under previews settings.
Sent from my rooted X10i using Tapatalk.

Oh for goodness sake, its sooo simple when you know how! I had the Ui sense ticked but hadn't done the home button thing.
Thank you so much for the quick response.

No problem my friend.
Swyped from my rooted X10i using Tapatalk.

Just discovered another way... just long press the little desktop dots and it gives you the preview screens. So now I can have my home button set to my default screen.
I think I need to get a life... been playing with this since I got home from work (altho I did manage to heat a ready meal up for the hubby!!) but I am loving it so far.
Just got Beautiful Widget too and skinned that.... well actually I've done about 6 different permutations of clock and weather but I am now happy.
Thanks for the support today, I wouldn't have taken the plunge without you!

ADW all the way - tried Helix - and it was good - went for ADW - which I didn't like at first - but that was because I didn't know what I was doing... once I'd switch the Samsung app drawer off and sussed out the settings I needed then I quickly reaslised that ADW is in fact the dogs b011ocks!!..

Adw does rock.
Swyped from my rooted X10i using Tapatalk.

And everyone complains abouit ADW force closing yet I have never had it force close on me...and I have never had any problems with the widgets either.

is it me, but i cant find helix on the market, or do you hav the be rooted ?

You are not wrong... I couldn't find it either. Glad I plumped for ADW first then!
Edit.... try herehttp://helixproject.ruqqq.sg/

GPdhillon said:
I used ADW for week then switched to Stock SE. I had issue with ADW it is not that smooth while scrolling program. I have swipe couple of time to get page swipe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too, until I disabled the "Horizontal Drawer" setting, never had an issue since.

ive tried all of them. if you want to switch between the ones you have all you have to do is not select "use by default" and when you press the home button it will let you choose between them. thats what i did until i figured out that i liked ADW more.
like everyone says just take off the horizontal scrolling for apps and you will be fine.
i also like you you can have 2 apps next to home that are always on the screen and i like you you can customize them to what ever apps you want by dragging the apps there.
as for the force close thing, its only happened to me once but it went away after a newer version of it came out.

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.

Launcher Pro widget "refresh" on rotate.

I've got Launcher Pro Plus and my home screen filled with 5 light widgets. I've noticed that when switching between portrait and landscape, all the widgets will disappear and refresh in about 1-2 seconds. Its not an issue, but it somewhat sticks out next to the fluidity of the rest of the UI. I forgot to test it out on the stock UI; does the stock launcher do this with stock widgets? My guess is that there's a lack of rotation animations for these , but that's just a swing in the dark. I suppose I should ask if this is normal behavior, and if not, did I miss a setting?
Thanks in advance.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Getting deeper into the second page, quick bump!

i dont think you missed a setting. i feel like launcherpro doesnt work properly on the g2. its glitchy for me, i keep getting a blank homescreen sometimes then it refreshes to the all the widgets and icons. the dock is sweet, but doesnt feel like the sacrafice of glitchyness is a even trade.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

smirkis said:
i dont think you missed a setting. i feel like launcherpro doesnt work properly on the g2. its glitchy for me, i keep getting a blank homescreen sometimes then it refreshes to the all the widgets and icons. the dock is sweet, but doesnt feel like the sacrafice of glitchyness is a even trade.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get that too... I hope we see an optimization soon. It's not expensive by any means, but it stinks to have a paid product wasted...
Oh, and does that mean this phenomenon doesn't occur on other devices?

Maybe a little late, but I believe the refreshing of the home screen after rotating the device has to do with the widgets you use.
I've noticed this when putting the "easy button widget" on my home screen. Since that moment the screen started to refresh after a orientation-switch. I removed the widget, and it was allright again.

How to fix home screen auto orientation switch lag

Hello,
I don't know if anybody know about this fix or not, but I've just found a way to fix the lag when the home screen auto-orient from landscape to portrait and vice versa: click on the + button that you use to add widgets and apps to the home screen, select any tab other than the add widget tab, go back to your home screen and that's it no more lag! I believe the left and right screen transitions are smoother as well.
I do not know if this problem/fix is specific to our tab or honeycomb as a whole, but I'm glad I found a workaround since it was really bothering me. I hope this can be useful to somebody.

Wow - that really works well; thanks!

Hmm, still a bit laggy. 3-5 seconds to re-orient due to rotation. Seems too long, IMO.
...Ok, maybe a small reduction.

Hmmm 3 to 5 secs was what I had before the fix, it's now only about 1 sec.
Do you have many widgets and use a live wallpaper perhaps?
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

No live wallpaper, just minimalistic text and weather widget.

I don't know why but this works perfect! I went from a whole 6 seconds for the orientation to change to near instant changes. I noticed once you choose a different tab, I have apps shortcuts chosen, if you go back into the + menu that tab is still selected. This is a strange bug but awesome. Thank you

i really didn't spend much time on the stock launcher, but launcher pro switches quickly.

madsquabbles said:
i really didn't spend much time on the stock launcher, but launcher pro switches quickly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I concur. The best way to get rid of the lag is to use a different launcher. Personally, I prefer ADW Launcher EX because it is "optimized" for Honeycomb, but LauncherPro is a great alternative.

I've never had more than a 1 second orientation lag. What am I doing differently?

ralexand said:
I concur. The best way to get rid of the lag is to use a different launcher. Personally, I prefer ADW Launcher EX because it is "optimized" for Honeycomb, but LauncherPro is a great alternative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are they smoother? I think my biggest Honeycomb pet peeve is the choppiness when swiping to different home screens. It makes the tablet feel slow to me. I have LauncherPro on my Nexus S but Im not sure if I'd use a phone launcher on a tablet...

Strangely its working !!!!!!!!!!!!

Huh, it does work. But doesn't survive a reboot. Have to redo after reboot.

Amazing indeed! Great find! Will test on my friends thrive tomorrow too. I think that HC, for some odd reason, is caching the widget drawer on the background and it might be straining the orientation of the device. They need to have HC keep the alo or other drawer on default instead to keep his from happening every time you restart.
Sent from my badass Galaxy Tab 10.1.

thanks dude work like a charm

Anybody know if there is any way we can submit a bug report to Samsung/Google?

TabGuy said:
I've never had more than a 1 second orientation lag. What am I doing differently?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here and I'm using live wallpaper. Maybe it's the ROM I have loaded?

[Touchwiz] Best screen responsiveness from touchwiz?

Is it just me or does touchwiz have better screen responsiveness than go launcher/other launchers?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Touchwizz is much snappier / more lagfree then GoLauncher. It's even faster underclocked to 800 MHz then stock 1,2 GHz with GoLauncher.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Launcher pro seems just as good to me speed wise.

robt772000 said:
Launcher pro seems just as good to me speed wise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this

Go launcher is laggy. Launcher Pro on the other hand is as fast as touchwiz

Go Launcher was laggy on my first installation but snappy on my second installation. I don't know what changed between the two but it was as quick as LP

I noticed this when I tried GO launcher, almost as if when you swipe between screens there is an ever so slight delay, which is not major, can get a little annoying.
TW is slick and super fast compared

THUDUK said:
I noticed this when I tried GO launcher, almost as if when you swipe between screens there is an ever so slight delay, which is not major, can get a little annoying.
TW is slick and super fast compared
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i noticed this with go launcher, turned out to be a clock widget with animated seconds hand was causing the glitch, took it off, put a different animated clock up, same result (sticky) took it off put fancy widgets on, smooth as silk
Thumbnail attached...

MJ-12 said:
Yeah i noticed this with go launcher, turned out to be a clock widget with animated seconds hand was causing the glitch, took it off, put a different animated clock up, same result (sticky) took it off put beautiful widgets on, smooth as silk
Thumbnail attached...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What battery icon is that and how did you put it on? I'm still on stock rom with chainfire's rooted kernel.
Cheers

Hello , i prefer Go Launcher and no lag for me ( using lite'ning) .

neo6776 said:
What battery icon is that and how did you put it on? I'm still on stock rom with chainfire's rooted kernel.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one on the desktop is minimalist text (for when i swipe the notification bar off).
The one on the notification bar I added using the kitchen app from the market which is for use with the Revolution Rom.
In the kitchen app you just chose a theme/feature, click ok, it downloads, installs and reboots, plus it has many other features in the app like BLN and EDT, kernel change, boot ani change, battery sound on/off, slide glow on/off etc. etc. etc. and kitchen is always being updated.
A great rom and the kitchen app sets it apart
That's my sales pitch over Leo
Enjoy...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1171523
Go launcher Ex 2.53 beta 3 now available here
http://golauncher.goforandroid.com/...edium=rss&utm_campaign=go-launcher-v2-53-beta

So why do you prefer the Go launcher over TW?
Things I found I didn't like with GO, the calendar widget on TW especially the month view one I prefer, also mini paper although it works with GO, when you click the plus to add another widget note, it opens TW to tries and add it to one of those screens instead of the Go screen, I use mini paper a lot, best postit note type widget that actually works from the home screens quickly.

THUDUK said:
So why do you prefer the Go launcher over TW?
Things I found I didn't like with GO, the calendar widget on TW especially the month view one I prefer, also mini paper although it works with GO, when you click the plus to add another widget note, it opens TW to tries and add it to one of those screens instead of the Go screen, I use mini paper a lot, best postit note type widget that actually works from the home screens quickly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use the memo thing that came with TW the one with the cork background it is really nice.
One of the other nice things about Go ex is that the dock keys can be swiped to give second user defined function, eg open file manager, plus they can be drag and dropped replaced!
Also customisation, icons can be renamed and/or swapped with other icons from other download themes.
I have used both adw ex and LP plus for quite some time, but I really can't see me changing. Even the Go keyboard shocked me with how good it looks and how fast it is, and it has (at a swipe) a T9 keyboard or an arrows keyboard... (iphone theme keys
See thumbs

MJ-12 said:
The one on the desktop is minimalist text (for when i swipe the notification bar off).
The one on the notification bar I added using the kitchen app from the market which is for use with the Revolution Rom.
In the kitchen app you just chose a theme/feature, click ok, it downloads, installs and reboots, plus it has many other features in the app like BLN and EDT, kernel change, boot ani change, battery sound on/off, slide glow on/off etc. etc. etc. and kitchen is always being updated.
A great rom and the kitchen app sets it apart
That's my sales pitch over Leo
Enjoy...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1171523
Go launcher Ex 2.53 beta 3 now available here
http://golauncher.goforandroid.com/...edium=rss&utm_campaign=go-launcher-v2-53-beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your a star thanks
Just installed the ROM. Now just need to try to get Allshare working.....

Cm7 with adwex with some debloating and an occasional cache cleaning... this has kept my phone lag free since my n1 days
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

TW4.0 is mostly HW accelerated, it runs smoother and consumes less cpu cycles compared to other launchers.

Hmm it seems Launcher Pro is just as responsive as touchwiz. Is there any way to change dock icons for touchwiz? Also is it possible to set the app drawer icon in the middle as opposed to on the right side?