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Home Replacement With Landscape Mode

I found and APP Called, LauncherPro Beta that is a nice Home Replacement, when your phone is in landcape mode, it switches.
Another related APP is HomeSwitcher to switch from Home to Home
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Description
Android Launcher (Home app), LauncherPro adds some new and exciting features:
- Super-smooth scrolling
- Animated screen previews (like Exposé or HTC Sense)
- Up to 7 home screens
- App drawer with a fly-in effect and smooth scrolling
- Shortcut dock

cool..... Do you have a question about this app or are you introducing it to us?

Just tried it again I think but anyhow it's cool but takes too long to switch to landscape mode and you can't change the shortcuts like in helix. On another note cool trick i learned for those who don't have root download pandahome which is a real cool launcher but kinda slow and change the lockscreen to the iphone lockscreen and when you remove pandahome the lockscreen will stay. And then you can go to something faster like say helixlauncher

Landscape takes longer the first time you rotate. Also, it depends on your ROM. I am running Fresh 2.1.2 and it is almost tolerable as far as how fast it is in rotating to landscape. 3 seconds to rotate the screen, 3 more to load the widgets. As far as customizing the bottom like helix, the dev says that this will be included in his next update. I admit, I do like this feature in helix, but the boring app tray turned me off of it.

lineman78 said:
Landscape takes longer the first time you rotate. Also, it depends on your ROM. I am running Fresh 2.1.2 and it is almost tolerable as far as how fast it is in rotating to landscape. 3 seconds to rotate the screen, 3 more to load the widgets. As far as customizing the bottom like helix, the dev says that this will be included in his next update. I admit, I do like this feature in helix, but the boring app tray turned me off of it.
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yeah the app tray does suck in helix. I used them both in the stock ruu which I don't have to say is the fastest and beta is slow slow so if you know the dev ask him to work on the speed some how and it will definitely be killin helix. Also I know that there are two different methods for making an app switch to landscape mode he/she should try them both.

I can't speak for the comparable speeds cause they are both running very fast on Fresh 2.1.2. Both blow away sense.

lineman78 said:
I can't speak for the comparable speeds cause they are both running very fast on Fresh 2.1.2. Both blow away sense.
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To the hell with the both of them zeam launcher is where it's at kills em both on speed

Zen's MT3G Slide ROM also has a landscape home screen built in.

thatguythatdid said:
To the hell with the both of them zeam launcher is where it's at kills em both on speed
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Zeam and LauncherPro were neck and neck on my Fresh 2.1.2 build...but LauncherPro's launcher (app drawer, not sure if launcher is the actual name for that, lol) was a bit faster and scrolled smoother.
I wish the devs working on these launchers would make the eye candy transitions optional - I don't want eye candy, I WANT SPEEEEED!!!

Zeams Achilles heel is the limited list of optional side buttons but eh app drawer scrolls faster than any home I've tried.
Helix is plain as it gets but I like it best so far.

Just a heads up for everyone, LauncherPro now supports customization of the links on the bottom with the update he pushed last night. All you have to do is long press on each icon and it pops up the shortcuts menu to allow customization.

Anybody recommends another’s Home Replacements APPS?
I have...
HelixLauncher
HelixLauncher 2
LauncherPro Beta

Tap notification bar to scroll to top in any app

Ever since my switch over to Android a few years back from my iPhone 3G, I've always been waiting for such a feature in Android that will give me the ability to tap the notification bar and instantly scroll back to the top in any app that requires scrolling. I've never once asked for this feature once until now. I've Googled it and it seems to be a rare topic. Do Android users know if this such feature? Because it seems like an easy concept and assuming wouldn't be difficult to incorporate a mod into Android... or would it?
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2

dEris said:
Ever since my switch over to Android a few years back from my iPhone 3G, I've always been waiting for such a feature in Android that will give me the ability to tap the notification bar and instantly scroll back to the top in any app that requires scrolling. I've never once asked for this feature once until now. I've Googled it and it seems to be a rare topic. Do Android users know if this such feature? Because it seems like an easy concept and assuming wouldn't be difficult to incorporate a mod into Android... or would it?
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2
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Used to like that feature on the iphone a year back. But don't you think that it is also possible to just flung one time and the whole page goes up? In iOS the flings are not continuous. To me at least. I would love to have this though.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2

I agree, that's one feature that android is sorely lacking.

shockem said:
Used to like that feature on the iphone a year back. But don't you think that it is also possible to just flung one time and the whole page goes up? In iOS the flings are not continuous. To me at least. I would love to have this though.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2
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Yes, that is what I have to do now. But when I'm reading a long article, flinging up on the page 20 times gets old.

I think Apple would sue Google if that feature was intriduced to Android

I think the new Samsung Galaxy S 3 has an gesture with scrolls in any list to the top. You just tap the top of the phone twice.

It's weird that just few people care of this feature, which is very cool, I miss it so much

benxiro said:
It's weird that just few people care of this feature, which is very cool, I miss it so much
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Yea, I would love for this feature to be implemented.
Jelly Bean 4.2.1 (JellyB-TSM) / Apex Pro / BreezeHD theme
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nope. i'd never use this if it were rolled into android. it seems very un-natural to tap the notification bar to go to the top. let iOS have this one....we don't want it anyway.

Well, some of us do. Seems like it would be something fairly easy to do with some dev knowledge.

hp420 said:
nope. i'd never use this if it were rolled into android. it seems very un-natural to tap the notification bar to go to the top. let iOS have this one....we don't want it anyway.
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So you would rather swipe over and over to reach the top of a loooonnng list rather than tapping the status bar once? Oooooooook.
JellyB-TSM v16) / Apex Pro / BreezeHD theme

hp420 said:
nope. i'd never use this if it were rolled into android. it seems very un-natural to tap the notification bar to go to the top. let iOS have this one....we don't want it anyway.
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you better try to experience this feature, then decide it's natural or un-natural.
in general, 1 side: users have to swipe many many times to come to the top of the page; another side: just a tap then done(just like the home key on PC) - smooth and easy. Think and compare

you can use dolphin browser and gesture control, it works well

migueldbr said:
you can use dolphin browser and gesture control, it works well
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I think it would be cool if it could be implemented to a long press menu button, when I tap the top it tries to change brightness..

Setting.Out said:
I think it would be cool if it could be implemented to a long press menu button, when I tap the top it tries to change brightness..
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my case also, i love to use the status bar to control brightness=p

[Design] Note-Tailored Multitasking Launcher

I'm a little crazy about user interface design. And while I am no professional, new ideas for how software could or should work can keep me up late into the night, sketching on my Note. The night official ICS was released a really simple idea hit me as I was falling asleep: the multitasking tray should take advantage of the Note's massive screen size.
For those of you with ICS, take a look at the multitasking pane. It takes up all of the screen and displays relatively little. In addition, compared to other multitasking solutions, it lacks in features. It only displays the recent/running apps. It could really use a re-design.
So I took some time, researched the alternatives and imagined what would be best, and sketched up a design on our favorite drawing device.
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With this design, the multitasking app windows are arranged horizontally near the middle of the screen. You swipe left/right to move along the list of recent apps, and swipe up/down to close an app. At the bottom is the music tray, with - left to right - the music app button, previous/pause&play/forward, track/artist/album information, and an image of the cover art. Above the multitasking area, there is tray for recent messages and mail. Any recent messages or mail, regardless of read status, will be shown there. You can swipe up/down on the items to scroll through a small selection of them, and tap on one to open your mail app of choice to that message/email. Above the messages/mail tray, there is a quick settings tray for brightness and volume. The volume is assigned to media if there is media playing, or if none is playing then it is assigned to call/notification volume. At the very top, there are buttons for tasks and settings. All of this is located inside a solid textured window that sits on top of the current app, with the current app dimmed/greyed-out a little.
I was very careful with the placing of all of these. I am still undecided as to the placing of the top most three items, but I feel confident in my design thus far. I placed the music tray at the bottom - closest to the thumb, which has just pressed the hardware button for multitasking - for quick, easy, comfortable and intuitive access. The multitasking area takes a large section just above the bottom of the screen and near the middle, to give it the main visual focus of the window. The multitasking app-windows are arranged horizontally near bottom for quicker and easier access, as the thumb/fingers are near the bottom of the screen so the reduced distance and the horizontal swiping motion are the most ergonomic for the form factor. For most people the top three trays are typically accessed less than music and multitasking, so that's why they are near the top (farther from the thumb/fingers). Messages/mail also looks very good near the top of the screen, aesthetically speaking, as the eye tends to look near the top of the screen for important/interesting things. I am tempted to swap the tasks/settings buttons for the messages/mail tray, but that would make messages/mail less easy to access for the fingers and they are a main focus of the device (it being a phone and all).
There are numerous coding implications of this multitasking launcher but they are largely self-obvious (ex. having an option in settings to allow the user to set which music app to use for the music tray).
Comments? Questions? Thoughts?
P.S. Please note I am not familiar with the Android customization scene and do not know if there is already something like what I have designed.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/12/3015682/rethinking-the-iphones-app-switcher
Seems like you took that idea and modified it a bit for Android.

Spartoi said:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/12/3015682/rethinking-the-iphones-app-switcher
Seems like you took that idea and modified it a bit for Android.
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Took the first paragraph, it's a well written introduction. Didn't take anything else. Got my ideas from stock ICS multitasking launcher, stock ICS recommended design language, WebOS cards multitasking launcher, default iOS mulitasking launcher and the iPhone notification pull-down tray.
"Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal"

Yeah, I definitely like the old way of multitasking better. Having so few items on the screen makes it take almost as much tune as just hitting the home button and finding the sop in my homescreen. The long press seems to take longer on ICS too. I'd definitely prefer the iOS method of double clicking to multitask and long pressing for voice actions. The million dollar question, is any of this stuff even possible?
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

What is this that replaces nav bar?

Can someone tell me what the nav bar is doing when I view some pictures? The blue dot is always on the second dot...no idea what it is.
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Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

It works a little better when you're navbar is black, but basically it just hides the buttons when you are viewing certain things or using certain apps. I think the blue highlight just indicates which one is the home button.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

Really weird. Why not just take the nav bar away completely? I guess you are right though, having it black will make it look less obvious.
Also I got the sonic the hedgehog game today and during the entire game the navbar doesn't disappear. Like in YouTube if I go full screen the nav bar disappears but not in the game. Kind of annoying I want a full screen gaming experience
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

popkurn611 said:
Really weird. Why not just take the nav bar away completely? I guess you are right though, having it black will make it look less obvious.
Also I got the sonic the hedgehog game today and during the entire game the navbar doesn't disappear. Like in YouTube if I go full screen the nav bar disappears but not in the game. Kind of annoying I want a full screen gaming experience
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
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KitKat has immersion mode where the nav and status bars will go away for more apps as long as the developers code it into their apps. Should be a nice feature.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

Can't wait for kitKat then! So no way of getting the nav bar to hide during a game? I tried the GMD apps but don't work
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

I don't think this will specifically remove the navbar when using apps, but you can make it smaller by default as long as you are rooted. I use this app and love it:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2477586
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

one of the ways to remove the nav bar completely is to use xposed modules: GravityBox to override the stock nav function and UDN to customize it completely to your liking. options are aplenty. you can use the swipe or touch motion to bring it back, make it entirely invisible but keep the button functions or make it smaller and more. all apps launch in full screen mode by default with using those tweaks.
Sent from my LG-D801 using xda app-developers app

Personally I like the Expanded Desktop feature that is implemented in most ROMs these days. It'll allow you to hide the navigation bar and notification bar by holding thir power button and selecting Expanded Desktop from the list of options.
Sent from CAMACHO, my Verizon G2 (VS980) running PAC ROM 4.3.

Vepaot said:
Personally I like the Expanded Desktop feature that is implemented in most ROMs these days. It'll allow you to hide the navigation bar and notification bar by holding thir power button and selecting Expanded Desktop from the list of options.
Sent from CAMACHO, my Verizon G2 (VS980) running PAC ROM 4.3.
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You know of which Roms have this feature?
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

Change screen grid size

Tearing my hair out - I have read everywhere under the sun that there is a setting for 4x4, 4x5, or 5x5 screen grid with the default launcher. Mine is 4x5 and there is no such setting to be found.
Long press on home screen brings up Wallpapers, Widgets, and Settings. Nothing about grid size.
The Settings option has App Suggestions and Allow Rotation toggles. Nothing about grid size.
PE1 stock rooted ROM at the moment if that matters.
Help!

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This is the options I get on stock launcher after long pressing on home screen. When you select screen grid then you can select from the options you listed above. Currently running 5×5 myself, have been since I bought the phone
Sent from my SM-G935V using Crapatalk

jroyalty7 said:
This is the options I get on stock launcher after long pressing on home screen. When you select screen grid then you can select from the options you listed above. Currently running 5×5 myself, have been since I bought the phone
Sent from my SM-G935V using Crapatalk
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Right, I know that's what I'm supposed to see. But as I said in my original post, that's not what I see. See attached-- no Screen grid option! And there's not one under Settings, either.

OK my hair is mostly gone but I did figure this out!
When I was setting up the phone I did the back-to-back restore settings with my Moto X Pure. This automatically installed and applied the Google Now Launcher! TouchWiz has the 5x5 grid launcher but Google Now does not.
So, I switched it to the TouchWiz launcher. Unfortunately all the screens that had been so cleverly duplicated from my other phone were lost. So I switched back to Google Now Launcher and I guess I'll live without 5x5!

That sucks but glad you figured it out.2
Sent from my SM-G935V using Crapatalk

Nova launcher has all the way up to 12x12. Just putting that out there in case you hadn't tried nova I use nova prime and it even has backup and restore options.
Sent from my SM-G935U using XDA-Developers mobile app

xCHAOSNCx said:
Nova launcher has all the way up to 12x12. Just putting that out there in case you hadn't tried nova I use nova prime and it even has backup and restore options.
Sent from my SM-G935U using XDA-Developers mobile app
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Been using Nova ever since Apex kinda went to crap on my GNexus back in 2012 or so. Still using it to this day. With 1080p/QHD on 5-inch or larger screen, 6x5 is the way to go if you ask me. I cringe at my wife and other Note users with their default layout and 4x4 grid on such a huge screen, and using the default icons and widgets that Samsung puts there. So they get 8 icons on their main screen beneath the weather widget, with a ton of wasted space. Reminds me of my frustrations with iPad.....4x5 grid and no options to change it, including in the 12" iPad Pro that my wife has. With jailbrake, my Air 2 was set to 8x6 grid and it still had plenty of white space. Stupid iOS anyway, hehe.

snake2332 said:
Been using Nova ever since Apex kinda went to crap on my GNexus back in 2012 or so. Still using it to this day. With 1080p/QHD on 5-inch or larger screen, 6x5 is the way to go if you ask me. I cringe at my wife and other Note users with their default layout and 4x4 grid on such a huge screen, and using the default icons and widgets that Samsung puts there. So they get 8 icons on their main screen beneath the weather widget, with a ton of wasted space. Reminds me of my frustrations with iPad.....4x5 grid and no options to change it, including in the 12" iPad Pro that my wife has. With jailbrake, my Air 2 was set to 8x6 grid and it still had plenty of white space. Stupid iOS anyway, hehe.
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I used Nova a couple time on different devices several years ago and liked the feature set, but each time found it had a negative impact on stability, so I quit using it. How is that aspect these days?
I now expect my phone to go a week or three without ever being shut down or having an unexplained reboot. Can I expect that with Nova?

droidmark said:
I used Nova a couple time on different devices several years ago and liked the feature set, but each time found it had a negative impact on stability, so I quit using it. How is that aspect these days?
I now expect my phone to go a week or three without ever being shut down or having an unexplained reboot. Can I expect that with Nova?
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I personally have been using nova for about 1.5 yrs now and I've never had an issue with any type of stability or performance
Sent from my SM-G935U using XDA-Developers mobile app