Help understanding themes and launchers - AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshootin

Hello,
im new to android from iPhone and with all this customization im lost in the goodness of changing everything to my liking... but what is the difference from icons, and wallpapers, themes and launchers....
will one give me the option to change all of them or is each one different.... ive been searching on the play store but am so confused...
thanks.

Launchers: available on and installable from the play store. The stock Samsung launcher is touchwiz. This is the main interface for the phone. Changing to another launcher will change the way this looks, and works.
Themes: These are modifications of the general look and feel of the phones firmware. These are done by themers here who take the stock (or custom) framework files and modify them. These are currently unavailable until the S4 has the ability to install custom firmware. The locked bootloader has to be unlocked first.
Wallpapers: The background of your screen. You can change these within the launcher, including stock touchwiz. You can add custom wallpapers and use them also, by choosing from the gallery.
Icons: Generally built into the applications and not modifyable.

Thanks. Would you recommend nova launcher?

I've never used it. Many like it.
I use Apex on my SII running 4.1.2

JL84 said:
Thanks. Would you recommend nova launcher?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using Nova Launcher for a while now and it's pretty nice. Lots of things to customize, like the look and feel of the app drawer and how app screens flip or roll from one to the next. Nice thing about downloading a launcher from the playstore is it installs along side the original or in this case Touch Wiz launcher. So if you decide you don't like it, simply switch back or try a different one.

JL84 said:
Thanks. Would you recommend nova launcher?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recommend searching - Google will get you comparisons of all the available launchers and give you full information on installing, changing settings, different features, and how to clear defaults and change launchers if the app itself doesn't offer the option. Include XDA as a search term and you'll get lots of theads around here...
One of the bonuses with Android vs. iPhone is since it's all hackable, there are TONS of threads, reviews, and blog posts on how to do anything. The browser on the phone works great (especially with this nice big screen).
You've probably started another thread that will turn into more of the same - until we get custom ROMs, you won't get any info that isn't on another thread already

JL84 said:
Thanks. Would you recommend nova launcher?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have both Apex and Nova Launcher. I like them both. They do a great job. Until custom ROM's are available you can check out this guys site:
http://czarnomorski.pl/ (Some great simple wallpapers on his site or in app format here
He made some great themes that work with both Nova and Apex as well as Go Launcher EX or ADW Launcher. Check Play store here:
If you are using TFS Shell then you need this one:
If you install the theme you can then go into the settings of the launcher and apply it. You can apply the whole theme or just parts of it like the Icons or Wallpaper.
Enjoy.

JL84 said:
Hello,
im new to android from iPhone and with all this customization im lost in the goodness of changing everything to my liking... but what is the difference from icons, and wallpapers, themes and launchers....
will one give me the option to change all of them or is each one different.... ive been searching on the play store but am so confused...
thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apex and Nova are great for ics while go launcher and adw look good for gingerbread and froyo. for 3d effects next and spb shell 3d is good. TSf is pretty expensive.THere are even small sized launchers like zeam or ftl for speed.

i just need the phone so i can go into the play store and mess around... need to get the apple/ app store brainwashing out of my system....

I hope you find a solution as soon as possible
I hope you find a solution as soon as possible

Related

Wow.. go launcher ex

If u havent tried it, go get it! The best. Grab it in the market for free.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Go sms pro is pretty phat too.
I think it's hands down the best launcher out there. The Honeycomb theme is awesome with it.
Very nice!
Sent from my MIUI powered Evo
I loved the launcher, but ended up trying out others for a second time when they were already bundled with ROMs. Also, as far as I know, GO Launcher EX doesn't allow for higher grid settings on homescreens, which is absolutely essential to my current setup. If this has changed, I will surely go back, as I loved how smooth it was and how much customization there was elsewhere in it!
Also, I second GO SMS Pro (was just GO SMS, just added features in Pro, like the long-awaited, at least for me, support to check drafts! and is still free).
They update a lot, and not in a bad way. They're usually adding more and more features. Ever since I found out about the GO Dev Team when actually looking to use Handcent or Chomp SMS, I've loved 'em.
I just hate using free launchers cause I have ones I paid for. :-/
phatmanxxl said:
I just hate using free launchers cause I have ones I paid for. :-/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's kind of how I feel, too.
Go Launcher EX is the business. I think so many people are loyal to ADW and Launcher Pro though(why, I can't figure out). I'll bet you that most folks who have tried all three will tell you that Go Launcher EX is superior. The fact that it's free alone sets it apart. And the regular updates are a nice plus too... If you haven't tried it I suggest you do. Then come back here and give an honest opinion of it.
I tried it but can't remember what it was that turned me away. I admit, it has been a little bit so I'm sure it's better.
Does it have it's own widgets. gesture swipes, resizable widget option, able to change app icons on your homescreens, ability to choose any dock you want? These are some of the things I love on ADW ex/ LPP.
It may very well have some of these things now, it has been a bit. I'm on a Sense kick right now, but I'll give it another look.
I love go launcher but I need to reload the icons when I come out of the browser our youtube.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
I wouldn't go as far as saying go launcher is superior that's a little much eh? Its good but its not great. I've used almost every launcher out there for more than a weeks at a time each and I always come back to adwEX.
I'm interested to see what this complete rewrite of Launcher Pro...whenever it happens....will bring to the table.
totalanonymity said:
I loved the launcher, but ended up trying out others for a second time when they were already bundled with ROMs. Also, as far as I know, GO Launcher EX doesn't allow for higher grid settings on homescreens, which is absolutely essential to my current setup. If this has changed, I will surely go back, as I loved how smooth it was and how much customization there was elsewhere in it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They did add that feature.
Batman58 said:
I tried it but can't remember what it was that turned me away. I admit, it has been a little bit so I'm sure it's better.
Does it have it's own widgets. gesture swipes, resizable widget option, able to change app icons on your homescreens, ability to choose any dock you want? These are some of the things I love on ADW ex/ LPP.
It may very well have some of these things now, it has been a bit. I'm on a Sense kick right now, but I'll give it another look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The answer is YES to all of your inquiries, execpt for the 1st one(it's own widgets).. Atleast, I dont think it has it's own widgets, but it has so many add-ons, so there might be one. But YES, it has gesture swipes, you can resize the widgets, app icons can be changed on the desktop and in the dock, you can change your dock, the dock is scrollable and supports up to 15 apps, etc...
dirkyd3rk said:
I wouldn't go as far as saying go launcher is superior that's a little much eh? Its good but its not great. I've used almost every launcher out there for more than a weeks at a time each and I always come back to adwEX.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The main reason I called it superior is because it's FREE.. and the other two that are comparable are not(ADW EX and LP+). Of course once you put price aside, the opinions are gonna vary as to which launcher is better. To me the 3 are very comparable though.
mattykinsx said:
I'm interested to see what this complete rewrite of Launcher Pro...whenever it happens....will bring to the table.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. I'm a LP user 100% of the way. ADW has a lot of flash but poorly designed, Go Launcher is actually okay but performance isn't all that great. LP is very well designed and very fast. Can't wait for the rewrite.
phatmanxxl said:
I just hate using free launchers cause I have ones I paid for. :-/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I'd hate to not use ADW EX simply because I paid like $3 for it
Only thing that's pissing me off is adwEX hasn't been updated since beginning of January. I hope anderwebs is cooking up some hot features, buts I've purchased adwex, launcher pro plus, and launcher 7. I like to switch back and forth. Go launcher being free simply doesn't make it superior; what's 3 bucks when you can buy 2 launchers for the price of one Burger king combo lol. I bought them to try them all and go launcher simply isn't that impressive. You need to try some paid launchers man I bet you won't find yourself saying that anymore.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
Philosuffer said:
They did add that feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They added the feature but the max is 5x5, combine that with the fact it does not support shuttered dpi and I have to say LPP is still my favorite.
It's cool and neat but far from owning the competition at this point.
I have Launcher Pro plus, ADW Ex. I've always liked ADW Ex better because -
- lockable screens. Can't tell you how many times I've accidentally moved stuff or even dropped and deleted (or had a friend do that while looking at my phone)
- performance especially with the homescreen transitions
- easily edit and resize icons/shortcuts
- I have Pure calendar and Beautiful weather widgets, so I don't really miss LP widgets.
- got tired of waiting for the "re-write" (not a criticism - I just itch for new stuff)
Go Launcher
Pros
- Matches everything ADW Ex does
- Unread Notifications even on the dock (not on ADW, even with notifier)
- Much easier to manipulate entire screens
- discovered go sms - it's gorgeous!
Cons
- Haven't seen a "lock" feature yet. Need to explore.
- Performance doesn't have the same "snap" to it as ADW Ex, but I need to explore and tweak that a little more
Pretty pleased with Go Launcher Ex so far, I'll use it for a while and check.

Stock Gingerbread Launcher Dock

Hi,
Nexus S, as you all know, has the pure gingerbread OS or the stock Launcher. The dock has those two green icons (Phone and Browser).
Is there a way to change those two? I'd like to use the stock Launcher but I really wanted to change those two icons.
thanks!
dont think there is anything like that as far as i know. try launcher pro and make it look as stock as possible with different shortcuts. lots of features in there u might like....
rican408 said:
dont think there is anything like that as far as i know. try launcher pro and make it look as stock as possible with different shortcuts. lots of features in there u might like....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi. thanks
i was using launcher pro, then switched now to Go launcher.
im after the speed and snappiness of the stock launcher actually. although both launchers i used above are fast, one eats battery juice quick. the other one a bit jumpy/lagging at times.
the stock launcher is fluid even when live wallpaper is active. I read somewhere that it is snappy because the launcher uses graphics accelerator or the graphics engin (or something) that's why its crisp even when opening the app drawer, the zoom/fade animation of the icons are smooth. i compared it with 3rd party launchers.
its just those two unchangeable icons that bothers me (and inability to add/remove home screens). though i can live with it, i guess.
thanks again!
You have to decompile SystemUI.apk, then change the images and after that compile it again.
To do this you need apktools, you can google it.
Hope it helped
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
treUse said:
You have to decompile SystemUI.apk, then change the images and after that compile it again.
To do this you need apktools, you can google it.
Hope it helped
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh wow.. sounds like ill be researching
I assume it needs my phone to be rooted?

Which launcher and why...

First of all, I should say, if this topic has already been discussed, then I apologise, and pelase just point me to the right direction. If not, let's get the discussion going!
I started this thread really for 2 reasons. One is to find out for myself (and hopefully for others) which launcher app is more suitable for my needs. And the second one is to have a discussion on the pro's and con's of the different launchers available.
For the GNote as a standard there is the TW launcher of course. I haven't seen any real shortcomings with it. I quite like it. it's clean, smooth and it works.
I am aware of three others: ADW, GO launcher, and launcher pro. I think ADW has a free and a pay version, and I assume the pay version has more features.
I haven't used any of the others on the GNote, and I never used the GO launcher. However, I did use ADW and LauncherPro both on my viewsonic Gtab. On that particular device I found launcher pro more suitable for my needs. Again, it was clean, simple and smooth.
I've never attempted using addons for either, and I am now becoming aware of the different ways to change icons, themes, etc. It'd be interesting to know what can be done with which launchers...
SS launcher
Why: cause it doesn't suck
Sorry, all I can write for now
From the Beast : Galaxy Note
If I'm not mistaken, only the stock TW Launcher has true hardware acceleration thanks to Samsung's work on it. Every other launcher should be software driven (i.e., CPU taxing).
Go Launcher Ex. I tried almost all popular ones and Go is just the best IMO. I can resize widgets, easily create folders and it's highly customizable.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
QQLauncher is the beat imho
Wysłane z mojego GT-N7000 za pomocą Tapatalk
ssLauncher
ssLauncher because:
It's truly different
It is completely configurable, down to the pixel
All widgets can be resized (although some get funny)
shortcuts can be of any style whatsoever (individually) making for a unique layout
It does not lag at all on my set-up (although transitions are a bit tricky to set up right)
You can have page names (the main thing I wanted)
It's truly different!
Nova Launcher!
Otherwise ADW, I like it's customizability. Never tried SS Launcher though.
If you use gb i think go launchr is optimal choice, but for ics nova is the fastest one
Sent from my GT-I9220 using XDA App
sprintuser1977 said:
SS launcher
Why: cause it doesn't suck
Sorry, all I can write for now
From the Beast : Galaxy Note
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow you are damn right. This app makes so much sense. very unique indeed.
I personally use now Go Launcher Ex-highly customizable etc...but I recommend you to have a look at the "Post your homescreen" threads where you'll see different types of homescreens and launchers by the users.
Another site which is quite good for this is mycolorscreen.com/ where you'll see different homescreens and normally the Widgets in use with the market link. So you'll be able to learn how to customize your screen on your own
tap*talked via GT-N7000 (GB.XXLA4)
Am I the only one who dislike multi pages launchers? On the Gnote this artifice is not necessary anymore, I just have ADW with only one screen and with some tuning I have enough room for my often used apps, two folders and a off off my kid. I even disabled auto rotate. On such a big screen landscape makes no sense for home screen and most apps but pictures and video.
guibog said:
Am I the only one who dislike multi pages launchers? On the Gnote this artifice is not necessary anymore, I just have ADW with only one screen and with some tuning I have enough room for my often used apps, two folders and a off off my kid. I even disabled auto rotate. On such a big screen landscape makes no sense for home screen and most apps but pictures and video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One word: Widgets!
I used to use ADW but it ha gotten too buggy, and it looks like it's not being developed anymore .
These days it's go launcher, but really it's just a place holder until I can load ICS, and the stock launcher
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
Am I the only one who thinks the none of the launchers are doing it right?
For all I know, TW launcher is the only launcher that uses hardware acceleration. It NEVER lags. Compared to other launchers, I'd stick with it. (I'm on RR v22, ICS for RR v1.6)
TW launcher on ICS for RR looks so much better than stock TW. It makes it bearable. Plus it doesn't lag.
VTL launcher 1.7.0 with left and right docks active, absolutly the more versatile one!
Inviato dal mio GT-N7000 usando Tapatalk
AA1973 said:
I personally use now Go Launcher Ex-highly customizable etc...but I recommend you to have a look at the "Post your homescreen" threads where you'll see different types of homescreens and launchers by the users.
Another site which is quite good for this is mycolorscreen.com where you'll see different homescreens and normally the Widgets in use with the market link. So you'll be able to learn how to customize your screen on your own
tap*talked via GT-N7000 (GB.XXLA4)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great site, thanks! Just opened it and found a great homescreen containing several widgets I've been literaly looking for and didn't know they exist. Can't post links yet unfortunately, but you can go have a look and see if it also catches your attention Its on a Note too!
guibog said:
Am I the only one who dislike multi pages launchers? On the Gnote this artifice is not necessary anymore, I just have ADW with only one screen and with some tuning I have enough room for my often used apps, two folders and a off off my kid. I even disabled auto rotate. On such a big screen landscape makes no sense for home screen and most apps but pictures and video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that I dislike them, but I'm sure gonna go for as few as I can. Thinking about 2 or so, depends on how many widgets I'm actually gonna need. I don't like to keep scrolling to find what I want.
I installed several launchers and launcher modifiers. Most modifiers sucked. I think they put adware on my phone because once a day or so I get an advert pop up that is not from my provider (I recognise some new type of icons in the notification bar). I uninstalled the launcher modifiers very quickly so I forgot their names. I tried ADW, and so far decided to stick with launcher pro, as it gave me what I needed (customised icons for apps and dock). Anything else wasn't really of interest for me from a functional perspective.
Im using launcher pro on the chinese leak ICS and its so smooth its insane. It looks to be rendering in 60p while using a live wallpaper with absolutely no lag at all. I like the animations and options in it but it is getting a little dated and could do with an upgrade to add some more widgets and functionality.
This was fairly smooth on GB roms pretty much the same as TW launcher but on the ICS leak this flies
You can shrink and zoom all widgets in the paid version from 1x1 to full screen and this works well with nearly every widget I have tried. This is very useful when reducing DPI even though atm I am using the stock 320 incase it breaks something reducing this.
The TW launcher is so low for me when scrolling left and right even though its smooth it just moves across pretty slow, I like to get to where I want quick and launcher pro does this. I havent tried many other launchers lately but tried them all before and keep going back to launcher pro even though it hasnt been updated in a while.
@martcerv: So how is that ICS leak working out for you? Many seem to have problems of all sorts with it...
I have been using spb shell 3d in tablet mode with resizable widgets and for me its the best.
It displays 8 rows x 6 columns and is really suited to the Note. The labels maybe small for some, but not really needed.
For me its the best experience, its compatible with the ICS chainfire release and is very smooth and responsive.
I have adjusted dpi to 213 for better views in gmail etc, but this does not effect shell 3d. At 213 dpi you loose the top bar for some reason, but have put info onto homescreen, see pic
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which is the best android launcher available and what are you using??

so there are a lot of third party launchers out there, what do you vote for as the best and why??
i currently use nova launcher but i want to try another launcher for my s5
Opt for launcher x
Latest Nova Launcher beta with Pixel style icon pack.
I like stock Pixel look better than Nexus look.
launcher
I am currently using CM 3d launcher. I have grown accustomed to using. I like when someone picks up my phone to try and find stuff it's hard cause they don't know where to look.
I'm using evie it is similar to ASAP launcher, I like the intuitive design compared with other launchers out there
JOB....T said:
so there are a lot of third party launchers out there, what do you vote for as the best and why??
i currently use nova launcher but i want to try another launcher for my s5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried many.... I keep going back to nova.... easiest and most customization....

Luncher

I tried to change my lancher to the stock luncher, but when I went to my settings --> defualt apps --> luncher
I have only MiFavor. How could I add the stock luncher?
edited:
I would like to add an app drawer, so if their any option I will happy to hear about it.
Just download an alternate launcher in google play. If you want it mostly stock android stuff, take a look at the google launcher.
Don't know what a luncher is?
Diplodocus123 said:
Just download an alternate launcher in google play. If you want it mostly stock android stuff, take a look at the google launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
any suggestions for a good, basic and unheavy one?
After using Nova and Holo launcher for years, I have found one that suits me very well, it is Action Launcher 3. It has several ways to open an app/folder, it is fully customizable and it is lightweight. However the lightest one is the Google Launcher.
Oki said:
After using Nova and Holo launcher for years, I have found one that suits me very well, it is Action Launcher 3. It has several ways to open an app/folder, it is fully customizable and it is lightweight. However the lightest one is the Google Launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks alot! do you know about a way to remove the google news from the homescreen?
aradz1 said:
any suggestions for a good, basic and unheavy one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using Nova (Prime) for 4 years now. Best launcher with a ton of available customization! You can make it look like Android M, L or none of them and give it it's own look. There is a free version, and a paid version (Prime).
Google launcher is a really good and free.

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