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I love the speed of my iconia tab but I honestly thought swiping through honeycomb would be a little faster. Does anyone use alternate home launchers with their tablet? I don't know if this is possible or not. I love the interface so I'm content but just wanted to get people's opinion on this and any particular launchers they really like.
Sure is possible. I loaded go launcher ex just to try it out and it worked fine. I would like to know if anyone is using a launcher specifically for tablets though, if there is even any available.
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Yeah, that's what I was really interested in. A launcher built for tablets would be something fun to mess around with. I feel like it could be tailored specifically for tablet functions. Possibly something like new windows 8.
ADW Launcher EX works, and is updated for honeycomb.honestly, though, its nothing revolutionary, none of the launchers are. I went back to stock. It may not be really fancy but it works, and well.
Have you checked out spb shell 3d for tablets? I don't think its out yet, but they have a concept video, and it Looks amazing. There's a thread on here with the link, in the general section.
lord_voldemort666 said:
Have you checked out spb shell 3d for tablets? I don't think its out yet, but they have a concept video, and it Looks amazing. There's a thread on here with the link, in the general section.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one in the video doesn't exist, and the one that is out now doesn't work on the iconia. And you're not missing much, I messed with it on an X and it was just plain laggy
I'm using Launcher Pro with great results.
I 've got ADW Launcher on my phone so I tried it on the Iconia. Even though it's a great launcher, for me it didn't cut it. It made the tab look rather like a big phone. It would be nice to have a launcher that preserves the tablet feeling.
I'm sure it's only a matter of time for Tablet specific launchers to roll out.
Personally, however, I feel that they got to step up their game to make something that adds more functionality and is more efficient than what the stock HC launcher provides. I'm not into all the eye-candy - its function over form for me. (pointing my finger at SPB)
It was easy to raise the bar with Eclair on up to Gingerbread as those OS' were built for the phone and those environment were rapidly evolving (and in some cases, differently from manufacturer to manufacturer) - with Honeycomb and the tablet environment third party launcher developers have had the bar raised on them (in terms of usability, efficiency and hardware) so in my opinion, it could be tougher for them to step it up.
Time will tell.
If anything - I would like to see support for skinning the tablet. 1 skinning app, developers build skins - release skins - users downloaded skins - use skinning app to apply skins. Done.
I know most of us hate touchwiz but there are a couple of things samsung's done better than Google, what do you like more in touchwiz than stock ics?
1. The quick notification toggles, I know ics has a quick access to settings in the notifications but its not quite the same
2. I like more the way you place widgets in touchwiz launcher, it resembles honeycomb, I dont know why Google got rid of it in ics
3. You have spell corrections for more than one language at the same time without having to switch keyboards
That's pretty much it, touchwiz icons, colors, dialer, contacts are pretty much... horrible
In my experience Touchwiz on my GS2 is faster and smoother than stock ICS on the Galaxy Nexus. Add a live wallpaper and its no competition, Nexus chokes and dies.
Touchwiz is pretty underrated tbh.
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I'm currently using resurrection ICS custom with stock (nova) UI and I have to say that I kind of miss TW. I also think that is underrated, actually is a very nice launcher
Chad_Petree said:
I know most of us hate touchwiz but there are a couple of things samsung's done better than Google, what do you like more in touchwiz than stock ics?
1. The quick notification toggles, I know ics has a quick access to settings in the notifications but its not quite the same
2. I like more the way you place widgets in touchwiz launcher, it resembles honeycomb, I dont know why Google got rid of it in ics
3. You have spell corrections for more than one language at the same time without having to switch keyboards
That's pretty much it, touchwiz icons, colors, dialer, contacts are pretty much... horrible
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you come to the conclusion "most of us hate touchwiz" is it because someone started a thread on here,i would estimate many more like TW than hate it, i think TW is brilliant, ive tried every other launcher and always come back to TW as it is smoother than any of the rest of them
I would never buy a phone that I couldn't get to vanilla android the skins are ridiculous. I'm on a galaxy nexus using nova (installed through cwm for the extra features) and find the experience to be my favorite so far on android without having to rom my phone. Its snappy and clean. You like touchwiz more power to you but skins always feel to me like what they are: window dressing on the experience I want.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
I'll be gutted if Samsung ditch TW for the Galaxy S3 but i doubt they will they will just add some improvements and modifications,etc i have the TW 4G launcher with 5 docks on homescreen and it is fast and very smooth.
What Google try to do with ICS AOSP Launcher is to mimic TouchWiz features that we already had. (In the end, ICS launcher also was work cooperated with Samsung developers)
Seriously, people should get "another" Android 2.3 and see what TouchWiz bring... Even HTC sense feels really stoneage next to features of TouchWiz we don't realise until we loose them.
I love the responsiveness and the overall appearance, but there is a lot of wasted space and opportunity with TW.
Well...TW Launcher is purely Underated....if TW launcher can be modified a bit, it could be defenitely useful..i am using sensation ROM 2.0....TW launcher looks awsm in that!!
****wiz is not bad either..i only recently made the leap to Go Launcher and loving that to be honest..But still Touchwiz is pretty smooth, has good options and a good launcher all round....
Touchwiz 4.0 is the best launcher compared to motorola UI and sense 3.0 in my opinion. its not as heavy as sense and its a lot smoother than the motorola UI plus it has great features, its easy to use and works great. I love what they did when you long press the home screen to add widgets and wallpapers, i think it work really well. Sure sense is more eye candy but it eats every ressources that the phone has. So based on usability, smoothness and performance i think touchwiz 4.0 is king. If only htc would do a better job at optimizing it would probably number one. I do like stock ICS skin also, but again it isnt as smooth and well optimized as touchwiz is on the S2.
Drewsipher said:
I would never buy a phone that I couldn't get to vanilla android the skins are ridiculous. I'm on a galaxy nexus using nova (installed through cwm for the extra features) and find the experience to be my favorite so far on android without having to rom my phone. Its snappy and clean. You like touchwiz more power to you but skins always feel to me like what they are: window dressing on the experience I want.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whats nova?
xZeDgEx said:
In my experience Touchwiz on my GS2 is faster and smoother than stock ICS on the Galaxy Nexus. Add a live wallpaper and its no competition, Nexus chokes and dies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hace read that exact sale thing so many times, the gs2 is faster than the galaxy nexus, but why? Ics is more optimized than gingerbread,maybe is because the exynos beats texas instruments?
There is only one thing that annoys me with touchwiz and that is you cant sort your apps alphabetically. Thank goodness there is an app called appzorter, pity its not working for ics yet. Well it wasnt the last time i looked al least.
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Touchwizz is NOT only the launcher.. It's the whole samsung UI elements and features (smart dial, quick toggles, media codecs, etc etc).
The problem with touchwizz is the style, general UI. Take for example the dialer: very ugly. Or the big toggle icons in notification area (they can remove text and make smaller buttons). And the general UI experience is simply poor (compare section headers and subsection headers from TW with ICS, buttons, sliders, lists and so on).
What I want? TW with ICS flavour.
Eg: ICS dialer with smart dial, ICS contacs, ICS messeging, ICS launcher with fast page switching, media codecs, general UI elements from ICS (headers, buttons, sliders, list, etc), etc.
By switching the launchers doesn't solve the problem with touchwizz as many users write here as a solution to "get ride of TW".
Touchwizz is deeply integrated in Android framework and apps.
IMHO Touchwiz is very cool for peoples who don't want many extra settings or customisations. He's also very colorfull and simple to use.
After that, I must say that ICS stock launcher seems little "cold" in the other side. I mean, it's all Blue and White and the default ICS wallpaper are little too "cold" too, but it's surely the "ICS" touch.
The tastes and colours are in the nature, in term of performances TW is not so bad, it's just miss a little more features like customisation, etc...
If samsung removed their swipe grid-icons in the application drawer, then more people would love touchwiz.
... Im sure this is the reason why some people don't like it.
I like touchwiz, but I must admit - I'd love it to have a vertical application drawer with 3D roller effect as default.
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Vertumus ICS theme makes touchwiz and the Samsung UI look very nice
DSF said:
Touchwizz is NOT only the launcher.. It's the whole samsung UI elements and features (smart dial, quick toggles, media codecs, etc etc).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So many people just don't get it. Or maybe refuse to understand.
You could sky write this and people would still not get it.
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That holds true for any OS/Software. The software/OS is judged mainly based on the UI/look, not on the functionality or efficiency.
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.
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QQLauncher is the beat imho
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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
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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!
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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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what launcher you are using and why
I have used many launchers and it seems though some are smaller size wise most use up to the 123mb that TW uses (this includes unread plugins and such) even Trebuchet from CM is using from 99-122mb.
Just wondering if there is a gem hiding that I havent used
Favorites
Zeam- too old has issues now
Nova- memory hog
Apex- out of date
Lightning- uses alot of memory
KEEP IT CLEAN AND POLITE. ALL COMMENTS AND OPINIONS ARE WELCOME :good:
Mods if it gets out of hand or if it feels irrelevant feel free to remove post or clean post at will. Thank you in advance for all your hard work
Touchwiz! ?
Stuck on GoLauncher... I know it's heavy , but so used to it.. Will move to something simpler soon
Nova prime is still the best, it's been regularly updated and has the best customizations. Every launcher is a memory hog, so you might as well choose the best lol
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Been using Nova launcher for years now and have never regretted my decision, even after using alternatives like golauncher, apex, trebuchet, etc I would still find myself reinstalling nova. Another reason for my love for it is the constant updates and implementation of new animations each time a new Android version comes out, it is versatile and as surprised as I am to hear people point out is a memory hog this is one issue I have never experienced.
true would be nice though to have a truly light weight launcher.
Using Mihome launcher
Nova launcher, prime. Worth the donation, and the devs maintain it. I bought ADW a long time ago, but it's growing cobwebs.
Anybody use the sense 7 launcher and apps?
Nova
Nova, because of the ability to have a scrollable dock. I have 5 pages (25 icons) there, so I almost never need to use the app drawer.
I love the tsf 3d launcher and use it with the lines icon pack. Comes with its own weather widget which I love
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Smart launcher works best for me
I know that I'm inviting hate by saying it, but I'm using the Google Now Launcher on my Galaxy Note 4 N910T. Used Nova religiously my my GS3 and Note 2, then got a Nexus 5 on launch day and got hooked on Google Now. Haven't really tried anything since, though I might revisit the launcher scene if I'm looking to change things up.
I'm still on stock ROM, but using Nova Launcher. I think I misread the poll and voted stock. Sorry.
Nova or Apus launcher
no hate for the Google now laucher, if you use it as its meant it is pretty sweet and has good functionality. I myself tried out Windows launcher wasn't super impressed that's why I use android lol
I've been using Nova since it came out basically and have moved around a little trying some of the new ones but I don't think I've had a fully set up experience on a different launcher since the Launcher Pro and ADW days.
I was wondering if there is a favorite launcher that people like especially if it makes the huge amount of screen space on the Note a little more usable. Currently with Nova I leave the top half of both screens mostly unfilled as it can be hard to reach.
Nova launcher pro version is neat, I got it 99 cents when there was a promotion.
The best thing is it allows you to back up your setting, so when you transfer data to a new phone, you can just use one click to have the exactly screen setting!!!
preston66002425 said:
Nova launcher pro version is neat, I got it 99 cents when there was a promotion.
The best thing is it allows you to back up your setting, so when you transfer data to a new phone, you can just use one click to have the exactly screen setting!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea that's I'm currently using. It's nice and all but I see a lot of launchers that do cool stuff like automatically figure out your most used apps and all that.
Another best launcher for me is Smart Launcher
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I've used so many launchers. Best so far for me are a couple,
1. Microsoft launcher. Hands down the best, just needs more options.
2. Squarehome launcher. Because I'm a big fan of windows phones. This one is very very elegant and very well made. A little on the expensive side (I believe it was $7), but well worth the money. Only gripe is that its settings are all over the place and you have to get used to it to master its customizations.
3. CPL and hyperion if you want stock android launchers. Very nice launchers. Clean and fast. Hyperion has more customizations, but CPL is free.
4. Nova launcher. Have had it for over 4 years now. It has been mostly the same and getting a little too outdated. Dev needs to bring some new features around. Otherwise, competition will destroy them very soon.
5. Samsung One UI house launcher is phenomenal itself.
I've tried next launcher 3D and it was overwhelming then left it in about a month or so.
Using nova launcher. Fast and smooth. But downside when using samsung weather widget, resizing quite wacky.
Gil Smash said:
I've been using Nova since it came out basically and have moved around a little trying some of the new ones but I don't think I've had a fully set up experience on a different launcher since the Launcher Pro and ADW days.
I was wondering if there is a favorite launcher that people like especially if it makes the huge amount of screen space on the Note a little more usable. Currently with Nova I leave the top half of both screens mostly unfilled as it can be hard to reach.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you can try Niagara Launcher. Been using it since I got my note 9 and when I had the previous models of Samsung eg s9+ and s8+. Its clean fast and everything is ready for your reach.
K-alz said:
I've used so many launchers. Best so far for me are a couple,
1. Microsoft launcher. Hands down the best, just needs more options.
2. Squarehome launcher. Because I'm a big fan of windows phones. This one is very very elegant and very well made. A little on the expensive side (I believe it was $7), but well worth the money. Only gripe is that its settings are all over the place and you have to get used to it to master its customizations.
3. CPL and hyperion if you want stock android launchers. Very nice launchers. Clean and fast. Hyperion has more customizations, but CPL is free.
4. Nova launcher. Have had it for over 4 years now. It has been mostly the same and getting a little too outdated. Dev needs to bring some new features around. Otherwise, competition will destroy them very soon.
5. Samsung One UI house launcher is phenomenal itself.
I've tried next launcher 3D and it was overwhelming then left it in about a month or so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome thanks! I'm giving Microsoft Launcher another shot as I used it a while ago but stopped. So far so good!
Gil Smash said:
Awesome thanks! I'm giving Microsoft Launcher another shot as I used it a while ago but stopped. So far so good!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome. Let me know what you like and what you don't.
K-alz said:
4. Nova launcher. Have had it for over 4 years now. It has been mostly the same and getting a little too outdated. Dev needs to bring some new features around. Otherwise, competition will destroy them very soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nah, i rather have an rock solid launcher instead of some bloated one.
but besides. there isn't much missing on Samsung stock launcher nowadays. they now allow the swipe down from anywhere on the screen to bring up notifications.
i am only missing indefinite scrolling between homescreens and some advanced gesture options like double tap. once Samsung stock launcher can do this, i don't need nova no more.
Always been nova for me, but will try some of the others listed here.
Thinking about spicing up my screen a bit.
Another onecthstcwas light weight and free is Evie. It needs some work. The best thing I liked about it was I could get nadge icons on apps with out installing a helper application. Not as stated it needs a lite work.
I've been using Nova for years now and I have a hard time using something else, but I think Lawnchair is very promising
Nova launcher
Used nova for about 5 years on all my devices... I've found Evie last year... Never come back to nova!
I use Evie on my S8+, Note 9, Nexus 6 and Note 4 (yeah yeah...) and love it.
I am using total launcher. those who need customization should try this once.
Been using Nova for years, but the last few months I've been using Lawnchair V2. Really nice and simple, and they've implemented App Actions in the app drawer recently. Pretty handy.
Used Total Launcher for a long time. Very customizable but somewhat complex.
Recently switched to Nova Launcher along with Kustom Live Wallpaper (KLWP). This makes a great team, but like Total Launcher, lots of under the hood to get the right look for the power user.
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preston66002425 said:
Nova launcher pro version is neat, I got it 99 cents when there was a promotion.
The best thing is it allows you to back up your setting, so when you transfer data to a new phone, you can just use one click to have the exactly screen setting!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This, all this.
I have briefly tried other launchers, but they quickly fail to live upto what I know of Nova.
I guess a lot of it comes down to me kind of wanting a launcher to give me a way of automatically improving efficiency not because I don't want to put the work in to figure out how to set up something complex but because I don't know what I want!
So far I'm digging the Microsoft Launcher but it doesn't do a whole lot that Nova doesn't. I've tried things like Niagara too but those tend to be a little overly simplified.