I have recently picked up an Atoto A6 and I dont hate the factory launcher, im looking for something better and wondering what others are using or if anyone has any recommendations. Thanks.
Welcome!
Have you tried searching the forum yet?
There's a couple of topics already about different launchers.
The programmers even participate in some of them!
I have used:
- Car Launcher AG
- CarWebGuru
- FCC Launcher (currently in use)
The first two ones are quite pre-programmed, but the last one is very customizable.
Good luck and if you have questions, feel free to ask them here.
I am using Car Launcher AG on my ATOTO A6 HU, really great one. You can give a try.
Nova Launcher is often at the top of lists of good launcher apps. I installed it on my new A6 and like it very much. It really cleaned up the cluttered look of the A6.
Before I installed Nova Launcher I installed the QuickPic app and used it to change my A6 wallpaper to a nice Subaru Impreza WRX graphic that I found at https://imgur.com/gallery/57VoTfq. I tweaked it slightly in Photoshop to fit the A6's 1024 x 600P display on my desktop computer and then installed it from the A6 by transferring it via a Micro SD card. I believe the A6 wallpaper can also be changed from within Nova Launcher.
Nova Launcher is highly customizable but, so far, the only change I have made to the default installation is to remove the search field from my main A6 theme so it doesn't cover the WRX wallpaper.
I'm using the basic free version of Nova Launcher but may upgrade to the paid $4.99 version in the future.
Highly recommended!
I used to use Nova on my phone and I cant remember if you are able to customize your icons and the app name or not. I know on a few launchers you are able too. That would be perfect if I could. I might have to give Nova a try on this head unit. I have been just using the stock launcher and its ok. All the head unit type launchers that are out there, while nice, just dont do it for me. I just want something simple, highly customizable, and clean. I don't need built in music apps and junk.
With Nova Launcher, you can customize the icon, name, and even hide all app names if you like. I've tried pretty much all the launchers after having an Android head unit for the last couple of years and always come back to Nova.
Nova supports all the following:
"Okay Google" voice commands
Custom grid sizes let you specify icon size and placement
Custom images for app icons and folders
Custom launch items, like quick dial and system calls
Gestures to open settings or the app drawer - even launch an application, without clicking an icon
The attached image is my current home page with Nova. The links on the left side are actually application links with and invisible png file for the icon. The app icon on the bottom is a folder with an invisible icon that has all the apps I access frequently.
This setup is using an 8x8 grid with app icon labels hidden.
I've tried quite a few launchers too.
AGAMA is worth a try - I like the multi widgets it has - click the centre Icon and you can change between NAV, SPEED, LOGO, COMPASS, TIME and 1 more I can't remember.
However, nav does not support waze
Does anyone know of a launcher that allows an app to run in a window. FCC has a default view that makes google maps a window and puts buttons round it, but it can't be changed.
My goal is to have waze running in a window taking about half the screen, then the buttons round it - this would then look like a stock car radio screen which is what were all trying to get to with car launchers ?
Have not tried Nova - so guess what I'm going to do for a few hours this afternoon.
P.S. If you havn't uprated your stock android head unit DAB player, look at DAB-Z by zoulou. If you search these forums you'll find the 152 pages of discussions following his development of the app taking everyone's feedback along the way. TOP DOG
i use CAR LAUCHER PRO and it's awesome
it's simple to modify the main theme to yours preferences
also you have the instant speed of the car
I dont need nor want an permanent/built in on screen speedo or music player. My trucks speedo works perfectly fine and I use Pulsar Music Player and it works amazing for my needs. Im really leaning towards Nova I think. Its simple yet offers the customization options that I want. Why do I have to be so darn picky sometimes? haha
Hi!
It is really hard to find a nice car launcher with simple design as Android 6-7-8 Stock. They are a lot of launcher with a lot of theme, but I find them a little bit cheap... It reminds me old Windows XP desktop customisation
Do you have an idea of this kind of launcher ? I don't want to create my own ^^!
markmorto said:
With Nova Launcher, you can customize the icon, name, and even hide all app names if you like. I've tried pretty much all the launchers after having an Android head unit for the last couple of years and always come back to Nova.
Nova supports all the following:
"Okay Google" voice commands
Custom grid sizes let you specify icon size and placement
Custom images for app icons and folders
Custom launch items, like quick dial and system calls
Gestures to open settings or the app drawer - even launch an application, without clicking an icon
The attached image is my current home page with Nova. The links on the left side are actually application links with and invisible png file for the icon. The app icon on the bottom is a folder with an invisible icon that has all the apps I access frequently.
This setup is using an 8x8 grid with app icon labels hidden.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great tip with Nova. Just setting it up now. Which app are you using there for radio? Also do you have any alternatives to the standard apps?
KidMarley said:
Great tip with Nova. Just setting it up now. Which app are you using there for radio? Also do you have any alternatives to the standard apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The radio app came with the car stereo, like with pretty much all of the Android stereos on the market. Mine looks different because I modded it after rooting my head unit. If you have a Joying, my radio mods are available with the Joying Extra Tools app at: https://hvdwolf.github.io/Joying-RootAssistant/
@surfer63 is the resident expert on making Joying headunits usable
By standard apps, I'm guessing you mean the music and DVR apps that come with the headunit? I use the music app when I drive with my wife for simplicity, but usually I'm on Spotify or the radio when I drive.
I'm considering trying fcclauncher but it looks like maybe it doesn't support integration on Atoto units the way it does others? Can anyone who's used it chime in with what they used to setup, which option was picked for headunit?
Ive used nova on phones but I kind of don't like the layout of atoto's Bluetooth screens (both the a2dp player and dialer) and I've seen a few of these launchers attempt to skin that and make it better looking and easier to use.
dishe2 said:
I'm considering trying fcclauncher but it looks like maybe it doesn't support integration on Atoto units the way it does others? Can anyone who's used it chime in with what they used to setup, which option was picked for headunit?
Ive used nova on phones but I kind of don't like the layout of atoto's Bluetooth screens (both the a2dp player and dialer) and I've seen a few of these launchers attempt to skin that and make it better looking and easier to use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to say, but a launcher is not able to skin the BT screen.
You really should tell us some details about the used head unit...
First and important is the MCU version and the chipset which is working under the hood.
Some pictures of the "About tablet" would help to see how to setup Fcc.
rigattoni said:
Sorry to say, but a launcher is not able to skin the BT screen.
You really should tell us some details about the used head unit...
First and important is the MCU version and the chipset which is working under the hood.
Some pictures of the "About tablet" would help to see how to setup Fcc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting- I'm not looking to skin the screen, but rather change the UI to interact with Bluetooth, treating it like an audio source and making it easier to access things. Atoto, for some reason, treats BT like a second class citizen on their head units. It has widgets for things like Radio, media player, etc but it doesn't have one for Bluetooth audio. The only way to see/interact with A2dp is to have the Bluetooth app open (they call it BT1).
Also annoying re: their widgets is that each does only THAT source, so if you make a home screen that shows the media player and want to see the radio station instead, it's a DIFFERENT widget, usually set up on a different page out of necessity. This is silly for many reasons. And Bluetooth has no option at all.
I tried Vivid launcher and really liked it's ability to do exactly this: give me one 'now playing' widget that took whatever was playing and showed it in the box. Even Bluetooth!!! I was amazed, it even gave me a Bluetooth screen that showed paired devices that made it easy to swap between them if my wife and I are driving the car, all skinned within the UI. It also gave me a much nicer looking dialer interface for making BT calls.
The problem is, vivid seemed to also break audio output for music when doing this. And break some other things too (android auto had trouble connecting as well). So I removed it and I'm now trying to look into others that people recommend, and FCC Launcher comes up a lot. Does it offer what I describe? I can't tell yet bc I need to set it up as "tablet/phone" which doesn't seem to be aware of Bluetooth as a source.
I'm peeved at Atoto for giving us such a quality product with such crummy UI elements.
Device is the Atoto S8 Ultra, attaching photos of info.
dishe2 said:
Interesting- I'm not looking to skin the screen, but rather change the UI to interact with Bluetooth, treating it like an audio source and making it easier to access things. Atoto, for some reason, treats BT like a second class citizen on their head units. It has widgets for things like Radio, media player, etc but it doesn't have one for Bluetooth audio. The only way to see/interact with A2dp is to have the Bluetooth app open (they call it BT1).
Also annoying re: their widgets is that each does only THAT source, so if you make a home screen that shows the media player and want to see the radio station instead, it's a DIFFERENT widget, usually set up on a different page out of necessity. This is silly for many reasons. And Bluetooth has no option at all.
I tried Vivid launcher and really liked it's ability to do exactly this: give me one 'now playing' widget that took whatever was playing and showed it in the box. Even Bluetooth!!! I was amazed, it even gave me a Bluetooth screen that showed paired devices that made it easy to swap between them if my wife and I are driving the car, all skinned within the UI. It also gave me a much nicer looking dialer interface for making BT calls.
The problem is, vivid seemed to also break audio output for music when doing this. And break some other things too (android auto had trouble connecting as well). So I removed it and I'm now trying to look into others that people recommend, and FCC Launcher comes up a lot. Does it offer what I describe? I can't tell yet bc I need to set it up as "tablet/phone" which doesn't seem to be aware of Bluetooth as a source.
I'm peeved at Atoto for giving us such a quality product with such crummy UI elements.
Device is the Atoto S8 Ultra, attaching photos of info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You won´t get another dialer UI with Fcc, but you can use the implemented widgets to do some stuff.
Nevertheless: Atoto units are listed in the settings, so should work with your unit.
Related
Everyone should be getting their phone in the next few days. I am coming from iOS so I am not 100% sure about all of androids apps and features. I have spent a lot of time in the last month learning as much as I could about switching over but I would like to get some opinions from everyone. I hope this will also help any other novice users get the most out of the note 3.
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
2. What apps will make using the note more enjoyable/easier?
3. What apps can I wow people with a demo of?
4. Any other general app recommendations?
5. What general settings should I initially use? or disable?
6. Anything I missed for a first time android user?
1) NEXT Launcher 3D
2) NEXT Launcher 3D
3) NEXT Launcher 3D's "Swing with Scroll" feature
Impuls3101 said:
Everyone should be getting their phone in the next few days. I am coming from iOS so I am not 100% sure about all of androids apps and features. I have spent a lot of time in the last month learning as much as I could about switching over but I would like to get some opinions from everyone. I hope this will also help any other novice users get the most out of the note 3.
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
2. What apps will make using the note more enjoyable/easier?
3. What apps can I wow people with a demo of?
4. Any other general app recommendations?
5. What general settings should I initially use? or disable?
6. Anything I missed for a first time android user?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome aboard! Here's the first thing you'll have to deal with: Size. The Note 3 (I have a Note 2) will seem huge and you may get buyer's remorse. Most of us do. It wears off in a couple of days, though and then you'll wonder how you dealt with such a small phone.
1. I use Apex launcher. Why do I use a launcher? Because I like to change the number of rows/columns from the standard setting. I also like to eliminate the Google search bar. And, I like using gestures to go to apps. I use swipe-up for Google Now and swipe-down for notification shade. Why do I use Apex instead of others? No particular reason but it seemed to have the most available features for a free version at the time. I have since paid for it.
2, There are a bazillion apps. But, coming from the iPhone I would first experiment with keyboard replacements. Why? Because you can and the iphone users can't. Try Swype or Swiftkey. Swiftkey is amazing at guessing what your next word will be. Most of all, get used to swiping instead of typing. Once you get good at it it's MUCH faster than typing. Then show that off to your iPhone buddies and say, "Take that!"
3. If you really want to dazzle people with your new phone find a high def YouTube video (the Vevo ones are good). Playing a beautiful video on a large screen has some really powerful WOW! factor.
4. Some apps I use a lot:
Color Note - A great note and checklist app that syncs via the cloud.
Chrome Beta
Flixter for getting movie times and watching trailers
Gas Buddy to find cheap gasoline
Amazon App store. A free app every day. You have to side load it, it's not in the Play Store.
Droid of the Day - A new app suggestion every day
Timely - One of the most beautiful alarm clock apps. It also syncs with all your devices
The usual apps: Netflix, Pandora, Watch ESPN, HBO Go, Dropbox, et al.
5. I turn off Auto display brightness. I leave my Note 2 at full brightness all the time. The battery can handle this just fine.
I leave GPS, Wifi, and NFC on all the time.
Make sure you setup Google+ to automatically upload your photos
6. Don't go too crazy downloading apps. You may find your battery suddenly draining too fast. If you don't like or use an app delete it immediately so it won't eat battery.
Good luck and have fun.
Impuls3101 said:
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nova Prime because it is better than TW in every way.
Ok I will answer some of my own questions from using the device the last 10 or so hours I hope this helps someone else. Please add suggestions because I am still getting used to everything.
1. Nova launcher seems to be easier to use because it takes all ur tw settings and imports them. It makes it easy to switch between the two. I like the tw weather widget better though
2. -I still need to find a good email client that syncs the few accounts that I have together. I haven't looked into this yet.
-Equalizer is a really good app to put more bass or customize the sound of your music.
-Adblock plus is really nice to have while browsing the internet .. I always hated that I couldn't use it on the iphone.
-The adapt sound settings helped make my headphones sound a little better. I use an aux in on my car so it kind of sucks that they don't have profiles for different sources.
3. -Next Launcher is really nice to show people but I don't know if I could use it everyday and its 3x the price of other launchers.
-Real Racing 3 is a nice demo game but good old angry birds star wars 2 probably looks the best and it has a note 3 achievement
-slow mo camera is really nice but anything less than 1/2 speed and the image starts to look very grainy .. 4k really has a wow factor even on the 1080p screen.
4. Sketchbook for Galaxy is a lot of fun to draw in with the s-pen.
5. -I followed this guide for disabling some of the bloatware: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2478448
-I also disabled most of the air hover features because they are nice for demoing the device to someone but I probably won't use them. Plus I wear glasses and it doesn't seem to detect my eyes very well.
-People are reporting poor wifi and one of the settings suggested is to turn off network auto connect.. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2472779 .. I experienced the problem but reset my router and it seems fine now.. not sure if its a software glitch or what.
6. -Here is a useful guide on how to transfer your contacts : http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/transfer-iphone-contact-to-android/
-The only thing I am missing from iOS are the nice lock screen notifications. If anyone has a suggestion please let me know
Impuls3101 said:
Everyone should be getting their phone in the next few days. I am coming from iOS so I am not 100% sure about all of androids apps and features. I have spent a lot of time in the last month learning as much as I could about switching over but I would like to get some opinions from everyone. I hope this will also help any other novice users get the most out of the note 3.
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
2. What apps will make using the note more enjoyable/easier?
3. What apps can I wow people with a demo of?
4. Any other general app recommendations?
5. What general settings should I initially use? or disable?
6. Anything I missed for a first time android user?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I have been using Nova for a while on my Galaxy Nexus, and use it on my N3 now too. It's not too bloated, allows custom number of icons per row/column, gestures, and resize all widgets. I used to use Apex, and that was really good too, but I switched a while ago to Nova because there was some feature Apex didn't have, though honestly I don't remember what now, and they may very well have added it.
2. SketchBook Mobile by Autodesk (makers of AutoCAD and Inventor, among many other engineering-oriented programs) is kind of cool, it's a sketch program that you can do a lot with, and works well with the stylus. Not the most useful app, per se, but a fun "proof of concept" if you will, and it's free. I believe there's more options than the built in equivalent, though I haven't used either a ton yet.
3. Any high def media will look awesome. Show them Netflix streaming, or as someone else said, HD Youtube, or any other HD video. Even pictures taken with the camera look great, simply because of the huge high res screen. Pictures taken with the phone probably would look even better on the screen than ones taken with another phone with a better camera but worse screen, because it's still small enough to cover up minor imperfections, but big and crisp enough to really look amazing.
4. For a music player, I like PowerAmp. It's got a really good equalizer, and a ton of settings to play with. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of the interface, but it's not awful. You can also customize the widget as much as you want, in terms of colors, fonts, transparency, buttons, size, what's displayed, etc.
I also use UberSync for Facebook, which lets you use sync HD pictures from facebook as contact photos. You can also import birthdays into your calendar, if you want, and some other info from people's profiles. You can choose what resolution to use, how often to sync, and only use wi-fi if you want.
5. I turned off all of the Smart features and that kind of thing. I don't want to control my phone with my eyes or hand gestures, I want to use it with my hands or S Pen. Of course that's fully a matter of preference. Also I noticed that the setting to alert you if you walk away without putting the S Pen back in is disabled by default, so I enabled that. I still worry I'm going to lose it sometime, but that's just because I'm forgetful.
Impuls3101 said:
-Adblock plus is really nice to have while browsing the internet .. I always hated that I couldn't use it on the iphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are you using Adblock without root??
jmorton10 said:
How are you using Adblock without root??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Firefox with the adblock plugin and its working great. Firefox now flies on this phone.:good:
Hi,
I am using a brand new Ownice C200 and i want to install a new launcher.
Whats the best launcher you encountered for android head units?
Thanks!!
Ariel
There are good ones out there most use nova but if you want to go the extra mile there is always cool stuff you can do with KLWP which is a live wallpaper and say a launcher with gesture like stoichome. There is a launcher out that gives some features its called Automate car dashboard. There another app I haven't tried called ACUI (android car ui)seems nice but cost money so I haven't got around to it.
Will they work "smooth" and with the correct ratio on 1024x600 screen headunit?
Can i use "live wallpapers" in nova?
Thanks
Yes you can use live wallpapers and yes I have HU that a lower res and is smooth and I ran nova on my n6 it doesn't seem to need much resources for snappy response
I installed the Pumpkin head unit earlier this year and what a freaking POS. It's unbelievably slow and the radio tuner app is the lamest looking thing ever. Is it possible to replace the radio tuner app with something better looking and a better layout? Mine has an entire screen and it shoves the RDS data into an eight character space inside of a rainbow. SMH. also to unlock the home screen and remove the ugly clock they have on the home screen? thank you
I have installed a radio from another ROM and its working. Its not much better, but its better. You can install other launchers, but most have more RAM usage that will cause more problems. Installing another Launcher is the only way to get rid of the clock (or just swipe to another screen and don't look at it!)
I will be working on trying to optimize the ROM a bit in the coming months and may build my own Launcher for it. For now, it has Viper4Android installed and root, and its working with Torque and thats a huge improvement from what most have done!
Edit: does anyone know, not anything... can't edit title. :-/
This is the model I bought as an upgrade to my old KitKat based model.
It's a PX5 based model with 4GB/32GB octacore.
Loving it so far, but for one annoyance - the fastboot is fast indeed (a second or two), but when the unit sleeps, it apparently kills all running apps, and only re-launches the foreground app (and launcher) when it wakes up from sleep mode.
Apps that have an internal 'start on boot' option do not do so, and there is nothing in the system settings to configure startup applications.
This means apps like Blokada, a VPN-based adblocker, do not start automatically. If manually enabled, it will run until the car is turned off or back on. This is also the case if I turn off the fast boot feature. Also means that Tasker won't auto load either, or CF.Lumen, an app that changes the color temperature of the screen at night (like LiveDisplay).
Has anyone with a unit with fast boot found a method to get services to autostart, perhaps with root? I'm not sure what root method to use with this device. If I had root, I could block ads via a host file rather than using Blokada.
Note that these sorts of services are background services, not the actual launching of the apps in the foreground.
I'd love to know how the sleep mode works. I'm guessing it's a very low power standby mode. I'd like to know why it needs to stop background services and apps in order to sleep.
Just have a look at the FCC Car Launcher. Install the launcher and your problems are gone.
About the fastboot method: https://www.ubiquitous-ai.com/en/products/os/quickboot/
I don't think that the Ubiquitous solution for Quick boot is used in PX5 devices. I have not seen any indication for that.
The easier and cheaper solution is to use the Linux kernel builtin Suspend To RAM feature. During sleep the only powered devices are the SOC RAM and the MCU wakeup detection circuitry.
At resume, the SOC jumps into its RAM, which was powered all the time, and so can resume its work where it left it before suspend.
Why all vendors add system apps that kill all user background apps before entering suspend, is a very annoying fact, but the rationale is unknown.
Besides FCC Car Launcher, also the custom Hal9k ROM has options to not kill apps and even add apps to start at startup.
delete
rigattoni said:
Just have a look at the FCC Car Launcher. Install the launcher and your problems are gone.
About the fastboot method: https://www.ubiquitous-ai.com/en/products/os/quickboot/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I looked at the FCC Car Launcher, looks like it re-starts music players, but I don't see anything about being able to start chosen background services (like my adblock VPN or Tasker or CF.Lumen), unfortunately.
The launcher I'm using, Car Launcher Agama, already restarts my music when I start the car due to powerAMP integration. It's the background apps that I want to keep alive.
anticitizen said:
I looked at the FCC Car Launcher, looks like it re-starts music players, but I don't see anything about being able to start chosen background services (like my adblock VPN or Tasker or CF.Lumen), unfortunately.
The launcher I'm using, Car Launcher Agama, already restarts my music when I start the car due to powerAMP integration. It's the background apps that I want to keep alive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install the ROM Hal9K 3.1 - It allows you to select applications that will not be closed on sleep (called whitelist in the mod settings). It's also just generally faster with heaps of extra configuration available. I use a combination of FCC Car Launcher and Hal9K ROM and it is great
FCC does not move your background apps into a whitelist, but is able to restart your apps after reboot.
That is quite better than having them not killed.
I played around with Hal9k and the white list and I was not really happy with it.
FCC on stock ROM and Tasker is all you need.
Hi all,
Have some questions about changing/modifying my head unit. I am decently happy with it but would like to change some things about it. Can I change the software on it, or only install a launcher over it.
One thing that bugs me a bit is that when I am playing music over Bluetooth, I have no album art, just song title, and artist. Also, I have to have the volume a whole lot louder compared to the radio source. I turned up the Bluetooth in the source volume settings but that did not seem to make a difference.
Another thing is I set the time on the head unit and it does not stay accurate. when I start my car, say the next day, the time is not correct.
I really like the large screen and some of the other features but there are quite a few other annoyances I can't remember at the moment. might try and sell it and spend a lot more money on a name brand.
HI,
I have the 9" Idoing for my '18 WRX. It's the UIS7862 version. You should be able to install any launcher you want(I prefer CarWebGuru). If you have issues changing it, install Nova Launcher and use it's setting to set any default launcher you want.
gottahavit said:
HI,
I have the 9" Idoing for my '18 WRX. It's the UIS7862 version. You should be able to install any launcher you want(I prefer CarWebGuru). If you have issues changing it, install Nova Launcher and use it's setting to set any default launcher you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you mean you have an FYT unit sold by idoing.