dxTop, aHome, or Open Home? Which To Choose!
Alright well, I've been messing around with all 3 since their appearances in the market, but yet to pick up a copy of a full version yet before I pick one to stick with.
dxTop:
- I like the idea of how the screens move, but I do really like the idea of static pages.
- Can't really use skins on them yet, so that's another deterrent.
- Supports icons with bettercut
aHome:
- I do like its widget styles, but it has no support with bettercut, so thats my number one con.
- I like the idea of up to 10 screens, but as of right now it doesn't arrange icons automatically, so when you download new apps they will be out of place...screw reorganized 50 icons just to get 1 in there.
Open Home:
- Now this one I'm really starting to like. They give a simple way to install some of the greatest themes from our beloved developers here at xda, and my favorite, mannyb
- Has 6 screens (and im going to guess that an option will be added later on to include more)
- Has auto-rotate enabled by default, another nice addition.
- supports bettercut
As of right now I'm for Open Home, even though its only in beta right now so I'm excited to see the additions of the pro version. What are the rest of your thoughts? Maybe some of you know more about some of these apps if you're running the pro/paid version.
I have paid for 2 and ran all 3, open home all the way man! They have done it the right way, 6 screens, numbered, skins by theme developers on xda and bettercut! Oh and it remembers which screen you set as main one. For instance i set all my main icons-apps and clock on screen 2 and every time i leave it on screen 2 to go browse when i come back to home goes right back to screen i had left it on. So as far as wallpaper is concerned works perfectly, simply pick which screen wallpaper looks best on and make it your home page. Plus no scrolling up and down just side to side, auto rotate.
Ryanmo5 said:
I have paid for 2 and ran all 3, open home all the way man! They have done it the right way, 6 screens, numbered, skins by theme developers on xda and bettercut! Oh and it remembers which screen you set as main one. For instance i set all my main icons-apps and clock on screen 2 and every time i leave it on screen 2 to go browse when i come back to home goes right back to screen i had left it on. So as far as wallpaper is concerned works perfectly, simply pick which screen wallpaper looks best on and make it your home page. Plus no scrolling up and down just side to side, auto rotate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I'm with ya man, open home all the way thus far. How did you set the "home" screen number? Mine was just 2 by default, how do I change it? I didn't really see a preference or option for it.
Ok edit i see what people are saying in market, it should have option to save a certain page as main. Mine started on 2 when i rebooted, kind of annoying not to be able to set main page as wallpaper looks funky on page 2. Have you been able to change icons with bettercut successfully yet? When im using open home it just deletes icons doesnt change them
I just got the new update, noticed they have 7 screens now, and my default is 4 now (middle). Booyah, just what I was looking for
Hell yeah me too, this is awesome!!!
So open home is all side scrolling? No up & down like dxtop? And it allows you to set which screen is the home screen?
Beast84 said:
So open home is all side scrolling? No up & down like dxtop? And it allows you to set which screen is the home screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure about setting the home screen, by default now it is the middle screen. I don't know about changing it.
Its side scolling, they set screen 4 as default so now there is a fixed default screen. If your on screen 7 and want to go back to main u swipe up or down and it goes back to main. Im talking with author about bettercut it seems to delete icons when u try and change them with open home
open home "lite" means demo or just light?
After reading this thread I immediately decided to try it. It is not bad, but the "themes" are misleading. The only thing that gets themed is the app drawer handle, and widgets (clock and search). I was hoping for a notification theme without a flash. I will see how this app progresses and keep it in mind with the other 2 home screen replacements.
Dxtop : that tab bar just the reason make me not using it.
Open home : Like the idea but the theme? cmon u can change the top bar, which is the main idea.
So im going with Ahome. i personnally like it, love the dock, and not seeing the tab bar is the deal for me. (I dont use alot of app so it a very good idea for me)
Well seriously, i think here is the perfect app for homescreen :
- 4 screen, diamond shape ( similar to Dxtop )
- No tab bar, but u still can go to tab bar by the original way (pull up from the bottom) u just dont see the bar thingy anymore.
- Both widget from ahome + dxtop put together and have to be free
- "iphone style" dock, for 4 app (similar to ahome)
- Work with bettercut!
If there is the app like this, i willing to pay up to 15$ for it for real even that is alot money for me lol
thulinhlun said:
Dxtop : that tab bar just the reason make me not using it.
Open home : Like the idea but the theme? cmon u can change the top bar, which is the main idea.
So im going with Ahome. i personnally like it, love the dock, and not seeing the tab bar is the deal for me. (I dont use alot of app so it a very good idea for me)
Well seriously, i think here is the perfect app for homescreen :
- 4 screen, diamond shape ( similar to Dxtop )
- No tab bar, but u still can go to tab bar by the original way (pull up from the bottom) u just dont see the bar thingy anymore.
- Both widget from ahome + dxtop put together and have to be free
- "iphone style" dock, for 4 app (similar to ahome)
- Work with bettercut!
If there is the app like this, i willing to pay up to 15$ for it for real even that is alot money for me lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, that's funny because the absense of the app drawer is the dealbreaker for me!
I have like 60 apps installed because I symlinked /data/app so it's near impossible to find what I'm looking for. I think that they should make the app drawer still there, but invisible like some of the themes here.
I LOVE Open Home. I have tried all 3. dxTop is alright. I tried it when it was in demo (when if first came out) but it was too confusing. Plus I worked really hard to find the theme that I really liked (fade to blue). aHome was alright... but I have over 150 apps installed so that was an issue. Open Home is perfect because it's simple that expands the 3 screens to 7 and supports the hard work of the theme developers. Let's be honest. I would be a little upset if I worked for countless hours to develop an awsome theme lke fadetoblue so an "perfect" home screen substitute can come along that everyone downloads and find that no one uses the theme anymore. Kudos to the developer! Now let's see some widgets!
Maybe just a thought for the developer though. I would like it if it could go from screen 7 back to 1 by going right. 1>2>3>4>5>6>7>1>2>... etc. Just a thought.
i think i prefer dxtop- i like being only 1 swipe/action away from any screen. i have tried open home and would like it more if there was a shortcut to jump to certain screens. i think 7 would get to confusing remembering where i was and where i was going....
i think there is a place for all 3- they r all different enough to each have their own following and be successful.
aHome for me....i love the feature of your top 4 apps scroll with any screen you are on.
3 screens, enough for me.
weather widget, LOVE it.
ive downloaded all 3 and use all 3..i like a little variety so i swap them up every now and then..i like all 3 apps, they all have something different. to me it seems DxTop loads and refreshes the home page faster than all the others.. i do like the docked 4 icons from aHome and the widgets are nice as well. and the theme support from Open Home is nice as well. personally i prefer DxTop since it does load faster than the other 2, and 1 swipe away from everything is nice. aHome just takes way too long to load the home page and force closes when the back button is used..ohh..and no bettercut icons is a downer also..fix the speed of loading, the force closes, and BetterCut usage on aHome and i think it would easily be the best on the G1 to date.
Im stuck between Openhome and DXtop. DXtop because of the widgets and the up and down action. But openhome has themes and 7 screen.
dxTop, definitely for me. The other two are basically iphone rip offs and I'm a firm believer that it's silly have your phone look like something it isn't. Besides, why anyone would want 10 pages of icons comepletely confounds me. I love how dxTop is compeletely "out of the box" thinking. It's simple in concept and executed well. I do wish it had better widgets though. Really? 10 pages? I have about 100 apps installed and I have about 8 or 9 that I need/want on the home pages... the iphone paradigm is SO cluttered looking. blech.
dxTop FTW!
sorry i love dxtop, i can get to any of my four screens in ONE swipe of the finger, two desktops were enough for me before but i decided that is i was gonna pay for an app it would be one developed my a fellow XDA member. i love having wo menu tabs, one full of programs run since last boot, and the rest of my apps.
i have 85 apps installed, i can't find a damn thing on my regular tab, and my folders are set up and when i boot i just run the programs out of the folders till the regular apps i use get into the other tab. PLUS dxtop color coordinates the runing apps vs. the apps in background vs. closed apps. i love being able to see what is running at any point in time, the second tab is like a task manager.and i have Close Everything installed so i can just shut down apps when i need to. there is no need for more tha 4 desktops till more *free* widgets come out.
this is my first post here, but i must note, you guys at XDA are doing great and giving the us little guys the cutting edge in the palm of our hands. i am currently using the Dude's cupcake build, the 5 homescreens is a great feature, we can now have a tons of widgets.
i am not a developer and dont know if my idea is even doable, but looks like u guys here can do anything lol.
i would love to see a widget that displays the current position on a map.
to complicate things, my idea of such a widget would include the option to turn GPS on/off, zoom in/out, search and so on...i assume such a widget would drain the battery however i believe such a widget would be very useful for those of us who travel a lot.
i would like to see other opinions...
Searched (here and google) but couldn't find an answer. If it has already been posted, I apologise.
I just got my HTC Hero and I'm adjusting quite well from the change from WM6 to Android (used to have the HTC Touch Pro, aka the Raphael I think) but I was wondering whether HTC sense on the Hero interface can be changed (e.g. clock, colours) or if there are skins available, like there were for WM. Just to be clear, I know there are loads of apps out there (OpenHome, aHome etc) to change the normal interface, but they all seem to be focused on the Hero without the Sense interface. I want the Sense interface, but would like to change the analogue clock, the colours etc.
Thanks in advance!
No you can't really do that at the moment.
But there are several widgets for clock, you can change the background and the lock screen. Or you can pu any widget that you want instead of HTC's
haven't seen those either, not for Sense anyway, do you maybe have links/names of those apps for me? would really appreciate it! thanks!
Photo Clock is a good one. It has about 10 different faces, including 2 or 3 where you can choose a photo or your own pic as the base background for the clock. Just type clock into the market... All clock widgets for android can be used "for sense" - you just dump the HTC Clock widget and load one from the Android Widgets section. That goes for all android widgets.
I'm assuming you know there are 13 different clocks on the HTC Clock widget for Hero?
Daisy
No, I didn't know that, I've only had it a couple of days and did look around on the phone for ways to change it, but I don't seem to be able to find it (I realise I'm sounding like a complete noob now, but oh well). The Photo Clock app sounds good as well, will have a look at that if (after someone has been so kind as to help me locate the different styles for the standard app) I don't like them.
Thanks for helping me out with this!
edit: I just found it! power of posting I guess It was under HTC-widget and I'd only been looking under Android-widget...Now I think about it, not too smart...
So you're sorted? Its not that obvious tho I have to say, as the options for screen widgets only come up when you choose them, so unless you dump one then reapply, you don't see them.
On all HTC widgets there's a little number (1/12) at the bottom saying how many options for views there are for that widget - some have loads, others only 1.
Also check out the SCENES - I only just got round to seeing those - they are like template arrangements of screen widgets that you can switch to and fro between, and also gives the option to save different custom arrangements.
I have one with links to all my porn and a photoframe with naked men that I have to quickly turn off and swap for the business one with the classy blue world wallpaper in case the hubby sees.... (kidding...)
They look seriously useful but I've not had a full mess with them yet. It was VERY simple to pop back to my own eclectic Scene set up tho
Daisy - Lovin the SenseUi
The widget, which can be found on the market, is called "What's Today Calendar Widget" and "What's Today Cal Widget Donate." Like the name implies, it tells about today. The day of the week is displayed, along with the calendar date.
Never forget the day of the week or the day of the month again! And best of all, it has an Eclair theme to it to match Google's "News and Weather" widget.
If you like the way it looks (shown in attached screenshots), please check it out in the market and considering purchasing "What's Today Widget" from the market. Thanks!!
Changelog:
1.0
– Released
1.1
– 2×1 Widget Added
1.3
- Re-coded the widget from the ground up
- Press widget to open calendar agenda
- Fixed a bug with updating the correct date (still buggy, it’s being worked on)
- Updated widget images to better match Google’s “News and Weather” widgets
You're seriously charging money for this..? It takes 1 line of code and a layout xml to make this in Android.
I'm not trying to be a **** or put you off learning the sdk, but maybe you should come up with some more creative ideas before trying to charge people for them.. After all, you can just pull down the notification bar to see the date.
Point noted. To be honest, I wasn't sure how things like this are usually received.
I've made it free on the market now. Thanks for your feedback.
I still think you should make a donate version...maybe just $0.25. I tried to do exactly what goldenarmZ said and ran out of time and patience, so there may be a market out there for this.
Sadly the market does not let me charge less than 99 cents, otherwise I would.
I have uploaded a Donate version of the Widget for 99 cents. Thanks for the suggestion.
Tried it for a bit, but it seems to have the formatting of the Nexus News widget which is a different size and shape than the Power Control widget. Maybe I'm just picky, but having two nearly similar widgets on the screen that aren't exactly the same size looks a bit off...
Wow I love the simplicity of it. I would def. donate
Nice work OP.
Keep it installed to see what the dev will do with updates, but I keep finding it running a process, even though I don't have any widgets on the screen? Going to have to uninstall for this reason...
There will be an update soon that will attempt to address the problem with the process running, but I'm not sure exactly why this is.
To keep updated on this widget, the changelog is at http://naterad.com/android/category/widgets/whats-today-calendar-widget/
Is there an extra large clock/calendar widget (perhaps similar to the HTC)? I would like to use my gtablet in its dock, in landscape with the widget taking up the full screen rather than one corner (which is the biggest I can find now)
The one that I know that would do that is a paid app. It is called beautiful widgets. I paid for it on my phone and transferred it over to the gtablet. I will get some pictures of it in the morning. It is definately worth the money. You can customize so much with it that it makes the htc one look amateur.
Sent from my Froyo Leak...thanks Kaos \00/
Many thanks,
The clocks are excellent and scalable to suit my needs. However, the weather icons (and there are lots of them) are very small and not scalable. I'll look around to see if extra large weather icons exist!
I really liked the stock tapntap one that came on the tab.
Is the apk for that one around? Can't seem to find it.
I'd like to see the stock one also
Same here, does anyone have it or know were we can get it
I'd be interested in that apk too