Related
1st, why is the home screen swiping on eclair choppier than donut? (even on a droid)
2nd why is the animation for the menu on most custom roms (cyanogen and superD are 2 examples) choppier than stock?
1. Custom rom built for a currently unsupported device.
2. Modified launcher.apk -- Take the good with the bad.
evilkorn said:
2. Modified launcher.apk -- Take the good with the bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what do you mean by this?
Launcher.apk is the Home screen app. It's what makes the home screens that hold your icons and widgets plus it controls the app drawer.
The original Launcher.apk is just 3 screens and has limited functionality and no options.
Modified Launchers add home screens, add folder ability to the app drawer and other things. Because this is more functionality, it make the Launcher a larger app and is more for the phone to deal with when it has to access anything Launcher-releated, hence the slight lack of smoothness.
That's how I understand it anyway.
Super Jamie said:
Launcher.apk is the Home screen app. It's what makes the home screens that hold your icons and widgets plus it controls the app drawer.
The original Launcher.apk is just 3 screens and has limited functionality and no options.
Modified Launchers add home screens, add folder ability to the app drawer and other things. Because this is more functionality, it make the Launcher a larger app and is more for the phone to deal with when it has to access anything Launcher-releated, hence the slight lack of smoothness.
That's how I understand it anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, I understand what launcher.apk is and what the modified versions do to it, but here's an example, dwangs rom has 5 screens and a smooth menu animation, cyanogen has 5 screens and not so smooth animation. it isn't just the menu either, whenever a window (the contextual windows, not the apps themselves, like the one for adding to the home screen, or powering off) pops up in dwangs, it animates smoothly both ways (on and off screen) its somewhat smooth opening but there is no animation for closing (not just the home screen, this is in most apps)
sorry if that reply sounded a bit hostile, wasn't meant to, but it's difficult to express emotions in text.
I've only ever used CM, but I know you can open the Spare Parts app and speed up/slow down these animations. Don't know if it'll make it "smoother" for you though.
I turn off all the animation and the whole phone is much smoother. What possible use could there be for bouncing menus and zooming windows if it makes the phone lag?
el_smurfo said:
I turn off all the animation and the whole phone is much smoother. What possible use could there be for bouncing menus and zooming windows if it makes the phone lag?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aesthetics.
Just curious, why does everyone seem to lean towards ADW vs. Launcher Pro? Launcher Pro just seems to run so much smoother on the Nexus I was wondering why people would prefer ADW.
I prefer ADW because it runs so much smoother for me.
Plus it has one feature I cannot live without now. The slide up/down gestures. I normally have the Status Bar hidden, so I can't slide down on it to get the notification tray. Now I can just slide down anywhere on the screen to pull down the tray.
Zenoran said:
Just curious, why does everyone seem to lean towards ADW vs. Launcher Pro? Launcher Pro just seems to run so much smoother on the Nexus I was wondering why people would prefer ADW.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 10chars
I use Launcher Pro as well. Seems a good amount of people use ADW because its the default launcher in CM. (cyanogen choose it because its open source and LP isnt)
Also the fact that it is open source is a reason I like it too. Not because of some philosophy, but because there are already a number of different developers contributing to it. And I know that if Anderweb ever stops development on it, someone else can continue. It gives me hope that it will be a very long lasting launcher.
Why do some people like red cars? or Ford over GM? (notice how I Americanized that <, I was going to say Renault but I don't suppose our US/foreign friends would have understood)....
It's just personal preference, neither is right or wrong, it just is.
Clarkster said:
I prefer ADW because it runs so much smoother for me.
Plus it has one feature I cannot live without now. The slide up/down gestures. I normally have the Status Bar hidden, so I can't slide down on it to get the notification tray. Now I can just slide down anywhere on the screen to pull down the tray.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. Also, the option to stretch the homescreen to 8x8. I'm going with 4x6 right now; last I used it, Launcher Pro only offered up to 4x5.
Smooth-wise, both LP and ADW are similar on my Nexus One Stock Froyo. I can't see LP much smoother than ADW.
I am used to ADW's "pull up home button to show hidden app dock". I put taskpanel and Mobile setting things there which I can easily access but don't wanna be visible all the time. The swipe left/right dock in launcher pro is unnatural to me.
On the other hand, I compared both launchers (briefly) on battery usage and it looked like with launcher pro my battery was going away faster. That was a few weeks ago and several updates had been made so I can't tell now.
ADW is open source so that may be a deciding factor. Also resizing widgets is great and a feature that was missing since the last time I used LauncherPro.
I have LauncherPro as well and have to say I am quite impressed with it. The main reason I have it is to save my nexus one from screen burn by the notification bar... but its speed and stability sure dont hurt either
ap3604 said:
I have LauncherPro as well and have to say I am quite impressed with it. The main reason I have it is to save my nexus one from screen burn by the notification bar... but its speed and stability sure dont hurt either
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as far as i know, LCD and AMOLED screens does not suffer from screen burn... weird you said that
drbuns said:
ADW is open source so that may be a deciding factor. Also resizing widgets is great and a feature that was missing since the last time I used LauncherPro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my experience setting different sizes for a widget just caused it to break its display (text overflowing or items clipped off). It seems the only reason the feature exists is because ADW allows you to setup different amounts of rows/columns of icons, and since widgets work by taking up certain amount of icon spaces they had to also then add the option to say how much icons it should take up to end up looking normal. (Confusing, huh?)
This is actually what caused me to switch away from ADW to LauncherPro. They seem very similar, but ADW was going down the path of configuration hell where they introduce confusing options that cause features to break and need even more confusing options.
The real thing is, none of those options seem to improve anything for me, but they started getting in my way. Every time I added a widget ADW then asked me to specify how it should be sized. UGH!
All I really want is the stock launcher with smooth scrolling. These launchers seem to start off just being that but slowly grow into feature-creep beasts.
LauncherPro is faster than ADW. fact.
LauncherPro's app drawer (3D) is MUCH faster and smoother than ADW's. fact.
LaucherPro has more customization to the bottom 5 buttons than ADW. fact.
ADW is built into CM5.x, LauncherPro isn't. That's about the only drawback, and a weird one.
I am also a fan of LP, and i also found it to be a tad smoother and better responsive. imho
I just tried out ADW launcher for a bit instead of my default LauncherPro and have to say whike it seems like a great launcher as well there's two things the DarkDVR covered that I havr to agree with:
1. LauncherPro seems faster to me.
2. I LOVE how you can customize shortcuts on the botton of your screen. Im an extreme minimalist and the only things I want on my homescreen is the appdrawer button with quicksettings to the left of it and my browser to the right. Nothing else. With ADW you can't customize and are stuck with the phone and stock broswer on you homescreen.
Two things that I like better about ADW though:
1. The ability to swipe down while the notification bar is hidden to see it. Not a huge deal since I can just press menu while using LauncherPro to have the notification bar pop up and then pull it down.
2. When rotating your phone to landscape your wallpaper picture stays nice. In LauncherPro it messes your wallpaper photo will only show the top of the wallpaper that you usually can see fully while in portrait.
ap3604 said:
With ADW you can't customize and are stuck with the phone and stock broswer on you homescreen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's wrong, just drag and drop any icon you want onto the shortcut spots on the bottom of the screen. And if you want 4 down there you can turn on the extra spots in the settings. Plus if you press and slide up on the 'all apps' button you get another bar to drop more icons on to, unlimited in size as it scrolls left and right.
I've used LauncherPro for 2 or so weeks, then ADW for the last 2 or so weeks...
ADW FC's a *lot* more, particularly during configuration (adding/removing apps or widgets, wallpaper, etc) but also at weird random other times, like 5-10s after launching an app.. Happens perhaps 1-3 times a day for me.
ADW squeezing more into the homescreen is nice.. I actually like that I can have 5x5 on the homescreen, although I don't think I'd want more.. And the Widget config does get more confusing along with it, but it's nice that 4x4 widgets can fill the whole screen even set 5x5.
I don't use the gesture options.. Too finicky, I usually wind up moving the screen sideways or launching an app.
ADW can uninstall a program directly from the app drawer.. Drag it out, drag it to the trash, hover.. Don't recall LP being able to do that.
LauncherPro is smoother and I don't recall it ever FC'ing on me.. I think one can adjust the rows/columns available, but IIRC the Widgets then fit kinda weird on the screen, and of course had less visible space and in some cases were cropped weird because they were smaller than they should be. Don't remember, I'll have to try it out again.
People use LP's 3d app drawer? I hate it.. It wastes like 30% of the screen... Different strokes..
Cons for both: Live Wallpaper. I don't use this much, sometimes I fire it up before I'm showing off the phone.. but both launchers slow WAY down with LW going. Less than the default Nexus homescreen.
I'll try LauncherPro again.. It's had a few version updates I just wish it were possible to sync all of the settings, vs having to set each launcher up.
Clarkster said:
That's wrong, just drag and drop any icon you want onto the shortcut spots on the bottom of the screen. And if you want 4 down there you can turn on the extra spots in the settings. Plus if you press and slide up on the 'all apps' button you get another bar to drop more icons on to, unlimited in size as it scrolls left and right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But can you pick any icon for the shortcuts?
DarkDvr said:
But can you pick any icon for the shortcuts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you can't pick any icon you like unless you have one of those other icon customization programs. I was just responding to the claim that you can never change it from phone and browser.
khaytsus said:
People use LP's 3d app drawer? I hate it.. It wastes like 30% of the screen... Different strokes..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, but it's just such a kick in the balls for google - private developers made the same 3D app drawer, but it's like 500% more efficient. Although... as google said on IO conf, that's exactly what they want from the community.. to replace standard android components with more efficient, customizable stuff.
Something you never gonna hear from apple. Something that will ultimately have Android ruling over the world with an iron fist of freedom and customization
I really like some of the Samsung widgets, but to not like the Touchwiz launcher. So, I installed Launcher Pro, which I vastly prefer. Unfortunately, now the Samsung widgets are not in the add widget menu.
Is there any trick I can do to get them back?
I'd also like to know this, the Facebook Stream widget was really useful, the stock one is awful!
sionyboy said:
I'd also like to know this, the Facebook Stream widget was really useful, the stock one is awful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that is the widget I want most as well.
It is the best I have seen for android so far that integrates both twitter and facebook. I tried out this one on the market called "Socialite", it is *OK*, but not as good as the Samsung one.
So i have to decide, do I want a decent integrated Facebook / Twitter widget, or do I want a decent launcher?
???
Does anybody have an answer to this? I myself like pretty much all the futures in TW - would mainly like to change the 4 icons on the bottom and maybe even have the ability to hide the notification bar.
Is there a way to incorporate TW samsung widgets into launcher pro for example?
Thanks
I suppose Samsung's widgets are tied to the Touchwiz Launcher and incompatible with other launchers
It's a pity because I really like the Accuweather Clock over the other available widgets. But LauncherPro is so much better than the Samsung Launcher, I can't go without a launcher that lets me hide apps from the app drawer due to the massive amount of crap it gets flooded with.
You can change the left 3 icons on the bottom (but not the Applications one).
Just go to the Applications screen and press Menu and choose Edit. Then, move the icons off and put another in place.
I'm pretty sure it's impossible. I wanted to do that but was told by different ppl it was impossible. Same goes for Launcher Pro widgets in Touchwizz (i prefere the LP ones vs the Samsung). They are tied to the launcher u use.
You could put Home Switcher on each of the home screens of TW and LP then just switch between them just like moving to a different page. Just an idea.
Thanks fro the ideas, sounds like it's a no-go for right now at least.....
One more thing, does launcher pro juice the battery as same as TW? And when I used launcher pro in the past, I really liked to use the option "hide notification bar", i think it gives it a cleaner look, but at the same time it won't notify me when i receive an email ( other than the sound), I did search this in the past with no luck, so is there a widget, icon, something that I can install that will show on the screen when I received email, when using LP?
Thanks
I use executive assistant but it is a paid app. Worth it I believe though.
First time ever installing a custom ROM pheww...I honestly didn't like the UI that much especially the dock panel as there is only 3 things i can put and can't customize/ arrange the order of homescreens. Is there a way to change that? Also, I realized that even backing up my apps+ with data using Titanium Backup, there is no Quick Office. Is there a way to restore/recover it? I used it alot before to cheat on my exams and edit docs on the go. Any help is appreciated thanks.
I believe the two main dock replacement apps are LauncherPro (free) and ADWLauncher. Both are highly customizable.
I'm a huge fan of ADW because it's open source. The paid version, ADW EX, is even more awesome. It's even more customizable than the free version and has some nice transition effects when going between home screens.
Yeah I used ADW prior and I loves it, looks like I am going to use it again. Now I realized that when I use Dolphin Browser HD, sites that have Flashplayer, they don't load automatically; instead, I have to click on the download arrow for it to load, is there a way to set it so it automatically loads up flash?
I am using ADW EX and like it.
Quick office can be extract from a stock rom \system\app folder.
chraz13 said:
I used it alot before to cheat on my exams.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol. Nice admission.
chraz13 said:
First time ever installing a custom ROM pheww...I honestly didn't like the UI that much especially the dock panel as there is only 3 things i can put and can't customize/ arrange the order of homescreens. Is there a way to change that? Also, I realized that even backing up my apps+ with data using Titanium Backup, there is no Quick Office. Is there a way to restore/recover it? I used it alot before to cheat on my exams and edit docs on the go. Any help is appreciated thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Serendipity uses the Launcher2 which is stock. There are other ROM's which use this Launcher which include Stock Gingerbread. Find a launcher from the Market; two have already been named but there are others. As mentioned, extract the quickoffice apk from a stock source. You can read how to do this in the forum since how to do so is covered.
I use Go Launcher. It's like the TouchWiz launcher, but not a giant pile of crap.
MikeyMike01 said:
I use Go Launcher. It's like the TouchWiz launcher, but not a giant pile of crap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The dock ribbon on the bottom on GoLauncher is fabulous. 5 buttons, scrolls around to two other docks for a total of 15, and each can hold a second, gesture response. So Settings is the main press, but Battery Settings is the swipe up on the icon. Main email is press, Gmail is swipe up on the email icon.
It frees up an amazing amount of space in the copious home screens for widgets.
Thanks for the responses guys. Another question regarding the mobile data, it is now using HSDPA instead of the 3g. When I disable my wifi, shouldn't the mobile data icon show up? It does not come back at all anymore. Do you think it is because before I was using SMODA widget(toggles the 3g)? or is there a way to make it go back to 3G?
I've searched through the forums, and I can't find an answer to this question:
Is there an app (or part of the framework.. or whatever is the appropriate area) that would allow me to get the look of the Android 1.6 app drawer with its slide-up/slide-out/pull-down feature? I had found one a while back (I don't remember the name.. something with panda in it, maybe), but the app was a full-fledged launcher with the drawer and the launcher wasn't any good.
I know it's a little nitpicky, but I like the UI idea of physically opening a drawer to see all my apps. If there's a way to extract it from 1.6 and drop it in, that would be ideal, but I'll admit I know next to nothing about how the Android system works.
On a side note, I'm running GB on Mosaic with Talon's kernel (at the moment), if that is of any use.
Thanks in advance, even if the answer is no.
i need same thing to, i think is called slide drawer if you find/found it please let me know (for now i found only launchers witch change all things)
The panda laucher you were talking about would be called panda home if that helps any.
Sent from my Captivate using Mosaic
Gregen11 said:
The panda laucher you were talking about would be called panda home if that helps any.
Sent from my Captivate using Mosaic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I couldn't remember the name.
Yeah, that's it - Panda Home has a drawer style called "1.5 drawer", and it's exactly what I'm looking for.
Now I need to figure out how to get that same functionality out of the Android source.
Well, not me per se - I don't know how to do that.
So I guess at this point I ask politely if there are any Android wizards out there who know how to extract the app drawer out of an old version of Android and make is something that could be dropped in a current version.
The "Tag Home Launcher" is what you are looking for. It features a slide up app drawer like in Android 1.6. Only the design of the drawer knob is a litte bit different. I'd like it to be exactly as the one in Android 1.6 but I could't get that. Tag Home is as close as I got.
hackzero_xda said:
The "Tag Home Launcher" is what you are looking for. It features a slide up app drawer like in Android 1.6. Only the design of the drawer knob is a litte bit different. I'd like it to be exactly as the one in Android 1.6 but I could't get that. Tag Home is as close as I got.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the heads-up on that launcher. It's got the drawer I'm looking for, but it looks like the same issue as Panda Home - it's part of a launcher. I'm looking for something that could either be used as a widget in place of the app drawer for whatever launcher I'm using.
The more I think about it, maybe I'm going about this the wrong way. Perhaps it would be best for me to point my request at the makers of the launcher I like, and see if they can implement it into the launcher (horse before the cart and all that). If anyone has any more ideas, I'm definitely interested, but I think this might be a moot point.