Database Develop

Larva Labs' Intelligent Home Screen (Prototype)

This looks promising! I can't wait till the devs get a hold of this one!
http://www.larvalabs.com/product_pages/intelligent_home_screen.html

Imo this blows MotoBlur and Sense UI out of the water. Looks great and much more efficient than the standad launcher. I hope addons will be vailable in the market to add new notifications for things like facebook. I think I'm more excited about this than flash..

it does seem promising but will it run better and/or as well than the standard Sense UI or the MotoBlur?

This looks very, very trick.

And you posted this in development why?
But I do like that interface idea. WinMo 6.5 anyone?

Was just about to post this loool, lucky i searched to see if i was the only one with the news.
Looks awesome, if someone ports this etc.. it will be great.

this looks very very promising!

bolmedias said:
And you posted this in development why?
But I do like that interface idea. WinMo 6.5 anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, for me if I wanted a homescreen like that I would just stick to WinMo. Well, probably don't want the thing crashing on me so I wouldn't go with WinBlows. Hehe, but I assume some people find it more useable, wouldn't it be better as a full-screen widget of some sort? that way you could still use the multiple home screens, just have the larva labs one on the main screen... hmmm

Looks interesting. I'm waiting for it.
On the other hand, this is an app, not a ROM development deal, so I moved the thread.

So essentially this is just a double-ended windowshade? Drag down to see notifications and up to see widgets? I still prefer the standard setup where notifications remain in the minimized windowshade until it's dragged down. It also seems this would make it more cumbersome to launch apps.
IMO Larva Labs should stick to making games.

johnp888 said:
I agree, for me if I wanted a homescreen like that I would just stick to WinMo. Well, probably don't want the thing crashing on me so I wouldn't go with WinBlows. Hehe, but I assume some people find it more useable, wouldn't it be better as a full-screen widget of some sort? that way you could still use the multiple home screens, just have the larva labs one on the main screen... hmmm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a widget you wouldn't be able to drag, as it would drag the widget itself, so it would have to use buttons instead...

I'm not impressed.
HOWEVER, I am conducting beta testing/bug detection for SweeterHome.
WOW! should you see some of the features that SH will be coming out with!
I can't wait till it is finalized! It's working great right now - but, there are several more features that are being developed and some final tweaks that have to be made.
This program has a cool concept... But, I still want to be able to see my wallpaper, my widgets, etc.
This app is just too plain vanilla.

Wouldnt this be a good idea if it just took up one screen, instead of being the only one? That way people could loook at all their cool widgets and what not

i want to try this

From what I heard it's a lockscreen? =\

So it's similar to Flyscreen, but only with one screen?

Carloswithac said:
So it's similar to Flyscreen, but only with one screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flyscreen is not a home replacement, this is.

I would like this as a lock screen also.
But
Sweeter home ftw

shaneaus said:
I'm not impressed.
HOWEVER, I am conducting beta testing/bug detection for SweeterHome.
WOW! should you see some of the features that SH will be coming out with!
I can't wait till it is finalized! It's working great right now - but, there are several more features that are being developed and some final tweaks that have to be made.
This program has a cool concept... But, I still want to be able to see my wallpaper, my widgets, etc.
This app is just too plain vanilla.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a grudge against the dev of Sweeter Home for taking so long to update his HR :/
And it won't pass till the new release is available and I can steadily use it as my default HS.

Regarding SH - The dev is working on SH when not at work. She had a project at her regular job that took up ALL of her time and she had to abandon her personal projects for awhile. She is now working hard on SH again. But, because of her constant updates and some cool innovations that she doesn't want to be stolen she is only allowing a very few people to beta test (also, she gets enough info from the beta testers she has to stay busy - more testers would just complicate her job). But, she is making a LOT of progress. She has about five or six completely new features, it runs smoother, and looks great so far. Just be patient.
Didn't mean to highjack this thread. I like the idea behind this app. But, I wouldn't want it as a home replacement. It would be nice if it could operate as a window shade. A user could decide the screen to place the shade pull on and on what side of that screen. Then the user could pull it out select an option and the shade would draw back as the selection implemented. Or, while adjusting the app it would stay open until the "close shade" button was selected.
That IMHO would be a MUCH better option than a home screen replacement.

Launcher 7

I remember a thread on here a while ago where people were theming to get the Windows Phone 7 look. There's now a launcher on the market called Launcher 7 that does most of the work for you, you should check it out.
Sent from my GSBv1.7-ERIS using XDA App

Just tried it out. Its very smooth, and its the best one I have come across.

im enjoying this launcher,its really smooth.
Sent from my ERIS using XDA App

Definitely. If there's one thing that I'd like to see more of on the Market, it's more "alternative" launchers like this. Launcher Pro, ADW, Go, etc. all have their differences, but they're more or less the same in that they're all plays off of the whole multiple homescreen and a dock thing. It's nice to see new ideas out there. I remember a while back there was a launcher that showed all of your texts, email, facebook notifications, etc. in kind of an agenda view. It never really took off, but it's good to see devs think outside the box about the homescreen.

oceanminded said:
Definitely. If there's one thing that I'd like to see more of on the Market, it's more "alternative" launchers like this. Launcher Pro, ADW, Go, etc. all have their differences, but they're more or less the same in that they're all plays off of the whole multiple homescreen and a dock thing. It's nice to see new ideas out there. I remember a while back there was a launcher that showed all of your texts, email, facebook notifications, etc. in kind of an agenda view. It never really took off, but it's good to see devs think outside the box about the homescreen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I strongly agree

oceanminded said:
but they're more or less the same in that they're all plays off of the whole multiple homescreen and a dock thing..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because thats the core of how android to this point is intended to work. I like Launcher7, its fast, smooth and functional so I play with it here and there but the tile UI is comparatively bland and boring even with widget support (and the custom ones I've seen that arent bland and boring are WAY too busy). I'm gonna put it on my wifes phone since she'll love the big ass simple tiles concept.

stanlalee said:
Because thats the core of how android to this point is intended to work. I like Launcher7, its fast, smooth and functional so I play with it here and there but the tile UI is comparatively bland and boring even with widget support (and the custom ones I've seen that arent bland and boring are WAY too busy). I'm gonna put it on my wifes phone since she'll love the big ass simple tiles concept.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sir I want to say this without coming off as a hater at all..
but that homescreen needs a little bit of work, it looks gaudy and awful!

majorbro said:
sir I want to say this without coming off as a hater at all..
but that homescreen needs a little bit of work, it looks gaudy and awful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
without using custom images those 2x1 and 1x1 tiles (and the headphone/camera images) are all there is. I'm not going to spend anytime importing images because I like my android phone as an android phone and it wont get any use anyway. I was basically showing how the UI looks unmolested.

[Q] Hating Motoblur. What can I do?

I'm new to the Android scene (coming from a Touch Pro 2) and I'm really hating the Motoblur interface. Is it possible to install another launcher, or is that something that's hard coded in the ROM?

For some of it you can install a new launcher, ADW, ADW Ex, Launcher Pro are a few examples.
Any of them will allow you customize your homescreens more.

Curious wat you don't like about it? It seems very snappy to me. Much improved over previous versions of blur ui.
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

Its snappy and neat but not as snappy as a third party launcher such as launcherpro
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App

I don't mind this motoblur but go launcher is still more functional for me.
Sent from my DROID3

i suppose i dont disagree... put the topic was that he was "hating motoblur", and while old versions were truly hate worthy, i don't find this version offensive! in fact if they had launched originally with this version, i don't think there would be much hate at all... LP and ADW are still better, and easy solutions for those who like more customization for sure!

The only thing I don't like about this blur, are the 4 launcher icons. Wtf 4? I want/need my app drawer button in the middle, and there's no middle with 4...
So, aside from that, I would be using the stock launcher. When will manufacturers realize people need options, and options are the biggest advantage over iphone. I would be perfectly happy with blur if I could add a 5th icon to the launcher bar.
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

I put Launcher Pro on my wife's D3. Apart from a very occasional graphics hangup on the homescreen (which may or may not be from Launcher Pro) it's working really well. She likes that the interface is cleaner, and I don't have to try and explain how "this icon with two squares represents your app drawer", heh! Using the Froyo Wide style for the dock, visually, makes a big difference in not being confused on her first Android device.
Only thing I actually kind of miss is the Moto's QuickContacts widget, which shows up invisible from within LP; and LP's people widget isn't very nice IMO.

tnt118 said:
I put Launcher Pro on my wife's D3. Apart from a very occasional graphics hangup on the homescreen (which may or may not be from Launcher Pro) it's working really well. She likes that the interface is cleaner, and I don't have to try and explain how "this icon with two squares represents your app drawer", heh! Using the Froyo Wide style for the dock, visually, makes a big difference in not being confused on her first Android device.
Only thing I actually kind of miss is the Moto's QuickContacts widget, which shows up invisible from within LP; and LP's people widget isn't very nice IMO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get the same graphic hangup on waking the device. It's seen as the desktop area being black while the dock is still visible and showing the wallpaper. Happens every time but clicking the app drawer or rotating the phone makes it go away. This happend on my d1 occasionally with cyanogen as well so I'm fairly certain it is Launcher Pro. Still can't live without LP as the blur home sucks imo.

I honestly love this blur ui. The blueness is awesome, The widgets are sweet, the icons are nice looking, and the 3d-ness is pretty sexy. This is all coming from a touchwiz fan tho

TheMuffStuff said:
I honestly love this blur ui. The blueness is awesome, The widgets are sweet, the icons are nice looking, and the 3d-ness is pretty sexy. This is all coming from a touchwiz fan tho
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude... it's okay that you are one, but you don't say things like that in public.

TheMuffStuff said:
I honestly love this blur ui. The blueness is awesome, The widgets are sweet, the icons are nice looking, and the 3d-ness is pretty sexy. This is all coming from a touchwiz fan tho
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know you got a Droid 3. I loved your themes on the Fascinate. I'm actually getting one myself on the 27th. Can't wait to ditch the Fascy for it. Any plans on making themes for this when it gets root?
And I agree. The blur on the D3 is very nice. I've absolutely hated every version of it besides the D3's. I hate the TW3 launcher but like all of the TW features(like notification bar toggles). I love TouchWiz4.

Overall I don't mind blur at all. I wish they had certain features from the full blur, but I switch launchers like no tomorrow. I have ALL paid versions of LPP, ADW, Mobile Shell, and Go. I wish I could keep the favorites launcher from blur or find something similar to that.

Motoblur is now called "Motorola Application Platform"
Hahaha that sounds like "we don't want to call it Blur because everyone hates Blur."
Under "Operating System" on Verizon's page on the details screen:
http://www.verizonwireless.com/droid-3-motorola.shtml
Also, it's funny that Motorola decides to phase out the name rather than phase out Blur completely: http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/09/motoblur-name-phased-out-due-to-public-feedback/
And by funny I mean annoying!
But as the others have said, it's much less annoying than what it used to be. At least when you get your phone you don't have all of these stupid widgets everywhere preloaded on your screen. I really can't stand having all the VZ apps.

I actually liked the blur ui on this phone, but it seemed too laggy. I put launcher pro on and it has helped, but I still notice a little. I am thinking it shouldn't have any lag at all being a duelcore phone and all. Any settings I can change to help it?

GoogleAndroid said:
I didn't know you got a Droid 3. I loved your themes on the Fascinate. I'm actually getting one myself on the 27th. Can't wait to ditch the Fascy for it. Any plans on making themes for this when it gets root?
And I agree. The blur on the D3 is very nice. I've absolutely hated every version of it besides the D3's. I hate the TW3 launcher but like all of the TW features(like notification bar toggles). I love TouchWiz4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would definitely theme this when the time comes, I planned on it. I kinda dont know if Id want to theme it TBO, Blur is perfect (For me anyways). If someone ends up making an aosp rom or something I could probably theme that for the people that want to be de-blured. Im not sure how this phone will work theming wise.

I really don't mind blur on D3, way better than the blur on that defy I was tinkering with for a while, but I've been a loyal LP user since my OG. What I would like to see though is that quick contacts widget working in LP. That widget is slick, one of the coolest widgets I've ever seen, and I would use it alot. Anyone got any ideas on that?
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App

Yea, the d3 is seems to be nearly stock android.
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

TheMuffStuff said:
I would definitely theme this when the time comes, I planned on it. I kinda dont know if Id want to theme it TBO, Blur is perfect (For me anyways). If someone ends up making an aosp rom or something I could probably theme that for the people that want to be de-blured. Im not sure how this phone will work theming wise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True. There are a few changes I'd want, like making the menus black with white text instead of white with black text.
I got the D3 today. Of course, the one I get has a touchscreen that stopped working after activation. Waiting until Friday for the new one to come in. But, at least my DX2(Fascinate replacement, since mine has issues and I was gonna give it to a friend) came today and works so I have that in the mean time.
EDIT: Got the replacement in earlier. Loving this phone so much. It's extremely smooth and fast(even with Blur), and the keyboard is amazing. This is the first version of Blur I've liked. I would like root to remove V Cast apps and a few other bloatware apps, but meh, I can wait. At least Blur has app groups in the mean time.

Anyone know if there's a way to restore an old LP backup from an OG Droid?
I keep getting no files found... the backup's on my SD card... do i have to create the directory on my internal storage for it?
[edit] Ignore - Figured out solution. Simply copied the LP backup folder from my SD card to my internal storage and it worked.
Guessing since it mounds as sd where as the actual sd card mounts as sd-ext?

[Q] Requests Rom Samsung Galaxy Note with HTC Sense 3.5

Can you do it?

Folks over at sgs2 have been trying to port it over for quite sometime now. I doubt you will see it anytime soon. Besides do you really want sense?
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

Yes, I want Sence I've had so many HTC with Sense and like it especially 3.5.

awesome-member said:
Folks over at sgs2 have been trying to port it over for quite sometime now. I doubt you will see it anytime soon. Besides do you really want sense?
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do i want sense? Yes, Its great! Touchwiz is not as refined.
Sense features i miss
The great Audio player, Better than power amp (In my opinion)
Fantastic lockscreen (customizable)
Great People, weather and calendar widgets
Perfect Dialpad
Well designed SMS and email client
And all the other sense themed widgets.
I know i lot of these features can be added with apps from the market, But none i have found so far have the Tidy uniform look of sense. Parts of touchwiz look like they have been made by a colour blind monkey! Also one of my biggest gripes with touchwiz is the lockscreen (poor animation, lack of customization and sometimes unresponsive) If i try to use a different lockscreen, NoLED stops working, which i like because the lack of a physical notification LED.
So far i have tried-
SPB shell 3D - expensive, and still needs some work for are device, but looks cool. More looks over substance
Launcher Pro - Its OK, just basic
Go laucher, Go Locker, Go Contacts - Good attempt, just not as refined and not optimized for the screen resolution of the note
The note, hardware wise, is the best Phone (yes it is a phone) I have owned. Personally i feel touchwiz needs some work.
Now others may love touhwiz, So i do not want this thread to turn into a fanboi thread of either way! This is just my opinion, its not intended to irritate anybody.
For one, i would love to see a sense rom for such great hardware!
Overall i like the note, and with any luck ICS will null my gripes.
Sorry to OP if i have hijacked this thread, Just sparked all my (common) sense thoughts off at once
Also best place for questions is the Q&A section.
Take it easy
O_G

MacRoy said:
Can you do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no wont be done

For me TouchWiz and Sense is same ****. Go Launcher is normal. Holo is the best launcher I ever use. I hope samsung will not forget or ignore about this.

It was hard to get used to touchwiz after Htv Sense for first few days. I tried to find similar widgets to make it more look and function like htc sense. Then as more I get used to touchwiz the less I hated it. If I had a choice I would still prefer htc sense as already mentioned it is pretty well designed graphically and functionally out of the box. But I discover some touchwiz features missing in htc sense too. For instance uninstalling apps right from the app drawer is awesome just as practical as uninstalling on iphone. Samsung touchwiz seems to have it all as separate widgets and os wise but they are not as a whole package in terms of visual integrity and not as functional as sense considering each app separately. Some of features like remote tracking is not even in default rom unless you add them urself later which takes some research to even find out it's even possible. HTC sense serves it all as a whole package , even the navigating software you can purchase it right from the htc location widget and it is adapted to rest of widgets. Contact integration from different accounts like facebook, google, twitter etc is merged automatically on htc sense by choice which is missing on touchwiz. You have to add your htcsense user id and pass only once on Sense and it is recognized automatically on related apps like "htc likes" but on touchwiz you have to add your samsung account each time again and again for apps like "samsung apps" etc... Considering outstanding hardware features of Gnote I have no intension to go back to htc just for sense as none of their devices are even close to gnote recently but I would definitely like to see samsung engineers put more effort on improving touchwiz in terms of compatible graphic design, integrated all-in features , user friendly ui to make it more competitive against htc sense which seems to be only superiority of htc devices still left.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

Not going to happen people. Have you EVER seen a non HTC device with Sense? Correct, and that won't change.

Moto Milestone had sense port
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk

Im surprised it took 4 months for this kind of thread to pop up. I will never understand the ram hogging hype. It reminds me of iphone users bragging about a million apps so they can swipe the screen from left to right doing nothing.
But all in all we are using android which gives us plenty of options. If a clone of sense doesnt work. Theres always that option of making it yourself.
I swore launcher pro widgets were a exact replica of htc sense. Matched up with a theme and it was good to go. Plus that customizable widget app that did more things then htc lockscreen. But im guessing this isnt good enough.

Sense used to be great and now it's just too bloated

Thanks for the responses. I guess its each to here own. Now i have been assigned to this forum, i shall put this thread in its correct place.
Thread Moved To Q&A​

sense just has the best dialer avaible. the touchwiz dialer just doesnt find if i search for "uiop" and there is clearly a "qwertz uiop" in the contacts. sense dialer finds that.
aldo the touchwiz keyboard is odd... long press makes caps lock chars... sense gives you signs like "+ -*& %". i solved that with swiftkey x... but for the dialer theres no replacement right now. ex dialer is the closest but it needs 10 seconds or more to load the call log. thats not acceptable.
i like that the phone features of a phone are excelent, not just satisfiyng.

Why are there two of the exact same thread..?
From the exact same person..

Sense is an abomination, why would you want to buy the fastest phone available just to bog it down with bloatware, reducing it to a level of performance of a 1GHz single-core? But, to each his own - sadly, no way to make a Sense rom for a non-HTC device, if only for legality reasons. Sense is, at least partly, proprietary code.

Sense is the best out of the box android UI. Period.

I've just recently got my Galaxy Note and I'll admit I do miss the sense from my HTC Desire HD. Personally, it seems more intuitive when it comes to shortcuts, integration and it is visually appealing. However, I know it slows down the phone as it did that to my HTC Desire HD, especially when I updated to the latest sense. It's very laggy and the amount of animations are completely unnecessary. I don't need an animation of the page swivelling onto the screen when unlocking the phone. I'll miss the ease of access to certain things, but I want to get use to touchwiz.

There is an option to get Sense 3.0 or 3.5
Hi All,
there is an easier way to get sense plus even more ....
that is the only phone HTC HD2
you can get it cheap on ebay aution...
like mine had... and you love it, it flash from WM6.5 to WP7 to android .. to Ubuntu.... and more ...

wilson_sony said:
Hi All,
there is an easier way to get sense plus even more ....
that is the only phone HTC HD2
you can get it cheap on ebay aution...
like mine had... and you love it, it flash from WM6.5 to WP7 to android .. to Ubuntu.... and more ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL! You come to a Note forum to suggest an HD2? A phone that's so inferior it's not even funny?
Sent from my superior GT-N7000 using Tapatalk

Zamboney said:
LOL! You come to a Note forum to suggest an HD2? A phone that's so inferior it's not even funny?
Sent from my superior GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes HD2 with sense onboard acts smoother than Note with TW.
So if you want Sense, HD2 is your perfect choice.
Its hardly possible to port Sense to Note or other non-HTC devices.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App

[THEME] Next Launcher 3D vs NOVA

When I first switched to androids from iPhones (I still feel dirty for being so loyal to iOS for so long...) and looked into launchers I was steered toward Nova launcher. I found it to be pretty nice and functional but wasn't sure what all the fuss about it being the best launcher was. I was told that Next 3D Launcher would destroy my battery life and hog system resources along with not being all that customizable. Well, after installing it on my S5 G900A I haven't found any of the claims to be anywhere near true.
My battery life has been more than fine, it runs as smooth as a baby's powdered bottom, and I can use all widgets and customize everything from page transitions to "flat" 3D to full 3D. I feel like it has an infinitely more unique look and functionality compared to Nova launcher and while I won't say that Nova is 'stale', to me it feels like everyone has it and therefore the wow-factor of how awesome its supposed to be is greatly diminished.
I love Next 3D and wholeheartedly suggest it as a more than viable alternative to Nova.

Too expensive for what ya get.... Nova is better on the wallet and third party support...just change the theme and it's like a whole new launcher.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using XDA Free mobile app

+1 for Nova. Great option.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I agree with OP. Next launcher is awesome. Well worth the money.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using XDA Free mobile app

Nova for free is great, themes work across many of the launchers and icon packs for that matter.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using XDA Free mobile app

Both Launchers are really great at what they do. They both focus on two different aspects of launchers. I will say this, No one has ever asked about my phone (Galaxy s5 active) launcher when I have Nova on it. However when they see the 3d the questions and double takes come. However as fluid and perfect as Nova runs you can't dismiss it.
Only qualm about the 3d launcher is it's 16.99 and then they still have the nerve to charge you for add ons like themes and such. Kind of turning me off to the perception of greed with the Go Launcher Dev team.

imwillzillla said:
Both Launchers are really great at what they do. They both focus on two different aspects of launchers. I will say this, No one has ever asked about my phone (Galaxy s5 active) launcher when I have Nova on it. However when they see the 3d the questions and double takes come. However as fluid and perfect as Nova runs you can't dismiss it.
Only qualm about the 3d launcher is it's 16.99 and then they still have the nerve to charge you for add ons like themes and such. Kind of turning me off to the perception of greed with the Go Launcher Dev team.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said..i already paid good for phone I'm not dishing out tons more for a launcher!! NOVA ALL THE WAY
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using XDA Free mobile app

What a themer guys?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using XDA Free mobile app

imwillzillla said:
Both Launchers are really great at what they do. They both focus on two different aspects of launchers. I will say this, No one has ever asked about my phone (Galaxy s5 active) launcher when I have Nova on it. However when they see the 3d the questions and double takes come. However as fluid and perfect as Nova runs you can't dismiss it.
Only qualm about the 3d launcher is it's 16.99 and then they still have the nerve to charge you for add ons like themes and such. Kind of turning me off to the perception of greed with the Go Launcher Dev team.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very well said...
Thank you Sir...g

Hey OP:
Just curious.....Why did you put [THEME] in the thread title?

Next launcher 3D is a great launcher. I used it for about a year and was very pleased with it.

I use Apex Launcher pretty much NOVA

Yeah I prefer Apex.
Tapped It!

I discovered Epic Android Learn launcher and have been using it over Nova lately. It is, of course, a more AOSP feel like Google Launcher.

Personally, I used Next 3D on my Note 3 and my S5 Active without battery drain or glitches. Love it!

I am new to this but I am looking for a great launcher for my s5 01A. Any advice would be appreciated. I am looking for a new rom as well. Are there certain launchers that work only with certain themes or are the launchers universal of the OS just depends on phone? Thank you.

I have very recently tried a whole slew of launchers - giving each one about 12 hours of rigorous beating.
I looked at the pro paid versions of Apex, Nova, Next, Go, SPB, and TSF as well as several free/trial versions of a few others I quickly uninstalled and deleted. In each case I downloaded everything there was available from the developer /for/ the launcher in question as well as 8 or 10 of the top rated themes (which also happened to appeal to me). I literally spent every waking hour of an 8 or 9 consecutive day period doing nothing but installing Launchers, setting up any and all widgets made specifically for them (or my own 3rd party favorites to fill any holes), populating home-panels, checking out icon packs, and learning & getting used to the specialties offered by each. I did this all in 4.4.2 (KitKat) on the 7" screen of my Sharp SH-06F.
I agree with @imwillzillla about the difference between Nova and Next. They are completely different types of products even though they are both Launchers. Or maybe I should say they each appeal to a totally different kind of user. If I were to compare them directly I would need use subjective and flowery language- maybe something like:
Nova is everything you think your phone should have shipped with...
Next is allot of what you dream your phone will be like in the future...
Personally I like futuristic dazzle (being a retired CG artist) so Next was totally my cup of tea! Man that thing rocks! But I dunno if I would be using it to manage a company or as my daily scheduler if I were a corporate CEO - although... Next actually gives you (essentially) two launchers for the price of one and the 2D one would work fine for a "salaryman" (maybe "business jock" in western vernacular?).
I didn't really care for Nova as much as the TSF, Go, or Apex Launchers. Nova felt ummm, a bit antiquated maybe. None of these /launchers/ noticeably eat battery power more or less than the others - but some of the widgets sure do. For example the Next Music Player has a full screen widget which when the "Gravity" feature is turned on is like something out of "Alice In Wonderland" - you almost want to reach into and behind the graphics it's so parallaxically (my new word) convincing! Leaving that widget displayed with the screen set to 100% brightness and screen Sleep turned completely OFF cut my battery life to 12 hours. Displaying a different home panel with "Gravity" turned off it lasts about 16 hours. Setting the screen to Sleep in 5min and using the phone only 5 or 10 times in a day it lasts about 50 hours. As an MP3 player using the Next Player without the widget in my back pocket or on my desk the battery lasts juuuust 60 hours.
- That's all with WiFi on, BlueTooth off, GPS off, and using wired headphones or a cable to my HiFi rig (no phone internal speakers).

rpaulin said:
I am new to this but I am looking for a great launcher for my s5 01A. Any advice would be appreciated. I am looking for a new rom as well. Are there certain launchers that work only with certain themes or are the launchers universal of the OS just depends on phone? Thank you.
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Hi Paul,
The answer to you first question depends what is you want and expect from the launcher. Pretty much all of them are improvements over what the S5 ships with. Most of them offer things like custom folders, multi-select, different wipes, and alternative icon sets. With a few of them I have found that you can install their custom icon sets, then uninstall the launcher and the custom icon remain - so there may be generic custom icon packs which work on any or most launchers - including the default ones your phone came with.
Some of the better launchers embed a video presentation of their launcher in action directly into their play-store download page which is a pretty good way of guessing at whether or not you might wanna try that particular one. If the Launcher's DL page doesn't have a video then YouTube usually does. In my case I used both resources and and watched at lease 30min. of video in total of each before I went for the install action. You can see from the above post which ones I went for after that initial research step. After purchasing and installing six different launchers and all of their associated proprietary widgets & etc. I found the Next 3D Shell Launcher to be the best fit for me. Configured like a wildman it's pretty over the top. I wanted a launcher that had all the bells and whistles AND impressed the heck out of whoever might be looking on - including me. A conversation starter if you will. In that regard Next Launcher delivers in spades! My phone is about 2/3 the speed of yours or even slightly less and Next is very smooth on it. But anyway, that's what I wanted out of it - you may have a completely different set of expectations and desires so you need to ask yourself.
Feel free to ask me any questions about any of the ones I listed above. It might take me a few days to see and answer the question but I'll be happy to do so.
On your second question it seems that there is no dependency on a particular ROM by any given Launcher - they all just work. Some require a specific minimum version of Android but the S5 I believe is installed with the very newest Android version so no problems for you there. A few launchers have some functions available only if Root access is available so rooting your S5 might be a consideration if you want or need those functions. The ones I noticed weren't of any significant advantage so I didn't look into rooting my device. And lastly some Launchers have some trouble with some specific phone models. For example there used to be problems with Next on a few of the Samsung phones but that's been addressed already - etc..
One thing to really look into IMO is how much free stuff there is available for the specific launcher and how much requires payment - and I don't really mean icon sets and themes as much as I do custom widgets or tools etc. which are designed to work exclusively with the Launcher in question. If you click on the company name of the developer for the Launcher you're interested in (at the playstore) - that usually calls up a list of items that will tell you what you want to know here.
L8r, again, feel free to ask anything and have fun trying stuff out!

Can we add labels to the dock apps and add extra rows and columns like Nova Launcher?

StormChaser83 said:
Can we add labels to the dock apps and add extra rows and columns like Nova Launcher?
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Yes you can , I haven't found anything next 3d couldn't do . Plus there are hundreds of themes and widgets t choose from and most are free . I couldn't go back to using my phone without it , I had to wipe everything and my phone wasn't the same without it.
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