TouchWiz vs. Stock Android... - Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Given the features of TouchWiz... and the inherit delays for updates... what do you prefer? The features/UI... or the timely updates?

I prefer TW. It definitely adds a bit more functionality and some eye candy. The handy toggles in status bar, better clock, calculator, calendar etc are all nice. Also I like widgets like feeds and updates and daily breifing. They are light and nothing similar that aggregates multiple functions in one widget is available in market. And oh I cannot live without program monitor widget/task manager!
TW4 really brings some nice visual improvement and polish to the launcher. Dont know we will ever get it in Vibrant.
I would question the logic that TW is the reason for delayed updates when international galaxy S models are getting almost timely updates. In my opinion Samsung and TouchWiz should not be blamed for delayed updates in US. There is definitely carrier politics involved.

Stock for me. I don't use the widgets much and usually end up deleting them from ROMs even before in install a new one. And one big one for me is that I can't stand a side scrolling app drawer and vertical option in TouchWiz doesn't satisfy my vertical preference.

I think the best of both worlds (sorta) is TouchWiz coupled with ADW EX. For the reasons above

Tw is fine for me just don't like the launcher so I switched it w/ eugene's stock one and now its fine
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I am one of the few people who prefers TouchWiz over Stock Android. For me, Touchwiz is a perfect mix of the Iphone and Android. There are some features of the iphone that I really like such as the horizontal scrolling and the four icons at the bottom. That really makes a big difference. I like how with Touchwiz there are just the four icons at the bottom which make everything very easy when going to the main things you use. Also, TouchWiz was not really made to appeal to die-hard fandroids. In fact, it was probably made more than not to make it easier for people to switch from Iphone to Android. This way, more people buy Samsungs in the transition between Iphone and Android instead of HTC or Motorola or LG for that matter. I hope that was enough.

:complicated:
I like aosp better but id gotten used to tw for a while and it was quite mice... however ive never had a rom w/tw that feels entirely fluid so i ended up on cm7 with launcher pro to satisfy my ocd.
Tw is nice tho, if it were a bit more stable... just take into account that i liked it the way in came and i ended up using launcher pro when i had aosp.
Sent from a cell tower to the XDA server to you.

IMHO the gingerbread launcher in the android market seems to be the best UI for me. Its sleek, snappy, and overall a great daily.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App

Related

[Q] [REQ] Motoblur (Droid X) Widgets/launcher

Is it possible to port the widgets that come with motoblur?
The contact widgets are pretty handy. I assume that the widgets are tied to the launcher (like our TWiz widgets), so I imagine the whole launcher would have to be ported. If that is the case, I've attached the launcher apk for anyone capable of determining these things.
If at all possible to port widgets without the Droid X launcher, that would be even better.
This is one of the most annoying launchers on android. Scrolling in between home screens disables the app tray button, and you either have to swipe up on the screen or wait a few seconds to open the app tray. The widgets on the other hand are okay. The droid X's UI was poorly designed and makes the phone feel bigger and clunkier than it really is.
Paging Dr B said:
This is one of the most annoying launchers on android. Scrolling in between home screens disables the app tray button, and you either have to swipe up on the screen or wait a few seconds to open the app tray. The widgets on the other hand are okay. The droid X's UI was poorly designed and makes the phone feel bigger and clunkier than it really is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. The Blur UI also feels sluggish and clunky. It is probably the most hated custom andorid launcher out there.
OP. Unless your willing to pay a dev 100 bucks in advance, nobody is going to do this for u lol.
Touch Wiz is infinitely better. I would actually say TW is better than stock.
kingkurry said:
Agreed. The Blur UI also feels sluggish and clunky. It is probably the most hated custom andorid launcher out there.
OP. Unless your willing to pay a dev 100 bucks in advance, nobody is going to do this for u lol.
Touch Wiz is infinitely better. I would actually say TW is better than stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TW better than stock? Blasphemy!
I agree on all counts
TouchWiz is one of the best launchers. Launcher Pro is a close second. ADW/LP both don't have the same smoothness with all of the graphics at the highest level like TW does. They look awful compared to TW on default settings and choppy with it looking the same. I don't think you can get LP to display the same level of quality as ADW or TW.
heygrl said:
TouchWiz is one of the best launchers. Launcher Pro is a close second. ADW/LP both don't have the same smoothness with all of the graphics at the highest level like TW does. They look awful compared to TW on default settings and choppy with it looking the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. I didn't care for the TW launcher in all of the demos i saw of the vibrant, but it really grew on my once i actually used it. It's fast, looks nice, and has smooth animations. Sorry OP if I sounded upset in my first response. I also have the droid X (for work) and think it's one of the biggest dissapointments out there. Moto nailed the build quality and screen size, but they stopped there. Terrible contrast, colors, poor UI, feels slow, 2D stutters, etc. It upset me to see the droidX voted more desirable than the vibrant on gizmodo today. People are morons. Yet it benches higher than the Vibrant because it has faster write speeds. Lol.
Moved to the Q&A sub-forum.
I understand that it was a development request, but we still want to keep the development sub-forum for threads which actually have development in them. If this gets anywhere, I will move it back.
As far as the launcher itself... I don't like it, either.
I haven't tried adw on this phone....mainly because I don't care about themes. But I use launcherpro plus mostly instead of touchwiz. There are a few things I like better about tw but lpp's dock is so much cooler. I would never consider motoblur on this phone but that's just me.
ha, well let me rephrase my request since everyone seems to hate the blur launcher.
I primarily want the droid x/motoblur widgets, but I assume they are attached to the launcher, so I requested the whole launcher to be ported.
If it is possible to port the widgets without the launcher, then that would be better. OP edited.
I wonder if the launcher requires the moto framework. If so, then it would require a whole ROM port, unfortunately. Let's hope not.

Those with samsung phones

How is touchwiz and is it similar to sense?
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
sprintuser1977 said:
How is touchwiz and is it similar to sense?
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wrong forum, this the evo3d forum.
xBryan said:
wrong forum, this the evo3d forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your helpful answer. Now stfu and get out of my thread if you can not post anything helpful. Damn
Youtube the motorola photon, it has the new touch wiz.
I have it on my galaxy tab, its not bad.
steve97ta said:
Youtube the motorola photon, it has the new touch wiz.
I have it on my galaxy tab, its not bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Motorolla doesn't use TouchWiz. Its always been "Blur" unless something crazy just happened.
I have used TouchWiz a lot of SGS2 my buddy has. I have the 3Vo.
TouchWiz is balls compared to Sense. Yeah it might be a little more light weight but SO much isn't there.
It doesn't combine your contacts from google, facebook, tango, MS Exchange and your phone very well at ALL! If it does it sure is difficult to figure out. I work on my buddies and it just duplicated everything.
TouchWiz exchange integration is non-existent. For buisness users this is a HUGE must. My people app from sense and email have BB level integration. I start typing an email addy and it auto-searches for HISTORY (awesome like outlook), my exchange server and on my phone. Global Address Book integration...not present in TouchWiz. Wow...so now i have to add 200 contacts for work onto my phone if I want to use them? Not going to happen.
The leap feature is really poorly implemented, hard to get to "leap"...not a big deal though we dont use it that much in Sense really.
It wasn't as smooth when navigating. More robotic.... transitions sucked. You can add Launcher Pro or ADW though
Widgets sucked too...compared to sense.
People, Email, Calendar- suck compared to Sense
NOW I'm a business user so email, agendas, calendar notifications are a BIG deal to me as a consultant.
That being said, their facebook integration (see peoples pictures when they call you and people widget pics) sucked as well. Sense does a real good job of putting everything together automatically and linking everything. Consolidation is HUGE when you have all of these accounts. With Sense you don't even realize how good of a job this does.
That being said, again, SGS2 is a phenominal phone. It really is. The screen is fantastic (little cartoony though) and its a bit faster that EVO 3d at some stuff. I just depend on my phone for too much "Black berry" stuff to ever get away from Sense. Yeah there are third party apps for everything but odds are you have to pay for them (touchdown) and they don't integrate everything together NEARLY as well as Sense does.
svinyard said:
Motorolla doesn't use TouchWiz. Its always been "Blur" unless something crazy just happened.
I have used TouchWiz a lot of SGS2 my buddy has. I have the 3Vo.
TouchWiz is balls compared to Sense. Yeah it might be a little more light weight but SO much isn't there.
It doesn't combine your contacts from google, facebook, tango, MS Exchange and your phone very well at ALL! If it does it sure is difficult to figure out. I work on my buddies and it just duplicated everything.
TouchWiz exchange integration is non-existent. For buisness users this is a HUGE must. My people app from sense and email have BB level integration. I start typing an email addy and it auto-searches for HISTORY (awesome like outlook), my exchange server and on my phone. Global Address Book integration...not present in TouchWiz. Wow...so now i have to add 200 contacts for work onto my phone if I want to use them? Not going to happen.
The leap feature is really poorly implemented, hard to get to "leap"...not a big deal though we dont use it that much in Sense really.
It wasn't as smooth when navigating. More robotic.... transitions sucked. You can add Launcher Pro or ADW though
Widgets sucked too...compared to sense.
People, Email, Calendar- suck compared to Sense
NOW I'm a business user so email, agendas, calendar notifications are a BIG deal to me as a consultant.
That being said, their facebook integration (see peoples pictures when they call you and people widget pics) sucked as well. Sense does a real good job of putting everything together automatically and linking everything. Consolidation is HUGE when you have all of these accounts. With Sense you don't even realize how good of a job this does.
That being said, again, SGS2 is a phenominal phone. It really is. The screen is fantastic (little cartoony though) and its a bit faster that EVO 3d at some stuff. I just depend on my phone for too much "Black berry" stuff to ever get away from Sense. Yeah there are third party apps for everything but odds are you have to pay for them (touchdown) and they don't integrate everything together NEARLY as well as Sense does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the detailed answer. I appreciate it! Thinking bout getting me a Note and wanted to know
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
Touchwiz is Samsungs own half-assed attempt to leave their own branding on Android as HTC does with Sense. The major differences are that Sense is both somewhat attractive and adds functionality, Touchwiz..... well, is ugly and doesn't work well at all.
Ha... Now sone input from someone who actually has a touchwiz phone XD. I also have an hd2 with sense 3 on it. First off, Touchwiz is hands down the slickest implementation of a skin on Android. By no means is it the most feature filled(I would argue the worst..), but with that said, it's so lightweight. It let's you customize you're homescreen in a more user friendly manner than everything out there and has a neat motion zoom control. The slide down task bar is more eye friendly and simple than sense, but lacks features. Same with the lockscreen. If you're looking for slicker and lightweight environment (a relief from imo bogged down sense in too many ways), get a Samsung phone. I saw you mention the Note... and if so, I've read nothing but amazing reviews of the thing. It's in a class of it's own. Don't expect any quick updates though.
Also, a user by the name of fr4ggor released Touchwiz 4.5(customizable version of tw4.) You could try it to get a 'sense'(ha) of what Touchwiz is about. (though reports of it being faulty for screens other than 800x480.)
Samsung makes generally superior internals(processor, screen, even camera..) and crazy light weight construction and software. You sacrifice build quality though.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Yea on paper and from reviews/videos the note is the perfect phone for me big screen and all. I want it bad
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
My friend went from his galaxy to a sensation and much prefers sense over touchwiz. Only complaint he has for his HTC over his Samsung is the speaker.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
Touchwiz is more like a custom ROM. Lightweight,fast, smooth, no bloatware and full of tweaks for performance and benchmarking.
Sense on the otherhand is more like a retail ROM. Stuffed with features to satisfy everyone. But it has a lot of blowtwarE. UI is smooth but not as smooth as touchwiz.
Think of it this way. Touchwiz is like windows xp. Fast light but lacks special features.
Sense 3.0 is like windows vista. Drastic UI change but disappointingly slow.
Sense 3.5 is like windows 7. Good UI and fast.
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using XDA App

Launchers?

Hey everyone! I currently own a Droid Eris that's completely rooted and running Gingerbread.
I'm so used to launchers now, I really can't go back to sense. Sense is bloat, and really hogs up the phone's resources.
With all this said: Can the Rezound use launchers like Launcher Pro or ADW EX?
But also, if Launcher Pro was running, is sense still running in the background? Is my performance going to be worse off? Is there any way to freeze all of that background gunk while launcher pro is doing it's thing or will it constantly stay there eating up my RAM?
Thanks guys, I'm just really used to my Eris being sense-less and scared about the performance of the Rezound being muddled down with sense.
Performance is fine, you need to relax. Eris just sucks because it is slower than balls and has no ram.
Yes you can use other launchers and performance will still be great.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
I'm using launcher pro on mine, sense doesn't seem to keep running, at least the launcher, considering i got a couple extra hours of battery when i switched... could be useage, but i think LPP definately helped some.
Your phone closes any background apps that aren't being used if more ram is needed for your active apps. If you download a third party launcher like Go or LauncherPro and let them run for a while then try to go back to the Sense launcher it'll more than likely take you to the HTC loading screen meaning it was closed automatically by the system beforehand.
So basically it'll eventually be closed automatically once you start using another launcher.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
using lpp // seems to be the fastest // saw lag with go and adw...
if you use the rezound with sense, it'll still be 50x faster than the eris WITHOUT sense on it at all. believe me. my eris is running CM and it's still slower than this thing lol
I also used go and there was significant lag with 2 widgets on 1 screen.
Sent from my Rezound using Tapatalk
Launcher Pro Plus here, too. I sometimes go back to Sense just for fun and something different for a couple days (I REALLY like it's People widget better than LPP), but always end up coming back.
Now if I could just find a better people/quick dial widget.....
I run both LP and GO.
I however see no lag with GO.... 5 screens multiple widgets
rfarrah said:
Launcher Pro Plus here, too. I sometimes go back to Sense just for fun and something different for a couple days (I REALLY like it's People widget better than LPP), but always end up coming back.
Now if I could just find a better people/quick dial widget.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really really like the people widget on the latest Blur (like on the Razr)...It's the one with a grid of favorite contacts that displays the top 4 on the home screen but you can pull it down like a shade to show the rest of the grid. I wonder if it's possible to extract that widget and run it on other phones/launchers.
I'm using Go Launcher along with the lockscreen. According to the task manager I've saved well over 200MB of memory in the process. Once this phone gets some ROMs coming out, it will be a really nice phone. I keep seeing that the Gnex speaker is weak. Along with no SD slot, a rooted, ROM'd Rezound will be a solid long-term phone.
rfarrah said:
Launcher Pro Plus here, too. I sometimes go back to Sense just for fun and something different for a couple days (I REALLY like it's People widget better than LPP), but always end up coming back.
Now if I could just find a better people/quick dial widget.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally I just have shortcuts to my 4 faves on my screen (direct dial) much more efficient.
---------- Post added at 12:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:49 PM ----------
triplec76 said:
I'm using Go Launcher along with the lockscreen. According to the task manager I've saved well over 200MB of memory in the process. Once this phone gets some ROMs coming out, it will be a really nice phone. I keep seeing that the Gnex speaker is weak. Along with no SD slot, a rooted, ROM'd Rezound will be a solid long-term phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely. personally I think Santa is gonna be real nice to us this year
triplec76 said:
I'm using Go Launcher along with the lockscreen. According to the task manager I've saved well over 200MB of memory in the process. Once this phone gets some ROMs coming out, it will be a really nice phone. I keep seeing that the Gnex speaker is weak. Along with no SD slot, a rooted, ROM'd Rezound will be a solid long-term phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed, set up go launcher as well and very pleased with it. Nice change of pace. only thing I need to figure out is the size of the docks so I can install a few. tried the ones from lpro but they dont look right not big enough that is.
Go launcher is amazing. No lag, smooth like butter. iWhat?
I saw some lag with Go did I did not see on the Razr. It was going from one screen with people widget to another screen with calendar, and the cylinder transition effect. It was not horrible though.
I've used Go Launcher exclusively on every phone for the last two years. On the Rezound it absolutely screams.
Don't get me wrong, I really like some of the Sense features and widgets but Sense was draining the battery, creating lag and causing restarts.
I use a dark theme in Go and battery life has improved noticeably.
atomicwedgie said:
I've used Go Launcher exclusively on every phone for the last two years. On the Rezound it absolutely screams.
Don't get me wrong, I really like some of the Sense features and widgets but Sense was draining the battery, creating lag and causing restarts.
I use a dark theme in Go and battery life has improved noticeably.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
----
hmmm maybe worth revisiting/ I was seeing serious lag w/go.. I like the ui and may go back, but LPP has the best stock skin-able widgets (calendar and twitter)
justreboot said:
----
hmmm maybe worth revisiting/ I was seeing serious lag w/go.. I like the ui and may go back, but LPP has the best stock skin-able widgets (calendar and twitter)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny how different each device is from the other. It must be what we install (other apps, launcher setup, etc.) that is impacting our performance I'm a huge lpro plus fan but was having weird lag issues with it on the rezound. I tried go launcher and it seems much smoother. lol. I do agree on the lpro widgets and would like to try it again but I'm still perplexed why we would see any lag with the horsepower on this device? Could it be the launchers are not optimized or the hd screen or sense running in the background? Just throwing out possibilities with zero knowledge or proof. lol.
I think I may just try lpro again to see if it was just a one-off situation since go launcher is working well. thanks.
rileyd5 said:
Funny how different each device is from the other. It must be what we install (other apps, launcher setup, etc.) that is impacting our performance I'm a huge lpro plus fan but was having weird lag issues with it on the rezound. I tried go launcher and it seems much smoother. lol. I do agree on the lpro widgets and would like to try it again but I'm still perplexed why we would see any lag with the horsepower on this device? Could it be the launchers are not optimized or the hd screen or sense running in the background? Just throwing out possibilities with zero knowledge or proof. lol.
I think I may just try lpro again to see if it was just a one-off situation since go launcher is working well. thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, I think you see lag for the same reason you see lag on practically every Android device other than the GS2. Android makes very little use of a device's GPU, and most Android devices have crappy GPU's anyway. It's ridiculous that Android is finally going to natively use the GPU for graphics processing (what a concept!) in it's 4th iteration.

Sense - Like it Or Not?

I have noticed some people comment that they don't like Sense, but they don't say why. It seems fine to me. Can anyone tell me the downside?
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda app-developers app
It's a resource hog, plain and simple. The look and feel isn't bad, better than some of the other overlays for sure, but I much prefer stock Google for look and feel too.
With 3.6 and earlier, I didn't really care too much about Sense, but over time I started to really appreciate how they included everything I need instead of only a few things that don't work so well. I really don't like AOSP widgets, for example.
Then when Sense 4 came around, I knew I loved Sense after all. It's so polished and usable.
Maybe if I used widgets, I'd like Sense better. The only widget I run regularly is weather.
One of the things I find so invaluable about Sense is the calendar widgets. They are by far the best I've ever used on Android, and I've yet to find a Google Play app that provides widgets on the same level.
The music app on Sense is also really decent already and integrates perfectly with the lock screen.
Oh, and Peep is pretty decent as well. The Twitter app it comes with is rather nice.
I don't like sense. There's too many visual elements that do t look right, even in sense 4. If I took the time to theme it just the way i like it, I might be able to enjoy it. But AOSP is so much smoother and faster.
The only thing I love about sense is that clock widget. I can never get the clones to work properly with my set up D:
AshtonTS said:
I don't like sense. There's too many visual elements that do t look right, even in sense 4. If I took the time to theme it just the way i like it, I might be able to enjoy it. But AOSP is so much smoother and faster.
The only thing I love about sense is that clock widget. I can never get the clones to work properly with my set up D:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only problem is that weird in call voice bug Nd the camera sucks on aosp
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda app-developers app
It's cool but I just get bored with it. It feels simple.
Gs3
luke61456789 said:
The only problem is that weird in call voice bug Nd the camera sucks on aosp
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never used AOSP on the Rezound (I don't even have my Rez anymore) so I don't know what that's like
I love sense personally. And since 4, sense 4.1, and sense 4.5 all have lots to like about them.
I like AOSP too, but I get bored with it after a little while and miss sense.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
No. Boo on Sense.
I like sense, but its all I've used since my eris, inc1 and inc2. My wife has moto and I hate the look of it. I have flashed aosp roms before. Aosp is faster and smoother, but I don't like having to spend all the time to set up the look of my phone and the widgets aren't that greatand stock camera leaves a lot to be desired. Sense widgets are really useful and polished and the camera is one of the best. And it looks good already so I don't have to download a lot of themes and widgets from the market if I don't want to. I read an article that said sense takes away from the enginuity or innovation of android. But most android updates have included things that sense already incorporated previously. I had multi-touch pinch zoom and flash on donut, android added it in eclair. Sense had pinch to show all your homescreens in froyo but stock android didn't add it until gingerbread. But as mentioned before, it is a resource hog and you will get the most from your hardware with aosp. So its a give and take and really up to the user, but I prefer it.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda app-developers app
The sense 4 launcher is great. And that is it.
Loved the speed and simplicity of AOSP but the camera absolutely blows when compared to Sense.
webleeper said:
Loved the speed and simplicity of AOSP but the camera absolutely blows when compared to Sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
webleeper said:
Loved the speed and simplicity of AOSP but the camera absolutely blows when compared to Sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agree. I never realized how ****ty the stock camera was until I started comparing my images from before AOSP and after switching to AOSP. Now that I am stuck with this ****ty AOSP camera, I am starting to realize why so damn many people use that stupid Instagram app!
I like some of the integrations that Sense has. It's gotten better, but it's still a bit sluggish to me. I've flopped back and forth between AOSP and Sense ROMs.
I liked Skyraider back on my thunderbolt, but that was 2.1. I liked the look of 4.0 but didn't really enjoy the feeling til 4.1. I switch between aosp and sense basically every other day. Lol.
Sent from my Rezound using xda app-developers app
Of ALL the mobile operating systems out there, plain old vanilla Android is far and away the ugliest, most unrefined SOB in the group. It NEEDS something to dress it up. I actually wish Sense would go further. Like how about a real dictionary? BlackBerry and Apple put Android to shame in that department. And why do Android stock widgets have to be so unsightly and feature poor? Android's stock camera app has pretty much sucked on just about every device I've ever flashed it on, too. I'm perfectly happy to sacrifice speed for functionality if all the speed is doing is making another ugly, unrefined app, widget, or screen appear before me quicker. I've never handed a phone to someone after flashing AOSP on it and have them say "Hot damn, that ugly crap is FAST!", but I have handed phones to people with tight custom ROMs and fast kernels and had them say "Wow... This is the smoothest (fill in the blank) I've ever seen!"
aosp is ugly and boring. seems very utilitarian. I love how my rezound looks, but performance wise, I like the speed of aosp. I'm a certified sense lover, especially after having the nexus and the s3, and I can't wait for the dlx running the newest version.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2

Hard to believe, liking Sense 6 over GPE

I have had my One M8 two weeks now, LOVING this phone, and one of the selling points to me personally, was the ablity to go flash the GPE Nexus type ROM, and not be stuck on Sense. And I am a huge Nexus stock Android fan, having owned the Nexus-One, Nexus-S, Galaxy Nexus, and Nexus 4, but after the N4 I moved on to Samsung's Note 2, and then Galaxy S4. So last experience with stock Android was 4.1 Jellybean, haven't played with any Kit Kat builds before.
Long story short, I am liking Sense 6 way more than GPE's Kit Kat 4.4.2. and I never would have thought or expected that in a million years, being such a long time Nexus fan. I tried out two different GPE ROMs this week, and certain things in stock Kit Kat I can't stand.
- #1 the Phone dialer / Contacts, wow those suck now, why did Google change the Phone app they've had since ICS 4.0 ? I use my phone a lot to actually make calls, this new new Dialer sucks, and the Contacts is super bright white and very plane, really no features on it. I have read that a whole new Phone dialer app is coming in a upcoming 4.4.3 update. But I miss the awesome Phone app from 4.0 to 4.3, which was all Black with blue numbers, and swipe to to the right to go to contacts, etc...
- #2 the icon sizes are gigantic, like crazy huge, can't fit much on the home screen, I know a Launcher gets rid of that, but sometimes I like to run bone stock, and with those giant icons it looks weird and silly.
- #3 Battery life is definitely worse than a Sense based ROM, by a good amount IMO. My Sense based ROMs were giving me crazy good battery life, like 6h to 7h On Screen time, and total battery life of 24+ hours easily. These two GPE ROMs I tired, would only give like 4h to 5h On screen time, and maybe 15 hours total battery life.
- #4 Speed. I was always under the impression that stock Android was way faster than a UI like Sense or Touchwiz. The Sense 6 ROMs I was running were super fast and silky smooth. The GPE ROMs were also pretty quick too, but no way did not feel any faster than Sense. Just going off my own personal use, it felt like Sense was the faster UI. My point being, stock GPE Android was NOT faster or smoother, no. It was a tie, and if anything Sense won by a hair.
- #5 The look of the UI. Sense 6 has a really cool black / white / blue theme going on, and flat design, it looks really professional, and minimalistic, just smartly designed and well thought out. Where stock Kit Kat is starting to look like a Hodge podge of old Ice Cream Sandwich mixed together with the newer Google Now cards stuff, it's like stock Android can't make up it's mind, is it still Holo themed, or going for the new lighter Card style ? The menu still looks the same as from the Galaxy Nexus from 2011, but other parts look very fresh and totally different. I think we need Android 5.0 to usher in a new uniform design theme for stock Android.
To wrap this up, I am no HTC fan boy, my last HTC was the EVO 4G way back from 2010. I am really more of a Nexus stock Android guy, I guess I just don't like the Kit Kat updates from Jellybean. I was very satisfied with Jellybean. And this Sense 6 blew me away, really shocked I actually like it better than stock Android. It looks great, is smartly designed and laid out, and is super smooth / fast, with insanely good battery life. Next stock Android phone or ROM I'll run will be to wait for at least 4.4.3, and most likely the next big update with the HTC Nexus-Six this Fall.
I agree with you so much about the phone dialer on gpe. I had this on my nexus 5 and hated it. What were they thinking. There are so many people who love it too, but its just not for me. You can change your dpi to make icons a lot smaller on stock launcher. Looks really nice at 370 instead of 480. I prefer sense too.
I am on my third GPE ROM now. This time running the official real ROM. Let's see how I like this ?
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Zorachus said:
I am on my third GPE ROM now. This time running the official real ROM. Let's see how I like this ?
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im in the same exact position , battery life on gpe was sad compare to the sense im on golden eye right now , waiting for dev to updaye the gpe cauz i heard that an update was coming to dev edition to add the extreme power save option , we'll see
http://www.droid-life.com/2014/05/02/htc-one-m8-extreme-power-saving-mode/
Sent from my not samsung device using Tapatalk
Back to InsertCoin Sense 6 based ROM, and feels like home on this phone. Just so silky smooth, with insanely good battery life. Plus running Nova launcher + icon pack, doesn't even look like a Sense phone now, but it's all Sense running behind the scenes giving me the excellent battery life and stability.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Zorachus said:
I am on my third GPE ROM now. This time running the official real ROM. Let's see how I like this ?
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I need the original since I didn't backup mine! Where can I find it? I'm on an AT&T M8.
I would appreciate the help. TIA.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
in my pre HTC One days I tried a bunch of different roms on my various Motorola & Samsung phones, but always ended up back with either CyanogenMod or a variant of CM.
With this phone all I have really done is root, S-Off and remove some bloat and CarrierIQ.
Otherwise it's stock. I can't find a compelling reason to change.. Hell, I was even rocking the stock launcher for a couple of weeks. Didn't really mind it. I'm back to Nova for a bit just to see if I really do like it that much more. Can't decide!
i agree. coming from my my Google Play Edition. the m8 and Sense just gives you so much more without sacrificing any performance.
Always ran asop roms on my Samsung's. Coming from the gs5's touchgizz this is just so nice. Got this so I could flash again and I don't need too. Stock sense it's beautiful.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Absolutely agree, loving sense 6. Only two things that drive me crazy are the vertical scrolling in the app drawer, which is fixed with a launcher, and the haptic feedback seems very very weak to me when pressing things like the keyboard and the on-screen navigation keys.
Back and forth between Sense ROM's and GPE, but Sense 6 just looks more consistent, and a very professional layout, overall a very beautiful and minimalistic UI, that looks great on this LCD screen. I love the black theme throughout, with white backgrounds, and I have a simple theme installed, named InsertCoin Blue, it replaces all green stuff with blue.
I just found GPE and stock Android to look like a hodgepodge now, and I am a huge Nexus guy. But certain areas in stock Android, look dated like from ICS 4.0 with dark grey holo theme, mixed with the new Kit Kat lighter card theme. Making Android look like a mix of old and new.
I think Google needs a solid consistent theme in Android 5.0, which I am sure it will be. But for now I find Sense 6 to looks the best, and very clean and simple, as well as butter smooth IMO.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Zorachus said:
Back and forth between Sense ROM's and GPE, but Sense 6 just looks more consistent, and a very professional layout, overall a very beautiful and minimalistic UI, that looks great on this LCD screen. I love the black theme throughout, with white backgrounds, and I have a simple theme installed, named InsertCoin Blue, it replaces all green stuff with blue.
I just found GPE and stock Android to look like a hodgepodge now, and I am a huge Nexus guy. But certain areas in stock Android, look dated like from ICS 4.0 with dark grey holo theme, mixed with the new Kit Kat lighter card theme. Making Android look like a mix of old and new.
I think Google needs a solid consistent theme in Android 5.0, which I am sure it will be. But for now I find Sense 6 to looks the best, and very clean and simple, as well as butter smooth IMO.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Especially after the update yesterday, I find no compelling reason to even bother with a custom rom. I'm rooted with S-Off, and the only mods I have done are the Harmon Kardon mod, plus custom bootup/down splash screens..
Otherwise I'm bone stock and loving it.
Long time Samsung user here so I ran just about every type of ROM there is and I'll have to say that I agree. Never thought I'd be satisfied with stock firmware but HTC got sense 6 right spot on with aesthetics, functionality and battery. Naturally, I've rooted and s-offed but I don't plan on changing it up any time soon. Been a long long time since I've had a glitch free user experience
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
I agree I've tried all different kinds of ROMS. I presently use ACR V2.2. Not sure if it's available on AT&T variant or not as I have VZW.
It's stock Sense with ALL bloat removed. I think he presently has it down to a size of 381mb on V2.6. It's simple, runs smooth, and gets decent battery life. I used Sense toolbox 6 to customize the status bar a bit and a few other small mods, I also use nova launcher so I can customize icons. Although I will admit he's made changes that I'm not happy with newer versions as to why I'm still on V2.2. I've also replaced standard Google apps with dark black replacements where I could and use dark apps where I can. I like dark themes.
Either way guys it's worth checking out if you like slim and minimalistic Sense 6. It's the nice thing about it, it gives you a nice base ROM that you can mod or not to your liking.
Not knocking other ROMS & the hard work that goes into them but they go way over the top with way too many options and unneeded stuff IMO.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Free mobile app
Yea sense 6 is amazing. Especially coming from touchwiz. From samsung, it was an out of the box as soon as I get home flash of aosp but sense is amazing and has some nice features and a beautiful feel and look to it. I'm really enjoying it coupled with xposed mod modules
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
I tried the gpe rom and the quadrant score consistently hovered around 17500 vs the 24000 on sense 6.
What gives?
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
Samsung TW user for awhile here .... And I gotta say that I'm impressed with sense 6 nice and zero LAG .... So far I'm loving this M8. ....
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Tried GPE with full converson.. tried custom sense roms along with sense 6 tool box and Venom Tweaks..
There is really no compelling reason for me to use a custom rom..There are clear performance benefits to using an odexed rom.. and when it comes to that.. nothing beats stock sense 6.
So I flashed the RUU.. and my phone is not even rooted.. Sense 6 I think is a little bit more consistent and smooth than stock (can't believe I'm saying it.. but I think it's true).
agree
zacharyt86 said:
Absolutely agree, loving sense 6. Only two things that drive me crazy are the vertical scrolling in the app drawer, which is fixed with a launcher, and the haptic feedback seems very very weak to me when pressing things like the keyboard and the on-screen navigation keys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agree about the vertical scrolling as well as the black background in the app drawer (instead of it being a bit semitransparent ).
Totally agree. Am currently on GPE and I get routinely frustrated due to some functionality that's missing. For example, in the notification drawer, touching the WiFi button takes me to the settings menu. In sense, it just turns off the WiFi (which I want)!
The settings menu in sense also has so many more options than GPE its actually easier than having fewer options as in GPE. Overall, Sense wins by a significant margin for me both from a usability standpoint and general awesomeness

Categories

Resources