I'm a long-time Go Launcher user (Launcher Pro user before that) and lately much hype has surrounded Nova Launcher so I decided to give it a shot.
After playing with it for part of a day I'm wondering what all the fuss is. So far, Go Launcher seems to provide everything Nova Launcher does. In fact, for free it provides features you can only get for the premium version of Nova. What am I missing here?
Nova Comments:
1. It doesn't feel as responsive as Go Launcher.
2. My contact icons have no images while they do automatically on Go Launcher.
3. It has the same bug as Go Launcher with not being able to display the text for widget descriptions (when selecting widgets).
4. No real themes.
The reason I'm asking this is that I use swipe up for my dock apps to do multiple things and that feature is only a pay feature. If there's a compelling reason to stick with Nova then I'll buy it. However, since it's not just a buck or two I wanted this to be a good choice and not just an impulse buy that I never use again.
Thanks.
I'd rather go for nova cause I like the UI of the settings more, and the GO Launcher has to much advertisement stuff. But I still think that apex is even better, It's IMO faster, and better responsiveness.
Sent from my awesome fridge
Go launcher is full of bloatware, it's 10MB and it isn't so good lower end phones.
Tapatalk 2-vel küldve az én GT-S5570-ről
I'll look at Apex but regarding Go Launcher being bloatware, so far that's not an issue for me. It runs great on my RAZR. Still nothing solid on why Nova is better.
Nova has options to import desktop data from other launchers, and options to backup desktop data and restore, although I'm not sure if you can do that on go launcher.
Sent from my awesome fridge
Thanks. Looking over Apex now and, so far, it looks identical to Nova. In fact, I'd say so far I have the same issues as I already posted for Nova.
I assume these apps were related at one point?
Yeah, Apex is identical to Nova. If you compare the latest version of both Apex and Nova, Nova is little smoother than Apex. But I like Apex more.
I used Go for at least 6 straight months on my Galaxy S2, but since then they have gone too much bloated.
On my device go launcher is slow as hell. I actually want to like go launcher because of all the features but it slows my phone down and takes up wayyyyy to much memory. Nova or apex are lightning fast and put everything right where I need it.
Sent from my myTouch 4g using Tapatalk 2
So if I decided on one of these how do you decide between Nova or Apex given that they're so similar? Both are $4 (more or less).
The reason I'd consider it is that bloat (even though I'm not seeing it yet so any details there might help) is nothing I'm a fan of having come from an OG Droid. Sooner or later you run into issues.
Are there solutions to the issues I've mentioned? For example, can I get the widget menu to show text? I can't believe all three have this issue and have had it forever. Is there a way to get my contacts to have their Facebook profile pictures as they do in Go Launcher?
Agrajag27 said:
So if I decided on one of these how do you decide between Nova or Apex given that they're so similar? Both are $4 (more or less).
The reason I'd consider it is that bloat (even though I'm not seeing it yet so any details there might help) is nothing I'm a fan of having come from an OG Droid. Sooner or later you run into issues.
Are there solutions to the issues I've mentioned? For example, can I get the widget menu to show text? I can't believe all three have this issue and have had it forever. Is there a way to get my contacts to have their Facebook profile pictures as they do in Go Launcher?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nova Launcher has a lot more features and gets updated quite frequently. It also has gesture support for dock icons, and normal launcher icons now too. It also has unread counters, and a literal crap ton of options.
tetrahedonism said:
Nova Launcher has a lot more features and gets updated quite frequently. It also has gesture support for dock icons, and normal launcher icons now too. It also has unread counters, and a literal crap ton of options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are "normal launcher icons"?
And you say NL has "a lot more features". More features than Apex? More than Go Launcher? If so, can you elaborate as a new user I'm not seeing these.
Nope, I don't think any launcher other than SS has more options than Go. Yes, the new update of Nova does bring some new features like icon gesture feature and all, but it's not the case of 'how many' features, but 'how good' are they. Like I am having constant crashes for unread notifier in Nova since last update, on Apex you don't even need to install any third party app/plugin for unread notifications. I also like how Apex grids the icon on desktop when big grid size is applied. I like how Apex re-size the icon and also re-size it's level, while Nova doesn't re-size the level. You know it ultimately depends on YOU, how you wanna use, what features you like and all.
Well I am paid user of Nova, well I don't regret it, but at the same time I think that I should've purchased Apex. But one thing for sure, I will never buy Next or SPB Shell, not for money, cause they ask WAY TOO much for what's given.
So you might think, which one you should buy, Nova or Apex, well, no one can say just toss a coin. But if I were you and tossed a coin and saw Nova winning, then I will toss it again for Apex, lol.
jujuburi said:
Yeah, Apex is identical to Nova. If you compare the latest version of both Apex and Nova, Nova is little smoother than Apex. But I like Apex more.
I used Go for at least 6 straight months on my Galaxy S2, but since then they have gone too much bloated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apex seems to run better as a system app, from what I can tell.
Sent from my SPH-D710
New version of nova launcher is smoother than apex for me.
jujuburi said:
Nope, I don't think any launcher other than SS has more options than Go. Yes, the new update of Nova does bring some new features like icon gesture feature and all, but it's not the case of 'how many' features, but 'how good' are they. Like I am having constant crashes for unread notifier in Nova since last update, on Apex you don't even need to install any third party app/plugin for unread notifications. I also like how Apex grids the icon on desktop when big grid size is applied. I like how Apex re-size the icon and also re-size it's level, while Nova doesn't re-size the level. You know it ultimately depends on YOU, how you wanna use, what features you like and all.
Well I am paid user of Nova, well I don't regret it, but at the same time I think that I should've purchased Apex. But one thing for sure, I will never buy Next or SPB Shell, not for money, cause they ask WAY TOO much for what's given.
So you might think, which one you should buy, Nova or Apex, well, no one can say just toss a coin. But if I were you and tossed a coin and saw Nova winning, then I will toss it again for Apex, lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jujuburi,
I went ahead and paid for Apex last night and will likely pay for Nova as well. I wanted to ask about some of the above comments.
1. What is Icon Gesture Feature? Is that swiping up or down on any icon regardless of where it is? I use swipe up for some of my dock icons (swipe up on Phone and I launch People.... swipe up on Maps and I launch Navigation).
2. I noticed that on Nova my widgets seemed oddly shaped (4x4). On Apex they're just as I'm used to them on Go Launcher. Is this related to the grid issue you mentioned? If not, how can I see what you mean?
3. What do you mean by resize a "level"???
First off all, very good decision on buying Apex, and also taking Nova in consideration.
1- Icon gesture feature is the one where you press and hold on an icon, then you'll be given a pop up menu, press edit, then you'll see this screen,
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
,
then this one, if you press on the Swipe action,
You can then choose any option you want. But so far I've seen it only works upwards, Swiping right, left or downwards don't work.
2- Yes, I think that is due to the grid size. I like how Apex reacts on grid size than Nova.
3- By level I mean the app names along with them. You see that if you set icon size to 75% on Nova the icon will get smaller, but weird thing is the name level will remain of same size! Which looks pretty bad. On Apex, the level also changes along with icon size, which looks good.
Sent from my GT-N7100
jujuburi said:
First off all, very good decision on buying Apex, and also taking Nova in consideration.
1- Icon gesture feature is the one where you press and hold on an icon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, that's what I thought. I don't use it for anything outside the dock so, for now, no need. Thus Apex meets the demand.
I also finally figured out how to see the text for widgets by using the Root Helper option. Finally! The only confusion was the note about installing Apex as a system app but they don't really tell you why you'd want to do that. For now the only reason seems to have an alternative to the first option for widget interface.
The last thing I really need to resolve are my contact images. Go Launcher is able to see the contact images from Facebook. Apex apparently can't so nearly all my contact icon images are just the default black silhouette on a blue background icons. Very boring. There has to be a way to feed these profile pictures to these icons but short of saving each one as an image manually and then applying it, I don't see a simple solution.
Can't you just assign images with something like Haxsync so the images are saved on to your contacts forever?
DramatikBeats said:
Can't you just assign images with something like Haxsync so the images are saved on to your contacts forever?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That works. Thanks. I also just found that Friendcaster does it too. Good to go on this.
Interestingly now another issue has cropped up. I'm now noticing home page refreshes which I didn't notice before. I see this is an issue with Apex. Hopefully it's fixed soon. I dumped Launcher Pro over that issue long ago.
I was a long time Go Launcher person since its release until they changed the UI earlier last year. At first the UI was full of bloat and slow, but since I use the latest betas from there blog site I don't run in to the bloat issue. Other then Go Launcher, Nova and SSL Launcher are my favorite launchers. Nova has normal android animations and is very user friendly, and if you know how to use nova's extra labs options you get more out of it.
The problem with Go Launchers new UI, and which I have been complaining about on there blog since day one is that creating widgets/Apps from the home screen in landscape mode changes the orientation of the screen to portrait mode. Its absolutely ridiculousness. If I have my phone in landscape its there for a reason, so don't force users to change to portrait! It doesn't help that you can't add them from the app drawer but being a GNote user I prefer to hold my phone in landscape to take advantage of the real estate.
Another minor issue I found is that Go Launcher does not play nice with Multi-Live Wallpapers. I honestly don't like how they shifted their focus on releasing a new launcher called Next Launcher that really isn't that good and in early development. Go Launcher was named the most best launcher of 2011-2012 by popular vote on LifeHackers, so there was really no reason to stop and work on something else when they were doing so good. Hopefully future Go Launcher Development doesn't suffer from it. I would love to use it again but not until they fix the orientation issue. And yes they are well aware of that issue, I have been posting the complain every time they release a new beta version so at some point they will listen.
LifeHackers Article: http://lifehacker.com/5919526/most-popular-android-launcher-go-launcher-ex
Related
I had ordered this without ever even giving touchwiz a thought. Figured the phone would show up, I would play with it about 5 minutes, install new launcher, never look at touch wiz again. After I ordered it I downloaded the user manual and did some reading and it appears that there is some interesting and useful work here that without having the phone I think I like. Watching videos to see if I could see some of the stuff in action seemed to me to confirm that there is some good stuff there.
My question is how are you liking touchwiz? Not the phone, the phone with touchwiz. I Have encountered an older version and was left heavily underwhelmed. Please be specific, I like this, I hate that, and give a reason. If its just because that works fine but have a reason.
Remember guys this is mostly about opinion and little about fact. Leave folks be with theirs and vice versa.
edit.... Also please add in your predilections toward flashing roms, or not, as it were. An opinion from a daily flasher is much different than one from someone who never flashes and runs the stock rom.
I thought I'd hate it but I'm actually really liking it! Some features I love:
- The lockscreen is great and you get little tabs you can slide when you get a text or missed call.
- You can reject a call with a text message (So handy)
- Resizable widgets
- Customiseable dock
- Hold down 'Menu' for search in apps
- Quick settings in the notification tray
- Movable homescreens
- Customisable app tray
and more Besides you could always replace it with another launcher and I'm sure custom ROMs are on the way.
I changed it within seconds to launcher pro. However the drawer in launcher pro isnt smooth at all, im actually thinking of changing back.
rocketpaul said:
I changed it within seconds to launcher pro. However the drawer in launcher pro isnt smooth at all, im actually thinking of changing back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Go Launcher EX
It is faster than Launcher Pro
I have a lot of time flashing roms and all that fun stuff so I have an idea about the possibilities going that route. Going to edit the op in regards to people adding their experience and preferences as far as flashing roms and such go. Thanks for your input. As a question Im on a custom rom now and the widets are all resizable. Are you talking about the touchwiz widgets then?
Another question would be can you access some or all of the touchwiz widgets from another launcher or do you give them up?
krabman said:
Another question would be can you access some or all of the touchwiz widgets from another launcher or do you give them up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you go use a third party launcher, you usually lose access to manufacturer widgets, since they work in a slightly different way from plain stock ones...
But if you go Launcher Pro Plus (it's a couple of dollars for the plus version) you get more "custom" widgets like that in return I guess it just depends what look you are going for.
So you have the handset and can confirm they are toast? Figured they would be but I haven't done touchwiz yet.
krabman said:
So you have the handset and can confirm they are toast? Figured they would be but I haven't done touchwiz yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, hence why I say "usually". I've been in this business for a while, but not got the SGS II yet.
I have to admit that I like Touchwiz. On SGS, I dont have a SGS2 yet. In my opinion, Samsung Glass lockscreen is a way better than the Android stock lockscreen.
At the moment I'm in love with Zeam laucher but I always come back to Touchwiz from time to time. Launcher Pro and ADW have always left me cold.
Did more reading, I see that you can change the fonts system wide. Does this carry over to a new launcher or do you lose that? Pretty nifty feature.
In my personal opinion, touchwiz 3 was dire. But after using my Galaxy S II for a few days touchwiz 4 has come a long way. I'm sticking with Touchwiz for now
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
I've been playing with the demo models at the office solidly for the past 2 days, and as a Sense users for the past 2 years, I really don't like Touchwiz even in it's newest incarnation.
Probably more down to being used to how everything works in Sense though, I don't like change
Touchwiz 4 is a huge improvement over 3 in my opinion. Using it on both my SGS and SGS2 now. The new calendar widgets on the SGS2 are awesome as well Touchwiz 4 can also put folders in the applications menu now
Semi-regular flasher (ooer) - would generally flash a new rom every couple of months. Been with Android since the G1 so have a pretty good idea of what's possible.
Things you KEEP going to another launcher:
Lockscreen
Dialler (reject call with text etc)
Holding down Menu to search
Settings toggles in the notification bar
You can resize widgets with LauncherPro Plus
Things you might LOSE
Movable homescreens (most launchers do this, but not with the motion sensing twist action like touchwiz)
Customisable app tray (again, most launchers do this)
Resizable widgets (possible with LauncherPro Plus)
Customisable dock (most launchers do this)
Overall, I don't miss the touchwiz launcher, but I like some of the other features. Looks like the Samsung widgets are standard and work in other launchers too - just added Mini Paper, Ap Mobile, and Yahoo! Finance, and they seem fine.
krabman - I've changed my system font to Helvetica S (Settings -> Display -> Screen Display -> Font) and in general it looks great! Carries over to most apps too. The only downside is that it's slightly wider, so you get some buttons wrapping For example, the password "Remember / Not Now" dialog has one, I forget which . . .
Overall, ditch the launcher (I like LauncherPro, smooth for me) but enjoy the other aspects
TW4 is not as bad as many are saying. its still not nearly as good as SENSE 2.x. and I wont even attempt to compare it to the new 3.0 version. I sure hope someone port it.
darkalchemist said:
Touchwiz 4 is a huge improvement over 3 in my opinion. Using it on both my SGS and SGS2 now. The new calendar widgets on the SGS2 are awesome as well Touchwiz 4 can also put folders in the applications menu now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, playing with both the SGS and SGS2 and yes it is an improvement for sure, but I am still not liking the iphonish looks.
DJGibbon said:
Things you KEEP going to another launcher:
Lockscreen
Dialler (reject call with text etc)
Holding down Menu to search
Settings toggles in the notification bar
You can resize widgets with LauncherPro Plus
Things you might LOSE
Movable homescreens (most launchers do this, but not with the motion sensing twist action like touchwiz)
Customisable app tray (again, most launchers do this)
Resizable widgets (possible with LauncherPro Plus)
Customisable dock (most launchers do this)
Overall, I don't miss the touchwiz launcher, but I like some of the other features. Looks like the Samsung widgets are standard and work in other launchers too - just added Mini Paper, Ap Mobile, and Yahoo! Finance, and they seem fine.
Overall, ditch the launcher (I like LauncherPro, smooth for me) but enjoy the other aspects
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You pretty much mentioned what I was about to! Using launcherpro plus with widgetsoid and pure calendar widget. I have to say that launcherpro work a bit smoother on the original SGS for be, but with the upcomming update that should be fixed.
Overall, combining the best of what I had on my SGS before, with the new functions from touchwiz 4!
Hello,
So I basically want to make a small survey that what launcher are you currently using and how is your battery life. I am trying to narrow down if some launchers are better for the battery life. I am currently using Touchwiz and get about 8 hours of moderate usage every day. Not good.
So how about you guys?
I used LauncherPro for a day but then removed it. It just hasn't evolved enough meanwhile TouchWiz, Sense UI and even MIUI have gone way ahead with their launchers. I don't think you will notice much difference in battery life between different launchers. LauncherPro renders stuff much faster but I don't like its appdrawer and dock.
Now I'm using TouchWiz until someone ports MIUI to SGS2.
GO, I prefer vertical scrolling to horizontal scolling in touchwiz and like that you can sort the apps alphabetically (who on earth tought it would be a good idea to make a horizontal scrolling app drawer and sort the apps by install time!?), also the running apps (+task killer) and recent apps tab are real handy
I'm gonna give Launcher Pro a go today. As for the scrolling, I quite like the horizontal scroll, but dislike it for seeming like the iPhone
By the way. How is the performance with some other launchers?
I used to have Go Launcher when using Desire. Now when I got this phone I first changed to Go Launcher also but then I noticed heavy battery usage and also some jerkiness with the scrolling, therefore I switched back to Touchwiz and still here. It is not THAT bad as everybody has been saying.
Launcher pro paid version.
Could have easily had 24hrs moderate use yesterday.
Tbh I don't think the launcher is one of the main factors affecting battery life though.
Sent From My Fingers To Your Face.....
CandyAndy said:
By the way. How is the performance with some other launchers?
I used to have Go Launcher when using Desire. Now when I got this phone I first changed to Go Launcher also but then I noticed heavy battery usage and also some jerkiness with the scrolling, therefore I switched back to Touchwiz and still here. It is not THAT bad as everybody has been saying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed the similar jerkiness with the go launcher initially and ended up switching over to launcher pro for a bit. When i reinstalled go launcher to use the notification addon, transition was much better and the battery usage was on par with touchwiz
Builtin widgets are better with launcher pro but i like the notification addon for go launcher more.
I have both go launcher ex and launcher pro installed but the default launcher is set to go launcher
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"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
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}
ADW Ex. Very pleased with it.
Currently 30% battery left after 2 days 3 hours, moderate use, but have removed or frozen a lot of bloat and/or stuff I don't use (Facebook, Twitter, games). Freezing TW launcher seems to have helped hugely wrt to battery life.
On KE2 stock.
I've got the following, adw launcher, go launcher ex,launcher 7, launcher pro, spb shell 3d and TW
Lol, for testing purposes
I usually use go launcher but have been trying regina 3d launcher, looks nice but i should imagine it would have more of a drain on the battery although im yet to confirm that.
ADW Launcher EX its the best choice for me, there are many themes you can use to customize it even more, the desktop scrolling efects are just great and i love the posibility to hide the main dock and the notifications bar, the screen just looks awesome then
Have had all the launchers mentioned already for a spin on the phone. I had been for the most part sticking with adw on the N1 but I was not able to get that to perform smoothly on this phone. Right now I'm actually using tw with most all of the wiz removed/frozen. I find I like it.
ADW EX. the only con is the no-bubbles on the dock. if I receive a message I can't see it in the dock, only in the notification bar.
I'm using Launcher Plus Pro. It's great, but it freezes on almost every boot. Have to wait a minute for force close to pop up, then it works beautifully. I suspect it's because the SGS2 is scanning the SD cards on every boot.
EDIT: Oh and I would have used TW4 if there was a way to alphabetically list apps.
thetap said:
ADW EX. the only con is the no-bubbles on the dock. if I receive a message I can't see it in the dock, only in the notification bar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
don't know what settings are you using, but the notification bubble works for me on every call / sms / gmail...
maranello69 said:
don't know what settings are you using, but the notification bubble works for me on every call / sms / gmail...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In settings bubbles are ON and also the catalogs in the app drawer won't work. Dunno why, weird things.
Sent from my Galaxy SII using TT
thetap said:
ADW EX. the only con is the no-bubbles on the dock. if I receive a message I can't see it in the dock, only in the notification bar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have installed ADW notifier from the market, yes?
MaTiCeK- said:
I'm using Launcher Plus Pro. It's great, but it freezes on almost every boot. Have to wait a minute for force close to pop up, then it works beautifully. I suspect it's because the SGS2 is scanning the SD cards on every boot.
EDIT: Oh and I would have used TW4 if there was a way to alphabetically list apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an app on the market called sort apps that will sort the app drawer alphabetically. Requires root. Another thing I did was move the default home to center, instructions are available here. Hard to believe anyone thought that an unsorted app drawer was a good idea. lol
krabman said:
There is an app on the market called sort apps that will sort the app drawer alphabetically. Requires root. Another thing I did was move the default home to center, instructions are available here. Hard to believe anyone thought that an unsorted app drawer was a good idea. lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't find it. I've searched for "sort apps", "sortapp", "sortapps" & "sort app".
It popped up on mine (eu generic) used in the states. It also pops up if I just use touch wiz for the search terms.
I'm wondering what the best launcher is for tablet mode. I know touchwiz doesn't like 213dpi. I have used apex before and its nice, not real familiar with nova launcher. Are there any other launchers that work with tablet mode? What about go launcher ex or go launcher HD?
Also what is your favorite rom for running tablet mode?
I'm using adw ex and happy with it
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
mike208 said:
I'm wondering what the best launcher is for tablet mode. I know touchwiz doesn't like 213dpi. I have used apex before and its nice, not real familiar with nova launcher. Are there any other launchers that work with tablet mode? What about go launcher ex or go launcher HD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Adwex and nova prime are my two go to launchers. Adwex hasn't been updated forever so it doesn't have a strong ics feel to it like nova can.
Nova prime seemed to keep icon sizing better on homescreen as well. But it seems to also limit your grid size. I'm at 213 and can only do 7x7, it may be dpi dependent but I don't usually rock tablet mode so haven't tested. Adwex will let me do 10x10 if I want.
I also like that nova puts the menu at the bottom of the screen while adwex puts it up top which can be out of reach maybe for some.
Here are two quick screens to show stuff I'm talking about. Since I primarily use phone mode I still prefer adwex for some reason lol, I think because I can change the dock icons size in adwex and not nova.
Nova prime
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"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Adwex
Also, I know some people will say apex is best, but I bought it, used it, and at the time it was pretty lacking. I don't think I could even set the drawer to transparent. I've never gone back to it and don't see a need. I've also run go, tsf, spb3d, ez, hi, and pretty much everything. So I've bought some I don't even really use anymore lol. But if I had to recommend one to buy, I'd probably say nova prime.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2 on cm9
As a Cyanogenmod fan I have to recommend Trebuchet. It's just an improved version of AOSP's stock ICS launcher but it supports both tablet and phone. I haven't used it on my Note (which is 240dpi phone mode) but it works well on my HP TouchPad (160dpi tablet mode).
I wish you could use tablet mode for apps but keep the phone notification bar. The Note has capacitive buttons so it seems stupid to waste a bunch of screen real-estate for on-screen tablet buttons that are redundant.
yollasho said:
Adwex and nova prime are my two go to launchers. Adwex hasn't been updated forever so it doesn't have a strong ics feel to it like nova can.
Nova prime seemed to keep icon sizing better on homescreen as well. But it seems to also limit your grid size. I'm at 213 and can only do 7x7, it may be dpi dependent but I don't usually rock tablet mode so haven't tested. Adwex will let me do 10x10 if I want.
I also like that nova puts the menu at the bottom of the screen while adwex puts it up top which can be out of reach maybe for some.
Here are two quick screens to show stuff I'm talking about. Since I primarily use phone mode I still prefer adwex for some reason lol, I think because I can change the dock icons size in adwex and not nova.
Nova prime
Adwex
Also, I know some people will say apex is best, but I bought it, used it, and at the time it was pretty lacking. I don't think I could even set the drawer to transparent. I've never gone back to it and don't see a need. I've also run go, tsf, spb3d, ez, hi, and pretty much everything. So I've bought some I don't even really use anymore lol. But if I had to recommend one to buy, I'd probably say nova prime.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2 on cm9
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome information. I will definitely check those out. I was never a fan of the default adw look, but admit that because I that, I never really gave it a chance to make it look any better lol.
CalcProgrammer1 said:
As a Cyanogenmod fan I have to recommend Trebuchet. It's just an improved version of AOSP's stock ICS launcher but it supports both tablet and phone. I haven't used it on my Note (which is 240dpi phone mode) but it works well on my HP TouchPad (160dpi tablet mode).
I wish you could use tablet mode for apps but keep the phone notification bar. The Note has capacitive buttons so it seems stupid to waste a bunch of screen real-estate for on-screen tablet buttons that are redundant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I heard ya on the redundant buttons. What is the benefit of running at 240dpi as opposed to 320?
I am adding a second question to this post. What is the best rom for running tablet mode? I know rom choice is subjective and can depend on your phone hardware, what works for one might not work for another. But I don't feel like spending hours and hours setting up multiple roms the way I like in tablet mode. I mean I will if I have to, but I am wondering if there are 1 or 2 that are way better then the rest. So far I am leaning towards either Hybrid rom or the collective mesosphere remix.
Here's mine with adw ex. Still messing with it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
kiltedthrower said:
Here's mine with adw ex. Still messing with it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man I love slightly stoopid. Bandelero baby!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
mike208 said:
I'm wondering what the best launcher is for tablet mode. I know touchwiz doesn't like 213dpi. I have used apex before and its nice, not real familiar with nova launcher. Are there any other launchers that work with tablet mode? What about go launcher ex or go launcher HD?
Also what is your favorite rom for running tablet mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have used Go Launcher Ex for several weeks after getting my Note and it works really well in tablet mode, widgets scale nicely.
But right now I am using the h0tw1r3 ICS rom and it works great in tablet mode as well
Moose0704 said:
I have used Go Launcher Ex for several weeks after getting my Note and it works really well in tablet mode, widgets scale nicely.
But right now I am using the h0tw1r3 ICS rom and it works great in tablet mode as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well maybe I will try h0tw1r3 then. Having trouble finding a rom I like that will do tablet mode. Starting to wonder if tablet mode is worth all the hassle. Wish it just worked and I could try it out to see if its worth it, lol.
mike208 said:
Yeah I heard ya on the redundant buttons. What is the benefit of running at 240dpi as opposed to 320?
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you'll be able to see more things on the screen, for example there will be more stuff to swipe in the notification bar, more icons in the app drawer and icons/widgets will be a little smaller. be careful though because you'll have problems with the Play Store at certain dpi's.
enside0ut said:
you'll be able to see more things on the screen, for example there will be more stuff to swipe in the notification bar, more icons in the app drawer and icons/widgets will be a little smaller. be careful though because you'll have problems with the Play Store at certain dpi's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's sort of like taking your computer resolution from 800x600 to 1024x768.
SGH-i717 mesosphere-remix
elimedina2000 said:
I tried leaked S Voice APK and just like Samsung confirmed, it is only a test app and has many bugs. You can actually hear the difference since leaked test voice sound garbled. Latest one below is one that cam with S3 Rom leak and more up-to-date.
HOW DO YOU INSTALL?
1. Download ZIP on link below(Extract on your desktop). If you download to phone directly, you still need to extract to a normal folder.
2. Contained within is 2 files.(voicetalk.apk & libsvoxtts.so)
3. Place voicetalk.apk in system/app with "Root Explorer" or like(Use Mount R/W and set permissions by holding voicetalk.apk to see sub-menu). Make sure to make permissions as "rw-r--r--".
4. Now place libsvoxtts.so on /system/lib.
5. Reboot *****NO NEED TO CHANGE build.prop such as with others.
6. ENJOY, then ask funny questions to it.
__* IF YOU HEAR NO FEEDBACK, try turning media volume up by opening phone dialer or on youtube video, or a music song and such.
LNK: w w w .filedropper.com/svoiceextracted_1
***NOTE: I did limited testing, if you try on other roms and does not work, just delete both files.
***Warning, Try at own risk...Let me know if it works on other Roms not mentioned on Title...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is where to get it:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1661772
[ROM][Unofficial][CM9] h0tw1r3 Release 7 (6/19)
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Do a lot of launchers support tablet as well as phone mode?
Hey guys. Just wondering what launchers you have rocking on your Tab S.
I currently have Nova Launcher and Smart Launcher Pro. Both are very light on memory and I can zip through everything without a lag on my Tab S.
Any others?
domo325 said:
Hey guys. Just wondering what launchers you have rocking on your Tab S.
I currently have Nova Launcher and Smart Launcher Pro. Both are very light on memory and I can zip through everything without a lag on my Tab S.
Any others?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Going to try my apex shortly!
Using TSF Shell, works great without any lag.
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk
I've been running Nova. It's pretty much my go to and I like it, but I'm looking for other options as well.
Works well and nice and smooth.
Nova is always my goto as well.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using XDA Free mobile app
What grid size do you all use on Nova? I always have it looking weird where I have too many icons or they are too far apart.
Go Launcher Ex is far more feature packed than Nova and has cooler animations and themes. Additionally it seems to make whites whiter which means your browser will have more contrast and you can turn brightness down. It also has an extensive list of custom widgets. In addition when holding the tablet in landscape mode the icon dock goes vertical on the right side which is very handy because you can scroll through icons with your thumb.
Go Launcher bothers me. I've tried it on other tablets. It looks nice and does lots of things but there are so many addons that I feel I'm being sucked into something (not quite sure what). I like Nova or for simplicity CM's Trebuchet.
TonyBigs said:
Go Launcher bothers me. I've tried it on other tablets. It looks nice and does lots of things but there are so many addons that I feel I'm being sucked into something (not quite sure what). I like Nova or for simplicity CM's Trebuchet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chinese mind control ☺
I use NEXT launcher which is made by the go launcher team. I'm sure it's a system hog but I like the themes from Magic4works. I also like 3d mode on my phone. I do use Xprivacy to block personal information though.
Nova is my go too also very smooth experience and no lag on my note 3 and my g pad 8.3
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app
mitchellvii said:
Chinese mind control ☺
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(In robotic voice) Must download another addon...
I'm loving Lightning Launcher Extreme. It takes a bit to learn and get used to, but it's the *most* flexible and customizable launcher I've seen, and I went through about a dozen in the last year or so.
The trick to LL is to remember that it's a tree, and that all the branches are containers and all the leaves are single objects, and that all properties are inherited from the parent.
Each container is essentially a separate desktop that can have it's own size and grid, so my desktop can be a 10x16 grid, and my launcher bar can take up a 10x1 space, but internally be a 9x1 space.
Each container is individually zoomable and scrollable, unless you tell it not to be.
Containers and objects both can be unpinned from the grid and moved, rotated, skewed, and scaled with subpixel precision. This includes widget!
LL can also designate a desktop as the lock screen... so you can customize that as well.
As a topper, the Extreme edition allows scripting in JS with a few launcher specific extensions.
As mentioned, it took a bit to figure out, but my home screen is *exactly* how I want it.
Go Launcher is horrible. Are you being serious? I'm running Nova currently, but I've used, and purchased, the premium version of every launcher that's been out for longer than a year. I just get tires of the layout, or the interface, or something, so I go through all of them, shortly after I remember why I didn't like it, and I always end up back using Nova. It seems like the market has been flooded with new launchers over the last 6-12 months, too many to give them all a try so I'm trying to figure out which one to use next. On my Galaxy S5, I'm using Buzz Launcher, which is pretty cool because you can download entire homepacks, or screens, that other people have designed and all the widgets, icons, layouts, backgrounds, etc install automatically and since it supports 9 screens, I could n have a new look on my phone everyday. Unfortunately, it doesn't support landscape very well. I might go with Next Launcher next. I kind of miss the 3D effects it has. I always like to show it to friends who have an iPhone.
Any of you tried TSF launcher?
---------- Post added at 10:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:41 PM ----------
Rolldog said:
Go Launcher is horrible. Are you being serious? I'm running Nova currently, but I've used, and purchased, the premium version of every launcher that's been out for longer than a year. I just get tires of the layout, or the interface, or something, so I go through all of them, shortly after I remember why I didn't like it, and I always end up back using Nova. It seems like the market has been flooded with new launchers over the last 6-12 months, too many to give them all a try so I'm trying to figure out which one to use next. On my Galaxy S5, I'm using Buzz Launcher, which is pretty cool because you can download entire homepacks, or screens, that other people have designed and all the widgets, icons, layouts, backgrounds, etc install automatically and since it supports 9 screens, I could n have a new look on my phone everyday. Unfortunately, it doesn't support landscape very well. I might go with Next Launcher next. I kind of miss the 3D effects it has. I always like to show it to friends who have an iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have tried all of the launchers and you have not like any of them then maybe it isn't go launcher that is horrible but rather your expectations of a launcher. It sounds like you have like a relatively simple and straightforward launcher with a clean interface. With that in mind I'm not sure why you keep looking.
HughesNet said:
maybe it isn't go launcher that is horrible but rather your expectations of a launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, Go launcher just sucks...
Freakstyler said:
Nope, Go launcher just sucks...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? I've used Nova and Go and prefer Go quite clearly. Better screen contrast, better widgets, better animations, better themes, vertical dock in landscape. Go is constantly updated and improved whereas Nova doesn't seem to have significantly improved in years.
Please list for us the ways that Go Launcher sucks, what you prefer and specifically why it is superior.
Buzz is cool but almost too much for my tastes.
HughesNet said:
Any of you tried TSF launcher?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love TSF Shell on my S5, but for tablets, I prefer more simplicity for some reason. Therefore Apex is my daily launcher since it's customizations seem to meet my needs best. For some reason I've always had trouble with slight lag with Nova, especially with the dock.
Nova Launcher is by far the best launcher to use. So plain but customizable. You can do pretty much what you want with it. Not a fan of go launcher its bulky, and tries to force there cheesy widgets on me. Just my 2 cents.
On my S5, I use Go Launcher (for now) because I like to always change. For this tablet I still don't know what I want to use, I tried go launcher, nova, TSF but I haven't found the one yet. For now, I'm using the stock launcher for lack of a better choice .
Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk
Nova launcher used to be (arguably) the best free Android launcher - until now - so what's better?
Unfortunately, the day after Branch Analytics acquired Nova launcher, it grew in size by 150% (8MB to 12MB) without anyone noticing that "something" huge (but as yet unknown) is going on inside of the previously venerable Nova launcher.
So now, I, like anyone else who is logical, is in the market for a new "best Android launcher" app APK.
But which Android app launcher replaces the venerable Nova free APK?
Mostly what I loved about Nova was that the homescreen could be organized by any grid - or no grid (see screenshot example below).
What best launcher do you recommend to replace Nova [now that Nova was sold out and as such, it has (apparently) gone over to the dark side]?
I take you're on a Samsung device?
One UI shreds Nova on my N10+; faster and uses less battery even has some features Nova lacks. It's missing a trick or two that Nova can do. One UI is rock solid stable on my device, no issues.
After a 3rd party launcher boot looped me twice, back to back over 2 years ago I stopped sampling them One UI won.
blackhawk said:
I take you're on a Samsung device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. But I've been using Nova free launchers since the dawn of time on Motorola, LG, and other phones - simply because Nova did what nobody else could do - which was allow me to place any icon on any grid or no grid at all.
But now that Nova went over to the dark side - it's time for a new "best launcher" that works for more than just one brand of phones.
blackhawk said:
One UI shreds Nova on my N10+; faster and uses less battery even has some features Nova lacks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With batteries being five amps and more nowadays, I don't have any problem going days without a charge, but it's interesting you say that you found that one launcher uses more battery than another.
I've never tested how much battery power two different launchers use. But I've done a lot of battery power testing over the years.
The fact is that you can only use one launcher at a time - so it would be hard to test two of them side by side given only one can work at any given time frame on any one phone.
Sure you can test two launchers with two exact same phones side by side, but did you really run a test that detailed to conclude what you did?
Given that practical problem set, how could I tell if one launcher used more battery than another?
blackhawk said:
It's missing a trick or two that Nova can do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Besides putting icons on any grid (or no grid at all), what I next like best about Nova is I set up EVERY phone in the house, for years, with the same well-managed set of apps and icons.
Motorola
LG
Nexus
Samsung
They ALL have the same homescreen.
For years and years and years.
Note that what you do on a computer never changes so the organization of the homescreen never changes.
Does the Samsung OneUI launcher save a backup file to be used on any brand of phone?
Nova launcher easily saves a backup file which is imported into the new phone. It's TRIVIAL to re-install all the apps in the EXACT same place from the old phone to the new phone, even when you move from an LG phone to a Samsung phone.
There's no way any Samsung launcher could possibly do that, right?
blackhawk said:
One UI is rock solid stable on my device, no issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My only experience with One UI is that I originally saw it when I got a handful of Samsung Galaxy A32-5G phones from T-Mobile for free.
I didn't like it at all but maybe it does the two most important things that Nova free does?
1. Put any icon on any grid (or no grid at all), and,
2. Save a backup file of the homescreen to load onto any other device
Note that this backup file includes all installed apps in the location that they are installed in - which - for me - is important since EVERY app icon is placed in an EXACT location for a reason.
There's a third thing I love about Nova free launcher but I don't know if it's part of the launcher or part of Android 12, which is:
3. Place a widget INSIDE any folder on the homescreen
Is THAT last feature of being able to resize a widget and then place it INSIDE a folder on the homescreen part of Android 12 or Nova launcher? (If it's part of Nova, then can One UI do that too?)
blackhawk said:
After a 3rd party launcher boot looped me twice, back to back over 2 years ago I stopped sampling them. One UI won.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have nothing against One UI because my only experience with it was that it was the first launcher I saw when I received my free Samsung phones from T-Mobile and the last Samsung I had was about ten years or so ago (the S3) but what I asked on the Samsung groups what apps from Samsung were worth getting just about a month ago.
Is there any app in the Samsung Galaxy Store worth the login requirements?Note the screenshots show you can resize widgets and then place those resized widgets INSIDE folders on the homescreen.
That homepage is way too busy and not AMOLED friendly at all.
In 24 hours this is what One UI used...
One UI supports folders which are a lot better than burning up pixels. Over time this will happen. I rotate my icons, folders and widgets to spread out the wear. The icon packs are red for a reason, red pixels have the longest lifespan, blue the shortest. No wear if a pixel isn't light and it's easier on your eyes.
I'm not too concerned with backup. I want a clean load if I have to factory reset to avoid doing another one. The current load on this phone is over 2yo and running strong. I keep a screenshot to help with setup. SmartSwitch will preserve some homepage settings but it can also cause issues.
Apex Launcher Classic, get the PRO and Apex Notifier.
You can use ancient Launcher and Icon packs, I've kept many old Apex Themes from 2013 and on, and they all still work with the latest Apex Classic.
Offers the same features as Nova.
Its clean.
I understand you are looking for a FREE launcher, but with the launcher being so integral to your device experience, maybe thats the one app you should be prepared to pay for.
I have been using what I think is the most powerful and customizable launcher. Not only does it do the few things you mentioned:
Put any icon on any grid (or no grid at all), and,
Save a backup file of the homescreen to load onto any other device
Note that this backup file includes all installed apps in the location that they are installed in - which - for me - is important since EVERY app icon is placed in an EXACT location for a reason.
Place a widget INSIDE any folder on the homescreen (yes thats launcher specific)
So it does ALL what you listed (i know its a quick list), but also (among many MANY other things..)
Folders inside folders, inside folders.... and widgets n deep in the folder structure
Any widget can be Resized, Scaled (Different to resize which I think is more on the widget to resize itself), Rotated, transparency, Skewed (think parallelogram), positioned to a decimal pixel position
All visible (or even hidden transparent hot-spots) have complete control of the event (eg start ab app, start a script etc) or I *thinik* even multiple actions (I dont use that feature)
All items covered by 3 above also have short AND long press events (Tap, Long Tap, Swipe Left, Swipe Right, Swipe up, Swipe down) I personally have transparent hot-spots (on top of other widgets that respond to their default tap), that I swipe uy[p on to turn on AUID and down to turn off AOD. I also have a long press on my navigation, which turns on GPS, Bluetooth (to connect and call handsfree), starts my music player, starts playing the music and finally starts the Navigation app ready to navigate.
Lots of visual effects such as shadow of the text
Control of the Font, Size, position/offset
"Reflections" on the icons, as if they are hovering above a crystal clear pool/puddle of water
You can have/add code to make your own things. There is an example out there how to add a analogue clock simply with code. Well beyond any of my needs.
and on and on and on...
My personal experience is, if you can imagine it, then there is a way to do it. I have been using it since gingerbread, and as I upgrade device and/or ROMs, I use the backup / restore to get the launcher config started. NB: The private widget data/config doesn't come across in the launcher backup, but a "fallback" image/placeholder is show, reminding you of how you previously had it set up. So although there is a steep learning curve, and with ALL the different options/function can take some time to set up how you want, a lot will transfer onto your next device or ROM. But since its a paid app, you can only run it on one device at a time.
Now, the thing to REALLY take note of, the default set-up on first install is utter TOTAL rubbish ,and so are the preview/demo images on the PlayStore. It really is a case of "if you can imagine it, you can do it"
Oh, and the launcher is called "Lightening Launcher Extreme"
The following are some screen shots I qui8ckly snapped, but the actual config is of course very personal. And because its so customizable, I can do things others will hate I just quickly flashed through the screens I personally use the most in set-up, but didn't scroll through anything or ensured I got everything that is beyond the screen and there are many more options/features I dont use; or even know about.
Part of the problems Nova is having maybe the same that ones Samsung is having dealing with scoped storage and other changes starting with Android 10. I have 2 N10+'s, one still running on Pie, the newer one on 10. The look and behave almost identically except the Android 10 has a 100 or more small Samsung system apks.
I prefer Pie because it's easier to troubleshoot and provides better functionality for trusted apps. I don't even want to see what 11, and especially 12/beta 13 look like. Maybe it's not so much Nova but rather Android that has turned to the dark Apple side...
imonxda said:
Apex Launcher Classic...
Offers the same features as Nova.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that suggestion of the Apex Launcher to replace the functionality of the Nova free launcher, specifically:
a. Place homescreen folders on any grid, or no grid at allb. Export homescreen and import into ANY brand of phonec. Resize widgets and place widgets INSIDE folders
Assuming the free version of the Apex Launcher is this one...
Apex Launcher by Android DOES teamFree, contains ads, contains in-app purchases, requires GSF,rated 4.2 out of 354K reviews with 10M+ Downloads
That sucks in terms of requiring GSF (Nova free doesn't spy on us with GSF, and no app should ever need to use GSF calls) and requiring ads (again, Nova free doesn't have any ads and no launcher should, IMHO); but unfortunately, the description on the Google Play Store doesn't say whether Apex Launcher can do the three most important things that I feel ANY "best" launcher should do (see above).
Bear in mind there are a billion app launchers, where there's a good REASON Nova free was almost universally hailed as the best out there.
If Branch Analytics didn't take over TeslaCoil software, I wouldn't even be LOOKING for a better app launcher... (sigh)... but no free app launcher with ads and lack of privacy can possibly be on the list of the "best" there is.
That's just impossible (IMHO of course).
No app can be the "best" if it has ads and if it sucks out your privacy.
BTW, I know full well what I'm asking is NOT an easy question to answer... otherwise I'd have found the answer already, but I do appreciate the suggestions.
In order to be "better" than Nova free, it can't be worse.
GalaxyA325G said:
Thanks for that suggestion of the Apex Launcher to replace the functionality of the Nova free launcher, specifically:
a. Place homescreen folders on any grid, or no grid at allb. Export homescreen and import into ANY brand of phonec. Resize widgets and place widgets INSIDE folders
Assuming the free version of the Apex Launcher is this one...
Apex Launcher by Android DOES teamFree, contains ads, contains in-app purchases, requires GSF,rated 4.2 out of 354K reviews with 10M+ Downloads
That sucks in terms of requiring GSF (Nova free doesn't spy on us with GSF, and no app should ever need to use GSF calls) and requiring ads (again, Nova free doesn't have any ads and no launcher should, IMHO); but unfortunately, the description on the Google Play Store doesn't say whether Apex Launcher can do the three most important things that I feel ANY "best" launcher should do (see above).
Bear in mind there are a billion app launchers, where there's a good REASON Nova free was almost universally hailed as the best out there.
If Branch Analytics didn't take over TeslaCoil software, I wouldn't even be LOOKING for a better app launcher... (sigh)... but no free app launcher with ads and lack of privacy can possibly be on the list of the "best" there is.
That's just impossible (IMHO of course).
No app can be the "best" if it has ads and if it sucks out your privacy.
BTW, I know full well what I'm asking is NOT an easy question to answer... otherwise I'd have found the answer already, but I do appreciate the suggestions.
In order to be "better" than Nova free, it can't be worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, absolutely correct, Apex Launcher DOES NOT have all the features your looking for, but AndroidDOES has brought back the Classic launcher (I'm assuming because of popular demand) it is called Apex Launcher Classic - this is FAR superior to the new-ish Apex Launcher. BTW, some of the best features of Apex Classic are unavailable without the paid Pro but most features work with free version.
As for privacy concerns, you can use something like My Android Tools Pro, it will tell you exactly what an app like Apex is doing behind the scenes and it gives you control over all hidden activities. https://www.myandroidtools.com/ it has been kicked out of Google play store, I don't know the reason, but I've been using this app for years, I have never seen any evidence of malware in it, and it has revealed the spying, reporting activities, and ad activities of all other apps I use and I can actually STOP these activities, I trust it.
It takes a bit of getting-used-to, but it works great once you do (get used to it). Some advice, check the About in settings for automatic detection of newly installed or updated apps feature, and check the Apps tab at the bottom, then select any app and then tap "see all component info", this is really helpful and easily overlooked feature.
@DiamondJohn That's a cool Launcher I've never heard of, I will certainly check it out
GalaxyA325G said:
Nova launcher used to be (arguably) the best free Android launcher - until now - so what's better?
Unfortunately, the day after Branch Analytics acquired Nova launcher, it grew in size by 150% (8MB to 12MB) without anyone noticing that "something" huge (but as yet unknown) is going on inside of the previously venerable Nova launcher.
So now, I, like anyone else who is logical, is in the market for a new "best Android launcher" app APK.
But which Android app launcher replaces the venerable Nova free APK?
Mostly what I loved about Nova was that the homescreen could be organized by any grid - or no grid (see screenshot example below).
What best launcher do you recommend to replace Nova [now that Nova was sold out and as such, it has (apparently) gone over to the dark side]?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Love Niagara launcher
Pear Launcher - Apps on Google Play
Download Pear launcher — a launcher designed for performance and customization.
play.google.com
Just started using this app and it's pretty good so far