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!
So umm, I see a lot of people talking about "changing the launcher". But I do not know what a launcher is. I see it in my settings (running MIUI on my Infuse 4G).
So my question, and yes I know I probably sound like a knowledgeless-fool. But, what is a launcher?
A launcher is an interface replacement that gives u a new home screen and app drawer. U can customize it a lot according to ur choice
Best are go launcher, adw and launcher pro
I think this will help you. if it does please THANK me.
Sent from my Blade
Like ICS said, a launcher changes your homescreen and appdrawer, making it prettier and sometimes even more useful. I haven't used MIUI personally. Maybe it comes with a launcher, and maybe it has some features that a new launcher would duplicate. I know CM7 comes with ADW Launcher.
My favourite things about LauncherPro: First, you can change the homescreen grid size. Second, you can swipe between multiple docks. You can make dock icons link to activities, not just applications. And you can assign different shortcuts for swiping a dock icon. So if I press the phone icon, it goes to the dialer; if I swipe it, it goes to the call log. Plus any launcher is going to be prettier than stock, but MIUI is beautiful itself.
There's no harm in trying out a couple of different launchers. I prefer LP, others prefer Go or ADW. I know Go and ADW are much more theme-able. The only thing is that with a rom like MIUI that already looks good, a new launcher might look out of place.
Launcher is the bit you see and use when your not running an app or making a phone call.
You can change it easily by going to the android market and downloading a new one like nemus launcher or go launcher ex.
Once downloaded they will auto install. You can try the new launcher without changing your current one by pressing phones home button.
Menu pops up asking which launcher to use, choose the name of the new one and try it out.
If you want to keep it press home again but before choosing new launcher this time tick the box it shows saying "use as default launcher".
If you don't like it just do the same with the tick but choose your original launcher instead.
Dave
Sent from my LG P920 using Tapatalk
I.. do not understand.. So it is like a theme?
Not exactly. It's a replacement.
For example, suppose ur running the stock eclair with the slide up vertical app drawer
Now, u want a button to launch the drawer., and u want it to be horizontal. How will u do it?
Enter Launchers
It replaces the drawer with its own, and its own dock bar
In short, it is not a theme, but a replacement that CAN BE THEMED
Sent from my Blade using xda premium
You know Sense, AOSP and Touchwhiz? Well they are default "Launchers"
Launchers can be downloaded from the market w/o root.
They are like a different style of homescreen...
The launcher is the programm you use to launch or start an app on your phone. The launchers UI (User Interface) is what you see as your home screen. Changing the launchers behaviour means changing the way icons are displayed or the pages flip. It lets you customize the way your phones OS feels and looks.
Does this answer your initial question?
Andy
Sent from my DesireS using XDA
Exactly on my mind
Well.put
Sent from my Blade using xda premium
If you are running ICS, Nova Launcher is a good one to check out too. It can be found in the Google Play Store. There is a pay version, but the normal one is fully featured IMO. Of course, try out a few and see what you prefer for your setup. When I hit the home button on my phone, it lets me select which launcher it uses by default so you can swap them out.
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
Just wondering what you guys use for the launcher that comes with a phone or Nova etc, Please share! Does custom launchers can save you battery?
Sent from my D6503 using XDA Free mobile app
I use Nova Launcher, just because I like it [emoji4]. Stock launcher is excellent too I think but I don't see any negative effect on my battery with Nova. If there is it's soon little that I don't care.
The stock launcher is ok but I have always preferred Nova launcher so much that I bought the prime version, I also have Apex launcher Pro as well but find Nova smoother & quicker.
Using Nova now. Runs a bit smoother then stock
Stock
Google Now launcher. It's been available in the play store since earlier this week and Z2 is supported.
Nova on everything.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
I will use nova if stock widgets qorking on nova
Nova launcher
Wysłane z mojego D6503 przy użyciu Tapatalka
smart launcher just because its easy to organize apps
Nova launcher. The default one is fine too and better in some ways, but nova works the best for me.
Smart launcher, few shortcut on the desktop and a clock. Do you really need something else?
Sicksky for me, running CM. Minimal, fast, light.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2404089
I like the app drawer on stock, but have been using themer. I haven't looked into Nova too much, recent switch after having 4 iphones. It's odd since you'd think I'd want everything on my homescreen after years with iOS but suddenly I'm all weird about how my app drawer looks.
Google Now launcher. Not interested in bloat and unnecessary, performance-and-battery-sapping gloss.
What is the actual advantage in running a custom launcher? I keep hearing the term banded about but I've never changed my launcher, not even when I was running CM on my old Galaxy S3, I just left it with whatever happened to be there.
Lagamorph said:
What is the actual advantage in running a custom launcher? I keep hearing the term banded about but I've never changed my launcher, not even when I was running CM on my old Galaxy S3, I just left it with whatever happened to be there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More customisation and snappier experience are usually the main reasons. Some launcher have additional functions like organising your apps for you and etc.
I used to be a huge Sony stock launcher fan but then I tried nova and never looked back
Might have to give a custom launcher a try now I'm rooted then and see what all the fuss is about.
Lagamorph said:
What is the actual advantage in running a custom launcher? I keep hearing the term banded about but I've never changed my launcher, not even when I was running CM on my old Galaxy S3, I just left it with whatever happened to be there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The biggest advantage for me is the possibility to add more rows/columns in the homescreen and app drawer, having only 4 columns look ugly and outdated. Being able to download custom icon packs is a huge deal too.
I'm new to Huawei as I recently switched from an iPhone to the Huawei mate 20 pro and I'd like to know why some icons are circles and the others are rounded squares and if there's a solution to it. personally would like my icons to be rounded squares as I'm used to have in the iPhone but in this new phone, circles and squares get mixed and creates this ugly homescreen that I have to see everyday.
I've looked into some icon packs and they usually involve installing a launcher, which I do not want, because I've heard they decrease performance, and then most of them have some bugged icons or are too different from the original ones and are ugly.
So, I am no phone expert but I don't see a solution to keep the Huawei home launcher and have uniform icons. If you have any, id be grateful if you could please let me know.
Some icons are huawei system icons, others are developer icons like Google messages or 3rd party apps
The best way install icon pack, best using Nova launcher or another 3rd party launcher with icon customisation.
Sent from my HUAWEI LYA-L09 using XDA Labs
to EloctPT:
Hi, I had a same problem with the different shape of icons and I tried some themes from Play Store and I can recommended you themes from Aurel. Every theme has a same shape (circles or rounded squares).
Themes can be a good way around it.
Don't be too quick to dismiss using launchers and icon packs though. Later firmware versions have fixed a lot of the issues people were having with third party launchers and gestures for example. Performance isn't really affected by a good launcher.
Grondah said:
Themes can be a good way around it.
Don't be too quick to dismiss using launchers and icon packs though. Later firmware versions have fixed a lot of the issues people were having with third party launchers and gestures for example. Performance isn't really affected by a good launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This! I've never ever used launchers on my Android phones for the past 5 years or so however I'm in love with Nova prime on the mate! Do your self a favor and buy the Nova prime and customize it your way. I love how my screen looks now, everything is uniform and organized. Also the mate is a powerful beast. If ****ty phones can run Nova, don't you think the mate, having one of the most powerful processors out there, can handle Nova with breeze. Also I've not seen any battery impact whatsoever. In 24 hours of use, with 8 hours of screen on time, Nova only used about 20 minutes worth of CPU, which is nothing.