Just curious, why does everyone seem to lean towards ADW vs. Launcher Pro? Launcher Pro just seems to run so much smoother on the Nexus I was wondering why people would prefer ADW.
I prefer ADW because it runs so much smoother for me.
Plus it has one feature I cannot live without now. The slide up/down gestures. I normally have the Status Bar hidden, so I can't slide down on it to get the notification tray. Now I can just slide down anywhere on the screen to pull down the tray.
Zenoran said:
Just curious, why does everyone seem to lean towards ADW vs. Launcher Pro? Launcher Pro just seems to run so much smoother on the Nexus I was wondering why people would prefer ADW.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 10chars
I use Launcher Pro as well. Seems a good amount of people use ADW because its the default launcher in CM. (cyanogen choose it because its open source and LP isnt)
Also the fact that it is open source is a reason I like it too. Not because of some philosophy, but because there are already a number of different developers contributing to it. And I know that if Anderweb ever stops development on it, someone else can continue. It gives me hope that it will be a very long lasting launcher.
Why do some people like red cars? or Ford over GM? (notice how I Americanized that <, I was going to say Renault but I don't suppose our US/foreign friends would have understood)....
It's just personal preference, neither is right or wrong, it just is.
Clarkster said:
I prefer ADW because it runs so much smoother for me.
Plus it has one feature I cannot live without now. The slide up/down gestures. I normally have the Status Bar hidden, so I can't slide down on it to get the notification tray. Now I can just slide down anywhere on the screen to pull down the tray.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. Also, the option to stretch the homescreen to 8x8. I'm going with 4x6 right now; last I used it, Launcher Pro only offered up to 4x5.
Smooth-wise, both LP and ADW are similar on my Nexus One Stock Froyo. I can't see LP much smoother than ADW.
I am used to ADW's "pull up home button to show hidden app dock". I put taskpanel and Mobile setting things there which I can easily access but don't wanna be visible all the time. The swipe left/right dock in launcher pro is unnatural to me.
On the other hand, I compared both launchers (briefly) on battery usage and it looked like with launcher pro my battery was going away faster. That was a few weeks ago and several updates had been made so I can't tell now.
ADW is open source so that may be a deciding factor. Also resizing widgets is great and a feature that was missing since the last time I used LauncherPro.
I have LauncherPro as well and have to say I am quite impressed with it. The main reason I have it is to save my nexus one from screen burn by the notification bar... but its speed and stability sure dont hurt either
ap3604 said:
I have LauncherPro as well and have to say I am quite impressed with it. The main reason I have it is to save my nexus one from screen burn by the notification bar... but its speed and stability sure dont hurt either
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as far as i know, LCD and AMOLED screens does not suffer from screen burn... weird you said that
drbuns said:
ADW is open source so that may be a deciding factor. Also resizing widgets is great and a feature that was missing since the last time I used LauncherPro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my experience setting different sizes for a widget just caused it to break its display (text overflowing or items clipped off). It seems the only reason the feature exists is because ADW allows you to setup different amounts of rows/columns of icons, and since widgets work by taking up certain amount of icon spaces they had to also then add the option to say how much icons it should take up to end up looking normal. (Confusing, huh?)
This is actually what caused me to switch away from ADW to LauncherPro. They seem very similar, but ADW was going down the path of configuration hell where they introduce confusing options that cause features to break and need even more confusing options.
The real thing is, none of those options seem to improve anything for me, but they started getting in my way. Every time I added a widget ADW then asked me to specify how it should be sized. UGH!
All I really want is the stock launcher with smooth scrolling. These launchers seem to start off just being that but slowly grow into feature-creep beasts.
LauncherPro is faster than ADW. fact.
LauncherPro's app drawer (3D) is MUCH faster and smoother than ADW's. fact.
LaucherPro has more customization to the bottom 5 buttons than ADW. fact.
ADW is built into CM5.x, LauncherPro isn't. That's about the only drawback, and a weird one.
I am also a fan of LP, and i also found it to be a tad smoother and better responsive. imho
I just tried out ADW launcher for a bit instead of my default LauncherPro and have to say whike it seems like a great launcher as well there's two things the DarkDVR covered that I havr to agree with:
1. LauncherPro seems faster to me.
2. I LOVE how you can customize shortcuts on the botton of your screen. Im an extreme minimalist and the only things I want on my homescreen is the appdrawer button with quicksettings to the left of it and my browser to the right. Nothing else. With ADW you can't customize and are stuck with the phone and stock broswer on you homescreen.
Two things that I like better about ADW though:
1. The ability to swipe down while the notification bar is hidden to see it. Not a huge deal since I can just press menu while using LauncherPro to have the notification bar pop up and then pull it down.
2. When rotating your phone to landscape your wallpaper picture stays nice. In LauncherPro it messes your wallpaper photo will only show the top of the wallpaper that you usually can see fully while in portrait.
ap3604 said:
With ADW you can't customize and are stuck with the phone and stock broswer on you homescreen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's wrong, just drag and drop any icon you want onto the shortcut spots on the bottom of the screen. And if you want 4 down there you can turn on the extra spots in the settings. Plus if you press and slide up on the 'all apps' button you get another bar to drop more icons on to, unlimited in size as it scrolls left and right.
I've used LauncherPro for 2 or so weeks, then ADW for the last 2 or so weeks...
ADW FC's a *lot* more, particularly during configuration (adding/removing apps or widgets, wallpaper, etc) but also at weird random other times, like 5-10s after launching an app.. Happens perhaps 1-3 times a day for me.
ADW squeezing more into the homescreen is nice.. I actually like that I can have 5x5 on the homescreen, although I don't think I'd want more.. And the Widget config does get more confusing along with it, but it's nice that 4x4 widgets can fill the whole screen even set 5x5.
I don't use the gesture options.. Too finicky, I usually wind up moving the screen sideways or launching an app.
ADW can uninstall a program directly from the app drawer.. Drag it out, drag it to the trash, hover.. Don't recall LP being able to do that.
LauncherPro is smoother and I don't recall it ever FC'ing on me.. I think one can adjust the rows/columns available, but IIRC the Widgets then fit kinda weird on the screen, and of course had less visible space and in some cases were cropped weird because they were smaller than they should be. Don't remember, I'll have to try it out again.
People use LP's 3d app drawer? I hate it.. It wastes like 30% of the screen... Different strokes..
Cons for both: Live Wallpaper. I don't use this much, sometimes I fire it up before I'm showing off the phone.. but both launchers slow WAY down with LW going. Less than the default Nexus homescreen.
I'll try LauncherPro again.. It's had a few version updates I just wish it were possible to sync all of the settings, vs having to set each launcher up.
Clarkster said:
That's wrong, just drag and drop any icon you want onto the shortcut spots on the bottom of the screen. And if you want 4 down there you can turn on the extra spots in the settings. Plus if you press and slide up on the 'all apps' button you get another bar to drop more icons on to, unlimited in size as it scrolls left and right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But can you pick any icon for the shortcuts?
DarkDvr said:
But can you pick any icon for the shortcuts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you can't pick any icon you like unless you have one of those other icon customization programs. I was just responding to the claim that you can never change it from phone and browser.
khaytsus said:
People use LP's 3d app drawer? I hate it.. It wastes like 30% of the screen... Different strokes..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, but it's just such a kick in the balls for google - private developers made the same 3D app drawer, but it's like 500% more efficient. Although... as google said on IO conf, that's exactly what they want from the community.. to replace standard android components with more efficient, customizable stuff.
Something you never gonna hear from apple. Something that will ultimately have Android ruling over the world with an iron fist of freedom and customization
Related
The only thing I dislike about the blur interface is the bottom stuff switching to adore me what screen I'm on. Any way to disable, or decrease the time it shows?
I know this sounds stupid but just to mention that if you hit a blank area on the screen it will start the minimizing animation of the bar immediately instead of waiting for it to time out.
Quite honestly you should try a different launcher. I like ADW.Launcher. Many others around like Launcher Pro. You will find much more customization and features with those Launchers.
The only "problem" I have found is that some of the blur widgets don't play nice with ADW. ie, If I use any of the Blur widgets, I can't resize them. However, I don't really like any of the blur widgets and don't use them.
I've used all those launchers. Open home, dxtop, launcher pro, adw. I actually like the original on this phone except for that home screen bar thing.
I don't see a problem with blur now that i got used to it. Its great. If you hit the wrong thing and the switch bar comes up you have to wait a little over a second? Don't be. Impatient.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
AaronsDarts said:
I don't see a problem with blur now that i got used to it. Its great. If you hit the wrong thing and the switch bar comes up you have to wait a little over a second? Don't be. Impatient.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kind of defeats the purpose of buying 1ghz phones doesn't it?
Let's just go back to 200 Mhz Arm processors and be patient
Battery will last longer I'm sure.
So, I am a fan of ADW and LauncherPro. Both have some really cool features. I've always had a tough time deciding between the two, and really wished there was a best of both worlds. Then I stumbled across Live Home and viola! Has 5 desktop transitions: Default, Cube (like GDE), Book (like turning a page), Stretch, Rotate (kind of like a 2D sheet you flip over to next page). Also features a Task Manager, Icon Manager (changes apps in drawer too(!), both Icon pack and Gallery supported), Themeable (panda/ahome/open home), lots of Wallpapers, and you are supposed to be able to drag apks from SD card to the Desktop. Only thing I was unhappy with, was the abundance of ads. But, since it is a free app, you really can't complain too much. Luckily Jcase's Adblocker:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=666328 works great. Anyway, you can check it out here:
http://www.androidpit.com/en/android/market/apps/app/com.mo.android.livehome/LiveHome
I'll give it a shot, downloading now.
So just checking back in after using LiveHome for awhile. I have to say, I can not personally recommend this anymore. Had way too many issues with the icon management. I would change the icons and/or hide the ones I don't need on a regular basis and LiveHome would pick and choose when it wanted to follow these instructions. It would often hide apps that I wanted or randomly change the icon back to normal in the app drawer even though it might be changed in the settings. I'm sad about this as I really liked being able to change my icons easily and the book page turning home transition. Ah well, at least it was free...
It's not a bad app. No problems with the icons. Only dilemma I have is use live wallpaper or transistons cause you can't use both. When it comes this I guess it is to each their own.
Yea, I've found that the newer version: 1.0.3 is a little more stable for me. I really like the book transition and changing the app drawer icons, now...if only it were stable like ADW or Launcherpro - it'd be a winner for sure.
if it was more stable it would not be free lol. Awsome app never the less
Hi everyone, I've been playing with new Nexus S (my first android phone) for a few days now, and I can't decide on which homescreen launcher to use because each has features I like and lacks some that the others have. Maybe someone can find a remedy for me. I've made some notes about what I like or dislike about the following three launchers I've used.
ADWLauncher EX:
Separate catalogs on drawer
Lacks scrolling dock (hidden dock is less intuitive to me)
Best homescreen transitions
Go Launcher:
Gesture response for icons on dock
Tab to see running apps from app drawer that lets you kill or switch between tasks easily. However, the tab takes away space from the icons. Maybe there's another way to access something like this, a gesture for example? (image here)
Best edit function for screens: provides convenient way to move icons from one screen to another, lets reposition screens, delete
2 touch access to phone settings from menu button
Share access from menu button
Launcher Pro:
Missed calls/sms/email notification in the doc
I personally like Zeam..
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
The main reason I use LPP is because of he cal widget and being able to use custom dock images. Over ADW EX that is.
Launcher Pro Plus, by far.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/homesmack/com.teslacoilsw.homesmack
I like Zeam. Light and fast!
Actually I'll further confuse you.
32 Home Replacements Reviewed
http://hubpages.com/hub/Droid-Home-Replacement-App-Comparison
There's a way to get the "counts" in ADW with paid app "ADWNotifier".
kschang said:
Actually I'll further confuse you.
32 Home Replacements Reviewed
http://hubpages.com/hub/Droid-Home-Replacement-App-Comparison
There's a way to get the "counts" in ADW with paid app "ADWNotifier".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're terrible.
That review is crap.
That review is crap. Launcher pro hard to configure my assss.
kevin2516 said:
That review is crap. Launcher pro hard to configure my assss.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am guessing you mean LauncherPro? Compared to drag-and-drop of HelixLauncher dock config, LauncherPro dock IS hard to config.
Why is LauncherPro so popular here? I feel like its the most limited. No long-hold uninstall or edit from the homescreen like the others. I liked it the least out ADW, Go Launcher, and LauncherPro.
glasslung said:
Why is LauncherPro so popular here? I feel like its the most limited. No long-hold uninstall or edit from the homescreen like the others. I liked it the least out ADW, Go Launcher, and LauncherPro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is.
glasslung said:
Why is LauncherPro so popular here? I feel like its the most limited. No long-hold uninstall or edit from the homescreen like the others. I liked it the least out ADW, Go Launcher, and LauncherPro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think LPP was the first Launcher to have a drop-to-uninstall function.
Zeam. Minimalistic, light, fast, awesome.
Sent from a piece of ginger bread
I have tried them all and I always end up back with LauncherPro plus.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
Finally I saw the new ADWLauncher EX screen shot for honeycomb.
it looks really nice I think, has anyone tried it yet?
I'm gonna pay or the app soon, but don't you think 3$ is pretty much for a launcher!!?
mehras1991 said:
Finally I saw the new ADWLauncher EX screen shot for honeycomb.
it looks really nice I think, has anyone tried it yet?
I'm gonna pay or the app soon, but don't you think 3$ is pretty much for a launcher!!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh it's well worth the payment. I've been using ADWLauncher EX on my Xoom since launch day. It was always pretty good then, but now it got another update for Honeycomb tablets. (It had one before this latest update that came out a few months back for 3.1 tablets.)
It's fast, stable, and has very has many features to customize. I say 110% yes to ADW!
yes i have it on my xoom and looks very nice, doung some good tweks to get my new home screen setup. But hope some update can hide the logo ADW in the top to make ir more clean. Maybe a little expensive but it deserves.
See ya!
scrolling in scroll-able widgets (such as gmail/email/wizz ) is very lagging
intensus said:
yes i have it on my xoom and looks very nice, doung some good tweks to get my new home screen setup. But hope some update can hide the logo ADW in the top to make ir more clean. Maybe a little expensive but it deserves.
See ya!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the latest update, the logo has been replaced with the app drawer icon. Much smaller than the Adw launcher icon was, and much more useful because it actually has a purpose. I don't use the upper left hand corner app drawer icon, as I have a different screen setup. So, I suppose I don't need that little icon there myself, though it hardly takes up any space.
diablo2224 said:
With the latest update, the logo has been replaced with the app drawer icon. Much smaller than the Adw launcher icon was, and much more useful because it actually has a purpose. I don't use the upper left hand corner app drawer icon, as I have a different screen setup. So, I suppose I don't need that little icon there myself, though it hardly takes up any space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, you can disable all the of top bar buttons (including the icons) from within ADW.
Long Press Screen,
Select Launcher Actions,
Select Hide/Show Action Bar.
Then I just delete the added icon. More Screen Real Estate for the win!
hipocrazy said:
Actually, you can disable all the of top bar buttons (including the icons) from within ADW.
Long Press Screen,
Select Launcher Actions,
Select Hide/Show Action Bar.
Then I just delete the added icon. More Screen Real Estate for the win!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great tip! With the Notification bar remover app this is great.
it has a few quirks and you lose the cooler stock animations from honeycomb...still not a perfect replacement for me yet. Too phonish for me still...sure they have an expandable dock now, but everything else is textbook from what I can run on my phone. I'm holding out for something just for tabs.
Mandelbrot.Benoit said:
Great tip! With the Notification bar remover app this is great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, pretty slick! As well as the Notification bar gone I use Virutal Button Bar (Market) for any home, back etc. buttons I'm missing.
hipocrazy said:
Actually, you can disable all the of top bar buttons (including the icons) from within ADW.
Long Press Screen,
Select Launcher Actions,
Select Hide/Show Action Bar.
Then I just delete the added icon. More Screen Real Estate for the win!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yeah, I saw that a few days ago when the update came out. Forgot to mention that. I removed the top bar just now, and it's nice. I love ADW. I use it on both my phone and tablet alike!
More screen space equals more awesomeness!
hipocrazy said:
Actually, you can disable all the of top bar buttons (including the icons) from within ADW.
Long Press Screen,
Select Launcher Actions,
Select Hide/Show Action Bar.
Then I just delete the added icon. More Screen Real Estate for the win!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG IT WORKS...this is the only reason i have stayed on version 1.2.2 on my xoom .
Nevermind, it comes back every time i reboot Going back to 1.2.2.
but, don't you guys think, the stock one is still better?
I'm happy with all the features it got, but I feel like I have more space to use in stock anyway.
+ I feel like scrolling between the pages is not so good.
mehras1991 said:
but, don't you guys think, the stock one is still better?
I'm happy with all the features it got, but I feel like I have more space to use in stock anyway.
+ I feel like scrolling between the pages is not so good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Faster and nice you can use icon packs but stock animations are better hands down the adw animations just aren't as cool on a tablet
mehras1991 said:
but, don't you guys think, the stock one is still better?
I'm happy with all the features it got, but I feel like I have more space to use in stock anyway.
+ I feel like scrolling between the pages is not so good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ADW has a screen adjustment setting. You can set the screen to a 10x10 grid. It has screen transition options as well to adjust. You might have to adjust the flick scroll settings or change the transition type for what works best for you. If you want full launcher customization... go with ADW, but if you do not want to fuss with the technical details I say to stay with the stock launcher all the way. It's a straight out of the box experience with nothing to set up or adjust.
ADW is not laggy or slow in the least bit. Maybe you need to try some adjustments/tweaks if you are going to use ADW. There are plenty of those found in the options. Stock launchers I feel have always been laggy, as they are just the basic core launcher with little or no options. The bare bones in most cases just to get you started, if you will. But, Google is always working on the launcher. Soon enough the default launcher will be excellent. It's getting much better for sure.
I would like if if you could put the bar at the bottom to the left.
diablo2224 said:
ADW has a screen adjustment setting. You can set the screen to a 10x10 grid. It has screen transition options as well to adjust. You might have to adjust the flick scroll settings or change the transition type for what works best for you. If you want full launcher customization... go with ADW, but if you do not want to fuss with the technical details I say to stay with the stock launcher all the way. It's a straight out of the box experience with nothing to set up or adjust.
ADW is not laggy or slow in the least bit. Maybe you need to try some adjustments/tweaks if you are going to use ADW. There are plenty of those found in the options. Stock launchers I feel have always been laggy, as they are just the basic core launcher with little or no options. The bare bones in most cases just to get you started, if you will. But, Google is always working on the launcher. Soon enough the default launcher will be excellent. It's getting much better for sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for help with settings, I think they help me like it somehow more than the stock.
I was probably the biggest skeptic on replacing my stock launcher, so i didnt. I still use it. I used this to supplement it. Its nowhere near a phone feel once you customize...just remove top bar and don't use app dock. The custom transitions bring a breath of fresh air to my xoom, and the 4d app scroll is friggin awesome. Make sure you adjust the speed on open/closing. I hate saying this, but trust me.
. Xoom being field tested in Iraq.
I´m officially impressed. Just bought it, along with HD widgets.
Does any1 have a working scrollable twitter widget ? On the SGS2 I use the twitter launcherpro native widget... with the Xoom I was using the Plume Twitter client Widget.
But sad thing, it appears that the plume widget won´t work at all with ADW
Now I don´t have a decent twitter widget (still looking for a news and facebook scrollable) widgets
In adw go into settings, general behavior, system preferences and change scrolling cache to low. Should help with scrolling Widgets.
Try android pro Widgets for Facebook or twitter Widgets.
I don't like the app drawer for the bionic, reminds me to much of the iphone or a samsung with its side scrolling. I miss my vertical scrolling drawer from my droidx. Is there a setting in phone or a app I can download to fix this? I already tried adw launcher and it fixed drawer but I don't like how it changed my home screen, I couldn't find a setting to get home screen back to the way it was. If anyone has any idea please let me know.
Launcher Pro
Launcher Pro, ADW Launcher or Go Launcher. All 3 have app drawer settings you can tweak easily. No root required.
I think you guys missed this part:
Red Phone said:
I don't like the app drawer for the bionic, reminds me to much of the iphone or a samsung with its side scrolling. I miss my vertical scrolling drawer from my droidx. Is there a setting in phone or a app I can download to fix this? I already tried adw launcher and it fixed drawer but I don't like how it changed my home screen, I couldn't find a setting to get home screen back to the way it was. If anyone has any idea please let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to use a vertical scrolling launcher, you must use a homescreen replacement such as Launcher Pro or ADW. Otherwise, the BLUR launcher is stuck with page side scrolling.
Berzerker7 said:
I think you guys missed this part:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope didn't miss it
Berzerker7 said:
I think you guys missed this part:
If you want to use a vertical scrolling launcher, you must use a homescreen replacement such as Launcher Pro or ADW. Otherwise, the BLUR launcher is stuck with page side scrolling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah thx for pointing that out. I know this is gonna sound crazy but I actually like Blur now, looks good and not to obtrusive. I guess if I could get one of those launchers to emulate the look of my homescreen I could make it work.
I agree 100%
I love the new motor blur (or whatever it is called) and I have been feeling the same way as you. I don't like side swiping through the app drawer going up and down is so much better! Heres the thing, I had the Motorola Atrix which is almost the exact same phone with the same motoblur and same look but in the setting you can change the drawer to vertical. I just got the Bionic and I see that there is no App Drawer setting WTH is up with that. AND WHY DOES VZW put SO MUCH BLOATWARE on the phone that too drives me crazy What if I don't want the blockbuster app on my phone! At least let me uninstall it I mean it is MY phone now right? I rooted previous phones before but I don't want to do that this time I seem to lose stability before and I would just like it to work, I'm starting to wonder if I should have waited for the Nexus Prime but I did not cause my last few phones were samsung and they all had issues so I don't really want to do samsung anymore. Charge sucked, Nexus S 4g sucked with major reception issues, Galaxy S crashed non stop and reset non stop but my Motorola Atrix I loved! but att sucked.
I can't be happy I guess if only I could get the Atrix on the verizon network Oh well, thats my 2 cents (Also I have a 2gig data cap for 30/month that is rediculous they should make the cap a little bigger for $30 damn and then I have to pay more for hotspot. If your making me pay for my data usage why can't I use it the way I want. Why do you nickel and dime everything? Sometimes better business is looking out for the customer and not doing such annoying business practices if it was not for ur good service where I live I'd be with T-Mobile because Hot-spot is free or sprint cause they don't limit my bandwidth as I see it is the moment VZW put a cap on my data is the moment hotspot should be free cause I am now paying for my own data to use the way I want.) Don't know why I wrote so much guess I wanted to vent
Lol I agree with every single statement. I believe you may have found a solution to our common dilemma, if we could pull the app drawer from the Atrix that would resolve our issue, maybe I'll head on over to dev thread and see what's up. As far as limited data it sux but it is doable as long as you supplement your data connection with Wi-Fi as much as possible, I.E using Wi-Fi @ home and as many locations you frequent as possible. Installing apps with no way to remove them is wrong, so I'm guessing someone is gonna have to hit em with a class action lawsuit(looks at California) to get them to stop doing that or if you wanna root a custom rom or bloat freeze.
I read about a homescreen launcher the other day that allows use of Blur widgets. I forget the name but will try to find it again...
ADW doesn't bar blur widgets at all....and yes Berzerker I missed that part.