I dove in and bought two Color Nooks and spent many hours getting it "just right", in terms of usability for apps - mostly due to the Back or Menu buttons not staying put on the CN, which means having to hit the Home button to get out of the app.
I used autonooter, version ending in 18. It went fine, once I got Java SDK installed.
App-wise:
Movies: The trick is to use Root Explorer to open them. MixZing keeps the menu bar showing, which is nice. With Zimly, stop the movie and double tap to do a Back. The stock Movies/Gallery has a Back button on a single tap.
Music: PlayerPro keeps the notification bar and is a very good player. Doesn't have cover flow, but none of them do. Cubed is close, but it uses blown-up version of small album cover uimages, so it looks like crap. PlayerPro has a nice scrolling screen of large cover images. MixZing is great because it has a built-in EQ... very nice. But, not as sexy in the cover display department. But it does keep the notification bar so you can do a Back while a song is playing.
Launcher: Zeam is the only way to go. I use LauncherPro on my HTC Incredible, but it's not as flexible as Zeam. You can remove all the icons except the app Drawer to keep it clean. You can also configure swipes for toggling the notification bar and "expanding" notifications.
Screen: LCD Display is great for testing different resolutions. I've found that 220 works well. Bigger icons and text, yet you can still see the notifications balloon on the left and the time.
Browser: Dolphin works well. Pinch zoom works.
Reader: Kindle works very well, though the Kindle Store doesn't work so much. Just click to go to the Home for Amazon, and it brings up the browser and you can buy/download whatever you like. Go to Archive to see the new books you've downloaded and then move them to Home. The B&N apps, in general, don't work so well at the new screen size of 220. but they work. I just use Kindle to keep it clean.
Picture Gallery: Really couldn't find one that had a Back button!! The stock Gallery app is fine, though, I suppose. Nothing fancy, but it works, and is better than having to reconfigure the Volume keys to get a Back button. Tempted to reconfigure the Home button to do that, but... not sure that's a good idea. Kinda like having Home available for a quick jump back to sanity.
Adding AnReboot app helps while rooting and making changes later.
Outside of that, feel free to add anything I missed.
why not just use home switcher and avoid all this hassle?
bind soft keys to the N button for one click and home screen for 2 clicks problem solved
Thank you for sharing your findings.
Have you tried ADW Launcher yet? I tried Zeam but gravitate toward ADW.
Button Savioir works great for me, I find soft keys to be intrusive but to each there own.
As far as launchers go Zeam is nice, I like how the dock sets its self up but ADW has much more options and is why I choose it over Zeam. I just wish I could have more than 5 spots on my dock.
I also just gave your 220 LCD density a try and it cuts my time in half, put the hour above the minutes and I can barely see the notification area.
joel71 said:
Button Savioir works great for me, I find soft keys to be intrusive but to each there own.
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Click to collapse
I'll second it. This is a must have app, solves all your "back problems."
Related
Looks good even still in Beta http://hpp.intuitit.mobi/home
Some Screenshots from my Magic attached.
it looks really nice.
Nice job...changing the UI altogether really puts a spin on it. I like it, but I have a bug. The bookmarks always forcecloses. I currently have Dolphin Browser set as the default and that might have something to do with it. Also, it looks a little weird when viewing the notifications because the top bar is missing. Overall, I think I'm going to make a permanent switch from dxTop to this.
I love this app!
Higgins12 said:
Looks good even still in Beta http://hpp.intuitit.mobi/home
Some Screenshots from my Magic attached.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what clock widget u using bro?
The clock and date widget come with Home++. I'm using it too on my Mytouch and love it!
I am waiting for my new HTC magic and I am checking different stuff out with the emulator. I came across this homescreen++ and installed it.
I love it! It makes the interface so much smoother!
Great job and keep it up!
Thank you very much ^_^
I been using it for a few days now, very nice and thanks for making it free. The only bug I really come across is sometimes when I hit the home key it shows the right half of the home screen and the left half of the next screen to the right. I can easily move it to center it, no big deal. It hasent happened today yet (8 pm) but it did it twice yesterday.
best home replacement ever it is my default
What kind of speed hit are you guys getting? Or is it fast?
its same speed as the original one.
battery drain is minor.
I get lag from it, I stopped using it today because of it. I'm not going to uninstall it though.
Can I use this application while my MT3G is rooted? And how do I install it? I can't find it in the market place. Thanks to those who answer my questions.
You can use any app while your MT3G is rooted.
You install it like any other app.
From the market, search "home++" to find the app.
I really liked it - but the deal breaker was having no instant way to see if I had any new messages. I'm used to just looking in the upper left hand corner, not having to hit an extra press just to see.
ganns1980 said:
I really liked it - but the deal breaker was having no instant way to see if I had any new messages. I'm used to just looking in the upper left hand corner, not having to hit an extra press just to see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can re-enable the notification bar on top by long pressing the notification button on bottom. That way, it stays on top all the time.
I love this program, fast and easy to use The best app. on home screen
I like it but uninstalled it until you can customize bottom icons a little more. Keep up the good work! Also, is there any way to have whatever alerts you have in the top status bar show in the Home++ status bar?
smacky63 said:
I like it but uninstalled it until you can customize bottom icons a little more. Keep up the good work! Also, is there any way to have whatever alerts you have in the top status bar show in the Home++ status bar?
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Click to collapse
Yea this is currently my nr 1 annoyance in Home++, you should be able to put your own shortcuts here and the icons themselves should be customizable.
Also I would love to be able to categorize the apps in the dropdown panel.
Other than that I really love Home++, it's the fastest Home replacement app I've tried with the most useful features (task manager rocks).
Be careful when you use the updated version of ADW.Launcher. For reasons I can't fathom, they did two major changes that can cause a real problem.
1. They moved the trash can from the bottom to the top when removing something from the desktop
2. The App drawer button in the center can now be replaced.
I think this is incredibly stupid on the part of the ADW people. It makes it very easy to replace your app drawer with some application, then you can't get to your app drawer, and you can't reset it. Even the "reset" option in ADW doesn't fix it. In order to get my center button back to an app drawer, I had to uninstall it and reinstall it, meaning I get to spend the next hour putting all my icons, favorites, calendars, &c., where they need to be.
Up until these changes, ADW was hands down the best launcher there is. I think the simple fix would be to have a checkbox to protect the center button from being changed, the way it used to be. Or move the trash can back to the bottom where it is on every other launcher.
Or to get the App Drawer button back you can long-press on the desktop, Custom Shortcut>Pick Activity>Launcher Actions>Open/close App Drawer. Then just drag that shortcut to the dock bar.
A little wonky at first, but the extra customization this allows is worth it imho.
App drawer can be gotten back, long-press on the homescreen and choose "Add Custom Shortcut", for Action choose "App Drawer". Now you can drag that into your dock.
It appears that that does work, but I looked for something like that, and after 25 minutes of searching through each menu, I didn't think to look into Launcher Actions. That's not terribly intuitive, and rather annoying that they would change that without warning about it. Even though there is a complicated, backdoor way of fixing it, it would make a lot more sense just to protect the main button by default, with a checkbox to unprotect it, with an explanation of how to get your drawer back.
you're whining about something so simple to do... maybe you just need to learn how to use your phone..
Hold your finger on the screen. click Custom Shortcuts.. and Click choose activity... then click Launcher Actions (usually 3rd one from the top) and click App Drawer button.. -_-..
I'm with you. It's not a good feature, IMHO. Seems rather arbitrary considering every Android user for the last 2 years has become all too accustomed to trash at the bottom. Don't get me wrong, the new update brought some great features, I just don't believe this is one.
you guys probably don't theme often.. having a custom app drawer is awesome.. all it needs now is a widget type to open the app drawer...
get with the times.
it's ok its happens
Yeah I wasn't too happy about the trash on the top either. I went back to Launcher Pro now because I didn't want to have to get use to something that was just the opposite on every other android phone. I am sure they made the change for a reason.
jev3gs said:
Yeah I wasn't too happy about the trash on the top either. I went back to Launcher Pro now because I didn't want to have to get use to something that was just the opposite on every other android phone. I am sure they made the change for a reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The trash on top was indeed a good idea, coz whenever a shortcut was to be deleted, some noob users were not able to drop it into the trash can, but instead added it to their dock.
But then again, when you long tap on any shortcut, there should have been a feature, where the bottom dock completely disappears and only the trash can is visible.
I personally love the change... Trash on top... something new!
During two 12 hour days of rooting and customizing two CNooks, I ran across a procedure for removing the stock Nook apps. Now I can't find it. I'm not sure if that included the main soft button, as well, but I'm giving one of these to my 75 year old Mom and I don't want her confused if she hits this button all the time.
Really appreciate any help here!!!
ClarkSt said:
During two 12 hour days of rooting and customizing two CNooks, I ran across a procedure for removing the stock Nook apps. Now I can't find it. I'm not sure if that included the main soft button, as well, but I'm giving one of these to my 75 year old Mom and I don't want her confused if she hits this button all the time.
Really appreciate any help here!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AFAIK there's no way to remove the nook shortcut menu in the status bar. So what is she using it for, never reading on it? If you removed the apps and she did launch the shortcuts I guess it'd just fail to load the app, as they seem to be static shortcuts to those apps.
I would think when we get a custom ROM the status bar will be at the developers digression, and maybe someone will figure out a way to update the framework jar to remove the shortcut. My wife likes the shortcut, as her NC is 50/50 reader/tablet.
I installed the Kindle app on the Home screen, which I prefer. The Nook eReader is still there in the app tray, but because I changed the screen res, it screws up some of the texts in the Store and what not. The reader is still fine, though. But with the larger icons and text, it is WAY better. I tricked it out with the Aquarium Live Wallpaper and added Dolphin browser, which supports pinch zoom. And an email client; WeatherBug Elite, a Battery widget, a clock widget, and a WiFi toggle widgit went on the Home screen, as well - and I'm using Zeam for a launcher. I removed all the icons except the app drawer - and also changed the Volume Down button to be a Back and the Up to be a Menu. No SoftKeys for me. BTW: I set the lcd res to 220 using LCDDensity - far better than the 250 someone mentioned on the forum. I still see the time and the notification balloon - albeit, a bit truncated, but it works. I run SetCPU, though not really sure I need to.
I use Quick Settings for Volume.
I'm missing a few things:
1) Love to find out how to do a screen capture.
2) Desperately want Flash.
3) Desperately want Bluetooth.
And, really want to noop the nook shortcut launcher soft key - or preferably the whole status bar. I don't need it, with all the widgets, but I'd be happy to have it as long as the shortcut launcher softkey was nullified.
I'm planning to get NC for my parents of the same age like your mom as well.
They would use it for email and web browsing while traveling.
I hope you will succeed and share
Cool - and of course I'll share! Fact is, it's not a deal-breaker by any means. I
'll just tell her to avoid hitting that menu button. And if she does, she just clicks on the screen or clicks the button again to get rid of it. I'm really more interested in Flash - which I'm sure will be in 2.2, whenever they release it for the CN - and BT. Which I really want for the new BT headphones I bought for my lost Archos 70.
post deleted. it repeated my last one.
Screen capture - hold down the large physical "n" button, and then very quickly press the volume down button. It will store the .png screenshot file in a directory called "Screenshots" in the system storage.
Now, if someone knows how to do video capture of the screen, please let us know.
KryptoNyte39 said:
Screen capture - hold down the large physical "n" button, and then very quickly press the volume down button. It will store the .png screenshot file in a directory called "Screenshots" in the system storage.
Now, if someone knows how to do video capture of the screen, please let us know.
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Click to collapse
Awesome... thanks for posting this. I previously download ShootMe unaware of this functionality.
I did it all from my Nookie...
Hello all, I am really wanting to change the default launcher on the nook color but my wife is being a hard sell. She doesn't want to lose the scrolling book cover feature that runs along the bottom of the home screen. Are there any apps or widgets out there that will allow this feature on an alternate launcher? I would love to do more with my home screen but she uses it more than I do so I need to accommodate her as well.
EsotericPunk said:
Hello all, I am really wanting to change the default launcher on the nook color but my wife is being a hard sell. She doesn't want to lose the scrolling book cover feature that runs along the bottom of the home screen. Are there any apps or widgets out there that will allow this feature on an alternate launcher? I would love to do more with my home screen but she uses it more than I do so I need to accommodate her as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you could install zeam and just never check the checkbox for the what the default home screen should be. That way when you click N it'll give you a prompt to which homescreen you want to go to. I did that and I keep accidentally checking the box while navigating through. I wish there was a way to have a widget to link to the BnN homescreen so I could navigate there if and when I want to, which isn't too often. But it's kind of like a cyber book shelf and I don't care much for the library interface.
Just get the home switcher app from the market.
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using XDA App
xwint3rxmut3x said:
you could install zeam and just never check the checkbox for the what the default home screen should be. That way when you click N it'll give you a prompt to which homescreen you want to go to. I did that and I keep accidentally checking the box while navigating through. I wish there was a way to have a widget to link to the BnN homescreen so I could navigate there if and when I want to, which isn't too often. But it's kind of like a cyber book shelf and I don't care much for the library interface.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could use home switcher or alternatively, go to uninstall the application and reset the default behavior.
Also, installing another Launcher will bring the choice back
Yea, I totally feel you guys. I was just trying to avoid having to switch home screens. Have my cake and eat it too sort of situation. Maybe I will play with some ideas tonight and repost if I discover any neat tricks... (of course that assumes I can pry it away from her...)
I would say install SoftKeys and set it as the home launcher. Then in the SoftKeys app set it so one hardware click B&N Launcher and two hardware clicks your custom luncher. So when she uses it the home button brings the nook home screen but if you want the custom launcher press it twice I do the opposite but I still access the old launcher every now and then
you need another nc.
likearaptor said:
I would say install SoftKeys and set it as the home launcher. Then in the SoftKeys app set it so one hardware click B&N Launcher and two hardware clicks your custom luncher. So when she uses it the home button brings the nook home screen but if you want the custom launcher press it twice I do the opposite but I still access the old launcher every now and then
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you set two launchers to the Home button with Softkeys? I only get launcher and softkeys as options.
B&N home popup
I installed Zeam, but still frequently get the B&N popup when I try to go back by left swiping the soft arrow at the bottom. How do I kill that?
Go to the settings for SoftKeys and you can set a short press of the button for one launcher and a long press for a different launcher.
My preferred lancher is ADW. I downloaded AnyCut from the market and used it to make a shortcut to "Home" on the desktop. That opens the Nook home screen if I want it. You can also download Home Switcher or Home Manager from the market to open a different launcher or change the default.
So I found out that using Desktop Visualizer on Launcher Pro Plus that I can create a widget to launch B&N Home. Problem solved. Now I have two new ones:
1) My keyboard keeps flipping out and doing repeated button presses
2) I can't add shortcuts to the Launcher Pro home screen (widgets = fine, shortcuts = no dice)
Anyone else having these issues? I know that, regarding the keyboard, I just installed a screen protector right before it started having problems, but I can't imagine how that could cause them. I may just wait it out and if it persists, try a factory reset...
Edit: I also forgot that problem #3 is that I can't remove or change shortcuts in the dock for Launcher Pro. Kind of lame to have my dock icons as phone, contacts, and messaging...
robeggen said:
Go to the settings for SoftKeys and you can set a short press of the button for one launcher and a long press for a different launcher.
My preferred lancher is ADW. I downloaded AnyCut from the market and used it to make a shortcut to "Home" on the desktop. That opens the Nook home screen if I want it. You can also download Home Switcher or Home Manager from the market to open a different launcher or change the default.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have yet to find anywhere to long press the physical home button, only the soft button. I'd like to be able to launch an alternative launcher (or the softkeys themselves) with a long press rather than double press.
howardmoon said:
I installed Zeam, but still frequently get the B&N popup when I try to go back by left swiping the soft arrow at the bottom. How do I kill that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried 4 different launchers and no matter how I set their respective Home Button options, I still get the B&N popup from the soft button. How can it override the launcher settings?
howardmoon said:
I've tried 4 different launchers and no matter how I set their respective Home Button options, I still get the B&N popup from the soft button. How can it override the launcher settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean the Carrot/Arrow button? You're always going to get that, it's part of the framework. Most likely that won't go away until a custom ROM is available.
Ah, thanks. Crap
One other option is to use the original B&N Home with Smart Taskbar and Button Savior. You won't have widgets on your screen at all times, ST makes a pretty decent launcher for other apps.
I can't seem to properly apply a wallpaper with Google Now Launcher. Every time I do, it basically shifts the whole thing to the right, almost as if it's centering it on the right border. I only use 1 home screen (plus the Google now cards screen to the left) so it just doesn't look right like that. Using something like ES file Explorer kind of helps because you can manipulate a bit how to line it up, but it seems imperfect and time consuming. I'd love to just be able to apply them from something like ZEDGE. Anyone have any suggestions?
Morpherios said:
I can't seem to properly apply a wallpaper with Google Now Launcher. Every time I do, it basically shifts the whole thing to the right, almost as if it's centering it on the right border. I only use 1 home screen (plus the Google now cards screen to the left) so it just doesn't look right like that. Using something like ES file Explorer kind of helps because you can manipulate a bit how to line it up, but it seems imperfect and time consuming. I'd love to just be able to apply them from something like ZEDGE. Anyone have any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The solution I came up with was to go into the app drawer and drag an icon to a separate home screen and then drag another icon to another screen (making 3 screens plus Google now). Apply the wallpaper and then remove the extra two shortcuts to go back to one screen.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Othoric said:
The solution I came up with was to go into the app drawer and drag an icon to a separate home screen and then drag another icon to another screen (making 3 screens plus Google now). Apply the wallpaper and then remove the extra two shortcuts to go back to one screen.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This seems to work better than any other solution I've tried. Thanks for the heads up. Not quite perfect but easily better than doing the "guess and check" method of manually lining things up. What an annoyance though, right? It's a wallpaper, it shouldn't be this complicated.
Morpherios said:
This seems to work better than any other solution I've tried. Thanks for the heads up. Not quite perfect but easily better than doing the "guess and check" method of manually lining things up. What an annoyance though, right? It's a wallpaper, it shouldn't be this complicated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know... I just started using Google Now Launcher again after using Nova forever, because I like having Google Now to the left of the home screen and I've really started using a more minimal desktop with just one screen. It seems to me that Google of all development crews out there would know about this and fix it. It's a minor annoyance. But an annoyance nonetheless. If anyone else has any other possible solutions, I would love to hear them as well.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Othoric said:
I know... I just started using Google Now Launcher again after using Nova forever, because I like having Google Now to the left of the home screen and I've really started using a more minimal desktop with just one screen. It seems to me that Google of all development crews out there would know about this and fix it. It's a minor annoyance. But an annoyance nonetheless. If anyone else has any other possible solutions, I would love to hear them as well.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've very strongly considered going over to Nova, except like you, I really like having the Now cards to the left and I'm just not willing to give them up. The only other method I found that semi works, I found an app on the playstore called Image 2 Wallpaper
Does what it sounds like, but there's a little bit of "playing around" you can do with lining things up. The way I've found it to at least sort of do what I want is to tap pick image from gallery, pick the image, down in the bottom half where there are options swipe over to the "Align" section, and hit "Move Left". Then hit the little green icon to the right of the preview to "set" it. Again it's not perfect but it's another option to add to the toolbox of methods I guess. I think yours seems to be a little more accurate, and much quicker though.
This is probably not the best solution for you, but thought I would mention that Action Launcher 3 also has the "swipe left for Google Now" functionality and it handles wallpaper much better. It has a lot of other neat features too, although it's not free. There is a free trial version though that might work for your purposes.
unbesorgt said:
This is probably not the best solution for you, but thought I would mention that Action Launcher 3 also has the "swipe left for Google Now" functionality and it handles wallpaper much better. It has a lot of other neat features too, although it's not free. There is a free trial version though that might work for your purposes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting... I've used Action Launcher 2 a long time ago but never got into it a whole lot. Does it have Google Now to the left in the exact same way that Google Now Launcher does, or is it more like "a swipe right gesture opens Google Now"?
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Othoric said:
That's interesting... I've used Action Launcher 2 a long time ago but never got into it a whole lot. Does it have Google Now to the left in the exact same way that Google Now Launcher does, or is it more like "a swipe right gesture opens Google Now"?
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's pretty close. The only thing that's missing is the animation when you swipe back to the home screen, IIRC. The developer said that's because of a limitation in the API. It does animate when swiping into Google Now though.
unbesorgt said:
It's pretty close. The only thing that's missing is the animation when you swipe back to the home screen, IIRC. The developer said that's because of a limitation in the API. It does animate when swiping into Google Now though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm definitely intrigued. I just downloaded it, but swiping to the side just brings up what kind of appears to be a sort of quick app drawer thing. How do you enable the google now cards screen?
It's been awhile since I've used it, but there should be a way to turn it on in the settings. That other thing is called the QuickDrawer which you might need to move to the other side.
[edit]
Found it -- go to Shortcuts under Settings, then Swipe Horizontal, and change Leftmost Home Screen to Search (Google Now).
One thing I don't like is how it automatically opens the keyboard for the search bar. The Google Now Launcher's implementation is much better. If only someone could combine that with Nova Prime's features, I could die happy.
unbesorgt said:
It's been awhile since I've used it, but there should be a way to turn it on in the settings. That other thing is called the QuickDrawer which you might need to move to the other side.
[edit]
Found it -- go to Shortcuts under Settings, then Swipe Horizontal, and change Leftmost Home Screen to Search (Google Now).
One thing I don't like is how it automatically opens the keyboard for the search bar. The Google Now Launcher's implementation is much better. If only someone could combine that with Nova Prime's features, I could die happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the update/edit. I was actually in there earlier but was specifically looking for Google Now instead of Search. I definitely see what you mean regarding the keyboard. It's soooo close. If they could just kill the automatic kb popup it'd be pretty perfect. I'm going to play with it a bit. It definitely feels fluid. And I like the idea of being able to properly theme and whatnot (one of the things I missed from homescreen replacements like Nova). If I like it enough I have enough in my play account from surveys to buy the full version. So far I'm digging it though, thanks again for the recommendation.
Morpherios said:
Thanks for the update/edit. I was actually in there earlier but was specifically looking for Google Now instead of Search. I definitely see what you mean regarding the keyboard. It's soooo close. If they could just kill the automatic kb popup it'd be pretty perfect. I'm going to play with it a bit. It definitely feels fluid. And I like the idea of being able to properly theme and whatnot (one of the things I missed from homescreen replacements like Nova). If I like it enough I have enough in my play account from surveys to buy the full version. So far I'm digging it though, thanks again for the recommendation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, let me know if you discover any good tweaks!