Home replacements?

[vereyezuhn]

I'm looking for a home replacement app but have no idea which one to get. Which ones do you guys use and what do you like about them?

[Wildman]

ADW is my launcher, it has a large amount of customizations and runs the smoothes for me, Launcher Pro is good also but I havent had any luck with the recent builds...

   

[MrMRM513]

I've used Launcher Pro Plus since shortly after I bought the phone on launch day. Very fast, smooth and stable under Gingerbread.

Not so many themes, but has plenty of dedicated, skinnable widgets, which also support sizing and scrolling. Supports up to 7 home screens which can be configured with more or fewer icon rows and/or columns and will display in landscape mode. LP will display home screen thumbnails with a second press of the home button or a swipe action. Home screens loop. Supports up to 3 scrolling docks which can be set to run apps or shortcuts on press or swipe for a a total of 30 actions. Supports icons and icon packs for all applications and can be set to hide icon labels on the home screens.

For me, Launcher Pro Plus is indispensable.

Mike

[Cody21]

I happen to also use LauncherPro, and had liked it until GB.  GB seems to have introduced a few issues - none that have yet to make me uninstall or go to the native BLUR.  However, I know they have been in the process of a huge rewrite of the APP; presumeably THEMES are coming and other improvements.  I've never used ADW, but as @Wildman points out, it is another great choice.

[vereyezuhn]

Thanks for all your replies and awesome descriptions!

Wildman, I had no clue you could customize with ADW like that! I read an article on it and got the impression that it was very limited, and it showed a screenshot which I did not like. But yours looks WAY better than the one I saw!

Cody21 and MrMRM513 - I've never used Launcher Pro Plus, but I did fiddle around with Launcher Pro (the free one) yesterday a bit and I sort of liked it. I guess it just wasn't as customizable as I thought (but I expected as much for the free version) I'm still debating whether or not to buy the LPP since I know it's got a lot more that you can do with it.

[Cody21]

What specifically are you wanting as far as configuration?  LPP is extremely customizable. they are doing a REWRITE of the product right now - presumeably to add themes.  As far as I can tell, the only thing missing compared to other products.  7 Screens, 3d icon pack, 3 scrollable docks with 5 each, really nice screen transitions each selectable.  ADW & GO probably have all this as well.

[bcram11]

I use Go Launcher EX. I find it to be very customizable and easy to use.  As with most launchers you can set how many rows and columns you want for icons on each homepage along with how many homepages you want. Go Launcher allows you to have a scrolling dock (bottom fixed buttons) and up to 5 icons per dock.  You can have up to 15 icons between the 3 dock "pages". Many themes are also available in the market and a lot of them are free. 

You can also set different transition effects when you scroll between the different homepages. This is a cosmetic thing only that i've see so far. 

Best of luck in your search!

[Ann154]

LPP can be themed now to a certain extent.

http://market.android.com/details?id=com.signals23.blurpsgrey

[Wildman]

Both ADW EX and Launcher Pro Plus works with themes now and are both very customizable, the information about ADW was limited is incorrect.  I have bought both and like them both in its own perspective but I have just developed a bit more intrest in ADW but that is my opinion and view becuase both is nice.

[Ann154]

I have chosen to invest in the the Plus Unlocker for Launcher Pro. Which comes in handy for my Droid Eris.

[vereyezuhn]

I recently downloaded ADW.Launcher (the free version) and used that for a few days but I found that it made my phone lag like crazy. I uninstalled and now it's fine.

As far as what I'm looking for, I would really like to use different themes and change the color of the status bar as well as the icons in that bar (battery, 3g, etc)

[Wildman]

Thats surprising, everyone that sees my device is always amazed of how smooth it moves...  Not everything for everyboy...

Actually I use to not like ADW untill the EX build came out and once I got it I didnt look back..

[vereyezuhn]

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Wildman wrote:

Thats surprising, everyone that sees my device is always amazed of how smooth it moves...  Not everything for everyboy...

Actually I use to not like ADW untill the EX build came out and once I got it I didnt look back..

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It made my unlock screen lag like none other. It took a good 30-45 seconds for it to unlock and take me to my homescreen. And when I got a text, or just wanted to go into Handcent, it took another 30 seconds to open. It also made my wallpaper "flip" almost every time I unlocked it. So I constantly had a wallpaper that was rotated to a different direction. Maybe I'll check out the EX version. It's only a couple bucks.

[Edited to comply with Terms of Service]

[Wildman]

Thats true about the status bar but I noticed with the dark blue status bar seems to be dark enough to blind in with a number of dark themes that gets loaded..  There also is a option to hide the top bar if the color doesnt work well with a theme you are using.

As for the lag and wallpaper flipping I havent seen that happen to my device I am not sure what could cause that issue, are you using the screen rotation option and also do you have the wallpaper set stationary or set to scroll?   I disable the rotation on the home screen and have the staionary because the scroll is smoover with every launcher when the page is the only scrolling item, the desjtop wallpaper doesnt need to move..

[vereyezuhn]

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Wildman wrote:

Thats true about the status bar but I noticed with the dark blue status bar seems to be dark enough to blind in with a number of dark themes that gets loaded..  There also is a option to hide the top bar if the color doesnt work well with a theme you are using.

As for the lag and wallpaper flipping I havent seen that happen to my device I am not sure what could cause that issue, are you using the screen rotation option and also do you have the wallpaper set stationary or set to scroll?   I disable the rotation on the home screen and have the staionary because the scroll is smoover with every launcher when the page is the only scrolling item, the desjtop wallpaper doesnt need to move..

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That could very well be what was causing it. I didn't have the wallpaper on scroll, but the option to have the home screen rotate was on. The wallpaper issue wasn't a big deal to me, as I was only using a pattern for the wallpaper. I just found it was odd that it was flipping without the home screen rotating. The thing I couldn't handle was all the lag.

Aww man, I was hoping they wouldn't edit my last part out. I didn't even use the actual word or anything

[Wildman]

The screen rotation sensor is a bit of a pain because I can just sit phone on a table and it would totate the screen, and if the screen rotates during unlock that can cause the lag...   But I hope that I could get the LP widgets on ADW, there is a few simular widgets on market but not quite as good...

[vereyezuhn]

Ya know, it never even crossed my mind to turn the rotation off. It did bother me, like you said it was very sensitive. The normal rotation on the phone even bothers me. I guess I don't hold my phone perfectly upright when I use it, it always turns on me.

[Wildman]

Have you tried Smart Rotation at https://market.android.com/details?id=net.xdevelop.rotator_t&feature=search_result , I use it and it gives me alot more control over what rotate, I only have all mssaging apps and Opera Mobile set to rotate, all else is portrait only...

[vereyezuhn]

Thanks for the tip! I'll have to check that out, never heard of it!