Home Replacement Apps = Completely new phone experience.

gardobus

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I'll also recommend Home++. It is free and currently in its first beta but wow. So far it just appears to be lacking themes and being a beta has occassional crashes but it is REALLY nice. It has 4 screens that you can get to by scrolling in either direction (its a loop, no need to go BACK to your home screen, just keep scrolling until you get to it). Then there are a set of built in mini-icons at the bottom. There are icons for the following:

Global Search
Voice Search
App Drawer
Bookmarks
Tasks
Notifications

The Global and Voice searches aren't really necessary for us Droid users since we have a dedicated search button, so I hope they give the option of removing/changing those in the future, but for the time being, they don't give any problems, they just aren't so useful. Long pressing the search icon takes you straight to Search Options.

The app drawer is just what it sounds like. However you can long press it to jump directly to your Application Settings. This saves you a few steps.

The bookmarks tab is just that, you click it and a drawer slides up with your bookmarks. This saves you from having to open up the browser and hit the bookmarks tab. Sounds like no big deal but its pretty damned useful!

The Tasks drawer is a built in task manager. You click it and a drawer slides up with all running apps and you can kill any of them, check off multiple ones to kill at once, etc. Also, you can long press this icon to take you straight to Androids built-in "Running services" section of Settings.

The Notifications icon just slides your notification bar out. It sounds redundant since you can just tap the top bar but the reason for this icon is that Home++ lets you hide the top bar! Long press this notification to show/hide the top notification bar.

Now if you swipe the icons on the bottom (all the ones I just mentioned!) to the left, you essentially get the same info that the top bar would have but on the bottom (usb icon, wifi icon, silent/vibe icons, battery icon, date, time). The cool thing is, you can press on ANY of these icons and it will do something! Tapping the date gets you the calendar, tapping the time gets you the alarm clock, tapping the battery takes you to the screen that shows what is using what percentage of the battery, tapping the wifi icon lets you turn it on/off and manage networks, tapping the vibe/silent/ringer icon cycles through those 3 modes, tapping the usb icon brings up your notifications just like the notification icon if you swipe back to the list of icons.

There are also other small things in Home++ that are interesting. They are fairly proud of their Home Replacements ability to play animation in widgets. There is a test widget on the Market to show it off. Could make for some cool stuff in the future.

One thing I just noticed is, if you drag an icon from your screen and drop it on the trash can, it removes it like usual. If you hold it over the trashcan for a few seconds without letting go, it asks you if you want to uninstall it! Kinda cool!

So that's my run-down on what I have found in Home++ so far. I find it to be really nice and for its first beta it is great. You can email the developer directly through Home++'s preferences and if you enable it, Home++ will send errors/logs/usage info to the developer. I hope they are really active with this project!

[/rambling]
 
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bamfsig45

bamfsig45

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I have gone back to no home replacement at all, I got tired of some issues that each one produced...and each one was a tad different. GDE was the most stable imo and it started to get laggy the more I used it.

Ive bought them all so I can always try them out again once they are more stable.

The Best app I have bought is Better Cut. Nothing better than custom Icons for anything and everything.

Can one of you guys that have been more involved in this than me give me some updated info on all these Home replacement apps so I can update the OP with correct up to date information.
 

gardobus

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Yeah I keep going back to stock after a while but I have a feeling Home++ or PandaHome will be what I end up with if I go with any at all. Home++ has lots of potential and Panda is already pretty nice but needs a little tweaking.

AppsOrganizer is what I think has helped me organize best though, good enough that the stock 3 screens will suit me just fine also.
 
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bamfsig45

bamfsig45

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Yeah I keep going back to stock after a while but I have a feeling Home++ or PandaHome will be what I end up with if I go with any at all. Home++ has lots of potential and Panda is already pretty nice but needs a little tweaking.

AppsOrganizer is what I think has helped me organize best though, good enough that the stock 3 screens will suit me just fine also.

I also use Apps Organizer along with Better cut to change the stock icons of Apps Organizer. :D
 

noobified

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I was using Panda and just switched over to Home++. Less crashes and less lag :)
 

foolie

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Tried Home++ and its definitely promising (not to mention speedy when scrolling screens), but I'll be using GDE as my primary one just because of a larger screen real estate (7 vs 4 home screen).

Im sure when Home++ releases its final, it'll be quite the contender!
 

SSHGuru

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Home ++ is VERY impressive. I don't even know what to do with my fourth screen since it has the tabs at the bottom.

I'll use it for a while and see how it goes but so far it's the first one I really like.

Tried Home++ and its definitely promising (not to mention speedy when scrolling screens), but I'll be using GDE as my primary one just because of a larger screen real estate (7 vs 4 home screen).

Im sure when Home++ releases its final, it'll be quite the contender!
 

sir

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Tried Home++ and its definitely promising (not to mention speedy when scrolling screens), but I'll be using GDE as my primary one just because of a larger screen real estate (7 vs 4 home screen).

Im sure when Home++ releases its final, it'll be quite the contender!

if it continues to improve, it won't be a contender, it will be the standard that all others look up to.
 

SSHGuru

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As I play with it more and more I've made it my new home application. It doesnt interfere with my wallpaper, it runs VERY smoothly - love the flip clock. And although some don't like the 4 screen limit the tabs at the bottom remove the necessity for most of the stock applications that take up home screen room.

This is a great home replacement. So far the best I've tried.
 

shugknight

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Ok I jumped shipped from Panda to Home+++.... love it so far. Not as many FCs that I got from Panda, so that made me happy. It's defintely more stable.

Cereal, I had Panda installed up until last week.. I loved it, but all the blank screens and FCs were unbearable. I wasn't sure if it was Panda or something else doing it, so I had to uninstall it. I saw today it was updated, I installed it again, and didn't notice an FCs right off the bat. How is it running for you?
 

kiwiguy

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See my post here for a nasty bug with the dialer app when using GDE that I just discovered that prevents you from easily ending calls.
 

Mike84

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if it continues to improve, it won't be a contender, it will be the standard that all others look up to.

Oh for sure! definitely won't mind donating to this dev.

Anyone seen this yet? Just found it yesterday. There will be a private beta and then a beta release very shortly after available on the market. It inst out yet, but this looks like the best home replacement yet. Check it out, it looks VERY professional and well made.
Larva Labs - Intelligent Home Screen

ps. make sure to watch the video!!
 
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ironosity

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Looks pretty sweet! Can't wait till it comes out! I'd seen it before, long ago, but I'd completely forgotten until your post mike.
Thanks!
 
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