Launcher

[Beka27]

Go EX ftw...

Way too many issues with LPP. Worked great for a long time... then just... stopped.

 

[RyansGirl101302]

Yeah i may be going back to adw...who knows.

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App

 

[Thunder_sl]

Yeah i may be going back to adw...who knows.

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App

ADW is a good launcher...Just have to figure out which one works best for YOU. There are no wrong choices. Whichever your most comfortable with, and gets you the look and function(s) you want, that's all that really matters. That's what makes Android so great..and so difficult! So many different possibilities...

 

[brock.overcash]

If anyone doesn't want to give up LPP because of the widgets, check out colorize widgets(I think that's the name) I stumbled upon these yesterday and they are pretty carbon copy of the LPP widgets.

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums App

 

[DroidToro]

I haven't used adw ex. Go seems pretty simple.. you can drag and drop or hit the X above the icon. How does adw do it?

ADW EX let's you create and edit groups by bringing up a list of apps and selecting which ones you want in the group. You can then create shortcuts to the groups on the home screen. It's a lot like folders except it's only for app shortcuts but it's easier to edit contents than using dragging icons.

With Go, I found that you can easily select apps to put in a folder but it's hard to edit a folder after it's created. It also creates these composite icons that I find a little annoying. I'd rather have my own icons for stuff.

ADW EX does a great job of letting you add icons for every home screen item (folders, shortcust, apps) from cropped pictures. I create my own icons by doing a goog image search for something like "workout icon". Then I use drocap to capture the screen. ADW EX then let's me go to the gallery and crop the icon from the screen captured image. I have not seen any launcher that allows this, including LP. I even have an icon with my face as the image for my personal stuff.

However, not to take away anything from Go. It's still the best FREE launcher.

 

[aggiechase37]

Hey has anyone done a comparison on data caches. On gingerbread you can go to applications and running and then hit menu and you can see how many MB's they are being cached. So the question is, which one caches the least?

Right now I have stock launcher caching about 21 MB. Seems like LPP and L7 cached much less BUT the phone seems to be running just as fast AND the battery seems to be lasting longer. For instance, when you go to see what has been using the battery, stock launcher doesn't even register anything, whereas L7 said it was using 10% and LPP was using around 3-5%. So we need to take a look at these things:

1) which launcher is the least memory intensive
2) which launcher uses the least battery
3) which launcher "seems to run faster/smoother"
4) which launcher has better customization options.

For my money, I've had L7 and LPP and loved both of them, but right now, for the battery life that I'm laying witness too (currently rooted running GPA14 and Pete's 600mhz kernel and looking at 80% battery after 8 hours at the time of this composition) it will be tough for me to argue with the stock launcher.

Anyone running the various launchers and gingerbread, please report on caching and what percentage it shows for using the battery and that will give us a better idea of performance.

 

[dfuser312553]

^ the memory footprint is mostly dependent on number of Widgets & homescreens. As far as the battery goes the launchers shouldn't impact the battery very much unless you spend a lot of time just swiping back & forth.

 

[aggiechase37]

^ the memory footprint is mostly dependent on number of Widgets & homescreens. As far as the battery goes the launchers shouldn't impact the battery very much unless you spend a lot of time just swiping back & forth.

I usually keep the same widgets. In fact on the stock launcher I had less widgets because it had 5 home screen, which I thought would take up more memory, and it still had a larger cache. Launcher 7 I used the least widgets. But nevertheless, the overall style of Launcher 7 seems to promote having to use less widgets. Regardless, if you fine folks want to start listing your caching MB's for the various launchers, we might be able to get some kind of consensus.

Also, I don't feel like I interact with the launchers in different ways, and if I do, perhaps that is a natural effect of how one interacts with the launcher. So one launcher may require a higher degree of interaction, thus using more battery...

 

[Thunder_sl]

ADW EX let's you create and edit groups by bringing up a list of apps and selecting which ones you want in the group. You can then create shortcuts to the groups on the home screen. It's a lot like folders except it's only for app shortcuts but it's easier to edit contents than using dragging icons.

With Go, I found that you can easily select apps to put in a folder but it's hard to edit a folder after it's created. It also creates these composite icons that I find a little annoying. I'd rather have my own icons for stuff.

Funny thing is, it (GoLauncher) lets you edit using the list if the "Folder" in your app tray, but not on one of your screens. Not something I use personally, but I can appreciate the annoyance factor for those that do..

ADW EX does a great job of letting you add icons for every home screen item (folders, shortcust, apps) from cropped pictures. I create my own icons by doing a goog image search for something like "workout icon". Then I use drocap to capture the screen. ADW EX then let's me go to the gallery and crop the icon from the screen captured image. I have not seen any launcher that allows this, including LP. I even have an icon with my face as the image for my personal stuff.

Actually, Go does let you crop from any picture in your gallery as well. You just move and re-size a box, and anything in that box becomes the icon. Sounds like the same thing your describing.

 

[aggiechase37]

Welp, after comparison here are the stats

stock launcher: 21mb cache. Non customizable, laggy on D1

Launcher 7: Pretty, 20mb cache, useful, widgets are laggy and not well represented.

LauncherPro: 13mb cache (using low memory preset) fast and smooth, lots of customization options.

For my money, after giving each of the launchers a few days burn, I will have to go with LauncherPro and stay there. The less memory being cached also translates to slightly better multitasking, which is a boon.

For the record:
Droid1 (rooted)
GPA 14
Pete's 600mhz sv kernel
currently getting anywhere from 11 to 23 hours battery use depending on useage. Oh and I'm NOT using setcpu. After going without it for a while I would have to say that phone performs better and gets better battery life.

 

[DROID MONSTER]

Thinking about switching launchers on my incredible 2. Any opinions on which ones better or saves batter or over all the best one for my phone?

Sent from my ADR6350 using DroidForums

 

[Castro]

I would recommend using ADW, it has the best customization options in my opinion. Especially if used with the app Custom Launcher.

 

[info4tim]

By far GoLauncher n all its plugins

Sent from my ADR6350 using DroidForums

 

[Bravesfan319]

By far GoLauncher n all its plugins

Sent from my ADR6350 using DroidForums

I second Go Launcher.

Sent from my ADR6300 using DroidForums

 

[Castro]

I hadn't tried GO Launcher in a while and wow, seems it has improved a lot lol