Multiple Launchers and Widgets

[aaf709]

I understand that widgets can use power; especially the ones that update (news, weather, etc.).

What I'm curious about is when you have launchers like Go Launcher and Launcher Pro Plus. If you have them both, what is happening to the widgets that are on the launcher you're not using (including the stock launcher). Are those widgets drawing power to update, even though you aren't seeing them? Should you delete all widgets, except for the launcher you're currently using?

 

[dezymond]

To my understanding and experimenting, you can only run one launcher at a time.

From what I experimented with also, if you have certain widgets on one launcher it will stay in that launcher. So you can switch it up every now and then

 

[aaf709]

Thank you, that part I get. However here's an example:

I have Beautiful Widgets, a news widget and the Facebook widget running on my stock launcher. All these widgets are updating to a various degree. I decide to try Go Launcher and when I set it up I add the same widgets to that launcher. I then want to try Launcher Pro Plus and I put the same 3 widgets on it as well. I've added an app like Home Switcher to go to each one.

OK, by the time I'm finished, I have 3 Beautiful Widgets installed, as well as 3 news widgets and 3 Facebook widgets. Are all 3 of each running, meaning I have 9 data polling widgets, or just the 3 on the launcher I'm on?

 

[eric.scheman]

Thank you, that part I get. However here's an example:

I have Beautiful Widgets, a news widget and the Facebook widget running on my stock launcher. All these widgets are updating to a various degree. I decide to try Go Launcher and when I set it up I add the same widgets to that launcher. I then want to try Launcher Pro Plus and I put the same 3 widgets on it as well. I've added an app like Home Switcher to go to each one.

OK, by the time I'm finished, I have 3 Beautiful Widgets installed, as well as 3 news widgets and 3 Facebook widgets. Are all 3 of each running, meaning I have 9 data polling widgets, or just the 3 on the launcher I'm on?

I second that answer. I do the same.

 

[kodiak799]

Yeah, with a more powerful phone I may run multiple launchers. Will enable me to have a "work" and "home" set-up. Alternatively I might go with like 3 launchers and have one for news/stocks, another for entertainment, etc...Also a cheap way to get more than the standard 7-9 screens most launchers have. Just not sure how switching would work, since I like the home button to take me back to my default screen rather than prompt me for which launcher to use.

Only drawback is I'm not sure how multiple launchers and widgets work. I assume if a launcher is not "active", then neither are the widgets.

But ultimately I'll probably just get around all that with Sweeterhome where shortcut "buttons" can create like sub-screens. Unfortunately seems like the developer has given up on it.

 

[mcatdtDroid]

On days I've gone to theme parks and couldn't power all day.... I set up a stock home launcher with nothing but shortcuts I need. Camera, video, text. That way, it saves power, I have quicl access to the apps I need and it saves the battery. No widgets, just shortcuts and just 1 screen

sent from my Droid Bionic 3 using a flux capacitor and tapatalk, while driving 88 mph.... thanks Doc, for making texting and driving so easy.

 

[dezymond]

Thank you, that part I get. However here's an example:

I have Beautiful Widgets, a news widget and the Facebook widget running on my stock launcher. All these widgets are updating to a various degree. I decide to try Go Launcher and when I set it up I add the same widgets to that launcher. I then want to try Launcher Pro Plus and I put the same 3 widgets on it as well. I've added an app like Home Switcher to go to each one.

OK, by the time I'm finished, I have 3 Beautiful Widgets installed, as well as 3 news widgets and 3 Facebook widgets. Are all 3 of each running, meaning I have 9 data polling widgets, or just the 3 on the launcher I'm on?

Whatever launcher you currently use, that's what you'll see.

Whether that lags the phone or not, I'm not sure. Considering you'd be using only one of the 3 launchers at a time, the other 2 shouldn't take up any resources, but again not sure.

 

[kodiak799]

I'm pretty sure other launchers take up memory, at least the stock one. I've always had to delete it when I flash a rom because I've found it does use up ram/resources.

The newer phones with 1gig of memory shouldn't have a problem though. Not sure what stock ICS will do as far as min ram free, but I'd be good to go if the D1 had double it's current (about 130?). So in theory the newer phones could handle 3 loaded-up launchers, though I'm not sure about battery (in my experience, widgets really don't drain the battery hardly at all, 2% total max).

 

[billyk]

This is a good question being asked in this thread. Looking forward to more responses.

Maybe some developers with the last word on this will chime in?

 

[CJM]

Considering you'd be using only one of the 3 launchers at a time, the other 2 shouldn't take up any resources, but again not sure.

Thats what I'm thinking. Since the other launchers arent running, the apps for it wouldnt be running either. But I never ran more than one launcher. One way to check is by going to your running apps and see what running. If you're using LauncherPro and not GoLauncher, but GoLauncher is in the list of running apps, then I was say it could be using whatever apps are associated with GoLauncher.

 

[Detonation]

Yeah, with a more powerful phone I may run multiple launchers. Will enable me to have a "work" and "home" set-up. Alternatively I might go with like 3 launchers and have one for news/stocks, another for entertainment, etc...Also a cheap way to get more than the standard 7-9 screens most launchers have. Just not sure how switching would work, since I like the home button to take me back to my default screen rather than prompt me for which launcher to use.

Only drawback is I'm not sure how multiple launchers and widgets work. I assume if a launcher is not "active", then neither are the widgets.

But ultimately I'll probably just get around all that with Sweeterhome where shortcut "buttons" can create like sub-screens. Unfortunately seems like the developer has given up on it.

Many launchers now have "profiles" where you can have different home screen setups that you can switch between. I'm not sure which custom launchers have that option right now, but I know many of the stock launchers (blur, sense) have it built in.

 

[aaf709]

... though I'm not sure about battery (in my experience, widgets really don't drain the battery hardly at all, 2% total max).

Yeah, it's the battery I was concerned about. I was thinking about widgets that are polling especially. Take a look at [video=youtube;cvWg7SbUgsI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cvWg7SbUgsI[/video]

The primary thing you get from this video is that widgets that use data use battery life so the fewer the better. If you have 3 launchers, all of them having Facebook as a widget, does that mean you have 3 Facebook widgets that are polling or only the one on the current launcher?

On my OG Droid when I only had GO Launcher, I removed all widgets from the stock launcher to save battery. I was just curious if that was necessary.

 

[ilikemoneygreen]

My guess would be that it doesnt take up resources as thats how android is designed. It really shouldnt run if you havent told it to, but it could be a different case for launchers. My suggestion is make it to where it doesnt matter, if you download titanium backup then you can freeze apps, so if you freeze go launcher while you use launcher pro that whole ssituation is avoided. i wish i had the time to experiment your question but im to lazy to.

 

[kodiak799]

Yeah, it's the battery I was concerned about. I was thinking about widgets that are polling especially.

Depends on the widgets and the update settings. I had like 2 dozens widgets at one point and associated battery drain was almost nil. "Widgets kill battery" is a myth. That's not to say user error doesn't account for some, and widgets can be coded poorly just like an app.

 

[kodiak799]

Many launchers now have "profiles" where you can have different home screen setups that you can switch between. I'm not sure which custom launchers have that option right now, but I know many of the stock launchers (blur, sense) have it built in.

Nice tip. Something I'll have to look into. I could probably set my home button as I want, and then use Locale to switch profiles accordingly. That would be a pretty slick set-up.