Need clarification on Home Replacements and Customized Icons

[liguy257]

Been looking at the Screen Shots thread and some of the stuff on there is awesome--I defintely want to get it on customizing my phone. At this point I'm getting mixed up because there seem to be 400 different apps so I want see what input people had before I spent any actual money.

aHome / Open Home / Better Home / Helix are "home replacement apps" correct? From what I gather, they are basically apps that run 'over' the main home screen and can be customized with themes, icons, widgets etc. When running one of these, are the stock widgets unusable? And if I'm downloading new widgets from the market, do they work with these, or are those just for the stock home screen?

Also, do they all essentially do the same thing? My main thing is to be able to customize icons. I've seen that most people use BetterCut to do this, but is that used in addition to a home replacement app, or is that indepenent? So if I *just* wanted to modify icons, I would get that, where as if I wanted a totally new home screen, or additional home screens, I would need a replacement app?

Also, based on the market comments, some of these applications constantly force-close, etc, but I know that can vary by phone. Which one is recommended to work with the Droid, and which one has the most customization available? I want to try to duplicate some stuff from that thread but I know some of it is legit and some is "rooted" (whatever that is)...I just want the most options possible.

This thread is mad long, but I think that's a good starting point. Any input is appreciated.

 

[Garemlin]

aHome / Open Home / Better Home / Helix are "home replacement apps" correct? From what I gather, they are basically apps that run 'over' the main home screen and can be customized with themes, icons, widgets etc. When running one of these, are the stock widgets unusable? And if I'm downloading new widgets from the market, do they work with these, or are those just for the stock home screen?

Yes they just run over the stock home screen. You can use stock widgets and icons as well as any downloaded.

Also, do they all essentially do the same thing? My main thing is to be able to customize icons. I've seen that most people use BetterCut to do this, but is that used in addition to a home replacement app, or is that indepenent? So if I *just* wanted to modify icons, I would get that, where as if I wanted a totally new home screen, or additional home screens, I would need a replacement app?

If you just want to change the stock icons you don't need a home replacement. Bettercut is what you need for that. To be honest the reason the majority of the people here seem to use home replacements is to get more that three home screens. If you are interested in getting more than 3 screens without using a home replacement then get Launcher+. It gives you the extra screens and that is it. I personally like Helix because it gives you the four static icons at the bottom that you can customize as well.

Also, based on the market comments, some of these applications constantly force-close, etc, but I know that can vary by phone. Which one is recommended to work with the Droid, and which one has the most customization available? I want to try to duplicate some stuff from that thread but I know some of it is legit and some is "rooted" (whatever that is)...I just want the most options possible.

This thread is mad long, but I think that's a good starting point. Any input is appreciated.

You are gonna get problems with any application. I use Bettercut all the time with zero issues. I also have been using Helix for a while and have only had one force close. To be totally honest I have only had maybe 5 force closes total with my Droid since getting it in December.

I have tried Home++ and really didn't care for it. The others I can't comment on.