Best Launcher

[4N6science]

Well, I am brand new to the Android world and Launcher Pro Plus was my first purchase. Definitely worth the money.

I tried out a bunch of different home replacement apps and finally landed on Launcher Pro Plus. I just liked how it worked and felt the most comfortable with it.

 

[ardyer]

Previously, I would have agreed, but after I had it installed for a while it killed my battery - dead in less that a day. That was the only change I had made - including usage. I uninstalled it, went back to LPro and battery usage went back to nominal 36 hrs.

I had the same problem, plus I started getting terrible lag. Switching launchers fixed both.

Its a shame too, because the Go Launcher is about the best looking one I've seen.

 

[cincyrob]

Previously, I would have agreed, but after I had it installed for a while it killed my battery - dead in less that a day. That was the only change I had made - including usage. I uninstalled it, went back to LPro and battery usage went back to nominal 36 hrs.

i know this is kinda off topic but damn how do you get 36hrs out of your battery? im lucky to get 12hr out of mine. i know it is still new to me and im allways messing with it but i cant get more than 12hrs out of it. i got it on the charger right now and it is 1:05pm est. and around midnight it will be dead. i wont charge it at all when im at work*(yes i use it alot at work too.) and see how long it last.

ok back on topic.
ive been useing ADW launcher now for a week maybe and love it so far, but im looking for more. im thinking of trying launcher pro and then compairing the 2 then maybe buying adw launcher ex....

 

[PGP_Protector]

ADW Ex launcher all the way baby!!!

Ditto, tried both ADW & LP went & paid for ADW, worth the $

 

[gcobb]

I use Go Launcher

I also use this. It uses less CPU time than the others. It has a few less options but it's still faster than the others I've tried...and no lag.

 

[LiquidSword52]

LauncherPro is what I use. I paid for it but mostly just to support the author. You get some nice widgets but otherwise the free version is just fine. However I strongly advise supporting the authors of your favorite apps... the cost is usually the equivalent of a couple coffees or sodas, and it encourages them to continue to work on and improve the apps your care about and rely on. Think about it: which would you miss more: 2 coffees, or your favorite Android app?

Honestly, some of the paid launchers cost Half of what ONE coffee would cost at Starkbucks.

I'm experimenting to see what works best on my Samsung Intercept. I've tried ADW, and Launcher Pro. ADW was nice, but got a bit laggy on my phone. Launcher pro was more reliable, but I decided to slim down and use Zeam for now. I like how simplistic Zeam is. So Far, no issues.

I may mess around with Go Launcher next if I get bored.

 

[gcobb]

I had to get Zeam to see what it was about. Go Launcher is equally as fast for me and has some much needed options., many that Zeam doesn't have.

 

[cincyrob]

ok got launcher pro installed now. gonna mess with it some today get the feel of it and see how i like it. i do already see that you have to purchase the upgrade to get any widgets(well launcher pro that is)

i do like the fact of having the option of 3 dock stations. that is sweet.

 

[Buddha64]

i know this is kinda off topic but damn how do you get 36hrs out of your battery? im lucky to get 12hr out of mine.

It's idle a lot. At work I don't have time to fiddle with the phone much, and I don't need 3G or wifi since I have internet/email/etc at my desk. Oh, to view the occasional blocked site (Facebook, not porn) I'll turn it on, but I really don't do that too much.

I really got it for the GPS - which I am sorry to say sux - when I travel for work. Even then, I keep it plugged in whenever possible (luckily my vehicle has a USB port).

If I'm streaming music (or on a slow day playing Angry Birds or some such time waster), I plug it in. It's a Lithium Ion battery - it doesn't suffer "battery memory" - so I just plug it in when I'm using it heavy.

 

[lotreaglesfan]

I really like Launcher 7 (looks like windows theme)

Dev has an updated version out ever two or three days that adds an incredible amount of new features to it.

Three days ago he came out with new app drawer
Two days ago he came out with widget support
Yesterday he came out with a lot of updates

it's nice and basic and I like

https://market.android.com/details?id=info.tikuwarez.launcher3&feature=search_result

 

[cincyrob]

i seen that launcher 7 today when i got launcher pro. but reading about it i thought it was made for the new windows phones. hmmm might have to give it a look see as well. ive beend using launcher pro all day, its pretty cool but so many things that come with the free version of ADW you have to pay for with launcher pro.?? i mean to resize a widget you have to pay for it??? come on.lol i seen ADW launcher EX first hand today. that app has to be the sweetest thing on the market right now. think im gonna drop the big $3.22 and get EX, maybe even get a couple themes as well..lol i think im allowed $6-$7...lol

 

[xxbrysonxx]

I've spent time with ADW, Launcher Plus, Zeam, Metro UI, and Launcher 7.

For the past couple of weeks I've been giving Go Launcher EX a spin, and have been very happy so far. It has almost all of the features of the premium versions of ADW and Launcher but at no charge.

 

[chanswer]

Launcherpro plus. Wicked nice launcher. Download the free one first to try it out though, still has some pretty nice features.

 

[cincyrob]

Ok I've had launcher pro installed for a day now.,it sucks I can't use my USB. To connect to the computer. It wont even ask me how I want to use the device.so I've completely uninstalled LP.and did a battery pull to see if it corrects the problem.

NO LAUNCHER PRO for me

 

[Buddha64]

^ Yes. But isn't that true of all third-party launchers (other than the Samsung standard)?

 

[cincyrob]

^ Yes. But isn't that true of all third-party launchers (other than the Samsung standard)?

well i have ADW launcher and everythign works fine. i did uninstall LP and it all works fine now no issues with ADW launcher. ill be getting EX tonight when i get home from work.

 

[Nelimungous]

well i have ADW launcher and everythign works fine. i did uninstall LP and it all works fine now no issues with ADW launcher. ill be getting EX tonight when i get home from work.

ADW only launcher I have ever used and has always done great on my Captivate. I bought the EX version a while back...all I need and no issues.

 

[cincyrob]

Ill be going the same route. After seeing Adw Ex lastnight I wont have anything else..

 

[Dirt McGirt]

Just dl'd Zeam a few days ago and I like it so far. Nothing fancy or complex to it. One thing that bugs me is that the dock icons are smaller than the icons on the scree. If I could get an even size all around then that would be perfect, but I guess beggers cant be choosers.

 

[cincyrob]

ok i got ADW Launcher EX today... man is this thing sweet, and fast.love the 8 different choice to go to the next screen. also the 4d app scrolling in very nice..lol
here are a few pics. with a few custom icons. running normal 2.2 froyo with ADW launcher


home screen

flipping to next screen to the right.

4d app scrolling

so many options with this launcher. gotta tool around with it more today.
i don't know if it is true or not but some say EX actually helps with battery life???

 

[Simba501]

Hey guys,

So I was looking to upgrade to a pro version of one of the home launchers. Currently I'm using launcherpro and was wondering if which home launcher was the best. ADW Launcher EX or Launcherpro Plus? Thanks for your comments.

ADW Launcher EX ftw.....

(It works great on my Captivate, but for some reason it FCs on my Inspire - enough to make me want to change launchers. Zeam is my second launcher of choice. As soon as the developer optimizes ADW ex for the Inspire, I'll be switching back.)

 

[cincyrob]

ok a little info if you dont know it already. i have gotten ADW launcher EX. it has been a little sluggish/lagging, so i was going to uninstall it then reinstall. well once going into my apps looking for it to uninstall.i got ADW launcher first(notEX) and uninstalled it, once doing that it let EX take over completely and now this cappy flies like the space shuttle it is unbeleivable how fast this thing is. so in short. once installing EX uninstall the free version of ADW launcher. im sure most know that, but being new to this stuff i didnt and got lucky and found out on my own. i know there are alot of reviews about EX being sluggish and lags. id say it because they didnt uninstall the free verison.

 

[darkrequiem]

Good catch cincyrob....I for one would have NEVER thought of that...but I did delete the old one as well....I LOVE LOVE LOVE this ADW ex Launcher...I had this launcher since day ONE of owning my phone. I love the features and gestures that come with it. The word that comes to mind is "Snappy" I am glad your are figuring the launcher out, this is by far the BEST way to learn it!

 

[Iome]

I used Launcherpro plus for months and for the most part, I was very happy with it. It would freeze up sometimes when I would go to screen previews and the only way I could get out was to hit the home button again. Since it seems like the dev stopped updating it, I started looking at other launchers, and I've developed a bit of an addiction. I've currently tried launcherpro, pandahome, home++, zeam, powerstrip, go launcher, keeworld, and adw launcher, with several more on my list to try.

My favorite is go launcher. I don't have any of frozen screen effects that I had with launcherpro, and it has several options that launcherpro doesn't have. You can filter the app drawer by all, recent, or running. You can also choose the style of flipping between screens, such as "cube" or "windmill." It also has loop scrolling, so when you get to your last homescreen, it just flips around to the first one. Like Launcherpro, it has a scrollable dock with 15 dock stations, which you can either tap or swipe for a max of 30 shortcuts. You can add 30 homescreens or something ridiculous like that. The only thing I miss about launcherpro plus is the scrolling widgets, especially the contact widget. I've made up for that by installing animated widget.

I haven't really been able to test out adw launcher like i want to, because for some reason, I cannot change the number of homescreens. This seems to be limited to my phone, and is not a feature of the launcher in general. From what little I've seen of it, I like it, and I might even make it my primary launcher if I didn't have the homescreen issue. You can add up to 5 dock shortcuts, it's supersmooth, and from what I've read online, it is better on the battery than launcherpro.

pandahome 2 is also worth mentioning as a good launcher. it's pretty fast and smooth, although I didn't get quite as good a performance out of it as I did launcherpro, adw, and go launcher. One really cool feature is it has 6 dockbars, scrollable, that you can drag apps into. The only thing I didn't like about it is that you are stuck on a 4x4 screen; you can't adjust the number of rows and columns. It has up to 11 homescreens.

I used home++ for a little while, and it has a nifty "power strip," instead of a traditional dock. While it is scrollable, and pretty cool, it isn't customizable.

 

[fldude99]

I'm playing with Zeam at the moment. Very nice and simple, but I think I'll go back to Go EX. To me its the best combination of simple with nice options. I heard someone mention they think it was causing battery drain, but I highly doubt that