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Sense vs Launcher Pro

S

sdalby

Newbie
When I first received my Evo Shift, I went in wanting to use Launcher Pro because I had used it on my girlfriend's phone. After using LP for three solid months, I decided that I would return my phone to stock settings. Here is my mini review:

1. Sense has amazing Widgets. Launcher Pro widgets do not even come close in comparison. They are gorgeous and work very well. The effects of the main screen clock widget with the weather is a pleasant surprise. Being able to see the time and weather in the same section is quite nice as well. The 4G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS widgets are very useful for battery management as well. I use the News feed to keep updated with Engadget news and the Twitter widget is quite nice as well (although LP's is just as good). The HTC music widget is beautiful and I use it quite frequently as well.

2. The biggest complaint about Sense was the dock. I used to agree until I started using it. What's the objective of a phone? To make phone calls. Having that feature be the biggest button on the dock makes perfect sense and I do use my phone to make phone calls quite frequently (some people just use it for other features). The only button that I do not agree with is the "+" button. There is no use for an add widget button because we can easily accomplish the same thing from holding the screen.

3. The Sense messenger is absolutely awful. After three days I just had to reinstall Handcent. Not much to say there.

4. A small feature that not many people know about is that if you get a phone call, you can flip your phone over and it will silence your phone. Actually an interesting/useful feature.

After using Launcher Pro and trying out Sense, I have converted back to Sense just for the use of the Widgets alone. I do have a few issues with Sense, but the positives make up for the couple negatives. If anyone is using Launcher Pro, I challenge you to use stock settings for a week :) (Minus stock messenger)
 
+1

i'm with you on this one. i ran launcher pro on my old phone and i loved it. when i got this phone, i decided to give sense a run and i can honestly say it is hands down the best skin/launcher. that + button is pretty stupid but i remapped it to open my browsers so no complaints there for me. and i actually never tried the stock msg app cus i installed handcent right away. but i'll take your word for it. and i understand ppl like to gripe about phone manufacturers putting their custom skins on phones, but coming from a stock android phone, imo sense makes android better.
 
I will never use Sense again after using Pro Launcher. First of all, it's much much faster and smoother and much more customizable (# of screens, docks, ability to resize ANY widget on the screen, icons, animations, app drawer, screen transition effects and the list goes on and on). As you mentioned, Sense indeed does have a nicer clock and weather home widget, however I'm using Beautiful Widget with Launcher Pro and it works flawlessly and it's hundred times more customizable with different screens than the Sense app. It does have the animation you mentioned as well. The 4G, bluetooth and WiFi widgets I'm assuming you mean the power control widget, you can actually use with Launcher Pro without any problems, however I downloaded an additional app called Widgetsoid, which allows you to add even nicer features as Rebooting your phone with one click(root required) and turn automatic phone flip on and off (very handy in my opinion, especially when laying down, trying to write a text message and the screen flips). Not even mentioning that Beautiful Widgets also has those buttons and many different skins for them. The Launcher Pro widget calendar in my opinion, is much nicer and better designed than the stock calendar one and also I love the people app, which allows you to add up to 9 favorite users on one of your screens and easily talk/send texts/email them with one click instead of going to your contact list. A new feature has been also added recently, Gmail, which allows you to put your most recent emails on one of your screens with Launcher Pro. Launcher Pro - WINNING.
 
edp said:
+1

i'm with you on this one. i ran launcher pro on my old phone and i loved it. when i got this phone, i decided to give sense a run and i can honestly say it is hands down the best skin/launcher. that + button is pretty stupid but i remapped it to open my browsers so no complaints there for me. and i actually never tried the stock msg app cus i installed handcent right away. but i'll take your word for it. and i understand ppl like to gripe about phone manufacturers putting their custom skins on phones, but coming from a stock android phone, imo sense makes android better.
Click to expand...

I didn't know I could remap that button. That's good to know!

@sajmonides

I can honestly say my phone runs much smoother without Launcher Pro and I don't have to go through the hassle of download all those stupid Apps. There are the same number of screens for both LP and Sense as well. I know Launcher Pro is more customizable, but Sense isn't built to be Customizable. It is built for functionality out of the box which it hands down delivers very nicely.
 
Ok, I see what you're saying and I understand your point.
I thought that you couldn't change the number of screens on Sense though? Maybe I'm wrong, but Launcher Pro allows you to have just one or two if you want to.
It's a one time thing and you can customize your phone the way you want it and you never have to do it again. You can make it look exactly like you want it, and design it in a way that makes your phone the most functional for you. Maybe for YOUR usage, Sense provides sufficient functionality, but I would have to do way more work to get to every application, text messages etc etc if I was using Sense, than I do with all my great widgets on Launcher Pro. I really don't see how this is a hassle though. It's just 2 apps that are downloaded within 15 seconds and you set them up once.
 
I run BOTH Sense and Launcher Pro at the same time! It's the best of both worlds.

Sense is set as my default Home with all those wonderful widgets on the homescreens. I then created a shortcut on my Sense Homescreen for Launcher Pro where I have a lot of native Android widgets, and where I have a lot of shortcuts because I set Launcher Pro to five rows. With the Sense homescreens full of all the Sense's Wonderful goodness, using Launcher Pro is a nice add on for native Android stuff. It is just way faster to launch Launcher Pro rather than switching scenes in Sense. I even set Launcher Pro's setting to stay in memory which makes it very speedy when I go between Sense and Launcher Pro.
 
sajmonides said:
Ok, I see what you're saying and I understand your point.
I thought that you couldn't change the number of screens on Sense though? Maybe I'm wrong, but Launcher Pro allows you to have just one or two if you want to.
Don't have to go through that hassle of downloading those stupid apps haha? It's a one time thing and you can customize your phone the way you want it and you never have to do it again. You can make it look exactly like you want it, and design it in a way that makes your phone the most functional for you. Maybe for YOUR usage, Sense provides sufficient functionality, but I would have to do way more work to get to every application, text messages etc etc if I was using Sense, than I do with all my great widgets on Launcher Pro. I really don't see how this is a hassle though. It's just 2 apps that are downloaded within 15 seconds and you set them up once. So if downloading 2 apps is a hassle, I'm assuming you haven't downloaded any apps on your phone? What's the point of having an Android then?
Click to expand...

I am commenting on original usage. Not tweaks. Plus Beautiful Widgets is a paid app which kind of sucks. Explain what Launcher Pro has that Sense doesn't. And what do you mean about getting text messages? As I stated I use Handcent. Stock messenger sucks. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE LAUNCHER PRO. I stated that earlier. I used to for months.

However, I wrote this from a standpoint of a Launcher Pro user and for now I am enjoy Senses features that I didn't have in Launcher Pro. Will I go back? Probably some day. The customizable docks is almost reason alone.
 
I already mentioned all the things that Launcher pro has, that Sense doesn't. It's my my 1st post in this thread. I'll copy it again: (# of screens, docks, ability to resize ANY widget on the screen, icons, animations, app drawer, screen transition effects and the list goes on and on). Most of all however, it's much much faster, mainly because you can customize how fast your screens transition, how fast your app drawer opens, etc. etc. You can't do that in Sense. Sense just doesn't cut it for me, because I can have everything what I have with Launcher Pro + more. With the exception of a different dock and I like Launcher Pro's dock much much better.
 
The great thing about Android (and Sense and LP and BW and ... and ...) is that we have options!

Personally, I hated Sense but loved some of the widgets that it offers. My wife has no problem with Sense. The best launcher and features for me may very well be different than the best for user A and may be completely different than user B.

It's all preference and nothing wrong one way or another!
 
I have switched to Go Launcher and love it... The contacts widget, etc. is fantastic. I use the multiple screens and have 4 different contact screens separating Family, Local friends, out of town friends, etc. Love their Facebook widget as well. Their messenger button connects to the stock messaging application. it's ok, and works well enough for me.

I use Juice Defender Beta for power management and like it so far too. It has increased my battery life by about 25%, and that almost gets me through a day that I forget/cannot to stay connected up.

That said, I can see how different home screens can be good for different people. I use a home screen manager to get to Sense occasionally, but feel like i need to do that less and less. Go Launcher somehow works for me, is free (though I am going to look into how to support the developer, as they have delivered a great app).

Last thing - ADW and Launcher Pro had the added annoyance of no trial period for the paid product, or I couldn't figure out how to run it. As a result, I couldn't verify that the widgets/nav were going to work for me. As such, I was loathe to pay to experiment. I really don't mind paying for a good app (I have done so several times), but there were enough negative reviews of both that I didn't want to fork out the money and then be disappointed. I'd happily pay within reason to keep GoLauncher.
 
sdalby said:
4. A small feature that not many people know about is that if you get a phone call, you can flip your phone over and it will silence your phone. Actually an interesting/useful feature.
Click to expand...

I just got my Shift and this is the coolest thing I've read yet. :)
 
Kori_Tamashii said:
What sort of battery drain have you all noticed with your respective installed launchers?
Click to expand...

I actually get better battery life with Launcher Pro. I have since started using Launcher Pro again because of the customizable dock. Nothing in Sense beats it unfortunately!
 
sdalby said:
I actually get better battery life with Launcher Pro. I have since started using Launcher Pro again because of the customizable dock. Nothing in Sense beats it unfortunately!
Click to expand...

I was getting tired of Sense restarting a few dozen times a day, so I finally installed Launcher Pro yesterday and have been playing around with it for awhile and I love it. The customizable dock is definitely one of my favorite things about it, but it seems to run faster and although it's only been a day, it seems the battery is lasting longer as well. I do miss some of the widgets from Sense, but I think the benefits of LP outweigh the things I miss from Sense.
 
I really liked Sense, and I will probably return to it after(if) they correct the memory issues. However, the constant restarting of Sense after every time I used the browser or other memory-hungry apps has driven me to Launcher Pro. If the fix doesn't come before long, I might have to bite the bullet and shell out the $3 each for Launcher Pro Plus and Beautiful Widget and be done with sense altogether.
 
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