POST 4
ANDROID LAUNCHERS
Launcher PRO (Free) ..
LauncherPro is one of the most seamless, bug-free launchers out there. With almost every aspect of the application customizable, it’s hard to make the choice to switch to anything else once you give it a go.
When you first load the application, you will see the basic home screen layout with three screens and some default widgets and icons. Unlike your default launcher, LauncherPro sports five dock icon spots for you to customize with custom icons, actions, pop-ups, and much more. These icons act as shortcuts for you to set your own favorite applications to be accessible on any screen within the home screens. By swiping these shortcut bars left or right, you will notice that there are three more shortcut bars, made up of five icons, allowing you to set 15 of your favorite applications to be accessible at any point on the home screen.
In addition, you are also able to set custom icons for the applications you choose to put into the shortcut bar as well as the dock background, ranging from the default set to any image that is appropriately sized to fit the dock dimensions.
As you begin to look through the settings, you stumble upon an abundance of things to “tweak” to your liking. LauncherPro lets you change the number of home screens, the transition effect between the screens, and the size of the grid on each home screen. Other bells and whistles include a 3D drawer, super-smooth scrolling, app drawer opening and closing animations, customizable app drawer grid size, elastic scrolling, Sense UI-style animated screen previews, and even more.
Summary:
Combined with its “free” price tag, the quality of this application is well worth the time to check it out. There is a reason the majority of the Android community opts to go for LauncherPro — it will not disappoint!
LauncherPro Plus (Paid)
By donating $2.99 to developer Federico Carnales through PayPal, you unlock the full version of LauncherPro which includes additional features, such as the ability to re-size widgets as you see fit, which comes in handy when playing around with a bigger-than-standard grid size.
The biggest and best advantage to buying the full version is the widgets, which closely resemble HTC Sense’s both visually and functionally. The list of widgets includes People, Bookmarks, Calendar, Messaging, Twitter, Facebook, and Friends, most of which have multiple styles for you to choose from.
Summary: For the low price of $2.99, you can support the developer in perfecting this application further, regardless of whether or not you need the extra features. Especially with a long-awaited complete application overhaul and rewrite coming soon, this home screen replacement solution will be well worth the money.
ADW Launcher EX (Paid)
This is the paid version of ADW Launcher ...listed below
Just like LauncherPro, ADW.Launcher also has a paid version with additional features and customization. For $3.14 USD, you can have the most customizable launcher available on the Android Market.
First off, ADWLauncher EX bumped the number of app drawer styles from two to five, which aims to satisfy all you fanatics who like change. Another big change is the ability to change the animation when swiping between home screens. You have the option to choose between eight of them which, once again, adds to that customization factor you may be considering when choosing a launcher.
Other small changes include new icons, a new look and feel, the ability to give icons backgrounds, the ability to change font sizes, and many other small new features, all of which can be saved in a new feature called “fast presets”. With these presets, you can quickly switch between your home screen styles and configurations on the fly if you get bored of one home screen too soon.
The developer has also mentioned new and better code, meaning an improvement in performance.
Summary:
ADWLauncher EX is perhaps the most customizable launcher on the Android Market, and it is well worth the money if you are looking to explore your creative side and wow your friends with your creations.
ADW Launcher (free)
This is the free version of ADW Launcher EX.....still a very good launcher though..
While LauncherPro is my first choice of launcher, the brilliant people at AnderWeb have made a close second. With most of the settings and features nearly identical to LauncherPro’s, you may find it hard to tell them apart.
Nevertheless, there are certain things that allow ADW.Launcher to stand out from its competition in addition to the features already mentioned in LauncherPro. By flicking up on the app drawer icon, you have the ability to drag and drop an unlimited number of shortcuts and folders into the dock which is useful if you have a large pile of things you need to access quickly.
Another feature that sets ADW.Launcher apart is the app drawer styles that you are able to choose rather than being stuck with one default one. If you are a fan of the Samsung Galaxy S line of phones with the side scrolling app drawer, you’re in luck. AnderWeb has made that available to you, as well as the default Android fluidly-scrolling vertical drawer.
Another feature that LauncherPro lacks but that ADW has is the ability to long press on any icon on the home screen, which reveals a menu where you are able to change the icon and name of the application. (LauncherPro requires you to remove the icon and create a new one from scratch.)
Summary:
Overall, ADW.Launcher is a solid, powerful, and free home screen replacement solution that will keep you satisfied for weeks to come. With lots of customization options, smooth scrolling, and fast response time, it is one of the best you will find.
GO Launcher EX (free)
This is a free Launcher ...very popular too ..
A relatively new launcher on the scene is GO Launcher EX by the up and coming Android development stars and authors of the GO SMS application, GO Dev Team.
One of the first things you’ll notice about this launcher is that inside the app drawer is a task killer of running applications. Rather than having a task killer running all the time and ruining your battery life, you now have the ability to shut down any running tasks on the fly, within the application, in case you are running low on memory.
By looking through the Preferences of this application, it becomes obvious that the GO Launcher Dev Team are huge fans of customizing. So many preference selections — Display, Screen, Dock, App Drawer, Operation, Advanced, and Theme Settings — may seem overwhelming at first, but after looking through all of the settings, you can customize GO Launcher EX to look like almost anything you like.
If you don’t need LauncherPro Plus’s widgets, GO Launcher Ex is definitely the best choice due to the build quality, number of features, usefulness and overall depth of the application. If you happen to have purchased LauncherPro Plus already, then GO Launcher doesn’t have any extra features that may warrant the switch after having shelled out $2.99. Regardless, it is a fantastic launcher. I cannot stress that enough.
Even though GO Launcher EX all the same features of ADW, and LauncherPro, the developers go that extra mile by including all of the incredible visual customization and are extremely active on their thread on XDA, jumping at the opportunity to include any features users suggest.
Slidescreen (free)
Im so excited about this Launcher ...I love it ..
Larva Labs Ltd have taken a different approach to the Android home screen. SlideScreen is made up of a multi-paneled screen that consists of a Phone, Messaging, Calendars, News, Stocks, and Twitter feeds. At the center of all of these is a main slider that consists of the date, time, weather information, battery status, and signal strength for both 3G and Wi-Fi, all very neatly packed into this container.
By sliding the main slider, you are able to adjust the size of each of the media section, allowing you to pick which sections you use or want the most. Access to all of your installed applications can be found through a shortcut in the menu.
By clicking on a slider section, you are greeted with the application that is associated with the section. For example, if you see that you missed a call, you tap the “phone” section, and are taken to the call history. Any upcoming appointments or important dates are shown under the “calendar” section and will take you to Slidescreen’s version of a calendar app when pressed.
Summary:
Larva Labs Ltd have broken away from the generic Android-esque look and tried something new — and it’s quite polished. There is the occasional bug or poorly coded section here and there, but an update will fix those without a doubt. It’s definitely something new if you want to get away from the same old look of every other launcher out there.
Slidescreen (Paid)
If you like the free version then Id recommend the paid version....
Android 2.3 Launcher (Paid)
Original launcher from latest android gingerbread branch.
Get latest launcher without waiting or rooting your device.
you can find my paid version by scrolling down to bottom and click "View more applications" to buy the paid version, thanks!
Feature:
* Pure Google Experience, Refined look and feel from Gingerbread.
* Choose between 2D / 3D apps drawer. (see #1)
* High quality wallpaper from Nexus S
* Add eclair (2.1) backward compatibility (Testing)
#1 3D app drawer only work on the following condition currently
1. 3D capable device (RenderScript capable and multi-context support)
2. 480*800(most mid to high end android device) or 480*854(Milestone/Droid or other mid-to-high end device)
3. Android 2.2 Aka. Froyo
How to open launcher settings:
Long press your home screen, and click "Launcher settings" in the "Add to home screen" dialog to open launcher settings.
This is a free version, if you do like this app, please buy "Android 2.3 Launcher (Home) +" to support my work, thanks!
Also checkout free "LiveWallpaper from Gingerbread" from us. It will be a good companion to your home!
Or are you looking for gingerbread keyboard, we also have one for you. just look for "Keyboard from Gingerbread"!
Zeam Launcher
This is a very fast Launcher, Zeam is not to add the most launcher functionality and extraneous eye-candy, but instead to be a “…free and lightweight launcher alternative…”, according to its website. You will find that Zeam holds true to its promise, and adds little in the way of wiz-bangs and flashy-doodads. At best it supports some relatively basic animations and transitions, which likely won’t “Wow!” anybody, and definitely won’t assist you in speeding up your phone, which is the purpose of Zeam in the first place.
Zeam does however, build upon the basic Android launcher’s basic functions with some of the following features:
Manipulation of App Grid size
Scrollable widgets
4 Fully customizable gestures
Scrolling customizable home dock
These features are all fine and dandy, but if you’re looking for feature-packed launcher goodness you’ll be better off looking at ADW or LauncherPro. Where Zeam really shines is in speeding up a heavily-loaded or aging phone. My original Motorola Droid was slowing to a crawl with the vanilla Froyo launcher, responding slowly to taps and swipes made on the home screen with only 2 widgets (Jorte Calender and Facebook)! Zeam frees up a lot of memory and is very light on its feet, allowing you to simply get things done faster and without a headache.
SPB Shell 3D Launcher
As we all know, the beauty of Android stems from the fact that you get a wide variety of choices when it comes to devices and interface, though the latter can sometimes be a double-edged sword. Luckily, users who are fed up with their bloated Android UI but don't want to (or can't) mess around with ROMs now have another easy solution. Joining the handful of Android launchers is SPB's Shell 3D app, which installs as a replacement (but removable) home screen that comes with some nifty widgets (radio switches, backlight dimmer, weather forecast with a 3D chart, clock with over 60 skins, world time with a 3D globe, etc.) and resizeable folders.
As you can see above, the highlight of the show here is a cool-looking 3D carousel for switching between up to 16 panels, and you can trigger it by either tapping or horizontally dragging the bottom-center button. Whilst in carousel mode, you can also rearrange the panels, change their colors, or flick away excess panels. All of this required no manual reading on our end, so it's safe to say that this is a pretty intuitive app. Read on to see what the performance is like.
Yes its expensive but what a launcher ..whats missing from this ...you cant customize the dock icons ...whether thats enough to put you off is up to you...
We've been playing with Shell 3D on our Xperia Play, Nexus S, and Dell Venue for a few days, and we're still surprised by its butter-like smoothness -- SPB claims that the app is rendered consistently at 60fps on most modern Android devices. The only time we see this app hiccup is when we throw in the Pictures panel (for displaying Flickr's pictures of the day), so while this feature is a nice touch, we tend to keep it tucked away for minimal irritation. Other than that, we enjoy casually spinning the carousel or flicking between the panels for the subtle 3D transition effect, without significantly affecting battery life as well.
As for the app list, it's simply a vertical scrolling list with springy effects when you hit the top or bottom, but there's also a nice addition here: apps that already have a shortcut added to a panel are marked with a little home icon. That said, there's another side to this: for some reason, SPB decided that we shouldn't be allowed to add the same shortcut to multiple panels, which can be annoying for those who want maximum accessibility to the most frequently used shortcuts. For an app costing $14.95, this shouldn't be too much to ask for, right? But otherwise, Shell 3D is a pretty neat add-on for those looking to breathe new life into their Android phones.
Android Windows 7 Launcher
There are a lot of third-party application launchers available for Android from GO Launcher EX to ADW to LauncherPro. Most Android users choose to go to a third party launcher to either get a stock look on their phone or just to customize it more. While my personal favorite launcher has always been LauncherPro (please no hate mail from ADW fans), the delays in an update to the rewrite of LauncherPro made me begin to look elsewhere for a new feel for my phone.
Launcher 7 is an attempt to replicate the simplicity of Windows Phone 7’s launcher on an Android device, and it does a great job. There are others out there (like Windows Phone Android), but Timo Kujala’s Launcher 7 easily takes the cake. From live tiles to widgets to transition animations, Launcher 7 is the way to go for someone who wants a simple launcher or who loves the look and feel of Windows Phone 7, but doesn’t want to leave the Android fold.
The Set Up
When you first open Launcher 7 it gives you a default set of icons like Phone and Browser and then lists the rest of your applications to the next screen on the right, which can be accessed by swiping over or pressing the arrow. If there is an application that you want to add as a tile to the main screen, all you have to do is long press the application and a new screen will appear allowing you to customize the tile with whatever icon you want and how large you want the tile to be (1×1, 2×1). Launcher 7 comes with a set of white icons to use if you want to try and make each tile look as close as possible to WP7, or you can just use the application’s default icon.
Live Tiles
This is where Launcher 7 really shines over and against other WP7 launcher imitations. There are options for live tiles, like the calendar tile you see above. The calendar tile will cycle through your 24 hour events or display an event that is coming up that day. Another option for live tiles is a People tile, which displays pictures of your various contacts. For those familiar with WP7, you’ll recognize that these live tiles are straight from the WP7 launcher. While the options for these lives tiles are limited right now, there is a lot of potential to make the app even more like WP7 and then to expand beyond with custom live tiles.
Widgets
Recently, support for widgets has been added. As you can see from the images above, my battery percentage and weather forecast widgets fit right in with the rest of the tiles. Any widget can be added by pressing menu and then Add Widget. While there will be some limitations for which widgets can be added (mostly size), you shouldn’t have much trouble finding a way to get the information you need onto your main screen. The widgets update automatically and respond exactly how they would if they were on a normal Android launcher.
Wrap Up
Launcher 7 isn’t for everyone, but for people who love a simple experience and want access to their information and their applications quickly, Launcher 7 is worth a try. The dev doesn’t guarantee that the launcher will work on all phones, but a quick perusal of the comments will show that most phones handle the launcher just fine. It has easily replaced LauncherPro for me because of its simplicity. I’m by no means a lover of minimalism (I would pick Fancy or Beautiful Widgets clocks over any other clock), but with a busy schedule and a need to access things quickly and easily, Launcher 7 helps me get things done. Besides all of that functionality mumbo-jumbo, it’s fun to use. I find myself choosing to use Launcher 7 more and more because I enjoy the simple beauty that it offers.
You can find both a free version (with ads on your applications list page) and an ad-free paid version in the market. Even die hard fans of Launcher Pro and ADW should give this a shot – you may be pleasantly surprised.
Web Browser Thread
Lost of info on the subject here -
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1101308
Thanks to Oat23
Black Android Theme Thanks to pele for the theme and nitrozk for the port
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1131746
Love this theme so much I thought Id make some screens
Here is the wallpaper, icons and dock for the above Home Screen and Lock Screen
http://www.multiupload.com/5FDEGU7MVS
Had lots of pm's about the Android Market Icon ...infact its in with the wallpaper and I just put the market icon over it and changed it to dots, there is also a blank icon that you can use instead if you prefer. The blank icon is also used for the dock apps...
Everything on the screen is from using ADW Launcher EX, more info on how to use it in post 1 ...
Screen shots of market icon ...before and after ...
Widgets used ...
Simi Clock
Simi Weather
Simi Battery (all in the same app)
Missed it (paid app)
Circle Launcher
Widget Locker
I used Dialer2 app and Better Keyboard app to fit with the Black Android theme more ...great apps too ..Screen Shots of both apps below...
lol@bonebrain in contacts aka Jimmy, he'll kill me if he sees this haha..
Enjoy
..
Widget Locker
Please note the market is now black because of the Black Android themed vending.apk
Widget Locker How to Guide
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=825553
Widget Locker Themes
When you have download a theme you like...dont upzip it, place the zip file in - Internal sdcard/data/com.teslacoilsw.widgetlocker/themes then open Widget locker and select from the app ..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=968613
Since making this thread I have now made 4 themes ..
NeonGT (Jumba's Original) ...Red and Blue
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1138692
And my latest and best theme to date is Beautiful Honeycomb
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1181143
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