Help Best Home replacement for Droid?

[vincentp]

I know that there are several options. I've never owned an Android phone before, but I have heard about Panda, aHome and OpenHome. I've also heard that these apps don't play nice with the Droid's resolution/format/size screen.

Has anybody tried any (or preferably all) of these three apps? Are you able to provide some of the pros and cons of each so I can make an informed decision? I would like to try out some of these options, I'm a huge customization freak.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Howie]

just read something earlier today that Panda will be updated very soon (like this week I believe it said). I haven't tried any though

 

[Robobandit]

If you're a huge customization freak, try SweeterHome.. it is early.. but you can use it to build a highly customized interface for your device. It offers the most customization of any of the home screen replacements thus far.

 

[vincentp]

If you're a huge customization freak, try SweeterHome.. it is early.. but you can use it to build a highly customized interface for your device. It offers the most customization of any of the home screen replacements thus far.

Why thank you. I'll give it a shot. Have you tried it on the Droid? Has anyone confirmed that it works with the format of the device?

 

[Robobandit]

Why thank you. I'll give it a shot. Have you tried it on the Droid? Has anyone confirmed that it works with the format of the device?

I've been able to use it fine thus far. You may want to go to youtube and look at some of the videos and download it to play with.. it took me a bit to figure out how to build an interface I liked.

I'm currently waiting on droid support for Pandahome.. supposedly coming sometime in the next 24 hrs.. before I decide whether or not I will spend the time to build a theme for sweeterhome.

 

[jackkondroid]

I have tried aHome, Open Home, PandaHome

They ALL lag the crap out of your Droid. Its redic. Panda home for instance Even with there new updated version it lags the swipe b/w screens your wallpaper freezes in b/w screens your drawer goes up and when u put it down your "drawer image and icons" are still stuck on your screen.


aHome is not recommened for the droid and there is plenty of reasons for that. its just crap

open home i liked for a little but then came force close after force close.

so for now i stick with the default droid home. waiting on cynogen to have versions for our droid phone

 

[karimarie]

I use Open Home, and while I'll get a force-close message for it once or twice a day, it restarts OH automatically, so it doesn't really bother me all that much. And I haven't had any problems with it slowing things down--I run five desktops on it, rather than the full 7.

 

[goon55]

I have tried most of the full-fledge home replacements. Really I only have a couple things I would like to see changed to the existing home screens.

1. add more screens. I don't really understand why this isn't an option. Seems pretty straight forward on other smart phones, htc, iphone even mobile shell for my omnia.

2. ability to change icon size and/or the ability to change the pacing between them. I mean, I can only put 4x4 icons on my screen.

Or is there something I am just missing? Anyone have any suggestions for just these issues?

thanks.

 

[jeepguy_1980]

2. ability to change icon size and/or the ability to change the pacing between them. I mean, I can only put 4x4 icons on my screen.
.

I agree. The Google search widget is only as tall as one row of icons, yet it takes two. The grid should be rearranged so that it holds 4 rows vertical. I think the reason it's only 4 though is for the landscape transition.

I think the landscape home screen should just be a 4th screen. So that you can optimize the layout for landscape.

 

[sondun2001]

I tried the latest PandaHome today and it works great on the DROID. No lagging, no force close, but like some users mentioned an occasional black screen when closing out apps.. (didn't bother me at all)

My other gripe is the low res on the DROID. It has an unacceptable resolution for anybody with at least a semi sensitive eye for digital quality, enough that I just uninstalled it. Once the app (and/or themes) are updated for DROIDs higher res screen I will get it again.

 

[zep]

Tried searching the forums for this specific question to no avail (although I freely admit I may have just missed it), but I downloaded PandaHome and had some strange issues...I was wondering if anyone else was experiencing anything similar.

Basically my phone will erratically go to a black screen (the notification bar at the top is the only thing that remains) and I get no response usually....the few times that the phone actually registers my touch, it asks me if I want to force close pandahome as it it non-responsive. Even when I select to force close the app the black screen returns.

I've uninstalled pandahome for the time being, but I was wondering if anyone knew the reason for this/have they had a similar problem with the app?

tia.

 

[Isthmus]

I found a fantastic home replacement app for my Moto Droid. I'm sure many of you are aware of it, but I recently discovered it so I thought I'd share.

When I got my phone I was unhappy withthe stock screen set up, so I looked for a replacement. I chose DxTop because I loved it's one-swipe layout and its customizable app dock. However as my phone's usage increased, I soon discovered that DxTop simply didn't give me the kind of room I needed to organize my apps on the desktop (though their app-drawer organization was fantastic). I Gave a few other home replacements a try and finally started using Helix launcher. with that I got 7 screens and an app drawer like that on the N1. I liked the layout, but found the application buggy (force closes constantly), and a bit slow. a few days ago I saw a recommendation fro LauncherPro Beta, so I gave it a try.

LauncherPro Beta is similar to Helix Launcher. It has 7 screens and it has an app drawer modeled after the drawer in the N1. however that is where similarities end. Launcher pro Beta is a smaller software. It is much more stable and it is blindingly fast. As with similar replacements, you get 4 customizable app icons on the task bar. The app drawer uses the same fading effect as the N1 app drawer, but it lacks transparency and it is not set in 3-d mode. The end result is that apps lack a little of the cool scrolling animation, but the app drawer is responsive and fast. what I liked the most is that LauncherPro beta borrows the helicopter preview navigation from Sense UI. Pinching any desktop will give you a view showing all your desktops as fairly large icons (as opposed to Helix's side by side row of tiny icons). Screen transition is very fast. the same speed is evident in screen swiping and returning to the home screen.

The only downsides I've observed are that there are minimum options for customizing. You can set the number of screens, your home screen, and the behavior of your home button, and that's about it. Live Wall papers and widgets are supported, but I find that occasionally the more elaborate widgets have a tendency to fail on loading. The software is FAR more stable than helix launcher, but not quite as stable as DxTop (it forced closed on me a couple of times but then automatically reloaded). From what I can see at least for now the software is built for speed, usability and efficiency. If you can live without the ability to modify every little aspect of the software, you might just find this to be the home replacement for you.

It's called a beta, and I'm sure there is still some development going on, but it is already pretty damn good. try it out and see what you think.