Former Apple fan boy struggling with switch to GS3

[BornAgainAndro]

Hey everyone, I'm moving from an Apple organization style mentality. My apps feel very cluttered on my GS3

How do you all recommend setting up your windows so you know exactly where to look for any given app without much searching? Do you keep folders with all your your apps on a certain page. Do you mix widgets and apps on the same page?

 

[Steve Adams]

Hey everyone, I'm moving from an Apple organization style mentality. My apps feel very cluttered on my GS3

How do you all recommend setting up your windows so you know exactly where to look for any given app without much searching? Do you keep folders with all your your apps on a certain page. Do you mix widgets and apps on the same page?

I use a mixture of both. However using apps can't be that different. An app is an app is an app. My iPhone never organized my apps any better than my galaxy does. What is confusing you?

 

[djedgarftw]

I think I'm not 100% sure since I'm not on stock currently that the stock app drawer let's you organize your apps

 

[chanchan05]

One homescreen has a theme in mine. The main screen has my most used apps (music widget, camera, email, etc). Then another homescreen contains only SNS apps and widget, and another contains only agenda related apps like calendar, tasks, pomodroido timer, and then I use Folder Organizer. I practically almost never open the app drawer anymore.

 

[breadnatty08]

Agree with Chanchan, one other thing you can do on your phone is drop apps on top of each other and create folders. For example, one folder for games, one for social media, one for productivity etc.

 

[pool_shark]

I don't like having app icons on my screen, to me that looks cluttered.
I use a 3rd party launcher like Nova or Apex and put my most frequently used apps in the dock.
Each icon in the dock can have a 2nd (or 3rd with Apex) app assigned by swiping the icon up or down.
I can launch 30 apps from the dock, no need for icon clutter.

 

[MachDelta]

Nova Launcher here too. I used to have a page just for app folders, but it was kind of messy and hard to sort through quickly. If I forgot what category I put an app in, i'd have to dig through folders until I found it. When I got Nova, I cut my homescreens down to three - center is mostly blank (time/weather/battery), left is device widgets (wifi/bluetooth/data/airplane/etc), right is calendar and todo lists - and sorted all my apps into separate tabs in the drawer. Now hunting down an app is easy - just jump to the drawer with a swipe on the homescreen, swipe through the categories (or jump straight to it if I know where it is), and voila. It keeps things clean, and despite being more physical actions on occasion, it's much easier to browse my collection.
Also, like pool_shark said, I keep a dozen plus commonly used apps in the dock. Cuts down on the hunting.

 

[GJade]

I'm a newly convert as well. I find that the more I tinker with my phone, the more I get used to it so now, I'm comfortable using it. I think Android is more intuitive than people think. I love my S3 now, don't think I'll be going back to apple.

 

[BornAgainAndro]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I'm going to look into launchers. They're a new concept for me.

I like folders too. The only problem is with those border applications where you can't quite decide what category they should go in. I've started creating folders that are labeled by verbs. This way I can think in very broad terms "what does facebook do?" it communicates. I then go to my folder labeled "Communicate" same thing for "read" "photograph" "listen" and "watch."

I'm not organized in many aspects of my life but I'm OCD with my phone.

 

[MachDelta]

The only problem is with those border applications where you can't quite decide what category they should go in.

This was another thing I liked about using the app drawer in Nova Launcher - you can put an app in more than one category. So for example, my weather app is under both "Info" and "Nav". IMDB is under "Media" and "Info". A compass is "Nav" and "Utility". etc. Of course I can change them if I find myself never looking in one place or another, but to start with it's nice to keep things flexible. It keeps the OCD at bay.

Oh, and I had trouble deciding on categories too. So far I have: Games, Device (settings, customization, etc), Media, Nav(igation), Utility, and Info (mostly apps that simply replicate a website; Wikipedia, IMDB, Kijiji, my bank, etc), and then I just relabeled the default app tab to "Misc" and left stuff in there that I never use. I would kind of like to cut it down even more, since I can only see the first 4 tabs when the drawer first opens, but balancing accessability and minimizing clutter is tricky.

Also, one last important thing to note is that the drawer sorting feature (among others) in Nova Launcher is restricted to Prime (paying) users. It's $4 well spent in my book though. But take a look around, there are a couple really excellent launchers on the market.

 

[BornAgainAndro]

I'll have to try the Nova launcher out. I just got the Apex launcher last night I like the combination of a nexus/jellybean type of interface with the option of iOS like folders. The iOS folders are nice because they look good and you can see the icons inside pretty well. I then spent a couple hours deciding if I should root. I ended up rooting because you can't use widgets with the Apex launcher without root access. I had little idea what I was doing but it worked out well with the Odin software.

 

[PH8AL]

Im running a custom Rom on my phone that gives me the choice of xperia or go running as the stock launcher, My app drawer is a mimic of the home screen, it tiles side to side and just adds an other page when all are full instead of the customary 5 of the home screen. It lets you rearrange the order to suit yourself with a list of presets orders or to actually drag and drop stuff around. I organize by what it does. file stuff, games, A/V etc...
Both Go and Xperia pretty well have this covered.

I hate a cluttered home screen it blocks my flames live wallpaper

 

[xxkid123]

I use multicon, which is a widget that can make your app icons look smaller. I find that they work best with a 2x1 or 4x1 widget with 2 apps by 6 apps. You can fit more apps onto one screen, or you can fit fewer apps in a smaller space so you have a cleaner look.

Here's my screen setup with multicon, plus the youtube widget for ICS

Many launchers will also support gestures. Rather than having a large widget for my music, I simply swipe up to access the app. Likewise, I've set up my notification bar to have all my settings toggles to be easily accessible.

 

[HotRoderX]

personally I have my Tablet and Phone both setup the same way.

Front page Clear except for my 4 most frequently used apps + clock

Right Page is setup with all the apps I use on a regular bases I got like 8-9 app icons

Left Page is setup with Widgets Wifi + Weather + New's + Email

(Yes I only use 3 pages)

This setup leaves my Front screen nice and clean gives me access to every thing I normally use.