Which Home Screen?

[ttran97]

I've been playing around with some of the other Home alternatives. So far, I found good things and bad things about each one of them. Right now, I'm trying out Helix launcher. I like the fact that I can add any shortcut to the bottom row next to the launcher. Open Home seems to have the most skins available. I like the clean look of the generic Android Home, but 3 screens is a little lacking.

Which one are you guys using? Why?

 

[ChiTownJim]

I've had DXTop, Sense, Home, Open Home and Helix Launcher and by far Helix is my favorite But in order

Helix Launcher
Home
Sense
DXTop and Open Home

As far as why... Helix Launcher is just very smooth I love that I can pick how many screens I have and it has a landscape mode

Home is very simple and very effective I really have nothing bad to say about it other then it's kinda boring

Sense is nice but I don't like the 7 screens (I use 4) the phone buttons on the screen I don't like at all. The weather/clock widget along with all the HTC widgets is really the only thing I miss about sense but I've found replacements for most of them

DXTop was cool with the up and down and sideways interface and very fast just really wasn't for me. I like that it allows you to take screeen shots and I'm not too sure why there isn't another problem (maybe there is) that can allow me to do that in any UI.

I honestly only had Open Home for about an hour and I don't remember what I didn't like about it I just didn't like it so I returned it

 

[L0stS0ul]

if helix had the ability to use the sense widgets I'd be all over it. I really don't like the beautiful widget set at all as a replacement as it uses far more battery on my eris than stock sense with htc widgets.

Helix is way better home but the widgets put it over the top for me so I'm back to using sense full time.

 

[hattrick]

Using Nexus Launcher at the moment. Going to try out Helix tonight. Before rooting I used dxtop and loved the diamond screen layout.

 

[ChiTownJim]

if helix had the ability to use the sense widgets I'd be all over it. I really don't like the beautiful widget set at all as a replacement as it uses far more battery on my eris than stock sense with htc widgets.

Helix is way better home but the widgets put it over the top for me so I'm back to using sense full time.

I hated Beautiful widgets but there is one called weather widget and it has a beautiful (and customizable weather/clock widget that looks identical to the HTC one only you can modify it)

 

[Drew95376]

I love using open home, allows me to have much more control over my home screen!

 

[Frisco]

I've been playing around with some of the other Home alternatives. So far, I found good things and bad things about each one of them. Right now, I'm trying out Helix launcher. I like the fact that I can add any shortcut to the bottom row next to the launcher. Open Home seems to have the most skins available. I like the clean look of the generic Android Home, but 3 screens is a little lacking.

Which one are you guys using? Why?

This is turning out to be a great thread. I had no idea about all of these alternatives to Sense and Home.

Sense generally serves my needs, but I do have an issue or two with it (I have not tried the alternatives yet, although I did disable Sense a while back but went back to it after only an hour or so without my custom screens).

What I might consider as an alternative to Sense is one that gets the silly, redundant "phone" button off the screen, as well as that whole curved bar there. Also I would like very much to have landscape mode on the home screen and be able to set it as the default.

A few other things.

 

[ttran97]

This is turning out to be a great thread. I had no idea about all of these alternatives to Sense and Home.

Sense generally serves my needs, but I do have an issue or two with it (I have not tried the alternatives yet, although I did disable Sense a while back but went back to it after only an hour or so without my custom screens).

What I might consider as an alternative to Sense is one that gets the silly, redundant "phone" button off the screen, as well as that whole curved bar there. Also I would like very much to have landscape mode on the home screen and be able to set it as the default.

A few other things.

Thanks, Frisco! One reason to NOT use Sense is that battery life seems to be much better with these other Homes. Helix is free and it you can put any 4 shortcuts at the bottom of the screen...and it even rotates everything in landscape mode.

If people are trying out different homes, you should get the app "Home Switcher". Makes it easy to launch different ones and set the default.

I honestly only had Open Home for about an hour and I don't remember what I didn't like about it I just didn't like it so I returned it.

I felt the same way about Open Home. I think it was too bland for me. Nothing specifically wrong with it, but I dunno...

I did like how GDE had a battery % down at the bottom...but I think it was draining my battery too much.

 

[ChiTownJim]

This is turning out to be a great thread. I had no idea about all of these alternatives to Sense and Home.

Sense generally serves my needs, but I do have an issue or two with it (I have not tried the alternatives yet, although I did disable Sense a while back but went back to it after only an hour or so without my custom screens).

What I might consider as an alternative to Sense is one that gets the silly, redundant "phone" button off the screen, as well as that whole curved bar there. Also I would like very much to have landscape mode on the home screen and be able to set it as the default.

A few other things.

I think you'd really like Helix Launcher then, seems like your issues were sense were similar to mine and Helix fixed all of them

 

[zachjen]

Can helix be used with 1.5? If so where can I find it? Can't find it anywhere.

 

[ttran97]

Can helix be used with 1.5? If so where can I find it? Can't find it anywhere.

I don't know if it works with 1.5. I'm on leaked 2.1 v2.

I did find it by searching for helixlauncher (one word)...

HelixLauncher v1.1b Application for Android | Productivity

 

[Asmith1106]

WoW! Helix is pretty cool... Will play around with this a bunch tonight. Hopefully will stay as smooth as it is right now. Very thankful for this find guys!

 

[gruss]

Yeah, this is interesting. Might have to try a few. No issues with sense just like to play.

 

[Asmith1106]

OK, messing around w/ helix on my 2.1 v2 Eris... trying to find a good, clean, free clock that wont totally suck my battery life...

Any suggestions?

 

[ttran97]

OK, messing around w/ helix on my 2.1 v2 Eris... trying to find a good, clean, free clock that wont totally suck my battery life...

Any suggestions?

I like DigiClock. Many customization options and it only takes up 2x1. It also has the date on there too.

I have mine to look like the one on the left, but in 12-hr format.

 

[150_cav]

correct me if i'm wrong but doesn't sense UI still run in the background, unless you're rooted

 

[eurotrash323]

Got my Eris in November, used Sense for maybe three weeks before finding out that there was a "home". Used "home" until this past Monday when I tried Helix out. Helix is where I'll be for a long while I'm sure.
I tried DxTop but didn't really like it much. Never tried OpenHome.

 

[dracozny]

I hated Beautiful widgets but there is one called weather widget and it has a beautiful (and customizable weather/clock widget that looks identical to the HTC one only you can modify it)

found atleast 3 widgets with that name and none have a clock..

 

[Frisco]

Got my Eris in November, used Sense for maybe three weeks before finding out that there was a "home". Used "home" until this past Monday when I tried Helix out. Helix is where I'll be for a long while I'm sure.
I tried DxTop but didn't really like it much. Never tried OpenHome.

Are you running 1.5?

 

[andrizoid]

i read something somewhere about live wallpapers and the helix launcher. if anyone knows how to get them id appreciate it. ive looked in all the wallpaper galleries and i cant find anything.

 

[Bswartz95]

I just downloaded Helix Launcher and bought Beautiful Widgets. I have to say, I really like how customizable this really is. It looks great too!

This should help battery life over Sense?

 

[hattrick]

i read something somewhere about live wallpapers and the helix launcher. if anyone knows how to get them id appreciate it. ive looked in all the wallpaper galleries and i cant find anything.

You have to dl them from the market. List of ones I've run without issue (all free):

Plasma
Bezier
Pop Squares
Logcat Lite
The Matrix
Zoomfield
Lines
Bobs

 

[Asmith1106]

Ok so I was messing around w/ helix changing amount of screens.. now I have an unending wave of force closes... ummmm anyone else get this?

 

[x531x]

Been playing around with other homes... But sense is defiantly for me!

 

[andrizoid]

You have to dl them from the market. List of ones I've run without issue (all free):

Plasma
Bezier
Pop Squares
Logcat Lite
The Matrix
Zoomfield
Lines
Bobs

screens? which ones look good?




and new issue.....i knew that helix wouldnt run the HTC widgets and ive heard that the beautiful widgets were kind of a replacement for them. after looking on the market i see that they cost money though :/
anyone know of a decent music, weather, clock/date, or calander widget that will run on Helix?