Root Helix Launcher2 .7beta2

[OMJ]

Arctu got Helix2 working again. Still in beta and a little different than before but I have been using it for a day and it works great.

Available here Donators' Repo

 

[DroidSuks]

Still chew up a lot of memory?.

 

[OMJ]

Still chew up a lot of memory?.

I never had issues with it before and I dont now. Others always complained about it being slow or choppy but I never had those issues. I also dont really monitor my memory usage at all. I let the os do what its supposed to and take care of monitoring it for me.

 

[sublimnl]

What background is that and is it animated?

 

[OMJ]

What background is that and is it animated?

its from a wallpaper pack from xda. I think its actually supposed to be for windows mobile. But no its not animated

 

[UBRocked]

I never had issues with it before and I dont now. Others always complained about it being slow or choppy but I never had those issues. I also dont really monitor my memory usage at all. I let the os do what its supposed to and take care of monitoring it for me.

I never had a problem with it either but...after not having it for a while now on Cyanogen and the ESE81 ROMs that Fabulous has been putting together...I've been using the helix launcher with 2D app drawer, I can say that the difference is very noticeable. There is just zero lag with the 2D version while the 3D version took a few seconds to "get going" when coming out of stand by. Not to mention the 3-5 seconds to have your screen orientate when switching to landscape (with "Home App in Memory" or not). I'll stick to the 2D version for awhile until someone hopefully gets Helix2 to be a little faster.

 

[OMJ]

I never had a problem with it either but...after not having it for a while now on Cyanogen and the ESE81 ROMs that Fabulous has been putting together...I've been using the helix launcher with 2D app drawer, I can say that the difference is very noticeable. There is just zero lag with the 2D version while the 3D version took a few seconds to "get going" when coming out of stand by. Not to mention the 3-5 seconds to have your screen orientate when switching to landscape (with "Home App in Memory" or not). I'll stick to the 2D version for awhile until someone hopefully gets Helix2 to be a little faster.

I think orienting the home screen is the time where it actually lags. My home screen is set to only rotate when I open the keyboard which I almost never do on the home screen so it doesnt bother me

 

[DroidSuks]

I never had a problem with it either but...after not having it for a while now on Cyanogen and the ESE81 ROMs that Fabulous has been putting together...I've been using the helix launcher with 2D app drawer, I can say that the difference is very noticeable. There is just zero lag with the 2D version while the 3D version took a few seconds to "get going" when coming out of stand by. Not to mention the 3-5 seconds to have your screen orientate when switching to landscape (with "Home App in Memory" or not). I'll stick to the 2D version for awhile until someone hopefully gets Helix2 to be a little faster.

I notice that when i've run any of the launcher2 or helix drawers that my memory would constantly report back in the 30's to mid 40 free... without 65 to 80... with considerable increase in speed and response when navigating screens and apps.


Just an observation based on my experience.

 

[ska.t73]

I've been using this for a few days now, and I haven't noticed any slow downs...

 

[UBRocked]

I think orienting the home screen is the time where it actually lags. My home screen is set to only rotate when I open the keyboard which I almost never do on the home screen so it doesnt bother me

True...but it still lags enough for me to take notice and wait a second or two. Not a big complaint but it does take the option of auto-rotate away (for me at least). I'm all about having EVERY option available cause I change things up so often. I use the auto rotate option sometimes and I frequently have the keyboard open when playing a game or something (just more to hold on to without your fingers getting in the way of the screen). When I close the app, many times my keyboard is still out and then I wait 2-3 seconds before the apps populate...then another 3-5 seconds for the screen to actually respond to swipe gestures (or re-launching the app drawer). Now that I have used Helix with the 2D drawer...it just runs faster and I am willing to give up the 3D (which is cool) to have better performance.

I notice that when i've run any of the launcher2 or helix drawers that my memory would constantly report back in the 30's to mid 40 free... without 65 to 80... with considerable increase in speed and response when navigating screens and apps.


Just an observation based on my experience.

I don't pay much attention to the app data that the phone reports...but I do notice the difference in speed and usability as well. I'm guessing that battery is affected a little by having Helix2 vs. Helix as well.

 

[johnlgalt]

Exactly. Every iteration of the 3D app drawer that I have used has exhibited 2 major lag points - one is loading when coming out of sleep *and/or* a memory intensive application (such as a game) and the other is orientation.

Of course, directly related to the first point is the fact that I *do* have a lot of apps running at boot to begin with, with Touiteur, IM, News and Weather, buzz, GV, WaveSecure, etc....So a phone with very little in the way of memory-intensive apps and / or with very little being automatically run at boot time will exhibit H2 / L2 a lot more differently (i.e. with a lot less noticeable lag) than one like mine.

However, since this *is* my phone, I'd rather not sacrifice all those apps that I use for the sake of one pretty 3D scrolling app drawer - so my decision is clear- dump the launcher.

As for battery, well, the more memory you are using on a continuous basis should (theoretically) increase battery use as well, so yeah, that makes sense.

 

[UBRocked]

Of course, directly related to the first point is the fact that I *do* have a lot of apps running at boot to begin with, with Touiteur, IM, News and Weather, buzz, GV, WaveSecure, etc....So a phone with very little in the way of memory-intensive apps and / or with very little being automatically run at boot time will exhibit H2 / L2 a lot more differently (i.e. with a lot less noticeable lag) than one like mine.

It might be more noticeable on your phone but I don't run most of those kinds of apps and I lag (not horrible...but noticeable) with the 3D launcher...Just FYI

 

[johnlgalt]

lol - how's this for pretty ****ing noticeable - sometimes I would open the app drawer and get a blank screen with the home icon at the bottom - now, logic would dictate that it was working, right? But I timed it, and after 5 minutes nothing had showed up - until I pressed the Home key (not the one in the drawer, the one built into the DROID) - at that point it wold wait 1-3 seconds, then all of a sudden all the apps would show -mere milliseconds before the app drawer would close and the desktop would show.

Anything else, in the face of that, would be mild lol. TBH if this one thing would not occur with *every* iteration I have tried, I might still keep using H2 / L2 - even with the text offset going buggy when I switched to Landscape and then back to portrait every now and again.

This never showing me my apps is unforgivable.

 

[UBRocked]

lol - how's this for pretty ****ing noticeable - sometimes I would open the app drawer and get a blank screen with the home icon at the bottom - now, logic would dictate that it was working, right? But I timed it, and after 5 minutes nothing had showed up - until I pressed the Home key (not the one in the drawer, the one built into the DROID) - at that point it wold wait 1-3 seconds, then all of a sudden all the apps would show -mere milliseconds before the app drawer would close and the desktop would show.

Anything else, in the face of that, would be mild lol. TBH if this one thing would not occur with *every* iteration I have tried, I might still keep using H2 / L2 - even with the text offset going buggy when I switched to Landscape and then back to portrait every now and again.

This never showing me my apps is unforgivable.

It's not your apps my friend...same thing happened to me but I didn't wait the full 5 minutes lol. I noticed that if the home screen had not fully populated after coming from an app or after switching orientations. I would have to press the "physical" home screen button and then wait for the home screen to populate before launching the drawer again. I guess I just learned how to use it in a way that didn't interfere with it (I'd wait on it to be ready). I didn't really mind that much until I compared the differences with the 2D version of Helix. Now that I see how 7 screens can TRULY run flawlessly...I wouldn't be able to go back to a buggy 3D version. Someone will get it ironed out eventually(...hopefully)...and then I'll switch back

 

[ska.t73]

From what I understand Cyanogen and Koush are working with Faruq to get this debugged and working on their ROMs as one of the defaults...

 

[Redflea]

I ran the new beta on cyanogenmod 5.0.5.7 for a couple of hours...found it had some of the same issues w/lag that previous versions had...things begin to slow down after a while, and the app tray had to repopulate unexpectedly at one point.

The only thing I really miss from the 2.x version of Helix Launcher is the way the icons explode/implode out of/into view when you launch the app tray. If that could be added to the 1.x Helix I'd like it...I could care less about the 3D scrolling.

 

[doomedromance]

Just what I wanted... my Droid to look like one of those new nifty maxiPad things that one fruity company just released.

 

[YankeeDudeL]

When they first put the 3D app drawer on the older 2.0.1 ROMs, I did become quite infatuated w/ it. However, it was always quite laggy. Most said it was due to the ROM being 2.0.1 based and not 2.1. Then Launcher2 (think that had 3D app drawer, don't remember, it's been a hot one), was laggy. Now HelixLauncher2. I have a fair amount of widgets running, but it's not that bad (and the lag isn't that terrible, truth be told).

I've given up on the 3D app drawer, and to be honest, it's really kinda lost it's appeal, as I love being able to quickly scroll to the bottom of my app list. But I am curious to know how the 3D app drawer works on the N1. I'm OCed to 1.2GHz, so the processor shouldn't be the issue.

 

[Fadelight]

I ran the new beta on cyanogenmod 5.0.5.7 for a couple of hours...found it had some of the same issues w/lag that previous versions had...things begin to slow down after a while, and the app tray had to repopulate unexpectedly at one point.

I am curious... do you update without wiping data and cache? If so, have you ever cleaned your cache via an app from market?

I tried 5.0.5.7 a few days ago, and it was horrifically slow. So slow that I couldn't even get anything to load in less than 40 seconds. Finally restored to 5.0.5.4... wasn't much better. Downloaded cachecleaner (which took me about 5 minutes) and ran it. Freed 195mb of cache. It has run lightning fast ever since.

I bring this up because I often wonder when reading stories like yours... how many people update their ROMs without wiping data/cache like I always have and assume it is the launcher or some other part of the ROM causing the lag. Sure, it is totally possible that it was just an isolated incident with my phone, but it is still worth mentioning.


Also something else worth mentioning. How many of you guys are actually removing the other two launcher apps after you load Helix? There is a big discussion about this in another thread... if you don't remove it, you are making your phone run 3 launchers at the same time. Anyone who has removed the other two (myself included) arent seeing anywhere near the lag issues anymore.

 

[code1321]

does anyone know how to view the notification bar if you select that its hidden? i like it being hidden but i dont want to have to go into app just to see it and pull it down...

 

[czerdrill]

does anyone know how to view the notification bar if you select that its hidden? i like it being hidden but i dont want to have to go into app just to see it and pull it down...

yeah i got the same question. helixlauncher1 had the notifications button in the menu but they removed it here for some reason. anyway i guess teh way to do it is create a shortcut with bettercut pointing to the expanded status bar (which is essentially what helixlauncher1 does in their menu). Anyone know the action switch needed to do this? or how to find out how they did it by looking at the helixlauncher1 apk?

 

[droidftw]

It also works on stock 2.1

 

[czerdrill]

eh i had it installed for a whole day and it's annoying...too much lag, too many fc's. this guy cant seem to get this launcher right...great job on the helixlauncher though. i'll stick with that one.

 

[OMJ]

Beta is over. you can get Helix2 .7 at the link in the op

 

[ska.t73]

Beta is over. you can get Helix2 .7 at the link in the op

Just tried it and getting force closes everytime I hit the home button... Went back to the the Beta version until it gets fixed...