Help I am a little disappointed (help)

[Ineedtoknow]

Hi I just bought a galaxy S4 and besides it being bigger and having a better camera. I have to say I'm a little disappointed with it. I read and watched a lot of reviews of it but I guess I was just expecting more. I have an old galaxy precedent that I love it's just to small and slow. I have rooted it and deleted a bunch of the bloatware that came with it. One of the things that I am really disappointed with on the S4 is the lack of options. On my precedent I installed go launcher and I could rename and change the pictures of the apps on my home screen. I would like to install a different launcher on my S4 but I'm a little afraid because last christmas I had a dancing reindeer appeared on my phone home screen that said christmas style. I scanned my phone to make sure that I didn't have a virus and posted a question asking if I should be worried. A couple of people said it happed to them to but no one knew what it was. The reason I bring this up is that all but one of them had go launcher on there phone as well. Everything has been ok so far and I have never seen it agin so if you know what is was please let me know. I don't want to root the S4 even if it's possible. Because I don't want to void the warranty. What's the best way to customize it without risking the warranty? I also had dolphin HD browser what's the best and most most secure browser?

Thanks

 

[hansangb]

Adding a new launcher won't do anything to your warranty. Of course, I'm talking about the ones that do *not* require root. For example, I prefer Nova Launcher and it's one of the first apps I added to my new S4.

 

[Podivin]

I'm a fan of Action Launcher Pro myself, I like some of the options it has that I haven't seen on others.

 

[wysts43]

Both Nova Launcher and Apex Launcher are really solid, safe launchers that provide a ton of customization features. I haven't heard many good things about GO Launcher, so I'd stay away from that. As far as browsers go, you could go Chrome, Boat Browser, Dolphin, etc. Just try them all and find the one you like best. Good luck!

 

[Ineedtoknow]

Nova launcher looked cool I really like the transparent notification bar. The thing I like most about go launcher is the little bar at the bottom of the home screen. I don't know what is called but you can slide it to gain access to the apps. Dose nova or action have something similar? The youtube videos I watched didn't mention it if they did. Have you heard anything bad about go launcher? I could easily switch I read a lot of reviews most of them where good. I haven't found one that didn't a few bad reviews. I watched a review for apex and it looked good except. They said that when you touch it to scroll it jumps to the left. Does that happen to you?

 

[BLACKTOOTHGRIN]

x2 for Launcher Pro!

I've used it for the past couple of years and it works very well on my S4 too.
Haven't had it crash or cause any problems.
It does have a sliding app dock at the bottom that you can set up to 15 apps on.
(5 in each row, row slides 3 times, =15)
It also supports swipe gestures on each of those buttons.
Those allow you to add an action or app to each of the existing app buttons in the dock when swiping across them.
So in total, you could potentially have 45 apps or actions set up in the bottom sliding dock alone.

Don't get stuck in analysis paralysis though...
Try different launchers and see what works best for you.
If you don't like one...delete it.

I personally HATE Go Launcher.

 

[CrimsonPride]

I do not recommend launcher pro at all, it hasnt been updated in years and is slower than some of the newer launchers such as nova launcher, action launcher, apex launcher are all well known and fast launchers. and most launchers now have the sliding dock you are talking about, nova and apex definitely have it, never checked for it in action launcher.

 

[lotus49]

I'm a big fan of Lighning Launcher. It's free and very customisable.

 

[BLACKTOOTHGRIN]

I do not recommend launcher pro at all, it hasnt been updated in years and is slower than some of the newer launchers such as nova launcher, action launcher, apex launcher are all well known and fast launchers. and most launchers now have the sliding dock you are talking about, nova and apex definitely have it, never checked for it in action launcher.

Launcher Pro is not quite as snappy as Nova or Apex,
but is by No Means slow. The difference in speed is minimal. So you can't really knock it for speed.

Why it hasn't been updated, who knows.
Id like to see an updated version as well with some new features,
But it isn't some clunky primitive launcher that lacks either.
I can't say I'm a fan of their icons, but I think the stock icons of all the launchers are pretty lame.
Most of the time I'll either make or implement my own in other ways.

Yes Nova and Apex have scrolling docks,
but they also disable the swipe gestures in the docks until you purchase the Paid versions.
Don't really care for that.

It's all user preference really.
To each their own.

 

[alextop30]

I don't know much about launchers because I like the stock one but as far as root goes it is perfectly safe without voiding the warranty. If you need to get the device serviced install stock and get the service after which root away again. If the phone us damaged they will not be able to tell if it was rooted. The only way to tell root is if you have some serious knowledge or check the recovery. People at the store do not know what USB 3.0 does but to know about rooting. (exaggeration I know but not too far from the truth).

Hope my thought helped out a little!

 

[Crash27]

A launcher that I have used on my S2, S3 & now S4 is the Next Launcher v1.39, It has tons of customizations for the home screen, You can pretty much do anything from changing your apps icons to folder icons, you can change the size, color...ect. It also is jammed pack full of custom screen transitions, gestures, lock screen editor and more, There is a lot of launchers out there, I tried a lot but the one I stuck with was Next Launcher, You may also like to try out ADWLauncher EX launcher, it has a lot of good features also.

 

[Ineedtoknow]

Thanks for all the help and info I'm glad that I found this site. I also found a cool looking launcher called next launcher 3D. But I also found out that it's from go launcher. So what's your thoughts on it? The reviews I've read are the same some good some bad. Also what's the verdict on beautiful widgets is it still ok to use?

 

[B2L]

Thanks for all the help and info I'm glad that I found this site. I also found a cool looking launcher called next launcher 3D. But I also found out that it's from go launcher. So what's your thoughts on it? The reviews I've read are the same some good some bad. Also what's the verdict on beautiful widgets is it still ok to use?

I've had Beautiful Widgets on everyone of my Android phones and still use it all the time, so I'd definitely recommend it.

Next Launcher is awesome, it has a ton of features and is extremely smooth. The only thing that keeps me away is the $16 price tag. I bought it when it was first released, played with it, then refunded before my time was up. It's definitely one of the best launchers, it just doesn't add enough to justify the cost.

 

[CrimsonPride]

Thanks for all the help and info I'm glad that I found this site. I also found a cool looking launcher called next launcher 3D. But I also found out that it's from go launcher. So what's your thoughts on it? The reviews I've read are the same some good some bad. Also what's the verdict on beautiful widgets is it still ok to use?

Next launcher is pretty cool, i have it but i currently use nova instead. I like change and often change my launchers, havent tried next launcher in a while but it was alittle slow the last time i tried it