Will a Launcher slow down you phone?

[Digital Controller]

Hey Everyone, i just had a simple question because i know how popular launchers are and wanted to see what the hype was about but had a very important question about them...

Do they slow your device down? make it less responsive? or less smooth in transitioning?

AND

Do they drain your battery faster? i was assuming yes, but not that big of a difference.


Thanks in advance guys!

 

[Jacksmyname]

I can't answer for phones, only a Galaxy Tab 10.1.
I use the Nova Prime launcher on my tablet, and it runs like a rocket. Very smooth and responsive.
As for the battery, I've never compared Nova to the stock launcher, but battery life on
my tablet is fine.
Try the launcher(s) you're interested in. If they cause problems on your phone you can
uninstall it.

 

[Marie53]

I run Nova Prime on my Motorola Xoom 10.1 tablet and it is nothing but great. It's very fast and pleasantly about. Never had a single glitch or problem with it.

GO Launcher doesn't run quite as well; a few features stalled out, it seemed more ram-piggy, and wasn't as fast as Nova. The Xoom is running on ICS, and I think since GL EX is not created specifically for ICS, it's simply not going to run as well as Nova or Apex, which are ICS specific.

BTW, GL EX runs flawlessly on my Gingerbread Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0, and it's a whale of a blast to use. Ate my life up playing with all those delightful themes!

Now phone-wise, I tried GL EX on Kyocera Rise (ICS), and the HTC Eco V for which I traded the Rise. Same situ as the Xoom; GL EX simply didn't work well for me on these ICS phones. Nova Prime was beautiful on the Rise. I installed Nova Prime on the Evo V, and it seemed ok. But, the Evo began having such issues with dropped calls, failing texts, error messages, that I took it back to bare stock to see if I could stabilize it completely. It's much better but not quite there. I'll try Nova Prime on it again. If it won't run stable and reliably with Nova,I may return it to Radio Shack , gotta be able to trust it.

My experience with GL EX and Gingerbread is excellent and a lot of fun. For ICS, I can really recommend Nova Prime.

 

[chanchan05]

Go Launcher EX on phone, Apex on Tab.

No. They do not slow the phone down more than the default launcher will, with a condition: the phone must have powerful enough hardware.

Take a Galaxy Y for example. Hardware is barebones essential to run Android smoothly, but without the bling of better animation and graphics. The TouchWiz interface on it is even more basic than the ones on older phones like the Galaxy S or Galaxy Fit. In some ways it looks as basic a launcher as the interface on the Nokia s40 non-touch phones. But it runs Android and can use the apps.

Now if you put Go Launcher on that and run all the animations and graphics and stuff on top of actively running apps in the background, of course it will slow down because the hardware wasn't designed to handle that kind of customization and bling.

On a phone with hardware equivalents to Nexus S (Galaxy S, Desire S, etc) or better (GNex, SGSII, SGSIII, Evo, One X, etc) the hardware is over and above what Android needs to run stuff, and putting a launcher or customizations on top of Android won't be a problem, especially since after you restart, the stock launcher won't be running and the new launcher will be using up the resources previously allocated to it.

 

[ionutica]

If you have a budget phone then it will slow it down considerable

 

[DragonSlayer95]

If you have a low end phone with very limited ram it may seem laggy at times, but high end as a couple others have mentioned with a ton of ram and memory, it won't affect it what so ever.

Sent From My HTC Evo 3D Using TapaTalk 2

 

[Digital Controller]

Thanks for the responses guys, I know i flirted with launchers when i used my Incredible but i havent really messed with them since i got my GNex.

I really appreciate the feedback.

 

[Digital Controller]

Okay so i downloaded Nova launcher and will check battery usage today compared to Trebuchet, which was the launcher my phone was running previously. I like it so far, specifically the fact that when you disable the persistent search bar it adds another line of apps, so the phone has space for 5 apps instead of 4.

NICE!

 

[Motorhead1991]

If you're rooted, locking your Launcher in RAM helps pep it up a bit. For some reason, Samsung limited the 512mb RAM to 355mb, and my Rugby Smart runs Touchwiz without a problem .

 

[chanchan05]

Okay so i downloaded Nova launcher and will check battery usage today compared to Trebuchet, which was the launcher my phone was running previously. I like it so far, specifically the fact that when you disable the persistent search bar it adds another line of apps, so the phone has space for 5 apps instead of 4.

NICE!

I prefer Apex over Nova, but on both launchers you can go to settings and add more app rows and columns, up to a 10x10 grid. AND still have the persistent search bar.

 

[Jacksmyname]

I prefer Apex over Nova, but on both launchers you can go to settings and add more app rows and columns, up to a 10x10 grid. AND still have the persistent search bar.

Yep.
I have the persistent search bar, and with the ability to have folders on the desktop, I have more than enough room for what I want.
I also tried Apex, and liked it; it's another excellent launcher. Very similar to Nova.