So Launcher Pro.... rooting? Wait what?

[williamj1]

Ok. So i've had my desire for a few months now and am beginning to wonder about rooting. I keep seeing all these people's homescreens in various threads and so on running custom rom's etc and I like them a lot. So my question/s...

1. What is launcher pro? Does this require rooting? I like the idea of changing htc sense to have a constant shortcut bar on every page etc.
2. I have this impression that its possible to load a different thing by launcher pro, and then just switch back to htc sense without having to touch data or fiddle. Just like hit a button in an app somewhere. I suspect this is wrong right?
3. What happens to htc sense when I root or / and use launcher pro.
4. What happens to data when I root or / and use launcher pro. I am not keep on losing everything.
5. What are the other advantages of rooting?

PS. I gather unrevoked is rather like redsn0w on iphone's etc. Pretty simple few click buttons. But I see people talking about goldcards and stuff. What in hell is that?

Big thanks to any helpers.

 

[Jammy]

Ok. So i've had my desire for a few months now and am beginning to wonder about rooting. I keep seeing all these people's homescreens in various threads and so on running custom rom's etc and I like them a lot. So my question/s...

1. What is launcher pro? Does this require rooting? I like the idea of changing htc sense to have a constant shortcut bar on every page etc.
2. I have this impression that its possible to load a different thing by launcher pro, and then just switch back to htc sense without having to touch data or fiddle. Just like hit a button in an app somewhere. I suspect this is wrong right?
3. What happens to htc sense when I root or / and use launcher pro.
4. What happens to data when I root or / and use launcher pro. I am not keep on losing everything.
5. What are the other advantages of rooting?

PS. I gather unrevoked is rather like redsn0w on iphone's etc. Pretty simple few click buttons. But I see people talking about goldcards and stuff. What in hell is that?

Big thanks to any helpers.

1) Launcher Pro is an alternative Launcher, ie, different homescreens, app drawer, etc. It does not require root access.

2) You can switch between launchers easily, yes

3) Nothing/nothing.

4) Nothing/nothing

5) Check out the XDA forums for more on rooting, but it isn't require for Launcher Pro



EDIT: I just realised, I didn't actually mention that you download it from the market ^_^ Go there and check it our, it's free!

 

[HTCandroid]

sorry for short reply, not answering everything but im off out now.

you can download launcher pro from the market, no need to root or anything. you can easily switch between launcher pro and sense and wont make a difference, you can use an app called home switcher for this. you wont lose any data.

if you root you can flash rom's with htc sense so you dont have to lose it. you can use titanium backup from the market to restore a lot of stuff such as apps and their settings after flashing a rom. Or you can just keep the stock froyo (or whatever your running)

 

[williamj1]

So I can go to the market and download homeswitcher and launcher pro. Then I can just switch between htc sense and others effortlessly without lose data or do anything to it?

Thanks guys.

 

[Jammy]

So I can go to the market and download homeswitcher and launcher pro. Then I can just switch between htc sense and others effortlessly without lose data or do anything to it?

Thanks guys.

Yep!

It may also be worth checking out ADW, which is another launcher. Some people prefer it...

 

[williamj1]

Problem. Home switcher says it doesn't work with 2.2 froyo. That's what i'm running. So what happens when I use launcher pro and decide I don't want it anymore, I want sense back?

 

[Jammy]

It's fine.

When you click the home button, you will be given the choice of what launcher to go to. You can set one as the default so it always uses that launcher.

You can reset this in the settings somewhere if you decide to switch back

 

[DesireMe]

You don't need home switcher to switch. First time you press the home key after installing it will ask you what launcher you want (sense/LP) if you don't tick the default option it will prompt you every time, enabling you to switch. Even if you tick the default, you can clear the default option to force it to prompt you when you press the home key again.

You don't need to be rooted to take screenshots either. I'm not and have screenshots posted.

 

[Hadron]

You don't even need to remember which menu to go into the clear the default option - there's an app called ClearDefaultHome in the market which just takes you to the relevant menu item. As others have said, once you clear this setting, the next time you press the home button you get the list of options back.

If you are using LP as your main launcher with a Sense ROM I've seen it suggested to set your Sense "scene" to "clean slate" (or whatever it's called - the one with nothing on the hope pages) to reduce resource usage. Save your current scene before doing this! If you switch often though this would be a pain, as you'd then need to restore your preferred Sense scene after switching.

Personally I'm using a Sense ROM but never use the Sense launcher. As I'm rooted and have the paid version of Titanium Backup I've used that to "freeze" the Sense launcher so that it cannot run in the background at all.

Using LP (or ADW, or any launcher other than Sense) means that you can't run the Sense widgets, though Sense apps still work (as long as you have a Sense ROM). There are market alternatives for most of them though (LauncherPro Plus includes a few of its own).

 

[UKseagull]

I am right in thinking that using LauncherPro (or others similar) and their associated gadgets, will use more of the phone's limited memory?

 

[OFI]

I am right in thinking that using LauncherPro (or others similar) and their associated gadgets, will use more of the phone's limited memory?

Well yes, it has to take up space somewhere

 

[UKseagull]

I meant to post 'Am I' not 'I am', didn't wish to sound cocky.

I'm tempted to try LauncherPro, I get a little bored looking at the same screens . Can anyone give an indication of the extra memory used, with the extra widgets etc?

 

[SUroot]

My launcherpro is under 5MB. This included its widgets I assume. You may download your own widgets though.

 

[CarsnGadgets]

if you use launcher pro or any other alternate launcher, make sure you set your sense homescreens to a blank scene, so that the widgets aren't using resources in the background.

 

[williamj1]

Right - Success. Thanks.

Now, I get the pop up about complete action using... HTC Sense or Launcher Pro. Obviously I click launcher pro, and do this by default . But once I do that - as a fail safe, I can't find the option in the launcher pro menus to get back to htc sense?

 

[sookster54]

That's why the above poster said to download home switcher. Ignore what the dev said, read the comments, about 100% of the reviewers said it works on 2.2, and I use it on 2.2 myself.

 

[williamj1]

I meant to post 'Am I' not 'I am', didn't wish to sound cocky.

I'm tempted to try LauncherPro, I get a little bored looking at the same screens . Can anyone give an indication of the extra memory used, with the extra widgets etc?

Used about 4mb of my memory.

 

[HTCandroid]

don't know why it says 2.2 is not supported... works perfectly fine for me but as said you don't need it anyway, just i find it easier.

 

[SUroot]

don't know why it says 2.2 is not supported... works perfectly fine for me but as said you don't need it anyway, just i find it easier.

You can launch a launcher using it, but you can no longer use it to set default, like you could in 2.1. Or at least thats most peoples' experiences.

 

[faithcry]

or if you root... and create a partition, then launcher pro takes up no internal memory. yay! i think...

 

[williamj1]

Does anyone know how in launcher pro, I can create a folder with my own custom icon?
I know how to do it for apps, but not folders.

I'm trying to replicate something like this... The games and Multimedia folders top right.

 

[SUroot]

Does folder or apps organizer do that? Not sure. That's the miui Rom isn't it?

 

[williamj1]

Does folder or apps organizer do that? Not sure. That's the miui Rom isn't it?

Yup its the miui rom. Currently though, I can create a new folder and rename it etc, but can't change the icon. I think it looks pretty horrible, just the yellowish folder so I am really keen to change this.

I see in launcher pro I can create my own launcher pro shortcut with something in the browser. But I can't work out the code bit for a new folder?

Anyone?

 

[DesireMe]

Apps Organiser or Smart Shortcuts will do that. You can't change the icon for a folder.