Alternative Launcher Questions

[joeyh3]

Hi all!

I have a Samsung Galaxy S, and I'm not too fond of the default launcher on the phone, as it's rather boring and less customizable than other Android phones I've seen. I wanna replace it with an alternative launcher, but I'm not too familiar with them and have a few questions:

1) Is there a way to completely replace TouchWiz with an alternative? As in the alternative launcher comes up whenever I turn on my phone/unlock my phone/press the home key?
2) Do alternative launchers have any significant effect on battery life? Better or worse?
3) Do they have any effect on the phones's performance?
4) Which ones are generally the most popular/widespread?
5) Is there any that lets me "hide" applications, as in prevent them from showing on my applications list. On my old BlackBerry, I could hide all the stock apps I didn't want but couldn't uninstall, and the only way they'd show up is if I clicked "show all".

Thanks

 

[lekky]

Hi all!

I have a Samsung Galaxy S, and I'm not too fond of the default launcher on the phone, as it's rather boring and less customizable than other Android phones I've seen. I wanna replace it with an alternative launcher, but I'm not too familiar with them and have a few questions:

1) Is there a way to completely replace TouchWiz with an alternative? As in the alternative launcher comes up whenever I turn on my phone/unlock my phone/press the home key?
2) Do alternative launchers have any significant effect on battery life? Better or worse?
3) Do they have any effect on the phones's performance?
4) Which ones are generally the most popular/widespread?
5) Is there any that lets me "hide" applications, as in prevent them from showing on my applications list. On my old BlackBerry, I could hide all the stock apps I didn't want but couldn't uninstall, and the only way they'd show up is if I clicked "show all".

Thanks

hey,

1. yes, an alternative launcher will completely replace your default one. When you install the new one and click home, it will ask you if you want the new one to be default.

2. nope, either way

3. yes, in the case of launcher pro or adw, they are faster than the default.

4. launcher pro and adw

5. yep, both launcher pro and adw let you hide applications from showing up on your app list.

 

[yohobojo]

Or Go Launcher Ex. Its free and highly customizable.

 

[joeyh3]

Cool. Also, in case I install one and don't like it, it is possible to remove it and go back to the stock launcher/switch to a new one, correct?

 

[Jazziette]

Cool. Also, in case I install one and don't like it, it is possible to remove it and go back to the stock launcher/switch to a new one, correct?

Download 'Home Switcher' from the market and it enables you to easily switch back and forth.

If you decide you like your new launcher I would recommend that you switch back to your stock background and delete all working widgets on each home screen so they will not still be running in the background.

This way the performance of your phone will not be affected by unwanted apps running processes.

Once you decide what launcher you want to use be sure to make it your default launcher so that you don't have a popup each time you do something asking you what launcher you want to use.