Root I've determined that Launcher is crap

[headbanger51]

Perhaps some of the more tech-savvy can educate me, but the ROMs that I've flashed...Smoked Glass v4 and v5.0.1 have all ran fine until I docked them, which went to open the media center clock. At that point, Launcher (regardless of v2.0.1 or v2.1.1) then begins a rapid success of FCs and the whole ROM becomes unstable and freezes and/or autoreboots any time I come out of an app, the app menu, or the notification windowshade and back to the homescreen. And it all always starts with Launcher requiring a force close. It sucks too because I like the UI better with Launcher than Home.
Is anyone else having stability issues with Launcher or am I the only one who thinks that Launcher is crap?
I'm going to do a total wipe and install of Simply Stunning v1.0.3 and see if that is any more stable.

 

[meekrab]

Launcher is definitely shite. I removed it the same day I installed it some time ago, and I opt not to use it in any rom or theme that includes it. Sometimes it works great, and it looks really nice, but it often freezes my phone requiring a battery pull. No thanks.

 

[Bkfraiders7]

Launcher is definitely shite. I removed it the same day I installed it some time ago, and I opt not to use it in any rom or theme that includes it. Sometimes it works great, and it looks really nice, but it often freezes my phone requiring a battery pull. No thanks.

Exactly. At first I was disappointed when DroidMod1 didnt include the Launcher but Iv gotten reacquainted with the slider. Its like love again without FCs

 

[magdelaine]

I rooted my Droid because the launcher was so crappy on my OEM 2.01 and I wanted my phone to be more "special". I'm sorely tempted to try the launcher again. Well, now I won't waste my time! It is very buggy regardless of the ROM you are running, I'm afraid.

 

[jasonb1985]

launcher2 sucks. i finally gave up on it and downloaded Home++ from the market. Home++ is completely stable on top of SG5.0.1.

 

[jackburnt]

Yea, Launcher+ is poopy. I went into an endless FC sequence trying to reply to a message. It's off my phone now.

 

[crankerchick]

i'm curious to which "launcher" you all are talking about because it sounds like you aren't all talking about the same thing. some of you are saying launcher, some launcher+, and some launcher2. From the context of the posts, it sounds like some of you are talking about the app launcher+ and some of you are talking about launcher2 from the 2.1 build.

I think the OP is talking about launcher2. I have to agree. It was crap for me.

 

[headbanger51]

I think I may have found the problem with Launcher2.0.1 and 2.1.1 (I'm not sure what the deal is, and I'm no expert...kinda new at this, but I'm referring to the Launcher that will change the UI on your droid).
Anyhoo...I noticed that when I stopped using Live Wallpapers and only OCing to 800Mhz (vs 950) I've had almost no instances of Launcher requiring a FC and no instances of the phone freezing and either auto-rebooting or requiring a battery pull.
Just wanted to pass that on...don't know if it's unique to me or not, but since going back to a normal wallpaper, Smoked Glass v5.0.1 has been running almost flawlessly (I say "almost" because I've gotten one FC for Launcher today, but that's it).

 

[shadowdude777]

Yeah, er... what are you guys talking about here? If it's launcher2, then yes, that thing is absolutely horrid. I don't see why anyone would want it.

 

[radikal]

i believe they are saying 2 or launcher + both are horrendous, forget them! someone needs to stop trying to perfect them and move on

 

[servo086]

I installed smoked glass ver. 4-5, stupidly selected the Launcher (vs Home) as default... how can I reset it to home? I feel like I'm just missing a setting somewhere, but feel like I may need to do a factory reset and reboot with Smoked again.
Can someone point me in the right dsirection for this?

 

[riffdex]

Yes, Launcher 2.1 is crap. It's quite unstable and in it's current stage is pointless.

I installed smoked glass ver. 4-5, stupidly selected the Launcher (vs Home) as default... how can I reset it to home? I feel like I'm just missing a setting somewhere, but feel like I may need to do a factory reset and reboot with Smoked again.
Can someone point me in the right dsirection for this?

Settings>Applications>Manage Applications>Press Menu Softkey>Filter>All>*Launcher>Clear Defaults

*I am not 100% sure it is called Launcher under Applications, but maybe it is calling Launcher 2.1 or something. When you clear defaults it is no longer going to be the "default" homescreen, so you press home again and it will pop up choices. Select Home as your default.

 

[servo086]

Yes, Launcher 2.1 is crap. It's quite unstable and in it's current stage is pointless.



Settings>Applications>Manage Applications>Press Menu Softkey>Filter>All>*Launcher>Clear Defaults

*I am not 100% sure it is called Launcher under Applications, but maybe it is calling Launcher 2.1 or something. When you clear defaults it is no longer going to be the "default" homescreen, so you press home again and it will pop up choices. Select Home as your default.

Thank you, very much. I was checking out another thread that was getting into kernals. I guess I'll just need to hold off on my launcher until it becomes more stable. Perhaps after official 2.1 gets rooted...

 

[headbanger51]

I installed smoked glass ver. 4-5, stupidly selected the Launcher (vs Home) as default... how can I reset it to home? I feel like I'm just missing a setting somewhere, but feel like I may need to do a factory reset and reboot with Smoked again.
Can someone point me in the right dsirection for this?

Download and install Home Switcher from the market. That's what I do.
I've noticed on SGv5.0.1 that if I do not have a live wallpaper, OC it no more than 800Mhz then launcher rarely FCs. It seems the biggest culprit in making launcher FC is the docking station. Because I absolutely love the UI with launcher 2.1 on SGv5.0.1. Too bad launcher is just so unstable.

 

[shadowdude777]

I dunno, I just don't see any POINT to launcher2. It's gonna take up more resources. Do you really need your app drawer to be that pretty? Most people stick 99% of what they're gonna use on their home screens. And then when you want to rearrange apps or something, you won't be able to pull the drawer in and then pull it back out to check your home screen. You have to actually close and reopen launcher2. I just home they make a download for launcher when we all switch to launcher2, cause I don't think I'll be willing to make that jump.

 

[headbanger51]

I dunno, I just don't see any POINT to launcher2. It's gonna take up more resources. Do you really need your app drawer to be that pretty? Most people stick 99% of what they're gonna use on their home screens. And then when you want to rearrange apps or something, you won't be able to pull the drawer in and then pull it back out to check your home screen. You have to actually close and reopen launcher2. I just home they make a download for launcher when we all switch to launcher2, cause I don't think I'll be willing to make that jump.

It's not the pretty app tray that put the hook in me (although it is nice), it's the tray in general on the bottom because on the left part is a link to the phone and the right part a link to the browser, which of course stays regardless of which page you're on. I just really like that.

 

[Fadelight]

Umm... some things need to be cleared up here.

First, EVERY phone has a Launcher.apk of one variant or another. Even unrooted phones. It's the app you know as your "home" screen.

With that in mind, I will assume you are actually discussing "Launcher2.apk", which is the version on many of the 2.1 ROMs.

Pushing forward... I hope you guys realize that there are a great deal of variants of Launcher2.apk floating around. I would dare to even go as far as to say there are as many variants as there are custom ROMs. to say that Launcher2.apk is crap makes equally as much sense as to say that all of the ROMs are crap based on only one experience.

Pushing the conversation along even more, here is what I have found.

Greek35T has a very stable (IMO) Launcher2.apk. I've been using it on the Simply Stunning v1.0.3 2.1 ROM for a couple of days now.

That in mind, I did notice that it only works flawlessly so long as the original Launcher.apk is left in place and intact. Selecting one or the other is done just like using a home replacement. Load Launcher2.apk where it needs to be and then when you press the home button, you'll be asked "Home" or "Launcher". If, however, you rename Launcher.apk to Launcher.bak, you will most likely see a FC from time to time when you place it in the dock. It happens to me maybe one in every 10 times.

Bottom line: There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with Launcher2.apk. Like anything else, if what you have isn't working for you, find a new Launcher2.apk to try.

I dunno, I just don't see any POINT to launcher2.

This may not be as common knowledge as I had originally thought, but one of the most major selling points to Launcher2 for me is to have working buttons on the bottom. By default, they are just to move from screen to screen, but they can be altered. That cannot be done with the original Launcher.apk.

It's not all just about the new app drawer.

 

[headbanger51]

Umm... some things need to be cleared up here.

First, EVERY phone has a Launcher.apk of one variant or another. Even unrooted phones. It's the app you know as your "home" screen.

With that in mind, I will assume you are actually discussing "Launcher2.apk", which is the version on many of the 2.1 ROMs.

Pushing forward... I hope you guys realize that there are a great deal of variants of Launcher2.apk floating around. I would dare to even go as far as to say there are as many variants as there are custom ROMs. to say that Launcher2.apk is crap makes equally as much sense as to say that all of the ROMs are crap based on only one experience.

Pushing the conversation along even more, here is what I have found.

Greek35T has a very stable (IMO) Launcher2.apk. I've been using it on the Simply Stunning v1.0.3 2.1 ROM for a couple of days now.

That in mind, I did notice that it only works flawlessly so long as the original Launcher.apk is left in place and intact. Selecting one or the other is done just like using a home replacement. Load Launcher2.apk where it needs to be and then when you press the home button, you'll be asked "Home" or "Launcher". If, however, you rename Launcher.apk to Launcher.bak, you will most likely see a FC from time to time when you place it in the dock. It happens to me maybe one in every 10 times.

Bottom line: There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with Launcher2.apk. Like anything else, if what you have isn't working for you, find a new Launcher2.apk to try.


It's not all just about the new app drawer.

Dude...thanks for that info. I'm still new and getting the hang of the verbology here. And that made a lot of sense. I agree it's not all about the app drawer, which is cool...but for me, having the phone/browser buttons embedded in the app drawer icon is invaluable...I just love that feature. I've gotten my phone nice and stable and having a FC when I undock my phone is tolerable. But I'll still look into a different launcher2.apk and see what I can find (your screenshot looked bitchen).

That said, when I download a variant of Launcher2.apk, where do I put it into my phone's sd card? And is that all I need to do (so long as it replaces the other Launcher2.apk)? This is uncharted territory for me.
Thanks again for clarifying...and I compeltely agree with your statement about saying Launcher being crap is teh same as saying ROMs are crap.

 

[doomedromance]

I tried a 2.1 port with the Launcher2 native, It performed like a dream. Fast, no crashes. Same for the 2.1 Gallery, none of the lag and reloading I experienced on the 2.0.1 ROMs.

However the ROM as a whole wasn't stable and kept rebooting every 5-10 mins even when I wasn't doing anything.

The 2.1 Gallery works good on our OTA we never got (ERE25 builds) but I haven't tried the Launcher2 on it.

 

[Fadelight]

when I download a variant of Launcher2.apk, where do I put it into my phone's sd card? And is that all I need to do (so long as it replaces the other Launcher2.apk)?

With so many people using market apps to root, is getting tougher for us to answer questions like that in a simple manner. I know there are ways to use apps like Root Explorer to replace existing apps, and a few people have had luck that way... but I never have. The only way I have ever found to do it and actually have it work is through adb.

That said, here is how I did it.

download the Greek35T Launcher2.apk (Latest Beta).

From here, there are two ways... either works perfectly fine.

1) Copy Launcher2.apk to /android/tools, then start adb bridge.

adb shell mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
adb push Launcher2.apk /system/app
adb shell reboot

2) Copy Launcher2.apk to the root of your sd card, then start adb bridge.

adb shell
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system
busybox cp -R /sdcard/Launcher2.apk /system/app
reboot

They both do the exact same thing in a slightly different way.

The third, and probably the easiest for those who didn't learn about adb before rooting, is to use Root Explorer. I will caution you, though... It didn't end positively for me. Others have gotten it to work, though. It seems to have mixed results.

1) Copy Launcher2.apk to the root of your sdcard
2) open Root Explorer.
3) Navigate to /system/app. Click the "Mount RW" Button on the top.
(If you do not have any Launcher2.apk on your phone yet, skip step 4)
4) Find "Launcher2.apk". Rename it to "Launcher2.bak"
5) Navigate to /sdcard and long press "Launcher2.apk". Select "Copy".
6) Navigate to /system/app. Click the "Paste" button on the bottom of the screen.
7) Remount as RO. Reboot.


Regardless of the path you've chosen to take, I would advice you do not rename/remove the original Launcher.apk. Just tick the "use as default" box and select "Launcher" when prompted the next time you hit the home key. Set it n' forget it.

 

[magdelaine]

Just tried HelixLauncher and it is very slick, very stable. I'm actually quite surprised. It is available on the Market.

 

[CRPercodani]

Yea the Helix Launcher from artcu seems to be the most stable of the bunch and offers four slots for any apps you choose. It uses the sliding app drawer instead of the 3D style. That said I didn't have any trouble with Launcher2 when I used it, but it did seem to take up more memory then Helix.