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ICS vs Custom Home Launcher

arparaspolo

Android Enthusiast
Oct 11, 2010
409
74
Covina, CA
www.youtube.com
Let me start off by saying that I am super excited about ICS. Ever since the last update was rumored to be ICS I have been like a junkie that was given his first fix free and now I am hooked and a crack head searching everywhere day and night trying to get a taste.


I have a rooted but stock RAZR MAXX. I use root just for apps such as Shoot Me, Titanium Backup as well as a few others. I also use a Home Launcher. ADWLauncher. I have an ICS theme running on it. I recently(last night) downloaded GOLauncher and it has a lot more than ADW(even though I think I like ADW better still)

2 questions...
1. Will ICS be much different than this?
I am able to customize widgets, sizes, icons, I have my grid at 5x5 instead of the stock 4x4. I have customized icon backgrounds. All done with GB and a Home Launcher. I could go in and change the main icons in the notification bar and the fonts via ROM Toolbox.

2. Will I most likely come back and use ADW or GOLauncher?

Thanks :D

EDIT;
The reason I ask is because all of the info I have read about ICS seems to be just like these home launchers. Only a stock one. Which in my mind would be better. Less battery consumed due to less programs running.
 
You are not going to be able to adjust the 4x4 stock grid. It is as stock a launcher as GB was when it comes to customizations on your homescreen. I have the ICS leak and have been using APEX launcher which gives you all those customizations. GO Launcher was too sluggish on ICS.

Just as I suspected :/ Come to think of it, the only reason I am now running ADW is because it has the ICS theme. I actually like the stock OS and would use it if it were themeable and able to resize widgets. I think stock ICS will be better then I expect.
 
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(bumpsville)

FWIW, My Droid 4 has just recently been updated to ICS, and I am also experiencing sluggish screen panning with GO Launcher. I'm not entirely convinced that it's GO's fault however. I noticed that ICS swipe interaction definitely seems less responsive than GB with or without GO Launcher, at least on my phone.

Though with GO it seems pronounced.
 
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(bumpsville)

FWIW, My Droid 4 has just recently been updated to ICS, and I am also experiencing sluggish screen panning with GO Launcher. I'm not entirely convinced that it's GO's fault however. I noticed that ICS swipe interaction definitely seems less responsive than GB with or without GO Launcher, at least on my phone.

Though with GO it seems pronounced.

I would suggest a factory reset after the ICS update. The update seems to cause quite a few problems [sluggishness, etc.].
 
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I would suggest a factory reset after the ICS update. The update seems to cause quite a few problems [sluggishness, etc.].

Does doing a factory reset require a repeated download? And does doing so put my server-side gmail contacts at risk? I back those suckers up regularly anyway (PC-side), so the worries are minimal there.

I can't get a clear read if the factory resets are different from rev to rev, and/or different on various manufacturer skins.
 
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Does doing a factory reset require a repeated download? And does doing so put my server-side gmail contacts at risk? I back those suckers up regularly anyway (PC-side), so the worries are minimal there.

I can't get a clear read if the factory resets are different from rev to rev, and/or different on various manufacturer skins.

No, and no.

Calling it a "factory reset" is a little bit misleading. It doesn't actually make your phone look like it did when it came from the factory. It makes it look like it would have, had it come from the factory with whatever ROM is currently installed -this includes custom ROMs. So you won't need to reinstall the ICS update, it'll still be there after the reset.

All of your Google contacts will automatically sync back up as soon as you sign in with your Google account, so no worries there either.

Some portion of your apps (for me, it varies between 'some' and 'all', I'm not sure why it differs from time to time) will also automatically reinstall to the phone, assuming you answer 'yes' to that question during set up - however app settings will not be retained. You'll lose all of your personal settings, so you'll need to redo them.
 
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No, and no.

Calling it a "factory reset" is a little bit misleading. It doesn't actually make your phone look like it did when it came from the factory. It makes it look like it would have, had it come from the factory with whatever ROM is currently installed -this includes custom ROMs. So you won't need to reinstall the ICS update, it'll still be there after the reset.

This is a good place to help me with something here if you have a second. The usage of ROM throws me a little. I know various ROM designs, but how is word used here in Android? Is it a true immutable ROM or flashable? Is ICS internally flashed in a different way to a "ROM" than flash memory is? If it isn't, then why is it called a ROM in the first place (read only memory)?

I've heard people refer to installing different ROM's in phones, but still am not sure what they meant----physical chips or flashing an EEPROM....<---And is that just a cordoned off region of flash memory?
 
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This is a good place to help me with something here if you have a second. The usage of ROM throws me a little. I know various ROM designs, but how is word used here in Android? Is it a true immutable ROM or flashable? Is ICS internally flashed in a different way to a "ROM" than flash memory is? If it isn't, then why is it called a ROM in the first place (read only memory)?

I've heard people refer to installing different ROM's in phones, but still am not sure what they meant----physical chips or flashing an EEPROM....<---And is that just a cordoned off region of flash memory?

ROM just refers to the system software on the phone.
 
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^This.

All of the storage here is nand flash memory.

The term rom is used as a colloquialism from the older feature phone days where the phone software was on a rom.

We call a full image backup a nandroid as a nod to the actual tech being used.

We say that we flash a rom when all that really happens is a software installation into a few pre-defined flash storage partitions.
 
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