Best launcher for Note 2....

[pjmungcal]

I used ADW Launcher in my Note 1, and now in Note 2. In the original Note, I found it to be smoother and better in performance compared to Go Launcher Ex. The good thing when using it in Note 2 is that you can still use the Stock TW Widgets for this launcher.

 

[drexappeal]

I didn't think I'd be too overwhelmed setting this phone up, but between all of the settings for my accounts, coupled with the added Note 2 settings, and capping it off with Jelly Bean layout...I've been so overwhelmed and overjoyed both using the phone AND Jelly Bean that I haven't even loaded up my apps...LOL. This thing is amazing (and I need to start reviewing all of the tutorials). It may be some time until I give Nova or Holo HD a spin.

 

[ScandaLeX]

It's been 2 weeks and I still haven't customized. Just don't see the need right now.

 

[keyan333]

Everybody needs nova launcher. It doesn't have a huge effect on battery life, great customisation with custom grids and all. It's perfect and looks much better that touch wiz with the standard jelly bean icons.

It's so worth the effort and it has the option to just copy the arrangement of the layout you have on touch wiz.

Most importantly though it has an auto rotate mode! So there's a landscape mode on the home screen! Makes a huge difference! I

Glad I stumbled across it. And I thought touch wiz didn't suck like everybody said! I

 

[dbpaddler]

Holo HD does all that as well.

 

[keyan333]

Holo HD does all that as well.

And it doesn't look nowhere near as good as Nova. Nova is also much more stable + really well supported with regular updates.

 

[drexappeal]

It's been 2 weeks and I still haven't customized. Just don't see the need right now.

It's actually really important to me, just to see how the phone acts with all my 200+ apps and regular functions that I've done with my MoPho.

I've also been itching to try Nova. Does anybody know if Holo HD allows for the app drawer to add folders or is it tabs like Apex? I prefer folders, so just wondering, for those that have tried them all out and know.

 

[dbpaddler]

Holo has tabs in the app drawer. The default ones are apps and widgets.

 

[keyan333]

I had holo + apex. Apex kept on freezing and crashing. Holo also froze from time to time when scrolling through the home screen pages. Then I was just about to give up on these launchers until I found Nova which hasn't crashed or lagged for me.

Just giving my opinion since this thread is about the Best launcher for the Note 2.

 

[dbpaddler]

And you just stated your opinion like that's how Holo is in general. How does it not look nearly as good? I copy my launcher info over from Holo HD to Nova and it looks identical outside of minor design changes like how the tabs look. They share many of the same features and options, and it is updated and supported having been updated more recently than Nova. Between the two versions it's approaching a million downloads with similar 4+ star reviews.

But anyway, quick question. Were you using Holo or Holo HD? Not everyone knows there's two versions, and HD should be the one used for the Note.

Devs seem to throw Apex on their ROMS. If I didn't pay for Holo already, I'd be happy with either Nova or Holo. They seem to be the class of the launchers. I think Go is a bit heavy of an app. I haven't paid attention to ADW in a long while. I'm just surprised TW hasn't added a sliding dock by now since it's popular on quite a few launchers.

 

[EarlyMon]

Thread cleaned, no need for what I just deleted.

Don't want to do it again, thanks.

 

[pablotech1]

For a minimalistic design, I'm using Launcher7. 1"x1" icons with any hd image you can find online, looks great. The other launcher I use a lot is Go Launcher Ex. Just make sure you go on YouTube and follow the 3D tutorial from Cold Fustion. It looks amazing, best looking UI I've ever seen.

 

[drexappeal]

Using NOVA right now. Seems like it'll suit my needs. Haven't fully set everything up yet, but once I do, I'll post up my thoughts on here. So far, seems fairly basic. I didn't lose any of the things through TouchWiz that I use. If I'm able to configure it the way I want, NOVA will likely be my launcher of choice...BUT, I'm still open to the others, so for those that want to make an argument for other launchers, here are the things that are most important for me:

1-scrollable dock
2-at least 9 homescreens
3-ability to create folders in the app drawer (NOVA Prime says I can do both, which I really like)
4-ability to rotate portrait/landscape on the homescreens
5-Transparent background in app drawer, transparent background on dock

Bonus function, but not a deal breaker
- Multiple animations for transitions on homescreens and in app drawer (Go Launcher EX was awesome with this, but I did experience it being a battery hog, much like many had mentioned about it before).

So, if anybody can make a case that either APEX or HOLO HD are better than NOVA on any of these points, please chime in.

 

[dbpaddler]

Check on all including the bonuses for Holo HD. Holo has 8 or 9 animations for desktop scrolling and has quite a few animation options for the app drawer as well. To my knowledge, the app drawers on both nova and Holo HD are actually tabs, not folders. Both also offer drag and drop folder creation on the home screen. And I haven't ried it in Nova, but you can do 1x1 widgets in the dock which is pretty cool.

 

[ScandaLeX]

For a minimalistic design, I'm using Launcher7. 1"x1" icons with any hd image you can find online, looks great. The other launcher I use a lot is Go Launcher Ex. Just make sure you go on YouTube and follow the 3D tutorial from Cold Fustion. It looks amazing, best looking UI I've ever seen.

Amazing it is but many of the comments show people are having a lot of issues and Cold doesn't reply fast enough; if at all, to help people when they run into a brick wall.
I REALLY wanted to do this to my phone; THATS what I call customizing but the comments have made me wait it out. If he ever responds back to the problem posts with solutions I'll give it a try.

 

[drexappeal]

Check on all including the bonuses for Holo HD. Holo has 8 or 9 animations for desktop scrolling and has quite a few animation options for the app drawer as well. To my knowledge, the app drawers on both nova and Holo HD are actually tabs, not folders. Both also offer drag and drop folder creation on the home screen. And I haven't ried it in Nova, but you can do 1x1 widgets in the dock which is pretty cool.

According to the description in the settings, Nova Prime allows both folders and tabs (but haven't bought prime yet, to test it out). That's a huge plus for me. The thing that drew me towards NOVA the most was due to it being the same developer team that created Widgetlocker (which I love), and TeslaLED (which I've been very fond of, as a very simple flashlight app). Didn't even realize you could do 1X1 widgets on the dock in NOVA...that's a plus also, but trying to figure out which apps I'd actually do that with.

The animations aren't as important to me, but from what you're saying, it does seem like the XDA guys that developed it, really have gone to work on adding more animations. What I might do is actually stick with NOVA for my primary phone and test out HOLO on my other Note 2, which I'll be rooting for sure (still undecided on rooting my dedicated phone).

I saw you mention APEX typically is the launcher that devs throw on their ROM's, so that intrigues me enough to try that on my other Note 2 as well. That phone is going to be more of my "test" phone, than my dedicated Sprint phone.

 

[dbpaddler]

Honestly, looking at all three of those, it's almost a pick em. Was just reading the Apex description, and they all seem to read similar for the most part.

Since half the fun is playing, I'd start with Apex or HHD. Then try Nova 2nd since they have the import feature. Saves setup time. The 1x1 widgets in the dock seems to be a paid feature in all of them.

The configurable drawer doesn't matter much to me. I'd rather just create folder categories on the home screen, be it more dock folders or one home screen section with four or five folders along the bottom row.

 

[pablotech1]

Amazing it is but many of the comments show people are having a lot of issues and Cold doesn't reply fast enough; if at all, to help people when they run into a brick wall.
I REALLY wanted to do this to my phone; THATS what I call customizing but the comments have made me wait it out. If he ever responds back to the problem posts with solutions I'll give it a try.

I haven't had any issues with Cold Fustion's 3D tutorial, it was very simple.
But I'm only using the basic setup of Go Launcher and the Live Wallpaper. Everything else I customized myself to suit my needs. The basics of the 3D UI are in the first half of the video.

I wish I could post screenshots of my phone, is there any way to post pics from the phone directly to this forum?

 

[ScandaLeX]

I wanted to do Cold's entire setup. I'm curious if the same can be done using a different launcher. Go would crash to much for me so I gave up on it when I started using Apex and Nova.

Looking forward to your screen shots.

 

[ren857]

I wish I could post screenshots of my phone, is there any way to post pics from the phone directly to this forum?

You can using the Tapatalk app, but it's a paid app.

 

[EarlyMon]

You can also post directly using Boat Browser.

But Tapatalk is far easier.

 

[PolkSDA]

I currently am using Apex, which I'm finding perfectly useful. I don't believe that TouchWiz supports a 5x6 layout grid, does it? That was my primary reason for switching. That and the backup/restore homescreen feature.

As far as S-Pen functionality, I still get the notification when the S-Pen is removed and S-Note automatically pops up upon removal. I don't get the Pen apps menu, but then again I never used it so I don't miss it...

 

[dbpaddler]

I currently am using Apex, which I'm finding perfectly useful. I don't believe that TouchWiz supports a 5x6 layout grid, does it? That was my primary reason for switching. That and the backup/restore homescreen feature.

As far as S-Pen functionality, I still get the notification when the S-Pen is removed and S-Note automatically pops up upon removal. I don't get the Pen apps menu, but then again I never used it so I don't miss it...

Custom roms support a 5x6 TW launcher.

 

[reburner]

For a minimalistic design, I'm using Launcher7. 1"x1" icons with any hd image you can find online, looks great. The other launcher I use a lot is Go Launcher Ex. Just make sure you go on YouTube and follow the 3D tutorial from Cold Fustion. It looks amazing, best looking UI I've ever seen.

I'm a new user after years of Iphones and have just set up my phone as per Cold Fustions tutorial. I didn't even know what a launcher was before I read this thread.

I already got lots of oohs and aahs when people saw my phone and now it's even better.

 

[girolez]

+1 for Holo Launcher HD. All the S-pen stuff still works - can't see any downside to it and the sliding dock with folders in it (or 1x1 widgets - so you can have a clock showing the time, or a screen off widget in your sliding dock!) is great.

Roger