Helix Launcher now on market...best launcher available

I downloaded this after someone from this site mentioned they used it. At first I thought it was just a decent home replacement. I was used to using the stock home screen. I decided to give it some time and I started to play around with Helix.

I changed the home screens to 4. The main screen has the weather widget flip clock and weather, gmail icon, newsroom icon, handcent icon & market icon. One screen is completely filled with the calwidget calendar so I can view all of my appointments. One screen has the google news widget & weatherbug elite's 3 day forecast (that way I can just check the 3-day real quick). The last screen has the power control widget, my taskiller widget and a battery widget. There are plenty of widgets I could use and find to place all over my screens BUT I found that I use those the most, so I just kept it at 4. Four screens seems to be just as fast as the stock home screen.

I stopped using Live Wallpapers. I'm not sure if Helix just cannot handle them or if the Droid does not handle them that well. Live Wallpapers seemed to slow down the phone and cause a bit of lag when I flipped between screens. I felt the Live Wallpapers are more something to show off, than actually appreciate everyday. I enjoy my still picture screen more anyways.

Everything else works perfectly. I love the shortcuts at the bottom of my screen. I currently have the phone icon and browser down there because I do not use them that often and did not want to waste space on my screens with those icons. Until Google updates the number of screens, I do not think I could live with another home replacement. It's great to know that if I need more screen space I can just reconfig my launcher and have more space.

Dont download, biggest disappointment of your life... Looks good sounds good truely sucks... Its a memory hog, all it does in drain the battery, its not as good as nexus one, app launcher is terrible, sometimes restarts, i give it 5 thumbs down!

^ ^ Such a disparity in experiences! I had trouble with Helix on 2.0.1, but tried again after the update and it's been rock solid. Six screens now, widgets on all, live wallpaper, much better battery life than before the update, and I'm loving the extra real estate. Thumbs up!

Redflea said:

Hockey - sounds confused. What does "not as good as Nexus 1" mean? We're talking here in the Droid forum about running Helix Launcher 1.2a on the Droid.

If he tried Helix Launcher2 on a Droid, that can/will cause problems...(I've run it successfully on a cyanogenmod 2.1 ROM on my Droid for a few days, but that's an exception as far as I know, and it did begin to lag after a while).

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i meant its like a wanna be "nexus one launcher" as in the launcher on the nexus one's android 2.1 but it doesnt live up to that. it should have just been a direct port of that i mean its open source why cant it be? the whole double tap for cards is even dumber on 2.1 because everytime you tap your live wallpaper it activates cards.... add those little dots to show screens to right and left, fix the app tray, and cut down the memory hog and ill go back to it..

i switched back to home++ and sacrificed live wallpapers for more smoothness and an app tray that i can slide back up until helix 1.3 or home++ updates.

I must be losing it. I have the launcher but not the option to increase the number of home screens. I really like the app tray and now that I beat it into using my BetterCut icons, I enjoy using it.

What am I missing with this?

3devious said:

I must be losing it. I have the launcher but not the option to increase the number of home screens. I really like the app tray and now that I beat it into using my BetterCut icons, I enjoy using it.

What am I missing with this?

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From the homescreen, menu-config. Its first option is to adjust screen number (up to 7 ).

Nevermind, Doug beat me to it

Is there a way to deselect Helix as the default launcher once that choice has been selected?

Settings, applications, manage applications, helixlauncher, clear defaults.

This launcher is seriously amazing. On Android 2.1 it is rock solid, no fc and super fast. Motorola should have rolled out 2.1 with this type of functionality on the Droid.

Clementine_3 said:

Settings, applications, manage applications, helixlauncher, clear defaults.

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Thanks.

jamesdean said:

Is there a way to deselect Helix as the default launcher once that choice has been selected?

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Easiest way is to use Home Switch from the market.

With the release of 2.1, Helix *does* run great. Yes, this is from someone who had nothing but problems with it on 2.01. And agree with many other posters here...the 2.1 live wallpapers are nice to show someone, but slow a stock rom to a crawl!

I've had 2 FCs with Helix when removing widgets... but since I don't do that much it should be ok. I'm also running the 'grass' LWP and it seems OK if only a novelty. I'll most likely ditch it soon but it doesn't seem to be too bad.

had to reorganize all my apps/folders
but loving it
10 outta 10

It force closed once on me after I got the 2.1 update this morning, but it seems to be working well now.

Still going strong with Helix, best one for me by far. I'm so glad to be rid of the FC's and epic lag that the other home alternatives were giving me.

It just goes to show how different people's experiences are. I haven't noticed any lag with the live wallpapers. Make sure your live wallpapers are on your ignore list for your task killer too.

I finally received the 2.1 update and just installed Helix Launcher for the first time! Haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I'm looking forward to the 5 screens.

My first question is:

Do you recommend clearing the original Home Screen of all apps/widgets? Does the original Home Screen still eat up battery/memory while running Helix Launcher?

Also, anyone have a good site they recommend for good wallpapers/live wallpapers?

You need to clear your original home screens before adjusting Helix to 5 screens; it will prompt you to do so before you actually change the settings to give you more screens.

I left my standard home screens alone and have had no problems. the only warning is if you go to less than the number of screens currently allocated by helix

I honestly don't know why the stock home screen doesn't have the 4 perma short cuts next to the app tray button... that is the best part.

The orginal home screen you leave alone so you can come back to it later.
As far as Helix, you have to clear icons when you reduce the number of screens only and not when you add. Also the only screen icons that need to be clear are the far right one or ones. For example if you are reducing from 7 screens to 6 screens, only the last right screen needs to be clear. If 7 to 5 then the last two right. Screens add and subtract from the right only.