Home instead of Sense?

[smacky]

It'll speed everything but the keyboard lag up. It isn't a question of whether it speeds up the phone or not as much as it's whether you want Sense or not. It seems with Home, it is a bit faster, but not a world of a difference, but I'm sick of Sense as well. In my case, it was a double-whammy. I may long for Sense in the future, and it's only a few menus away, but right now I'm busy pretending I own a raw Android phone, not something with sugar sprinkled on it.

 

[hallstevenson]

I turned Sense off today and located a lot of replacement widgets. Looking for on/off widgets for GPS, WiFi, and so on. What are the ones shown above?

As for speed, if it's faster, it's barely faster than Sense, IMO.

 

[bberryhill0]

I like Quick Settings better than widgets. Android Agenda Widget for calendar.

* If you don't check use as default when you pick Home or Sense you get to pick which one you want to use every time you hit the home key.

 

[ssick92]

I seem to have alot better speeds once I switched to Home.

 

[bberryhill0]

I like the Sense People widget.

 

[smacky]

I have a sick feeling Home vs. Sense is gonna turn into the task killer debate where everyone thinks their phone has it right. Please don't.

 

[ssick92]

I like the Sense People widget.

Just create a folder, then put shortcuts to peoples contact cards in it. It is like the same effect plus you can have more than 9 people.

 

[bberryhill0]

It's the Facebook integration part that I like. Great tip. Thanks.

 

[jreed2560]

I have a sick feeling Home vs. Sense is gonna turn into the task killer debate where everyone thinks their phone has it right. Please don't.

I think as long as we keep newsradio outta here we'll be fine.

@hallstevenson the toggle widgets are beautiful widgets. They work great. the only thing I don't like is that there isn't one for mobile network.

 

[jeffyo]

I tried going back to orig. like I had with my G1 and I didn't think it made much difference in speed or functionality. I really like sense, so I go back to it and love it just as much as the first time I saw it. It's the best Custom android OS out there. 7 screens, nuff said.

 

[Frisco]

I have a sick feeling Home vs. Sense is gonna turn into the task killer debate where everyone thinks their phone has it right. Please don't.

A debate on that could erupt, I agree.

I still thank you for showing that tip. I think that after toying with it in both modes for a while I've come to the conclusion that it'll be useful to me in Home mode when I'm traveling and on my phone a lot making calls, texting more and the emails flowing in at a more steady pace than on non-traveling days.

It is good to have those choices. We don't have to necessarily pick one and make a religion about how THAT mode is the best for everybody all the time.

 

[snorge]

I bought Ahome it seems to be a lot faster than Sense, about the same as the default android home gui but with a lot more options and some okay widgets.

 

[smacky]

I think as long as we keep newsradio outta here we'll be fine.

@hallstevenson the toggle widgets are beautiful widgets. They work great. the only thing I don't like is that there isn't one for mobile network.

I actually found one, although it is a different style than my wifi toggle and it looks out of place. But I found one. Just poke around androidlib, searching random phrases for mobile or data toggle and you should find some.

I'm, of course, talking about free ones. You can always buy icon sets and whatnot.

 

[pkopalek]

I like the Sense People widget.

It's the Facebook integration part that I like. Great tip. Thanks.

+2

The Sense widgets are too good and hard to replace

7 home screens is amazing for getting what you want on your phone easy access

Scenes allow it to go even further. Home is home. One home. Three screens.

Sense UI is way prettier. I just wish we had 1ghz.

 

[mhrebin]

just a quick question. I switched to home since I am a simple kinda guy and don't really bother with widgets too often but I know some people on here have tons of widgets with sense on and whatnot. Do these widgets affect your battery life? I would imagine the widgets like facebook, weather, twitter would update constantly? What about the calendar widget and bookmarks widget? Those were two I had on my screens that I liked.

 

[hallstevenson]

I have a sick feeling Home vs. Sense is gonna turn into the task killer debate where everyone thinks their phone has it right. Please don't.

Please change your .sig then.

 

[mersh21]

Is it actually proven that home will give you better battery life? You are all intriging me with this home thing. The main reason i bought this phone was because of sense but i'm still not thrilled with my battery life and the occasional lag. Other than that i love this phone and i love sense.

 

[hallstevenson]

I doubt there's any proof for any of the claims made. You can't realistically judge battery life without using the phone the exact same way and for the exact same amount of time.

Same with speed... You can't stopwatch most actions. Or someone says their browser opens instantly. Mine does with or without Sense.

 

[DannyJd]

I really think that if you want to save your battery life, don't use the phone. Then it really lasts for days!

In all seriousness, I turned off Sense, there isn't much that I miss. I have beautiful home and widgets, android agenda (to replace HTC Calendar), Toggle Switch Widget, and it works for me. I do miss the Peep widget for twitter, but other than that, I am able to fit everything on 3 screens. For me, there is no noticeable difference on battery life, I'd like to believe there is less lag (not that there was much before), but it could be my imagination.

 

[mersh21]

Well thanks for all your opinions. I think i'm gonna stick with sense just for the shear fact of that's one of the reasons i got this phone. Thanks guys.

 

[hallstevenson]

Anyone looking for a calender replacement similar to the HTC widget, try Smooth Calender.

For toggle widgets, look at OneClick Widget from "WeDroid". It includes GPS, WiFi, Brightness, Airplane mode, and more.

 

[CycloneFever]

Smooth Calendar is nice. Wish it came in 4x2 though.

 

[pkopalek]

I use CalWidget. Very simple but a LOT of information.

Very good for looking at appointments, or like me, where I can look at the schedule of my entire team (as we use Google Calendar) for the days/weeks/month ahead on one widget.

I highly recommend. Customizable transparency, any size, any color. No font/font size customization, but that might come eventually.

I like it better than the Sense calendar.

 

[smacky]

I doubt there's any proof for any of the claims made. You can't realistically judge battery life without using the phone the exact same way and for the exact same amount of time.

Same with speed... You can't stopwatch most actions. Or someone says their browser opens instantly. Mine does with or without Sense.

Yeah, no one's saying this does or does not increase or decrease battery life in general; it's just how it affects them. My phone lasted longer yesterday than it ever has. I like Home and I'm gonna continue to use it. But like someone else mentioned, the reason they bought this phone was for Sense, so he's gonna keep it.

 

[CycloneFever]

I use CalWidget. Very simple but a LOT of information.

Very good for looking at appointments, or like me, where I can look at the schedule of my entire team (as we use Google Calendar) for the days/weeks/month ahead on one widget.

I highly recommend. Customizable transparency, any size, any color. No font/font size customization, but that might come eventually.

I like it better than the Sense calendar.

This is what I am using now in lieu of Smooth Calendar.