How much does Launcher Pro/ADW override TouchWiz?

[Vance]

I love my Launcher Pro, and I am not a fan of the TouchWiz interface. For those with TouchWiz devices now, how much does the custom launcher override the UI? Are there still a lot of TouchWiz features under the surface?

 

[potterdood]

I love my Launcher Pro, and I am not a fan of the TouchWiz interface. For those with TouchWiz devices now, how much does the custom launcher override the UI? Are there still a lot of TouchWiz features under the surface?

I love this phone, but I'm not a fan of Touchwiz AT all! So I went back to LPP and it's so much better, I don't like how you have to scroll sideways through the apps, I don't like how they don't alphabetize! I don't really even like how it has the setting icon at the top of the home pages, lol. LPP > Touchwiz all day, everyday. With that said there isn't a better phone out on VZW right now!

 

[stevehoffman]

Re: scrolling thru the apps.

Fact is, using Touchwiz, it is very simple to ALPHABETIZE the apps AND have them scroll VERTICALLY.

It's not the default, but it's very easy to change to this. Just tap APPLICATIONS. While in APPLICATIONS, hit the (physical) MENU button. That brings up two options: EDIT and LIST VIEW. Tap LIST VIEW, and voila:
-- you have the apps in list view
-- the list is alphabetical
-- the list scrolls vertically . . . .

I have no love for Touchwiz (would prefer plain vanilla Android) but so far I am finding that even without rooting the phone (and I'm the kind of guy who has no idea how to root, and not much interest in it!), there are a lot of user-friendly options within Touchwiz that enable me to customize my phone so it looks and works how I want it to.

 

[potterdood]

Re: scrolling thru the apps.

Fact is, using Touchwiz, it is very simple to ALPHABETIZE the apps AND have them scroll VERTICALLY.

It's not the default, but it's very easy to change to this. Just tap APPLICATIONS. While in APPLICATIONS, hit the (physical) MENU button. That brings up two options: EDIT and LIST VIEW. Tap LIST VIEW, and voila:
-- you have the apps in list view
-- the list is alphabetical
-- the list scrolls vertically . . . .

I have no love for Touchwiz (would prefer plain vanilla Android) but so far I am finding that even without rooting the phone (and I'm the kind of guy who has no idea how to root, and not much interest in it!), there are a lot of user-friendly options within Touchwiz that enable me to customize my phone so it looks and works how I want it to.

That's still not what I meant but I can see what you're saying. IF you do it like that, than all you can see at 1 time is like 6 different apps, I want to see like 12-16 at a time, I don't need a big name wrote out beside it, just the icons. That's why i went with LPP, but everyone has their own opinions,

 

[stevehoffman]

Potterdude -- Makes sense. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Launcher Pro or any of the other launcher alternatives on the market, and obviously you wanted to tweak your phone in a way not available with Touchwiz (I guess I misunderstood).

Still, I do think it's nice to know about the list-view option for the app drawer, especially because the vertical swiping down the list is very swift, so it takes little time to go from "A" to "Z" scrolling thru the list of apps.

As to the apps I most commonly use, those of course I've put shortcuts on my home screen, so most of the time I'm not even opening the app drawer.

 

[executor485]

Being new to Android, I'm trying to find the best setup myself. I can tell you a few things I've noticed right off the bat between the two:
1) When a phone call comes in LPP only gives an answer button, the TW gives a slider. Not a big deal either way, just something I noticed
2) Something I do like about the TW is the bottom menu icons have a number indicating texts and emails. The texts indicator works, but the email one only works for a gmail account and not my other accounts that I have linked. Probably my least favorite thing about it honestly.
3) LPP has a lot more configurable options and I like the calendar and facebook widget a lot more. It takes some time to go through all the options to figure out what stuff does, but it looks pretty powerful.
4) It may be really stupid, but I liked the nice color icons for the menu, I havent found a way to get the same nice colored icons back, there's probably a way to find them though.

 

[Outsider(Avid HustlaZ)]

Being new to Android, I'm trying to find the best setup myself. I can tell you a few things I've noticed right off the bat between the two:
1) When a phone call comes in LPP only gives an answer button, the TW gives a slider. Not a big deal either way, just something I noticed
2) Something I do like about the TW is the bottom menu icons have a number indicating texts and emails. The texts indicator works, but the email one only works for a gmail account and not my other accounts that I have linked. Probably my least favorite thing about it honestly.
3) LPP has a lot more configurable options and I like the calendar and facebook widget a lot more. It takes some time to go through all the options to figure out what stuff does, but it looks pretty powerful.
4) It may be really stupid, but I liked the nice color icons for the menu, I havent found a way to get the same nice colored icons back, there's probably a way to find them though.

Well ive been on launcherpro since the first moto droid..and this slider you talk about for incoming calls definetly not true..when i get a call it gives me the option to answer, ignore and silence the call with a nice puzzle theme so idk whats wrong there with your set up and there are ok things about the stock home but overall LPP+ is the way to go no lag and tons of customization.

Edit- launcherpro just got updated(i started a topic) and now you cant even notice touchwiz...its like it never came with the phone

 

[JLoftus]

...It may be really stupid, but I liked the nice color icons for the menu, I havent found a way to get the same nice colored icons back, there's probably a way to find them though.

LauncherPro Icons | Custom Android app icons for the awesome LauncherPro home screen replacement

 

[executor485]

I was able to put my old icons back on the dock, but they dont show the number of unread emails or anything like that. Otherwise I think thats really my biggest gripe with it. Any fix for that?

 

[Redflea]

Being new to Android, I'm trying to find the best setup myself. I can tell you a few things I've noticed right off the bat between the two:
1) When a phone call comes in LPP only gives an answer button, the TW gives a slider. Not a big deal either way, just something I noticed

On every Android phone I've tried, Android provides either of two options for call notification, depending on the state of your phone:

1. Currently using the phone: Answer and Ignore buttons

2. Phone in 'sleep' state/unused: Answer and Ignore via slider

Reason is, if the phone's in your pocket and rings, if buttons were used they might accidentally get selected and you'd answer a call w/it in your purse/jeans pocket. Sliders keep that from happening.

I haven't seen the Charge, but I have used LPP on multiple devices and it doesn't have anything to do w/the call answer options on your phone...

 

[Redflea]

I was able to put my old icons back on the dock, but they dont show the number of unread emails or anything like that. Otherwise I think thats really my biggest gripe with it. Any fix for that?

GoLauncher (another really nice, fast launcher) has a Notification plug in that provides unread text/email notifications as well as a number of other cool features, worth looking at.

Launcher Pro has (IIRC) options to provide unread email/text notifications on those icons. Have you looked in the LPP setup menus? I thought that was one of the features of the Plus (paid) version of LP.

 

[executor485]

GoLauncher (another really nice, fast launcher) has a Notification plug in that provides unread text/email notifications as well as a number of other cool features, worth looking at.

Launcher Pro has (IIRC) options to provide unread email/text notifications on those icons. Have you looked in the LPP setup menus? I thought that was one of the features of the Plus (paid) version of LP.

I should have specified, I did find that option, but it only says it will display the unread gmail emails. I have 3 other accounts that are non-gmail that its not showing notifications for. :S
I'm still going through all the options (again) to see if I missed anything. I had to change the phone for one with the ability to make phone calls. The old one apparently had a bad radio or something. LPP is pretty nice though, I'm enjoying it so far.

 

[sean76]

Launcher pro is a must for this phone, Touchwiz 3.0 is terrible! Its slow, clunky, and just takes a decent phone and puts it on snail time. How Samsung didn't get 4.0 on this phone is beyond me? Lemme guess, they're going to pull an HTC and say newer software like 4.0 needs a dual core to work correctly?

 

[JLoftus]

By using LPP and whacking a bunch of bloat, and moving as many apps as possible to the SD card, I've got 125MB free:

Edit: img tag doesn't seem to want to work?

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/804/temp4.jpg

Agree, with LPP instead of TW, and having trimmed down some fat, this thing screams now.

Last big one missing now is a call recorder, but that's more an Android issue than a DC issue.

 

[moshock]

I tried a few launchers, and I ended up back on Go Launcher...

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.gau.go.launcherex&feature=search_result

And their new calendar widget is awesome....

https://market.android.com/details?...gowidget.calendarwidget&feature=search_result

And this notification pack is genius....

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.gau.golauncherex.notification&feature=search_result

And I used this for my music widget... works perfectly so far...

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.demboos.galaxy.music.widget&feature=search_result

Woo WOOOO!!! LOVE THIS PHONE!!!