Nova launcher or stock launcher

**08silveradoonrims** · 06-24-2012, 12:20 PM

Just wondering which s better for everyday use. I seen a pic of a screenshot in another thread and liked the way the folders were organized and was told he uses Nova launcher. Downloaded it, just wondering if it's better?! Thanks

**ffejjj** · 06-24-2012, 12:29 PM

I would choose Nova over stock.

Personally i like ADW Ex

**ffejjj** · 06-24-2012, 12:34 PM

Install Home Switcher from the market and you can easily switch from launcher to launcher that you have installed. Once you find the one you like, delete the others and set your choice as default

**RyDawgBoston** · 06-24-2012, 03:36 PM

Sense launcher is good for a stock launcher, but does crash. I had it crash on me over 10 times yesterday while loading pics on my Web browser. It also kept crashing my Web browser and sense loaded.

I use Nova too, without issues, but miss the widgets.

I hope HTC will fix this issue or I'm done with HTC. Its awful when my iPod will load pages and sense can not.

**kbp08tls** · 06-24-2012, 04:02 PM

Nova. Customizable grids (I use 6 X 5), scrolling dock, has a lighter footprint than Sense and is much more responsive.

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**midmofan** · 06-24-2012, 06:47 PM

switched to Nova due to the constant Sense reloading problem and very happy with it . Replacement widgets can be found in the play store for just about everything. The only thing I miss from sense is the "Gallery" sense full Page widget that displays all your photos. Nothing like that out there for some reason.

**ffejjj** · 06-24-2012, 08:43 PM

Give QuickPic a try and see what ya think. Its a nice replacement i like using.

**kronosqq** · 06-24-2012, 09:54 PM

Nova and apex are both pretty nice with tons of features. Personally I stay away from launchers on sense, but that's just because I haven't had the reloading problems and I can't stand an inconsistent UI, if it's stock ICS on the home screen and app drawer and then suddenly still sense in mutlitasking and settings that drives me crazy. I'll just wait until a fully functiobal CM9 port

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**08silveradoonrims** · 06-24-2012, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by RyDawgBoston

Sense launcher is good for a stock launcher, but does crash. I had it crash on me over 10 times yesterday while loading pics on my Web browser. It also kept crashing my Web browser and sense loaded.

I use Nova too, without issues, but miss the widgets.

I hope HTC will fix this issue or I'm done with HTC. Its awful when my iPod will load pages and sense can not.

My phone crashed on me a couple times yesterday and today also. Haven't had any problems in the 4 weeks of having the phone up until yesterday. Strange.... Guess I will give Nova a try.

**midmofan** · 06-24-2012, 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by ffejjj

Give QuickPic a try and see what ya think. Its a nice replacement i like using.

I have QuickPic but its not the same. With QuickPic you have to open the app, choose your folder, (and none of the choices are "all photos" which is a problem since i have photos in multiple folders), then you get a grid or listing of your photos, then you can start scrolling though the photos in that folder.

Other choices (picture frame type ones) give you photos on a home screen, but you have to set them up and pick and choose which ones show up, they don't grab photos themselves.

What i miss is what Sense has: A full-screen "widget" ("photo album" is what its called in Sense) that's always open on one of the home screens that shows your photos right there, most recent on one top that you can instantly scroll through. Have posted requests for this in various places but no responses.

**RyDawgBoston** · 06-24-2012, 11:00 PM

Originally Posted by 08silveradoonrims

My phone crashed on me a couple times yesterday and today also. Haven't had any problems in the 4 weeks of having the phone up until yesterday. Strange.... Guess I will give Nova a try.

I've had mine a few weeks too, but my Web browser kept crashing today, so I swapped it for a new one today at BB.

Sense still crashes even with Nova. Nova is just running on top of it. My Web browser was crashing from sense overloading. Out shut Nova down and restated sense browser.

**wyrdangel** · 06-25-2012, 06:41 AM

I went with Apex but Nova is great too. Not only does it not crash/reload like the Sense launcher does but it has a much smaller RAM footprint which helps alleviate the annoying multitasking (or lack thereof) issue.

Sent from my Evo LTE

**jaykimdotnet** · 06-25-2012, 10:31 AM

I like Apex, but more because I was running CyanogenMod9 on my last device and I got used to the stock Ice Cream Sandwich experience. After that Sense kind of bothered me so Apex allowed me to hide as much of Sense that I could and gave me a ton of customization features that I never got with CM9's Trebuchet launcher. I haven't given Nova launcher a try yet, but I did try Holo Launcher and ADW, and of those I found Apex to be noticeably snappier and with more features. If your EVO is rooted, Apex launcher allows you to drag and drop widgets from your app drawer, which is a vanilla ics feature I was sorely missing as well. The free version has plenty, but if you throw the devs 3.99 you get what scientifically is known as a crapton of features including overlapping widgets and a long list of transition animations. But still. I do miss the HTC Widgets.

Home switcher is a great app, but all you really need to do is go to settings>apps> Find your launcher in the list, select it, then tap Clear Defaults. Once you've done that, hitting the home button will bring up the dialogue to select which launcher you want to use.

**kbp08tls** · 06-25-2012, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by jaykimdotnet

I like Apex, but more because I was running CyanogenMod9 on my last device and I got used to the stock Ice Cream Sandwich experience. After that Sense kind of bothered me so Apex allowed me to hide as much of Sense that I could and gave me a ton of customization features that I never got with CM9's Trebuchet launcher. I haven't given Nova launcher a try yet, but I did try Holo Launcher and ADW, and of those I found Apex to be noticeably snappier and with more features. If your EVO is rooted, Apex launcher allows you to drag and drop widgets from your app drawer, which is a vanilla ics feature I was sorely missing as well. The free version has plenty, but if you throw the devs 3.99 you get what scientifically is known as a crapton of features including overlapping widgets and a long list of transition animations. But still. I do miss the HTC Widgets.

Home switcher is a great app, but all you really need to do is go to settings>apps> Find your launcher in the list, select it, then tap Clear Defaults. Once you've done that, hitting the home button will bring up the dialogue to select which launcher you want to use.

I used Apex when I was running CM9 on my old phone. I tried Apex on this phone, and it felt sluggish. I feel like Nova has surpassed Apex, at least comparing the free versions. Nova feels smoother and you can make the screen transitions extremely fast. It also has more customization available in it's free version, the ability to overlap widgets being one.

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**jaykimdotnet** · 06-25-2012, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by kbp08tls

I used Apex when I was running CM9 on my old phone. I tried Apex on this phone, and it felt sluggish. I feel like Nova has surpassed Apex, at least comparing the free versions. Nova feels smoother and you can make the screen transitions extremely fast. It also has more customization available in it's free version, the ability to overlap widgets being one.

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I'll need to check that out and do a video on it. I posted a quick 10 minute comparison on youtube of holo and apex, I ramble a bit.

**TechFitGJ** · 06-25-2012, 10:51 AM

I'd say apex in general. But out of these two, nova.

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**strudel#AC** · 06-25-2012, 11:34 AM

If you switch to a third party launcher, how do you prevent Sense and the various other processes that attach to it from starting?

**m3lover1** · 06-25-2012, 11:48 AM

I'm using Nova right now and loving it. Not done customizing it yet though.

**jaykimdotnet** · 06-25-2012, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by strudel

If you switch to a third party launcher, how do you prevent Sense and the various other processes that attach to it from starting?

Root and install a new rom.

3rd Party launchers and keyboards are really just to hide Sense as much as possible, but Sense is much more than the launcher and the keyboard it's integral to the UI on devices running it and can only be eradicated through flashing a sense free rom. I'm waiting for AOKP Rom to come out of Alpha.

**jaykimdotnet** · 06-25-2012, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by jaykimdotnet

I'll need to check that out and do a video on it. I posted a quick 10 minute comparison on youtube of holo and apex, I ramble a bit.

I know experiences vary from device to device, but I'm noticing Apex to be a little snappier than Nova. It could be because I upgraded Apex to pro and I'm just trying out Nova for free. I might fork over the 4 bucks to do a proper comparison. Nova does allow you to drag widgets from the app drawer without rooting. But I am seeing a noticeable stutter on homescreen animations as well as in the app drawer. I'll give it a little bit more time, but still sticking with Apex as my default for now.

Anyone know of a way to just import your homescreen icons from launcher to launcher? It's becoming a pain to get them the way I want them and then have to start over again.

**groovdafied** · 06-25-2012, 05:35 PM

Question about using a different launcher. If I was to switch to EX Launcher or Nova Launcher, how would I set the lock screen widgets?

**G3TCASHM0N3Y** · 06-26-2012, 12:19 PM

After trying all of the ics launchers, I found apex launcher to be the most responsive with the least amount of lag, especially when opening the app drawer. I don't regret switching from sense in the least, except for missing the clock widget.

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**midmofan** · 06-26-2012, 12:35 PM

Originally Posted by G3TCASHM0N3Y

After trying all of the ics launchers, I found apex launcher to be the most responsive with the least amount of lag, especially when opening the app drawer. I don't regret switching from sense in the least, except for missing the clock widget.

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Im using the world weather clock widget. Find the weather to be more accurate than the Sense weather was and has several styles of clock.

**kbp08tls** · 06-26-2012, 12:44 PM

Originally Posted by G3TCASHM0N3Y

After trying all of the ics launchers, I found apex launcher to be the most responsive with the least amount of lag, especially when opening the app drawer. I don't regret switching from sense in the least, except for missing the clock widget.

Sent from my EVO using Android Central Forums

I found exactly the opposite. Apex felt sluggish and lagged a lot for me, Nova is smooth and responsive.
I use Beautiful Widgets to replace the clock. It has hundreds of clock and weather skins to choose from, some of which mimic the sense clock pretty well. You can also set up the widget to open up the clock app like the stock widget does.

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**AFR_NY** · 06-26-2012, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by strudel

If you switch to a third party launcher, how do you prevent Sense and the various other processes that attach to it from starting?

You can’t completely stop sense from running, unless you root. I have uninstalled/disabled as many HTC services that I could (Friend Stream, Stocks, and Watch). This has made a lot more memory available.

I use Nova because I like the stock look and it feels extremely fast (especially when scroll speed is set to Faster than light).