NovaLauncher worth it?

[Prosty]

What is the benefit of it vs touchwiz? I actually quite enjoy touchwiz.

Sent from my Verizon Galaxy SIV using Tapatalk 4

 

[hakimmmmm]

Nova is like 99% stock vanila launcher with a lot of extra features and touchwiz is touchwiz. You know

Sent from my One using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[Sizzers]

Well try it for free and find out for yourself.

For some people the free version can be enough, but I upgraded to Prime primarily for the swipe gestures. This means alongside a separate side bar (this is not necessary, just my preference), I have a completely clear home screen where a simple tap or two or a swipe brings up everything I immediately need

 

[trucky]

Nova is sweet. My favorite part is when you get everything setup exactly how you like it you can make a backup of those settings to SD. If your ROM updates, crashes, or you change phones it's all still there with a simple restore.

 

[anon(6174973)]

I am using nova launcher prime on my phone and my tab. It's fluid and has a lot of features like the swipe animations.

Sent from my HP Slate 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[DaDoc04]

These ******* Love Nova!

Sent from my Galaxy S4 via Tapatalk

 

[fatboy97]

Gestures, number of icons on a screen, the look and feel of your screen, transition effects between pages, more than just 5 icons on the dock, multiple dock pages.... the list goes on and on. Plus it works with everything that is the S4, multiple windows, air gestures, etc, etc. Try the free version... it's not hard to remove if you don't like it.

 

[jmk32]

Go Launcher is good (and free) too!

 

[GrooveRite]

I use the free version of Nova simply for the scrolling wallpaper feature. Is the scrolling wall a TW or Android feature?? I remember having it on my Galaxy 1 (Epic 4g).

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

What is the benefit of it vs touchwiz? I actually quite enjoy touchwiz.

Sent from my Verizon Galaxy SIV using Tapatalk 4

Honestly, it's not even that much different right out of the box. Since you are installing it over top of touchwiz (TW), you don't really lose any of the TW features, nor do you have to remove TW to install it, so you can go back at any time if you want. You do lose some of the TW widgets, but besides that, there's little downside.

For example, would you like to be able to have more rows and columns of apps available for your home screens? With a the large screen of the S4, there's definitely room to do that, and Nova lets you. Want to have 7 apps on the bottom quick-launch bar (the "dock") instead of the default 5? You can do that. Want to move the button for the app drawer to the middle of the dock instead of having it on the right side? You can do that. Want the app drawer to scroll vertically instead of horizontally? ...I think you get the picture.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. With minimal setup, the launcher itself isn't that different from TW, but allows you tweak certain settings to your liking that you otherwise couldn't...or if you choose to get more in depth with it, you can modify the heck out of your homescreens with custom icon packs and such, but ultimately it's up to you.

As many have suggested, download the free version and try it out...and see for yourself.

 

[ffejjj]

I really would urge everyone to sample in multiple home launchers. After all Android is the UI for tinkerers and we know how we love to tinker

I'm on Adw.ex but would suggest any/all home replacements for a test drive Nova, apex, adw, go...the list is long and they all have pro's and cons. Give em a try

 

[garublador]

IMO it's worth it just to be able to change the grid (number of icons per screen). So much of the big screen on the S4 is unnecessarily wasted in TouchWiz and you can get it back in Nova.

I also appreciate being able to change my app drawer to vertical scrolling. I like just being able to flick once and then stop it near the app I want rather than having to swipe through pages. The overlapping widget feature is pretty nice, too. I have three Minimalistic Text widgets overlapping that use Tasker variables and that setup allows me to change the color of text in the widget based on the value of the variables. You can also use that feature to make translucent backgrounds for icons that might be hard to see in a specific area of your home screen.

All that stuff is in the free version, too.

 

[MagicMike Kelley]

How about performance? I know some launchers can be more/less resource heavy than stock. Any thoughts?

 

[garublador]

How about performance? I know some launchers can be more/less resource heavy than stock. Any thoughts?

People generally suggest changing to Nova from TouchWiz to improve performance. There are animation settings in Nova that you can change that can make it appear faster as well.

 

[hakimmmmm]

How about performance? I know some launchers can be more/less resource heavy than stock. Any thoughts?

If you want simple and fast launcher try action launcher

Sent from my One using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[anon(6174973)]

How about performance? I know some launchers can be more/less resource heavy than stock. Any thoughts?

Nova launcher tend to be a bit quicker than stock if you set the animation speed higher

Sent from my HP Slate 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[ctechnow]

Just got Nova and like it wayyyyy better.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

How about performance? I know some launchers can be more/less resource heavy than stock. Any thoughts?

This was definitely a problem back in the Froyo/Gingerbread days, but most of the "modern" launchers running on JB are pretty smooth and today's phones have much better hardware and software to handle it. In short, you shouldn't notice any performance hit from running a well made launcher (i.e. Nova or any others mentioned in this thread).

 

[Prosty]

I got the free version and it improved my entire phones performance.

Sent from my Verizon Galaxy SIV using Tapatalk 4

 

[HPferoxCraft]

Nova is great I upgraded to prime and had no regrets, it's a solid launcher. With that said I highly*recommend you check out Buzz Launcher, it's free and very slick. Has everything major you need and has the Homepack feature where you can upload your own or download other peoples Homescreen themes. Its wonderful for people who are just starting to customize their home screens and I'm always finding new ideas and inspirations.