Best Home Replacement App for You

[Roy Aguilera]

Launcher ++, Home ++ and stock home are fastest for me.

 

[Bako]

I have actually come back to DxTop. It sucks at orientation changes, and sometimes it takes an extra 2 seconds to display the home screen when you back out of an app, but the scrolling between home screens is actually the smoothest I've seen (with the possible exception of Open Home, which has other problems), probably due to them both having 'persistent mode.' I got so sick of juddering screen movement in Home++, PandaHome, and even on the stock home.

I think DxTop dedicates more resources to running itself, so other apps may suffer, but at least I can get a freaking smooth home screen transition and am not embarrassed to show my phone to iPhone people anymore.

 

[maggiem]

I've been using home++ for about a week now and really like it more than DXtop. I dislike that I can't make my own dock, but this one works okay (it has what I need)... the speed of it though for me makes it a top choice.

 

[Roy Aguilera]

Home++ custom docks are coming.

 

[mostendorf34]

Ive been following this thread and looking at the different homescreen options and just can't bite the bullet, i only got my droid at the end of december and had already heard of the 2.1 release and since it's coming so soon i'm going to wait for that before deciding and experimenting with any home screens... we shall see

 

[herki]

Does anybody have any opinions on SlideScreen?
Slide Screen by Larva Labs
I downloaded the free version, and it seems like a really cool concept. I'm a bit iffy about losing all my pretty widgets and homescreens, so I use application mode. What I really like is the fact that it does RSS. About time I found a good RSS reader.

 

[bcollins]

im new to android stuff can somebody pleaseee tell me do you have to have a homescreen replacement thing to get all these nice themes and dock and stuff ?

 

[herki]

im new to android stuff can somebody pleaseee tell me do you have to have a homescreen replacement thing to get all these nice themes and dock and stuff ?

Yes you do. But that's not nearly as tall an order as it seems. Most of the home replacements mentioned in this thread are available on the Android Market, and you don't need to root your phone to get them. They're all just another app.

 

[bcollins]

Yes you do. But that's not nearly as tall an order as it seems. Most of the home replacements mentioned in this thread are available on the Android Market, and you don't need to root your phone to get them. They're all just another app.

ok thank you

 

[phantrik]

Launcher ++, Home ++ and stock home are fastest for me.

Same here and I get good love from GDE/iDroid theme

 

[stuckingoo]

I am with the above poster. Tired them all, using home++ and the 2.1 launcher the most and was becoming very annoyed with how slow my phone was getting making me actually like the phone itself less and less. Then about a week ago i went back to the original home setup and have fallen in love with my Droid and its awesomeness all over again. So I too will be waiting for the 2.1 official launch before going back to a replacement home screen.

I've tried all except Open Home.....and they all had one thing in common....with time they would bog down and force closes. So I'm back to stock which is solid. I do wish however there was one more screen....all the other things the alternatives offer are just frills IMO.

 

[Bako]

I think having a permanent 'dock,' as with DxTop, is more than just a frill. It's a solid feature, and I greatly prefer having my 5 most used apps available to me whichever home screen I'm on. I have made my peace with DxTop and use it now, though I often curse at the phone while waiting for it to 'recover' from exiting an app and trying to redraw the home screen, or when I change orientation. But the benefits outweigh the costs... until 2.1 that is.

 

[chaddymoff]

Defintely GDE. Set as the cube with 5 screens gives great organization, plenty of access, and rarely a performance delay.

 

[ghdavis@RUNBOX.com]

I've been experimenting with different home replacements, and although I've found many to add useful functionality and aesthetic bling, it has been a frustrating experience. For one thing, most don't import your existing icons or widgets, so you are compelled to spend a lot of time setting them up, just to discover that they might slow your Droid down considerably when fully outfitted. Also, having multiple home replacements installed seems to cause some errors (aHome, for example, just gave me cascading errors when I tried to use it; had to pull the battery). Note that I'm using a Droid with Android 2.01, and this thread was moved here from the Droid forum.

So, since we have this nice community here, I thought it might be easier to just ask you guys what you like and don't like about the various home replacements you're using or have used in the past. There was a thread earlier about how home replacements slow the Droid down - obviously that would be a major consideration, and it's the reason I stopped using dxTop - but I'm also interested in the functionality and skinning options provided.

My experiences so far

dxTop
This was the first home replacement I used, and from a functionality standpoint, probably still my overall favorite. But it really does slow things down; when I switched back to the built-in home, I was shocked at how fast it was and what I'd gotten used to using dxTop. I love the 4 home screens shaped like a diamond, so each is always accessible with one swipe, but was disappointed that 4 was the limit, since a big part of home replacements is adding screens. I also liked the added drawer (for running apps) and the customizable dock, though I wish there were a way to have them both accessible simultaneously. Finally, dxTop allows you to use nearly any theme or icon pack, even those made for other home replacements like Open Home. That was nice.

Home++
This is the one I'm using now. Doesn't seem to slow things down as much as dxTop did, and lets you have lots more screens. I also like that there's a dock at the bottom, but frustrated it isn't very customizable. Also disappointed it doesn't seem to support themes, but perhaps that's the trade-off for performance.

PandaHome
I tried this one briefly, and there seemed to be a lot to like about it - simple theme implementation, side-bar docks that were completely customizable, and lots of screens. But the themes all seemed to be made for children, and the whole app had a very pastel, nursery time quality that wasn't for me [edit: I've since discovered it can also use Open Home themes, so this opens up the possibilities for this free app]. Also, I didn't want to have to fill up 5-7 screens full of apps and widgets to find out if it slowed down considerably. I'd be interested to hear from a regular user of PandaHome regarding performance and theme availability.

aHome (does not support the Droid)
Earlier I noted that aHome Mini just crashed on my Droid. I've since looked at aHome and aHome Lite on the market, and neither supports the Droid. They specifically say so. So, no aHome for us, but at least that saves you $4.99!

Edit: Additional Home Replacement Reviews

Open Gesture
This is a unique home replacement built around a gesture engine. It includes many of the typical features found on other home apps, including 5 horizontally arranges home screens (with a nice slider at the bottom you can use to navigate between them) and theme implementation, although I only found a handful of themes in the market, and those I downloaded weren't formatted for the Droid's screen (wallpaper was too short). First, I should say that the documentation is non-existent on the app - it only comes with an ad for the paid version in place of any explanation of its features. I had to go to their website (Open Gesture - Android Desktop Replacement | Hollowire) to figure out what was going on. You click on the lower left of the screen, and then draw a gesture anywhere; it takes a few moments to "analyze" it, and then something launches. Seems like a cool idea, since you can have it launch apps, call specific individuals, or just about anything. But I found the process of sliding to a new screen and just hitting an app icon to be easier and faster than using the gesture engine. Also, sometimes it got my gestures wrong, even though I was never that sloppy. The paid version apparently has added features, but based on the free one, I'm not sure it has enough to beat other home replacements. Screen movement was very smooth, I should note, but the app lacked lots of the options I expect, like control of whether a theme replaces your wallpaper, and there was no place to see what the gestures (pre-programmed or user created) actually did. You just had to remember. So, cool idea that could use a good dose of polish and efficiency.

Open Home
This home replacement's most prominent feature is its well developed catalog of themes, and it can also use aHome themes. However, most Open Home themes actually cost money, which I found disappointing, since Open Home itself will set you back a cool $5. For your money, you'll get a well thought out set of options, including my favorite - a mode that artificially maintains the app's memory requirements as though it were always running in the foreground, even when it isn't - this gives better home screen performance at the expense of other apps, but still, it kept things smooth. Other than good skinning, robust setting, and extra home screens, Open Home's biggest feature is a curiously placed, slide-out dock, which (once slid out) can be scrolled horizontally to accommodate custom shortcuts. I found this to be a really strange choice on the developers' part, and was disappointed that skins/themes couldn't relocate the dock to the bottom (or top) of the screen. Sitting squarely 2/3 of the way down, the dock and the search button opposite it, compromise the harmony of the screen's layout, while proving challenging to use while also switching screens, since the dock covers part of the screen when out. So my opinion is that it is a solid replacement, especially for skinning, but which unfortunately doesn't add much functionality, and isn't worth paying $5 for, when there are free and cheaper alternatives that are as good or better.

Well, unfortunately, I have not had a very good experience with Open Home Desktop. I am plagued with MULTIPLE Force Stops and I arm considering eating the $5 loss and moving on... I continually get these "Force Stops" and it basically ruins the experience and no one can tell me why it is happening. Also, I cannot find out how to actually talk to a tech support that actually speaks reasonable English. In disgust, I went and purchased AHome only to find out that it does not run on the Android. It would have been nice for their software company to make that real clear in their ads. In addition, same problem, tech person could barely speak English, not enough to really help so I got my refund the same day after purchasing the software... My desktop replacement (3rd party) replacements have been a real disaster so far... any helpful instructions from anyone would be more then welcome... (O:

 

[Zerazac]

I thought rooting my phone would help with the lag I was getting with dxTop. I loved dxTop (themes,icons etc) but I'm back to the stock. So yeah I loved the dxTop LOOK but didn't like my phones PERFORMANCE. So I made folders to make it look nice and less cluttered. I WAS going to look into other home replacements but thanks to you all I'm not even gonna bother.

 

[Brett]

for anybody interested there is a new home replacement that resembles htc's sense UI.its called"panda hero". it has a few of the widgets that go with sense as well like the contact and bookmark widgets. it looks nice and the reviews seem to be good as well. I think the price is $3.99 which isn't bad for what you get. id try it but im satisfied with my htc skin on open home. just thought id let youguys know.

 

[Bako]

George, I think I specifically note in my review that aHome (all versions, last I checked) doesn't work on the Moto Droid, though it does apparently work on other Android phones. They do say this, at least on the main aHome version, in the product description. I didn't encounter any 'force closes' with Open Home, but then I didn't use it for very long. The benefits weren't great enough, imho, to justify either the cost or the lag. And they have the weirdest and least useful dock of all the home replacements.

I still use dxTop, despite the lag, because I am now addicted to (1) the persistent dock at the bottom of the screen, and (2) having all home screens on a 2-dimensional one-swipe diamond, instead of a one dimensional line. I even installed the Nexus One launcher, which has 5 home screens horizontally and a much nicer app drawer, but in the end rejected it because the diamond layout is much nicer. I just wish they'd add optional corner screens to create a 3x3 grid with 8 home screens (leaving the center one out, so that single-swipe access is maintained). dxTop seems to be resting on its laurels and releasing only bux-fix updates lately, which doesn't bode well for its longevity.

I will check out Panda Hero, though if it's anything like the free Panda Home, I suspect I'll be disappointed, since that was the slowest of all home replacements I tried, and though it had an innovative layout (with retracting side docks) and full skinning support, in the end the performance drop was far too big a sacrifice to keep using it. And that was with a free app.

 

[hardtorn]

lables for folders..

I used dxtop, panda, and home++, after a bunch of screwing around and setting up and tinkering I got fed up with slowness and glitches.

I've gone back to the native home with no themes and slimmed down main screen to phone, 4 "messaging" apps, and the weatherbug widget. To the right: 3 folders and a Widget. To the left: browser, map, 2 speed dials, and calendar widget.

It's REFRESHING time have a simple and clean look with wallpaper showing thru. Make folders. I have:
- one music apps
- one for games
- one for frequently used apps

It takes just a second to open a folder and keeps the screen clean and pretty.

Simplify - ditch all of the home replacements that slow you down. Try going back to a very clean and uncluttered look and you'll enjoy the snappiness of the screen refreshes and the uncluttered simplicity.

So I like the idea of folders... one of the few things I like about windows...
I did make a folder... cant seem to figure out how to "name it".
How do you put a name to the folders?

 

[ninjataint]

I use GDE with the Obsidian theme on my Droid. I only use three screens since I make liberal use of the application docks. The application dock allow me to have room for my widgets as do the call/add buttons always being on the bottom and not taking up useable space. I highly recommend the Obsidian theme because it keeps everything clean.

I never really had any lag issues and now that I rooted (using Sholes 2.0.3 rom) and overclocked to 800mhz, GDE flies. I know 2.1 is coming but I don't know if I can give up my application docs and love the ability to add or remove home screens as needed.

 

[mostendorf34]

So I like the idea of folders... one of the few things I like about windows...
I did make a folder... cant seem to figure out how to "name it".
How do you put a name to the folders?

click on the folder and when it's open long click on the name and you'll be able to change it

I was using home++ on my droid and started getting 10-15+ FC a day and even though i love it and the dock i couldn't take it anymore so i'm back to stock but recently rooted and overclocked to 800mhz and it's running great and i have my 5 screens back so i can wait for an update on home++

(i used home++ while rooted and overclocked and had the same FC issues)