HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference and

[VickMackey#AC]

With the hype over ICS and the stong arguments for and against HTC Sense, I thought it would be interesting to see what people were using and why. This is my first Androind device and second HTC device. I used "Sense" back when it was on the HTC Mogul. It was good back then because it definitely added something to the UX that WinMo 6.5 lacked. Currently, I used Sense for about a week after getting the 3D and have been using Go Launcher EX ever since. Why?, It's way more customizable, way more usable, prettier and everything just seems tighter. Main reasons I don't use Sense:

1. Random crashing, pressing home key will re-load sense for some strange reason (10 sec avg)
2. Poor Icon spacing (Big icons?)
3. Non-customizable Dock (Ugly and redundant curved dock (phone, app drawer, customization)
4. Non Scrolling wallpaper - Personal preference
5. "3D" Spinning carousel - annoying and unusable, serves no purpose. Another HTC hallmark.
6. Massive - Takes up too much space and resources, Only 1G for apps???
7. Bugs - Messaging app bugs annoy me every day, ex. seeing a new message notifiction when you have already read the txt and have exited the app.

Anyone else? If Sense why? If third party launcher, which one and why?
Also, Will you be sticking with HTC if they continue putting Sense over ICS and future updates or will you be going the Nexus route.

 

[ihatethisregistration]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

I tried at least 5 different launchers, used them each for a solid day of tweaking. Even though the developer seems to have forgotten about it, I found that LauncherPro was perfect for my needs. Low memory footprint, customizable # of homescreens, ability to hide apps in app drawer, scrolling wallpaper, it's really underrated.

 

[CarrieK]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

Sense. If you are rooted and want Sense without the bloat, check out the rooting section and CleanROM 2.8.

Edit: I like Sense because of the overall user experience. I happen to like the carousel effect, for example. I have an NS4G which has "pure" Android and while I do like the clean slate, I find the UI boring overall. There are benefits to both pure Android and Sense, but I prefer Sense.

 

[warpdrive]

I'm lucky. I use Sence and have no bugs or issues.

I love Sence. My friends like it too. Maybe I should try Go launcher, but Sence is clean and pretty.
I don't need scrolling wallpaper, and the UI memory requirements don't effect my games.

swiped to you in 3D

 

[Uz]

I use GO Launcher and and extremely pleased with it. I've tried launcher pro as well and belive go launcher had a little more customization. Sense is nice, but I enjoy custom icons, docks, themes, and increased icon space. It runs very well and doesn't seem to effect battery life.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

 

[milliman]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

Sense is okay but I still long for the UI of this little pebble I use to have. :'( I am still trying to find a suitable replacement for it. Vick knows what I am talking about. My biggest wish for the Sense UI is to choose icon size and spacing.

 

[McPlot]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

I don't understand why people complain about sense so much. Look around and see all the widgets and launchers that are made to look like what is in Sense now. If it was so bad, why would it be copied so much?

 

[Wiley_11]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

Sense is okay but I still long for the UI of this little pebble I use to have. :'( I am still trying to find a suitable replacement for it. Vick knows what I am talking about. My biggest wish for the Sense UI is to choose icon size and spacing.

I think the closest thing your going to get to that UI is Ice Cream Sandwich and beyond. The brilliant guy that made the pebble UI now works for Google.

Matias Duarte - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[VickMackey#AC]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

I don't understand why people complain about sense so much. Look around and see all the widgets and launchers that are made to look like what is in Sense now. If it was so bad, why would it be copied so much?

I only speak for myself. I personally have grown to dislike it. Nothing against HTC, i realize millions love Sense, but many also dislike it. It's all about choice.

 

[cgardnervt]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

I like Sence right now. When 4.0 (ICS) comes out this may change? I guess we will see!

 

[Saneless]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

I have most of the problems that the Vick does.. I only had the reloading of Sense occasionally, and haven't really had crashes.. But 2-6 I agree with 100%.

So I use Go Launcher and I'm much happier. Another reason to hate Sense is just how damn long it takes to boot up the phone. CM7 takes about 20 seconds, the 3D with Sense takes up to 2 minutes, 5 if you wipe the cache/dalvik.

I really wanted to like sense. My first phone was a Nexus One and I wondered what I was missing. Well, turns out it sucks. If I have to pick the #1 issue I had with Sense it's the stupid dock that is a waste of space. A close second is the carousel which serves no purpose whatsoever.

 

[warpdrive]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

I have most of the problems that the Vick does.. I only had the reloading of Sense occasionally, and haven't really had crashes.. But 2-6 I agree with 100%.

So I use Go Launcher and I'm much happier. Another reason to hate Sense is just how damn long it takes to boot up the phone. CM7 takes about 20 seconds, the 3D with Sense takes up to 2 minutes, 5 if you wipe the cache/dalvik.

I really wanted to like sense. My first phone was a Nexus One and I wondered what I was missing. Well, turns out it sucks. If I have to pick the #1 issue I had with Sense it's the stupid dock that is a waste of space. A close second is the carousel which serves no purpose whatsoever.

crashes/UI reloading... glad to hear that you are not having major problems. I too have had a good experiance with this phone when it comes to crashing or ui reloading.

boot up... is two mins or less really to much to ask for? try my last blackberrie, it took 20 mins to boot up.
yes sence is bloated as can be. but how else would you get all the features and animations without it? since like me you don't have major issues with crashing, boot up time is almost a non issue and you seem to be just nit picking.

dock being a waste of space... this is your number one issue? I don't want to sound like you are unhappy over nothing but the dock is used my most peole to save time and not have to use muti-clicks to advance to a feature that they want to use.
while I agree that the personalise button is almost never needed, the phone button I do use at lease 3 times a day and the applications button I use every time I want to use an app that is not on any home screen. it saves me a lot of extra clicks as a new user. I'll bet that most non geeks will agree that the dock is far from a wasted space and will be utilised far more often then most would believe.

carousel... the major funtion of this besides looks is the fact that this is one of the only phones that don't force you to go backwards on your home screens to reach a page that you are looking for. in other words, I can still reach home screen number 1 while I'm on page 5 without having to back up. this is a huge plus for many people including me.


I think that the bigger question to ask is that if you hate the carousel effect and the dock (as well as the UI or other issues), just why again did you buy the EVO 3D?

 

[hmgrepper]

In my flashaholic addictions, I have tried multiple launchers. Although I like Sense animation, its glitches make it a non-user.

I'm currently on Launcher Pro, which is very smooth, but a little light on customization.

Also like Regina Launcher, which is very customizable and has nice interface, but seems a little laggy on occasion.

Sent from my Remix'd Viper Evo 3D via Tapatalk

 

[Wickiup]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

I'm using Sense and have never had ANY issues with it... ever. I had an Incredible before the ThunderBolt I have now and no issues with it either. I had issues with the PHONE itself but not Sense and ended up with a brand new one via Verizon after the major update. Anyway, the reason I was perusing this forum was to see if I could find a way to get rid of the dock but still be able to use Sense. I love the look of matching icons (preferably scrolling ones) where the dock is. I'm just not sure I want to mess with my phone when it's working perfectly the way it is. I don't want to screw anything up... :-\

 

[Saneless]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

crashes/UI reloading... glad to hear that you are not having major problems. I too have had a good experiance with this phone when it comes to crashing or ui reloading.

boot up... is two mins or less really to much to ask for? try my last blackberrie, it took 20 mins to boot up.
yes sence is bloated as can be. but how else would you get all the features and animations without it? since like me you don't have major issues with crashing, boot up time is almost a non issue and you seem to be just nit picking.

I don't have a Blackberry, I have an EVO 3D. And my Nexus One, which was about 2 years older, could boot up in 30 seconds if I needed it to. It just doesn't load a bunch of waste.

dock being a waste of space... this is your number one issue? I don't want to sound like you are unhappy over nothing but the dock is used my most peole to save time and not have to use muti-clicks to advance to a feature that they want to use.
while I agree that the personalise button is almost never needed, the phone button I do use at lease 3 times a day and the applications button I use every time I want to use an app that is not on any home screen. it saves me a lot of extra clicks as a new user. I'll bet that most non geeks will agree that the dock is far from a wasted space and will be utilised far more often then most would believe.

I don't have an issue with the dock itself. That would be silly. I just have an issue with what is essentially a 5-button dock having only 2 useful functions - Apps and Phone. Docks are useful and save time when they have more items there, which is why on my docks I put phone, sms, apps, twitter, and browser. The 5 most things I use.

carousel... the major funtion of this besides looks is the fact that this is one of the only phones that don't force you to go backwards on your home screens to reach a page that you are looking for. in other words, I can still reach home screen number 1 while I'm on page 5 without having to back up. this is a huge plus for many people including me.

There's a big difference between a swipe on the last page taking you to the first page again and a completely useless spinning carousel. Originally in the hands-on videos I thought the carousel would ALWAYS take you back to the main/middle screen. Which might actually be useful. If you were on your 3rd screen and wanted to get back to your main screen, you can whirl it around and that would be a guaranteed way to get there. Turns out it's just a useless thing that almost always takes you back to just whatever screen you're already on. It's purely flash and serves no purpose except to annoy you when you accidentally swipe too fast. It should be an option.

I think that the bigger question to ask is that if you hate the carousel effect and the dock (as well as the UI or other issues), just why again did you buy the EVO 3D?

I originally got it because it was a nice specced phone. It still is. I wanted to give Sense a try after having a Nexus One. Odd you're so worked up and even odder that you think the entire phone is wrapped up into the launcher/sense, which it isn't. At this point it's just a useless set of code taking up RAM for no reason.

 

[VickMackey#AC]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

I don't have a Blackberry, I have an EVO 3D. And my Nexus One, which was about 2 years older, could boot up in 30 seconds if I needed it to. It just doesn't load a bunch of waste.


I don't have an issue with the dock itself. That would be silly. I just have an issue with what is essentially a 5-button dock having only 2 useful functions - Apps and Phone. Docks are useful and save time when they have more items there, which is why on my docks I put phone, sms, apps, twitter, and browser. The 5 most things I use.


There's a big difference between a swipe on the last page taking you to the first page again and a completely useless spinning carousel. Originally in the hands-on videos I thought the carousel would ALWAYS take you back to the main/middle screen. Which might actually be useful. If you were on your 3rd screen and wanted to get back to your main screen, you can whirl it around and that would be a guaranteed way to get there. Turns out it's just a useless thing that almost always takes you back to just whatever screen you're already on. It's purely flash and serves no purpose except to annoy you when you accidentally swipe too fast. It should be an option.



I originally got it because it was a nice specced phone. It still is. I wanted to give Sense a try after having a Nexus One. Odd you're so worked up and even odder that you think the entire phone is wrapped up into the launcher/sense, which it isn't. At this point it's just a useless set of code taking up RAM for no reason.

Exactly, people don't seem to realize you can enjoy the phone without enjoying Sense. The carousel drove me crazy too, like you said the spinning serves no purporse whatsoever. You can have endless scrolling without the carousel effect.

 

[warpdrive]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

Exactly, people don't seem to realize you can enjoy the phone without enjoying Sense.

sorry Vick, it's people like Saneless that don't understand the value and enjoyment that people can and do have with Sence 3.0
just look at what he says time and time again after each point he is trying to make...

this is what he says about Sence in general..."At this point it's just a useless set of code taking up RAM for no reason."

he just wants it to be what he wants and not what the people want..."The 5 most things I use."

people at work or play might love my phones animations and effects, but he thinks it's too much bloat and Sence is a waste...speaking of his nexus phone as compared to a phone with Sence "It just doesn't load a bunch of waste." (durring boot up)

while I understand yours and his dislike for Sence, it doesnt make Sence 3.0 a useless set of code that noone can enjoy using. you both just aren't made for Sence, but that doesn't mean that I and many others are in the same boat.
the best part is that without the people who do like Sence, Saneless wouldn't be able to have such a phone like the EVO3D.

think of it like this...
I'm not a big fan of touchwiz, BUT I DON'T THINK IT'S A BUNCH OF USELESS CODE!!!!
Sence isn't for everyone, but to think that the design and workmanship is useless is not looking at the marketing info that says otherwise.

 

[CarrieK]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

I like Sense. I like the carousel and the widgets and lots of other things about it. What is so amusing is that certain people talk about choice, yet criticize others when they choose something other than what they choose. This phone came with Sense. No shocker there. If you don't like it, either root and flash a ROM that doesn't have it, use a different launcher, or choose a device like the Photon or SGS2 that doesn't have it. I just don't understand these threads. What is the point? I like to come on here and try to help people if they have issues but lately all of the complaints and negativity has just become a downer. Instead of complaining all the time, why not work together to come up with solutions to maximize our experience with the device we have?

 

[VickMackey#AC]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

I like Sense. I like the carousel and the widgets and lots of other things about it. What is so amusing is that certain people talk about choice, yet criticize others when they choose something other than what they choose. This phone came with Sense. No shocker there. If you don't like it, either root and flash a ROM that doesn't have it, use a different launcher, or choose a device like the Photon or SGS2 that doesn't have it. I just don't understand these threads. What is the point? I like to come on here and try to help people if they have issues but lately all of the complaints and negativity has just become a downer. Instead of complaining all the time, why not work together to come up with solutions to maximize our experience with the device we have?

Forums are for helping and circle-jerking as much as they are for venting and complaining to others with similar frustrations. I'd hope you would have gotten used to/accepted that by now. It seems every thread with constructive criticism or discussion you feel the need to jump in and cry a river.. If my posts are too negative for you please ignore them, better yet, put me on your ignore list, yes?

 

[Saneless]

Re: HTC Sense? Or Third party Launcher? What's your preference

warpdrive: I see no value in Sense. I'm not trying to take it away from you. I'm trying to take it away from ME. We can both be happy.