Home Replacement Apps

Got a home replacement app you like?  Give us your reviews.

That one sounds pretty cool. I'll have to check it out.  Pandahome is a good free one.  It lets you have up to 11(!) different home screens(I think), and you can use other themes from ahome and open home.  GDE is another one i'm interested in trying.

You've got a LOT of options here. Seriously. What would you LIKE your phone to look like?


a)  OpenHome
http://betterandroid.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/new-open-home-skins-gallery/
http://betterandroid.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/open-home-15/

b) aHome
http://www.mappn.com/soft.php?id=2

c) PandaHome
http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-nd-android-pandahome-jtjm.aspx

d) SweeterHome
http://www.sweeterhome.com/



People debate about which of these is the best... but in the end it really comes down to what you prefer. I personally have used all but SweeterHome (just found out about sweeterhome about 2 minutes ago... I'll post a followup after i try it out). PandaHome is my favorite of the top three though. There are only about ten dedicated PandaHome themes, compared to thousands for openHome or aHome. This sounds like a bad thing.... until you realise (like i did) that ALL the openHome and aHome themes work with pandaHome as well. Since you're new to the phone, Themes are a set of preferences, icons, and backgrounds that combine to redesign the look of your phone. PandaHome also lets you extend the number of screens from 3 to idk-how-many. I've only used 5 so far, but i know it allows at least seven. Haven't tried any more than that . PandaHome also lets you mix-and-match themes. Say you find a theme with icons you like, but the background is ugly and the menu is boring. Long-press on any blank place on the home screen and select "home assistant." This gives you a menu of pandaHome settings. (one of the new features is "icon-hide" which lets you hide the icons in your apps list that you don't need... like all the themes you'll download). By selecting theme modules, you can mix the icons of one theme with the background, search widget, clock, menu handle, and menu icons of another. This pretty much means it's completely customizable.



That said.... been checking out sweeterhome a bit while writing this post... it looks awesome too. I'll post more details probably tomorrow after classes get over.




other)  Got to test a program called "tasker" as part of the ADC2 (android developer challenge two).  Can't find it in the market yet... but i hope it shows up there soon. Looks like an incredibly powerful app. http://tasker.dinglisch.net/main.html

It lets you set up custom events and do things because of them. On the simplest level, that means you can set up your phone to go to silent mode while you are in class or at work, and then turn back up when you leave. On a more complicated level, you can set it up to do things like return to the home screen when you spin the phone 360 degrees. Or set up text messages to be sent ahead of time (think "happy birthday" but scheduled weeks in advance).  As far as i can tell that's just the tip of the iceberg... hopefully it hits the market soon.



Oh.. you wanted screenshots. Here's a few of my favorite themes.



just realized i included a flyscreen image without explaining what it was... Flyscreen replaces the default lock screen with useful stuff like news, weather, calendars, and new text messages, without unlocking the screen. useful for quick reference.

Open Gesture:

I've played around with this one a bit back when i first got the phone. If you want all the gesture things then it might be a good choice. However... It seems to be missing from the market right now. At any rate, i can't find it to give it a second chance.




Suggestions:

When tasker comes out (see my above post) it has support for linking gestures to actions as well i think...

I enjoy GDE with the obsidian skin. It looks less hackish to me, and runs great on my intercept.

GDE replaces the drawer with a menuing system, that's kinda nice. You can separate your apps into folders, which is useful when you have lots. GDE also customizable shortcuts to either side of the drawer -- contacts, web, dialer, etc...

I guess the "main" feature of GDE is the screen transition bling. Instead if just sliding screen to screen you can rotate around a cube like in linux, or you can fade between desktops.

It comes with a "dock" widget for the desktop to store you favorite apps. You can configure 1-7 screens and a fast swipe across the screen sends you flying across multiple screens.

Not free. =(

I spent a week trying out every home replacement I could find.  The last one i tried was GDE.  I don't regret the money i spent on it.  I may even pop over to xda and give the developer a little extra.  This was the closest thing I could find in both useability and customization to SPB Mobile Shell 3.5.  I liked the ability to choose between 1 to 7 screens and making whichever one you want the default screen.  You also get the ability to remap the 3 soft keys on the screen with in a set variety of options.   There are 4 different transitions for the screens. ( stretch, fade, cube, slide)  Now to the features that really convinced me to keep this one.  First and foremost the app dock widget.  You can have up to 4 per page and as near as i can tell as many apps per dock as you want.( If I remember correctly DX TOP was limited to 4 or five at the bottom of the screen and I believe Open Home was limited to 8 and again only one dock.  I found this made a great photo speed dial bar for my most frequently used numbers.)   The only thing I think they should add the the app dock widget is the ability to hold 1x1 widgets.  Second was just the overall custimazation that is currently allowed and is being planned for the future.  I had very few issues with GDE and 99% of them have been me just flat out overloading the phone.  I have pushed my intercept to its operational limits. 

GDE is by far the best home screen replacement out there.  It had the best functionality and the best future for further development and expansion.  The developer concentrates on speed and operation as his 2 primary concerns.  This app is well worth the money and support of its future develpment.

Any word of people getting the Android boot loop off of GDE? I experienced it after using OpenHome and am kinda hesitant to try any other Home replacements since I'd rather not replace my phone again.

I tried AdvancedLauncher by irrenhaus and I like the idea of simply adding sub-menus/folders inside the drawer to clean it up/categorize it, but I can't get it to work completely.  I'm able to create the different folders and drag apps into the folders, but I don't get the "manage menus" like I'm supposed to. 

How did you get it to work properly on the Intercept?