Thursday 22 July 2010

Launcher Pro Beta



Launcher replacement , the bit that fires when you hit the home soft key etc.
Currently on eclair waiting for vodafone to agree to epf30 froyo ota update.  (edit : as of 21st July 2010 I am on Froyo)
Stock eclair comes with just one dock icon that launches the app display, or recycle bin when dragging and dropping widgets to delete.
Lp allows full customization of this without root access. 
Kinda like froyo but with far more options, only three on froyo dock but lp allows up to three scrollable sets! 
Each icon can be set to be link to anything using lp grey icons or default. Can even set blanks.  Love you can remove text from desktop icons. 
Although this means you probably won't have anywhere near the same number as most will have been moved to the lower dock.
HOME screen number defaults can be changed as well as styles and speed. 
number of icons per row/column is also editable so you can squeeze more in
Slick beyond belief getting my phone just the way I want it. As well as running faster for things like opening apps list.
Still in beta but I haven't had a single force close yet.
Home button can be configured too
It really is a must have with no downsides I have yet to discover, along with swype these are the biggest change to my android experience yet.
Unread counts for email sms and missed calls is very useful too

just download and the first time you hit 'home' it will ask which default launcher you wish to use, select 'use this as default tickbox' then LauncherPro. (you can remove this in Manage application defaults area under settings)


Pros

free (but theres now a paid version to support the developer)
customisable , so you can have android just the way you like it, cuts down on needing lots of desktop icons
reliable (no FC as yet)
no root needed

Cons
none found yet

Summary
love it , tried a few other launchers but this gives me what I what.


some more links

other launcher replacements
ADWLauncher
Home++

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