Android Launchers

Image via WikipediaNew Homescreen Transition on LauncherPro for Android Phones and Tablets (Photo credit: DanieVDM)LauncherPro (Photo credit: Johan Larsson)Image via WikipediaLauncherPro home screen (Photo credit: markuz)20-Feb-2012


There are so many launchers available in the Android Market, and there is no ‘perfect’ candidate that satisfies each and every user’s whims and wants. One would be graphically-enhanced, another functionally-boosted, and the rest are just midway deliveries, half of the functionalities, and half of the graphics.

I was thinking, why not I take the strength of each piece, and put them all in one launcher, and put it up in the Market? Wouldn’t that be the ‘final thing’ for an android phone launcher?

Definitely not. You see, our individuality is proof that we have our own preferences, and the disagreements, rather than the compatibilities, would be the major focus. What’s best for me only applies to me, and may not be true to others. We like what we like, and we don’t need to explain that.

Having said, I would just be putting up my own observation and judgment on the launchers that I have evaluated.


ADWLauncher/ADWLauncher EX

Customizable, and easy to use. I’m okay with this, but the only problem that I find, comparing with the rest, is the home dock, which only allows 2 apps other than the Home/Apps switch. Or maybe I just didn’t know how to do it… Hey, there’s no manual, as in all the rest. But that the acceptability of an app is that even without a manual, the average user (where I belong) should be able to navigate and tweak to one’s liking in the minimum time spent. Just like our old friend iPhone… still there?

There, I recommend ADWLauncher EX for those who are looking for an alternative to the phone’s stock launcher.


Regina 3D Launcher

Didn’t have much time to play with this launcher, and even just its icon is already turning me off. And why not? Every other app in the Market, even the very simple ones, are in full color, so what were they thinking when they created the drab and colorless icon? Simplicity? That would kill the cat!

One thing that could be nice is that they don’t have a grid snap. I find that very, very flexible. When adding an app to your home screen, you can position it anywhere you like within the screen bounds. I didn’t see that anywhere else.

I can’t say much anymore, so I am leaving the decision to the user whether or not to try Regina 3D Launcher.


LauncherPro

Almost within the graphics and performance level of ADWLauncher EX is LauncherPro. The home dock is easily populated with apps of your choosing. And pressing or hitting the Home button spreads out the panels on your screen, where you choose where you want to go – that I find most desirable – since you don’t need to flick and flick and flick, and turn and turn and turn the panels left and right.

Did I like LauncherPro? You bet I did. I used it for as long as I can, customized it as much as I wanted.

But all good things have to come to an end, but I highly recommend LauncherPro, as I would ADWLauncher EX.


SlideScreen

This isn’t really a launcher, but an app to show what you would want to see all in one screen. But that immediately puts up a question, ‘How many?’, since there are many things that we’d want to see, on the average 20 items (basing on my own use of the android phone), any time.

This is yours to try, all at your own risk (Okay, the risk is only losing some time, in exchange to learning something…)


GO Launcher EX

I like this launcher the second best! With so many themes to choose from, and many of them free, with some of the free items coming so close to the paid ones, this is a very, very good choice. Home dock isn’t an issue: you put in as much as you would need; there’s always a limit to what we can do, but this allows as much as I wanted.

In the apps list, I like the horizontal movement, since I would usually read left to right, or right to left; some launchers give you the vertical movement, and well, they have their own reward (and problems)!

You can even adjust the grid size to your liking: 4x4, 4x5, 5x4, 5x5, etc.

What’s more, GO array of apps is a vast array, and there just an app for each and every thing you may be needing and using: GO Dialer, GO SMS, GO Notification, GO TaskManager, Go, Go, Go!

I may just try it again sometime again (I just saw the Greenscree Theme), and I think I like it.

Highly recommended: Go Launcher EX!


GO Locker EX

I’m not a bird or a reptile, but boy, I was attracted to the 3D Worm Locker, and for this to work properly, you have to set the GO Locker as the home launcher. Works almost seamlessly with you phone, as if you are operating GO Launcher, but I got tired of the worm thing.

If you like it, this is okay. At least better than many of those out there that call themselves home launchers. They don’t even come close!


MXHome Launcher

What do I say about this launcher?

Uninstalled as soon as installed…


SPB Shell 3D

This is what I am using now. Heavy on the graphics, and the only thing that I don’t like, topping the list, is the scroll movement of the apps list: vertical. I would exchange this with Go Launcher EX, if not for the superb graphics. The others that I don’t like, well, maybe somebody else would find them useful, the extra panels of whatever.

This is resource hungry, but I have characterized my Samsung Galaxy R’s behavior, with its internal 8GB SD card.

Don’t go beyond 75% of what you have, and this launcher is performing best. All the others, you can use up to about 100MB more than 75% of capacity, before your phone starts its self-reset cycle.

So for me, that was 3GB usage of my 4GB partition, and 50% of the rest (1GB/2GB for the SD and Phone Only partitions). I would have to actually review all the apps that I have installed when the box of many-colored candy was opened up to me, pick those that I don’t use, and uninstall them. I got to free up more than 1GB afterwards – good for the launcher!


Home Manager

Home Manager app comes with Home Switcher, and that made it easy, if not easier, for me, to switch between the home launchers. No need to ‘clear the defaults’ by going to the apps’ setting, etc., etc.

You’d be better off trying out the launchers with this apps as you primary aid.


Other launchers that I haven’t tried:
Gingerbread Launcher
Ks Launcher
Launcher 7
Zeam
Balancer
Nemus Launcher
QuickDesk
HeLauncher
PandaHome
Open Home
Crazy Home Pro
MIUI ROM


Out there, what will you find?

If you will, you can Google ‘best android launchers’ and you would find many, even those that tell you the strengths and weaknesses of the apps, but then again, we all look at one picture with different eyes, and with different perception.

I ask then, when will we ever unite?

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The iTunes saga: unable to copy movies and music to iPhone

Image via CrunchBaseImage via Wikipedia08-Dec-2011


I am one who wouldn’t go for the iPhone for my own use – I wouldn’t die just to get an iPhone. However, somebody dear to me wanted it, and so she got it.


Here comes the nicer part: I didn’t bother ‘learning’ this gadget, so I didn’t know anything about it when my wife asked me to go and configure it, something that I would usually do with my phones (since I started using one back then in 1999). I have zero knowledge of iPhone, so I didn’t know what to do.


Natural thing, I checked from the web. There is no manual, and sort of everything that you do with and about the iPhone is by trial and error method. And since I was keeping the acquisition of the iPhone a secret, and I was quiet about it, I cannot any longer, for I have to ask those before me, before us, who are using iPhones and have already done much configuration on their units.


That’s what we did.


But the natural thing to use is, I thought, the iTunes. Or so I thought.


I actually keep on messing up the movies that I would attempt to copy over from the computer to the iPhone, and sometimes succeeding, but at many times, and with much frustration and headache, fail. I would even be erasing, accidentally, what I have already copied over.


What?!


All the while I thought that iTunes is the problem, especially that when Apple team released an upgrade, that some features were disabled, some were taken out due to security and vulnerability issues, etc., etc., so I thought that iTunes IS the problem.


And I was wrong.


You see, I found one forum, where users are having the same problem like me, exactly. And you know what? It was a very simple solution. I mean, if I were a user smart enough, I would have figured it out myself. But sometimes, you could trip over a pebble…


There is a section entitled “LIBRARY”, and there is that section that pops up and disappears, as and when a device (meaning your iPhone unit) is plugged in or not. By way of nature (I mean my natural way), I would copy the files (movies) into the Movies folder under the Device node. And why not? That's where I want them appearing, right? It doesn’t matter actually whether the checkbox “Automatically sync…” is ticked or not. For my case, it is unticked, so whenever I click on ‘Sync’ button, what I put in the Movies folder are immediately wiped out, to my surprise!


Then, I found out it was being put in the wrong place…


I have to put it in the “LIBRARY” node, in the Movies folder. I did that. I even added in some mp3 files in the Music folder, and, as was suggested in the forum, make sure that the files I wanted to copy over are ticked.


So now I have the movie and music files put in the LIBRARY node, in the Movies and Music folders, respectively, and when I clicked on Sync, the transfer was a success!


What I did next is to tick the ‘Automatically sync…’ box, and while my device was disconnected, I added in some more files, in the LIBRARY section, (for where else, since the 'Device' isn't present, not available; it is disconnected) and unticked some of the files already inside, and when I plugged in my device, naturally, the sync process was immediately triggered.


Happy now?


Yes! At least I know now how to manage files on the iPhone. But I’m still not getting an iPhone for my own use…


Till then, my friends. 
“…to the audience we’ll never have…”

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Japanese Food Recipe for iPad

Once again, here is a new app for iPad:
Japanese Food Recipe

To read the review, follow source article below:
Japanese Food Recipe for iPad - Quick Review

 

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New Windows phones won't run current apps

Image via Wikipedia

PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer

06-March-2010 05:13 AM

NEW YORK - Microsoft Corp. has said its new software for smart phones, Windows Phone 7 series, is a "clean break" with the past. Now it's clear just how clean that break is: The new phones, expected late this year, won't run any applications written for older versions of Microsoft's phone software.

In a blog post Thursday, Microsoft executive Charlie Kindel, who handles contact with outside software developers, said that jettisoning support for older applications was necessary to make the new operating system as powerful and user-friendly as possible.

The announcement is perhaps most disappointing to companies that have created their own software to run on Windows phones issued to their employees. The news also leaves software developers with a dilemma: they can write applications for Windows Mobile 6.5, which will soon be a dead end, or they can write for Windows Phone 7, which isn't coming out until later this year.

Phone providers compete in part by providing support for as many applications as they can, and everyone is trying to catch up to Apple Inc.'s successful App Store, which has more than 100,000 applications. Microsoft is leaving behind tens of thousands of applications written for different versions of Windows Mobile that go back more than a decade.

Few of those applications are up to today's standards. They're also designed for phones that came with styluses for precise input. Windows Phone 7 Series is designed for touch screens that work well with fingers but don't work with fine styluses.

Palm Inc. made a similar "clean break" last year, abandoning an operating system that was more than a decade old in favor of a completely new one. However, the new system is able to run applications written for the old one.

Kindel said Microsoft still will support Windows Mobile 6.5 "for years to come," and expects some new devices with that software will come out. AP

From GMANews.tv; see the source article here.

----------

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One million of new iPhone model sold in 3 days

Posted: 22 June 2009 2109 hrs

NEW YORK - Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs, in his first statement since taking a medical leave of absence in January, announced on Monday that the company has sold more than one million of its new iPhone model in three days.

"Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning," Jobs said in a written statement.

He said over one million iPhone 3GS models had been sold through Sunday and six million customers have downloaded the new iPhone 3.0 software in the first five days since its release.

"With over 50,000 applications available from Apple's revolutionary App Store, iPhone momentum is stronger than ever," Jobs said.

The statement came two days after The Wall Street Journal reported that Jobs had received a liver transplant about two months ago in Tennessee.

Jobs's health, and the secrecy surrounding it, has been the source of intense speculation over the past year, often causing swings in the price of Apple stocks.

- AFP/ir

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

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New iPhone 3GS heats up smartphone wars

June 18, 2009 -- Updated 1840 GMT (0240 HKT)

By A. Pawlowski

CNN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Consumer demand is growing for phones that act like mini-computers
  
• Apple's latest entry goes on sale Friday, faces competition from other companies
  
• iPhone is the undisputed leader when it comes to mobile applications
  
• Rivals launch competing app stores to lure customers to their devices
  

Got smartphone fever? A new version of the Apple iPhone goes on sale Friday.

(CNN) -- When Apple starts selling what it bills as the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet on Friday, the company's latest entry will only heat up the already sizzling smartphone landscape.

Fans, techies and ordinary consumers eager to purchase the new iPhone 3GS may be preparing to stand in line at Apple stores around the United States and seven other countries. But they have more choices than ever when it comes to phones that act like mini-computers.

"We expect that [smartphones are] going to be the fastest growing consumer segment for quite some time," said Ryan Reith, a senior research analyst for technology research firm IDC.

"It's all about connecting to the outside world."

The U.S. smartphone market grew by 68 percent last year and is projected to grow by 20 percent in 2009 and almost 25 percent next year, according to IDC.

No wonder companies are rushing to meet the demand for sleek mobile devices that combine e-mail, data, music, photos -- all in the palm of one's hand.

Interested in something other than the iPhone? The options include the new Palm Pre, Research in Motion's BlackBerry Storm or phones powered by Google's Android or Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating systems.

The key is having access to the Internet anytime, anywhere.

"Mobile Web browsing is a huge thing," said MG Siegler, a writer for the technology news site TechCrunch. "People especially want to get on the Internet and do the things they're doing when they are at their [home] computers, which is social networking and sharing photos."

When it comes to mobile Web surfing, the iPhone seems to be the king. A recent report by AdMob found Apple's device generated 65 percent of mobile HTML browsing, a statistic that didn't surprise Siegler.

"The Web browser on the iPhone has been up to this point far superior to what it is on some of the other phones out there," he said. "The great thing about the iPhone is that you don't have to have a mobile specific page. You can look at the regular page and just see it perfectly fine."

All about apps

While Apple has lots of buzz and appeal, it's not the dominant smartphone player. The company had only about a 20 percent share of the U.S. smartphone market in the first quarter of this year, a distant second to Research in Motion's 55 percent slice of the pie during the same period, according to IDC.

Apple is the undisputed leader, however, when it comes to mobile applications -- the software programs that let users do everything from play games to track their calorie consumption and everything in between.

Apple's App Store has a whopping 50,000 applications available, and a number of its competitors recently launched their own stores in the hopes of catching up. It won't be easy: BlackBerry's App World, Palm's App Catalog, Microsoft's Windows Mobile Catalog and Google's Android Market have only a fraction of Apple's offerings.

"It's pretty clear that Apple has the lion's share of people who want to develop mobile apps. It's a great distribution platform," said Erica Ogg, a writer for CNET News.

Some competitors are trying to lure developers to their platforms by letting them keep more of the money generated by their apps. While Apple offers a 70/30 split -- with developers getting to keep 70 percent of the revenue and the company taking 30 percent -- Research in Motion is offering a more favorable 80/20 split, Reith said.

Ironically, industry observers believe Apple's success itself may eventually drive some developers to competing stores where their apps would be less likely to get lost in the crowd and have a greater chance of standing out.

"I would think that developers would want to look at a lot of these other platforms, like the Palm Pre, because they would still be so early on in the development cycle that they could get their app out there," Siegler said.

"If the Palm Pre ends up taking off and sells millions of units then they're much more likely to be successful."

Speed matters

In fact, Siegler believes the Pre could be the biggest wildcard right now because it's the first smartphone since the iPhone to use multi-touch. The feature lets users maneuver around the interface by using their fingers -- double-tapping the screen to zoom in or out, for example, or "pinching" with their thumbs and forefingers to do the same thing.

Beyond the technology inside smartphones, the focus now is also on improving the infrastructure that services them.

"You're going to start to see in the next year Verizon and Sprint, followed by probably AT&T and T-Mobile, start to increase their networks so you'll have Internet speeds on your device that will be almost equivalent to broadband within your house," Reith said.

All of this technology comes at a price. The iPhone 3GS, for example, starts at $199, with a required two-year contract that will have consumers shelling out at least $70 a month with AT&T. Both Reith and Siegler don't see the monthly fees changing any time soon, which may cool some consumers' smartphone fever.

"Definitely more people are interested in smartphones, but I think the costs of the data plans are for a lot of people prohibitive," Ogg said.

"Especially with the way people's budgets and finances are today, there's still plenty of room for the free phone that comes with your plan that does basic things."

From CNN.com; see the source article here.

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Keeping the Apple sweet

By evolving the iPhone slowly, Apple didn’t risk alienating millions of users

Ariel Tam in San Francisco, online and technology editor
ariel@mediacorp.com.sg

THE star of this week’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) was arguably the iPhone 3G S, the long-awaited third-generation model of the smartphone. But to me, and perhaps the 5,200 developers present at the annual event, what was more exciting was the June 17 worldwide release of the iPhone 3.0 software update.

Apple iPhone OS 3.0 shown during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. AP

The iPhone 3G S is, of course, very attractive, and will likely drive hordes of existing iPhone users to upgrade. But the hardware upgrade appears to be a token effort to keep up with the Joneses rather than a bona fide re-design. The improvements are evolutionary and predictable enough that it didn’t take a doctorate for industry watchers to get the details right, such as the improved camera, faster processor and more memory.

Of course, the iPhone 3.0 update is not without its critics. Some gripe that despite its admirable list of fresh features, iPhone 3.0 is little more than a bug-fixing release because many features, such as copy-and-paste, MMS and searchable emails should have been added long ago, and rivals have had them for years.

But the iPhone 3.0’s trump card is backward compatibility. The Palm Pre, launched in the United States last week, operates on the new webOS software unable to run on Palm’s older phones like the Treo. Palm can only gain as many new followers on this platform as it manages to sell Pres to. That’s an uphill task.

The new iPhone 3GS being unveiled at WWDC in San Francisco, US.

By contrast, the iPhone 3.0 software will not only run on any generation of iPhone, but any generation of iPod Touch. Apple announced it has sold a total of 40 million iPhones and iPod Touch devices, which translates to an instant base of 40 million iPhone 3.0 users. Application vendors will be able to tap that vast user base to offer iPhone 3.0’s ability to make micro-payments within applications, such as renewing subscriptions or checking out an online shopping cart. That means two revenue streams: The purchase price of applications, and micro-payments within them.

The ability of developers - and Apple, which takes a cut from transactions - to instantly monetise iPhone 3.0 will mean immediate momentum, unlike competitors that might need to wait for user adoption to ramp up before it can show their developers and investors more than mere projections.

Apple’s App Store might not be as big a goldmine for the company as its iPhone and iPod hardware, but software and hardware are symbiotic parts in Apple’s business strategy. One drives the growth of the other, and both portions are profitable. Now that Apple looks like it will triumph on both fronts with its latest announcements, we could be looking at exponential growth from the company, even in this economic climate. There are already more than 50,000 applications in the App Store since its inception less than a year ago, and more than 1 billion apps have been downloaded.

From this perspective, there’s method to the madness of Apple’s slow improvements to the iPhone’s software. A more aggressive stance might have made it tough for Apple to ensure that the version of its operating system today would be streamlined enough to run on the first-generation iPhone and iPod Touch.

Apple’s latest App Store innovations come in the wake of copycats springing up, with Nokia’s Ovi Store, Research In Motion’s BlackBerry App World and Google’s Android Market all vying for a share of the pie that Apple painstakingly created. Keeping existing developers loyal while wooing new ones is crucial, and the iPhone 3.0’s micro-payment abilities could prove just the carrot to do the trick.

It should be obvious by now that while people are drooling over the new iPhone, Apple is hoping for a windfall in profits generated by apps and transactions, and hopes its developers see the same dollar signs it does so they will stay and drive the iPhone-App Store ecosystem.

From TODAY, Tech Comment – Friday, 12-Jun-2009

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