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LauncherPro for Android hands-on: it works, but it won't wow you
The most popular home screen and 'app drawer' replacement app for Android is LauncherPro -- but I'm not sure why.I mean, sure, it gives you a scrolling dock, and up to seven home screens -- big whoop. Maybe I'm just a bit jaded. I have recently reviewed two very good home screen apps, after all. The truth is, though, except for a nifty scrolling, customizable dock, there's simply no reason to use LauncherPro instead of ADW.Launcher -- and Zeam, which is lighter-weight and easier to use, also has a very nice scrolling dock.
In fact, the only unique feature in LauncherPro costs $3, and you can't even try it out before you buy.
Features
LauncherPro advertises the following headline features: super-smooth scrolling, animated screen previews, up to 7 home screens, a funky app drawer, and a scrolling home screen dock.
It's true, it scrolls smoothly. Seven home screens is cool, but nothing to write home about (and by default there are no markers that show which screen you're on). The app drawer is actually quite nice -- there's an "experimental" 3D option which makes it look just like Gingerbread, and the app icons 'fly' into the screen, which is cool.
Then there's the scrolling home screen dock, which has the rather unfortunate title of "The Only Useful Feature in LauncherPro."
Scrolling dock
LauncherPro's scrolling dock really is quite nice. You can have up to three docks of five icons, and you can enable 'looping', so you can keep scrolling one direction to get to the shortcut you're looking for.
You can put anything on the dock, including LauncherPro Shortcuts -- which allow you to create completely customized actions. It uses a clever little website to make the shortcuts (check it out), which then download to your phone -- but to be honest, it's way above my level of Android knowledge.
For power users, you can add "Activities", which provide direct access to methods and screens inside applications. You can create a shortcut icon to the "Compose" screen inside the Gmail app, for example -- and admittedly, that's very, very cool.
Finally, LauncherPro includes special Messaging, Dialer, and Gmail shortcuts that display the number of unread messages for the respective app. Now I can see at a glance just how many hundreds of unread email I have!
LauncherPro Widgets
If you push-and-hold the home screen, you get the tantalizing option of adding a LauncherPro Widget. Excitedly, I scrolled through a list of cool-sounding widgets (People, Messaging, Twitter, Facebook!) and some widgets even had different styles to choose from! I picked a rather nice style and tentatively pushed "Select" -- and only then do you find out that LauncherPro Widgets cost money.I'd love to tell you about how awesome LauncherPro Widgets are, but I can't. You see, you don't buy the widget-enabled version through the Android Market -- instead, you have to pay $3 via PayPal to receive an unlock code. With no chance of getting a refund, I wasn't going to pay up $3 for something that might potentially be awful.
The product page on AppBrain doesn't even mention the pay-for widgets. Why not just list a second version on the market?
Comments
49
Subscribe to commentsoperative.alexJan 17th 2011 3:13PM
Wow, kind of an incomplete review, if you're not willing to spend 3 bucks to access what amounts to the most important feature of LaucherPro: the widgets.
I have recently switched to Zeam, thanks in large part to the review here, and I enjoy it. However, I've been scrambling to find replacement widgets. I was actually going to write the author a note to see if he'd be willing to release his widgets as a separate pack, because they are by far the most useful widgets I have ever used.
You also failed to mention (or maybe you didn't know) that each icon on the dock can also have a secondary "swipe" motion. For example, I use Google voice. I have it set so that when I tap on the icon in the dock, it launches Google voice. However, when I swipe up over the icon, I have it set to change my usage of google voice (toggle from "use always" to "ask me everytime" to "never use google voice" for outgoing calls. Tapping on my email allows me to go to gmail. Swiping up brings me to Seven, for my hotmail. It's an extremely useful function that wasn't really given enough time in your review.
Frankly, that's my assessment of your entire review: you tried it, but didn't really put enough time in to really understand HOW to use it, and you didn't spend a small amount of money to review the absolute best part about it.
If you'd like, I will pay the $3 for you, and you can do a re-review, or at the very least update this one. I guarantee you that after a few days of use, you will miss the scrollable, fully-featured widgets on every other homescreen you try (speaking of which, you should try out Slidescreen Pro- it's not a tinkerers best homescreen, but I put in on my mom's phone because it's really, really simple.
Allow me to post what you're missing out on:
The calendar widget is the best widget I've used for managing my appointments. The widget has both a monthly view and a "next appointments" view that puts all of your upcoming appointments (with color tabs for different calendars) in full display, and is fully scrollable (I never reached the end of it in my usage). You can switch back and forth between these views with a single click (the only such widget I've used that has this feature), and can be resized on the fly (another useful feature that Zeam doesn't have).
The Friends view is a live, updating Twitter and Facebook feed that allows you to post, retweet, reply, et cetera all from the widget (no app launching). It's not as fully featured as, say, twetdeck, but then again, it's the best widget for keeping up to date on stuff. You can manually configure the amount of data it holds in cache, and can resfresh the data via a small refresh icon at the bottom (the same is true of all LauncherPro widgets). The Facebook and Twitter widgets are the same, the friends view just combines them. You can also set a program that launches when you hit the button so if you want to use Tweetdeck, Touiter, Twidroyd or any other program, you can use it.
The bookmarks widget and contacts widgets are simple, just a scrollable grid of icons. they're not the best out there, but they're useful. I never used the contacts one, but the bookmark widget was one of the many that I used.
In my opinion, Launcher Pro is one of the best home screen replacement apps. It's not as robust as AWDLauncher. It's not as simply as Zeam. But it has feature that simply aren't replicated elsewhere. The simple "display a small icon telling me how many missed calls or emails I have" in the dock alone is worth the price of admission for a guy like me, and the widgets are simply better than any other widgets on the marketplace-- the only downside is that the widgets only launch in LauncherPro (you can't get to them from Zeam, for example). The
operative.alexJan 17th 2011 3:23PM
@operative.alex
Don't know how that weird formatting thing happened, my post was all out of order.
Basically though: the widgets,not the dock, is the most useful thing in LauncherPro (I seriously have been missing them now that I'm trying Zeam for a week) and the dock that you say you like, is even more useful than you think, because each icon can be tapped or swiped, resulting in two different actions. Oh, and another thing you didn't mention: you can customize the icons in the dock as well. I happen to like the stock ones that come with LauncherPro (the minimalist all-white ones), but you can actually download (or create) custom icon packs to make your phone look like you want it to.
Seriously, I like Zeam a lot...but I miss the calendar widget enough that I've literally tried out 5 of them in the past week to try and replicate what LauncherPro had, and I miss the ability to have each icon double-task for me in the dock. I really just want those two teams to get together, mash their ideas, and give me the perfect homescreen replacement...with the LauncherPro widgets.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 17th 2011 5:18PM
@operative.alex Hey, Alex. Thanks for probably the best comment I've ever seen on Download Squad :)
I actually said to Vlad, about half an hour before this post went live: "If I get a lot of heat for the Widgets thing, I'll pay for them and do a re-review." (He also said that they're very similar to the HTC Sense widgets, which I've sadly never used.)
I agree on the 'show missed calls/email/SMS' being a great feature. That alone is probably enough for me to continue using LauncherPro :)
Again, thanks for the great input!
WillJan 17th 2011 3:12PM
Wow, this just gets worse and worse.
Seriously, you should be FIRED. Your articles completely suck and you have no idea what you're talking about.
Are you so daft to not realize that LauncherPro is completely free on the Market and it's only the 'Plus' features that cost $3? And to say that it doesn't have advantages over Zeam or ADW is dumb dumb dumb.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 17th 2011 5:20PM
@Will I think I said quite a lot of nice stuff about LauncherPro's dock functionality! I don't think that alone is enough to recommend it over ADW or Zeam, though.
But thanks for the input. I'll be sure to try out the Widgets, and hopefully do some kind of re-review.
DavidJan 17th 2011 3:13PM
Oh, come on! The scrolling on Zeam made me feel like my already outdated Droid Eris was even more outdated. It wasn't smooth AT ALL. True, the widget buy now thing is super annoying, but how often do you really add and change widgets? I almost never do. I like to think that Launcher Pro is more customizable than ADW and Zeam.
Seriously, I do think you're just jaded after doing all the other launchers.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 17th 2011 3:22PM
@David I think ADW is pretty darn customizable too!
I thought Zeam was pretty fast (and ADW felt faster than LauncherPro). Not sure about the 'smoothness' -- I don't recall Zeam being un-smooth, but honestly I can't recall the exact smoothness :)
toxfortwoJan 18th 2011 8:04AM
@David
Agreed, Launcher Pro is the only launcher that has consistently ran beautifully on my Eris. I have it rooted and Over-clocked to 710 MHz, and launcher pro runs much MUCH better than ADW ever gets near. ADW EX has good performance, but still not as good as Launcher Pro.
Zeam also had some trouble on my Eris, so Launcher Pro is still simply the best when it comes down to performance for me.
downloadsquad-kcJan 18th 2011 2:34PM
On my Droid, the LauncherPro is the only launcher that I could run stably while being overclocked to 1GHz, period.
It may not offer as much customization as ADW, or as compact as Zeam, but it sits right in the middle. And that's enough a reason to pick up the free version.
WillJan 17th 2011 3:14PM
And you didn't even mention (did you even NOTICE? I'm guessing not) swipe actions, which really set LauncherPro apart from other launchers.
G00gle26Jan 17th 2011 6:43PM
@Will Swipe function is the best!
Karl HintzJan 17th 2011 3:18PM
"You see, you don't buy the widget-enabled version through the Android Market -- instead, you have to pay $3 via PayPal to receive an unlock code."
The developer is from a country that can't sell apps on Android Market (Uruguay?), hence the necessity of Paypal.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 17th 2011 3:18PM
@Karl Hintz Ahhhh! That makes sense -- and that's a shame :(
Thanks for the info.
DavidJan 17th 2011 3:39PM
@operative.alex
Seriously though. The Launcher Pro link in the first paragraph goes to ADW! "In fact, the only unique feature in LauncherPro costs $3, and you can't even try it out before you buy." What the heck is this? As far as I can tell it's a complete lie! Launcher Pro Plus costs three bucks and you can try it out before you pay for it. In fact, the only thing that doesn't come with the free version is widgets and the ability to resize other widgets.
TifaJan 17th 2011 3:30PM
I agree with the above comments, you really did a lack of research and understanding before you wrote this review. I would pony up the $3 and unlock the full potential of LauncherPro +. You can't just jump to conclusions after spending 10minutes with a launcher replacement. And to be fair I am using ADW EX now and still miss specific functions in LauncherPro such as the previously noted swipe feature you didn't even mention (I made one of my docks like a speed dial for contacts, Press for call, swipe for text). You should at least do a search on a product for information before you write such a half hearted review.
MitchRapp81Jan 17th 2011 3:37PM
Launcher Pro was the first app I ever bought on Android because I deemed it "well worth it" ... seriously dude, you're writing a review on a (until now) respectable website ... at least shell out the 2.99$ for the full features!
Even then, the free features are nicely polished compared to ADW and GO (the 2 other launchers I tried)
Sebastian AnthonyJan 17th 2011 5:23PM
@MitchRapp81 We very, very rarely review commercial software -- and I can count the number of pay-for iPhone and Android apps that we've reviewed on one hand, I think...
MitchRapp81Jan 17th 2011 3:38PM
ahhh yes forgot about Swipe actions... those rock. It's like having double-shortcuts for everything. Press Contacts, contacts open, swipe contacts, tweetdeck opens ... press browser, browser opens, swipe browser, opera mini opens ... LOVE IT.
bkj216Jan 17th 2011 3:39PM
Like you mentioned in the opening paragraph, "Nifty Scrolling" is the main reason I enjoy LP+. I have ADWex, Zeam and LP+. By far I choose LP+. ADW second, and Zeam 3rd. I'll give Zeam time tho it may become something bigger later on.
Not to mention that Fede has promised some major LP changes very soon.
JaymoonJan 17th 2011 4:17PM
I am another Android user that shelled out cash for the first time for LauncherPro (then $1, so I definitely got my moneys worth).
This may contradict the other comments already posted, but I could care less about the LP widgets. Yeah they are OK to have if you miss Sense that much, or wonder what Sense has to offer. For me, I keep my home screens (all 3) to a bare minimum for speed.
To me ADW always felt like navigating through a clunky "Windows 95-ish" launcher, meanwhile LP was also a super smooth "Windows 7". Last time I tried it, it crashed about once an hour (most likely conflicting with something I had installed), and each time it restarted, it had to repopulate my app drawer which had well over 100+ apps. It took fo.....r.....e....v.....er.
I've recently tried other launchers like GO Launcher and Zeam, but resizing widgets, scrollable docks, custom dock icons, adjusting the animation effects, hiding apps from the drawer (major selling point right there), swipe actions on dock buttons, virtual looping home screens, 5 column/rows... all reassure me that I've made the right choice! :)