Using Zeam Launcher 1

Almost one week using Zeam Launcher. Here are some initial impressions:

So far so good with Zeam. The last time I used it I had a good amount of force closes. I have not had one in over 24 hours of usage. It is very fast. It doesn’t have all of the configuration choices that other launcher replacements do but I’m not seeing that as a doThere are no fancy transition effects, but those seem to cause lag on my Droid X anyway.

What I like:

It is fast as hell. So fast that some actions I have done have actually occurred in the past, before I had done them. Adding widgets or shortcuts to the screen, which can be painfully slow with some launchers, doesn’t seem that bad. The application list is fast to load and scroll. It is animated, the apps sort of fly in.

Screen to screen scrolling is fluid. There are no options for transition effects. I’m seeing that they really are not needed. The screens just flow nicely from one to the next. You have the option for a screen indicator, either dots, lines or none. I get lost easily so I’m using the dots.

The taskbar looks great. I’m using the blended setting and like the way it looks with the wallpaper.

More soon. 

Launcher March Madness that begins at the end of May

I settled on four launchers to test out on my Droid X. I’ll be running each one for a day or two and post the results. I’ll finally settle on one and run it for a week. Then I will try four more, move one from that bunch to the semi-finals. There will be one launcher chosen at the end to rule them all.

What makes this difficult is the fast-evolving landscape of launchers (aka Home Screen Replacements). In the past month I’ve used some that I have hated because they were crashy or battery-drainy only to find dramatic improvement in three weeks. Some continue to not improve that much. It is also difficult to find launchers on the Android Market or Amazon Appstore. The best one in the world could exist and I’d have no knowledge of it.

I don’t have any real criteria that I will be using to begin. That will change and evolve as I use them and write about it. The great freedom of having a blog that no one reads is that I can slowly warm up to writing again and not worry about getting shredded.

This week I will be using:

-Zeam Launcher. It is billed as minimalistic and fast

-Regina 3d Launcher. Fancy 3d effects

-Launcher 7. I chose this because I have a grudge against it already. I hope it wins me over.

-myHome Launcher. Interesting mix of bad and good reviews is intruiging.

The one thing I will not worry about is availability of themes.

I will loosely update this site as I use these. 

Droid X rooted

I rooted my Droid X following these instructions:

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/04/25/root-droidx-gingerbread-4-5-588-using-gingerbreak-v1-10/

The process was smooth and took about ten minutes. Now begins the work of finding what I can do with root. Checking out Titanium Backup first, to freeze the bloatware installed on the phone. 

Gingerbread on Droid X-- 5 plusses and a few minuses

I installed what at the time looked like the official OTA Gingerbread (2.3.3) release for my Droid X. Turns out it wasn't exactly official. I'm glad I installed it. Overall it is running very well. There are a limited amount of bugs. To break the virginity of this blog, I'll start with a list.

5 good things about the Gingerbread upgrade:

5. Fast. My phone has sped up noticeably.
4. Stock Launcher is improved. With the speed increase, the launcher is just about as good as any out there.
3. Stability. Far fewer force closes to deal with
2. Browser. The browser seems snappier and more responsive.
1. Battery life. Huge improvement. I can get through a day on one charge, that was not possible pre-upgrade

A few bugs:
-A sync icon stays in your tray. You can wipe the phone and reload to remove this, but I'm just living with it now and pretending it isn't there.
-I've had trouble unlocking it occasionally. I did a few battery pulls and it seems to have resolved it.

I'd recommend upgrading to anyone who is fairly technical. It is a jump forward worth taking while we wait for the official upgrade.