32 replies to this topic

[nik louch]

Apex Launcher. Set it up, lock the desktop, done!

[Mark]

Draconian Guppy, on 20 December 2012 - 20:46, said:

<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You should join the forum.</p>
<p> </p>
<div>Most knock offs have &quot;vanilla specifications&quot; eg. they adhere to a certain spec from a certain phone, I highly doubt it was the S2 though. What i&#39;m saying is, most ROMS work with almost any device albeit &quot;unsopported&quot; Eg. if the dev didn&#39;t have any test input from X device, then don&#39;t expect him/her to have a specific answer.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>All in all, from my little android experience, it&#39;s pretty hard to brick a phone with an open bootloader.</div>
<div>Anyway, JOIN TEH forum!</div>

Well, I joined and posted a question. Their stringent rules for new users are quite annoying. I couldn't even link directly to the product page of the phone!

Also, whats with all the html?

Also, OMG they droped the price of the phone by £20!!!! Annoying.

[sanctified]

BTW, MIUI is also very pleasing to look at and seems easy enough.

[ashpowell]

Mark, on 20 December 2012 - 19:23, said:

So I managed to get this nice Samsung S2 ripoff for my daughter for Christmas:
http://www.amazon.co...ils_o00_s00_i00

Comes with vanilla android and it seems to have been a total bargain. Much better than my ancient iPhone 3GS!

Only thing is, she really doesn't like the launcher. She didn't say it in those words as such, it was more like "I'll never figure that out!". (She knows she's getting it btw because there was a big debate as to whether we should get her a smart phone or not)

Of course she could just learn how to use it, and I guess she could in the long run but I was hoping to find something a little easier for her to figure out. She's really used to my iPhone and her sister's iPod touch so I guess something more like iOS would suit her. As far as I can see, any iOS clones are pretty poor.

I've tried launcher pro but it's oddly laggy compared to the vanilla launcher which is strange because it used to run great on my old ZTE Blade, much better than the default.

So, anyone have Launcher suggestions?

Thanks.

Oh - side question... with this being basically a generic phone with no support as such, is there ever any chance of being able to update android to a later version? I'd love to get google now on there for her!

I doubt you can get any custom roms for this phone as it's not a proper brand, so I wouldn't try any or you'll break your phone.

- aside from that though, I'm not sure you can get much simpler than the stock launcher? 1 button to access your apps, then the rest (which can be removed) for quick access to your favourites

[Mark]

sanctified, on 20 December 2012 - 22:11, said:

BTW, MIUI is also very pleasing to look at and seems easy enough.

I'd be installing that right now, shame it doesn't seem to have the right ROM

[AJerman]

Mark, on 20 December 2012 - 22:08, said:

Well, I joined and posted a question. Their stringent rules for new users are quite annoying. I couldn't even link directly to the product page of the phone!

Also, whats with all the html?

Also, OMG they droped the price of the phone by £20!!!! Annoying.

The rules on new users is because it's a developer board. The rules are to force you to search and read current posts before you start posting questions. There is a massive amount of information on that board that can be found by just searching.

Unfortunately, I can tell you though from searching myself, there's almost nothing about that phone on there. There are a few rooting guides, but I can't see where anything they have would be useful to your daughter. IF perhaps a ROM like MIUI ran on that phone, I'd suggest that, but it doesn't appear there are many, if any, custom roms for that phone. You'd have to stick to launcher replacements if it's really needed. Hell, you could try MiHome which is the MIUI launcher without the rest of the ROM for a more iPhonesque UI. Not sure how well it works outside of it's ROM though, not much of a MIUI fan myself anyway, but that's just me.

[+techbeck]

I use Apex launcher. Best IMO. Nova is good as well.

[Mark]

AJerman, on 20 December 2012 - 22:22, said:

The rules on new users is because it's a developer board. The rules are to force you to search and read current posts before you start posting questions. There is a massive amount of information on that board that can be found by just searching.

Unfortunately, I can tell you though from searching myself, there's almost nothing about that phone on there. There are a few rooting guides, but I can't see where anything they have would be useful to your daughter. IF perhaps a ROM like MIUI ran on that phone, I'd suggest that, but it doesn't appear there are many, if any, custom roms for that phone. You'd have to stick to launcher replacements if it's really needed. Hell, you could try MiHome which is the MIUI launcher without the rest of the ROM for a more iPhonesque UI. Not sure how well it works outside of it's ROM though, not much of a MIUI fan myself anyway, but that's just me.

Perfect! We have found a winning launcher. Problem solved. Sucks about the lack of being able to update it but oh well. I guess I wanted to play with google now on her phone for my own selfish reasons really

[+techbeck]

sanctified, on 20 December 2012 - 22:11, said:

BTW, MIUI is also very pleasing to look at and seems easy enough.

MIUI still looks like Apple tho? I tried MIUI on my Vibrant and was to Apple like. But that was a while ago.

[max84]

Nova Launcher is the best.

[AJerman]

Mark, on 20 December 2012 - 22:26, said:

Perfect! We have found a winning launcher. Problem solved. Sucks about the lack of being able to update it but oh well. I guess I wanted to play with google now on her phone for my own selfish reasons really

http://forum.xda-dev...d.php?t=1747224

The Star N800 Mini has a MTK6575 CPU which is a Cortex A9 meaning it's ARMv7, so try downloading that version and giving it a try.

techbeck, on 20 December 2012 - 22:26, said:

MIUI still looks like Apple tho? I tried MIUI on my Vibrant and was to Apple like. But that was a while ago.

I gather that's a good thing in this situation. I tend to agree with you, but it's still nice for some people though.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Draconian Guppy, on 20 December 2012 - 20:46, said:

<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>You should join the forum.</p>
<p> </p>
<div>Most knock offs have &quot;vanilla specifications&quot; eg. they adhere to a certain spec from a certain phone, I highly doubt it was the S2 though. What i&#39;m saying is, most ROMS work with almost any device albeit &quot;unsopported&quot; Eg. if the dev didn&#39;t have any test input from X device, then don&#39;t expect him/her to have a specific answer.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>All in all, from my little android experience, it&#39;s pretty hard to brick a phone with an open bootloader.</div>
<div>Anyway, JOIN TEH forum!</div>

holy html, batman! Another vote for holo launcher here!

[sbasil]

Launcher 7 ( http://goo.gl/I0DZL ) is pretty cool if it's easy you want. On the up/downside, it does make your android phone to look like a windows phone.

+/-

1) + it's easy
2) + it's fast and not a memory hog
3) + it's stable
4) +/- windows phone lookalike --> if you're into widgets, it's not for you. But live tiles work nicely.

[nik louch]

I love Launcher 7 but it's not been worked on in about a year! And it's just not ready for full time use

[Draconian Guppy]

AJerman, on 20 December 2012 - 20:58, said:

Please be careful what you suggest. This is all very wrong. Most knock offs don't have any relation to any specific phone. They are typically made by very very cheap components, and rarely have support of many custom ROMs, if for no other reason than a lack of interest from developers.

And ROMs certainly do NOT work on just any device. ROMs are custom built for a specific device, and flashing them on a difference device is a good way to do your best at bricking your phone, though that usually is pretty hard because you can usually get in and reflash the right software again.

I've seen chinese knock offs flashed with CM, But I do agree, it's something really time-consuming.

Mark, on 20 December 2012 - 22:08, said:

Well, I joined and posted a question. Their stringent rules for new users are quite annoying. I couldn't even link directly to the product page of the phone!

Also, whats with all the html?

Also, OMG they droped the price of the phone by £20!!!! Annoying.

I've not idea I stopped caring... server hiccups I suppose... I dunno

obiwankenobi, on 20 December 2012 - 22:40, said:

holy html, batman! Another vote for holo launcher here!