ADW.Launcher

by Antonio Wells Jun 1, 2010 8:00 AM – 34 Comments

Install

ADW.Launcher. Opensource home replacement app. Features: Customizable desktop previews, Customizable application drawer (old one or iphone/galaxy one), Customizable drag & drop action buttons, Unveil the Dockbar flicking-up the app-drawer button and drop another 6 shortcuts/folders/apps! Check the site for more information or meet me on xda! (For Android version 2.0 and higher).

Check out our full review of ADWLauncher EX

Price: Free

Tested on: Nexus One
Content Rating: Everyone

AndroidTapp.com Android App Review:

Pros & Cons:

Pros

Experience up to 7 home screens for widgets, shortcuts, bookmarks, and apps
Preview all home screens at a glance
List of Android Apps feature swipe between screens

Cons

No Pinch to see all home screens, you must tap the Home button again for preview
For Android 2.0+

Features:

ADW.Launcher Android App is a home screen replacement app that takes the favor mostly from the app launcher menu from Android 2.2 (Froyo). The difference ADW.Launcher offers is individual control at various levels of the launcher… lets dig in.

Screen Preferences

You can control how many home screen panels you want from 3-7, whether to have Live Wallpapers or not, orientation sensor, which screen is your default screen and even scroll speed.

Drawer Settings

This houses configuration for your Android Apps drawer like animation effects or even configure how many rows and columns display.

Previews Settings

A few settings for home screen display, I wouldn’t recommend changing anything here. However I am disappointed the app lacks the Pinch feature to see home screens at a quick glance similar to the HTC Sense UI it emulates.

UI Settings

When I first saw LAB and RAB near the Android Apps launcher icon I wondered WTF?!? Upon further investigation they stand for “Left Action Button” and “Right Action Button”; yet they have a cool feature where you can drag and drop any app icon there!

: ADW.Launcher Home Screen

: ADW.Launcher Pinch for Quick Glance at All Home Screens

: ADW.Launcher Settings Menu

: ADW.Launcher Screen Preferences

: ADW.Launcher Drawer Preferences

: ADW.Launcher Preview Settings

: ADW.Launcher UI Settings

Usefulness:

For those who like the effects of HTC Sense UI or need more home screens than 3 or 5 as some stock Android versions offer, then this app is for you. Plus it provides an alternative way to customize your Droid.

Android Advice™: How do I make this app my default home screen app?

Whenever you install a new home app Android presets all home screen apps every time you press the Home button. Click the checkbox “Use by default for this action” then select your desired home screen app.

Android Advice™: No popup prompting default choice shows, how do I make this my default home screen app?

If you want to change your default home app (or any default app), go to Settings Menu » Applications » Manage applications » find the default app and select it » click “Clear defaults” button. The next time you press the Home button you will be prompted which app to use… follow the steps above.

Frequently Used:

If used, every time you tap the Home button.

Interface:

Your organization or imagination determines the final UI, however the app is all about giving users freedom to customize their home screen.

AndroidTapp.com Rating

AndroidTapp.com Rating! (3.8 out of 5)

Should you Download ADW.Launcher? For those who want granular control of home screen and launcher features… Yes! Personally I would like to see a few more feature enhancements!

Developer: AnderWeb

Tags: ADW.Launcher, ADWLauncher EX, Android App, Android Apps, AndroidTapp.com App Review, Custom Android Home Screen, Customize Home Screen, Home Screen Replacement App

Categorised in: Productivity

34 Comments

By AnderWeb on June 1, 2010 at 8:47 am:

You should checl ADWSettings/UI Settings/Tint AB……
Buttons don’t “dissappear leaving a silouette….” you just turned the TINT ON

Reply
- By Antonio Wells on June 1, 2010 at 9:18 am:
  
  Thanks for the clarification, we’ve got that cleared up!
  
  Reply
By AhronZombi on June 1, 2010 at 9:04 am:

LOL!
“Bug: LAB/RAB icons disappear after a while leaving a grey silhouette of the icon moved there”

thats a feature not a bug

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By Certafiiieddg on June 1, 2010 at 9:16 am:

Yeah no offense Mr.Wells you should change your cons. I thought everyone would prefer to remove that ugly LAB/RAB, but its definitely not a bug and for sure isnt a con. Nice review tho.

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By Mumps on June 1, 2010 at 8:31 pm:

And there’s a version for Donut too. Your CONS list is quickly disappearing LOL

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- By tonguc on September 16, 2010 at 10:15 am:
  
  I agree with you and it’s also said that there is no pinch to preview and it’s a con. But you can configure downward or upward slide to give you the previews. And one finger slide is much easier than pinching!
  
  Reply
By cliwat on June 4, 2010 at 4:44 pm:

link is broken. marketplace has no such item

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- By san on June 5, 2010 at 8:42 pm:
  
  The market is having known issues (started Thursday). You can download the .apk for installation here: http://jbthemes.com/anderweb/category/adwlauncher/
  
  Reply
By Jim on June 6, 2010 at 1:13 pm:

How do I uninstall if I do not like?

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- By Android Tapp on June 6, 2010 at 1:31 pm:
  
  Go to Settings > Applications > Manage applications > find and click app to uninstall. Do this for any app you want to uninstall.
  
  Reply
By glorfingal on June 8, 2010 at 3:05 am:

running it on a sony x10 and get the occasional FC when resuming from
screen lock, but on the whole VERY nice

Reply
- By Joanna on June 18, 2010 at 10:29 am:
  
  How do you have this running on the x10? 1.6 firmware?
  
  Reply
By Hollywood on June 8, 2010 at 12:26 pm:

When i look for ADW.Launcher its not in the market . I got the incredible and would love to try this launcher

Reply
- By Android Tapp on June 8, 2010 at 6:39 pm:
  
  Try it now. Seems Google fixed that issue: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/06/application-visibility-issues.html
  
  Reply
By ragflan on June 8, 2010 at 11:55 pm:

Another con. If you’re using a HTC phone, you don’t get the SenseUI widgets with this Launcher. But whoa… this thing is blazing fast and oh so smooth. Even the default SenseUI isn’t this smooth.

Reply
By Grasp on July 2, 2010 at 7:11 am:

It works well on Sony Ericsson X10 that runs on 1.6.

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By Josue on July 9, 2010 at 2:19 pm:

I would like to know where did you get the wallpaper for the app? It is really nice. I am running it on a Behold 2 Android 1.6 and it is running very well.

Reply
- By Antonio Wells on July 9, 2010 at 2:56 pm:
  
  It came with wallpaper gallery on the Nexus One phone. Unsure if those can be exported, but will find out.
  
  Reply
By Robb on August 22, 2010 at 4:18 pm:

Can only get 5 screens on my X10i, is it possible to get the described 7?

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- By Robb on September 16, 2010 at 12:02 pm:
  
  Found out how to do it so sorted now
  
  Reply
  - By Chiv65 on December 2, 2010 at 2:34 pm:
    
    How did you do this. I can only get 5 homescreens on my Droid 2
    
    Reply
By Spooky on August 26, 2010 at 11:11 am:

Great for Donut!!!! Really like this app!

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By tksafari on September 17, 2010 at 1:02 pm:

Installed this app but could not connect usb on my Samsung Captivate due to running Google search. Task killers and application enders could not stop Google search. After uninstalling this app Google search killability enabled and usb connectivity returned!!!

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By anon on September 19, 2010 at 1:54 pm:

is there anyway to resize the widgets? i love the UI, but not being able to actively resize a widget once it is created is a deal breaker for me.

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By jeff on October 16, 2010 at 3:28 pm:

For some reason i dont have the desktop screen option. I have default but not desktop. I really want to change the # of screens to 3 but dont know how. The current version i have is 1.1.5

Reply
By Raman on November 29, 2010 at 2:46 am:

Hi,
I just upgraded from 1.6 to 2.1 on my Xperia x10i
the problem is that I can’t seem to figure out how to reset the defaults of the home screen so as to start ADW launcher…

Tried settings>applications>manage applications…
No data on ADW so can’t clear the cache…

Reply
By Kartik Sanghavi on December 1, 2010 at 12:11 am:

I installed ADW launher…Its also show in Applications…Manager Application…but how can i launch it? no icon to launch the application anywhere…

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By mm4 on December 4, 2010 at 7:51 am:

i cant download anything from appmarket. it says you are in a forbidden country

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By Finn on December 19, 2010 at 3:40 am:

I would like to display a htm file (not just a link) on one of my home screens. Is this possible with this app?

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By Germo on February 4, 2011 at 5:55 pm:

Its a great app, but there is no possibility of upgrade! Every time you want upgrade , you must uninstall the old version..and then install new version.. It’s not nice!

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By souvikdas01 on March 28, 2011 at 2:47 pm:

Hi Guys,
Need some help with the ADW launcher.
I desparately want to install the Ubuntu Brown theme for android andfor that the pre requisite is to install the ADW launcher.
I installed the ADW launcher, but cant find it in the menu/browser->more>downloads/Astro file manager.
But every time i restart the phone, its asking me to use the ADW launcer as default.
My main motive is to install the Ubuntu theme.
Can you guys please help me out?

Thanks,

Reply
By Kevin on March 22, 2012 at 8:27 am:

Hey everyone love the app in order to go to the app you need to press your options button while on the adw launcher home then you should see adw settings as one of the options you can make any changes needed there!

Reply