Ask NerdGirl: I Am Alive! A New Home, Reinventing the Calendar, and It’s Not That Hard!
by n3rdg1rl
May 29, 2010 8:00 AM –
I know, I know…I’ve been a bad n3rdg1rl! It was my plan to keep posting over my vacation, but as anyone knows who has taken a “vacation” to see family, nothing ever goes as planned. I am now back in Ohio and ready to get back to helping as much as one n3rdg1rl can!
I sooooo hate that I did not wait long enough to get the Incredible! I love the 6 home screens it offers. I was turned on to the idea of the home screen replacement apps and (once again) told that HelixLauncher was the best. Lately, it has become VERY laggy. Do you recommend one that might be better?
After some research I think I have a pretty good answer for you. SlideScreen Pro came out in January and I’ve read some good things about it. There is a free version or a paid one for $6.99. It doesn’t use the home screens you’re used to, however, but it does aggregate all of your information in a very clean and organized way. One of the things that people really love about it is the fact that you don’t have to use it as a home screen replacement. You can use it as an app and see if it will work for you before you take the big plunge. You didn’t mention how in love with your widgets you are so I must add, if they mean a lot to you, this is not going to be the best answer.
Now if you are attached to your home screens and your widgets there are a ton of options. I have always heard that HelixLauncher is the best there is. Of course “the best” is always a matter of opinion and since it’s not working for you there are ones for you to try that I’ve heard positive things about.
PandaHome is a free replacement. If you love the 7 home screens that HelixLauncher gives you, then you’ll love that PandaHome gives you 11! It’s very customizable and the themes you can get for it are mix and match, meaning you can use icons from one theme and the background from another if you wish.
GDE is a paid replacement, but is a nice replacement. It has 7 home screens, like Helix, but my favorite feature is that you can organize your apps into folders so you can get a grip on all of your toys in your phone without scrolling for hours trying to get to something. There’s also endless scrolling so if you are on screen 1 you can just go left to screen 7.
LauncherPro Beta is another free one I’ve been hearing good things about. People are saying it’s faster than the stock, which is what you’re looking for. This developer is also constantly updating it so it’s always getting new, useful features.
Do you know if there is a better or at least cleaner style looking calendar out there? The stock just isn’t doing it for me.
I know that’s a lot to ask. Hope you don’t mind. That’s why you’re the expert. 
Thanks again.
Brandon
I hate when I have to answer a question like this because my answer makes me sad. Palm seems to still beat the Android in this way. Everyone has been asking forever for a better calendar UI, more so a better integration that syncs with Outlook (however there is a workaround). Unfortunately, there isn’t one… yet! This is number 3 on my list of Android wishes. When it happens, trust me, I will let people know!
Google should get a prize for how hard it is to screenshot an Android device without rooting it first.
@RyanMacG
This was just a comment I got on Twitter, but I really wanted to respond. It’s not that hard!
- On your phone go to Settings » Applications » Development » check USB Debugging
- Download the Android-SDK pack.
- Hook up your phone via USB and tell it you want to sync.
- Open the folder in the SDK pack on your computer called “tools”.
- Double click “ddms.”
- Your phone should show up in the top left box.
- Hold “CTRL” then “S”. You should now see a screen capture screen. There you can save, copy, rotate, etc.
~n3rdg1rl