Recommendation for Android launcher with a "list view" and categories?

[tbessie]

Hey all...

I've been looking around at replacement launchers, and most things seem to run towards eye candy, 3D views, lots of animations, etc.

I would like a launcher that's like the stock one, but lets you have any number of folders/categories in which you can put apps (like you'd store bookmarks in a desktop browser), and where you can put folders inside other folders, etc.

I know the stock launcher allows folders, but they just expand to fill the current screen or available space, while leaving everything onscreen there. That's not what I want - I want a hierarchical folder-in-folder, filesystem-like browser of apps.

I haven't found anything like that, especially one that isn't heavy on the design, and that lets you list apps in small-font list views (as opposed to BIG FONT list views or icon grids, etc.).

Anyone know of one like that? I've examined all the major players.

- Tim

[Drillbit]

Have you tried Go Launcher? I have not been keeping up with launchers since ICS.

List view and folders on the app section. That sounds to me like Touchwiz. I have not seen anything that is hierarchical.

[tbessie]

Have you tried Go Launcher? I have not been keeping up with launchers since ICS.

List view and folders on the app section. That sounds to me like Touchwiz. I have not seen anything that is hierarchical.

I've looked at Go Launcher (reviews of it, screenshots, lists of features) and it doesn't seem to quite have what I'm looking for. I might try it out, though, to see.

I haven't used any of the branded phone UI overlays, so I haven't tried Touchwiz - I'll keep looking to see what's out there, anyway. If I had more energy outside of work, I'd write my own launcher... perhaps someday.

- Tim

[Varjak]

I don't have a lot of experience with launchers; but my theory is that they have to offer a great deal of extra functionality (or in your case, a specific function/feature) to be worthwhile dealing with possible compatibility issues, unintended conflicts, etc. I don't quite know what you mean by the folder taking up the whole screen but still showing everything. Doesn't it only show the folder contents? Still, it almost seems like you want a file system almost more than a launcher. But I also seem to like things organized like you do and would want a similar system. Can you organize your apps by page, assigning each page a generic theme, like games, productivity, social networking, messaging, etc.?

[raspabalsa]

Go Launcher does not allow for hierarchical folders, nor have I seen any other launcher with this feature. Go Launcher's implementation of folder opening is quite nice IMO: you tap on a folder and it "opens" in the foreground, while keeping the background (the "desktop") visible but dimmed. Also, the part of the background below the folder slides downward, as if the folder was pushing it down. I know you don't need/want eye candy, but still I think it's worth mentioning.

Have you considered doing away with the requirement for hierarchical folders? I think it's unlikely that we'll see a launcher for Android with this feature. Several launchers are already mature, and none has this feature.

Under Go Launcher (and also ADW Launcher and TouchWiz, back when I used them) I think of screens as my categories: the first one is the main one, with all my productivity stuff (office suites, account and password management, databases, memos, contacts, engineering tools, etc) and multimedia (audio and video players, camera). The second one is my communications category (email, IM, video chat, browsers, etc). The third one is gaming. Within each "category" I keep stuff organized in folders (i.e.: tower defense games, file managers, calculators, readers, etc). I have quite a few folders: 10 in the first screen, 4 in the second, 6 in the third one. I have ample room for folders because I just use one widget, in the main screen (extended controls). The rest of the screen estate is left for folders and individual app icons. I understand this is not what you seek, but it's a simple and nice way to keep stuff organized on my devices.

Good luck with your search, and do let us know if you find a launcher that fills your needs.

[tbessie]

I don't have a lot of experience with launchers; but my theory is that they have to offer a great deal of extra functionality (or in your case, a specific function/feature) to be worthwhile dealing with possible compatibility issues, unintended conflicts, etc. I don't quite know what you mean by the folder taking up the whole screen but still showing everything. Doesn't it only show the folder contents? Still, it almost seems like you want a file system almost more than a launcher. But I also seem to like things organized like you do and would want a similar system. Can you organize your apps by page, assigning each page a generic theme, like games, productivity, social networking, messaging, etc.?

I agree with you - another UI layer could introduce all kinds of issues that one doesn't expect. I'd have to play with any given launcher replacement for quite some time before deciding if it was good enough, most likely.

When I was describing the default launcher folder behavior, I was just describing what I'd seen - I'd created a folder with, for example, 4 elements in it, and when I tapped it, it expanded just to the point where it didn't overlap icons on the same page. I didn't experiment enough to see if it eventually would overlap other icons, or if it only expanded a certain amount. So I was working from incomplete knowledge. :-)

I do indeed organize my apps by page per type (Media, Business, System, etc.), but there are now so many apps available, it would be nice to be able to categorize EVERY one of them into a separate folder, but that would display in a compact list format so I didn't have to scroll for miles to find things... that's what I'm getting at.

- Tim

[tbessie]

Go Launcher does not allow for hierarchical folders, nor have I seen any other launcher with this feature. Go Launcher's implementation of folder opening is quite nice IMO: you tap on a folder and it "opens" in the foreground, while keeping the background (the "desktop") visible but dimmed. Also, the part of the background below the folder slides downward, as if the folder was pushing it down. I know you don't need/want eye candy, but still I think it's worth mentioning.

Have you considered doing away with the requirement for hierarchical folders? I think it's unlikely that we'll see a launcher for Android with this feature. Several launchers are already mature, and none has this feature.

Under Go Launcher (and also ADW Launcher and TouchWiz, back when I used them) I think of screens as my categories: the first one is the main one, with all my productivity stuff (office suites, account and password management, databases, memos, contacts, engineering tools, etc) and multimedia (audio and video players, camera). The second one is my communications category (email, IM, video chat, browsers, etc). The third one is gaming. Within each "category" I keep stuff organized in folders (i.e.: tower defense games, file managers, calculators, readers, etc). I have quite a few folders: 10 in the first screen, 4 in the second, 6 in the third one. I have ample room for folders because I just use one widget, in the main screen (extended controls). The rest of the screen estate is left for folders and individual app icons. I understand this is not what you seek, but it's a simple and nice way to keep stuff organized on my devices.

Good luck with your search, and do let us know if you find a launcher that fills your needs.

Thanks for your suggestions - I may try a few of the available launchers to see if I like them better than the default one.

As mentioned above, I do already keep things together by category per page, and know where they are in relation to each other; I could start using default folders on those pages, but I still think it wouldn't give me the granularity I'm after in the format I'd prefer. I use a bookmark app that lets you have N-level deep hierarchies for bookmarks, and that's what I'd like for apps. But I'll try a few approaches to see if I can get close, at least, to what I'd like.

- Tim

[Varjak]

I can see your problem. I think the most screens you can have on Android is 7, right? Plus as you say, there are so many apps, even one level of folders can often be insufficient.

Raspa, I'd be interested in hearing a bit more about what you mean by the folder 'pushing down' on the background. If it lies over the background (which dims) what is actually pressed down? Just curious.

[raspabalsa]

Well, it's not too easy to describe the pushing down effect... let me try again: imagine that the whole desktop dims (background image, icons, widget, etc), then the contents (icons, widgets, etc) become translucent so the background image can be seen through them. Then the whole desktop splits in two horizontally (not by the middle, but at just below the folder icon you opened), the folder is opened as a rectangular panel that occupies the whole width of the screen, but is only as high as needed by the number of icons it has inside, and at the same time the lower part of the split desktop slides down, as if making room for the folder panel. It's a very cool effect. I'll see if I can post some screenshots, but first I have to discover how to make them!
EDIT: Here are a few screenshots which I'm sure will make a much better job than my explanation. I opened several folders so you can see the differences as icon location and folder size change.

[Varjak]

Thank you very much. I guess it was the 'pushing down' I didn't really get. It partially stretches that middle area that was dimmed; but it also overlays it a bit (look at the Audio-Video icon, where the 'title' is covered). But I get your point. That's a nice effect; but pretty much how I envisioned it working.