Android and Me » dxtop

The Wide World of G1 Desktops

Christopher Earle — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:00:03 +0000

The T-Mobile G1 with Google is well designed out of the box. Customization is easy: Backgrounds are simple to change, icons can be placed in folders to reduce clutter, and pictures can easily be placed on the desktop. In addition, a clock or Google search box is easy to put just about anywhere on the three default desktops. The press and hold gesture, often called a long press, is simple to master. The default icons are attractive and the icon and folder motif is familiar to anyone who has used a computer with a graphical user interface.

All in all, the included desktop is very nice. However, after a time, many people feel the need to personalize the G1. After all, isn’t that half the fun of owning a smart phone? There are currently three production ready alternative desktops available with a fourth waiting in the wings. Each desktop has its strengths, and it is almost impossible to recommend one over another. In fact, it is a lot of fun to buy all three and switch between them every now and again.

The three production ready desktop replacements are, in no particular order: Open Home, dxTop, aHome. The fourth that shows incredible potential for complete customization is Sweeter Home.

Open Home

Soft Keyboard From Open Home

Open Home is a very robust desktop replacement based on Cupcake, thus offers Cupcake features like a soft keyboard and live folders. It offers seven desktops in all, supports a wide range of custom themes and is, at the moment, the only desktop replacement to offer custom icon packs. One of the advantages of Open Home is that all the icon packs and themes are free.

Open Home is being developed by a group of Java developers known as Better Android. When asked why aftermarket desktop replacements are necessary, Robert from Better Home replied:

“I wouldn’t call it an ‘aftermarket’ desktop. Android has all the foundations to allow 3rd parties Home replacement app. It also gives examples of how to make a home replacement app in its SDK. Therefore home replacement apps are encouraged by Google.

We all want our phones to look cool. The default Android theme is fine but it gets to be really boring after you use it for a few months. Therefore we want to make it skinnable so users can choose the look that they want.”

Open Home is an enhanced version of original Home app. In addition to the features of the original Home app, it supports the following features:

Live Folder support
Soft keyboard
Skin pack and icon pack support
Auto rotate
Workspace gesture (swipe up or down to get back to main screen)
and many other tweaks and options to allow users to get the most out of the G1.

Looking to the future, Open Home is planning on supporting its own and native Android widgets. They are not planning on supporting third party widgets for security reasons.

dxTop

dxTop Home Screen

dxTop is a desktop replacement written and supported by John Van Etten, a.k.a., Master Baron. Mr. Van Etten has over 20 years experience in software development, and was drawn to the G1’s nature as an Open Source platform with the Java stack. When asked what was unique about dxTop, he replied:

“With the second tab at the bottom, it offers very quick navigation to the apps you use most. The basis for dxTop is quick navigation.”

As to why users would want or need a replacement for the native G1 Home app, he said:

“People like options, they want their customized phones. Everyone has their need, many use their phone as quick reference. They need to get to information fast.”

dxTop offers four desktops. It is unique in the way the screens are navigated. In all of the other apps, the desktops are placed horizontally. A user swipes from left to right or from right to left to move to the desktop to left or right of the one currently displayed. dxTop’s desktops are placed in a square pattern, with two on the top and two on the bottom. This facilitates navigation between the four desktops. With the second tab for accessing the most recently used apps, dxTop offers very fast navigation.

Another feature of dxTop is its support for several memory and battery management widgets. These widgets offer clear graphs and clear numerical displays to help you manage your battery life and memory. Another very cool widget supported by dxTop is aniCalendar from aniFree.

dxTop supports open standards for themes and widgets. At the moment, it supports native Android, dxTop specific, and aniFree widgets.

aHome

Quicktweet Widget on aHome

aHome , from mAPPn, Inc., offers a number of unique features. Of all of the desktop replacements, aHome is the only one to offer unlimited desktops. If you run out of space, simply long click an icon and drag it to the side of the screen. A new desktop will be created. It offers a number of interesting ways to know which desktop is show, including numbers, number of dots, and even Chinese numbers.

aHome offers an application bar across the bottom of the screen. Your four most used apps can be placed in this bar and accessed from all desktops. The application dock is accessed by pressing the magnifying glass on the left of the screen. The widget dock, accessed by pressing the widget icon on the right of the screen, is an interesting feature that allows you to access installed widgets quickly and easily.

The themes for aHome are excellent. Although there are some free themes, most are not. There are also a few widgets available, with the only free one being a battery meter. aHome also supports aniCalendar from aniFree. One interesting and unique widget is the QuickTweet widget for Twitter users. QuickTweet allows you to send a tweet from any desktop using either the full keyboard or a soft keyboard.

Sweeter Home

Sweeterhome Offers Detailed Options

A very interesting up-and-coming desktop replacement is Sweeter Home. Sweeter Home is being developed by Kioma Valenzuela Aldecoa of Sweeterhome.com. The goal of this desktop replacement is to put the information contained in your G1 on the desktop as a widget. Sweeter Home offers an incredible level of customization, but is still only available as a preview app. When asked why another desktop replacement was needed, the developer replied:

“When people looked at the home screen on the G1, it looked like a little minicomputer. I wanted to make something that added utility to the actual phone, more like traditional PDA functions.”

Even as a preview release, the potential for Sweeter Home is apparent. All of the data in the phone can be placed on the screen in various sizes and shapes. The home screen can show a list of the day’s appointments, missed calls, or a list of text messages. Each widget-like object can be a custom color. The text size and color can also be adjusted, along with the size and shape of each object. Sweeter Home allows you to show things like:

Missed calls
Upcoming calendar events
Recent text messages
Contacts
Trays for commonly used applications

Sweeter Home also allows for deep customization and theme management. It supports up to five desktops. An advanced theme and layout editor allows an for an unprecedented level of customization. Layouts can be different for both portrait and landscape modes and the custom layouts can be stored on your SD card.

Sweeter Home is planning on supporting Open Source widgets and themes, and has posted a theme to the Market. At this point, Sweeter Home users can create themes by customizing the appearance of the home screen and its objects and save those themes to the SD card.

Conclusion

In closing, each one of these desktop replacements is unique. Which one is best depends on your needs as a user. If flexibility and total number of screens is a high priority, aHome is a good solid desktop replacement. If you are looking for simplicity with quick access to recently used apps, dxTop may be the one for you. If you are looking for a large number of free themes and some really beautiful widget designs, Open Home provides a very solid and well designed platform. For the moment, Sweeter Home is one to watch for the future, but could provide some of the most exciting and advanced features in the desktop replacement arena. If you have the time and inclination to customize every aspect of your desktop, Sweeter Home is truly your paradise.

Open Home Users Experience Problems. Developer Rejects Google’s Copy Protection.

Taylor Wimberly — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:26:39 +0000

Do you know how to boot your Android phone into safe mode? What happens if you are on the move and get locked out of your phone? Chances are if you use the desktop replacement application Open Home, you learned the hard way. Many users were temporarily locked out of their phones today after upgrading to the latest version of Open Home. After installing the update, the phone would get stuck in a force close loop and users were unable to uninstall the application.

I found out about the issue late this afternoon after multiple people had left comments on this site and contacted us through our contact form. You people are really funny with your emails you send in. I don’t “work for Google” but I’m always happy to lend a helping hand. After contacting the developer Better Android, I learned what was causing the problem and how to correct it. If you are still having problems I direct you to their website.

Open Home with Mario them and icons.

So what was the source of this problem that crippled many phones? Surprise, it comes from Google’s maligned copy protection. Better Android had initially used the copy protection, but later decided to reject it after users complained. When copy protection was turned off with a recent update, it broke the database access of the app and caused it to crash.

Users were forced to boot into safe mode(power + menu) in order to uninstall and then reinstall the application. By reinstalling the application, the file structure was corrected and problems went away. The fix was simple, but this demonstrates potential problems for the Android platform.

If an application accidently breaks the phone, how does the average user know how to correct the action? Users on the go will not be able to access the Internet or phone a friend for help. Instead they will have to locate a PC or drive to the nearest T-Mobile store.

So if you take one thing from this article please remember: SAFE MODE = POWER + MENU. :)

On a side note, Open Home has some really nice features they recently added. aHome has taken a huge lead in the desktop wars, but Open Home is quickly catching up. dxTop was my favorite, but this week I’m giving aHome a try. Which desktop replacement is your favorite?

Attack Of The Android Themes. Desktop Wars Heating Up. (VIDEO)

Taylor Wimberly — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:41:56 +0000

[YouTube Video Link]

I have 5 different desktops installed and every single day I have new updates. Features are being added like crazy. We went from nothing 1 month ago to widgets, themes, live folders, keyboards, docks, new navigations, and more. I’m not sure where this is going, but it can only lead to good.

Android developers and users are benefiting from something Apple lacks: an open market. With easy entry into the market, we get to experience new apps with new features every day. As the Android army continues to grow we will see some amazing applications. Be sure to visit Logan’s YouTube channel and leave him some feedback.

Open Home Brings Cupcake Features to Android G1

Matthew Stevens — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:57:12 +0000

Looking for a Home screen replacement? Might want to give Open Home a look. Similar to the other home replacement applications Open Home gives you additional Home screens, 7 total. Unlike aHome or dxTop, Open Home only slides either left or right, not up or down.

The developer, Better Android, already has a number of themes available and is being assisted by users over on xda-developer forum. Better Android is offering a free copy of the full application to the original artists of any available themes. The wording in the theme descriptions seem to imply he may have modified them from themes intended for another purpose and without the artist’s permission. I hope that isn’t the case, as it would be a copyright violation. Several of the themes are quite nice, a few don’t suit my taste nevertheless, are nicely done.

Soft Keyboard on Home Screen

What makes Open Home standout at the moment is the newly Open Home – Cupcake Full edition giving users a peak at the infamous Cupcake update, expected in April in the U.S. The demo features Live Folders and touch screen keyboard (search only) , screen rotation and something called Rename Work Space. Cupcake has additional upgrades beyond what Open Home can emulate at the moment most of which are beyond what Better Android could develop with the current API release.

To demo Live Folders install the Live Folders demo. This demo offers two previews, Contacts With Numbers and All Contacts. When added to the Home screen and launched each Live Folder displays contacts with a translucent background that appears like a “windowed” application. I didn’t have any trouble with All Contacts but Contacts With Phone Numbers displayed contacts multiple times and when a contact was selected displayed the wrong one, proof this is in fact a demo.

Additional features shown is an application dock which appears on the right side of the screen as a white star. The white star is difficult to see on the default skin, so be sure to look for it. In portrait mode a small magnifying glass appears on the left side when activated switches to whichever screen has the search window and shows the on-screen keyboard. The keyboard is responsive enough, certainly as responsive as the iPhone or Storm’s on-screen keyboards. I’m not a fan of on-screen typing but is handy for a quick one or two word search without opening the keyboard.

Application Dock

The last feature worth noting is the auto-rotating screen giving Android the much sought after ability of the iPhone and S60 devices for quite some time. Auto-rotate works reasonably well although could use a sliding sensitivity setting for better sensitivity if desired. Auto-rotate will be handy for those few apps the don’t fit on the screen in landscape or portrait however, without a landscape on-screen keyboard its functionality is less useful.

All of these options can be enabled or disabled from Open Home’s settings. There is an option for Renaming Work Space. I’m not sure what is defined as Work Space. I didn’t find any area that could be renames, as such appears to be a useless option at the moment.

Better Android is offering this application for $2.99 until more features are available, persumably when Cupcake is released. Better Android says this update is nearly the same as the Lite edition but also states the Cupcake edition may or may not go up in price with Cupcakes release. For this reason I don’t know I would recommend purchasing this app just yet. I might just stick with the lite version at least until Cupcake is released.

Customize Your Android Home Screen With Widgets and Themes. aHome, dxTop, and Open Home.

Taylor Wimberly — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:53:59 +0000

Why did three new Android applications shoot to the top of the Market this week? They all included one key element: customization. Ask any user what excites them most about Android and they will tell you its the freedom allowed by the open platform. All three of these app are desktop replacements which allow you to change the default Android home screen. Included with these apps are sorely missed features such as widgets, themes, and expanded desktop space.

With three new applications all fighting for the same spot, the competition has already heated up. Which one deserves to be installed on your phone? What features set them apart? Do you even need to install a desktop replacement? Read along as we break down all the details.

Price Point

dxTop Home Screen

aHome: $2.99 (for a limited time – normally $4.99)
dxTop: $3.99
Open Home : TBA (expect paid version soon)

dxTop came to market first with the $3.99 price point. They were soon undercut by aHome at $2.99. Recently Open Home Lite has launched as free. It is no surprise that Open Home has the most downloads with 5,000-10,000. aHome and dxTop are currently tied with 1,000-5,000 downloads. I expect the full version of Open Home will eventually be $2.99 like the other Better Android app Better Cut.

Winner: Tie. All 3 apps offer free demo or lite versions so this is a wash. aHome is going up in price and we don’t know for sure what Open Home will cost.

Widget Support

aHome: 2 included. 3 paid widgets on market.
dxTop: 1 free, 6 paid widgets on market.
Open Home: Coming soon.

dxTop holds the lead with 7 total widgets so far. I grabbed the memory monitor from the Market since it was free, but I’m not sure how useful it is. My favorite widget of all is the weather widget included with aHome. I will note that in aHome, it is much easier to add widgets. In dxTop you have to search for a widget before it can be added(hope they fix that).

Winner: Tie. Same developers are releasing their widgets for multiple apps. Open Home has yet to implement any new widgets, but I would expect to see similar items. Nothing stands out at this point.

Themes and Skins

Glossy Theme for Open Home

aHome: 1 free on market. iPhone theme.
dxTop: None.
Open Home: 6 free on market. Many more ports coming from XDA forums.

Winner: Open Home. Since Open Home is porting skins from XDA, he has an endless supply. It will be interesting to see if the other two follow his lead. I expect we will soon see a marketplace for paid themes popping up soon.

Extra Features

aHome: Dock bar. Multilple UI settings. Up to 10 desktops.
dxTop: 4 desktop areas. Enhanced navigation
Open Home: 7 desktop ares.

All the apps provided extra space on the desktop which is nice. dxTop also allows you to use all your existing bookmarks which is a huge plus. I love the 1-swipe navigation of dxTop as well. aHome offers a dock bar similar to iPhone which can be turned on and off.

Winner: dxTop. With the improved navigation, any app is only a swipe away. Developer is soon adding the ability to organize apps into folders in the tray.

Updates and Support

aHome With Widgets and Dock

aHome: Online forums, but no change log. Frequent Updates.
dxTop: Full website with change log. Frequent Updates.
Open Home: Blog with updates, but no change log. Frequent Updates.

Since all of these apps are in the early stage of development, they have been releasing new updates each day with bug fixes and added features. I really like that dxTop includes an easy to find change log on the front page of their site. With all the updates going on, it is nice to be able to see what is new or has been fixed.

Winner: dxTop. Thank you for posting your change history. I wish every developer would do this.

Summary

Each one of these desktop replacment applications ads new features not currently available on Android. Customers will find different things they like with each one. I consider myself a power user and I really like the navigation of dxTop. All three of these apps are installed on my phone, but I have dxTop set as the default. It performs the quickest and I have had the fewest problems with it. I encourage you to download and use the free versions of each one of these applications and send your feedback to the developer.

If you have had a chance to play around with any of these, which is your favorite desktop replacement? What other widgets or features would you like to see added? Do you think the price point is right for a desktop replacement?

aHome Video Review For Android. Turn Your G1 Into An iPhone

Admin — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 06:51:19 +0000

Here is another review from Logan featuring aHome desktop replacement app for Android. aHome comes from iPhone developer mAPPn. This app is similar to dxTop, but it comes with new themes including an iPhone version. Widgets are also supported just like dxTop. I’ve been using dxTop myself, but after watching this video I want to try aHome. I guess it comes down to which dev continues to release updates and how good their widget support it.

Subscribe to our feed to get further developments on Android widgets.

From Logan:

New widgets including weather and digital clock

Thanks to mAPPn, a new home screen application has been released to the Android market for $2.99 as a limited price. And for how cheap this is, it’s an app worth buying and keeping. mAPPn has released one theme for this app and it’s of course, the iPhone theme. Because everybody wants to make their Android look like something they don’t have enough money to buy. But this theme isn’t half bad. It’s got the dock on the bottom that shows 4 main applications that stay cemented on the bottom of the screen so they don’t move when you swipe to a different screen.

aHome also has something that everyone is looking for… NEW WIDGETS! aHome brings 2 new widgets to the Android desktop. The first widget Weather, gives you a choice to pick what country your in, then enter your zip code to get the correct information for said zip code. The second is a digital clock instead of an analog, for people who don’t know how to read a clock.

I decided to do a dog fight between the two apps, dxTop and aHome. Both home alternatives. I know lots of people who love dxTop, and aHome just came out. So dxTop has a little bit of a head start. One thing that aHome towers over dxTop is that when you fill up one screen with apps, aHome provides you with a whole new screen. dxTop only has one new screen. Now granted that aHome doesn’t have a dock, but as soon as you download an application, it gets transferred right to your most recent page with an open space. aHome wins again!

New dock included with aHome

To delete an application, it’s just like the iPhone. Long press on an app (don’t move it, but you can let go) and two boxes will come up that say “Delete” and “Rename”. Just tap delete. That easy! The rename function about aHome is very nice, especially if one of your app names are too long, and you can’t read it.

And last of all, aHome wins, AGAIN, with the fact that aHome changes the look of some of the apps on your G1. These are the ones that have been changed: Pictures, Music, Camera, Alarm clock, Youtube, Settings, Market, Contacts, Browser, Messaging, Email, Calender, and the Calculator. I’d love to see more themes come to aHome, and more widgets. Everybody loves widgets. But there you go! aHome wins by a landslide!

dxTop and Lock 2.0: Android Applications Video Review

Admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:20:54 +0000

Logan is back with another video review of paid apps from the Android Market. This time he reviews dxTop and Lock 2.o. Please give Logan feedback and subscribe to his YouTube channel if you would like to see more Android reviews. If you are interested in learning more about dxTop, read our preview. If you would like to have your own app reviewed or any other request, please contact us.

Widgets Come To Android With dxTop Desktop Replacement

Admin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:30:15 +0000

When are developers going to start releasing widgets for the Android home screen? If you are one of the many people who want this feature, then you must try out dxTop available in the Android Market for $3.99. Currently there are only 2 new widgets available, but the developer has released a Howto for creating your own widgets.

Dual Trays

Some may be put off by the purchase price, but dxTop brings other new features to the Android desktop. In addition to widgets, users also have access to four desktop areas and dual trays. I have only been using dxTop for 24hrs, but those 2 features alone have sold me on the app and I will not be returning to the default desktop.

The four desktop areas allow more space for placing shortcuts and widgets. A new navigation method is utilized as well. You can quickly jump to each area with a single swipe. For example, the home screen is always reached with a downward swipe no matter what desktop area you are viewing. It takes awhile to get used to, but I prefer this method now. No longer do you have to swipe twice to move from the far left to the far right.

Dual trays allows a new way to sort applications. You can view currently running apps, recently run apps, and apps that are running as a service. In a future release, the dev plans to add support for grouping applications similar to Jeffrey Sharkey’s GroupHome.

Adding a Widget

If you are still not sold on the app, please try out the demo. This is the first dev to make widgets available to Android users and I think we should support him. It is the best solution currently available for Android and a step above what Google offers.