By LauncherPro has finally left beta and is ready to meet the demands of many would-be paying customers in the Android market. LauncherPro Plus doesn’t just drop the beta tag and adopt a price tag, it brings with it some compelling new features that most users would gladly pay for.
For starters, it comes preinstalled with a scrollable widget. Many launchers have supported scrollable widgets for a while, but LauncherPro Plus is the first to come with one out of the gate. The People Widget nearly replicates the one found preinstalled in HTC Sense devices as it shows a grid of your favorite contacts ready to be – well – contacted. Clicking one of your friends brings up the Quick Bar which will allow you to take action on any avenues of communication associated with them.
Here’s a list of some of the other widgets Federico – the developer – will be offering in future releases:
- Bookmarks Widget – Quick access to your browser’s bookmarks
- Friends Widget – Lists your friend’s status updates from Facebook and Twitter, and lets you update your own status too.
- Calendar/Agenda Widget – Shows you a calendar you can scroll through to switch months, and also lets you see your agenda for any particular day right within the widget.
- Messaging – Scroll through a list of your SMS messages or one by one. Quick links to delete messages, reply, etc.
Nothing revolutionary here, though, unless you have yet to use a Sense device. Updates will be coming over the next couple of weeks to add all of this and – presumably – more. For now, you can only get LauncherPro Plus by buying it through PayPal as his country has yet to allow paid applications in the Android market. For users willing to bite the bullet now, $2.99 is its “introductory” price, with the cost of admission expected to go up a little more after a while. Head over to the LauncherPro site to learn more.
Some things you just pay for. This is one of them.
I use this app and it has some great features, namely the scrollable dock buttons on the bottom. $3 seems well worth the price for what it offers.
I use the Beta version of this App, and can also testify that it is really very useful and handy. Well worth it!
Anyone know if this Pro app, non-beta plays better with resources?
It kind of bogged down my Moto Droid and was a resource hog. And that was without all the bells and whistles.
thanks for any feedback.
I bought this also mainly because its my favorite launcher and I want to support the developer.
I did really miss the people widget so thats nice to have now.
My only complaint is the people widget shows the name of the person. Am I the only one who finds that redundant? I mean I can see their picture so I obviously know who it is.
All the name is doing is taking away space from the persons pic. Hopefully he adds a option of hiding names on the people widget.
Matt — I agree, except that it’s not redundant when you don’t have a picture for every contact.
app is worth it, supporting the dev makes this one a no brainer.
I too bought it to support the developer. It’s (IMO) the best launcher out there, certainly the fastest.
I don’t really need the widgets, but I feel it’s cheap even for the current beta version that doesn’t have the widgets.
Chris S – you might want to try it again. Perhaps you downloaded it during a brief time when new features made it less stable and less smooth. Since then, it’s been very smooth again (smoother than any other out there).
This is, in my opinion, by far the best home screen I’ve used on Android and I believe I’ve used them all.
LauncherPro is not only awesome to use but it’s well supported as well. Well worth the $3 price tag.
I was using helix launcher and helix launcher 2 since i bought my motorola droid, but just happened upon this beta two days ago in the market. this is without doubt the best home screen app available; it has all of the good stuff helix offered with none of the drawbacks. i esp. like how many customizing options there are offered, like the option to add another docking line to the home screen.
does this work on the G1 with 1.6?
This app and this review are highly insensitive to those of us without friends!
@Conor
I don’t have a G1 but I believe the processor is the same as my Sprint Hero and LauncherPro has been running great since I started using it (Around Beta 0.3.0 I believe). There are several options available to turn down some of the eye-candy related options if needed.
There’s a free version on the market that you can try out before paying for Plus if you want. I guess you would just miss out on the people widget.
Just chiming in to agree with everyone, this app is well worth the $3, hell I’d have paid him $5! Well supported, well thought out, and just plain awesome app.
If i pay for this app on his website and i switch phones would i be able to get it on the new phone since this app is not on the market as a paid app?
My friends aren’t as good looking as this sample. Can I get new friends if I buy this app?
i do love launcher pro!!! i might buy it today
@john. lol. i need better looking ones as well.
bought it. Have been using LauncherPro Beta for a while. I don’t know if I’ll use the widgets but the dev has my support. ;)
#12 Anon, lol. “It’s funny because it’s true!”
I agree with Matt that the names should have an option to not be shown. Takes away from the picture and I know what their names are, I don’t need it displayed. Just saying, an option to hide them would be great.
@LaMarcus: “If i pay for this app on his website and i switch phones would i be able to get it on the new phone since this app is not on the market as a paid app?”
Yes.
How long do you think before HTC sends him a nice letter telling him to remove these functions. Remember Beautiful Widgets? If you pay for this back it up, because it wont be here long.
Best home screen replacement ever, this guy needs to work out a deal with google to make it native in android the future android releases. This is better than the native home screen and very customizable. Better than the built in froyo homescreen. I will be purchasing this.
What is a Launcher?
I have been using LauncherPro for quite awhile on my Droid1, and really like it. But it force closes and lags for a long time when re-opening after leaving apps and so on. However, I don’t too much blame LauncherPro, as this has been my experience with ALL home replacements/launchers that I have used. But the frigging Droid and my G1 before it only had 3 home screens which is not near enough for me, so I had no choice but to use Launchers/Home replacements. Don’t tell me to root — I tried rooting and though at first a novelty, found it a pain in the butt — it’s not for me. To each his own.
My Droid X is on the FedEx truck and arrives today. I am hoping that I can tolerate the stock Blur home system since it has 7 screens. I will immediately lose all the Blur widgets, as I have no interest in them. I have my own widgets I use, such as Pure Calendar Widget, my most used widget.
Remember the non-plus version without the special widgets is still free.
swehes,
In this case, a launcher is a complete home screen replacement app that is faster and has more features.
I hadn’t heard of this app before, but I just tried it and I *love* it. If you don’t look too closely, you could easily mistake it for the stock Launcher, but there are tons of great enhancements and so many nice options, too. I love the way my home screens are configured now, and it actually feels zippier than the stock Launcher, if that’s possible.
I’ll definitely be buying this app. I doubt I’ll even use the contacts widget, but I’m happy to support the developer.
Just bought it this morning to support fende.
Its cool, does not support Facebook pictures for me for some reason (which is all my pictures).
Anxiously waiting for the calendar addon.
How about doing a review because every other website just keeps coping and pasting the same way you did with this story or at least some different pictures.
Well worth the modest $3 investment. Best home replacement! Debating on replacing the stock launcher with this in system.
Are these widgets too much like HTC Sense that widget will make them change them?
the dev of LauncherPro must change the shortcut to (Contacts) at the bottom of the screen to the (Mail) application, you already can access the contacts from the phone icon
@Maj – Long press on any of those shortcuts in the bottom dock and you can change them to whatever you please….or nothing if that pleases you more….
Does my phone have to be rooted to run the Pro version?
I downloaded this to my Sasumng Moment And purchased the plus version but the people Widgets wont show up any of my contacts. :-( does anyone know how to get my money back?
Awesome app I felt I was missing out cuz I don’t have HTC sense on my phone and only 5 home screens but upon download I get 7 homescreens and can customize my whole launcher experience with no issues or lags kudos to the developer,and Google really needs to put this Guy on the payroll. This is what the open market is all about I love it att n1
Very nice looking group of friends they have there .. I HOPE this thing comes with a list of pre defined. nice looking friends .. then I’ll definatly buy it.. I could use new friends.. and they all look really nice.. LOL..
I bought this app last night and am very pleased with it. It is so much faster than the crappy Samsung TouchWiz on my Captivate. Excited about the updates.
I’m not sure if it’s worth the $3 just for those widgets… to be worth it, they’d have to work BETTER than the Sense UI widgets, which I found to be a bit clunky.
Also, I am not going to fuss around with PayPal — get it on the Market! (Yes, I can read)
For me its not about being worth the $3, its supporting good apps and help developers keep coming out with good stuff. I dont support a lot of software out there but this one to me is worth supporting. Thanks Frederico
Paid $3, makes the app drawer very slow and stuttery. I have the Droid X, so it’s the launcher that’s slow, not the hardware. Every other application is closed and it still performs very poorly.
Never mind, it was the fault of the live wallpaper from Beautiful Widgets.
Bought it yesterday…Beta was great. Running beautifully on the Droid X. However, People widget shows no pics (most of mine pull from facebook). Will an update be supporting facebook pics? Just curious…
speaking of the people widget…. i cant remove it… any ideas?
I love it.i bought the 3 dollars version but I still havent got my unlock key and I want to know how long till they send it.i’m getting annoyed now.