yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[G1 Apps and Games] Dreddge:
I have to go with Open Home, just for the so called themes. I know they arent anything fantastic, but I love the clock skins. I think it has some bugs that need to be worked out.

I, for one, HATE Autorotate. I wish there was a way to toggle the autorotate off and on.

However, I think Open Home has the most potential.
[G1 Apps and Games] agentaaron:
soooo...when we just had the OEM 'home', you had every single icon on your desktop?

It is just as easy to keep only frequently used shortcuts on your desktop and the rest in the app drawer.

I have both the paid versions of ahome and dxtop...I do prefer ahome though just because of the fact that I like a clean desktop and the fact that the 'docked icons' follow you from screen to screen.
[G1 Apps and Games] wylungz:
ahome/iphone notifications!?

i just dled the ahome and the iphone skin.. looks cool.. but can anyone tell me how u get to ur notifications?! its gone when you press menu now and i dont believe you'd have to go back to the Android theme just to see ur notifications... any help here? it bothered me after using this new skin that when i dled something new, i couldn't get to it w/o going back to the default home screen

thanks
[G1 Apps and Games] Freedomcaller:
AHome really pisses me off but it looks like its getting better.

if i didnt have DXtop OpenHome would be great, but i do have DXtop, and i love it! and the ability to uninstall apps directly from the desktop makes DXtop infinitley best in my mind!
[G1 Apps and Games] funbacon:
I think dxTop is the best. I tried 3, and only dxTop run as service, Open Home and aHome will crash when you use End All button in Advance Taskmanager.

Dxtop has widget and so simple. I like it. Dxtop also has an awesome feature: application manager.

Open Home is NOT work with BetterCut. You can't change icon of shortcut in your screen. It has auto rotate as default. But I hate it :)). It likes first version of chompSMS, it auto rotate when keyboard's slide out. And I think someone do not like auto rotate or like landscape mode only, so I think it need an option to adjust auto rotate. Open home only enable theme in main screen and not apply theme to Dialer, Contact ... (they will not be able do that :)) )

aHome makes too many icon on screen, the dock is very poor, I want add 5 icons but it's impossible. it puts many icon to screen and we must move and delete some of them which applications we don't want to show.
[G1 Apps and Games] Dreddge:
Yea, its a novel idea to have an Iphone theme, but I dont get it. I dont like the Iphone, I dont want my android to look anything like an Iphone...
[G1 Apps and Games] Ryanmo5:
After playing around with all 3 all morning I've come to the conclusion that i dont like/want any of them. Bettercut solved all of my problems :D
[G1 Apps and Games] Nitro212:
i preffer aHome :) and now has the ability to display all apps, widgets... open home i used it but meh.. i just edit the theme the old way.. but honestly i don't know wich oen to choose they all get better every time..
[G1 Apps and Games] santaninja:
i have all 3 and i dont like dxtop or open home, but i love Ahome i like the widgets more and the feel of it, and i hope that you didn't buy the iphone because you didn't like the GUI, i hope its because you wanted a better phone, because i love the look of the iphones GUi i just don't like its OS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SehwEGNRHWU
[G1 Apps and Games] dmch:
same here. Dislike the iPhone but i reli like its UI

so i chose AHome and the iPhone theme, plus Lock 2.0

the only problem is that my phone is rooted and not able to pay for any of them
[G1 Apps and Games] santaninja:
oh and for you people that say any cut doesn't work with Ahome it does, just long press the home screen you want it on and click on shortcuts and then click on any cut and do what you want
[G1 Apps and Games] dmm0816:
I asked this question somewhere else and never got an answer so does anybody know if anyone can make skins or themes for open home or just the person that made the app? ive never tried one but i'm interested in learning how to or playing around with it. if it is possible and there's directions posted on how to do this could you point me to the thread (all i found was creating themes for root, i don't have root).
[G1 Apps and Games] nolageek:
No, that's my point. I started both ahome and Open Home and it was total icon overload. I immediately removed both of them. I have like, 6 or 7 icons and 3 folders on my dxTop pages. The fourth page has photos of my cats on it because I simply had nothing else to put on the page.

The point of my post was that people are harping on the fantasticness of having 7 pages and I was just saying I don't get the funtionality of that. THEN, they creamed their shorts over the addition of the drawer on aHome that has.. all their icons in it.. so not there's 7 pages of icons on their home page, plus two drawers containing all their icons. That's what I don't get.
[G1 Apps and Games] tehseano:
Better cut works just fine with Open Home...It's made by the same people. When you open bettercut it asks "Are you editing icons for Open Home?", you click yes and poof, no problems. Also, Open home is the only one supporting decent themes right now, and as long as you use a theme already, in my case Glossy Minimalism, using the GM theme with Open Home makes it complete, the things that Open Home changes, it covers up for with the themes.

You're right, anycut works just fine. However like we all said, BETTERCUT does not work with aHome, and still does not, and probably wont.
[G1 Apps and Games] haitiankid4lyf:
i like all three appe they each have there ownpros and cons

aHome: the new versions comes with a dock and doesnt put all ur apps in to the home pages

pros: weather widget (only 1 so far, cant wait for weather channel to make one), digital clock, and dock

cons: to many swipes crashes ALL the time no good themes... yet

i wish you could jump to panels, i have mine broken up in to categories (ex tools messaging games) i wish i could just jump to the game panel

dxTop: haven't udpated to the latest version

pros: ONE swipe to any screen, stability and speed

cons: no good widgets... yet (imo) themes dont work well with it (clock, apps drawer)

Open Home

pros: similar to default home, works with themes from our xda buddies (triple plus)

cons: more swipes
[G1 Apps and Games] Mikey:
Update on aHome:

There is an option in full paid app, where you can center the wallpaper and also keep it from scrolling. Those are two separate features.

You do not have to create 10 pages if that's not your liking.

Icons are not displayed on the any pages. I didn't like that on dxTop.

There is an app drawer icon and a plugin drawer icon, both and enable/disabled featured.

I love the fact that you get a dock bar. my favorite 4 apps stick on any screen i am on.

Force close and weather have been fix to the max.

"Manual Manage Desktop" is added in the features, where if you create a shortcut, it wont be deleted if you uninstall the app. SWEEEETTTT!!!!

"Start from middle" feature. If you have like 5 pages, enable the feature and the initial screen will be your third.
[G1 Apps and Games] Mikey:
Jump as in from screen 1 to 3 out of 5?? type jump?

cause you can.
[G1 Apps and Games] Ryanmo5:
Good deal was hoping they would add option to center wallpaper. How do you jump pages?
[G1 Apps and Games] thulinhlun:
Yea i personally still loving aHome.

It like a default homescreen but get rip of the "freespace" of the tab bar, and added a dock of "iphone" style in there.

And alot more of third party widget + more pages (10)
[G1 Apps and Games] ei8htohms:
dxTop for me

I think they each have their strong points, and although I love the weather widget from aHome (I would gladly pay for that as a standalone widget for dxTop!), dxTop is the only one that actually improved on the functionality of the home screens by introducing the single swipe panel selection and adding another panel as a bonus. The recent/running/service apps drawer is also entirely useful and I can only hope good widgets will become available soon. I also wish the pesistent mode wasn't such a memory hog, but maybe that's just a sign I need to move my apps to the SD card.
[G1 Apps and Games] q426669:
I wish that the weather showed the acctual temp. and I hope aHome fixes it's forceclose/speed problem.

I just don't think that widgets should cost money...basic basic basic functionality like them should be free. (Show me a winmo/S60/touchwiz that you need to BUY widgets for, and I MIGHT consider it...fortunatly, all of them have widgets FREE.)

I really wish there would be a conglomeration home replacement, that takes just the good parts from all three current availible though!

*Edit* I really like dxTop, but I don't like the demo delay, or the dissapearing screen. I know how to navigate it, but it makes my wallpaper move a little weird. And it's just weird that it dissapears after swiping left/right. I'll be using aHome for now, the 4 app dock instead of the tab wins for me. But I just have 3 screens, so it's quick enough to get between them. If I could just touch one of the dots between my Apps and Widgets to navigate tabs, it would be the clear winner IMO.
[G1 Apps and Games] agentaaron:
That I can agree with...I have been using ahome for the past 3-4 days now. I have the same handful of icons on 3 screens that I had with the OEM home.

I have the app and widget drawers turned off...the main difference for me is that I can tuck all my icons away nice and neat and dont even have the ugly drawer slider to look at. If I should need to change something (power manager for example)...its just a longpress away, I can make my change then trash the shortcut again. Works perfect.
[G1 Apps and Games] q426669:
I just use a couple folders. And a 4th screen of pictures =)

The 4 app dock is the best part though...and to the guy that said it sucks because you can't add a 5th app...You can only have 4 in a row on any screen, in any orientation...so why would you be able to have more then 4 on the dock?

Looks quite a bit better then stock/dx/open/iphone...

And works better, minus the rare(compared to 2 days ago) force closes, and occasional home screen lag (But that happens on ANY home screen, it's all dependant on memory availible, if your app needs more memory, it stops rendering your desktop, then has to reload it, and your widgets, and icons. aHome tends to have more Icons, thus a little more delay.)
[G1 Apps and Games] pagubg:
tehseano, thanx man! Open Home is the best desktop manager which i've seen. And it is FREE :) I have successfully uninstalled the other ones :) Open Home is my choice for use.
[G1 Apps and Games] Misty Blue:
Right now, I'm using aHome. It has a good look to it and does what I need it to do. I like that I was able to break all my favorite apps into categories on different pages without it looking too cluttered. I'm currently using 5 pages including the "main" one with the widgets. I think this app is worth the donate.

I also bought dxTop. It's definitely worth it. The ease of access to different screens is perfect and I was also able to categorize my fave apps. I just hate the 2 obtrusive drawers at the bottom. If there was a way to change them, then that's what needs to be done. One is ugly enough as it is!

I also downloaded OpenHome and like it least. It isn't that great and it really seems like a complete copy of everything others have done. It takes the GUI of aHome and the themes from creators here and puts it into a ""must have" desktop. I had fun putting my categories together in dxTop and aHome, I couldn't even get the urge for this app. I'm probably not going to keep it.

All in all, I like having options. I have been using dxTop since it came out and will probably use aHome for a few weeks...and when I get sick of that, I'll probably go back to using stock with a new theme.
[G1 Apps and Games] swaney:
what i cnt stand it doesnt put the icons ins when changing the theme on open home
[G1 Apps and Games] jcohenlv:
aHome all the way for me.

I dont think most of you realise you can delete all the icons from the pages and reorg them as you see fit.

When you add an app just drag the icon wherever you like.

in addition its got up to 10 screens, which is awsome.
[G1 Apps and Games] mygti02:
I was using aHome, but when after his 1.1.2 update it makes everything run like crap, so i did what the Dev said, uninstall it then reinstalled it. It still runs like crap (very choppy) and now i only have 1 window and cant figure out how to open others. Using dxTop for now, but when aHome is finally fixed i would prefer that one.

anyone else having any issues with it?
[G1 Apps and Games] cal3thousand:
Thanks for helping me decide. I tried Open Home and its kinda cool, but i DON’T need themes ( i know how to load my own thank you (shoutout to the devs, BTW) and 7 screens is too much especially in only one direction. I don't want iPhone.... in fact, I want something disctinctly NOT iPhone.

I'm gonna download Dx-top now and be back with my findings.
[G1 Apps and Games] Mikey:
Choppy issue must be do to how much memory you have to support the smoothness for a desktop???

As for creating more screens, its easy, open your app draw grab a shortcut hold on to it, till your phone vibes. Move your finger to the farthest RIGHT side (edge) of the screen and a new screen will be created.
[G1 Apps and Games] MrADeveci:
To be honest, I think the whole 'home alternative' stuff is just a gimmick.

It's just like an application that runs in full screen .... and pretends to be the actual desktop!

I'll stick to the standard home .... I've tried all of these apps and I think they are all a waste of space and will become boring very soon, once proper widgets start coming out for the nomal home now.
[G1 Apps and Games] bessertier:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but ahome and open home are just full screen apps, but dxTop is a service too. So what that means ahome and open home will close when you use the task manager.

Personally I would love google to sponsor dxTop and make it as well as the widgets free. the first reason is yes, I am like most everyone who loves how the iphone works, but doesn't want the iphone. However, I don't think that we should mimic the iphone because the G1/Dream/ADP is a completely different device than the iphone. Secondly, although very related, dxTop was made for this phone.
[G1 Apps and Games] santaninja:
dxtop ahome open home and the stock home screen are all the same in how they run, if you know anything about linux you would know that there just running as GUI's
[G1 Apps and Games] schizox:
any app can be set to run as a service...

and i believe dtop has an oiption so it does not start as default (have not used the paid ver so not quite sure but think i read it somewhere)

its all about taste... themes, secondary desktops... its all about what a person like's or wants...

i tried all 3 demo/lite vers...

dxtop is the most stable... and the fact that it "sees" the icons you already had on your screens is fantastic

openhome is quite nice, however it does not see any of the icons you already had on there and it should let you select what page you want as the main page

ahome i liked the look and feel, but, why would u want to have the G1 look exactly like an iphone.(eventhough he.she did a great job with that theme)

and to everyone thats saying "i have no need for more than 3 pages"

once more widgets are out you will have hte need for them... just wait and see

either way... these 3 programs should have an option to enable/disable the ammnt of pages based on what u want to use...

they are all useful in their own way.... but as for now , im sticking with teh standard:)
[G1 Apps and Games] Misty Blue:
aHome only has as many pages as you decide to fill up. You have to drag icons/widgets to the next page in order for it to appear.
[G1 Apps and Games] Manacit:
I bought aHome, because I think it's the best one. As far as I know, all of the home replacement apps run the same as the original, and the same as eachother. If you opened a lot of apps with the default home screen, and you hit the home button, it would have to start up just like all of the other home screens.

I like the Blue iPhone theme (not because it looks like the iPhone, but just because I think it's visually pleasing). I also like the widgets (Battery Meter is the only non-standard one I use, but Weather/Clock are there as well).

I didn't like the two arrows on dxtop, instead I can fill that area up with my most used apps on aHome, and still have the app drawer on the left without sacrificing any space. I also like being able to drag open a new windows and add apps to it no problem, and only the windows that have icons show, unlike the default app.

I've used it since it first came out, after they fixed all of the force close issues, I went ahead and bought it to make sure that they would keep coming up with great apps and updates (I also bought discover pro from the same company, which is another awesome app!).
[G1 Apps and Games] mmafighter077:
I use dxtop. I hate ahome. It displays my items how ahome wants not how I want. Open home is good but it lags soooo bad. Dxtop would be perfect if one tab was for apps and the other was for games. Like if some how it new and it could be sorted.
[G1 Apps and Games] khoaitaychienvn:
aHome is too slow for me. I dont know but it's kinda laggy on my phone. All the stransitions aint smooth. 10 screens are way too many for me.

dxTop is what Im using right now. Just fast and smooth. That's what I need. And I love the second tab which shows the recent apps I launched which I can't find it in aHome or openHome.

I've known a lot of stuffs people talk about openHome these days. I love the theming too. It's just too good but I still like the simplicity of dxTop. It just needs more widgets.
[G1 Apps and Games] TheMasterBaron:
Just wanted to let people know that dxTop now supports the rooted theme you applied to the phone. No separate theme to install.
[G1 Apps and Games] Jason Syn:
I have played around with most of them and for me dxTop seems the best even though it only adds a 4th desktop screen. Sweeter home seemed really pointless and Open home is nice but 7 screens...total over kill. I honestly haven't played around with ahome though.

What are your opinions on them all?
[G1 Apps and Games] :
Currently, none. I probably should because I never got themes to work on my phone.
[G1 Apps and Games] Ryanmo5:
I use this one

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=490897&highlight=dxtop
[G1 Apps and Games] punkweakling:
Sweeter Home for me. Still a work in progress but other than just adding extra screens and new icon locations the other homes don't add that much, apart from widgets which we all know is coming in the OS anyway. dxTop is good because of the unique swipe layout but I've tried all of them and the tinkerer in me has meant I've stuck with Sweeter pretty much full time now.
[G1 Apps and Games] punkweakling:
Here's what I made with it man. Working on some more stuff too. I wouldn't say it's pointless once you get used to working with it.
[G1 Apps and Games] mannyb:
None. I prefer full themes and a responsive phone over a few more screens and somewhat impaired performance. I have never tried a Home app that is quite as responsive as the default one. It just feels slightly more sluggish.
[G1 Apps and Games] KPeriod:
Pretty much exactly how I feel.
[G1 Apps and Games] shaneaus:
Sweeter Home ALL the way.

Some reasons for Sweeter Home:

I can customize my App trays, Application Grids, A contact window, Messaging window, etc all to look like my favorite theme. For those who like to theme you can make Sweeter Home perfectly integrate with your theme with all the setting options. Gradient options, three color graphs for everything. One can change icon sizes, separation distances, colors, transparencies, alter the borders (or, no borders), everything!

Don't think it will work with THEMES? Check out this thread!

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=3520981#post3520981

Punkweaklings Matrix layout is awesome!

They are working on global settings and on saving more components of a personalized theme for the program to make it easier on those who don't like as many options.

It has content that NONE of the other home screens have that make the home screens have a much greater purpose! instead of just more real estate.

He is adding a shortcut that will bring up an "app tray" and the app tray will go away upon selecting an app. For instance, you click on an icon on your home screen. A window (customized by you match your theme in every respect) pops up with a group of app shortcuts that you get to pick. This window is on top of your home screen. You select an app from within the window and the window disappears and the app starts. You can have one shortcut for all of your games, one for utilities, one for most used, etc. This is kinda like having folders... But, with more seamless integration and easier to use.

From SweeterHome I can look at my call log, or my messages without opening the applications and can then launch the app strait from that window if I want.

In my opinion the other home screens just add extra screens without any additional functionality. Sweeter Home adds more.

Just keep in mind that it is in the process of being developed. It is not a finished product YET. They do monitor their website and you can look at the projected new release dates and know what updates are being worked on for the new releases.

BUT! It MAY slow your home screens down a little at this point. That is something they are addressing. I don't notice it most of the time.

And, no I don't work with them. I'm just a fan of their app!
[G1 Apps and Games] Gimpeh:
I've purchased all of them as they are all developing at different rate and different features. I dont want to miss out on any of these cool features.
[G1 Apps and Games] tehseano:
Open Home, hands down. Lots of themes (that are free by the way), many from our very talented devs here at XDA so my style is never cramped. They are very consistent with their updates. They "upgraded" the app launcher, allowing for 5 columns (vs the normal 4), and also it seems to have increased the performance of scrolling in recent updates, it feels faster than the default. It gives the ability of Live folders (cupcake feature), which is great. Last, having 7 screens isn't overkill, it's completely viable.

1 - Toggle Switches

2 - Pictures/Direct Call/Text

3 - Pictures/Direct Call/Text

4 - Home (Clock, Dialer, Contacts, etc)

5 - Apps 1

6 - Apps 2

7 - Search

dxtop is cool, but I don't like its setup. I prefer static screens, the 1-swipe to any screen really bugs me, my main reason for not using it. Props to Baron for breaking the seal on home alternatives :)

aHome - If I wanted an iPhone, I'd get one. But I chose G1, and Android, and like to keep its basics. Not to mention, you have to pay for their themes....So after dumping $4.99 (making it the most expensive home-alternative), you have to dump $1.00 into each theme you would like to try/use. Yes, there are SOME free ones, but they are user created, and regardless of the fact I still hate aHome.

Sweeter Home REALLY has some potential, but I don't think its at "that stage" yet in its development. With the time to come it could really break the mold, but I feel the others (specifically Open Home), will progress greatly over the future.
[G1 Apps and Games] Dreddge:
Open Home is my favorite! The themes, along with the icon packs are a blast. Not everyone wants to worry with flashing custom firmware. Open home almost gives all the benefits of a theme (save the dialer, and notification bar) I really love how open home is taking the best themes from XDA and letting other users enjoy them! I have the gloss suite, with the icon pack, and im loving it!

Im glad you did a poll on this, I seriously considered it. We've talked about who prefers what, but a poll is so much easier to read.