[G1 Android Development] arefin:
Face to Face: Launcher Pro & ADW Launcher

Hi Guys,

Did some testing with the both Launchers in discussion over the last few days after settling down with the é·clair ROM of choice (yes, that is Speed Teams é·clair). I present my results here for those who are interested.

Everything depends on how you set your launcher up. So settings are here for both.

ADW Settings:

desktop scrolling speed 350, leaves it smooth; '0' is ugly and Jerky.

Overshoot is anything between 5 to 15, doesn't matter a lot!

No dockbar, it's useless - not only takes memory but also time to open anything from it.

tint AB, saves caching memory

Hide all sorts of BG - 'allapps' and 'AB'

Hide Icon labels in Drawer, saves memory

no indicator for desktop

Keep in memory

uncheck scrollable widget support, if not using

and others...

Launcher Pro settings:

No of docks is set to 1

No background for dock

no indicator

Glow style for highlight

Memory usage setting - Moderate, can also choose Light or Low

Use homescreen caches - 'Normal' caching

Build caches as needed

Clear cach on exit

disable elastic scrolling

disable High quality scrolling

scroll speed - 60

disable 3d

drawer opening speed 6

Preview opening speed 6

etc.

Based on these settings: the comparison is as follows:

Speed: Pro > ADW, in terms of scrolling, apps launching and returning to Launcher etc.

Memory Usage: Pro uses less than ADW if Light/Low is chosen, equal when Moderate is selected and more when others presets (Medium/High) are selected.

Battery: Pro uses much less than ADW, you gonna loose 1% if you just open and Close the drawer 20 times or less on ADW (with above settings), while on Pro do it for 50 or 60 times before your % gets down by 1.

Features:

Both the apps are growing fast and implementing heck of features everyday, but up to now, ADW is richer than Pro in number of features offered. One killer feature is the option to change homescreen column/row. Others include swipe support (up and down allows to launch apps or other functions), change alpha value for drawer BG etc.

Pro on the other hand has SMS and Missed call count on default dock-apps - e.g. Phones, SMS etc. The dev promises to implement such counter for other third-party apps as well. Scrollable multiple dock is another good thing.

Overall/Comment:

- Since we have trouble keeping our batteries up on the go with these é·clair Builds from CM, I think Pro is a better option to go with.

- Also with the memory pre-sets in place, Pro now offers greater flexibilities for memory management.

- returning to the Home app without Compcache turned 'on' gets to a pain after few days of usage on most ROMs. Launcher Pro allows you for a faster return without CC turned on, ADW also allows smoother return but with CC on.

With the 'clear cache on exit', it gets even more effective!

- Both the Launchers are excellent! If you want a bulk of features, ADW is the way to go, then you have to sacrifice some More Juice off your battery!

If you want faster/smoother launcher and longer Battery life - Pro is your only option.

So, I hope I could do some worthless contribution to the folks who are busy doing other ****s like checking new ROMs every alternate hour of the day, LOL ;)