I am Happy the 2.1 Launcher is Not Coming to Us

[rgn2000]

I really don't understand what the fuss is for 2.1. Well I guess I understand it from a few weeks ago when we thought we would be getting the real 2.1. Now that we are not getting 5 homescreens I really don't see the advantage. From what I can tell the only enhancements we will get is the picture viewer (photo burst is probably just about as good), some new clocks and multitouch zoom. To me this is not that major of an upgrade and yet it is taking forever. I would trade and of the 3 "major" things we are going to get for 5 homescreens any day.

 

[griz8791]

It's reassuring to see several posts in this thread dismissing the live wallpaper. In one of the many earlier 2.1 threads in this long-running soap opera, there were 5 or 6 breathless posts wanting to know if the Droid 2.1 update would or would not have live wallpaper. It struck me as insane.

Like everyone else I was interested in 2.1 at first but now I realize it isn't going to magically transform my Droid. As a current user of Talk to Me Keyboard and Handcent, I'm interested to see how they are going to integrate voice to text into the OS. As I understand it, the new music app still isn't genre-aware so I'll keep using Meridian. I like the new gallery but I don't really use the phone as a portfolio for my photos and don't intend to because I don't want to have to down-rez everything to copy it onto the phone. I've been using a 5-screen launcher and while it was cool at first, I'm not sure having 5 home screens is worth the speed hit.

I guess the point is, even if the update did include everything the Nexus has, it still wouldn't make a huge difference in how I use it. Every piece of electronics you buy becomes obsolete almost the minute you first power it up, so resentment over no longer having the "flagship" Android device isn't going to be keeping me awake at night.

 

[iPirate]

The sky is falling!
New rumor we are only getting one home screen.

 

[aaf709]

I tried the launcher and set up for 5 screens, but there was a lot of FCs. I did like it though.

 

[adrynalyne]

What is in the video wasn't released, maybe there is a reason for it? It is still an assumption until released OTA to us officially

Assumption or not, it is far more educated a guess than saying it might be there. There are testers out there, and let's face it, not 1! Is denying the rumors. The build.prop included in the dump is labelled ere29 which is a quite recent build. If they are releasing a new build to testers with the new launcher and live walls, we won't see vzw approving a release for probably another couple of months if not longer. The launcher is a HUGE part of the UI and if it destabilizes it, vzw is gonna get major heat. So testing would be quite involved.

Using that reasoning, do you honestly believe they will include the launcher?

I don't.

 

[iPirate]

What is in the video wasn't released, maybe there is a reason for it? It is still an assumption until released OTA to us officially

Assumption or not, it is far more educated a guess than saying it might be there. There are testers out there, and let's face it, not 1! Is denying the rumors. The build.prop included in the dump is labelled ere29 which is a quite recent build. If they are releasing a new build to testers with the new launcher and live walls, we won't see vzw approving a release for probably another couple of months if not longer. The launcher is a HUGE part of the UI and if it destabilizes it, vzw is gonna get major heat. So testing would be quite involved.

Using that reasoning, do you honestly believe they will include the launcher?

I don't.

Live wallpapers are in the SDK, the launcher is not, that is the most anyone can say.

Currently seeing that the N1 is the only phone with 2.1 we cannot compare and see what HTC or Google added to it's Android 2.1 build.

 

[adrynalyne]

Don't confuse the SDK with the source.

The launcher is in the source.

Also, Motorola and Verizon will be making the say whether the launcher goes in or not, not Google or HTC.

 

[Tabs]

Why are you guys assuming that the way hacked versions of the Nexus One launcher that aren't optimized for the Droid performed when installed on the Droid are indicative of how it would perform if they actually included it optimized/made for the Droid?

I thought the reason we aren't getting it has more to do with the horizontal app-drawer orientation that's possible on the Droid, which isn't even allowed on the Nexus One?

 

[adrynalyne]

Why are you guys assuming that the way hacked versions of the Nexus One launcher that aren't optimized for the Droid performed when installed on the Droid are indicative of how it would perform if they actually included it optimized/made for the Droid?

I thought the reason we aren't getting it has more to do with the horizontal app-drawer orientation that's possible on the Droid, which isn't even allowed on the Nexus One?

Because there have been versions compiled from source that still run like poop

The horizontal problem is a non issue. All Moto has to do is disable landscape when opening the keyboard on the home screen.

Does't change the fact that the launcher sucks though.

 

[Where'sMyCoffe?]

Wether you like it or not, it should be a option. I'm sorry... this is a flagship device, not a red flag device. People want options, not less than what they expect. So the Eris, which has less of hardware strength than the Droid, can run the live wallpapers, 3d drawer, etc..?

You all can live with less all you want, nothing wrong with that... but umm... I want options.

And yeah, sure the Live Wallpaper may get boring after a while, but so did Modern Warfare 2 after while... but the best thing is?... I have the OPTION to play it...

But yah it is kinda pathetic that I can have multiple screens with my iPod Touch, and only three with the awesome Droid... meh...

 

[Where'sMyCoffe?]

Nexus came and took my babeh!

 

[adrynalyne]

Wether you like it or not, it should be a option. I'm sorry... this is a flagship device, not a red flag device. People want options, not less than what they expect. So the Eris, which has less of hardware strength than the Droid, can run the live wallpapers, 3d drawer, etc..?

You all can live with less all you want, nothing wrong with that... but umm... I want options.

And yeah, sure the Live Wallpaper may get boring after a while, but so did Modern Warfare 2 after while... but the best thing is?... I have the OPTION to play it...

But yah it is kinda pathetic that I can have multiple screens with my iPod Touch, and only three with the awesome Droid... meh...

A flagship device that shipped with....2.0.

Who was foolish enough to buy the device for what it didn't have yet? A fool and his money are soon parted....

Seriously. I have never, NEVER bought a phone thinking to myself, "Man, what this thing will be able to do in six months!"

Instead, I buy a phone and think to myself, "What a fantastic phone. I love what it does. This should keep me happy till the next phone I want to get rolls around."


Nothing has changed. 2.1 doesn't break ground, the rules, or anything else. It doesn't add much needed voice command over BT, improvements to the Contacts list, or a GPU enhanced UI. It doesn't do anything special.

Lets play devil's advocate for a second. Motorola decides it will put the 2.1 launcher and Live walls in for the Droid. Verizon says "cool" and pushes it OTA.

For those who bought the phone with the app drawer, and don't like the 3D launcher, they are unhappy. Very unhappy. They didn't have a choice.

Then they call Verizon and ***** at them. They didn't buy the phone with this crappy launcher and want it gone. Opps! No can do. Sorry!


Which is a safer business move?

Nexus One owners knew what they were getting beforehand, and bought it as such. They never had the chance to use the app drawer. They still don't have it as a choice, unless maybe rooted, which isn't a legit option for the average Joe and Mary.

Now lets look at Live Wallpaper. If the 3D Launcher does not ship, then they suddenly are not interactive to the touch, and will create a tech support nitemare for Moto and Verizon because hey, the N1 is interactive, why isn't my Droid? Oops! No can do. Sorry!

Which is the safer business move?


People who want choices can root, and do their thing. Shipping the launcher and wallpaper with 2.1 isn't giving a choice, its forcing it on people. Let me ask you, how much of the launcher have you used? Have you used it when it was compiled from source, for the Droid and yet, reboots/crashes the phone?

I have. Motorola may have left it out because its an unstable POS and its not working right on a device that has an ability the N1 and Eris does not: To go into Landscape on the home screen.

It was never about the Droid not being able to "handle" the features.

I hear what people are saying, that its a half assed 2.1 update. Let me ask this. Would you rather there be no update at all? Two programs are looking to be missing. Programs, not critical OS functions. 2.1 is faster than 2.0.1. Have you seen the video? It flies! Thats stock 2.1, no overclocking (due to no root). Pinch zoom in the browser, and gallery.


Sorry, but I will take MT features and performance as a higher priority than some crappy Launcher and some lame wallpaper that wastes several mb of space and I will bore with after about five minutes.

 

[iPirate]

Wether you like it or not, it should be a option. I'm sorry... this is a flagship device, not a red flag device. People want options, not less than what they expect. So the Eris, which has less of hardware strength than the Droid, can run the live wallpapers, 3d drawer, etc..?

You all can live with less all you want, nothing wrong with that... but umm... I want options.

And yeah, sure the Live Wallpaper may get boring after a while, but so did Modern Warfare 2 after while... but the best thing is?... I have the OPTION to play it...

But yah it is kinda pathetic that I can have multiple screens with my iPod Touch, and only three with the awesome Droid... meh...

A flagship device that shipped with....2.0.

Who was foolish enough to buy the device for what it didn't have yet? A fool and his money are soon parted....

Seriously. I have never, NEVER bought a phone thinking to myself, "Man, what this thing will be able to do in six months!"

Instead, I buy a phone and think to myself, "What a fantastic phone. I love what it does. This should keep me happy till the next phone I want to get rolls around."


Nothing has changed. 2.1 doesn't break ground, the rules, or anything else. It doesn't add much needed voice command over BT, improvements to the Contacts list, or a GPU enhanced UI. It doesn't do anything special.

Lets play devil's advocate for a second. Motorola decides it will put the 2.1 launcher and Live walls in for the Droid. Verizon says "cool" and pushes it OTA.

For those who bought the phone with the app drawer, and don't like the 3D launcher, they are unhappy. Very unhappy. They didn't have a choice.

Then they call Verizon and ***** at them. They didn't buy the phone with this crappy launcher and want it gone. Opps! No can do. Sorry!


Which is a safer business move?

Nexus One owners knew what they were getting beforehand, and bought it as such. They never had the chance to use the app drawer. They still don't have it as a choice, unless maybe rooted, which isn't a legit option for the average Joe and Mary.

Now lets look at Live Wallpaper. If the 3D Launcher does not ship, then they suddenly are not interactive to the touch, and will create a tech support nitemare for Moto and Verizon because hey, the N1 is interactive, why isn't my Droid? Oops! No can do. Sorry!

Which is the safer business move?


People who want choices can root, and do their thing. Shipping the launcher and wallpaper with 2.1 isn't giving a choice, its forcing it on people. Let me ask you, how much of the launcher have you used? Have you used it when it was compiled from source, for the Droid and yet, reboots/crashes the phone?

I have. Motorola may have left it out because its an unstable POS and its not working right on a device that has an ability the N1 and Eris does not: To go into Landscape on the home screen.

It was never about the Droid not being able to "handle" the features.

I hear what people are saying, that its a half assed 2.1 update. Let me ask this. Would you rather there be no update at all? Two programs are looking to be missing. Programs, not critical OS functions. 2.1 is faster than 2.0.1. Have you seen the video? It flies! Thats stock 2.1, no overclocking (due to no root). Pinch zoom in the browser, and gallery.


Sorry, but I will take MT features and performance as a higher priority than some crappy Launcher and some lame wallpaper that wastes several mb of space and I will bore with after about five minutes.

I agree with you :icon_ banana:

 

[Bob Dammit]

Wether you like it or not, it should be a option. I'm sorry... this is a flagship device, not a red flag device. People want options, not less than what they expect. So the Eris, which has less of hardware strength than the Droid, can run the live wallpapers, 3d drawer, etc..?

You all can live with less all you want, nothing wrong with that... but umm... I want options.

And yeah, sure the Live Wallpaper may get boring after a while, but so did Modern Warfare 2 after while... but the best thing is?... I have the OPTION to play it...

But yah it is kinda pathetic that I can have multiple screens with my iPod Touch, and only three with the awesome Droid... meh...

A flagship device that shipped with....2.0.

Who was foolish enough to buy the device for what it didn't have yet? A fool and his money are soon parted....

Seriously. I have never, NEVER bought a phone thinking to myself, "Man, what this thing will be able to do in six months!"

Instead, I buy a phone and think to myself, "What a fantastic phone. I love what it does. This should keep me happy till the next phone I want to get rolls around."


Nothing has changed. 2.1 doesn't break ground, the rules, or anything else. It doesn't add much needed voice command over BT, improvements to the Contacts list, or a GPU enhanced UI. It doesn't do anything special.

Lets play devil's advocate for a second. Motorola decides it will put the 2.1 launcher and Live walls in for the Droid. Verizon says "cool" and pushes it OTA.

For those who bought the phone with the app drawer, and don't like the 3D launcher, they are unhappy. Very unhappy. They didn't have a choice.

Then they call Verizon and ***** at them. They didn't buy the phone with this crappy launcher and want it gone. Opps! No can do. Sorry!


Which is a safer business move?

Nexus One owners knew what they were getting beforehand, and bought it as such. They never had the chance to use the app drawer. They still don't have it as a choice, unless maybe rooted, which isn't a legit option for the average Joe and Mary.

Now lets look at Live Wallpaper. If the 3D Launcher does not ship, then they suddenly are not interactive to the touch, and will create a tech support nitemare for Moto and Verizon because hey, the N1 is interactive, why isn't my Droid? Oops! No can do. Sorry!

Which is the safer business move?


People who want choices can root, and do their thing. Shipping the launcher and wallpaper with 2.1 isn't giving a choice, its forcing it on people. Let me ask you, how much of the launcher have you used? Have you used it when it was compiled from source, for the Droid and yet, reboots/crashes the phone?

I have. Motorola may have left it out because its an unstable POS and its not working right on a device that has an ability the N1 and Eris does not: To go into Landscape on the home screen.

It was never about the Droid not being able to "handle" the features.

I hear what people are saying, that its a half assed 2.1 update. Let me ask this. Would you rather there be no update at all? Two programs are looking to be missing. Programs, not critical OS functions. 2.1 is faster than 2.0.1. Have you seen the video? It flies! Thats stock 2.1, no overclocking (due to no root). Pinch zoom in the browser, and gallery.


Sorry, but I will take MT features and performance as a higher priority than some crappy Launcher and some lame wallpaper that wastes several mb of space and I will bore with after about five minutes.

OK, but to play devils advocate with your devils advocate argument, what happens when the launcher and live wallpapers arent included and people call and b**ch about not getting those features?
To be completely honest, I really dont care about the launcher, app drawer, and live wallpaper. But, these options are eye candy and look great to prospective droid owners. Options are great, and should be offered. Let people decide what they want on their phones from themselves.

 

[iPirate]

Wether you like it or not, it should be a option. I'm sorry... this is a flagship device, not a red flag device. People want options, not less than what they expect. So the Eris, which has less of hardware strength than the Droid, can run the live wallpapers, 3d drawer, etc..?

You all can live with less all you want, nothing wrong with that... but umm... I want options.

And yeah, sure the Live Wallpaper may get boring after a while, but so did Modern Warfare 2 after while... but the best thing is?... I have the OPTION to play it...

But yah it is kinda pathetic that I can have multiple screens with my iPod Touch, and only three with the awesome Droid... meh...

A flagship device that shipped with....2.0.

Who was foolish enough to buy the device for what it didn't have yet? A fool and his money are soon parted....

Seriously. I have never, NEVER bought a phone thinking to myself, "Man, what this thing will be able to do in six months!"

Instead, I buy a phone and think to myself, "What a fantastic phone. I love what it does. This should keep me happy till the next phone I want to get rolls around."


Nothing has changed. 2.1 doesn't break ground, the rules, or anything else. It doesn't add much needed voice command over BT, improvements to the Contacts list, or a GPU enhanced UI. It doesn't do anything special.

Lets play devil's advocate for a second. Motorola decides it will put the 2.1 launcher and Live walls in for the Droid. Verizon says "cool" and pushes it OTA.

For those who bought the phone with the app drawer, and don't like the 3D launcher, they are unhappy. Very unhappy. They didn't have a choice.

Then they call Verizon and ***** at them. They didn't buy the phone with this crappy launcher and want it gone. Opps! No can do. Sorry!


Which is a safer business move?

Nexus One owners knew what they were getting beforehand, and bought it as such. They never had the chance to use the app drawer. They still don't have it as a choice, unless maybe rooted, which isn't a legit option for the average Joe and Mary.

Now lets look at Live Wallpaper. If the 3D Launcher does not ship, then they suddenly are not interactive to the touch, and will create a tech support nitemare for Moto and Verizon because hey, the N1 is interactive, why isn't my Droid? Oops! No can do. Sorry!

Which is the safer business move?


People who want choices can root, and do their thing. Shipping the launcher and wallpaper with 2.1 isn't giving a choice, its forcing it on people. Let me ask you, how much of the launcher have you used? Have you used it when it was compiled from source, for the Droid and yet, reboots/crashes the phone?

I have. Motorola may have left it out because its an unstable POS and its not working right on a device that has an ability the N1 and Eris does not: To go into Landscape on the home screen.

It was never about the Droid not being able to "handle" the features.

I hear what people are saying, that its a half assed 2.1 update. Let me ask this. Would you rather there be no update at all? Two programs are looking to be missing. Programs, not critical OS functions. 2.1 is faster than 2.0.1. Have you seen the video? It flies! Thats stock 2.1, no overclocking (due to no root). Pinch zoom in the browser, and gallery.


Sorry, but I will take MT features and performance as a higher priority than some crappy Launcher and some lame wallpaper that wastes several mb of space and I will bore with after about five minutes.

OK, but to play devils advocate with your devils advocate argument, what happens when the launcher and live wallpapers arent included and people call and b**ch about not getting those features?
To be completely honest, I really dont care about the launcher, app drawer, and live wallpaper. But, these options are eye candy and look great to prospective droid owners. Options are great, and should be offered. Let people decide what they want on their phones from themselves.

Are people *****ing about motoblur stuff? Im not. But if people *****, I'm sure motorola will attempt to put it in.