Let me start off by saying this: I really rather like the default Android homescreen. It’s simple, it’s functional, and above all, it’s endlessly customizable. Thanks to Google’s “do anything” approach to handling app development, end users have countless tools to trick out their phones anyway they want. That, as anyone who’s ever used MySpace knows, is a double-edged sword: the end results are usually range from the rare and wonderful to the terribly tacky.
The guys over at Larva Labs have taken a different, almost Facebookian approach. Instead of allowing users to directly get their hands dirty, they completely stripped down the Android into a sparse, information-oriented design they call SlideScreen, which looks something like a mashup between WinMo 6.5 today screen and HTC’s minimalist TouchFLO style. I was given the chance to play with a nearly final build of the app, which is slated for general release within the next few days, and for you info junkies out there, this may be exactly what you’ve been looking for.
What was immediately apparent was the level of work that went into it: the whole shebang runs very smoothly, and at times seemed more responsive than the normal homescreen ever was. Each category is color-coded, and dragging the status bar up and down allows you to cycle through new tweets, stock updates, unread Google Reader items, new text messages, emails, and calendar entries. A quick tap on the corresponding icon opens up the associated app, while a long press lets you create a new entry. Without the traditional homescreen, the menu key is now in charge of bringing up the app drawer, along with a shortcut bar along the top for quick access to the apps that were normally out front.
The text, while small, is totally readable, especially on a high resolution screen like the Droid’s. Full disclosure: I’ve been wearing glasses since the fourth grade, so you may want to take any vision-related judgments I make with a grain of salt, but SlideScreen was just as legible on the G1 and Cliq I tested it with. Granted, the experience wasn’t quite as smooth, but considering the underpowered hardware involved, I still came away impressed by the whole affair. SlideScreen also can be run as a separate application instead of a homescreen replacement, just in case people want a one-stop shop for their personal and public information without having to give up pretty wallpapers and such.
It goes without saying that SlideScreen isn’t going to be ideal for everyone. As much as I like its style and organization, it’s certainly more information in one place than some users will feel comfortable with. Still, for those tired of looking at a stock Android install whenever they fire up their phone, SlideScreen is a solid, stylish homescreen replacement that may do them some good.
UPDATE: SlideScreen has just hit the Android Market in two forms, an ad-supported free version and the unfettered Pro version going for $6.99.
Will this be a free or paid app?
Oops, forgot to mention that. From what I heard from Larva Labs, it will be available as both a paid and a free, ad-supported app.
Ads on the home screen? That could be a little irritating, depending on the level of intrusiveness. Thanks for the quick response.
My contact at Larva Labs mentioned they were toying with the idea of one banner ad positioned at the bottom, essentially taking the place of one category.
ya i wouldn’t like ads on the home screen either i would rather pay for the app than have ads on my home screen.
i get bombarded with adds everywhere else i don’t need them on my phone
release date?
We’re looking at the next few days, with tomorrow being the earliest.
“We’re”? Are you associated with Larva Labs?
Nope, that was a poor choice of words on my part. Sorry for the confusion.
I could live with one banner ad. I’ll be definatly checking the marketplace for it tommorow. Any word on how much the paid version will cost?
I’ve been waiting for them to release since I first saw the mockups on their site a while back! The guys at Larva Labs are amazing.
Thanks for the heads up Chris!
Just checked the Market and both the free and paid versions are available. Paid is $6.99.
you’re doing great work, but for next time, use a tripod and set the phone on a table. Also use a video camera with an mechanical zoom control. These are minor details, but these will really make a world of difference. Think WWAD… (what would apple do?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSqDXFbn93U
Very nice. When will this happen. Very nice on the development.
Another reason switching to Android will be very tempting when my iPhone contract is up :P
Tried it. Couple of concerns.
1. I got an email that didn’t immediately show in the list. Not good. It was a gmail account, GAYD
Setup is a bit wonky, but once it’s installed, it’s pretty sweet – even on a G1.
Swiping stuff over to the right in Google Reader mode is absolutely no delay! Nice work!
Looks cool! However, I wonder how widgets will work with this approach.
Hmmm… I’m with Matthias on this one… seems it defeats the purpose of the way the home screen is already set up…. this seems to limit the user to a WinMo / iFollowSheep paradigm in that you have a set amount of item you get to “slide”. By this I mean you’d be limited to stocks, twtiier, email, missed calls, etc. But we can do that now (in more glory I might add) with widgets.
Moreover, there are widgets for so many things (from Pandora to Facebook, to FailBlog)… Why on earth would you not set up your home screen with widgets if you ‘want information overlaod’?
You want live twitter? Get Twidget or some variation of that. Same with the Facebook Widget. Stocks, etc.
SlideScreen is like WinMo redux on a phone destined for better!
Yeah, the fact that twitter only refreshes ever 30 minutes is not so good. And getting to apps is too difficult. Definitely a cool concept though.
You can control the refresh interval for all the groups, so you can set Twitter to update every couple minutes if you wanted to. We set the default to 30 minutes to save battery.
And just in case you misread the review, you get straight to the apps by hitting the Menu button, so it’s pretty quick.
Not really liking it so far. Very unintuitive.
Not really loving it so far. Compared to the stock 2.0 homescreen, it’s a very unintuitive interface. And it slows my Droid down sumthin’ turrible.
Sorry for the double post. It looked like the first one was lost in the ether.
I’ve tried it on the Nexus One. Speed is good – no complaints there.
However, not sure if it plays well with Google Domain Accounts. I sent a test message to myself which came through in the notification drawer, but never showed up on Slidescreen. Pretty big problem. If they could fix that, and have an easier way to launch apps, I do think this is something that I could get into.
Hi Matthew,
It does appear there’s a problem with Google Domain accounts, we’re checking it out. Hopefully it’ll it’ll be a simple fix. Here’s the support thread: http://getsatisfaction.com/larvalabs/topics/doesnt_appear_to_work_on_my_g2_touch_htc_hero
Matt
So far, so good. Though I think it would be cool if there was a way to set this a wiget, one that takes up an entire home screen.
P.S. There seems to be to Matthew’s commenting on here. I am not the one having the problems.
I’ve just got this app and I really like it. It doesn’t have too many features yet but it’s early days. It is however rare to catch an app on the Android Market with as much polish as this, it is very nice to look at, easy to use and smooth. I will be using this as my homescreen for the time being and hopefully the progress is steady as I see great potential for this app.
seems to me like this would be better as a lock screen replacement instead of a home screen replacement.
I agree. This is better as a lock screen. I don’t think I really want to use this as a homescreen. I’m with with lucasd in that this makes more sense for a less configurable OS like mobile windows or iPhone.
I quite like Slidescreen – looks great and provides plenty of info at a glance.
I’d like to know if it’s possible to remove stuff though as I have no interest in stock values! If I could get rid of the stock values & maybe even the Google Reader info, that would free up more space for my Twitter feed.
Also, where’s the configuration settings? o.O