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It seems like a lot of complaints are from people who didn't really understand what they were installing ("Hey, I like Facebook! Let's try it!"), and were surpr

It seems like a lot of complaints are from people who didn't really understand what they were installing ("Hey, I like Facebook! Let's try it!"), and were surprised when it turned their phone into a Facebook phone. To be fair, these complaints -- those you bulleted -- validate the poor star-rating. I can't imagine a majority (Re: 2.5+ stars) being given to an application that more-or-less tucks away all of these smartphone features.

prostoalex 14y ago
>> an application that more-or-less tucks away all of these smartphone features That describes like 1,000+ apps with the word "launcher" in their title, and yet a lot of them are 4+ stars https://play.google.com/store/search?q=launcher&c=apps https://play.google.com/store/search?q=launcher&c=apps
- billnguyen 14y ago
  Except none of those launchers remove functionality like the Facebook launcher is doing by hiding your status bar and removing widgets. The 4+ star rated launchers add functionality to android.
- thezilch 14y ago
  I haven't looked through those 1k+ apps; I looked at the first few and would say you're completely wrong -- the apps don't hide the features we've come to expect of a homescreen of a smartphone. As I wrote elsewhere... Oh well, they thought they could simply "take over" the entire, front-facing experience of the phone. They probably would have had better success trying their hand at releasing a better widget, surfacing the same experience without removing the notifications bar, apps tray, etc. Being resizable and able to coexist with other widgets (eg. 1x4 Search, 4x4 FB, 1x4 App tray) would appear to be a lot more welcoming.
- notJim 14y ago
  What are you talking about? Launchers are just alternate home screens, the degree to which they alter functionality varies greatly. For example, I use Nova Launcher, and when you first install it, it's entirely identical to the default launcher. Most people using my phone don't even know that it's not the default.

prostoalex 14y ago

>> an application that more-or-less tucks away all of these smartphone features That describes like 1,000+ apps with the word "launcher" in their title, and yet a lot of them are 4+ stars https://play.google.com/store/search?q=launcher&c=apps https://play.google.com/store/search?q=launcher&c=apps

billnguyen 14y ago
Except none of those launchers remove functionality like the Facebook launcher is doing by hiding your status bar and removing widgets. The 4+ star rated launchers add functionality to android.
thezilch 14y ago
I haven't looked through those 1k+ apps; I looked at the first few and would say you're completely wrong -- the apps don't hide the features we've come to expect of a homescreen of a smartphone. As I wrote elsewhere... Oh well, they thought they could simply "take over" the entire, front-facing experience of the phone. They probably would have had better success trying their hand at releasing a better widget, surfacing the same experience without removing the notifications bar, apps tray, etc. Being resizable and able to coexist with other widgets (eg. 1x4 Search, 4x4 FB, 1x4 App tray) would appear to be a lot more welcoming.
notJim 14y ago
What are you talking about? Launchers are just alternate home screens, the degree to which they alter functionality varies greatly. For example, I use Nova Launcher, and when you first install it, it's entirely identical to the default launcher. Most people using my phone don't even know that it's not the default.