[kwlug-disc] OT: Android launcher app ?

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

Thanks for the feedback.

My use of the phone is atypical.
It is not my primary device by any means.
I absolutely hate both the small screen and the touch keyboard.

At home, it sits next to me, and I check it only when a notification,
calendar or alarm goes off.
I don't have any social media on the phone, except for some chat
applications for relatives and friends 1:1 (no groups, ...etc)
Neither do I have the news feed enabled.

I did try some of the mentioned launchers previously, before posting.
Smart Launcher was promising.
I did Niagara too, but the rolodex interface is too big a jump for me.

One launcher that I did like, but could not continue to use, is Microsoft
Launcher
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.launcher&hl=en_CA>
.
It is highly rated, but it does collect app usage and other telemetrics.

Later, I decided to give precedence to launchers from F-Droid, because
being there means it has much less chance of anti-features.

I did try several others from F-Droid, but they are all either a) extremely
minimalist, b) use very different UI/UX paradigms, c) require typing (did I
say I despise touch keyboards?), and so on ...

I will stick with Fast Draw for now.
On the tablet, the icons are squished into a small area (no
configurable number of columns/rows), but I can get used to that.

The main annoying aspect is when adding an icon to one of the screens, it
shifts all other icons.
That is because of the forced alphabetical sorting.
So mind/muscle memory of where Gmail or Calendar or whatever no longer
works.

I emailed the author about custom sorting, but no reply so far.
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