Very
good
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GDE - Your Screen's New Home
Tested version: 0.4.0.6
Latest version: 0.4.0.9
Requires Android: from 1.5
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Summary
Does the Android world really need yet another desktop replacement app? There are already quite a few of these apps around and most of them work fairly well. Find out if this GDE offers users anything new in our test.
Features & Use
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GDE replaces your standard Android desktop and allows you to adjust the number of homescreens as well as customize the animation when switching between screens. As far as animation is concerned, the market description is spot on:
"A new android desktop with some features never seen before! Like cube, stretch and fading transitions and endless scroll."
GDE has a couple of features that desktop replacements applications up to now have lacked (more on that in Screen & Controls).
GDE also lets you install and use different themes. This means that you can make your desktop look like the screen of an Motoral Droid or an HTC Hero. There are already a whole set of free themes available on the Android Market.
Last but not least, you can organize your list of applications better with the help of additional folders.
Screen & Controls
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After you’ve installed GDE, you can access your desktop with the home button or select GDE as your standard desktop. The main difference from an Android desktop is that fact that you work with five screens (up to 7 screens can be set up). Switching between screens is done with the help of an animated cube (default setting) with multiple sides. Visually, it looks pretty sweet. At the bottom of the screen, you have two customizable buttons with an “app drawer” located in the middle. The “app drawer” doesn’t open up your app list, but directs you straight to your GDE settings:
- Applications: Goes to your app list. You can create subfolders to sort your apps and have your apps displayed in list form.
- Finder: Opens a Google search window.
- Control panel: Here’s you’ll find the actual GDE settings:
- General phone settings: Redirects you to the Android settings of your phone.
- Personalize appearance: Here you can customize the animation for switching between your desktops (Normal, Cube, Stretch or Fade) as well as select and use downloaded themes.
- Desktop Settings: Here you can adjust the number of desktops, adjust desktop scroll settings and tweak your drag and drop settings.
- Button Settings: Here you can assign different functions to the two buttons at the bottom of your screen. (I would’ve preferred to be able to assign a wider selection of functions):
- Add
- Browse
- Call
- Contacts
- Send SMS
- Settings
I really liked the Application Dock – a widget included with GDE. You can set up a transparent bar on your desktop and fill it with apps. If you have added more than two apps, you can scroll through all of them horizontally. You can place multiple application docks on your screen. Together with the 7 desktops, this should leave you with more than enough room for all of your apps.
Bottom Line:
GDE is yet another Android desktop replacement app that does its job quite well. There are already a ton of themes available and many more are soon to follow. According to the developers, they’re working on a number of new features for this app.
Speed & Stability
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Here’s the biggest problem with these types of apps: Usually, you’ll experience a significantly slower phone performance when using a replacement in comparison to the standard desktop. Despite this general drawback, GDE ran smoothly enough, even if its performance didn’t quite match that of the original.
Price/Performance Ratio
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GDE can be downloaded from the Android Market for €2.25.
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Market Comments
Mike, May 12, 2012
Waste of money Dev quit updating right after I purchased. Way better home replacement apps available , most are free. DONT BUY THIS ONE!
Tron, Mar 30, 2012
It's dead now The people who made this app, I think Is dead, no more upgrades and it starting to suck
Justin, Jan 4, 2012
- I call GDE "ol faithful"...it was in its day the best launcher but it is no longer being supported...it can still hold its own but without support for scrollable widgets it cant compete with others..the cube effect is the best ive seen.
Matt, Dec 5, 2011
One of the coolest launchers but I don't know why nothing will stay on the screen never did that before
Jay, Nov 9, 2011
Crap Interface Third time in 3 weeks icons are falling off a vanilla gbread image... come on guys a Linux desktop is not that hard... Uninstalling give me my $ back
ฮศปเฮ, Nov 6, 2011
DEVELOPERS COMPUTER COULD OF CRASHED AND LOST THE FILES ASSOCIATED WITH GDE. SO THERE WOULD BE NO WAY TO UPDATE WITHOUT THOSE FILES. HE DIDN'T ABANDON
demetrius, Oct 29, 2011
Pretty good plz make this gde compatiable with open home skins...so there will be more skins for me to choose from
james, Oct 26, 2011
I missed this! After trying all the launchers, I have come back to this one. I like GDE the most!
MrAllOverIt!!!, Oct 15, 2011
They need to give this back to the original developers. Maybe they can actually do something with it. Go Launcher EX is still #1.