First effort, not that happy with it but I’m going to let it evolve for a while. Downloaded some nice more minimalist themes which help with the visual overload, also removed some of the ‘we thought you might like to be able to do such-and-such’ spam menu and app options. Unsure about this news reader app thing on the leftmost page either.

Tempted to go even more minimal with a plain off-white background.

Ouch, that is too busy…

I’d put the email widget etc on its own page.

My last setup was a 4×2 Yahoo weather/clock widget which grabs some really impressive local photos from a Flickr group, followed by a few key apps underneath: (you can also have other locations, I used to have some key holiday locations in there…nice to be able to swipe through and get a weather update and scenic view from my honeymoon a few years back, keeps the memories fresh!)

Obviously this isn’t great for your wallpaper enjoyment hence why I jumped when I saw r-kids screenshot.

I’d put the email widget etc on its own page.

Yeah I’ve considered it. Home page on this phone is the left hand side not in the middle, so you can’t swipe left OR right. So there’s only one page that’s one swipe away. On the work phone they are one swipe away, I have a ‘what’s coming next’ thing on the main page which tells you how long you’ve got til your next meeting. Not much point on my personal phone though.

I wish I could have only one phone for both jobs.

Mine is a work phone so I need easy access to emails, and it’s also used as a media player for the car hence the UAPP in the middle.

The next page is all folders for usable day to day stuff.

Having said that, after 2 months use of the phone (Sony Z3+), I’m going back to a Iphone 5S this week to see how it is as I find the Sony too large and android too fussy.

Fussy, that’s a good word for it. I hate the way there’s Samsung ‘experience’ apps and Google apps and to get my old Windows Live calendar stuff on there (shared with my wife) I now have to have Windows apps on there too, all competing for my love.

Sony I tried in the shop was just as large and thin as the Samsung but had sharp corners which made it even harder to hold. Also no wireless charging.. boo.

Can’t you get your windows live calendar on there by adding it as an exchange account? It worked for my outlook.com calendars (I have one for me and one to share)

Yes.. but.. the Samsung planner (that which you have to add the exchange account to) includes all the calendars on the account though, you can’t selectively turn them off like the Outlook app does. And you can’t make an icon to take you straight to the Outlook calendar, you have to go through the mail app. However there is a widget that displays your calendar from Outlook with it filtered. I’d like to set the Outlook calendar to be the default calendar app but that doesn’t seem to be a possibility…?

I think the Samsung system does allow you to select which ones show…but I can’t recall how to tweak it – been almost 2 years since I had a Samsung.
Saying that it was in a settings option and wasn’t something that was adjustable from the calendar…

Samsung planner

That may be your problem. Plain Android lets you select which calendars you see, my only issue is having to add and delete the account multiple times before it gave me a colour near enough to what I wanted.

Yeah I don’t like all the ‘value added’ stuff they give you as it’s usually a pain in the arse. Have to work to stop it notifying me of everything three times.

Cannot find the regular android calendar.

Cannot find the regular android calendar.

Isn’t that just the standard Google calendar..?

Loving this thread – reminds me of the business card bit from ‘American Psycho’. Never seem to be happy with my own home screen and have seen lots of possibilities here.

aCalendar is a good alternative to the google one.

molgrips – Member

Yeah I’ve considered it. Home page on this phone is the left hand side not in the middle, so you can’t swipe left OR right. So there’s only one page that’s one swipe away.

Are you sure about that? On most phones, you can choose what screen is your home screen.

If you ‘shrink’ your home screens – (on my Sony it is ‘pinch zoom’ wide to narrow to do this, but it might be press & hold home screen on other phones) – you can scroll between the different windows. In the top left of each window is a ‘home’ icon. Tapping that will turn that screen into the ‘home screen’.
So, if you have 5 windows – you can set the third window to be ‘home’ and you then have two either side of that you can get to by swiping left or right…..