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Kellen

Kellen

It’s not often that you get to merge personal passions into a professional life, but that’s what Kellen did when he launched Droid Life in 2009. After working years of unsatisfying jobs in the medical and property management fields, he took a risk to try and create an online community while playing with the coolest gadgets on the planet each day, a risk that has turned out to be incredibly rewarding. Outside of Droid Life, Kellen is your typical Portlander who drinks way too much good beer, complains often about the Trail Blazers, and can be found out on the streets for a run, rain or shine.

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  • how do you get that clock w/ the weather i've been searching all over the market trying to find it…ready to pull my hair out! i have moto droid 2.1 and have helix2 launcher can't find it =( Please Please someone help me with this!!!
    or please email me how or where to find it
    ian.klida@secellular.com

  • Is there anyway to have a different background for helixlauncher2 and the android home pages?

  • Any word on an update, I love this launcher but it lags and force closes a lot. Some of my widgets dont work even after deleting and reinstalling.

  • Also can the 5 slot 3d app tray from Launcher2 be incorporated into the HelixLauncher2?

  • When are we gonna get and updated version of this? I love the helixLauncher2, but I would like to have a better version with less lag and more options.

  • So will this launcher work when rooted as well? I'm running the same rom as you are in the video (JRummy Remix cyanogen mod), and I really like the look and functionality of the helix launcher 2 from this video.

  • Hi. I have a moto droid and I am trying to get the helixlauncher2 0.7 where do i start? I dont have any previous versions downloaded and when I try to download from my phone it says that the content is not supported by my phone. Please help!

  • Just loaded on my phone… first impression compared to Clockworkmod its a little slower when launching the 3D tray but I like the 7 screens, bottom dock and the rotate so going to try it out for a little bit before I make my decision.

    Hopefully clockworkmod comes out with the 4 icons at the bottom soon!

    I actually like the home button on the right nice little change

  • I've been playing with this for a bit now. Not very stable on my droid. Laggy and a lot of force close. I'm back to the Helexlauncher 1. I miss the 3d app drawer. Would love to know if the release is better. (Not Rooted)

  • I liked the launcher only problem was I couldn't get my blue-tooth to turn on after installing this. Even after rebooting. Once I uninstalled it and went back to standard helix launcher my blue-tooth worked again. Anyone else experience this?

    • From what i have read and seen, if you were using a different launcher or even home launcher you should delete the widgets off of that first before adding those same widgets to the new launcher. Otherwise you can have problems

  • Downloaded it on Saturday, ended up having to uninstall today, too many FC's, but then again what do you expect from a beta.

    All in all seems like it's gonna be a nice app after the bugs are ironed out, great work, but back to ClockMod for now.

  • Just a thought but maybe a dev could make a app to install custom themes on the stock 2.1

  • Kellex i followed the leader and loaded the smoke glass theme on my cyanogene rom 5.05.7 and when i rebooted helix 2 was on my phone. i had written the developer to say i had no rotation but with the helix launcher 2 i've got 360 degrees of it. I checked in the market and it doesn't show that i downloaded. Got any ideas on where it came from. I got smoke glass theme 1.4

  • When i press to open it in Astro is keeps saying “file type in not found”

    Can anyone help with this?

  • Once you've installed Helix2 and it doesn't force close…is it safe to set it as default?

  • the biggest difference i've noticed between this and helix 1 is the app drawer takes FOREVER to load (and i really don't care about the “scrolling” effect from nexus… i never thought it was that cool of an effect to begin with especially if it slows down the phone)

  • Noticed a few minor differences between HelixLauncher1 (HL1) & HelixLauncher2 (HL2) so far…

    -Preview cards on HL1 slowly fade in/out after the quick double-tap preview, HL2 they are persistent and appear to not fade as smoothly.

    -Scrolling between screens didn't seem as smooth in HL2 as in HL1. More of a rushed/jump movement. In HL1 I was able to see each screen slide by more easily, especially if moving from screen 1 (far left) to screen 7 (far right).

    So far though no FC's for HL2 and have it configured the same as HL1 with screen #'s, widget presence and shortcuts. Would like to see the Home button location as an option as well as the botton tray/shelf as an option too (my preferences are to have transprency right to my desktop screen).

    I'm hoping the donations will allow this to be released as a free app in the Market much like HL1 was…

    Running Rooted 2.1 w/NexusMod live wallpaper & HelixLauncher2 home app pretty much gives kellex's custom ROM mod look… almost 😉

  • its not working for me force close loop right away can you help me out Kellex,Thanks

  • Can someone please type up a step by step instruction on how to install this? When i tried it, it said “cant down to phone”

    • 1. Download the file to your computer
      2. Mount your phone
      3. Drag the file from your computer to your phone (make a new folder titled “apps” or something so its easy to find)
      4. If you don't already have ASTRO file manager, download that from the market
      5. Open Astro, find the helix file, open it, click “open file manager”

      done.

  • if you donate and want to stick with launcher 1, download 1.3 Beta 2. i've been using it for about a week and its great (and you can get rid of icon labels on your homescreen…which is awesome!)

  • whats up everyone. just need a little bit of info and possibly a bit of advice. thinking of rooting my phone. recently, i manually added the 2.1 updated to my phone along with the helix launcher 2. what steps do i need to do in order to have my phone rooted? another thing, would you guys recommend i root my phone or just leave it the way i currently have it?

  • anyone having any problems downloading…. it keeps saying that it is not supported on my phone….. should i download it to my computer then to the phone??? help…

    • The same happen to me. Your going to need to download it on your computer and put it on your download files and install from there BUT REMEMVER DO NOT SET IT AS YOUR DEFOULT BECAUSE IS A BETA IT CAN HAVE PROBLEMS!!!!

  • Weird. I installed it yesterday but the green dots on the tray wouldn't show up so I uninstalled. I just tried it again though and now it's working fine, thanks! 🙂

  • i set “home” as default instead of helix by mistake. how do i clear defaults in “home” so that when I hit the home button it brings me to that screen where I can pick from the the two launchers?

    • There is a free app called home switcher which will let you choose between different home apps and select which one is your default.

    • Go to Settings
      Aplications
      Manage Aplications
      Click the buttom next to the go back buttom
      filter and select all
      go all the way down until you see home
      click on it and click clear defaults.
      Once you click your home buttom it will give you the option to select your new launcher

      • thank you, it's much appreciated I was wondering why I could not find the home app lol

  • I Am using it right now I love it so far no problems as of now. It woulnt let me download it from my phone it just kept sying not supported. So i just download it from my computer.

  • Hi there MOTO owners,

    does somebody knows if Helix2 is working on my 2.1 Milestone, bcause i downloaded
    the beta2 version and got forced closes 🙁

    Any people with Milestone and Helix2 working? thnx in advance!

    • Hey remember is a beta so u will have problems but droid and the milestop are pretty much the same android 2.1 so u should have a problem

    • Im not sure if its the same as the problem some Droid users were having…but you might have to disable your widgets if you have them on the milestone…also after you dl it dont launch it right away go to your regular home first then launch it

  • what is that widget with the weather and clock on his homescreen? i can't figure it out i need it

  • hey kellex… i was looking at your pics of the launcher and noticed you had an app called caller city id… whre did you find it and how can we get it?

    • It's not on the market anymore, but you can download it from this site under the “Downloads” link at the very top of the page.

  • I am beginning to like the media drawer to the left, however too many forceclose events. For now I am sticking with HelixLauncher until a stable release.

  • I wonder if there will be an option to actually move the doc menu shortcut to the middle like it is currently. Looks awesome, and cannot wait for it to come to the market! >;D

  • why is helix launcher 2 better than helix launcher 1? I am running 1 just fine with no problems on the 2.1 update.

  • I love the look, I will definitely donate. I hope the dev doesnt just change the look of this, but gives options to move the app drawer or remove the glass shelf. I personally like it as is, but I can see how others would want it a little different. Thats the whole point though isnt it, Own a droid for the complete custom look you can have.

    • I cannot download this using any of the suggested ways…..everytime I try it says cant open, no file found…etc… what am I missing???

  • Will there be an update to this when released to the market? Or will this be exactly what's uploaded?

      • Would you think that, if there's an update, the home button in the apps drawer on landscape will be moved? It's slightly annoying where it's at now

  • downloaded the file, installed, and the app link isnt there ? wdf? using 2.1 w/ root vanilla… any ideas?

  • There is an easier way of getting the file to install properly. If you are using Astro file manager:
    1. Once the file downloads click on it
    2. A window will pop up asking you to rename the file
    3. Rename file something like this: launcher.apk
    4. Notice that I added the .apk extension to the file name
    5. Once you rename just hit OK
    6. Go to Astro and look in your download folder for the launcher.apk file
    7. Select and install.

  • I really enjoy the work you've here, its great. But i'm a lil confused (and new to android) How do i distinguish the diff between Helix2 and your custom ROM?

    • The rom is just the custom icons/status bar/universal looks of your phone that won't change no matter which launcher your using. The launcher is just the home replacement app (like Helix1). The difference from 1 and 2 is a 3d app drawer, dock picture under icons, and the app drawer launcher has been moved.

  • I have it from a great source (i.e., the developer!) that the home button will be back in the middle soon! Yee-haw! 😉

  • I'm really liking this, but I'm getting regular force closes ALMOST any time that I double-tap the screen to pull up the cards to jump to another screen. Is anyone else having this? It refreshes quick enough after the forceclose, and I don't use the doubletap that often, but it is still annoying enough. Aside from that, I really like it. Does anyone think reinstalling it would make a difference? That's the only time I have gotten a forceclose or had any problems at all with it yet.

    Thanks!

    • With the original Helix I had a couple of FCs in the first week I ran it, and it has been stable ever since. Maybe reboot your phone.

  • I like it… but it wasn't working well enough with my phone. I like Helix 1 because it's blazing fast, whereas this was a bit too laggy. No idea why either since I'm overclocked to 1000, have AutoKiller, and have killed a lot of background apps (Launcher, AmazonMP3, etc). I'll try it again once the final version hits the market.

  • Glad your liking my rom (:

    I also wan't aware this was out yet. Very nice website here.

    -JRummy

    • Hey guys if you have the MUST HAVE APP called astro file manager you can download this and install from your phone…. i also suggest teh xscope browser …. it installed and worked like a charm on my droid with stock 2.1

    • Kellex runs the best droid related blog out there. Can't report unless you love the device, and have a community that loves the device. 😀

  • when will we see this for the droid im running Cyanogenmod For Droid V5.0.5.7 im liking the 3d app drawer. and how did move the app launcher over and xan it moddified say instead of a the squire maybe the deathstar or a droid dude

  • when hiding the notification bar….. is there a way to show the notification bar without having to configure it?

  • What is the name of your clock/weather app that you have on your screen shots? I really want that for my Droid 2.1. Thanks!

  • Thanks so much for this! I loved Helix Launcher but hated that it didn't have the 3D app drawer or a home logo to get back to the home screen from the app drawer and this fixes both.

  • hey kellex i went to download it and it says the file is not supported on my phone. i have ese 81 stock…

    • That happened to me. I downloaded to computer, copied to download folder on Droid, and opened it via a File manager, and it ran.

    • thats most likely because you downloaded a .php file. download it with your computer, the resulting file will be a .apk.

      Email it to yourself
      Go to browser
      go to email
      download attachment
      Open the downloaded attachment
      install

  • Hmmm.
    Went to the link Kellex has shown and attempted to download “HelixLauncher2 0.7BETA2” dated 08Apr10.
    Download history says ” Cannot download. The content is not supported on this phone.”
    Is this not the proper version?
    Anyone else with this issue?

  • Everyone might have done it already but i just realized if you want your icons small and on the bottom tray just select your icon and there will be four green dots appear just drag the icons you want to the green dots and wham bam you got icons on your tray… thanks man and you should donate!!!

    • you think that wallpaper or a similair version will every be done on stock 2.1…. looks nice..

      • If the dev for Nexusmod will fix their app to work with ese81 build, yes. Until then, I don't think so

  • is there a way to add widgets to the shortcut bar? i like to see how many unread using unread count, which only can be added as a widget, but the launcher won't let me move the widget to the shortcut bar.

  • I sent an e-mail to the developer to move the app draw/home icon back to the middle. As well as possibly making a disable/enable option on showing that little glass shelf making it look like the shortcut icons are sitting on it, I don't like it. Too mac-like.

    • Last line on the post – “My ROM: JRummy’s Remix V0.5 CyanogenMod V5.0.5.7 w/ NexusMod Live Paper”

      Clock widget is beautiful widgets with naked droid skin. Download from market, but it is a paid app

    • no you don't.

      Download the apk on your computer
      Send it to yourself in email
      Go to browser
      Go to email
      Download the attachment
      Open the attachment
      Install

      🙂 Thats how I did it

  • I really shouldnt have updated to 2.1 i hate neural network and my Droid is so plain now oh rooted droid how I long for your ninja oh and this doesnt look good in landscape ( why is landscape so hard to configure?)

  • Jesus Christ, okay, so downloaded it to my PC, mounted card, moved to the card, and when I unmounted, sent me into a reboot loop (CM 5.0.5.7). Booting into recovery mode…and I JUST had to reset my phone the other day because of this….grrrr…

  • Emailed him from the donator's page, asking if he could put the home button back in the middle. 🙂

  • Ok so i just downloaded Helix launcher 2 in the market…i then ran it as my home and it started a force close loop…it then shut off and restarted perfectly fine back to my normal home…why did it do the force close loop again?

  • so I am a little confused i am urooted and went to the link helix launcher 2 beta 7 is for droid unrooted guys now caue i thought it was only for he the nexus

  • Hey guys, went to the site through the phone's web browser, saved as dowload.php…using Astro, how do I get this thing installed, exactly?

    • I am thinking you downloaded the wrong thing. It should have been an apk file that you got. You might try again. I actually downloaded it to my computer, mounted the droid, copied it, and then just launched the apk file when I unmounted.

      • I was thinking the same thing, shouldn't have been a .php file…I clicked on the link and that's what popped up…I'll try it from my home PC, I'm just lazy and shooting for minimal effort here, heh.

        • when I downloaded directly to phone it is a .php file, when I downloaded to computer it is .apk…I put it on my phone, it installs, but will not open…any answers

  • Well, I got it -and gladly sent him a donation – but I do not like the home button on the right. And since running it does not remember all of my Helix 1 settings, I think I will stick with the Helix 1 until it is finalized. Kind of a bummer; the 3D drawer works great, but I don't see any reason to move the home to the right side. Hopefully he will provide an option to move it back.

  • I had helix launcher one and I also tried the clock work mod launcher and they both slowed my Droid down….

    Question: If I only have 642 MB available on my SD card (I have a bunch of music) and 33.98 MB available on my internal memory, will that slow performance of my phone in general? Things seem to kinda freeze for a second with these mod's applied on my phone…not as bad with the stock home applied.

    • If you've got a ton of screens and they are full of widgets, plus you SD card and onboard memory are almost gone, your phone will probably act like a slug. Try cleaning up some stuff. 🙂

      • Really…okay I will 🙂 Any new rumors about downloading apps on SD cards? I am planning on buying that 32 GB SD card but I hear it's a class II and they claim those are really slow at retrieving stuff? Thanks Kellex…I always hear people saying great stuff about you no matter which site I'm on…you're well respected in this community!

      • Is there also a way to clear out cache or something…I deleted a bunch of old apps but it didn't free up as much space as I figured it would. Shouldn't I have like 250 MB to begin with?

  • You don't have to be stock to run this correct? I heard in the video you were running a custom ROM but the it says something about “this version has hit public beta so all of you stock 2.1 ysers can test it”. I just want to make sure either way before I download it.

    Thanks Kellex!!

  • Kellen,
    if you hide the notification bar, can you be able to see it by dragging the screen down or pressing a button? I'm still using Home++ because I can hide the notification and I can set the phone button to “call log”. Is it possible to do the same with HelixLauncher 2 beta? Thanks.
    btw your site is the best. I ditched forums because droid-life is much easier to see what's new.

    • Doesnt appear to work that way. You still see a quick notification when you receive an email, but the notification bar then hides and is not easily accessed by a swipe.

      • One way is to disable notifications for default apps that would pop-up there like Gmail & Messaging… and use a desktop widget for notifications instead. I use “SMS Unread Count” which I can add 3 widgets for gmail, SMS and Dialer, all 1×1 icons with label & icon choices built-in. Just an alternative method to help hiding the bar.

  • Ok…I need to know…If I have a mac, can I still get back to 2.0.1? Or do I have to do it through windows? Somebody answer me??? Or can someone post a video on how to go back please? I want to do it.

    • Unfortunately I don't know the answer to that. 🙁

      Anyone with a Mac used RSD Lite?

    • I was wondering the same thing, I am assuming there is a way, but if I was you I would do it on a friends computer.

      • That is probably what Im going to do… Kellex, Honestly, How hard/complicated is it? I really miss overclocking and custom roms but I dont want to screw up

        • As long as you follow the steps in that “unroot/unbrick” post on Droid Forums exactly as they are listed, you will not run into an issue. I have yet to run into one and I've done the process at least a dozen times.

  • hey guys i know this is a random question but i was wondering do you root, overclock, create a nandroid back up then download custom roms? in that specific order?

  • Minus the 3D app drawer, what makes this better then regular HelixLauncher for 2.1? I'm not sure i like that right justified app drawer…

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