Xperia X10 Blog

Xperia arc Home Launcher now available for X10

Xperia arc Home Launcher It was a matter of time before some of the key system files from the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc would be downloaded for all to dissect. Well that time has come, with the system files making an appearance on xda-developers. A number of apps have been extracted, one of the key being the new home launcher that is used in the 2011 generation of Xperia phones.

We’ve tested the launcher ourselves and it works surprisingly smoothly. Whilst it is not as zippy as the Xperia arc and neo we recently tested, it is not far off. Plus the pinch-to-zoom functionality for the widgets also works quite well, even when a number of widgets are loaded up. You can check out a number of screenshots of the new launcher on our Xperia X10 below as well as full download instructions.

As well as a new home launcher, a few other apps also worked including a Photo, Clock and News widget. The Photo widget caused some serious lag on our handset, but it allows you to scroll through photos/videos that you’ve taken. The Genie widget gives you weather and news for your location whilst the digital clock widget replaces the existing clock widget on your handset. We’ve included all of these apks to download in our instructions below.

Install the Xperia arc Home Launcher

1) Download the files you need from here.

2) Unzip the zip file and you will find four apk files (DigitalClockWidget, GenieWidget, Home and PhotoWidget).

3) Copy the files over to your handset using the USB cable or something like Dropbox (our preferred method).

4) Use Astro (or an alternative file manager) to locate the files and install.

5) Optional: You may want to install ‘Home Switcher’ from the Android Market to easily switch between launchers.

Screenshots of the Xperia arc Home Launcher

The new launcher gives you a tray at the bottom, where you can easily swap out apps to put your favourite ones there. The top of the screen shows you which home screen you are on. What can’t be shown by pictures are some of the nifty animations that exist between transitions.

Xperia arc Home Launcher

If you pinch-to-zoom you bring all of your widgets into one screen. We noticed little lag despite having a number of widgets loaded up. The big ‘Exit Overview’ button at the bottom delivers you back to the home screen.

Xperia arc Home Launcher

The menu tray screen is different from the X10’s scrollable list. The new Xperia range uses a tray system and as you can see below, the tray shows that there are seven ‘panes’ with all the apps we have downloaded. You just swipe left/right to navigate your apps.

Xperia arc Home Launcher

Whilst this may not be everyone’s cup of tea, the settings allow you to sort in many different ways including by favourites, alphabetically and recently installed.

Xperia arc Home Launcher

Via xda-developers.

X10

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147 responses to “Xperia arc Home Launcher now available for X10”

  2. Who is really using this slow-piece-of-programming-crap when there are launchers like ADW EX and LauncherPro?

  7. very nice,smooth enough but i cannot install clock widget.
    none the less is a good move.you guys keep the x10 alive!!!!

  8. @hmmmmm
    you know what they say… a fool and his money are soon parted….so run along fanboy… buy ur arc…..fool

  11. It’s just what I was looking for. ADW launcher was too heavy for my liking and it kept having a problem with the icons on the drawer disappearing which required me to reset it. Although I like the idea of hiding applications in ADW, I’m okay with the manual sorting of the new this home launcher since I can put the most used ones on the first page.

  13. i don’t want to use the home app as i prefer launcher pro but the photo widget can only be used with the SE home app….oh well, a shame but it’s no biggy…i won’t miss it ….but i would miss my beloved launcher pro…a much cleaner and purer android experience.

  18. Its works really well on my X10. no buggy isuues here. I like this launcher its really nice and its a sony launcher so goes very well with X10. Thumbs up to XDA and also to this X10 blog for bringing this to us. Oh and “hmmm” “fecking hell just buy a arc,x10 cheapstakes” The Arc is not out yet so we cant buy it and when it does I will be buying it. What wrong with updating what we currently got?

  24. clock does not install, but x10 is cool now, would be happy if we able to install the timescape widget of arc into x10, x10 lives again

  28. zodiac:

    I agree with you Launcher Pro is a much better home launcher. Nevertheless, SE made an effort to make their launcher similar to Launcher Pro

  34. Hi ,
    Can somebody please please mail the megaupload files to my email address.
    iamdipayan@gmail.com
    I am at my office and i cant have access to megaupload.Please help me somebody .
    Please.
    Thanks a lot ..please mail me 4 apk files. please….

    thanks a lot .
    Dipayan.

  39. Installed it on my X10i,while not being featured, the launcher is definitely more usable than the stock version on the x10. The horizontal swipe also makes it neater than the vertical swipe which is how the default worked.

  40. To install the clock widget, you must first be rooted to remove the original ‘digitalclockwidget’ from your phone (via titanium backup or similar).

    Overall, very nice widgets, would be interesting to see the ‘new’ timescape widget…

  42. Okey, now I’ve tested it on the mini pro and it works. It works even better than the stock home launcher 😀 The widgets works fine too, no lagg 🙂

  43. Thanks to all my friends..for sending the file in my mail.
    Thanks and regards,
    Dipayan
    I am trying the files right now.its really good….thanks….i wish i had the time scape and other widgets also……uffff…. its awesome

  44. I just finished looking at it and I cant really suggest using this day to day. I really feel like I need a firm press rather then a simple swipe. Anything feature this launcher has Launcher pro has it beat, and its much slower as well. Really I have no idea why someone would run these kinda stock skins when LP and ADW are vastly better.

    But the best way to judge this would be in how the core ui looks, and I like it more then most companies skins.

  45. Just installed on my MiniPro and it works fine. ‘Home Switcher’ from the Android Market not available for download

  46. so the galaxy s and the htc desire will be getting a 2.3 update… you have to hand it to SE… they con you with arrogance…just priceless. well its nothing new… x10 users can just join the queue of angry SE customers behind the satio, and vivaz folks….long live SE…long live x10. At least I don’t think they will succeed in doing the same to arc owners as that phone is already lacking in the hardware department…it will be owned by the small minority of fanboys…and they never complain even a SE make them eat shit for breakfast, lunch and dinner…fact is fact…joe…..hmmmm… to name a few of the mindless drones

  47. Hi There,

    I just installed the new launcher and it looks nice, but the clock widget is not working!
    I removed the old one using Titanium Backup and restarted the phone and then tried to install the new clock widget using Astro but it won’t work.(keeps telling that the widget is not installed)
    Please help me…

    Stefan.

  48. Hmmm – the launcher is working, but any idea how to get the clock shown above to work? all i´m getting is the old digital one ????

  50. Works on my Droid X, except for the Genie Widget. The widget overlay is cool and I like the animations, so it’s good as far as a stock home app goes, but I’ll stick with LauncherPro.

  51. I’m having the same problem Stefan. I tried most of last night and in the end downgraded to 1.6 and reinstalled 2.1 (which actually helped, I was able to get the latest fw with dual touch by doing so, so i’m not complaining). Just been trying most of today as well though to get it to work, then saw that the old one needed to be removed (which i’d done already) i’ve tried various ways of removing it and installing the widget from the arc but, nothings working :(.

  54. After trying for a couple of hours to get the clock widget work i just give up, i installed everything just as shown above but it will not work.
    I ended up downloading a Clock widget from the market that looks almost the same, but would like to get the Arc widget going…
    So if anyone knows how to solve this problem, please let me (us) know.

    Thanks in advance!

  57. Stefan & Bex – I had the same problem, however after trying for hours, I eventually readded the DigitalClockWidget with the X10 FlashTool (after deleting it with that), just so I’d have a digital clock widget and work out how to get the Arc one later but, that enabled/added the Arc one, that I’d been trying ages to install.

  58. i can’t believe you guys are going through so much trouble to for that clock widget… i am not even using anything… i wanted the picture widget but it only works with the arc home app which i just cannot use over launcher pro. try beautiful widgets and stop all this nonsense for SE’s clock widget.

  63. @ zodiac…
    I live in Greece -> I can’t buy Beautiful Widgets + even if I could, why not use the free from SE?

    I installed the Digital Clock Widget, but all I get is a slightly different version from what I already had. It just has a transparency effect behind the digits. Thus nothing similar to the one in the image.

    Mr X10… is the one in the image the SE digital clock widget, or is it sth else? Thanks

  64. @nz
    i am not berating anyone for using it free from SE… all i was saying was that people seem to be going through a hell of a lot to install something so insignificant.

  67. @NZ – The widget used in the image is from Beautiful Widgets, it is NOT the one in the download file. Sorry if this caused confusion, we placed a few widgets to test the pinch-to-zoom feature of the home screen.

  68. i uninstalled the old clock widget via titanium pro and still can’t get the new clock widget to install.

    i find the arc launcher a tad quicker and smoother then launcher pro. i think it may have something to do with the optimised weather widget over the one i was using before

  69. ok guys that is a really good idea we gotta do something in facebook someone gotta design some blog for our protest purpose.we gott force se to release froyo its their duty i cant stand seeing gingerbread on 600 mhz phone while i stuck with damn flashless 2.1

  70. To use the Arc clock widget, remove the old clock with Titanium Backup, then do a factory reset and then install the new one. Make sure to backup all your other aps and contacts before you reset to defaults though.

  71. launcher pro WAYYYYY better, dont even bother with this crap (I tried it so its an informed opinion…)

  72. WTF???

    just use Root Explorer to start installation of the clock widget…. it has the ability to overwrite system apps…. it has just a new design with Date shown below Time

  73. Yeaaay Thx, our X10i will be : X10 Arc lol !
    now i’m waiting for the new timescape and (maybe…) mediascape, and some driver optimised for X10i (because the arc is the REAL X10i “without bugs”)
    waiting for the new arc keyboard, official wallpaper arc, apps etc =)

    Thx, very good news !
    love xperiax10.net & xperiablog.net

  74. Fancy Widget is my favorite home screen clock and has the most accurate weather for my area out of 5 different weather widgets I have used. I set background to transparent so it doesn’t take away from my nice wallpaper and best of all, it’s free! I also concur with Zodiac that folks are wasting a lot of time and effort on a clock widget! Why waste do much time when there are tons of different clocks available. When all I want is clock and nothing else, I use Ambient Time Lite which is pretty cool and adjusts to landscape.

  75. This is really good. Gets a feel of Xperia Arc/Neo on Xperia X10.

    I am using both the home launchers by selecitng one at a time. pinch to zoom feature is good to showcase to friends.

  77. 2 out of 3 application in the Media shortcut do not work.
    The sorting settings are not remembered after a phone re-start.
    Digital clock widget can’t be installed.
    Photo widget is pointless as it causes severe lag in phone use.
    It does look nice, sorting the apps may be useful and the news and weather widget combined in one is a nice touch.

  79. @Darth Glacious

    -Those transparent boxes in the media shorcut can be deleted, just click on them and put them out, you can add everything you want in that folder, you can even create new folders and put them in one of those 4 slots for shorctus.

    -True, it always load the custom sorting, i solved this by sorting all my apps alphabetically in custom mode.

    -True.

    -Yeah, with microsd card it’s impossible to make it work fast.

  80. one stupid question:
    which is the procedure to get the old launcher back without having to restore default settings?
    is it possible?

  85. Like the way it automatically creates a folder when you move one app over another one.

  87. in my view there is not much special in arc cock widget….it doesnt make any better than x10 clock

  88. i have installed the files and have rebooted the phone several times, but nothing has happened so far,,,i have to go to astro file manager and chose the weather widget to launch…only after this am i able to viewthe widget, no shortcuts oricons available in the menu…as for the rest of the apps, i get the message “activity not found – com.sonyericsson.home” can someone guide me through the proper procedure in casei am missing any step?

  90. This is sweet i especially like the vibrations when you trash something the lid hits the bin and the phone vibrates. However i miss the little dots to switch between home screens.

  92. Installed on my X10a, works well but lags at times. I’m gonna stick to Go Launcher EX or LauncherPro 😀 But overall it’s a cool idea!

  93. I got the clock widgit to work by uninstalling the old one using titanium backup, and after a reboot I also removed it from “manage applications” in the applications menu.. then installed it using astro file manger.
    I think an X10 with this home screen, all the up dates and jit installed is still one of the best phones around.
    I will be installing a newer rom just to try it but for 99.9% of X10 owners this home screen would have been a more impressive update.

  94. There is also a firmware based on Arc’s 2.3.1 available for X10 on the XDA forums.

  98. its a unrelated question..
    i am frm india(x10i), i bought x10 in india now i am moving to usa , can i able to use the same power charger frm india in usa?
    charger specification:
    input:100-240 vac 150 mA 50-60hz
    output:5.0vdc~700mA
    can anyone give me an answer pls………..?

  100. I dont think the link works anymore as when i download, i dont get a folder to unzip. I just get a file which does nothing when i put it on my phone.

    anyone have any ideas where i can get this from now?

  101. Works like a charm to the mini handset! Indeed a improved look imho! Very nice.. Happy panda!

  102. sobti: I did like so…

    DLed the file at my C:, unzipped it in my DLfolder, connected my phone in my cpu, created a folder on my SDcard, CTRL+X the files from my CPU-DLfolder and CTRL+V on my created folder @ my phones SDcard, DLed astro file manager from the market, opened the astro application and installed the files from there using astro… Hope that helped! 🙂

  103. Clock app with ticker and weather… who cares? It’s just a nice to have. You guys should focus on what’s really important:

    1) What’s changed with the PhoneBook from the X 10? Did they resolve duplicates, and pixelled BS images of my contact photos?
    2) Will these sound updates fix long awaited X 10 incall volume issues?
    3) Are video functions available in HD?
    4) Does this Arc system have the new camera functions for the X 10 they’ve been advertising? I believe that’s all software and not a new hardware feature.

  105. @x10 user
    Your charger can be used in USA, no problem (110-127V @ 60 Hz). You may need to check about the frequency used ny the carriers in USA (to my understandig this phone was released by AT&T and they use 850 band, I think the X10i doesn’t have that band); maybe you can check the carrier’s pages and decide which carrier can provide the service to your equipment, if you already have decided the carrier, just check it’s web page and find out.

  106. @x10 user
    Update:
    Also you’ll need an adapter, you must have the one with 3 round pins (type C, D or M), in USA the plug is A or B.

  110. @ jpin, one more doubt( i checked, t mobile (freq 2100) provide 3g for x10i frequency but at&t (800) provide only edge for x10i frequency )
    if i flash to x10a frm x10i will i able to use at&t 3g?(sorry if the question is dumb)

  111. @x10 user
    I’m not an expert, sorry I can’t help on that question, probably someone else reading this may help us (I want to know that as well). I think that is more HW related, but with the excellent guys working in the FW here, you may get some sort of solution. Good luck,

  112. What if i want uninstall all the files i installed to change the arclike theames is it possible…..

  113. but what about the other attributes as shooting on HD camera,
    photo, the phone is normal bugs as this is all someone can help me? Hugs
    Ouvir
    Ler foneticamente
    Dicionário – Ver dicionário detalhadoconjunção0.but0.yet0.only

  116. Its works fine, thank you for your help, its would be better if you add media applications like video play n music editions..

  117. i was planning to switch to blackberry but now usong android is a whole new fun … loving my decision now… thanx sony ericsson… plz release x10’s 2.2 or 2.3 or direct 3 android version…

  118. Hey Guys,

    Can some one please upload or send a link to download the files, the link provided seems to be broken or unavailable. Many thanks.

  123. been using this home launcher for weeks now and im really satisfied with it..
    its really faster than launcher pro.. and i love the new photo gallery..
    one thing though, would be very nice we can manage the new gallery..

  124. This service is temporarily not available from your service area.
    Can anyone help me?

  126. I am using X8 (not rooted) and installed the arc launcher, it is ok to use by clicking the middle button at first place, but after a reboot, I selected back the original launcher, and I clicked “Use as default”. I cannot change to arc launcher now.

    Is there a way for me to change to Arc now?

  127. hey does anyone know how to define the widget size on the home screen ala adw, the widgets seem to be all shapes and sizes and the alignment is all over the place.

    Cheers

  128. go mediafire.com to upload things next time Sony, you don’t have to wait to download AT ALL!

  132. Hey i downloaded like it said and half works i cant add shortcuts it force stops all the time tho i can add shortcuts. Digital clock doesn’t download and the w Genie widget doesn’t work confused lol

  134. Installed in X8. Working fine with small alignment issue. Looking Gr8.

    The Camera settings in X8 like Zoom, Macro… Are not working. Mediascape is also not available in X8. Can anyone provide them.

    Thanks
    SVR

  136. Hey guys, I need your help, I install this launcher in my xperia x10 mini pro but the apps like the photo widget in the moment of the installation STOP IT with a message “This aplication can not be installed” help me please

  139. […] Everyone is so uppity about ICS that I thought I should go see what else is running around the web and bring it back to light. Originally I was on a quest to find a good working version of the Xperia Arc home screen. This was spurred by me receiving an Xperia Ray for review, which you will start to see shortly. It has been a while since I used the Xperia launcher and wanted to give it a go again on my Vibrant. During that search I found what I was looking for, but I also came across a port of the Acer Liquid home as well. Let’s take a qui…Everyone is so uppity about ICS that I thought I should go see what else is running around the web and bring it back to light. Originally I was on a quest to find a good working version of the Xperia Arc home screen. This was spurred by me receiving an Xperia Ray for review, which you will start to see shortly. It has been a while since I used the Xperia launcher and wanted to give it a go again on my Vibrant. During that search I found what I was looking for, but I also came across a port of the Acer Liquid home as well. Let’s take a quick little look at both and give you all a chance to mess around with something else for a change. The Xperia launcher actually has a few different replacements available. I purposefully wanted the one that can be found on the Arc and the Ray. There were a few reason I really wanted it was for one simple widget, the photos and videos widget. It reminds me of the stacks you find on Honeycomb and ICS. It is a Rolodex style view of your photos right on your home screen. Why Sony was able to make that happen in a launcher and no one else is able too is beyond me, I am not a developer. I haven’t even found an app on the market or in the forums that can offer it. Seems crazy to me. I also really like the visuals that Sony has implemented when moving applications and widgets across your home screen. The Arc launcher also offers a very nice folder option for your dock bar. Simply drag an icon to one of the 4 squares at the bottom and make a folder for certain apps. In the app drawer you can customize the app sorting wither manually, or by standards like alphabetical, most used or recently installed. Beyond that though there aren’t many settings. It just looks really nice, functions really well and offers some visuals that no other launch has that you can easily install. Snag the files below in the zip, unpack then and install them like any other 3rd party application. It includes DigitalClockWidget, GenieWidget, Home and PhotoWidget. These are not modified and are all pulled directly from the system dump of the Arc. There is a chance that the version found below may be older than others available around the web. If you find newer version feel free to let us all know. Download – Xperia Arc launcher apps.zip The second launcher I came across is the Acer Liquid launcher. It has a very unique style to it with some interesting visuals that I haven’t seen in the past. On the bottom of your screen is a dock bar box. it is a 4 X 2 style allowing to have 8 applications docked at once. You slide up the dock to access your app drawer and scroll left to right. While on your home screen you can only slide one panel to the right. This panel is extremely useful and at the same time, not functional at all. You can see all of your folders that are housing any photos along with the folder name. Tapping on it should launch the gallery or a gallery of some sort, but it doesn’t. You can switch to the view to music and videos. Offering you same side ways Rolodex with image preview. the videos work if you tap on one. I don’t have any music on my main memory so I didn’t test that out myself. By long pressing on the home screen you can alter a few various settings such as Album art as the wallpaper while listening to music or remove the digital clock. Not a lot of customization though. After you have launched an application it then becomes available in the application history to the left of the home screen. Again, offering you a really nice Rolodex style view of recent applications. One of the most annoying drawbacks to this launcher is the lack of a status bar of any type. It is supposed to appear on the lower dockbar as it is seen in the images, but doesn’t seem to work. This could really become something nice is someone could take the time to solve some of the issues that it has. I would be willing to use it as my primary launcher actually. Since there are various different download options for this particular launcher, I will refer you to the original thread containing all the information you ever need about it.Just point your browser to aalopez10′s XDA thread and snag what you need. P.S. I was able to easily install and run both of these launchers on my Vibrant running MIUI. Give it a shot and see what you think. I am sure there is some device incompatibility, so be prepared for things to not look the same or work. Sources: XDA – Software2Tech – Xperiax10 […]

  141. Olá, eu fiz o download do arquivo, instalei, só que o relógio digital não está instalando. Como faço para resolver isso???

  143. I cant install, it asks me to replace deafult launcher and when it try to install just says “not installed”