You guys remember that enticing looking launcher replacement we told you about a while back, TSF Shell Pro 3D? Well the countdown is over and the app is finally available in the Android Market… for $17. Yeah, you read right, seven.. teen dollars. I am sure many of you are already saying “oh, hell no”, but before you go and dismiss the idea all together maybe we should revisit how cool this launcher really is.
Along with being extremely polished and smooth, TSF Shell (as it is now titled) has features and functions that no other launcher replacement has even dreamed of having. It comes with a completely unique screen switcher that allows you to arrange and customize 5 different homescreens to your liking. The first homescreen serves as an app drawer from which you can then move apps to the other homescreens and/or create folders. The way in which you can arrange apps and folders is one that will take some getting used to, having a lasso tool that allows you to select multiple items to do various tasks with, like creating folders for example. Once you draw a lasso around your desired apps you can then access a pop-up menu (see gallery) that has arrange, gather, multi-select, delete, and create folder as options. You really just need to revisit the demo video below to see what it is that I am trying to explain here.
The developer has even created their own animated widgets and currently Music, Weather, and Notes are the only ones available. The app is also functional with your device's widgets, but it looks like the Gmail widget in ICS is not scrollable. There are also a few of the launchers features that aren't working either as this appears to be a work in progress. Either way, you will not find another launcher like this and it's one of the smoothest apps I have ever tried. But is it worth it? I need more time with it to give a definitive answer but as it stands right now, without all functions enabled, I would have to say no.
Of course you may not feel that it is worth $17 to give it a whirl and the 15 minute return window is hardly enough time to explore it's possibilities, but if you do download it please let us know what you think! We will also try to do a complete review in the near future so we can give you a better idea as to what you can expect. You can check out the demo video, screenshots and download below.
Android Market
It is very much worth tha money…I love it and my friends love it…very smooth and clean..my only thing is please add more things to it..MORE THEMES WIDGETS ECT….over all its a 10…you got my vote keep up tha excellent work..but yeah add more things
No one should buy this just go to 4shared download and install..like i did…FREE!
Looks awesome, and I’d like to try it out, but it’s just not priced right. Doesn’t really make sense to want to pay $17 to reorganize my home screens, though it would be fun to do. $2-3? Yes. $5? Sure. $10? Maybe, if a friend already had it to show off.
Hey guys, I picked it up yesterday for the $17 and I can say I am pretty satisfied with what I got, as well as look forward to what else they bring to there table with it. $17 is a high price to pay, but so far I don’t feel like its a rip off.
I wish I was still writing for you guys, I played with it all day yesterday, and was not disappointed with my decision and could give you a decent review. Stacy, you have my gmail hit me up sometime.
Was #7 to download. Works well, sweet animations, could have lived with the price but in the end there’s no advantage over stock ICS. Returned for refund.
I actually applaud their decision on price. It may be a bit much for a work in progress, but it’s clear they’ve put a lot of work into it and are likely to continue adding features, which users will get for free. As an app developer the virtual expectation that most things should be $0.99, and certainly no more than $3.99 (I blame Apple) is very defeating and limits what I feel I can afford to try, especially with such a competitive market. Most people think nothing of spending $5 or more (sometimes MUCH more) on lunch and often get much less enjoyment out of it than an app, but there’s this mental barrier people have against judging the price of apps on the same scale as other luxuries they purchase. Movies are up to what, $15 now? You get maybe 2 hours of enjoyment from a movie, and I’ve gotten at least 2x or 3x as long out of probably every game I’ve paid for (and some I haven’t – ad supported).
At this point it takes guts to price an app at what you think it deserves, and despite the fact that it’ll cost me a bit more money, I hope more developers are willing to step up and charge what their work is worth. In the end, I’d rather have 10 great apps for $15 each than 150 $0.99 apps which never really live up to their full potential. Now that we have nearly 500,000 apps in the market it’s time to focus on quality instead of quantity, and hopefully everyone here can see that supporting that would be a good thing.
You have a great point Chris. It’s clearly obvious A LOT of time was put into the development of this launcher and I can understand them wanting compensation. One question remains, though. Is it worth keeping it at $17 and turning a bunch of people away when you could lower it to $10 and get more more sales that equal a greater end revenue?
I actually applaud their decision on price. It may be a bit much for a work in progress, but it’s clear they’ve put a lot of work into it and are likely to continue adding features, which users will get for free. As an app developer the virtual expectation that most things should be $0.99, and certainly no more than $3.99 (I blame Apple) is very defeating and limits what I feel I can afford to try, especially with such a competitive market. Most people think nothing of spending $5 or more (sometimes MUCH more) on lunch and often get much less enjoyment out of it than an app, but there’s this mental barrier people have against judging the price of apps on the same scale as other luxuries they purchase. Movies are up to what, $15 now? You get maybe 2 hours of enjoyment from a movie, and I’ve gotten at least 2x or 3x as long out of probably every game I’ve paid for (and some I haven’t – ad supported).
At this point it takes guts to price an app at what you think it deserves, and despite the fact that it’ll cost me a bit more money, I hope more developers are willing to step up and charge what their work is worth. In the end, I’d rather have 10 great apps for $15 each than 150 $0.99 apps which never really live up to their full potential. Now that we have nearly 500,000 apps in the market it’s time to focus on quality instead of quantity, and hopefully everyone here can see that supporting that would be a good thing.
I agree folks. $17 is WAY too much for an app, but at the same time it’s cool as hell. Not $17 cool, but cool nonetheless.
For stuff like this, give me a free trial or sorry it’s a no go.
No thanks. Learned my lesson with SPB Shell 3D, a very expensive memory hogging system crasher. This is less appealing than SPB was. Learned that great home replacement apps are still free or cheap, and run lean (Go Launcher EX, Launcher Pro, ADW). Galaxy Nexus, GSM.
Heh, sorry, but 17 bucks for a LAUNCHER is way too moch. Thank you, I’ll pass.