What a wonderful way to kick off August, a celebration with PRIDE, LOVE and UNITY among the Dabawenyos and the Lumads of Mindanao. A celebration of LIFE and POSSIBILITY!

Kadayawan Festival is an annual event here in Davao City, happened during the 3rd week of August. It is a celebration of GOOD HARVEST and a celebration of LIFE.

The name "Kadayawan' derives from a friendly greeting "MADAYAW' means "DAYAW" from a Dabawenyo dialect --- that is GOOD, VALUABLE, SUPERIOR or BEAUTIFUL.



Our Lumads celebrate it's thanksgiving in a way of a dance. By the so-called rituals, they give their thanks to their god for a wonderful blessings they have received. These implies how they treasure their traditions by their cultural and historical heritage from generation to generation.

The Dance is very important to the Mindanaoan Lumads, that is why the INDAK-INDAK sa KADALANAN was created to showcase Mindanao's talent from different town contingents, which comes from different provinces and cities of Mindanao.




With the drum beats, agong and kulintang filled the street loud and fast, the splash of colorful costumes and rantings of folk rhythms echoing the city street --- the Indak-Indak sa Kadalanan or street dancing is finally OPEN!

This is my first time to cover as one of the participating Bloggers in this event. After applying for a registration from our City Information Office, I got my ID and I'm ready to get in and take pictures.

Preparing for tomorrow's Indak-Indak sa Kadalanan. Thanks sponsor...#fujifilm #fuji #kadayawan2015 #kadayawansadabaw2015 #k15 #davaolifeishere #davaocity

A photo posted by rainepal (@palraine) on Aug 21, 2015 at 6:21am PDT

The Indak-Indak sa Kadalanan serves as a great reminder to all people of Mindanao and to the whole world that when we talk about gatherings and festivity it talks about UNITY among people and the RESPECT for different religious and cultural backgrounds.

Here are the 15 different contingents who compete and showcase the best of Mindanaoan's through a lively and noisy festivities engaging with the harmony of dance, music and thanksgiving.


1. MUNICIPALITY OF BAGANGA, Davao Oriental (4th Runner-up) PHp50,000




2.  KAPITAN TOMAS MONTEVERDE  Sr., Central Elem. School - CULTURE & ARTS Dance Troupe, Davao City




3. TINGAGUN DANCE TROUPE - Malabang, Lanao del Sur




4. POLOMOLOK PERFORMING ARTS GUILD, South Cotabato (3rd Runner-up) PHp100,000+PHp50,000 for winning the BEST in MUSICALITY AWARD.



5. TRIBUNG GRANDEHANON from  Catalunan Grande, Davao City

6. STO. NIñO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL - Kalingawan Dance Troupe,  Sto. Niño South Cotabato (1st Runner-up) PHp400,000.




7. DAWAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL - Mati City, Davao Oriental (2nd Runner-up) PHp300,000.

They will represent the city for the Aliwan Festival to be held in Manila.




8. OPTACIANO HILAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL - Manambulan, Tugbok, Davao City




9. JOSE L. PORRAS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Davao City




11. GOVERNOR GENEROSO, Davao Oriental




12. STA. ANA NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL - Performing Arts Guild, Davao City




13. F. BUSTAMANTE CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Davao City




14. TRIBU MAPAWA, Maragusan, Compostela Valley




15. CABANTIAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL, Davao City (GRAND CHAMPION) PHp500,000 cash prize+PHp12,000 worth of fuel certificate sponsored by Phoenex and 100 pieces of shirts from Air Asia.

Their presentation is taken from the story of B'laan tribes, where one will mistakenly offended the spirits of a giant tree.



  

PARA ANG SAKIT HINDI TUMALAB, HINDI LUMALA, HINDI TUMAGAL.

I love personalizing my smartphone & tablet android phone, changing the looks by tweaking every detail or by pulling whats given to me by default, like changing  the icon and wallpapers. And just recently, I was hooked with this two launchers which I find it more flexible and it has a customization to use platform that make it more easy.

Your HOME SCREENS will never look the same with these Mobile Applications.


I used 3 Android Smartphone mobiles and 1 Android Tablet.

My two mobiles, STARMOBILE and SAMSUNG S3 use this App. But in my example here, I used the screenshot I took from my STARMOBILE phone which I purchased via GROUP PLAN from SUNCELLULAR.


HOLA Launcher



Smaller and yet bigger, just a single swipe from the corner your desired app will appear. Just click GO.




One-click with the HOLA BOOST, help keeps clean, fast and clear your mobile phone.



Has a WEATHER SERVICE CENTER that forecast your weather location anytime. Here you can put and add other location, and set it to your desired temperature unit.




It has a QUICK SEARCH MODE button, just double clicking the phone you will see your other files and tools that is arrange alphabetically, to make your search more faster.



And by long clicking the phone, you will get more customizing options to enjoy with.



But in my case, I am more comfortable using the PERSONALIZE icon in choosing THEMES, WALLPAPER, LOCKER and FONTS.



Love decorating my mobile with this cute themes from HOLA, very clean and lovely to look at.



Right now, I am using "THE BRIGHT" Sunshine HOLA Launcher Theme, a FREE downloaded app at Google Play. This is not a stand alone app, you must have Hola Launcher to use!



How to apply the theme:

1. Download HOLA LAUNCHER. Then install it.
2. Then at the Personalize Setting of the launcher choose your desired theme. Install the THEME.
3. Run Hola Launcher, Skin > Theme> choose this theme and Apply the theme.

It will look like this:



And added with FREE HIGH QUALITY WALLPAPER by Hola Launcher, the exact look of my mobile now is like this:


By the way, Hola Launcher Wallpaper can be share via INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, DIRECT TWEET MESSENGER, TWITTER POST, or any other social media networking sites.



See my post at my @palraine INSTAGRAM Account.

Cool shot buddy. #holalauncherwallpaper #holalauncherapp #gadgets #mobileapp

A photo posted by rainepal (@palraine) on Aug 11, 2015 at 8:42am PDT

Hola Launcher is very small because it has only a 2MB large. That is why it is quick to download and easy to install. Design to have a quick memory usage, it will not lag your mobile that is why your phone stays fast and responsive.

Having that simple and clean themes it also have a customize beautiful wallpapers and fonts that you will surely like!

So impressive, that even with its small memory capacity--- HOLA settings and feature menus it manage to stay flashy with all the functionality the launcher provides.

> DOWNLOAD: HOLA Launcher   for FREE





APUS Launcher



Smallest, Fastest and Simplest mobile launcher that help keep to boost your device's speed using APUS BOOST and save your battery life with POWER+.

Here is my sample screenshot from my NYX mobile phone. So boring isn't it?


So what I do, is to look for another android launcher that will help me distinguished from my 4 Android gadgets. Since I'm using HOLA with my StarMobile and Samsung S3, I choose to install APUS Launcher for my NYX and FABTAB Quadro 7.




With APUS Launcher I can make SMART FOLDER to organize my apps, it's the same with Hola.



The APUS BOOST help clean your device's RAM in one tap, this will make the transferring of your use app much better and more faster.



Just click the Apus Boost Icon and it makes your phone soar in the sky, I'm talking about the speed and synergistic functioning.


Though APUS and HOLA has the same MENU and style the only difference between the two is the SEARCH MENU location.

APUS Launcher SEARCH menu is on the HOME SCREEN, which is more easier to search for a word or a topic without using a regular browser. While HOLA Launcher SEARCH menu is located on the other side of the Home Screen, you need to swipe it going right.




It has a RADAR App to discover trending apps nearby at real-time.



I'm sure some of you will ask this question, WHY THERE IS A HANGING icon in the menu?



We called it the WIND CHIMES. The Wind Chimes swing to remind you about upcoming calendar events, activities, and hot news.

To change the theme, same as with the Hola Launcher, APUS has its own THEME to choose from. Just click the THEME Icon.


I pick the I HAVE A CRAYON APUS THEME, because it is pink, cute and has a simple look. Feels like you are in a fairy tale world.

Actually, I choose this because it is a child-friendly theme, and sometimes my kids are using this NYX mobile, better to have a safe icon.

As you click the INSTALL NOW button you are redirecting to GOOGLE PLAY STORE. Wherein you are ask to INSTALL and ACCEPT the theme and ready to OPEN it. After opening you are redirected again to the main screen  and advice to click APPLY.



The result is this:



Something is missing here, the TIME, DATE and the WEATHER FORECAST is not clear using the wallpaper of I HAVE A CRAYON THEME. Need to change the wallpaper.

For the WALLPAPER, set a new breathtaking HD wallpaper in your phone.

Visit your APUS Tools folder. Click the WALLPAPER icon. And choose your desired photo from FEATURED or LINKED Wallpaper.

I choose the HEART with a pebbles.



You can also share it via FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM & TWEET only.



See my post here at my @jelopal INSTAGRAM Account.

Apus wallpaper is cute! #apuslauncherwallpaper #mobilelauncher #app #mobileapp

A photo posted by Jelo Pal (@jelopal) on Aug 4, 2015 at 5:45am PDT

APUS POWER+ , this will extend the use of your battery life and at the same time it monitors your battery usage.




APUS Launcher is lightweight in sized and customization, it only have an install size of 3MB. Though compare to HOLA Launches that has 2MB, but still manages to deliver a fast and useful experience.

PROS

1. It has under 3MB install size memory use.
2. Can sort and manage apps.
3. It has a good optimization system.

CONS

1. What I don't like about APUS, is that this app is compatible with some of my devices. It can only downloaded to my NYX and FABTAB Quadro 7.
2. It has a very limited customization options.
3. You can't remove/transfer folders or app icons.

> DOWNLOAD: APUS Launcher for FREE



CONCLUSION: Given the two launchers I use and review, both are the BEST ANDROID LAUNCHER for the year 2015.

For me, as long as it gives me comfort in using my phone, and it is safe to use there is no problem. It is like giving a face-lift to my old boring phone, a change of pace from the so called out of the box software experience. All you need to do is to TWEAK your device and put a behavior that suits your personality for your daily usage.

Are you using a mobile launcher now? If NO, why not give it a try and use my suggestions here, and give me your insights.


Thanks so much for reading.