Hi. I am a graphics guy not a coding guy to start out, and i love zune home and metro ui launchers for my droid 2. And i wonder if it is possible to program a new contacts, text, gmail, phone, etc.. app that looks like metro ui but still has all the functionality of the origional app? Idk if this is a coding issue or a hardcore theme making issue? Any insight would be appreciated
I really like the WP7 interface. As far as my ability I could help, but I can not programming, but only to do simple graphics. It's my thread. at least I tried
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=826888
Related
Hey guys,
I bought a sexy gadget, the Hero. IMO, the UI is slick.
I like the way I can setup the 7 screens, but I only use the HTC widgets.
Why ?
Not because there are not better alternatives. But most of them are ugly.
Of course, this is my opinion.
So I am looking for nice looking, sexy widgets and applications that can compete with what is running on the iPhone.
Examples of what I think is good (what follows is my opinion, yours can defer) :
- Flyscreen
- Cardiotrainer
- most of Googles applications, I like the minimalistic interface
- IM+ (I switched to the full version, to get rid of the ads).
There are also other good applications, but (again in my opinion) the interface can be improved.
They do the job, and usually very well, but I would not trust my dad with them, he would get lost.
So what do you think ? I just read an article stating that the polish of a program is as important, if not more important, then to add extra functionallity. I 100% agree, I need 1 app to do 1 thing, maybe 2, not 20.
Usually it just gets bloated, ugly and unresponsive.
So share with the rest of us your list of sexy applications with nice looking interfaces.
Or maybe you do not agree with me ?
Jan
although we have the hero's built in widgets, I love koxx's message widget, which pulls email and sms together, and his calender widget, both of which are fully sinkable.
Also, there is the Sony Erricson AmbientTime app that was floating around, which is pretty
So I am a Newbie in regards to customizing Anroid - but not regarding Terminal usage, rooting, hacking iphone and WinMo - but i need some easy answers as it seems that answers to my questions are buried too deep; so here goes:
1. Does anyone have any detail or tutorials on alternate launchers? Specifically, what can I do other then change the number of screens? Can I change color schemes (away from Touchwiz)? If so, do these color changes flow into the Touchwiz apps like eMail and Calendar?
2. Email and Calendar seem so customized compared to other Android versions. Touchwiz has some neat features, but Moto has nicer email and calendar. Can the email and calendar apps be replaced? I don't mean adding a widget, I mean different version of the app? One example - I can't click to dial a phone number in the Captivate calendar (either in location, subject or body). Exchange email sync, does sync subfolders, but not option to move emails to other folders. Do I have to wait for new ROMs?
3. Rooting - if I root, what can i do? i know I can change the sideload setting, but what else? Any good links in regards to what root will let me do?
4. How do you delete panels? I see reference to this, i assume this is a benefit to rooting.
5. Custom ROM - when we get this option, how do you back up your old ROM? If you need to return the phone, or reflash to factory, there must be a way, right?
If anyone has links, I like to read as much detail as I can get.
Thanks for any help.
LauncherPro is definitely worth checking out. Lots of customization with home screens and launcher icons and even the app drawer.
alphadog00 said:
So I am a Newbie in regards to customizing Anroid - but not regarding Terminal usage, rooting, hacking iphone and WinMo - but i need some easy answers as it seems that answers to my questions are buried too deep; so here goes:
1. Does anyone have any detail or tutorials on alternate launchers? Specifically, what can I do other then change the number of screens? Can I change color schemes (away from Touchwiz)? If so, do these color changes flow into the Touchwiz apps like eMail and Calendar?
2. Email and Calendar seem so customized compared to other Android versions. Touchwiz has some neat features, but Moto has nicer email and calendar. Can the email and calendar apps be replaced? I don't mean adding a widget, I mean different version of the app? One example - I can't click to dial a phone number in the Captivate calendar (either in location, subject or body). Exchange email sync, does sync subfolders, but not option to move emails to other folders. Do I have to wait for new ROMs?
3. Rooting - if I root, what can i do? i know I can change the sideload setting, but what else? Any good links in regards to what root will let me do?
4. How do you delete panels? I see reference to this, i assume this is a benefit to rooting.
5. Custom ROM - when we get this option, how do you back up your old ROM? If you need to return the phone, or reflash to factory, there must be a way, right?
If anyone has links, I like to read as much detail as I can get.
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Download as many free launchers you can find (HelixLauncher, LauncherPro, ADW Launcher, etc)
2. I think you have to wait for new ROMs.
3. Root gives you access to certain applications not available and certain permissions...I'm kinda new at this so I'm probably wrong.
4.Press the left most icon, then press EDIT.
5. I think there is a way to save your ROM states
@li1on - thanks for the replies - especially number 4! something really simple i missed. I guess i have NOT played with every menu yet.
guess this thread is done
Viewing Angles of Different Launchers
Hello my friend I just wanted to clear you up on the launcher area.
My personal favorite launcher is GO Launcher, Zeam and another one called Nemus.. I Really Really LOVE Nemus (search it through the Market) only bad thing is whenever I was.. lets say on Facebook or Google+ and I hit the home button the launcher would take a couple of seconds to re-establish the home image with your short-cuts and folders, for me it just semmed like it was slow and glitching a some points. Although nemus launcher is fairly a new launcher to hit the market the current released version (0.9.7 updated on july 6,2011 Size: 0.90MB) I see great things coming from this developer! This launcher gives you great organization funtions but until the developer fixes his bugs in his software, I am going to stick with GO Launcher, do to Ease and how fast it is and it supports themes and custom widgets. Btw quick tip* Zeam Launcher is the fastest launcher out there. Original source [via Lifehacker]
Below are different description viewing angles of launchers for android. Most of the info is repeated but greatly do i admire the opinions of others feedback.
http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2...n-launcherpro-adw-zeam-go-launcher-quickdesk/
http://android.appstorm.net/how-to/customization/six-best-android-home-screen-launchers/
http://lifehacker.com/5627286/battl...launchers-adw-vs-launcherpro-vs-helixlauncher
Hello!
Im 16, and just finished my first Android Application. It is for Android 3.0 Honeycomb Tablets, and it is a simple Note-taking app inspired by Penultimate for iOS...
It has a beautiful UI, and some awesome features including a pop-out calendar for finding dates (Calculator coming soon!).
I would like some feedback on it, and I would like to know some more features I could add (What else do you use when taking notes?).
It was tested on a GTab, so if anything is wrong on your device, let me know!
Here is the market link: Jot Notes
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.almondmendoza&feature=search_result
Nice, simple notetaking/drawing app. Works well with no apparent bugs on Flashback ROM. The black background is kind of cool, but kind of weird; it might be nice to have a white background option and a black pen. I prefer the UI of PenSupremacy (notebooks with multiple pages, exportable to a variety of formats, etc.), but it still has some bugs that make it unusable for me, so this is nice to have while the bugs get worked out.
Hi! This is my first post here.. Though I've been lurking for quite some time now.
I'm really interested in a WP7 style messaging app. I've used the 'messaging metro beta' by Ferran Garigga and found it unsatisfactory even without the in-app purchase. The other app (i forget the name) by bitmod dev was even worse.
I mailed Ferran and he's working on improving on the app. Till then I guess the options are dead.
I recently found a thread on the Galaxy S page for a WP7 style theme. It had themed apps like browser and MMS. If I can't have a mms that works like WP7 at least i can have one that's themed like it.
So I tried to fool around with it. Epic Fail :|
Was wondering if someone could port it?
Or at least tell me how?
I can't help, but AFAIK, mms.apk is a core system application that handles SMS/MMS. To "port" another mms.apk would mean to first decompile the app, make necessary changes, handles how it registers with the core system, take care of dependencies, changing appearance etc.
For the last task, changing appearance, you can use this script under windows, try googling "apk manager". Extract the apk, get its icons, play around with color schemes in .xml etc.
---------------------------------
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Mini GT-S5570 via xda-dev app
CyanogenMod 7.2.0-RC3-KANG by squadzone
I'm interested in your opinions on the Microsoft Launcher, especially if you are on it or were. This looks pretty good to me: Microsoft Launcher Review
In the past, I tended to return to the phone's native launcher because:
1. It ended up being actually better all around for what I wanted to get done.
2. It's easier to leverage other people's experience.
My reasons for going with 3rd Party launchers have been:
1. OEM was not as flexible. I can't seem to get the dark theme even with LWP+. All of my Setup screens are still black on white. It's a checkbox on the Microsoft Launcher. I can lay things out with as many icons on a row as I want and can even get my own icons for the things that have icons that make no logical sense.
2. After a factory reset you can restore your setup. With OEM you cannot unless you have root and restore from TWRP. I don't have root for the first time with my Note 9.
3. You can bring the same interface it to any Android phone such as from a Samsung to a Pixel 2 (LG) with no costly layout time and learning curve.
I don't know if it affects battery life or not. I'm used to having root so I don't know if there are apps that let me see what sucks on the battery and what doesn't.
I'm also interested in the best way to put to sleep battery suckers for processes I don't use.
Thanks!
Been on it for a while now.... And honestly I love it. It really is so useful. It has time-line built in. It has loads of customization like for example probably the best implementation of adaptive icons I've ever seen. Every last one of my icons are the shape I choose without that stupid white background. It actually convinced me to switch back to using outlook as my main client and it's been so long since I had some of the most basic email features on mobile I forgot how nice it is. I hope they continue this project. I also started testing using edge as my browser by forcing it as default and my battery usage while online seems to be better... Could be placebo. Gotta say aside from some optimization issues/ redraws here and there I've been super happy with my decision to try it out. I have religiously used pixel Launcher or the open source version here on xda called rootless launcher for years. It's been eye opening for sure... I previously used Nova and a few others but so far I'm sticking with this new Microsoft project to try and diversify my digital footprint considering I've spent the better part of my adult life freely giving away my personal info to Google without a single thought.
bobby_digital234 said:
Been on it for a while now.... And honestly I love it. It really is so useful. It has time-line built in. It has loads of customization like for example probably the best implementation of adaptive icons I've ever seen. Every last one of my icons are the shape I choose without that stupid white background. It actually convinced me to switch back to using outlook as my main client and it's been so long since I had some of the most basic email features on mobile I forgot how nice it is. I hope they continue this project. I also started testing using edge as my browser...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just figured out I forgot to subscribe to my own thread.
That thing is a lot more than a launcher. It's an environment administrator that seems to have forgotten what Android and Samsung say are impossible.
Question: I have all of my apps organized into folders. If I try it out, will it blow those up?
Thanks!
I have all mine in folders but I don't know for sure if it will allow them to import. It did import all my widgets and settings though so I'd assume the same for the folders.
bobby_digital234 said:
I have all mine in folders but I don't know for sure if it will allow them to import. It did import all my widgets and settings though so I'd assume the same for the folders.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it! I'm not sure if I'll do Microsoft, Nova or stock.
The more I work with the new TouchWiz, the more I think when they say TouchWiz is getting pretty close, my response is close to what, infuriating people? Just trying to get a black theme with the TouchWiz is a challenge while with Microsoft and most apps it's a checkbox. TouchWiz has zero control over icon size, spacing, shortcut text, behavior, gestures, or anything else. I have multiple file managers that all are labeled File Manager and I can't even rename one of the to Asus File Manager. TouchWiz on KitKat even works better. I can get black anytime I want to and with folders, I can see enough of the cascaded icons to know what is in it, and I can arrange them so the most important one is in the forefront. With Oreo, I can download a black theme if I set up a Samsung account and give them rights to everything but the 3 digit codes on credit cards, and allow them to use the information for any purpose and give it to anyone. Their privacy policy makes Google look like a saint.
Thanks for your feedback!