Related
Call me picky but, I just couldn't seem to find a theme that I really liked. Android 2.0 comes close but I liked the red of the blur ROM - so, wanting a red-ish theme and a smaller app drawer at the bottom, I decided to make my own theme.
I also seem to be a bit of a rarity in that in the main, I actually like the default status bar icons so I don't feel it necessary to make the battery round or android shaped or anything. So, on mine, the battery looks like a battery...I dunno, seemed kinda logical to me ;-) I added a little touch of colour to some of them but nothing OTT I don't think (I really like my 3G activity icon now - reminds me of an old modem with status LED's
There are a couple of things that I pinched out of other people's ROMs (gmail icon from djengiz), widget background from ZilverZurfarn's melange theme but most of it has either been replaced or re-coloured by me
Thanks to everyone I've nicked stuff from and anyone else I haven't "credited".
And, of course, a big thanks to Cyanogen for his awesome ROMs
It runs OK for me - I've only got a G1 so use it on anything else at your own risk.
Guarantees :
1) I will mysteriously disappear should this break everyone's phones.
2) I probably can't fix it if it doesn't work (mention it anyway though)
3) That it will not work on your Nokia N95
4) Or your Sony Ericsson C905
5) That I've not finished tweaking it
Todo list:
=======
*** Status bar background - re-thinking the brushed metal look - let me know what you think about this
*** Power widget background (still using ZilverZurfarn's but want to get my own there ASAP)
* Browser link shortcut icon needs re-colouring (forgot for this one)
** Analogue Clock Widget
* App drawer handle needs "tidying" - I'm not as happy as i could be with it
Hope you like it - let me know how it works out for you.
http://www.lordsmiff.nl/downloads/Lordsmiff_III.zip
Cheers,
Smiffy.
Update to 4.2.5
============
I've re-done most, if not all of the icons that I just pinched from the blur ROM and I've been a bit more selective of the stuff that I've recoloured as I thought it was looking a little too dark previously. I've also taken out a lot of the un-used png's that have been hanging around as the ROMs have developed.
I initially used the Android 2.0 theme as a template for mine and there were a few files in there that could come out and some from the blur ROM that I'd copied over and weren't used on the G1. Oh, and I've also deleted all thumbs.db files in all my drawables folders - so it should be a little smaller now and putting less un-needed crap on your phones.
I've been using this myself for a couple of days now and not had any FCs at all so I think you're good to go
Theme-porn follows:
I do love the design of the power widget, I may have to steal that for my alienaqua theme, it has similar colors.
Really nice choice of colors, great job on this and reading the post made me laugh. Thanks for sharing, keep up the great work.
This looks real stylish.
A lot of nice details and as prash said: the power widget is beautiful.
that lock screen is sick. one of the best i have seen !
Edit: just realised it was from the 2.0 theme lol. but nice the anyways
hey what lockscreen is that?
I just downloaded this theme, and the app drawer tab for me is still the same as cyanogen's stock one that he had and not like the android 2.0 type tab you have in the screenshots. any thoughts on how to get it to look like that?
It includes both the Advanced Launcher and the standard one - if when you press the home key, it doesn't give you the choice, use the application manager to remove the default setting (you can switch back if you don't like it).
I originally wasn't going to used the advanced launcher but it is much more stable these days and I haven't had any problems or slow down with it.
It's the only one of the two that I have skinned so far - I will update it in the next day or two so that they are both skinned
Thanks for the positive comments everyone This was only something I was doing for myself but like someone mentioned above, it's in the details and I wasn't happy with only doing a few bits and pieces so I went further and reached a point where I was happy to share it with others.
There's still a few things I want to do yet but I'm having the weekend off and will get back to it on Monday
If it i can leave it alone for that long... ;-)
Cheers,
Smiffy.
great looking theme!
lockscreen looks good but dont function nicely
I am not too crazy about the red but otherwise this is a really good looking theme. It's very fast and stable.. no force closes or other crashes yet. Great work!
I just installed this theme over CyanMod 4.2.4. It works well with no issues so far.
Well, there's a few new icons in 4.2.4 so I've updated my theme and played with a lot of the new stuff.
It's working OK for me with no FCs but caveat emptor and all that...
Thanks for all the positive comments. I've also gone back to the standard lock screen for the time being - as much as I didn't care about the stretching issue in landscape, I wasn't overly happy about nicking someone else's work so I may do my own in the near future.
Might not though so don't hold your breath or anything - in fact, I actually like this standard one...we'll see.
Oh, and about the analogue clock - I'm going to make it slightly darker but not do much more than that to it - do people even use it?
Cheers,
Smiffy.
Update to 4.2.5
============
I've re-done most, if not all of the icons that I just pinched from the blur ROM and I've been a bit more selective of the stuff that I've recoloured as I thought it was looking a little too dark previously. I've also taken out a lot of the un-used png's that have been hanging around as the ROMs have developed.
I initially used the Android 2.0 theme as a template for mine and there were a few files in there that could come out and some from the blur ROM that I'd copied over and weren't used on the G1. Oh, and I've also deleted all thumbs.db files in all my drawables folders - so it should be a little smaller now and putting less un-needed crap on your phones.
I've been using this myself for a couple of days now and not had any FCs at all so I think you're good to go
Cheers,
Smiffy.
SK-ROM Beta 0.3
This beta is now closed, as I am about to launch Magnolia RC1, the first release candidate for this ROM. Thanks to all who have tried out the ROm for their support and input.
Steve
ROM Features:
Based on stock HTC Sense/Froyo OTA v3.26.605.
Uses latest stock HTC kernel to help alleviate battery drain.
"Matte" Sense UI. I completely redid all "shiny" elements of the Sense UI (including green highlights), status bar and HTC apps to make then smoother, more refined and professional looking (IMHO).
Added notification pulldown power widgets, custom skinned by me. Thanks to |||bored|||, dopeshiziot and JSCHiSurf for this.
Apps softkey (left softkey) is mapped to Maxim's AppFolders, a fully customizable app drawer that I have come to depend on, since I first saw it implemented in deficitism's Uncommon Sense. A BIG nod to deficitism for both the idea and the tools to figure out how to do this.
Right softkey mapped to browser (will consider other mappings if there is interest). Thanks to JsChiSurf for the tools to learn how this is done.
Added battery percentage mod and smooth sense icons. Thanks to jercik for these.
Added 6-Bar signal meter. Thanks to deficitism for the tools to learn how this is done.
3-in-1 power menu (reboot option) by snq-
Replaced HTC Car Panel with Google CarHome.
Transparent clock background (flip from HD, for now...) and settings/profile widget backgrounds. Props to HeyItsLou for the inspiration for these.
Made the lockscreen and rosie navbar transparent, and the statusbar pulldown semi-transparent. Thanks to shoey-n for the services.jar mod to allow this.
Slight graphical mods to dialer to make it easier to see and use (IMHO).
All framework and resources images were compressed and optimized to maximize RAM.
Statusbar clock, alarm, debugging and location icons are hidden by default. I have attached Zip files to post #3 to add these back, if desired. Thanks to pardonmyfreedom for the tutorial on how to do this.
Removed what seems to be agreed upon as bloat from the ROM (e.g., Vcast, Footprints, etc.). Other quasi-bloat apps (e.g., VZWBAC, Quickoffice) are in data/app/ and can be uninstalled.
Blue spinning android boot animation from Natemz over at androidcentral.com.
ROM is fully deodexed, zipaligned and rooted.
More...
Known Bugs
For some reason the newest Gmail (2.3.2) won't intall over the version included in Beta 0.3 I posted earlier. Seems that this is not an uncommon problem with various ROMs. I have, as of 11:30 PM EST 12/12/10, uploaded the fixed ROM with the latest Gmail (same download link as before). So, if you are new to the ROM, no worries, the latest version is included. If you already have v0.3 installed, many apologies, but you will need to reflash if you want to have Gmail 2.3.2.
----------------
I have been a member of XDA for a long time, and I recently switched from WM to Android. I have been messing around with some ROMs for my own use over the past month or so, and figured it was time to release a ROM into the wild in hopes that the community can help me make it into something on a higher plane than I can do on my own.
The ROM is based on the stock HTC Sense/Froyo OTA v3.26.605.1 that I pulled from the always excellent virtuousrom.com. By painstakingly analyzing what the wonderful devs on this site have been up to via countless "diff" commands and analyzing smali files until my eyes hurt, I rebuilt/modded the ROMs framework and apps to make the ROM I have been looking for.
I want to state that, while I did my own coding/theming and implemented the features of this ROM slightly differently than the devs I learned them from, I owe ALL of this ROM to those devs' hard work an ingenuity. All I did was learn what they were doing and figure out how to make it work the way I wanted.
I also want to note again that I am very new to cooking (have been a themer mostly) and this ROM is BETA. While I have found it to be stable for my own personal use, I cannot say it will be for you. Therefore, download and flash at your own risk, for I take NO responsibility for what happens to your phone if you install this ROM.
Again, I want to state that I owe all of the devs listed above for their hard work and ingenuity, without which I would not know how to do any of this. If anyone believes I have not credited someone I should have, please shoot me a PM and I will correct my error. Similarly, if I have unintentionally violated acceptable etiquette in any way, please let me know via PM, and I will try to fix the problem.
Install by downloading the ROM to your SD card (or copy it there from PC) and rebooting into recovery, WIPING data and cache (I wipe dalvik cache, as well) and selecting the "install from sdcard" option. It takes a while on the first bootup, so please be patient.
**NB- there have been extensive changes to the framework in version 0.3, so I recommend a full wipe, even if you have 0.2 installed.**
Please enjoy, and I hope to receive your feedback, help and ideas for improvement. I believe this will be the last beta before RC1, unless there is something I am missing
Steve
Changelog
Beta v0.3
I plan this to be the last beta before releasing RC1 under a new, better name. So, please, any bug reports, comments are welcome. Thanks.
Added custom skinned status/notification bar power control widgets. Credits in 1st post.
replaced Ziggy's kernel with latest HTC stock kernel. Didn't feel performance bump was worth battery drain.
Fixed 6-bar signal being limited to only 4-bars. Thanks to |||bored||| for reminding me of this.
Many small framework and resources tweaks.
Beta v0.2
Fixed sync notification animation
Added 6-bar signal meter
Added data/app functionality to allow for uninstalling some apps that might be considered bloat.
Updated gapps.
Added Zip files to post #3 to allow customization of icons shown in status bar.
Reserved
OK. Sorry for the wait. The status bar icon show/hide files are now attached. I tested each briefly, so they should be fine, but nandroid before flashing, just in case.
Steve
nice to have you over on our side, any chance of getting that wallpaper?
@mothy
Here you go...
Wow! This looks great! Amazing features for a beta at V 0.1 haha. I'm definitely gonna switch from the latest skyraider to this. Thanks for the hard work on this man! Hope to see you around more, hopefully updating this thing of beauty with even more features!
I'm stoked to try this out!! I can't download it from my phone for some reason tho. Can you put a mirror up?
Are there any known bugs?
love the matte look.. will keep an eye on this. how does the call answer lock look like? is it matte also or transparent? any plans on implementing the 6 signal bar? and could you elaborate on the easier to use dialer?
DroidBee said:
Are there any known bugs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only "bug" I know is that the animated sync icon isn't working yet. I am sure some will come up, though, as I haven't used every app/feature of the phone.
radiohead14 said:
love the matte look.. will keep an eye on this. any plans on implementing the 6 signal bar?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. I am just getting into the services.jar files to see how this is done. Hopefully in a few days I will have it. I would like to learn how it works rather than just copy it over from someone else.
sk806 said:
Yep. I am just getting into the services.jar files to see how this is done. Hopefully in a few days I will have it. I would like to learn how it works rather than just copy it over from someone else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks.. i edited my post.. with additional questions
how does the call answer lock look like? is it matte also or transparent? and could you elaborate on the easier to use dialer?
radiohead14 said:
thanks.. i edited my post.. with additional questions
how does the call answer lock look like? is it matte also or transparent? and could you elaborate on the easier to use dialer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As to the call answer, it's transparent. I was toying with replacing the android guy, but couldn't settle on a picture.
As to the dialer mod, it's just a graphical mod to make the keys and dialing text easier to read. Sorry, should have been clearer...
dude0909 said:
Wow! This looks great! Amazing features for a beta at V 0.1 haha. I'm definitely gonna switch from the latest skyraider to this. Thanks for the hard work on this man! Hope to see you around more, hopefully updating this thing of beauty with even more features!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I will do my best...
Xb_toaster said:
I'm stoked to try this out!! I can't download it from my phone for some reason tho. Can you put a mirror up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look at your PM box.
Steve
So far this rom is running great! One minor gripe, about 50% of the time when I unlock the phone, I get the "Sorry, android.mms.apk has force closed" or whatever. I'm sure it can easily be fixed with a patch though, because I've seen a bunch of other MMS fixes on lots of other peoples roms. Other than that this rom is fluid, fast, and very easy on the eyes. Love it.
Is Visual Voice Mail removed from this? I know some people consider it bloat, I consider it essential.
I have been running it for two hours now - working great!
It does have VVM. I use it, too.
As the the mms force close, I have also seen this on other ROM threads, hasn't happened to me on this one, though. Will work on a fix tomorrow. Thanks for pointing that out.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
dude0909 said:
So far this rom is running great! One minor gripe, about 50% of the time when I unlock the phone, I get the "Sorry, android.mms.apk has force closed" or whatever. I'm sure it can easily be fixed with a patch though, because I've seen a bunch of other MMS fixes on lots of other peoples roms. Other than that this rom is fluid, fast, and very easy on the eyes. Love it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As to the MMS FC issue, may I ask a few questions: Have you tried fixing permissions in recovery? Did you use Titanium backup to restore your text messages? Have you ever had apps installed on your SD card?
Thanks!
Steve
I've never used titanium back up, I've never had apps installed on my sd card, but no i have not tried fixing permissions.
It only did it for the first day or so. It's perfectly fine now. I'll try fixing permissions though.
Introducing Salvage-Mod for you Droid Incredible. SalvageMod is a community build Android 2.3.3 rom. We are always looking for contributors, as we are completely community built at open source. If you would like to be involved, shoot us a PM. For a full list of features, see our changelog in post 2.
Code:
#disclaimer
* We are not responsible for anything that may happen as result
* of using any of our software. By flashing them, you take full
* responsibility. That said, we extensively test everything before
* releasing it. Thank you.
INSTRUCTIONS
*If you're new to ROM's, you must first root your device. Guides to do so can be found around the forums.
1) Download Salvage-Mod from here
2) If you would like to use Google applications, you can download those here
3) Place the above files onto the root of your sd card through USB
4) Power off phone and reboot to recovery by holding volume down while booting. Once in recovery, wipe your data and caches, including dalvik, through the recovery of your choice.
6) Once those are done, flash Salvage-Mod and optional apps.
7) Reboot and enjoy.
All source code is available on the Salvage-Mod Github
The kernel source can be found here
For more information, including screenshots, visit salvage-mod.com
Please report issues to our issue tracker or join us on IRC freenode @ #Salvage-Mod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Known issues:
Internal storage mount internal / external
CHANGELOG
Beta 2-
Fix SD Card issue.
Beta 1-
Change brightness by sliding across the status bar
Toggle wallpaper scrolling
Toggle Launcher rotation
Added lockscreen music controls
Imported lockscreen settings from CMParts -Lense -Rotary -Revamped Rotary -Plus extra settings
Now supports Flac
Added chat bubble option to Mms
Add option for complete silent state to volume rocker controls
Fix general application settings not working (now have their own preference screen, ex. Unknown sources)
Fix headset icon on notification bar
Customized Protips for Salvage
Custom VM heap added to Salvage Parts --cyanogen
Added Swipe left and right for Gallery
Added Launcher2 quick app uninstall
New settings app, combines settings, quick app settings, phone information and SalvageParts in a tabbed UI.
Longpress notification widgets to open there respective settings - radadev
Allow clearing of Voicemail notifications.
Add an option to disable stock voicemail notifications.
Add an option to enable or disable the screen On/Off animation
Disable Launcher2 from drawing caches for all screens on screen scroll
Removed all launcher2 wallpapers, now just Salvage Wallpapers
Refresh Salvage Wallpapers with some new wallpapers + a few from Launcher2
Decrease padding in upper and lower default launcher workspaces
Disable lock on launcher portrait mode
Launcher: Add new interpolator from AnderWeb for elastic desktop
Add Terminal Emulator to Parts
Launcher: Hide icon labels option
Launcher: Add fullscreen option
New wallpaper title and credit field - thanks cyanogen
Added changelog view in SalvageParts app
Added overscroll options to SalvageParts (bounce, glow)
Added CPU Freq to SalvageParts
Added mms option for back to all conversations list
Added font size options in mms (sender, subject and message font size)
Changed battery icon read (now reads in 5% increments) --thanks Daniel Sandler for the images
New SalvageMod boot animation
Fixed certain apps not showing up in the market
Better scaling of larger images like facebook sync images - Jef Cliver
Updated Google applications add-on - updates apps and fixes market links
Added galaxy style notification widgets - CyanogenMod
Allow 3rd party applications install by default
Build with 2D AOSP gallery instead of 3D for performance
What sets this ROM apart from CM7?
5thAgent said:
What sets this ROM apart from CM7?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, Salvage mod introduces a lot of the great features about cm, while adding our own, as well as our attempt to make the rom overall more user friendly. We also only currently build for 2 devices. The full changelog in post 2 should tell you more
barnacles10 said:
Well, Salvage mod introduces a lot of the great features about cm, while adding our own, as well as our attempt to make the rom overall more user friendly. We also only currently build for 2 devices. The full changelog in post 2 should tell you more
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This ROM looks pretty slick.
It uses the stock gb launcher finally
Smokeey said:
It uses the stock gb launcher finally
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course! hope you enjoy it!
mmuzzy said:
This ROM looks pretty slick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Hope you enjoy it. Camera does work and I haven't been able to find any bugs as of yet. I don't have data so maybe someone eelse will be able to confirm all that working. I don't see a reason why it shouldn't though.
Everything works.
It looks a bit like a cross between CM7 And Ultimate Droid.. I was using CM7 since the first RC and I began to hate it.. did you pull a lot of code from CM?
Jrkoffjonson said:
It looks a bit like a cross between CM7 And Ultimate Droid.. I was using CM7 since the first RC and I began to hate it.. did you pull a lot of code from CM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Core device properties are pulled from cm. There are a few other features we have pulled from cm but certainly not everything.
Alright cool, I'll give it a shot later today! Thanks for the work!
Installed this a few hours ago. Looks like a nice ROM, pretty stable too. Might be a little worse on battery life than CM7 and MIUI but it's early. Nice work.
scottjb said:
Installed this a few hours ago. Looks like a nice ROM, pretty stable too. Might be a little worse on battery life than CM7 and MIUI but it's early. Nice work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. As always you'll want the rom to settle through at least one full discharge charge to gauge battery. Usually makes a difference =P
might try this, bored at work.
im suprised how small the file size is. 65 megs....cm7 is 85
Definitely looks slick. I will flash tonight and report back tomorrow
This is a very good ROM in my opinion. It's nice to see another AOSP ROM, especially another great one.
i really like the settings menu
I like the ROM, but I can't find where I can use my custom ringtones.
Never mind somehow they were deleted?!?
cuban11182 said:
I like the ROM, but I can't find where I can use my custom ringtones.
Never mind somehow they were deleted?!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Deleted from your SD card? Unless u wiped your sd the update script shouldn't touch sd
Hello XDA,
This is my first time releasing anything so I'm pretty exited. With that said please forgive anything I've omitted in said excitement.
I used to use RetroDroid by nhnt11 on CM7 because...well I really like the idea of running a custom ROM like CM7 or MIUI and disguising it as AOSP 2.2 . Looking around I did not see any themes for MIUI for doing so, so....here we are. I don't know if anyone else will be interested in such, but I made it so I decided to share it
I use the term "made" very, very, loosely. I based most of the images from 2.2 ROM dumps and various sources about the internet. Like many I'm not positive of the origin of all the images I used, and while I'll do my best to give credit where credit is due I'm sure I'll forget something. So, if you see your stuff and want credit or want it gone please let me know.
Consider this a "beta" theme. Haha...I know right a beta theme... I still have a LOT to do. Partly because I'm still learning, partly because I only themed what my phone uses for now. I only have one phone to test it with (incredible, official 2.3MIUI) so if your interested in using it and somethings not working right (or you just have suggestions) let me know. I'll be using this myself, and will be working on it as often as possible but randomly and with no obvious pattern to updates.
Thanks goes out to;
Джаггернаут over at miui.us for great guide to theming MIUI
nhnt11 for the inspiration
the MIUI devs that work so hard to bring us awsome ROMs
Google and all their devs for making an awsome OS and constantly improving on there UI design
probably somone else...
Screenshots or it didn't happen? Well, check this post's attachments!
So whats themed so far?
Launcher2
Music*
Messaging*
Gmail*
Framework
SystemUI
Lockscreen
Icons
*here because they're in there, but not much is done
That's it for now.
There's nothing a MIUI theme can do to harm your phone, but...If it does its not my fault. Period.
Downloads?.....you actually want do download it??
Current: ---> Version 104
Old:
*Version 1.03
Version 1.02
Version .01
Changelog
V1.04
Added more notification images
Lock-screen music controls added (auto show / hide) (kanged from suave - I did NOT make them, just modded to match the froyo theme and incorporated them into the LS)
V1.03
Added more systemUI stuff including but not limited to a new pull-down grabby thingy(my first EVER .9 pngs, man was that fun)
Launcher2 mods added - started modding the music widget, new folder icons and in folder image. (Planning on trying to mod any widgets I can to match the geniewidget/powerwidget)
Super cool text color changes to go along with a new in folder image (thanks bsbabcock for pointing that out. There's a lot more inconstancy with text colors like that and I can use all the help I ca get finding them all.)
Some more stuff I'm forgetting
Reverted some framework stuff that was causing issues
V1.02
Added some framework.
Tweaked various systemUI icons and added a bunch of new ones.
Added wifi icon, 1% battery icon, bunches of notification icons, some are still missing or with placeholders though.
Cleaned up most of the placeholder icons i kanged from other mtz's.
Made a new dock from scratch - the stretched hacked stock froyo one was bugging me.
V.01
Initial release
Press thanks bro?
Nice theme return me to Froyo time.
Normally don't respond in theme threads, but just had to in this one amazing work and keep it going.
Nice, thanks ! I'll give it a try later
Glad to see there's at least a couple people interested in nostalgia. I'll be back and forth from the computer today but I'l be working on finishing up the status bar (wifi, numbered battery, notifications and maybe some more data connectivity icons) let me know if you guys see anything glaring you'd like prioritized.
You make me so happy.... My G1 is definitely missed
Update coming later today with 1% battery option(my gosh that took forever to make - and yes, I mean make), wifi icon, themed framework, lots of sysUI additions, and some stuff I'm forgetting.
Sent from my ADR6300 using xda premium
antEris said:
Update coming later today with 1% battery option(my gosh that took forever to make - and yes, I mean make), wifi icon, themed framework, lots of sysUI additions, and some stuff I'm forgetting.
Sent from my ADR6300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha, nice mate, this is what i want but not complete yet due lack of time xD still working on it, now you make it this is my little things, every things is un complete , but you can have some more resource (extract from original )
modded clock widget, some more notification icon , menu icon and another lockscreen ( miss music player - it's not complete )
if you want any help, i'm here , just beginner but i can help on some things in MIUI theme , i really like this idea
V.02 I'll add a channglog to the op later today but for those who want to see my progress here's v.02
https://www.box.com/shared/d12f0adae4f11e01f99a
Sent from my ADR6300 using xda premium
You should add Droid Sans in to give this that polished look Great work!
memories coming back now
Nice theme. I gotta admit I really liked plain Froyo.
A couple quick observations. I suggest white text title on folders, and somehow more contrast/visibility of toggles. The meizu themes are a good example of highly visible toggles. Appears to have the makings of a very sharp (light) theme. Good work.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
update up
Mostly minor changes and additions
Added automatic lock-screen music controls
antEris said:
update up
Mostly minor changes and additions
Added automatic lock-screen music controls
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went to Miui for this Theme... T'WAS WORTH IT! I was complaining to my girlfriend the other day about how there weren't any RetroAndroid Themes! My dream? A miui 8-Bit theme! maybe i need to learn to theme..
This looks good, Im gonna give it a try. Thanks!
So, a few days ago Apple announced iOS 8 and previewed some of it features. This made me look back into Android, specifically Stock Android. And with Google I/O just around the corner, here are some things that I wish Google will improve on.
The Dark, Old, and Gloomy Holo UI
When it first came out, Holo UI was the thing. Everyone who was still on Gingerbread wanted it, they installed launchers and even modded framework and stuff. Skip forward 3 years, Holo UI is still here with a little change on the icon colours. Some may love it, but it's definitely getting boring. There are rumours that the next version will be 5.0 instead of 4.5. I hope that with the 1.0 jump, there will be a major UI overhaul.
The Not So Helpful Quick Tiles
Quick Tiles, when you look at it it really seems to help make things quicker. "Oh look, the WiFi icon. If I press this, it's gonna toggle the WiFi, right?" NOPE, clicking it will bring you to the Settings section while long pressing it will toggle it instead. I don't know how long it's been like this but I've only tasted stock since 4.2.2 and it's still like this on KitKat so... Someone in the UX Department needs to be scolded.
Not only it's rather misguiding, the toggles itself doesn't offer that much. There are no tiles for NFC, Sync, Auto Rotation and there's no way to add them either. Custom ROMs and manufacturers' skins however offer all these for years and even after a few 0.1 updates, Google doesn't seem to touch this. Which makes me wonder if most people prefer it Google's way. I definitely don't.
KitKat Transparency Not Being Used
When KitKat was announced, the transparent status bar and navigation bar really wowed me. I was hoping the colours would match accordingly to which app is opened. But apparently, apps need to be updated and coded to take advantage of this. Which is fine, there are a few apps that does this but what baffles me is Google isn't one of them. Other than Google Now Launcher, everything pretty much stayed the same. How can others be motivated to do this when even Google isn't doing it.
It Lacks Appeal to the Public Eyes
Have you seen what other skinned Android can do without installing other apps? Multi-Window, Dual Capture Camera, Slow Motion Video Capture, Floating Apps, Power Saving Mode, Video Calling, and many more. What can Stock Android do? Well, normal stuff every Android smartphone can do except those above I guess. Stock Android are designed for developers and tech enthusiasts so it should be normal to stay as de-bloated as possible but don't you want some of those goodies that other skins offer?
Your Thoughts?
Yes, there are apps that can do the stuff above and Xposed Framework can help, but we're talking about pure stock Android without roots and many other stuff. Which makes me wonder, being a Nexus user, how many of you guys stay pure stock?
With competition heating up such as iOS's possible split Window Mode and Windows 8.1's Cortana, not to mention other emerging OS such as Tizen, Ubuntu Touch, Sailfish and Firefox OS; Android need to step up it's game on the next version. What do you think will make Stock Android better?
uchihakurtz said:
So, a few days ago Apple announced iOS 8 and previewed some of it features. This made me look back into Android, specifically Stock Android. And with Google I/O just around the corner, here are some things that I wish Google will improve on.
The Dark, Old, and Gloomy Holo UI
When it first came out, Holo UI was the thing. Everyone who was still on Gingerbread wanted it, they installed launchers and even modded framework and stuff. Skip forward 3 years, Holo UI is still here with a little change on the icon colours. Some may love it, but it's definitely getting boring. There are rumours that the next version will be 5.0 instead of 4.5. I hope that with the 1.0 jump, there will be a major UI overhaul.
The Not So Helpful Quick Tiles
Quick Tiles, when you look at it it really seems to help make things quicker. "Oh look, the WiFi icon. If I press this, it's gonna toggle the WiFi, right?" NOPE, clicking it will bring you to the Settings section while long pressing it will toggle it instead. I don't know how long it's been like this but I've only tasted stock since 4.2.2 and it's still like this on KitKat so... Someone in the UX Department needs to be scolded.
Not only it's rather misguiding, the toggles itself doesn't offer that much. There are no tiles for NFC, Sync, Auto Rotation and there's no way to add them either. Custom ROMs and manufacturers' skins however offer all these for years and even after a few 0.1 updates, Google doesn't seem to touch this. Which makes me wonder if most people prefer it Google's way. I definitely don't.
KitKat Transparency Not Being Used
When KitKat was announced, the transparent status bar and navigation bar really wowed me. I was hoping the colours would match accordingly to which app is opened. But apparently, apps need to be updated and coded to take advantage of this. Which is fine, there are a few apps that does this but what baffles me is Google isn't one of them. Other than Google Now Launcher, everything pretty much stayed the same. How can others be motivated to do this when even Google isn't doing it.
It Lacks Appeal to the Public Eyes
Have you seen what other skinned Android can do without installing other apps? Multi-Window, Dual Capture Camera, Slow Motion Video Capture, Floating Apps, Power Saving Mode, Video Calling, and many more. What can Stock Android do? Well, normal stuff every Android smartphone can do except those above I guess. Stock Android are designed for developers and tech enthusiasts so it should be normal to stay as de-bloated as possible but don't you want some of those goodies that other skins offer?
Your Thoughts?
Yes, there are apps that can do the stuff above and Xposed Framework can help, but we're talking about pure stock Android without roots and many other stuff. Which makes me wonder, being a Nexus user, how many of you guys stay pure stock?
With competition heating up such as iOS's possible split Window Mode and Windows 8.1's Cortana, not to mention other emerging OS such as Tizen, Ubuntu Touch, Sailfish and Firefox OS; Android need to step up it's game on the next version. What do you think will make Stock Android better?
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Custom ROMS are way ahead of this.. Stock, naaaa.. Custom roms you get features satablility and sort of completeness. It defeats stock by a long margin.
Rohit02 said:
Custom ROMS are way ahead of this.. Stock, naaaa.. Custom roms you get features satablility and sort of completeness. It defeats stock by a long margin.
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Yeah, tried stock for a week, couldn't stand it :silly: With all those bugs, it makes you wonder if people at Google actually uses stock Android or never tried custom ROMs, lol.
uchihakurtz said:
Yeah, tried stock for a week, couldn't stand it :silly: With all those bugs, it makes you wonder if people at Google actually uses stock Android or never tried custom ROMs, lol.
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LOL,Nice one.
+1 on that