Hello all,
New to the forums and I'm pretty much a complete newb to smart phones as well (I haven't had a cell phone in close to 5 years lol). Anyway, got a Galaxy S2 a couple weeks ago, started wondering about customization, etc and ran into this site.
Looking at some of the home screens you guys come up with, they are amazing.
But, I honestly have no idea where to start to make my own. Do I need to root my phone to do this stuff? Or, is it as simple as downloading some themes and icons and installing them?
I don't mind reading and/or teaching myself how to do it, but, if someone could just point me the right direction I would appreciate it.
Thanks in advance for any help. Cheers.
actually , you have no need to root your phone if you just want to change some icons or themes , but you may change your launcher so you can use those themes or dock icons that you have download in xda .
Try different launchers to replace your standard home, they're all good. Adw is what I normally use, launcher pro is good, go launcher also.
sinkster
I was actually curious about this too. I like PyroMod, but I think the Opacity of the windows should be closer to 80% and the notification fonts should be white instead of black. What specifically do I need to modify for this to work?
Thanks for the replies.
I downloaded and installed Launcher Pro, just to try...I have read about ADW and a couple others that I will try as well once I get the hang of this thing.
Are there any problems that may pop up with the phone using 2 launchers? I guess not or you guys wouldn't be using them.
im using launcher pro and zeam launcher and i had no problems so far
Without rooting, you can change icons on your homescreen (using a home replacement app and/or Desktop Visualizer), use modified widgets as long as they're not system apps, customize your lock screen with WidgetLocker, and of course change your wallpaper. You can also use something like Multipicture LWP to do a bit more creative stuff - like embedding icons on the wallpaper in PS and stuff.
With rooting you can do all of those things, plus modify your status bar & notification icons, change icons for apps officially (not just on the homescreen), modify system apps or remove them, etc etc. If you have no reason to root, don't. It's a common misconception that you have to root to make your phone look good. While it definitely helps, it's not necessary.
If you do plan on rooting and are interested in theming, see if MIUI is available for your device. You may like it, and the theming possibilities are endless. If you don't like it or it isn't available, other roms have theming built in as well - CM7 is one that comes to mind.
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plainjane said:
Without rooting, you can change icons on your homescreen (using a home replacement app and/or Desktop Visualizer), use modified widgets as long as they're not system apps, customize your lock screen with WidgetLocker, and of course change your wallpaper. You can also use something like Multipicture LWP to do a bit more creative stuff - like embedding icons on the wallpaper in PS and stuff.
With rooting you can do all of those things, plus modify your status bar & notification icons, change icons for apps officially (not just on the homescreen), modify system apps or remove them, etc etc. If you have no reason to root, don't. It's a common misconception that you have to root to make your phone look good. While it definitely helps, it's not necessary.
If you do plan on rooting and are interested in theming, see if MIUI is available for your device. You may like it, and the theming possibilities are endless. If you don't like it or it isn't available, other roms have theming built in as well - CM7 is one that comes to mind.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
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Rooting might be something I would think about down the road, but, being so new to this I will probably hold off for now. I wouldn't mind unlocking it at some point though as I do travel to the States a couple times a year and would like the freedom that provides for my trips.
Thanks for the detailed reply, it is appreciated and I will look into some of those apps that you mentioned.
Hello there everyone. I have many widgets that I use on my device, and each of them come with different sizes. Because of that, it takes forever to scroll through all of them, even when in reality, I only have 20 different ones in total (But if each has 10 sizes, it adds up...) I found an app that combines them, but it requires root. (Or does it? Here.) I believe that Cyanogen does this on it's own, but I don't want to root my phone or change ROMs because I would be unable to pay for a new phone if something were to go wrong, nor do I have a spare to get me by if it was bricked. I know apps like WidgetLocker override stock apps without root, is there a way to do that with the widget selector?
Also, is the selector a function of the launcher, not the operating system? I'm using GoLauncher if that makes a difference.
Thank you very much.
So it is not possible to achieve the picker I want without root?
In that case, is there a foolproof, 100% successful way to root and change roms? All of the ROM threads I see have endless posts of bugs, things not working, and bricked phones. They also throw around lots of terms (Like flash this... But to where?) without explanations for noobs like me.
Can anyone help me out?
Hi there,
Think you can try Golauncher Pro, it let's you to custom the number of icon you can put on the home screens (default 4 by 4 ) and also lets you to resize the widgets.. hope that's what you are looking for.
Sent from my HTC Flyer P510e using XDA Premium App
Can anyone recommend me a good (preferably free) background changer app? The ones I've come across are all either too complicated or way too simplistic. I'm using Zedge right now, but it doesn't always work. I'd like to be able to choose which albums to pull from...
I'm running the SkyICS rom with the ICS lockscreen and one thing I love is that there is the option to either unlock the phone or to directly open the camera app, which is handy because very often I'm getting my phone for the sole purpose of taking a picture. I was wondering, is there any way to customize or has anyone made a customized lockscreen that has other apps available on it? I'd like to have a lockscreen where depending on where/how you swiped you could go directly to camera or sms or the web browser or the general unlock. Does such an app/mod exist, or is there a way to do it manually?
Thanks
Edit: Apparently I forgot the original bit of advice before "Search is your friend" is "GOOGLE is your friend." Looks like WidgetLocker LockScreen may be a good option. Before I throw down $2.99, is that what I'm looking for? Also, can we confirm that it works well with ICS?
I use Widget Locker and, if you have a few tasks you do consistently and don't want to open up the phone to access everything, then it's very useful. It does work with ICS, but if you're just interested in being able to open the camera it's not worth the money. It's worth it if you want to access more features at once, like the dialer & e-mail & SMS & camera because it's very customize-able.
I use Widget Locker as well. Works great, very customizable (especially with all of the themes available here)
Well worth it if you want to truly make your lockscreen your own. I've combined it with Missed It so I can see texts/calls/emails at a glance.
I'm the type of person that loves customization, but only if it looks professional. I was wondering if custom lockers that are available from the play store are legitimate or are they just "apps". By that I mean, if I'm using a custom one, will there ever be a time where a lack of ram can cause it to bug out like not opening, are they going to show my homescreen for a second before running, ect? If so, what makes them different from the stock lock screen? Is the stock locker an app? Is there any way to make a lock screen part of the system? I am rooted and I'm using stock rom, mainly because my phone, ZTE N9810, has no development on it.