For the most part, ICS/JB is a user interface change. Pleasant looking menus with a cool blue color. There are quite a few options out there to give your G2X the look/feel of ICS/JB but I had my eye on efficiency.
The Ice10 Theme and Holo apps are easy on the battery and use little additional CPU. Of course, if you increase cache sizes and use fancy transitions YMMV. But I'm quite happy with my ICS/JB themed phone.
1. Start with the latest CM7 Nightly. I don't know if this works with other ROMs, but it should. GB7.2 is recommended.
2. DO A NANDROID BACKUP
3. Install the ICE10 Theme: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2003484
. . This gives you some of the ICS/JB look/feel.
. . Put the Ice10.apk on your SD Card, click to install. Then start the Theme Chooser app, select Ice10 and click Apply.
. . If you get a theme error that you are missing assets for your screen size, just click Apply Anyway. Reboot phone.
4. Install Holo Launcher: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobint.hololauncher
. .Holo Launcher on XDA
. .Holo Launcher is a brilliant app that gives you the ICS app drawer, screens, and menus. The screenshots don't
. .do it justice, it looks even better than that!
5. Install Holo Locker: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobint.locker
. .Holo Locker on XDA
. .This gives you the ICS lock screen!
For the Ice10 Theme, the G2X resolution is already 240DPI so no changes are needed.
I paid for Holo Launcher Plus because the full ICS/JB experience is well worth the $1.99. It includes additional transitions and improvements. Holo Launcher is insanely customizable! The dock is scrollable and can have up to 10 icons. The Desktop and Drawer each have settings for the "scrolling cache", which is none, Low quality, Normal quality, and High quality. All this really means is the higher the quality, the more RAM it uses to make the transitions faster and smoother You can also change the desktop and app drawer grid size so you can fit a hell of a lot more apps on your screen.
For both Holo apps, I recommend going into the Settings and disabling Auto check for Updates and Auto Report. I don't like my apps checking for updates in the background, uses battery and CPU.
The Ice10 theme XDA thread contains wonderful info on final mods you can make to truly have the complete and total ICS/JB look/feel. Keep in mind that isn't a G2X thread so some of the mods, like the final Menu mods, are phone and ROM specific, so someone would have to make those additional mods specific for the G2X and specific ROM.
The below screenshots are for my CM7 Nightly ROM. Notice how Holo Launcher gives you a dramatic difference in the Settings. The Menu button is also different and the menu options are completely customizable.
Sorry for the lo-res Starship Enterprise wallpaper but it was a camera photo taken of the TV screen some days ago. Zooming in lost lots of resolution.
This is really a fantastic mod. I have all the user interface benefits of ICS/JB while having a totally operational phone with HW acceleration. I really don't need or don't care about using any other ROM at this point, although I'm waiting for Mazout's next kernel.
Thanks to EricTheLuminant for pointing me in this direction.
Remember to THANK ME if you appreciate this!
Thanks I'll probably try the theme later tonight.
Two quick questions: what does your notification center look like? And can you pull down the notification center from the lock screen?
That makes it really easy to check my texts if its in my shirt pocket.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Ravinxx said:
Thanks I'll probably try the theme later tonight.
Two quick questions: what does your notification center look like? And can you pull down the notification center from the lock screen?
That makes it really easy to check my texts if its in my shirt pocket.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can pull down the notification bar from the lock screen. I just tested it on my phone, I didn't even know ICS could do that!
With the above mods notification bar looks like a cross between ICS and GB. It can be modded to look exactly like ICS/JB.
I see you are enterprising on the theme and guide I mentioned earlier! This is good, but you are missing some vital elements that can make CM7 even more ICS/JB like.
Using this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1363239, you'll find many more options. If you are experienced enough or willing to read instructions carefully, you can also use the ACpatcher software to custom mod several apps and the framework to increase the experience. It's very technical, and I don't have the willpower to walk through each and every step.
However, I have made some patches already based on the 2013-03-01 cm7 nightly. I'll see if I can upload them for you guys to give it a whirl. They add ics style notifications, transitions, and phone. See the screenshots attached.
EricTheLuminant said:
I see you are enterprising on the theme and guide I mentioned earlier! This is good, but you are missing some vital elements that can make CM7 even more ICS/JB like.
Using this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1363239, you'll find many more options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took a quick look. My focus is on stability and performance, and some of the mod apps mentioned in that thread have huge RAM usage, crash often, and/or have more negative than positive reviews, including the status bar apps.
The Holo Locker lock screen is much better than the GB lock screen. It's easier to use. The only thing I miss is being able to change from ring to vibrate to silent from the lock screen.
Holo Launcher makes the entire experience much more pleasant. It only uses 38MB of RAM.
The Ice10 theme from what I can see uses minimal RAM.
Oh of course. I'm not talking about the RAM using apps, nor do I use any of them...I'm talking about themeing and replacing the framework and phone app to better suit ICS/JB style. That status bar image is completely stock, as is the phone.
These don't affect battery, merely the look.
Download the patches I have made from my dropbox and put them on your sd card.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d8g2bdll7i2jn3a/jv85IfKLeG
These patches were made based on the 2013-03-01 CM7.2 Nightly, and I do not know if they will work for older versions or other roms. They are made specifically to work with the Ice10 theme. It is important that these are flashed in the correct order.
1. In CM recovery, make a nandroid backup (although you can also flash the undo.zip files in case of failure. They will restore the original unmodified apps, and you should only need to flash the update-cwm-All-in-1 ICS v11-undo.zip)
2. Select mounts and storage
3. Select mount /system
4. First Flash update-cwm-All-in-1 ICS v11-patch.zip
5. Second Flash update-cwm-JBPhone-pach.zip
6. Last Flash update-Full.ICS.Fonts-with.Clock.Font.zip
7. Wipe cache and dalvik
8. Fix permissions
9. Reboot (will take a few more minutes than usual to rebuild the cache)
Afterwards, you should notice a few things. Your status bar, notifications, font, phone, etc. will be themed more properly to ICS/JB. Good luck!
thanks
Thank to both of you. Till now i have been using ics theme on ADW launcher. Many key components were not themed to ics. Hope to get it sorted now.
Thanks again.
itzmydamnlyf said:
Thank to both of you. Till now i have been using ics theme on ADW launcher. Many key components were not themed to ics. Hope to get it sorted now.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install Holo Launcher and you'll think your phone came from heaven.
.
Eric, you are going to have to tell us EXACTLY what your patches include. I don't install anything blind.
That would help wouldn't it?
Inside update-cwm-All-in-1 ICS v11-patch.zip:
You'll find theme modifications to the system apps bluetooth.apk, deskclock.apk, downloadprovider.apk, music.apk, phone.apk, systemUI.apk. These will further theme the system apps to the color and style of ICS/JB.
framework-res.apk is also modified to add ICS/JB transition animations, as well as ICS/JB themed notifications and status bar.
If you look at the images I posted earlier, you'll notice that the status bar notifications have that little square on the left, in the manner of ICS.
Inside update-cwm-JBPhone-patch.zip,
you'll find another phone.apk, framework-res.apk. This must be flashed after the first patch, as it will overwrite the the previous ones. This will give your phone app a more ICS/JB style look as well. See screenshots from earlier.
The last patch, update-Full.ICS.Fonts-with.Clock.Font.zip, merely adds the ICS roboto font across your device.
The undo-patches simply return the themed apps back to the original CM7 stock ones. Is it imperative that the theme patches are flashed correctly in the instructions mentioned previously if you wish to use them.
Will the patches work with Hellfire rom?
Wow. Very very cool, Eric.
What if I only want the settings mod?
_______________________________________
Sent from my G2X using the XDA App
Ah. Forgot to mention that is a different mod.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1596034
Try this.
Also, I don't know if these patches work with Hellfire. You could give it a go and let us know!
As you say sire.
Will flash them today and let you know.
EricTheLuminant said:
Ah. Forgot to mention that is a different mod.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1596034
Try this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it! IT WORKS!
However, the headings ("Wireless and Networks", "Interface", etc) aren't the nice cool blue color. How do I get that?
BTW, if anyone is having problems copying settings.apk into system/root using ES file Explorer, after you click "Mount File System (mount /system as writable)", you need to close ES, then restart.
It has to do with the parameters set by the Ice10 theme. This is probably out of our control, unless someone edits the theme file itself to change the codes and such. Way out of my ability, anyways.
games
EricTheLuminant said:
It has to do with the parameters set by the Ice10 theme. This is probably out of our control, unless someone edits the theme file itself to change the codes and such. Way out of my ability, anyways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
will i be able to play shadowgun deadzone on cm7... and does it just change the theme or is it in bedded
It's just a theme change. You shouldn't lose anything. Why, is there some tweak needed to play that game?
ya .. it only can work on droid 3.0 and up .. cannot get it to install on gb 2.3-7 im sure they have a modified version for gb but u cannot play multiplayer on it
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app
Sorry, this is purely for cm 2.3.7
@moe said:
ya .. it only can work on droid 3.0 and up .. cannot get it to install on gb 2.3-7 im sure they have a modified version for gb but u cannot play multiplayer on it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
????
WHAT can only work on droid 3.0?
Cannot get WHAT to install on GB 2.3.7?
Cannot play multiplayer on WHAT?
You might want to take a class in written communications.
Hey everyone.
So I've recently taken up ricing, and naturally stumbled upon the KWLP app, which allows for incredibly in-depth custom live wallpaper creation.
I hit a snag through, something that I picked up on as I finished creating my first homescreen: It messes with the theme engine on my HAM7! Basically, if you go into any stock app (Dialer, Contacts etc) there is a very blurry, blown up red square in certain UI elements like the top bar of the dialer and so on. I believe it is the background of the KWLP app icon, which is the same red square with rounded edges.
Does anyone have any idea as to why this strange bug is happening, or a possible fix for this? I tried just ignoring it for a while, but it kind of sticks out like a big, blurry pixelated ,red sore thumb. For now I have stopped using it, but would really love to go back to it as there really is little else that comes near it in terms of functionality.
Thanks a bunch!
Hi
Scruffykid said:
Hey everyone.
So I've recently taken up ricing, and naturally stumbled upon the KWLP app, which allows for incredibly in-depth custom live wallpaper creation.
I hit a snag through, something that I picked up on as I finished creating my first homescreen: It messes with the theme engine on my HAM7! Basically, if you go into any stock app (Dialer, Contacts etc) there is a very blurry, blown up red square in certain UI elements like the top bar of the dialer and so on. I believe it is the background of the KWLP app icon, which is the same red square with rounded edges.
Does anyone have any idea as to why this strange bug is happening, or a possible fix for this? I tried just ignoring it for a while, but it kind of sticks out like a big, blurry pixelated ,red sore thumb. For now I have stopped using it, but would really love to go back to it as there really is little else that comes near it in terms of functionality.
Thanks a bunch!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the same problem on huawei mate 7.
Did you find any fix for this ?
KLWP right? I used it a few months before and had no problems at all. The only thing not working was loading some themes from playstore, but no bugs like you described it. Which launcher did you guys use? I used smart launcher. If you share your wallpaper I can try it.
So I heard recently that as of the newest versions both Facebook and Messenger have blocked the ability to theme theme via Substratum. Does anyone have more info on this? I feel like we should be kicking up a storm to get them to try and change their mind or something. They don't seem to have added any new feature or anything that requires them to stop theming, it seems like they literally just decided on behalf on hundreds of thousands of Android themers that we're not allowed to theme their stuff anymore.
Anyways, ramble over, any info would be appreciated.
Replying to this for great justice. I've gotten Swift Black's dark theme to work and apply briefly only a handful of times, and it's painfully frustrating that massively used apps like Facebook or any of Google's apps don't just provide a native dark mode option, especially when so much of the smartphone world is being brought to us on AMOLED/LED and just on efficiency alone.
I can deal with the main app not necessarily working in dark mode, but disallowing Messenger makes me crazy. Allo, Hangouts, Android Messages, and almost every other app I use work with the themer just fine. Staring at a white screen at night when replying to messages is so unappealing. :\
I really hope it gets unblocked, or someone else can suggest a way to get dark mode from another source. MAJOR kudos if someone can (and without root )
I've stopped using Facebook Messenger all together for this very reason not only is it annoying to have all the extra **** piled on top of it but now I can't see him at either **** that
I use "Frost for Facebook" as an alternative, because it has a visually nice dark mode. It's not as good as the main app tho.
Yeah, I wish they weren't so hard nosed about theming
So...
Goodbye eyesight? ;--;
It's more to do with them changing resources and preventing perfect decompilations, not to stop theming through overlays as a whole. If you're clean about your overlays, overlays can still theme, unlike some variants of Play Store where overlays will not affect English.
Can anyone advise how to go back to Android 11?
My phone updated this morning and I really cannot get on with 12 - It just looks awful to me, especially the white backgrounds in folders. The dropdown drawer has taken about 10 steps backwards.
I've been a Sony guy for a long time and I'm always prepared to give things a chance, but this update is just awful
You phone updated this morning and at 4:48 you decided you have given it enough of a chance. Amazing.
I can't find the white background you mentioned.
patrickt said:
You phone updated this morning and at 4:48 you decided you have given it enough of a chance. Amazing.
I can't find the white background you mentioned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the white backgrounds look cheap and apps blurr against the white background and far worse than they were before , the drawer is a big step backwards in usability for me and there are no new features as far as I can see
So, considering the negatives far outweigh the positives, and being a decisive adult I would prefer the phone as it was prior to update, what's wrong with that? It's my phone after all
Pretty simple really
I'd add a screenshot of the white folders, but the screenshot option seems to have gone AWOL
And, I don't have any white background. My app icons are on a black background. I went through all the apps on my home screen and only three have white--two very old dictionary apps I use and the Amazon app.
Whenever I get a new camera or a new cellphone or sometimes a new operating system it's seriously flawed. After a week they seem to heal themselves. Must be, couldn't be me. But, if you feel you used it enough this morning, good luck with Android 11.
I should mention that my Sony Xperia 5 II is basically Sony. I have no bizarre modifications except for the latest PhotoPro available.
Managed to find screenshot so you get an idea what I'm on about
My phone doesn't have anything fancy going on either
If the white screen with icons is side sense, my background is black.
No, it's not side sense - I group apps on my home screen in folders. These folders all now have a bright white background when before there was a nice black one
ak301tk said:
Can anyone advise how to go back to Android 11?
My phone updated this morning and I really cannot get on with 12 - It just looks awful to me, especially the white backgrounds in folders. The dropdown drawer has taken about 10 steps backwards.
I've been a Sony guy for a long time and I'm always prepared to give things a chance, but this update is just awful
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel your pain. Updating to Android 12 brought me back here to XDA to answer this very question.
So far it looks like unlock bootloader is the first step on your way to going back to 11. Something im still considering.
PRofec said:
I feel your pain. Updating to Android 12 brought me back here to XDA to answer this very question.
So far it looks like unlock bootloader is the first step on your way to going back to 11. Something im still considering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sort of getting used to it now. I still think a lot of the design choices are a backward step and the white folder backgrounds are annoying and cheap looking
Having the different icons in the drawer was way better than blocks with the smaller icons on
It does seem to run faster though
Well, let's hope the next firmware update is an improvement. Editing themes seems to have disappeared. 'Material You' should be a feature in A12 allowing personalisation of themes, but thats not present.
Edit. Material You is a Pixel thing apparently.
IV used nova launcher and not encountered that I did notice the clock has a blue thing on it then day and date is white I do have dark mode on aswell