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After seeing the Gloss Suite I have to make a plea for the non-rooted (don't hate, just don't want to risk it till I know for DURN sure how the warranty issue shakes out or the bootloader can be relocked) for a SIMPLE Themer... don't take away the Nexus UI style, leave the number of screens alone, don't add extra docks or task bars...
... just a way to change the icons/clock/wallpaper (ok maybe multiple wallpapers). Don't add in another layer of complexity. There are PLENTY of Home Replacements out there that make it look like a Hero, iPhone or whatever, and add extra crash-able things.
Icons/Clock/Wallpaper(s)... and maybe the Weather/News widget.
It isn't really feasible without using a home replacement that has its own version of each app that you want to theme, so that the themer can theme the home replacements version of it.
Well then, just a simple HOME that leaves the Nexus UI intact and does the iconography
ilanad said:
Well then, just a simple HOME that leaves the Nexus UI intact and does the iconography
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Are you talking about Icons within the tray? Or icons on the screen? If on the screen, you could just use bettercut.
david1171 said:
It isn't really feasible without using a home replacement that has its own version of each app that you want to theme, so that the themer can theme the home replacements version of it.
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Click to collapse
Wait. No. (thats' what I get for being asleep when reading these).. no you mean things like OpenHome, Home++, PandaHome are carrying a full compliment of apps? Or just stubs.. cause on my G1's, when Google Maps got updated, the Icon's in their themes got updated..
No, I'm just looking for a dirt, dumb simple Home replacement then, that LEAVES the Nexus UI alone (the HOUSE, the scrolling of the apps there, etc.. ) just let me make an Icon/Wallpaper set and don't add tons of extra things..
and AnyCut/BetterCut, maybe.. but then would have to do it on every icon, every time...
Now that the 2.1 source is out you could alter the launcher2 source to reroute the resource calls. You have to refactor the namespace as well though as a non-rooted phone wouldn't allow you to install a second com.android.launcher2. Though like openhome/dxtop/ahome that would only alter app icons in the launcher, app icons elsewhere (long press home/settings/etc) would still have their "real" icons
Not hard, but not really fun either.
This is, at best, ridiculously difficult and, at worst, impossible.
It's not worth the effort because rooting is dirt simple, so if you want it done, you'll probably have to do it yourself.
Buy BetterCut and replace shortcuts on the homescreen - they'll still be the original in the launcher, but it's the closest you will get without root.
Casao said:
This is, at best, ridiculously difficult and, at worst, impossible...... but it's the closest you will get without root.
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Then how do OpenHome, aHome, Home++, Freshface, et.al. do it ... without root.
ilanad said:
Then how do OpenHome, aHome, Home++, Freshface, et.al. do it ... without root.
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They completely replace home, and I'm not aware of any of them changing the actual icons for the .apk files. They might be creating custom shortcuts, which is possible, and if you reprogram the launcher you can do whatever you want. That's not a skin though, that's a completely redone launcher.
i know this may seem like a step in the wrong direction BUT i prefer the hero style application drawer opposed to the nexus one launcher. does anybody know how to get the hero app drawer onto the nexus one? ive tried themes from GDE and pandahome but they leave much to be desired. i guess i just got used to the app drawer on my rooted G1 and mytouch and i want it on my nexus now too! my N1 is rooted and running Cyanogen's latest rom. im not familiar with adb but i know how to install files through a file manager and im learning to use metamorph as well.
[email protected] said:
i know this may seem like a step in the wrong direction BUT i prefer the hero style application drawer opposed to the nexus one launcher. does anybody know how to get the hero app drawer onto the nexus one? ive tried themes from GDE and pandahome but they leave much to be desired. i guess i just got used to the app drawer on my rooted G1 and mytouch and i want it on my nexus now too! my N1 is rooted and running Cyanogen's latest rom. im not familiar with adb but i know how to install files through a file manager and im learning to use metamorph as well.
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Click to collapse
If you are learning metamorph, the closest you can get is to make it look like the hero launcher. Resize the images from the launcher/res/drawable, and put them in your launcher2/res/drawable-hdpi.
Know-Fear said:
If you are learning metamorph, the closest you can get is to make it look like the hero launcher. Resize the images from the launcher/res/drawable, and put them in your launcher2/res/drawable-hdpi.
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Click to collapse
But the thing is if you put the hero images in the L2 then it will look odd since the left and right buttons function differently.
i should have been more clear lol...i downloaded metamorph the other day and i have been toying with applying themes and such. i dont in fact know how to create the files necessary for creating the metamorph.
to be quite honest, id be satisfied with "pandahome-hero" except for the fact that it wont work with better cut or live wallpapers. the launcher buttons work perfectly on that theme but better cut/live wallpapers are a deal breaker for me.
[email protected] said:
to be quite honest, id be satisfied with "pandahome-hero" except for the fact that it wont work with better cut or live wallpapers. the launcher buttons work perfectly on that theme but better cut/live wallpapers are a deal breaker for me.
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The phone icon in Panda Home Hero is off a little and I can't stand it xD.
i hadnt noticed that....until now! hahaha
Open home (on the market) can use a Hero skin. I would much prefer a metamorph though... I want the same thing...
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.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
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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Click to collapse
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.
I'm visually impaired using the DroidX 4.5.605 rooted.
Up until this Verizon update I've found my phone usable, but I need to do something to restore the usability I once had.
1. I would like a high contrast interface, though some have suggested black backgrounds and white text, I would also be ok with the opposite.
2. I would like to double tap to open items. Right now areas like SETTINGS open on signle tap.
Can someone recommend a theme and / or a ROM that would allow me to have both of these features?
TIA,
Cm7 has some themes that are black and white I run .602 gb cm7 rom works great
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I love cm7 themes and roms! Def need to take a look there!
as many people are customizing there phones, i thought the launcher is the first screen that people always see, and they seem to provise the most customizable attributes. i am curious and on the search for the most versitile lancher out there and what they can do.
i know there is a post your homescreen thread out there and there is quite a few responses and nice pics, but not all list their lancher preferences or apps they used to get those.
posting screenshots and tools you used would be great
super simple laucher pro, but not done yet
Haven't had much success with it but sslauncher is pretty customizable. Really though most of the launchers give you roughly the same features.
Looking through the post your home screen threads many use apex, adw, or launcher pro. They let you replace homescreen icons with custom ones.
Uccw is a popular clock and weather widget but us rough to figure out.
Those are the main 2 I would say. A good place to start anyway.
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You can surely find plenty of launcher reviews, if you search.
Some require Android 4.0.. I haven't looked at those.
Among remaining it seems frequent mentions are ADW, Go Launcher, Launcher Plus, Holo
I haven't done a lot of comparison. I tried Holo launcher first and have mostly stuck with it. It does what I want, and I'm not interested in spending a ton of time comparing and setting up launchers.
I did try ADW later. It has more options but also more complicated interface so I stick with Holo. (I may change in the future...maybe if I learn about something big that I'm missing during this thread)
Attached are screenshots.
The first one highlights something I like about Holo (only the pro version) - you can put any widget into the dock area at the bottom.
So the first two icons on the left of the dock are Tasker toggle widgets in there for Wifi and Data. The color changes when the status changes (grey for off, green or red for on depending on what parameter). They are controlled manually or by Tasker which changes status based on location. Then in the center/right of the dock, I have Elixir widgets displaying battery level, MB free, number of applications running. Clicking on these widgets launches handy menus - the memory free sends you to settings/applications, the running applications lists running applications with option to switch to any running application... I use this often to make sure I have closed out all the applications I've used recently (may not be required but makes me feel better).
The 2nd screen highlights easily resizable widgets - I use them heavily for lists on my homescreen. I have 9 screens available, so plenty of room to have many lists on homescreen and move them around. Also of course I can change which note is displayed in a given position or get rid of a note from home screen and it remains (stored in Color Note).
Also I like the gestures. For me swipe down laucnhes a Tasker tasj to turn the screen off (save wear and tear on my power button). Swipe up launches a Tasker task for brightness control... if no response in 7 seconds it sets to max brightness (handy when you're in bright sun). There are several other gestures available to be assigned to whatever you want (applications or shortcuts)
That's not all the features, just a few that I like. I suspect most or all of above features are available in other launchers. And I suspect most of the others have more than Holo. I like Holo for simplicity and good useful tools. Not what you asked for... just throwing in my opinion.
Like any launcher, Holo has a few non-optimum features that are discussed in the Holo thread. There is only one that bugs me a little but I learned to cope. The main screens and three dock screens move independently of course. When you press home button with main screen not in home position, both the dock and main screen jump to their home position. But if you press home button with the main screen at home position and dock in non-home position, the dock does not jump to home position. Not a big deal since it's not hard to manage scrolling within 3 dock screens, but I'd like home to take me to home on main/dock screens regardless of where I started.
electricpete1 said:
You can surely find plenty of launcher reviews, if you search.
Some require Android 4.0.. I haven't looked at those.
Among remaining it seems frequent mentions are ADW, Go Launcher, Launcher Plus, Holo
I haven't done a lot of comparison. I tried Holo launcher first and have mostly stuck with it. It does what I want, and I'm not interested in spending a ton of time comparing and setting up launchers.
I did try ADW later. It has more options but also more complicated interface so I stick with Holo. (I may change in the future...maybe if I learn about something big that I'm missing during this thread)
Attached are screenshots.
The first one highlights something I like about Holo (only the pro version) - you can put any widget into the dock area at the bottom.
So the first two icons on the left of the dock are Tasker toggle widgets in there for Wifi and Data. The color changes when the status changes (grey for off, green or red for on depending on what parameter). They are controlled manually or by Tasker which changes status based on location. Then in the center/right of the dock, I have Elixir widgets displaying battery level, MB free, number of applications running. Clicking on these widgets launches handy menus - the memory free sends you to settings/applications, the running applications lists running applications with option to switch to any running application... I use this often to make sure I have closed out all the applications I've used recently (may not be required but makes me feel better).
The 2nd screen highlights easily resizable widgets - I use them heavily for lists on my homescreen. I have 9 screens available, so plenty of room to have many lists on homescreen and move them around. Also of course I can change which note is displayed in a given position or get rid of a note from home screen and it remains (stored in Color Note).
Also I like the gestures. For me swipe down laucnhes a Tasker tasj to turn the screen off (save wear and tear on my power button). Swipe up launches a Tasker task for brightness control... if no response in 7 seconds it sets to max brightness (handy when you're in bright sun). There are several other gestures available to be assigned to whatever you want (applications or shortcuts)
That's not all the features, just a few that I like. I suspect most or all of above features are available in other launchers. And I suspect most of the others have more than Holo. I like Holo for simplicity and good useful tools. Not what you asked for... just throwing in my opinion.
Like any launcher, Holo has a few non-optimum features that are discussed in the Holo thread. There is only one that bugs me a little but I learned to cope. The main screens and three dock screens move independently of course. When you press home button with main screen not in home position, both the dock and main screen jump to their home position. But if you press home button with the main screen at home position and dock in non-home position, the dock does not jump to home position. Not a big deal since it's not hard to manage scrolling within 3 dock screens, but I'd like home to take me to home on main/dock screens regardless of where I started.
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Click to collapse
wow, that was one lenghtly response.
i am not really on a search for a launcher, i have done that. i know how to do my homework. i was basically creating a social type of environment for those who really love their Infuse and fully exploit all the freedom we have in customizing.
the other thread, again, has a lot of great pics and i am really like liking some of the more simplified screens. however, most do not post the tools they used.
i have just discovered the SS launcher yesterday and it is pretty unique. still trying to figure it out. another one i found intresting was FullScreen launcher and of course, i still need to dive into that one too.
captemo said:
wow, that was one lenghtly response.
i am not really on a search for a launcher, i have done that. i know how to do my homework. i was basically creating a social type of environment for those who really love their Infuse and fully exploit all the freedom we have in customizing.
the other thread, again, has a lot of great pics and i am really like liking some of the more simplified screens. however, most do not post the tools they used.
i have just discovered the SS launcher yesterday and it is pretty unique. still trying to figure it out. another one i found intresting was FullScreen launcher and of course, i still need to dive into that one too.
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Click to collapse
Sorry I misunderstood.
Hopefully you didn’t view my post as being in conflict with your goal of social post (would that make me anti-social )
Launchers are of interest to me, but maybe for a different reason than for you. I have only done a litle exploring them but have been using Holo for a few weeks.. It strikes me that changing launchers has a big impact on our experience, but we don’t discuss that very much on these forums, even though chaning launchers is much eaiser and less risky than changing Roms. I guess maybe that’s because Roms are Infuse-specific and launchers aren’t.
I did think my setup is unorthodox having lots of things indicated on the bottom dock. By the way, my Data icon shows not only data on/off but also how many MB used this month (91.2MB in the first screenshot)... it’s updated daily by Tasker sending an SMS to AT&T requesting data usage and putting the value from the AT&T response into my widget label. Putting Tasker widgets like that into the dock seems pretty useful/versatile to me. I just don’t know if the other launchers allow the same approach. Lots of ROMs have similar stuff up in the notification area but I don't really like that as they tend to be small and also a busy notification area makes it harder to recognize new stuff popping up there.
electricpete1 said:
Sorry I misunderstood.
Hopefully you didn’t view my post as being in conflict with your goal of social post (would that make me anti-social )
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not anti social, you responded in the first place. i was trying not to sound as if i was being a ****. i understand the reaponse though. there are way to many people who wont even look at the previous post, and ask a question that was just addressed. so many questions would be answered if they just did some reading. instead they are pissing off developers who then decide to leave our device.
with all the Jellybean work being done, which is amazing, however JB is pretty much JB. not a lot of individualism. with everything working so good, there is not a lot of movement on the threads. so i have gone back to gingerbread and contiuing my quest for the ultimate set up.
i love the idea od swapping my icons for text, and simple text is pretty easy to work. i would love some vertical text though. i am running the JW8 v2 version of Saurom and like it pretty good. pretty fast. trying to find everything else to complete the package.
i would say most customizeable would be go launcher but i hold tru to ftl launcher pro, basically becuz of the cube scrolling effect for your apps
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I would use launcher8 its smooth and nice, look for it on the play store
Ive used Go Launcher, ADW and Holo in the past. I used Go launcher extensively on my Infuse and my Gio since it was so customizable but after playing around with other phones using more recent versions of android I felt it was too resource hungry. Holo I used for a bit for that ICS look but found it lacked a few options when compared to Go. But I actually DLed it recently and the experience is now closer to true ICS and reminds me a lot of Trebuchet and its simplicity. Currently Im using Trebuchet since putting my infuse on a CM10.1 ROM and I really like it. Very smooth and simple.
I used GoLauncher for a long time, but have used Nova for almost 4 months now, and I love it! Very customizable and easy to save and reload between flashes
I personally love Apex pro mycolorscreen.com has customization guides that use mostly apex you'd be amazed.
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I use nova and like it a lot!
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I have tried them all my friend. GO, ADW, Holo, Apex, Nova, Are all pretty close in the number of options. I used Go forever because of the folder system in the app drawer. Unfortunately it didnt seem to behave very well with all the ROMs I started flashing (thanks Faux.) Now I use the HoloHD+ and will likely continue to do so ...until the KLP hits me.
Just started using sslauncher and i have to say this is by far one of the most customizable launchers if ever used although there is a learning curve
Slim SON
Ss launcher gives pretty new styles of launcher.
You might want to try this launcher.
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Nova
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Nova + rom control.
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