custom - 3/7 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Nov

Editorial: Android Custom ROM Developers, I Think We Need To Have A Talk

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Development, Editorials

Dear Android Custom ROM developers: I love most of you. Really. You're part of what makes Android so awesome, because you're so enthusiastic about it, and about making it better. Because of you, we have awesome things like CyanogenMod.

I want to give you some numbers. Let's just look at some popular Android devices:

T-Mobile Galaxy S II: 9
AT&T Galaxy S II: 8
HTC ThunderBolt: 23
DROID BIONIC: 7
Epic 4G Touch: 10

What do these figures represent? The number of different custom ROMs found on the first page of the XDA forums for the above devices. The ThunderBolt's count comes from the pinned post on the ThunderBolt's forum with a listing of ROMs - and those are only the Gingerbread ones.

Nov

[Monthly Home Screen Challenge, November 2011] Post Your Android Home Screen, Win An Android Police Shirt

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Development, Home Screen Challenge

Last Updated: January 3rd, 2012

Creating an aesthetically pleasing home screen for your phone or tablet has become an art in itself, and an entire ecosystem packed with widgets, themes, wallpapers, launchers, and custom ROMs has built up to support it. Sometimes, it can be tough to find a winning combination of elements to create a beautiful and enduring home screen that provides both form and function.

For this reason, we have decided to open up a call for gorgeous, well-decorated home screens of all shapes and sizes. Each month we will select the very best home screen configurations and completely break them down into their component parts, providing you with all the necessary information to create your own awesome home screen.

Oct

[Coming Soon] ROU Launcher Looks To Bring A Whole New Experience To Android

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

One thing that makes Android so versatile is all of the available apps that allow for extreme customization of nearly any device. Out of those apps, one of the easiest ways to customize the look and feel of your device is with a custom launcher. We've seen interesting takes on the launcher before, but Team ROU is looking to bring a whole new kind of interface to Android -- and it looks damn good. Check it:

Unfortunately, ROU Launcher is still in its pre-alpha stages, so it's still a ways off from public availability. With that said, though, Team ROU hopes to have a full release ready by the end of the year.

Oct

Stable Release Of CyanogenMod 7.1 With Support For Android 2.3.7 On 68 Devices Is Finally Out; CyanogenMod 9 Is Up Next

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Videos

The road to CyanogenMod 7.1, undoubtedly the largest Android custom ROM, now covering a mind-boggling number of devices (68), has been long and rough. We've been hearing rumblings that the final release was almost here for a number of days (just watch the video of the CM sessions from the Big Android BBQ below), but a couple of hours ago it really did seep through and end up at CM download mirrors across the web.

What's New

CM 7.1 adds support for the following (note that not all of these have stable releases out):

HTC Desire S, Incredible S, Incredible 2
LG Optimus 2X and T-Mobile G2x
Motorola Backflip (Motus), Cliq / Cliq XT, Defy, Droid 2, Droid X
Samsung Captivate, Fascinate, Mesmerize, Showcase, Vibrant, Galaxy S, Galaxy S2 (multiple carriers)
Sony Ericsson Xperia X8, Xperia Mini, Xperia Mini Pro, Xperia Neo, Xperia Play, Xperia Ray, Xperia Arc
ZTE V9

More devices are on the horizon as well - EVO 3D, HP Touchpad, Optimus 3D, and others.

Sep

[Editorial] Let Android Be Android: One Year Later

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Editorials

Introduction

It's now been exactly a year (minus one day) since I published my very first editorial for Android Police, Let Android Be Android. A lot has changed since - dual-core CPUs are now table stakes for a high-end smartphone; Android has evolved from an exclusively mobile OS to a software powerhouse for phones and tablets alike; and we've been given several seminars on stretching the truth about the speed of a wireless network (yep, that would be the "4G" drama).

Sadly, one thing has remained almost entirely stagnant: the diminutive amount of vanilla Android devices on the market. In fact, it would be more than accurate to say that the skin situation has been exacerbated since my article on it last year.

Aug

[Weekend Poll] What Type Of Custom ROM Are You Running?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Off-Topic, Polls

Last Updated: September 3rd, 2011

I'm curious to see what percentage of our readers who run custom ROMs are using AOSP (Android Open Source Project - something pretty close to vanilla Android, such as CyanogenMod), and what percentage are using something based on stock device ROMs. More specifically, I want to find out if people on certain manufacturers are more likely to go AOSP than others - in other words, is Blur/NinjaBlur pushing more people to AOSP than TouchWiz, or is there no difference?

^{Left to right: AOSP (ex. CM7), Manufacturer's Stock (ex. HTC Sense), MIUI}

So here's the deal: below you'll see the possible choices.

Jul

[Update: Nightlies Are A Go!] Samsung Fascinate Officially Joins CyanogenMod

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, Fascinate, News, Samsung, Verizon Wireless

Verizon Samsung Fascinate has finally joined the official ranks of the ever-growing CyanogenMod custom ROM empire, following its brothers Captivate, Vibrant, Nexus S 4G, the original Galaxy S, and Nexus S.

Update 7/28/11: After some delays, nightly builds are finally up! Proceed here to download.

This article deals with a couple of advanced topics. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the terms, hit up our primers here:

Jun

[Weekend Poll] Manufacturer UIs: Love 'Em Or Hate 'Em?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Devices By Manufacturer, Polls

Last Updated: September 3rd, 2011

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Google Doesn't Allow Rooted Devices To Use Android Movies - What Are Your Thoughts?

Manufacturer user interfaces (UIs) can be a bit of a hot-button topic in the Android world. Some prefer vanilla Android, à la CyanogenMod. Others have no issue with them whatsoever, and even actively seek to restore some of the functionality. (Others still prefer to roll their own, or like the ability to switch at will... but I digress.) Further, your feelings on manufacturer UIs may depend on which manufacturer and which UI we're talking about.

Jun

Exclusive Leak: HTC Thunderbolt MR2 OTA Update (1.66.605.2) - Stock And Rooted Downloads

Posted by Justin Case in Development, Exclusives, News, Thunderbolt (Mecha), Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: June 5th, 2012

From Chingy and TeamAndIRC comes Maintenance Release 2 for the HTC Thunderbolt. The OTA update should be hitting stock phones on June 15th, but we're giving it to you early.

The major improvements brought about by MR2:

Fixes random reboots
Improves GPS locking
Improves signal strength
Add 3G/LTE toggle in settings
And more... (we don't have an official changelog yet, unfortunately)

Un-rooted Stock MR2 Update

First up, the full, signed RUU. (This is NOT the same as a simple OTA - it is a full "image" of a phone running the new MR2 update) This is for you developers or stock users who wish to get the update early.

Jun

[Video] A Closer Look At Samsung's Upcoming TouchWiz UX/4 Tablet Interface - It's Not As Bad As You Might Think

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy Tab 10.1, News, Samsung, Tablets, Videos

While we've had a chance to put Samsung's upcoming flagship Tab 10.1 tablet through 3 weeks of rigorous testing, there was one thing left that we could not touch - the custom TouchWiz UX tablet interface, also known as TouchWiz 4.0. If you remember, Samsung announced last week that the first tablet units would be running pure Honeycomb, just like our review unit, with the TouchWiz upgrade arriving over-the-air sometime after.

This didn't stop Phone Arena from acquiring some Tab 8.9 hardware with TouchWiz UX already pre-installed and digging through it, looking for goodies Samsung packaged with their soon-to-come overlay.