Database Users

Tablet UI or part of TUI

Hello
I have stock rooted N7 with 4.2.1. I really hate the top status bar since the bottom button bar is half empty, there is enough space for couple of icons there (wifi, etc). Is there a patch or something just for this? I don't care about the rest of tablet UI, just this. I have searched and read that there is no tablet UI since 4.2, is that true? Is there a way to make just this one change somehow (no top bar, icons moved to bottom button bar)?
I don't see point in flashing i.e. Paranoid or other custom ROM since I am satisfied with stock and I don't want to risk any bugs or restore my apps and settings. I rooted only to be able to use PPP Widget.
Thanx
D.

[Q] Would like to customize the phone a little bit, just not sure how

There are a few things that really bug me about the Touchwiz software.
1) The ridiculous color scheme/non-standardization between pages. For instance, the new apk install menu is just horrid to look at, as well as certain pop-up confirmation buttons. Is there any easy way to change these so that they more reflect AOSP?
2) The messaging application and the widget that appears on the lock screen when you have a missed phone call/text message. I was wanting to use Dashclock widget on the homescreen to replicate this purpose, but no matter what, I can't find a way to disable that widget that always appears. Is there a way to remove it?
3) This sorta ties along with #2, but when you use a pattern on the lock screen, you can't use a stand alone widget, Samsung automatically takes over and uses it's own. I know it's possible to use pattern and a widget (I can do it on the GE Rom, and my Nexus 7), is there a way duplicate this process?
4) Is there a way to replace the TW messaging app with an AOSP messaging application?
5) The pull down notification bar, is there any way to make it look more like AOSP?
There are things that I love both about TW and AOSP, and unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a rom (in my opinion) that compliments both of the features that they consist of nicely. I don't have the knowledge (or the time at the moment with school coming up) to try and build my own rom that would enjoy the features that I would want. I was wondering if anyone could help me out with this process. I would be forever grateful.

Help customize S4-GPE (coming from TW-S4)

Hi There,
I am new to the whole android world.. I am a recovering iOS junkie and loving the Android environment.
I started with a AT&T GS4 which has MF3 firmware on it so no ROMS (yet..) I decided I wanted to try the Google Play Edition and "MOSTLY" love it. I find there are several TouchWiz customizations that I long for on the GPE.
Few items to know before I begin:
1) I have to maintain an un-rooted device to access my corp email (airwatch MDM)
* Policy required encryption and PIN
2) Not opposed to ROM's if I can still achieve (1)
I have both devices and have switched back and forth between the two this week but just can't give up the TouchWiz version..
* GPE: Love the clean, unbloated snappiness of the device.
* GPE: Love the Status Bar and how it stays uncluttered (compared to ATT/Samsung)
* GPE: Miss the TW Toggles when swiping down for Notifications. I have installed 3 or 4 different apps trying to find the best one to replace, but none offer quite the same experience.. None can actually toggle GPS, Airplane mode and a few others (without root right?) I am using "Notification Toggle" which is 98% meeting the needs.. but it has it's own "notification icon" on the status bar which you can make invisible but now just shifts other icons to the right leaving a blank space.
* GPE: Dislike that you can't add or modify the native toggles.. seems there is a ton of extra room.
* GPE: Dislike the GPE Phone dialer "In call" options being buried in an icon menu.. I like the Samsung Dialer with the larger mute/speaker phone/headset options.. I recognize I can replace the dialer.. so this isn't a HUGE issue.
* GPE: When returning from sleep and phone not "locked" it returns to where I left off.. would prefer how the Samsung still has an "Unlock" outside of the PIN entry.. (Maybe this is customizable, but I haven't figured it out..)
* GPE: Hard Volume buttons bring up one volume slider.. I love the way Sam-TW lets you press the "settings" next to volume and lets you adjust Ringtone, Media, Notification,System volumes
* Sam-TW: Dislike all the bloat (Samsung and AT&T).
I am using Nova Launcher Prime on both devices.
So, I am on the fence as to which device I am going to keep....
Any thoughts? (and yes... I know I probably sound f'ing crazy! hahaha)
Thanks,
Mike

mjolsen said:
Hi There,
I am new to the whole android world.. I am a recovering iOS junkie and loving the Android environment.
I started with a AT&T GS4 which has MF3 firmware on it so no ROMS (yet..) I decided I wanted to try the Google Play Edition and "MOSTLY" love it. I find there are several TouchWiz customizations that I long for on the GPE.
Few items to know before I begin:
1) I have to maintain an un-rooted device to access my corp email (airwatch MDM)
* Policy required encryption and PIN
2) Not opposed to ROM's if I can still achieve (1)
I have both devices and have switched back and forth between the two this week but just can't give up the TouchWiz version..
* GPE: Love the clean, unbloated snappiness of the device.
* GPE: Love the Status Bar and how it stays uncluttered (compared to ATT/Samsung)
* GPE: Miss the TW Toggles when swiping down for Notifications. I have installed 3 or 4 different apps trying to find the best one to replace, but none offer quite the same experience.. None can actually toggle GPS, Airplane mode and a few others (without root right?) I am using "Notification Toggle" which is 98% meeting the needs.. but it has it's own "notification icon" on the status bar which you can make invisible but now just shifts other icons to the right leaving a blank space.
* GPE: Dislike that you can't add or modify the native toggles.. seems there is a ton of extra room.
* GPE: Dislike the GPE Phone dialer "In call" options being buried in an icon menu.. I like the Samsung Dialer with the larger mute/speaker phone/headset options.. I recognize I can replace the dialer.. so this isn't a HUGE issue.
* GPE: When returning from sleep and phone not "locked" it returns to where I left off.. would prefer how the Samsung still has an "Unlock" outside of the PIN entry.. (Maybe this is customizable, but I haven't figured it out..)
* GPE: Hard Volume buttons bring up one volume slider.. I love the way Sam-TW lets you press the "settings" next to volume and lets you adjust Ringtone, Media, Notification,System volumes
* Sam-TW: Dislike all the bloat (Samsung and AT&T).
I am using Nova Launcher Prime on both devices.
So, I am on the fence as to which device I am going to keep....
Any thoughts? (and yes... I know I probably sound f'ing crazy! hahaha)
Thanks,
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am in a similar quandary, I spent 10 minutes on TW and I hated how ugly it was. So I flash CM10.2, but it didn't allow me to use the case lock/unlock feature, or notifications through the case window.
Then I flashed to GE and have been mostly happy, still miss some CM10.2 features, but love having the case lock/unlock and notifications. Hopefully CM10.2 will have a Stable release in the near future that incorporates these features.
I had some issues with the camera quality, a lot of blurring. Flash "Focal" camera from CM10.2 and it has been brilliant.

[Q] Custom quick settings tiles (as in slimroms): How do you get those?

Hello,
I'm using Slimkat 4.4.4.8269 since its release. It has a neat feature called the custom tiles which is the feature that keeps me on that rom because I was unable to find a similar function in another ROM.
The Slimroms custom tiles basically lets you set unlimited "custom" tiles in the quicksettings which you can set with apps, os functions or whatever. They take a second action for a long press and they can cycle through multiple apps on that one tiles.
This is basically a quickstarter for apps. The thing that makes this marvelous is actually that opening an app doesn't get that app into the foreground, that statusbar stays in the foreground such that I can open a second and third, etc. app through very few taps.
An example what I use this for: My worst but not rare case here:
Navigation+speedcam warner+mozilla stumbler(wifi and cell existance to gps mapper)+openwlanmap.org (wifi to gps mapper)+openbmap.org (wifi and cell to gps mapper).
The best approach is to use a directory on the homescreen, if my launcher supported it. This way i don't have to search in the app drawer.
So I would open the directory, start app 1, press home screen, start app 2 and so on.
Until i started the 5 apps, I have done (swipes and presses+ app-open-taps combined) 15 actions.
Using custom tiles as slimkat offers it in the status bar I swipe to open the quick settings and then open my apps, 1 swipe+5 taps=6 actions.
This is for me much faster and allows me to pay much less attention to my phone while starting what I want.
However, I would like to update to Lollipop or M, anyways, go with CM most likely but that feature isn't there. I found out that the GravityBox with the xposed framework offers some kind of similar features but it only features 2 custom apps, currently I have a bit more than 20 in my status bar.
I could use "Tasker" for this approach as well, but actually that configuration is rather weird and static to one action/app (condition) which I first have to fulfill. That approach fails if one of the apps is already started and I only want to start one app especially if that meets Taskers condition. I end up using the app drawer and search for my app.
This post pretty much covers the configuration and outcome of the custom tile in Slimroms in two pictures:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/orig-development/rom-slimkat-hammerhead-stable-5-0-t2511512/post51495728#post51495728
Have you seen any other ROM with decent updates (that seems to be only CM for the hlte at the point of writing) or way to accomplish something similar? It doesn't need to be in the statusbar, even though that is quite easy to access.
Parts of my post I took from my post to a CM feature request at JIRA:
https://jira.cyanogenmod.org/browse/CYAN-2227?jql=text%20~%20%22custom%20tiles%22
Thanks in advance!

Try Layers, http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4/themes-apps/systemui-overlays-5-0-t3025183

Thanks for the reply. I think layers is some sort of theming app overlaying the normal icons with other colors. This is something new to me and interesting, but not what I wanted in this thread.
I found something that goes a bit in that direction: Hangars. It displays some appbar in the notification area. Upon opening an app the area disappears and I would have to open the notification area again. Still better than the homelauncher and its folders.
Something I tested previously going into the same direction is the PIE control as well as some sidelaunchers like omnirom and such. Still the custom tiles allow a faster operation.

If anyone is interested in those, you could vote for this as well:
https://jira.cyanogenmod.org/browse/CYAN-2227, It enclosed this feature.
From time to time I changed to CM or something like it, but return very quickly to my custom quick tiles as they are irreplacible and other roms waste time and I can hardly operate them blindly like slimkat.

Just heads up, Google finally may have thought those tiles to be useful and they were added in Marshmallow. You can only go there using the System UI tuner (google for it, if you don't know what it is. You'll need another app to configure those nicely, like custom quick settings. Due a bug you can't add more than 18 tiles in total, but if you like it and don't need more go ahead. Right now I have 40+ and they're in color.
So far I can't think of changing from the lovely slimkat.

6.0.1 customization advice

Have: Nexus 6P stock 6.0.1. Need: some customization. Items in green have a solution.
I've enabled Developer Mode and System UI Tweaker. I'd like to do this without root, or anything that would affect individual Google Play-installable apps. (The reason is, I need this device for final user release testing, so it should be what users have just from factory reset + install apps and normal OS upgrades):
Different wallpaper on Lock Screen than behind icons and widgets. (Tried: http://forums.androidcentral.com/an...-lock-screen-wallpaper-help-how-can-i-do.html - No triple dot menu visible in Wallpaper)
Full brightness on Lock screen instead of 90%, independent of brightness settings. ("OK" option: same brightness as manual brightness in Settings) (http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/help/home-lockscreen-brightness-t1704705 - no Lock Screen Options in Settings)
Disable peeking globally. ("OK" option: put them in the statusbar like 4.4.4) (I don't want to disable peeking for every new app I install: http://www.phonearena.com/news/Here...ifications-in-Android-6.0-Marshmallow_id75408) Temporary solution: I will manually disable peeking for every new app that shows them.
Global saturation setting for icons. (They're all saying "click ME!", that's an icon designer's job. With an excellent high-contrast screen like this, it's a crowd shouting.) ("OK" option: some other way of getting icons to look more Zen.) Icon packs for launchers are that "OK option", browsing tons on Google Play left Hexacon and Dual Shadow. So Hexacon.
Remove the Google Now bar from my Home Screen (without disabling any services). (As in, I taught the device my voice, so I don't need it there for me to tap. Tried: https://www.androidpit.com/how-to-remove-the-google-search-bar-from-your-android-homescreen - it's not long-tappable nor draggable, nor does it appear under Google Apps in Widgets.) Best solution so far: Nova Launcher.
I'd like to be able to do this:
Some quick way (preferably swipe) to access a more compact Quick Settings widget, like on my Xperia Z. I've reduced it to 9, can't remove "Invert Colors" and Location toggles.
Global Night Mode for everything in the System UI - to make it look similar to the Quick Settings. (This is a "like to" only because it's been promised in N. I really need it like, now. ) Best solution so far: Nova Launcher.
Basically I have the greatest phone, so I want it to look good at all times, and with the aim Clean, Fresh, Zen.
I posted here bc the forum was most specific. Feel free to refer or advise me how to best get answers as I joined tonight.
Any & all advice on single questions is appreciated Not possible is a valid answer, and I'm also prepared to wait for N if that's the answer.

I used to think of "ok google" as a novelty but its become more polished and if it remains reliable Ill continue to use it more& more. As it applies to keeping things clean it sort of does eliminate need for extra widgets.
If you have ok google everywhere u can just say " ok google...launch settings". Same goes for music apps, podcasts, youtube videos etc.
Started using a new app other day you might like called sesame edge. I set it on the right edge, virtually invisible and it brings up quick access to apps.

KLit75 said:
I used to think of "ok google" as a novelty but its become more polished and if it remains reliable Ill continue to use it more& more. As it applies to keeping things clean it sort of does eliminate need for extra widgets.
If you have ok google everywhere u can just say " ok google...launch settings". Same goes for music apps, podcasts, youtube videos etc.
Started using a new app other day you might like called sesame edge. I set it on the right edge, virtually invisible and it brings up quick access to apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, trying it out. Also tried Sesame in the hope that it would let me set a different lock screen wallpaper, but it only had "their automatic lock screen wallpaper or off" as setting. I sent feedback to them, so let's see.

HenrikErlandsson said:
Thanks, trying it out. Also tried Sesame in the hope that it would let me set a different lock screen wallpaper, but it only had "their automatic lock screen wallpaper or off" as setting. I sent feedback to them, so let's see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont use a lockscreen but on Pure Nexus which Im using now there is an option to set lockscreen wallpaper.
I use action launcher 3 which doesnt allow me to remove google bar (i dont think) but nova will let u do that. I like the bar cuz on action launcher i can put several shortcuts for whatever i want.
ASAP launcher is very minimal. Again you cant REMOVE the bar but swipe down and it turns into a simple clock widget.

KLit75 said:
I dont use a lockscreen but on Pure Nexus which Im using now there is an option to set lockscreen wallpaper.
I use action launcher 3 which doesnt allow me to remove google bar (i dont think) but nova will let u do that. I like the bar cuz on action launcher i can put several shortcuts for whatever i want.
ASAP launcher is very minimal. Again you cant REMOVE the bar but swipe down and it turns into a simple clock widget.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx, tried Nova and it gives me Night Mode. Thanks for that Still, no way to have a different wallpaper on the lock screen than on the home screen, and I can find no Prime option for it either. Pure Nexus requires CM.
Can I mix and match this type of apps? Will they interfere with each other? Sesame seems to work with Nova at least.
What about Hi Locker? http://android.wonderhowto.com/how-to/get-back-lock-screen-customization-android-lollipop-0160204/
Can custom lock screens lock me out of my phone, make me butt dial, hog battery? I just want to change the gdmn background!
As I wrote, if some feature comes in N I'd rather wait than mess up my new phone.

HenrikErlandsson said:
Thx, tried Nova and it gives me Night Mode. Thanks for that Still, no way to have a different wallpaper on the lock screen than on the home screen, and I can find no Prime option for it either. Pure Nexus requires CM.
Can I mix and match this type of apps? Will they interfere with each other? Sesame seems to work with Nova at least.
What about Hi Locker? http://android.wonderhowto.com/how-to/get-back-lock-screen-customization-android-lollipop-0160204/
Can custom lock screens lock me out of my phone, make me butt dial, hog battery? I just want to change the gdmn background!
As I wrote, if some feature comes in N I'd rather wait than mess up my new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems Im constantly tweaking things and having problems recalling exactly what I used. I know making lockscreen different from desktop is something Ive done many times. Do u have xposed? Pretty sure gravitybox has that option.
As far as butt dials, I use sweep to wake & it was a problem. Always remember to put it in your pocket screen facing out. I also need to do that when using bt headphones or else i get distortion. Anyways if i find something relevant Ill let u know.

Thx for suggestions!
I want weather, clock, and a background that matches my high-end case on the lock screen AND NOTHING ELSE, and then wherever there are icons I want a neutral background or just a color so I can see them properly. I think that's being a normal user with sensible demands.
Right now a huge dark gray or white slate COVERS the background anyway. I don't mind it, it lets me see the icons of all manner of variety and quality against something neutral, still... just allowing a background to set behind your icons seems to be an easy addition... since Froyo... Anyway, end rant about Simple Things. Android at least lets you customize them.
I'm battling notifications now. Light Manager is recommended for the 6P - testing it out now for notifications that are actually important, will report.