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Apps for Android |OT|

sca2511

Member
I'd think it'd be much faster since you would just do it straight after flashing a ROM. At least, it would be more convenient.
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Yeah but is everything going to run like shit as per the typical Titanium Backup restore? That's why I stopped using it. Flashing a new ROM and installing everything again gives better results than flashing and restoring through TiBa.
 
I rooted my Desire HD and put Jelly Time on it.
Fuck you HTC, I can get the new Android if I want to! :D

I did this as well...The whole thing became unstable. I had troubles with the display and the wifi :( It looked cool though ;) So i flashed Revolution HD and now it's stable again :) I do miss the new notification bar and especially the gmail app :(
 

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
Yeah but is everything going to run like shit as per the typical Titanium Backup restore? That's why I stopped using it. Flashing a new ROM and installing everything again gives better results than flashing and restoring through TiBa.



Certainly not in my experience, as long as you aren't doing anything dumb like restoring system data,
 

3phemeral

Member
Is it actually faster than the normal way though? I guess you can skip the trouble of logging in the Play Store and install Titanium again.

After you install, though, there's still the process of waiting for your app data to be installed once you boot the device. Still massively faster than what it used to be. Depending on how many apps you install (I have tons), it took a few minutes in recovery. Once booted, it'd easily take 30+ minutes without the flashable zip. That's not even including when it sometimes hangs on an app and I have to start the process again.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Is there a way to force the official YouTube App to pre download videos from Wifi if you marked them as "watch later" ? I don't really have a clue which requirements have to be met before it starts downloading in the background, sometimes it works and sometimes it just won't load anything for hours.....
 

EGM92

Member
Alright just did a fresh install of AOKP on my GS3, installed the rom, the gapps, and then the update.zip file I created with TB. It installs for a good portion of the zip then it randomly reboots my phone. I tried this on stock TW roms as well not working there either. shame it looks like it's installing so much faster.
 
Yeah but is everything going to run like shit as per the typical Titanium Backup restore? That's why I stopped using it. Flashing a new ROM and installing everything again gives better results than flashing and restoring through TiBa.

never noticed that myself... did you restore any system data? that can cause issues...
 

Ecto311

Member
Just got my daughter a kindle fire - any good kids apps or books for this thing? Anything recommended aside from the lame lists on amazon?
 

esai

Member
So i just installed CM10 on my e4gt and the first thing i did was install SMS backup & restore. Well i downloaded the xml file that i had as back up and when i go to restore it says there are like 40k texts but its only restoring 2k. any isead. i also checked the messaging settings so it wouldnt discard any texts.
 

Toge

Member
anyone else got a galaxy tab 2 can recommend me a ROM to use or should i wait for the JB OTA?

is there a android tablet thread somewhere? i saw the nexus 7 one but can't find any other ones.
 

Ashour

Member
I kept the old version of YouTube and never updated because of all the feedback. However, I flashed Omega V6 and youtube was already update. I forgot all about it and just tried it for the first time... WTF! It's seriously hideous and retarded.

I don't think there's a way to go back, right? :(
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Check out some of these Android app holo redesigns. They're not real but they show the potential of beautiful apps if devs put some effort into it. The holo design language looks awesome.

RiSpL.png

u61IJ.jpg

lnCWJ.jpg

TRnc7.png

Bwbwo.jpg

ZtUso.png


Here are a few others: http://www.androiduipatterns.com/2012/11/android-apps-redesigned.html
 

tino

Banned
I don't like most of these holo redesigns. You just make shit bigger and I have to scoll to get most info.

Also, taking out icons from menu? Major thumbs down.
 

JordanKZ

Member
Man... Some of those Holo re-designs look amazing. It's a shame so many developers care so little about Android design guidelines. :-/
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Check out some of these Android app holo redesigns. They're not real but they show the potential of beautiful apps if devs put some effort into it. The holo design language looks awesome.

http://i.imgur.com/RiSpL.png
http://i.imgur.com/u61IJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/lnCWJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/TRnc7.png
http://i.imgur.com/Bwbwo.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ZtUso.png

Here are a few others: http://www.androiduipatterns.com/2012/11/android-apps-redesigned.html

What's funny (or maybe sad) is that it actually doesn't take much effort at all to make a nice Holo design, because you get most of it for free. The action bar (the top bar with the app icon, title, action buttons, overflow menu, tabs (yes, they are part of the action bar), etc.) isn't something you have to design and implement yourself, it's a built-in feature of Android 3.0+ (and there are support libraries for making it available to older versions). In fact, when making an app the action bar will automatically be there unless you explicitly tell it not to be. The same goes for other things; as long as you use standard Android UI elements you will pretty much get a nice Holo look automatically.

So it actually really takes more effort to make an app not look Holo, at least if you're making it from the ground up for Android. I guess most of the ugly ass apps are either old pre-3.0 apps that haven't been updated to take advantage of the new features, or lazy iOS ports.

Here's a screenshot of a simple app I'm currently making for a school assignment:


I'm not gonna pretend it looks especially awesome, but it does look Holo, which is the point here. Now, did it take a lot of effort on my part to get it looking like this? No, that's just how the action bar, tabs and a list look by default in the Holo Light theme. The only thing I really had to do myself design-wise was provide the icons, but Google provides icons packs with all the standard ones, so I didn't actually have to make those myself either. (And yeah, I also "borrowed" the Play Books app icon, but since this app will never be released anywhere I figure that's fine.)

If I instead want this app to use the dark Holo theme, all it takes is making a few small XML changes and providing icons that work better against the dark background, and this is what I get:


Again, that took basically no effort at all on my part.

Anyway, my point is that making an app look decently good and Holo-themed is pretty damn easy. It basically happens automatically as long as you use the standard features the platform provides instead of coming up with your own ugly solution.
 
There's also a good YouTube channel that does holo redesigns.

I'm sure the majority of app designers have no idea how shit their apps look

K9 (unless its been redesigned recently), is probably the worst example I've seen on android
 

MNC

Member
What's funny (or maybe sad) is that it actually doesn't take much effort at all to make a nice Holo design, because you get most of it for free. The action bar (the top bar with the app icon, title, action buttons, overflow menu, tabs (yes, they are part of the action bar), etc.) isn't something you have to design and implement yourself, it's a built-in feature of Android 3.0+ (and there are support libraries for making it available to older versions). In fact, when making an app the action bar will automatically be there unless you explicitly tell it not to be. The same goes for other things; as long as you use standard Android UI elements you will pretty much get a nice Holo look automatically.

So it actually really takes more effort to make an app not look Holo, at least if you're making it from the ground up for Android. I guess most of the ugly ass apps are either old pre-3.0 apps that haven't been updated to take advantage of the new features, or lazy iOS ports.

Here's a screenshot of a simple app I'm currently making for a school assignment:



I'm not gonna pretend it looks especially awesome, but it does look Holo, which is the point here. Now, did it take a lot of effort on my part to get it looking like this? No, that's just how the action bar, tabs and a list look by default in the Holo Light theme. The only thing I really had to do myself design-wise was provide the icons, but Google provides icons packs with all the standard ones, so I didn't actually have to make those myself either. (And yeah, I also "borrowed" the Play Books app icon, but since this app will never be released anywhere I figure that's fine.)

If I instead want this app to use the dark Holo theme, all it takes is making a few small XML changes and providing icons that work better against the dark background, and this is what I get:



Again, that took basically no effort at all on my part.

Anyway, my point is that making an app look decently good and Holo-themed is pretty damn easy. It basically happens automatically as long as you use the standard features the platform provides instead of coming up with your own ugly solution.

Yup, Holo is awesome. And yet people don't even want to put effort into something this gorgeous.
 

Doopliss

Member
yeah, a common theme on these redesigns seems to be "SHOW LESS INFO BUT MAKE IT LOOK LIKE A MAGAZINE"

I don't like most of these holo redesigns. You just make shit bigger and I have to scoll to get most info.

Also, taking out icons from menu? Major thumbs down.
Don't worry guys, there'll be plenty of high-profile, hideous iOS/Gingerbread mash-ups available on the Play Store for years to come.
 
Don't worry guys, there'll be plenty of high-profile, hideous iOS/Gingerbread mash-ups available on the Play Store for years to come.

Well I think that attitude (not yours) is why so many Android apps look horrid and will continue to be

It's not about less info, it's about clearly presented info on one screen, and utilising scrolling or swiping for more info. Clearly present info.

That's why iOS and WP8 UI in apps will always trump Android, as devs, IMO, put less care in designing apps based on the horrid past of Android OS
 

tino

Banned
Well I think that attitude (not yours) is why so many Android apps look horrid and will continue to be

It's not about less info, it's about clearly presented info on one screen, and utilising scrolling or swiping for more info. Clearly present info.

That's why iOS and WP8 UI in apps will always trump Android, as devs, IMO, put less care in designing apps based on the horrid past of Android OS

I think that basically there are a small percentage of people care about UI aesthetic (let's say 10-20% and I am being generous). And all of these 20% have already purchased Apple products.

So do Android/Windows application developers really need to make beautiful looking app? In a competitive genre, maybe. Otherwise I doubt it.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
I think that basically there are a small percentage of people care about UI aesthetic (let's say 10-20% and I am being generous). And all of these 20% have already purchased Apple products.

So do Android/Windows application developers really need to make beautiful looking app? In a competitive genre, maybe. Otherwise I doubt it.

I think you underestimate people's aesthetic sensibilities, and I also think it's pretty dumb to imply that only iOS users care about this stuff. I'm pretty sure most people care whether an app looks good or like shit, and whether it looks like it belongs on the phone or completely out of place (as all lazy iOS ports and non-updated Android 2.x apps do).

I know I do. For example, I've payed for this timer app, mostly thanks to its great Holo design. Something like this or this, on the other hand, I would never use even though they're free. I'm sure they work just fine, but they look like utter shit, so they're not getting on my phone.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Function over form. Make it work well and then make it pretty.

It doesn't have to be one or the other. Just because you're making a functional app doesn't mean it has to look bad. As I wrote above, you basically get the whole Holo look for free, and to make something that looks really bad you really have to intentionally work against what the platform provides. For example, the action bar is there by default in every Android 3.0+ app, and in order to replace it with some hideous design of your own you have to explicitly disable it. Why go through that trouble, unless you're just lazily porting over an iOS app and couldn't give less of a shit about the design guidelines of the platform you're porting it to?
 

tino

Banned
I think you underestimate people's aesthetic sensibilities, and I also think it's pretty dumb to imply that only iOS users care about this stuff. I'm pretty sure most people care whether an app looks good or like shit, and whether it looks like it belongs on the phone or completely out of place (as all lazy iOS ports and non-updated Android 2.x apps do).

I know I do. For example, I've payed for this timer app, mostly thanks to its great Holo design. Something like this or this, on the other hand, I would never use even though they're free. I'm sure they work just fine, but they look like utter shit, so they're not getting on my phone.

A timer app that can countdown on the notification bar would have been must more useful. I am not searching Play Market to find out if such an app exist, because I know I can write one with Tasker.
 

Threi

notag
For what it's worth at least since ICS there actually is a unified design ui to follow, and it is HEAPS better than it was in the past. Pre-ICS, almost everything was a complete design and UI nightmare.
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
I think that basically there are a small percentage of people care about UI aesthetic (let's say 10-20% and I am being generous). And all of these 20% have already purchased Apple products.

So do Android/Windows application developers really need to make beautiful looking app? In a competitive genre, maybe. Otherwise I doubt it.
You're so wrong. No one wants to use ugly apps if there's an easy fix out there. I will absolutely avoid using apps if they're ugly.

Look at all the Android Twitter clients. Boid made a big splash because of how it looks. If people only cared about function, we'd already have enough Twitter apps.

Function over form. Make it work well and then make it pretty.

Android already has function these days.
 
For what it's worth at least since ICS there actually is a unified design ui to follow, and it is HEAPS better than it was in the past. Pre-ICS, almost everything was a complete design and UI nightmare.

Unfortunately the majority of Android devices are running Android releases pre-ICS. I'm thankful for CM10, otherwise my Vibrant would be in the trash.
 

tino

Banned
You're so wrong. No one wants to use ugly apps if there's an easy fix out there. I will absolutely avoid using apps if they're ugly.

Look at all the Android Twitter clients. Boid made a big splash because of how it looks. If people only cared about function, we'd already have enough Twitter apps.



Android already has function these days.

Well are the beautiful apps outselling the ugly apps? If they do, then I am wrong. If they don't, then I am not wrong.

I was making a comment on the general attitude of the users. I didn't say "people hate beautiful apps" or anything like that.
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Well are the beautiful apps outselling the ugly apps? If they do, then I am wrong. If they don't, then I am not wrong.

I was making a comment on the general attitude of the users. I didn't say "people hate beautiful apps" or anything like that.

I think generally, subconsciously or not, people prefer better looking apps. Yes, if an app is functional, cool. That'll work. But, again, if you look at Boid, it made a big splash because it was the first fully Holo Twitter app out there. It lacks a ton of functionality but it still garnered a lot of attention.

I'm not sure if better looking apps outsell the ugly ones. I'd suspect so. But then again, Android users don't pay for apps, isn't that right, gentlemen
 
Well I think that attitude (not yours) is why so many Android apps look horrid and will continue to be

It's not about less info, it's about clearly presented info on one screen, and utilising scrolling or swiping for more info. Clearly present info.

That's why iOS and WP8 UI in apps will always trump Android, as devs, IMO, put less care in designing apps based on the horrid past of Android OS

the thing that really blows me away about the TB Pro mockup is there are only 3 tabs anyway. what is the point of having schedules being pushed off screen?



I think generally, subconsciously or not, people prefer better looking apps. Yes, if an app is functional, cool. That'll work. But, again, if you look at Boid, it made a big splash because it was the first fully Holo Twitter app out there. It lacks a ton of functionality but it still garnered a lot of attention.

I'm not sure if better looking apps outsell the ugly ones. I'd suspect so. But then again, Android users don't pay for apps, isn't that right, gentlemen

10k-50k people agree with you.




Unfortunately the majority of Android devices are running Android releases pre-ICS. I'm thankful for CM10, otherwise my Vibrant would be in the trash.
nothing stopping devs from using Holo UI on pre-ICS devices... Google has provided support for that
 
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