Personalisation Apps For Android

                                        The Apps 

This is article is going to be very straightforward because most of the apps have already been showcased( at least some of it ). Let's get into it.

1.Minima Live Wallpaper:

The first app on this list is very popular among android users because this apps give users the ability to customize everything from the size of the subject to the transparency of the shadow-like effect on the background. In case you guys don't catch on with what I'm saying, there will be pictures to show you what I mean. The options provided by this app are also spectacular.

See these two pictures above, this is exactly what I mean when I say the customization is spectacular.
As you can see, this is one of the many wallpapers you can choose from. But, this app has one MAJOR catch. The catch is to enjoy the options you must pay for the app as the free one only sets the wallpaper without its extensive customization options.

2.Facets:

Facets is the name of the next. Some of you may have heard of this app as it is the source for most awesome looking wallpapers. So you may be asking, 'What makes this app so great ?' The answer is the way it functions. The concept here is you get a new wallpaper everyday that looks completely different from the previous day. The wallpapers from this app are truly a work of art as these wallpapers use simple abstract ideas to make stunning combinations which makes it worth the money you  have to spend on it. To give an idea of what I mean, take a look at these wallpapers yourself.

These wallpapers should explain what makes this app awesome. These wallpapers are actually 4K.

3.Wallrox:

This app doesn't offer as much customization as the apps mentioned above but, in fact has a whole cloud filed wallpapers that follow the material design guidelines introduced by Google in Android Lollipop. There are some very stunning wallpapers but not as much as the previous two. This app should suit those of you who are not willing to pay for a wallpaper app. Consider this an alternative.

But, ultimately it is up to you. These are wallpapers from the app. The one amazing thing is it has support for Muzei Live Wallpaper.

 Another awesome thing is the ability to save the wallpapers. 

4.Muzei Live Wallpaper:

Some of you probably saw this coming. This app is one of the greatest wallpaper apps if not the greatest. I am not even going to explain how it does but, rather what it does. You see, this app basically provides a new wallpaper everyday which most consists of famous artwork by the likes of THE Vincent Van Gogh and few others. The feature that makes it special is it blurs and makes it dim to highlight your home screen. To enjoy it, simply double tap the screen. This is by far the most famous wallpaper in this app. It's called 'The Starry Night. 

That is all for this time. For the next article, I'll let there be some surprise as to what I will do next.

Customization In The App Drawer

                                         How Its Done

As most of you already know, Android is highly customizable. What use would this OS be if everything is left to be as boring as the OEMs design it to be. To change that, I am going to show all of you what I did to my Android phone to make it truly mine. We will start by taking a look at what my app drawer looks like first then comes the explaination. For the most part, I use icon packs.

This is what the first page looks like:

It may look kinda simple but, I assure there has been a lot of time spent here. Firstly, the flashlight app rocks an icon from Silhouette icon pack whereas, the icon for the dextris lite game comes from Cygnus Dark. Most of the apps on this page rock icons from Silhouette icon pack.

This is the last page on the contrary:

                                                                                

 On this page, the google news & weather app uses an icon from Cygnus Dark. Google Maps uses a 3D-like effect icon from Polycon icon pack. Google Keep rocks a hollow-like icon from Silhouette icon pack. The rest of the Google Play apps get their icons from Cygnus Dark. Cygnus Dark is my personal favorite because I have always favored those black accents. The icon packs stated above are all 100% free to download from the Google Play Store. In the next article, I will be talking about more customization aspects like wallpaper apps and lock screen replacements.                                                                                                         

     

                              Intro To Android-Part 1

Last week I talked about widgets, today it is gonna be home screens. Lets start by asking what are home screens? Home screens are the main 3-7 pages of your android device. Home screens usually contain widgets( as explained in the last article ) , apps, folders and basically just about anything you can think of. 

This is what my home screen looks like:

                                                                                                                                                  

I am going to be using my home  screen to explain more. Now as you can probably already tell, I am using a third party launcher. Firstly, I am using the latest version of Nova Launcher. To achieve that search bar at the top, a setting called persistent search bar must be activated( I have chosen the lolipop option ). Next, the widget. I am using a widget from an app called Timely. The bottom portion is achieved by using a dock background.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                             This is what my second home screen looks like:

For my second home screen, I decided to add a dialer widget to make life a whole lot easier. I am using Simple Dialer Widget which is not part of an app. This widget is awesome because it lets you customize it completely from the size of  dialer digits all the way to the text color.This concludes today's article. In the next, I will explain the many personalisation apps to make your android phone truly yours.                                                                                                                                                                     

Introduction To The Series

                                            Intro To Android

So let me start by saying this 'I`ve been using android for about three years now. In these three years I have tried everything under the sun except for rooting because I do not like the idea of voiding warranty.' Now back to why we're here. Imagine this you have been using an Iphone all your life and you decided to try something a little out your comfort zone and picked up an Android phone but don't know how to make full use of it. This is where I come in to help those of you with this problem. Today we will talk about widgets.

                                                                Widgets

So what are widgets? Widgets are just simple application extensions often part of a application already installed on the device. There are also available from the Google Play Store to be downloaded separately. Some of the popular choice of widgets are Zooper Widget and Dashclock.

This is what Dashclock looks like:



This what Zooper Widget looks like on the contrary:


The next thing to know is what are these two widgets capable of. In the case of Zooper Widget, thre are two versions, the paid version and the free one. As everyone knows the paid version of anything gives you access to the full version whereas, the free version only gives you access to some of the features. The free version of Zooper widget supports ads and does not allow the storage of templates on a SD card neither does it have support for apk themes. The paid version basically supports mentioned in the above. Now, its function. It displays your device's information in a way you like (the beauty of customization on android) according to the millions of skins available to the Google Play Store. It can also display your device's toggles i.e. `the NFC toggle or Wifi toggle'.This is some of the many things Zooper Widget can do.

Next, Dashclock. In a nutshell, Dashclock is just a lock screen replacement for android phones running android 4.2+ that displays information such as missed calls, calendar appointments and etc.
Just click Zooper widget, there are hundreds if not millions of plug-ins available to enhance the experience. This has been my time for my first ever article. I hope those who read this blog can help my experience grow by giving me some constructive criticism. This is Rish Fabregas signing out.