Quite a long time ago, I had written a guide to show how any Android phone can be themed without having much graphical knowledge. And since ages, I have been theming up my mobile in one way or another, using that very same method. One things remains core to all of them: Transparency. Yes, most of my themes are having some transparency in most of the elements, most visibly, in the status bar. The result always looks cool, at least to me. So, I decided to create a theme for all Android devices, with a few exceptions. You are out of luck either if your device runs an android version below Gingerbread, or if your device has Sense UI, i.e. it is manufactured by HTC or if its has got a 720p or higher display. I have named the theme Transiser, ‘Trans’ for transparent, and ‘Iser’ because I end up using that suffix everywhere.
Some notable features of the theme are:
There are basically three steps involved in flashing this theme on your mobile. And, I just realized that I didn’t mention this in the article yet: “Flashing a theme requires you to be rooted and probably you need to have a custom recovery (like cwm or twrp) too.”
Some notable features of the theme are:
- Black status bar with 60% opacity
- Digital battery icon shows amount of battery left in digits
- Hybrid Charging animation
- Segoe WP font used which gives the theme a minimal look
- White and black color are used in most cases
- Flying transition effects (Preview them in this video)
- Transparency in menus and popups
- Can be flashed on most devices (exceptions mentioned in the opening para)
- Last but the most important, you have to put in some efforts too.
There are basically three steps involved in flashing this theme on your mobile. And, I just realized that I didn’t mention this in the article yet: “Flashing a theme requires you to be rooted and probably you need to have a custom recovery (like cwm or twrp) too.”
- Uploading the files:
- Go to http://uot.dakra.lt/kitchen
- You will see a few tabs namely battery, icons, status bar etc.
- Click the “File Upload” tab.
- Under Kitchen Settings menu, upload the matching kitchen settings file by downloading the one that matches your phone from below.
- Transiser theme for ldpi phones, i.e. phones with 240x320 resolution.
- Transiser theme for mdpi phones, i.e. phones with 320x480 resolution.
- Transiser them for hdpi phones, i.e. phones with 480x800 resolution.
- Phones with 480x854 resolution would use this one.
- Transiser them for qHD phones, i.e. phones with 540x960 resolution.
- Make any necessary changes, if you want by opening the other tabs. (This step is optional.)
- Open Root Explorer (or any other file manager) on your device, and go to /system/framework and copy the file framework-res.apk to your SD card.
- If you get any error such as “System is read only”, tap the “Mount R/W” button on the top right.
- Now, go to /system/app and copy systemui.apk file to your SD card.
- Transfer both these file to your pc.
- Get back to your browser.
- Under the “Select your rom from kitchen's list, or upload your own files” menu, select the “Upload System Files” radio button and upload framework-res.apk and systemui.apk in the subsequent menus.
- Proceed to summary tab and select “Submit work to Kitchen”.
- You will be given a name for your file. Note it down somewhere.
- Waiting:
- This one is the easiest, and the most boring. You just have to wait till your file appears on the pickup page. It can up to an hour on a busy day.
- Downloading the zip file:
- Download the zip file when it is ready for download.
- Transfer it to your phone’s SD card and reboot your phone to your recovery.
- Select the “Install zip from SD card” (or any similar) option.
- Select the zip file from there.
- Let the flashing complete.
- Reboot.
- Say cheers.
