How Kitkat will reclaim Android and unify Holo with Kennedy | Hacker News Reader

How Kitkat will reclaim Android and unify Holo with Kennedy

techtainian.com

12 pointstechnacity7 comments

Articles like this make me realize how much people barely know what's going on in Android.

The ability to change homescreens existed for years now, I think the API was even in Android 1.0 (I can guarantee it's in 1.6 at least).

The only thing 4.4 could do to clean up the experience is allow Android apps to theme the UI elements in the settings app, notification bar, face buttons, and apps that use Holo.

Modding community has given users the ability to retheme the entire UI since at least Android 2.x (including mods to make parts of the UI transparent, like the notification area). Cyanogenmod ROM added in the T-Mobile theme engine[1] and everyone else followed afterwards so we're to the point that you can go to the Android Market and actually download themes that work on most aftermarket ROMs. Good to see that Android may finally have it natively.

[1] https://code.google.com/p/android-theme/wiki/TMobileThemeEng...

Sounds to good to be true but let's hope for it.

Since the announcement of KitKat and the coop with Nestlé Android's brand awareness and recognition skyrocketed. Not that Android is now more hip than iOS but it's definitely not less attractive from a brand perspective.

Am I the only one that prefers Holo to KitKat/Kennedy?

Kennedy seems a closer to iOS than Holo was, so I expect this to make cross-platform themeing easier for app makers, but I'm sad to see Matias Duarte's work diluted

Question is – as Google reclaims more and more of the software side, how will manufacturers continue to differentiate their devices from one another?–As this, as far as I can tell, is the main reason they skin devices...

I think the Moto X is a perfect example. It leaves what is already good about stock Android and only adds where it makes sense.

Many other OEM skins reinvent the wheel for no-reason and it's not helping anyone.

Somewhat offtopic - but what are they using to make that page?

It's completely blank unless I disable noscript, and I can read faster than it scrolls.

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