1.Introduction

Hey guys, there was a request on the Samsung thread on how to theme your android. And i thought i share what i know and hopefully, we all can learn from one another.

This guide will allow you depending on what method you choose (rooted or unrooted) to modify the outlook of you phone homepage/desktop.
Some method allow a more overall change while other allow a more "make-up" like change.

Source for great icons and dock bars(list some down for me to add) :
1. http://www.macthemes.net/

2. Unrooted Method

So you want to have a nice desktop while maintaining your warranty, or you are not sure you are tech savvy enough to root. Well don't fret you can still customize your desktop even if you don't root.

Some of the apps that can help you in this department is

1. Home Replacement App

These app allows you to replace your default home launcher like HTC sense, TW launcher with a custom open source one.
There are some pro and cons of doing these. Some of the pro is a more speedy launcher, ability to theme and a more android look. Some of the cons is that you lose the ability to use the built-in widgets like HTC sense widget or Samsung widgets. Try them out and see if you like it.

There are several home application replacement app. Too many to mention here and all of them allow you to customize your homepage without the need to root it.

I will mention the 2 most famous and most downloaded one as of now :

i. LauncherPro

This is a free app, if you get the paid version you get HTC sense like widgets, so those of you who like HTC widgets can get the best of both world here. You can change the Icon in the dock bars as well as the dock itself. I prefer this over ADW because i feel ADW somewhat heavy.

ii.ADW.Launcher

This is a open source home replacement app, the ability of these launcher seems endless with the new ability to apply cuztomize theme which you can get off the market too.
The theme is very well done and even replaces icon as well as widgets. I am not sure how this can be done without root but props to the developers for implementing it. The only downside is that i feel the phone is sluggish with it.

Both of these app allows you to change the dock appearance and the dock icons. All you can do to is make sure you have the icons and dock .png and you are all set.

2. Bettercut and File Organizer

App Organizer
Bettercut

These apps allow you to change the shortcut icon and folder icon on your homescreen.

3. Wallpaper Apps.

There are a lot of wallpaper app in the market, just make sure you choose one that is safe and reliable.

The 2 i will state here is the :

i.Background App

This is a copy of the background app in Iphone/Itouch. It has a lot of background and is easy to use.

ii.Flikie HD Wallpaper

This app allows beautiful HD wallpaper and allows you to download by the folder. Should really check it out.

4.Wallpaper Set And Save

http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.android.wallpapersetandsave

Guys, don't use the built in wallpaper picker, it crops the picture and resize it making it look ugly and distorted. Use this app to set wallpapers it would not crops and won't change any details or sharpness.

Well these are some of the things you can do unrooted. Another tip would be to ask people who post their home screen what widgets they are running, there are a lot of widgets and you should take advantage of knowing them. A good start would be XDA post your screen thread.



3. Rooted Method

The most disadvantage of not being rooted is that you can't change the icon of you apps by default or change aspect of your widget like making your facebook widget translucent and such as. The possibilities of theming your phone when it is rooted is endless.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=476483So you want to customize even more aspect of your home. Well have you root your phone ?

Here is my guide for Samsung Galaxy :

[How-To] Root Your Samsung Galaxy S

Here are some of the tools you need to theme everything on your phone.

i.Android SDK

This is your ADB files. A requirement to manipulate your phone and to give it adb access. Read the FAQ to understand what this means.

ii.Apk Manager

This is tool is god send. It allows you to pull apk from your phone, extract the apk, change whatever you need to sign and zip the apk and push it back to your phone.

iii. 7zip/WinRAR

This allows you to open you apk files and manage it's content.

iv. Gimp 2.0

Allows you to manipulate the icons like paint. It's free and easy to use.

v. For 3rd Party app you need to resign your apk. There are several method.

Stericsson Signing Made Easy Guide
Brutt.all APK tool
Danesh APK Manager

I will be using the APK manager in the tutorial.


3.1 Let's Do It.

Ok got everything you need? Let's get started.

Remember before doing anything do a BACKUP

I will divide this section 2 to aspect because changing/modifying icons system apps are different from 3rd party apps.

3.2 Modifying System Icons and Appearance.

Most of the icon and looks of the notifications bar is in the framework.apk in your system application. This means that to change anything you must extract this apk from your rom/phone first.

Anyhow this is a guide to what/where everything belongs : Taken from XDA by damnitpud



Android can resize most icon but some people prefer to change the icon size before changing them so that it doesn't overstretch or become blurry. Here is a guide on the icons for apps. For notifications size check out the file and size using gimp



Ok so now we know where the default icons are in the original apps, how about downloaded app?

Well take any app, save it to your computer and open it in your app with winRar or 7zip, you would see a similar res folder containing all the icons and drawables. Edit theses and you can change the outlook of your apps.

So how do you change it? Let's start with system apps or default apps, shall we?

1. Have you got a copy of your rom? It's the update.zip file you flash.

Open it with winRaR or 7zip.




2. Can you see folders in it?

By using the guide above go to which app or notification icon, or even other drawables to edit them.
Once you find them, just extract that one file onto your desktop/computer and put it in a folder such as /sysapp for system app, /dataapp for 3rd part or installed app and /notifapp for notifications icon and such as.

This can be done using Root explorer as well.

3. Once you got the app you want, or in the case of notification you pull framework.apk. Open it up with winRaR or 7zip



Notice the res file? That is well all your icons go in.

It's usually in /res/drawable file.

check for the icon file or widget backgrounds for example,.

Insert your icon of choosing, but don't extract the file. You can maintain the resolutions, but if the picture id distorted or something try changing it with a similar icon.

4.Done? Nice.

Once done just save the file and push it back to your system/app or where ever you took it from, either using ADB commands or Root explorer.

You can achieve the same thing with ninja morph. There is a couple of good youtube videos on how to do this.










This post has been edited by naTTan: Aug 2 2010, 06:35 PM

3.3 Modifying 3rd party Apps Icons and Appearance.

Ok now that we know how to modify system apps, let's move on to 3rd party apps or installed apps.

These are not easy as system apps because we have to resign the apk once we are done. BUt don't worry i will give a short exercise below so you can get the feel of it.

1. Get the apk you want to change the icon/modify background or whatever.

You can either pull it from your /data/app folder in your phone.
Or just download the apk from some website.

To get you guys use to the process download the following apk. It's an apk found in another SAM market previously.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8551382/Test.apk

This is the icon that we will replace with

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8551382/iTunes.png

It's an iphone icon, it bigger then the original one which is 48 px x 48 px.

You can resize it, or let it be and android will resize it eventually.

2.Alright now open the apk with winRAR or 7zip

Go to res\drawable and you will see the set of files below.



Now notice the icon.png ? This is the file we will replace.

Rename the icon that you downloaded to the same name. And just put it in the folder.

Don't extract anything. You should get this screen



Press ok.

3. Now go up 2 folders to the root folder like below.



Now delete the META-INF folder.

4. Next we need to resign our applications.

You can use a lot of tools to resign them, but for the tutorial purpose i am going to show you how i did it, using apk manager.

I extracted apk manager and put it in my desktop in a folder call "Theworkplace"

Notice the different folders?



It's made easy, so just pull the apk you modified just now into the

"place-apk-here-for-signing" folder

5. Start the script.bat file

Choose no to clear last project. Then you will get :



Choose option 16.

Once you press enter the apk will be sign.

If you open it with winRAR you can see there is now a new META-INF file.

Now you can just install this apk on your phone and enjoy.

Try to learn using the APK manager, it is a very usefull tool.

Good stuff here. Thanks for taking the time writing it up.
Ok, now that wallpaper. It's so awesome. Please share it.

this topic should be pinned. coz alot of people are new to android and don't know how to customized it. And I rarely go XDA forums...

U can found it at Mabilo Wallpaper.

I sked to install. later it steals my SMS.

Remain ya credit 0, so will ease your worried.

That's not my wallpaper i took the screenshot from the XDA forums. =(