How I've kept my Android tablet interesting
As I’ve mentioned before my current Android tablet (which is a Lenovo Tab 4 8) is dying. I’m waiting on a chrome OS tablet to replace it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to enjoy it. The default Android layout for me is…. kinda boring. I yearn for the colors and the live tiles of the days of Windows rt and Windows phone (blog post about that later). Static icons are becoming the industry standard for icon design and I’m not ready to move on, not yet. I fell in love with the tile interface of the Windows start menu. To this day I wish I could have the tile experience on my tablet. Now I can.
In this article I’m outlining how I use a launcher called square home to change the look of my home screen. Launchers are apps that can change the way the home screen works. You can enable launchers by searching in settings. Search “home app” in the settings app, then click on “default home app”, once the menu pops up click the launcher you installed beforehand. Most launchers show you how to do this when you first download them, but I’m putting this in out of good measure.
To accomplish the feat of transforming my home screen, I’m using the launcher Square Home available in the play store. On a side note launchers for me are what make Android unique, I for example, could never do this on an iPad so I think that speaks for something. Anyway, after completing the setup wizard and enabling tablet mode, I’m on my way!
The before and after reveals major changes, gone are the round icons and folders. In are the tiles and beautiful square icons of Squarehome (I used the icon pack Voxel for the icons). I’m very proud of the launcher for capturing the look and feel of the metro design language. The launcher include gestures, so you can add custom gestures to be used from the home screen. My favorite is the swipe up for app drawer just like in Windows rt. The only drawback is that it locks all programmable gestures after 2 weeks, instead you must buy the developer key to enable those features. The launcher runs well on my device even though the specs are nothing short of laughable. It won’t run as well as stock launchers, but for now it’s snappy and responsive, and that’s good enough for me.
And that’s how I set up my android tablet to look different. I promise to do a deep dive into why I prefer tiles over static icons, but for now I feel like it’s best to leave it here.
First, a quick explanation:
In this article I’m outlining how I use a launcher called square home to change the look of my home screen. Launchers are apps that can change the way the home screen works. You can enable launchers by searching in settings. Search “home app” in the settings app, then click on “default home app”, once the menu pops up click the launcher you installed beforehand. Most launchers show you how to do this when you first download them, but I’m putting this in out of good measure.
Back to your regularly scheduled article....
To accomplish the feat of transforming my home screen, I’m using the launcher Square Home available in the play store. On a side note launchers for me are what make Android unique, I for example, could never do this on an iPad so I think that speaks for something. Anyway, after completing the setup wizard and enabling tablet mode, I’m on my way!
The before and after reveals major changes, gone are the round icons and folders. In are the tiles and beautiful square icons of Squarehome (I used the icon pack Voxel for the icons). I’m very proud of the launcher for capturing the look and feel of the metro design language. The launcher include gestures, so you can add custom gestures to be used from the home screen. My favorite is the swipe up for app drawer just like in Windows rt. The only drawback is that it locks all programmable gestures after 2 weeks, instead you must buy the developer key to enable those features. The launcher runs well on my device even though the specs are nothing short of laughable. It won’t run as well as stock launchers, but for now it’s snappy and responsive, and that’s good enough for me.
And that’s how I set up my android tablet to look different. I promise to do a deep dive into why I prefer tiles over static icons, but for now I feel like it’s best to leave it here.
Stay safe
best,
BenTechCoder
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