Database Users

Black bar on the top?

Now as many of you have seen, the stock wallpapers appear without the black bar (where you battery, time, etc. is).
But once you use a wallpaper that is not stock, the black bar appears so the wallpaper is black on the top. I tried to search for the place where you can save the stock wallpapers and tried to add mine there. But I couldn't find the place where the Samsung stock wallpapers are stored.
Do you know to make the black top bar disappear? I thought that was one of the improvements from the S3 but nothing has changed (unless you use the stock wallpapers)..

plus 1 on this one
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

I personally see this as a good thing. The lack of Black background for the status bar looked absolutely disgusting.

I personally don't like it. And I thought Samsung promised to change that (to make the bar transparent). Does anyone know how to do that?

samose said:
I personally don't like it. And I thought Samsung promised to change that (to make the bar transparent). Does anyone know how to do that?
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+1. I 'm trying to figure that out, too...

What I don't understand (actually I don't understand most of the gaudy crap they've shoved into touchwiz)
is why they've made the status bar (when you CAN see it) this bizarre very dark red/charcoal esque colour, and not just pure black. At least with pure black you could completely hide it or meld it with a dark/nighttime wallpaper or something.
This one is just an eyesore.
WHY samsung WHY????!?! (first world problems.....)

paddylaz said:
What I don't understand (actually I don't understand most of the gaudy crap they've shoved into touchwiz)
is why they've made the status bar (when you CAN see it) this bizarre very dark red/charcoal esque colour, and not just pure black. At least with pure black you could completely hide it or meld it with a dark/nighttime wallpaper or something.
This one is just an eyesore.
WHY samsung WHY????!?! (first world problems.....)
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Click to collapse
this not a problem just a bit tiny thing m8! problem a very big is the lag that this has and will fixed soon enough in all countries.. focus at more vital staff. just a friendly advice!

Update: If you get the Nova Launcher 2.1 Beta version you'll actually be able to make the status bar transparent. Plus with Nova Launcher the S4 gets less laggy. Hope that helps!

Look in themes and apps, there is a blue theme with transparent statusbar.

samose said:
Update: If you get the Nova Launcher 2.1 Beta version you'll actually be able to make the status bar transparent. Plus with Nova Launcher the S4 gets less laggy. Hope that helps!
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How do you do this? I have nova 2.1 and I don't see a setting for transparent status bar.

[Q] LG 4.2.2 Change System Dialogs to Look More Like KitKat?

Hi,
I've installed Nova Launcher and it pretty much does the job converting the phone's look to KitKat on the Stock LG 4.2.2 ROM.
The only things Nova Launcher doesn't replace are the Notification Bar and the System Dialogs (like the Dialog that does Power Off). System Dialogs are an ugly white and grey, and they look surprisingly similar to Samsung's ugly ass UI, at least early versions of it.
So, does anyone know how to make the System Dialogs look more like KitKat, or at least, turn them dark from white?
Thanks in advance.
PS: I've used the Xpload framework and it really messed over my battery life, I'd like to do this using root if possible.

autom8r said:
Hi,
I've installed Nova Launcher and it pretty much does the job converting the phone's look to KitKat on the Stock LG 4.2.2 ROM.
The only things Nova Launcher doesn't replace are the Notification Bar and the System Dialogs (like the Dialog that does Power Off). System Dialogs are an ugly white and grey, and they look surprisingly similar to Samsung's ugly ass UI, at least early versions of it.
So, does anyone know how to make the System Dialogs look more like KitKat, or at least, turn them dark from white?
Thanks in advance.
PS: I've used the Xpload framework and it really messed over my battery life, I'd like to do this using root if possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Decompile the framework invert all the toast images and a bunch more then find the XML that controls the text color you want and walla.. All done.
PS.. Odds are when you do this your going to inadvertently cause white on white or black on black. Best of luck
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

zathus said:
Decompile the framework invert all the toast images and a bunch more then find the XML that controls the text color you want and walla.. All done.
PS.. Odds are when you do this your going to inadvertently cause white on white or black on black. Best of luck
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure about the last statement in the PS, white and black are easily distinguishable colors #FFFFFF vs #000000...
Anyway, is there any root level app that does this type of asset replacement?
Thanks!

autom8r said:
Not sure about the last statement in the PS, white and black are easily distinguishable colors #FFFFFF vs #000000...
Anyway, is there any root level app that does this type of asset replacement?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No what I ment was sometimes there tied to something else. Like you change the text for the toast popups to white, and in settings the text is also white. So, in settings its white on white. Just an example, and I don't think there is an app however I'd imagine there could be. Xposed or something. Toss in a request on the g2 xposed threads.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

zathus said:
No what I ment was sometimes there tied to something else. Like you change the text for the toast popups to white, and in settings the text is also white. So, in settings its white on white. Just an example, and I don't think there is an app however I'd imagine there could be. Xposed or something. Toss in a request on the g2 xposed threads.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Ah yes, I see what you're saying. Luckily though, I think this won't be the case because LG literally uses white on black and there's absolutely no dark backgrounds I could find in their UI whatsoever. The dialer is a dark grey, but I don't need to change the dialer, just system dialogs.
I am going down this road now, I am ripping apart the assets in the backend trying to find the key files to tweak and replace. Fun, I love this.

New update is annoying

I just have updated the new software today. The good news is that we can hide the navigation bar. The bad news is we only have 7 colors for the navigation bar to choose from, and there is no dark color. I use to have the black navigation bar so I found this update terrible
Is anyone share the same opinion??

This is probably to stop people from using a black background which will cause uneven wear of the display.

Minh225_ said:
I just have updated the new software today. The good news is that we can hide the navigation bar. The bad news is we only have 7 colors for the navigation bar to choose from, and there is no dark color. I use to have the black navigation bar so I found this update terrible
Is anyone share the same opinion??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe not the answer everyone wants but this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jaouan.skinnednavbar&hl=en works great for bringing back the black navbar. And you can use this without any of the emoji's on it; just plain black navbar.

I don't see that hide nav bar feature...

gc180 said:
This is probably to stop people from using a black background which will cause uneven wear of the display.
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Click to collapse
I'm a little confused, black pixels are costly?

keemyb said:
I'm a little confused, black pixels are costly?
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Click to collapse
Google it. It's not difficult.
Black nav bar will result in uneven screen wear. I didn't say cost, I said screen wear.

I have a black navbar. I have always had a black navbar. It actually helps preserve battery life. A black navbar has never caused me issues.

mtweisenbarger777 said:
Maybe not the answer everyone wants but this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jaouan.skinnednavbar&hl=en works great for bringing back the black navbar. And you can use this without any of the emoji's on it; just plain black navbar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This app does bring back the black bar but it keeps the phone awake. So the lock screen doesn't time out in the normal way. It times out after the same amount of time you set the system time out to. This has caused major battery drain when it turns on in my pocket from the virtual home button being so easy to push (even at the least sensitive setting) has anyone else found an alternative app that solves the problem in the same way but doesn't keep the phone from sleeping?

[DISCUSS] What are you doing to improve your Pixel 2XL

Hi all crazy people dishing out enough to buy a used car for a shiny new phone!!!
So...this thread is for ideas on how to improve (make as it should be) your Pixel 2XL...I'll start.
I enabled Developer options and set animations to 0.5X.
I enabled systemui tuner to turn off some icons in that cluttered status bar.
Why put an LED capable of so many colors on a phone and only have it blink green occasionally? Madness Google!!!
Light Manager went on first so I could have a charging and charged light as well as different colors for different apps.
Ooo...Google added a hidden trick that if you have black wallpaper (edges at least) then the app drawer background will also black out....what about all the other system apps Google?!!! And what? We have to add photos to black borders if we want them as wallpaper? I say thee NAY!
Rootless substratum - Andromeda to the rescue! Most themes work well on Oreo and you can have your dark UI back on everything...which as a side note blue tint does not show up on!
Once you get that up and running, I put Pitch Black theme on and also grabbed a center clock mod that works great!
Looking around for a circle battery mod that works and some way to mod the colors of the status bar icons. Oreo is being a pain for some themers.
A little more work and who needs root?
Anyone find a good mod to fix the color saturation? Or at least make Vivid Color switch do something?
So...what have you done? :highfive:

Great idea for a thread.
I had Nova Prime on mine with the Google Companion plug in to enable the Google swipe and it worked great to hide the dock at the bottom. Hopefully I will get nice one from Google tomorrow that's defect free.

How do you get rid of the notification for light manager?

AndrasLOHF said:
How do you get rid of the notification for light manager?
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Click to collapse
Like any notification, just long press (hold on notification) and then choose block all notifications from this app.

KennyG123 said:
Like any notification, just long press (hold on notification) and then choose block all notifications from this app.
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Click to collapse
Cool. In the past that would kill the LED as well if I remember. Guess that got that figured out.

Cool thread. And the light manager idea is great. I don't understand why Google doesn't have a charging LED.
Sent from my Google Pixel 2 XL using XDA Labs

Nova Prime.
Substratum and a dark theme
Changed the navbar icons to hollow ones to help with burn in
icon pack
light manager
super thin case with my metal plate for my magnet mount in the car

Anyone having memory management issues? And has done something to improve it? Frequently getting redraws with only 6-10 apps open. :|
I originally had andromeda and substratum setup, naptime x (via adb), was using sprite to get center clock and colour options for the status and nav bars. Of course opted for nova launcher over pixel launcher!

OK, had the Oreo colorizer installed to improve the colors but then seen it using 2% battery after a full day...saw there was an update and after mashing update phone a 100 times finally sideloaded it! The saturated option is what I am used to and I think are great! I see some prefer just boosted...a compromise between boosted and saturated would be great.
Have gotten 3 days without charging the phone whereas at best I could make it 2 on the 6P! I may just stay unrooted if Substratum Andromeda would work a little better...takes like 10 tries sometimes to connect the ADB Andromeda script. And Pitch Black seems to update the theme almost everyday!
Loving this phone now!

Magisk 14.4
Substratum - Swift Black
Nova Prime
Tapet - Black Wallpaper
Removed Nav Bar - Using Swift Navigation instead.

KennyG123 said:
I say thee NAY! Rootless substratum - Andromeda to the rescue! Most themes work well on Oreo and you can have your dark UI back on everything...which as a side note blue tint does not show up on!
Once you get that up and running, I put Pitch Black theme on and also grabbed a center clock mod that works great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great to hear!
KennyG123 said:
Looking around for a circle battery mod that works and some way to mod the colors of the status bar icons. Oreo is being a pain for some themers.
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Click to collapse
As far as I know, the battery is completely drawn in Java so overlays are mods won't work, unless you do rooted mods
KennyG123 said:
A little more work and who needs root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been running rootless for nearly a whole year and it's been great!

KennyG123 said:
I may just stay unrooted if Substratum Andromeda would work a little better...takes like 10 tries sometimes to connect the ADB Andromeda script. And Pitch Black seems to update the theme almost everyday!
Loving this phone now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually we don't like telling people this but the connection of the phone to their Oreo device is based on the computer they used, for example, some of the Macs I tried kept disconnecting the ADB shell/disabling USB debugging and thus, disables the app - which gets understandably annoying.
I usually test on my main rig regarding Andromeda, and it's been running great with 5 devices attached at all times, including when they are disconnected.

nicholaschum said:
That's great to hear!
As far as I know, the battery is completely drawn in Java so overlays are mods won't work, unless you do rooted mods
I've been running rootless for nearly a whole year and it's been great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nicholaschum said:
Usually we don't like telling people this but the connection of the phone to their Oreo device is based on the computer they used, for example, some of the Macs I tried kept disconnecting the ADB shell/disabling USB debugging and thus, disables the app - which gets understandably annoying.
I usually test on my main rig regarding Andromeda, and it's been running great with 5 devices attached at all times, including when they are disconnected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Nicholas for all you do!!! I am sure Andromeda will only get better and it has been a blessing!!!
Thanks for the tip about the connection. My desktop is ancient...maybe I will try my new laptop and see how it works.

KennyG123 said:
OK, had the Oreo colorizer installed to improve the colors but then seen it using 2% battery after a full day...saw there was an update and after mashing update phone a 100 times finally sideloaded it! The saturated option is what I am used to and I think are great! I see some prefer just boosted...a compromise between boosted and saturated would be great.
Have gotten 3 days without charging the phone whereas at best I could make it 2 on the 6P! I may just stay unrooted if Substratum Andromeda would work a little better...takes like 10 tries sometimes to connect the ADB Andromeda script. And Pitch Black seems to update the theme almost everyday!
Loving this phone now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are you getting 3 days on a charge? I'm getting just under 2. Not that I'm complaining, but 3 would be badass.

Awesome thread idea -- was tired seeing so many negative threads concerning this phone. This phone has been nothing but great to me.
Here's what I did!
- Global full immersive mode (did this AS SOON as i unboxed it, after unlocking bootloader)
- Completely disabled the nav bar (never pops up)
- LMT Pie Controls
- Dropped down the animations to .5x
- Nova Prime
- Light Flow/Manager
- Substratum (pitch black theme)
- Disabled apps I dont use (uninstalled the ones i could)
After applying Nov. update, I decided to Root for a few reasons:
- Complete removal of the nav bar (editing the build.prompt)
- Got tired of seeing ads in Chrome Beta
- Completely removed apps within the system I dont use instead of just disabling them (nice and slim)
This phone has been absolutely incredible - insanely smooth with zero lag. No burn-in (obviously due to my set up) or anything negative about this phone that has been reported.
More than likely going to be on the Nov. build until ROMs start come rolling in -- until then, im completely satisfied.

gettinwicked said:
How are you getting 3 days on a charge? I'm getting just under 2. Not that I'm complaining, but 3 would be badass.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing special at all! I am using it the same as I did my 6P. I do clear all recents 2 or 3 times a day to make sure nothing is running in the background. Have brightness about 40% with adaptive brightness on. Am on Google Fi so make sure to be on wifi most of the day....from experience poor signal is a big drain. I keep location on battery saving which really helps Google Fit and my smartwatch be more accurate. Probably could get even more out of it if I did not play a battery hog called Dice with Buddies.

Dumped the Oreo Colorizer app for sideloading the November update...Saturated is my lobster!!!!
Anyone find a circle battery mod that works yet?

Loving my 2xl so far, aside from not being able to find a glass screen protector that lasts more than 2 days without dust under it!
Running sideloaded Nov. update,
Magisk 14.4 rooted
light manager is a must! (different color leds for work/personal app notifications)
substratum swift black
and good ol adaway to keep the ads at bay.
Would love a circle clock mod
and would KILL for a volume adjustment mod (set notification and ringtone to separate levels)

mnrivera210 said:
Magisk 14.4
Substratum - Swift Black
Nova Prime
Tapet - Black Wallpaper
Removed Nav Bar - Using Swift Navigation instead.
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Click to collapse
what is swift navigation?

byproxy said:
what is swift navigation?
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Think he meant Swipe Navigation : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.suphi.swipenavigation&hl=en

Notification panel turns black on its own.

My notification panel turns black on its own. Then it stays black for some time and then return to its original white color. Although it is not much of a concern to me, but i would like to know whether this is normal, and what causes the color of the notification panel to change?

Yup .. Noticed that too. My notification panel turns dark when I put dark wallpaper, and when I change to light wallpaper, itu turns white .

MosheHC said:
Yup .. Noticed that too. My notification panel turns dark when I put dark wallpaper, and when I change to light wallpaper, itu turns white .
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. I tried it and it is as you said. Never thought of that. I mostly use dark wallpaper so never noticed that. Now i wonder whether this happens with other phones or it is just limited to this phone. Overall, i think it is a great feature.

siwi09 said:
Thanks for the reply. I tried it and it is as you said. Never thought of that. I mostly use dark wallpaper so never noticed that. Now i wonder whether this happens with other phones or it is just limited to this phone. Overall, i think it is a great feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Material dark theme cannot be implemented system-wide without root changes / third party app. This is default optimization by Google for Android (not their best work for sure), will probably be corrected in Pie.