Hello guys how're you doing? The day since Google announced the release of Nexus 7 having Android 5.0 (Lollipop), everyone has gone crazy to get the new Nexus 7 and the new Android verision, Android 5.0 Lollipop (Android L).
There are many developers trying to give the Android L experience to users using lower Android versions.
I've sorted out some of the apps that can help give you the Android L experience. So, let's get started.
Prerequisites:
Prerequisites:
- A rooted android phone is preferred. On a non-rooted phone you won't be able to get all the functionality but you can get the basic features.
- Google Now launcher - the home launcher
- Xposed GEL Settings (root) - Google Now Launcher settings
- Xposed Installer (root) - the thing on which XGELS counts on
- Lollipop Pro Theme - lollipop icon pack
- Heads Up - for the heads up notifications
- XStana (root) - to customize the navigation bar to look like Android L's
- Google Keyboard - for the L style keyboard
- exDialer - Dialer & Contacts - Lollipop style dialer and contacts
- Gravity Box (root) - some interesting tweaks for your phone and needed to change your statusbar icons to Lollipop icons.
- Lollipop Call - to get a L style banner while incoming calls.
- Messenger - messenger with Material Design (the new design used by Google in Android 5 Lollipop is also known as Material Design) look
- Quick Pick - Oh come on, you even want a gallery app which looks like Android L's! okay I've got that too
- Lollipop Lockscreen - Android L style lockecreen
Some of the main features of Android L and how to get those (non-root and root requiring apps)
- Firstly, the launcher. There are many 3rd party launchers out there which can be customized to look like the Android 5.0 Home Launcher. One of the most customizable 3rd party launchers is the 'Nova Launcher' (no root needed). If you just want a launcher which looks like Android L's without much customization, the 'Google Now Launcher' (no root needed) is best for you. It brings the Android L experience to device running lower android versions. You can say "Ok Google" to make a voice search, the left-most page/slide takes you directly to the Google app. It is the Google's official app and so it is always up to date and looks exactly like the latest Android version which currently is Android 5.0.
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| Google Now Launcher |
oh... and the best thing with Google Now Launcher is that you don't have to configure any settings as there are no settings.
- Okay that was a poor joke because although Google Now Launcher does not provide much customization options, by which I mean absolutely no customization options, there is a tiny little app called 'Xposed GEL Settings', also known as XGELS (Xposed Google Experience Launcher Settings), which provides tons of options to customize your Google Now Launcher. For example, gestures, app drawer tabs, notification badges, changing app names and their icons, etc. But many of these features are only available in pro version. XGELS needs root and the Xposed Installer (which also requires root) to work. The new Android obviously has new icons. XGELS can apply full icon theme packs to your app's icons or you can even set icons on a per app basis. To apply the Lollipop icons, you will need an icon pack like 'Lollipop Pro Theme'. Don't worry it's free.
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| XGELS |
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| Xposed Installer |
To apply full icon pack:
1) Open XGELS.
2) Goto Icon tab.
3) Click Icon Pack and choose the Lollipop Pro Theme from the window that appears.
4) Click on the Restart button on the top-right corner. This will restart the Google Now Launcher.
To apply icons on per app basis:
1) Open XGELS.
2) Goto Icon tab.
3) Click Per app icon change.
4) Click on an app. For example, Facebook.
5) Goto Lollipop Pro Theme tab.
6) Choose the Facebook icon.
7) Click on the Restart button on the top-right corner. This will restart the Google Now Launcher.
- Second, the new feature known as 'Heads up' (no root needed) displays the notifications as floating windows/tiles on top of the screen when they arrive.
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| Heads Up |
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| Android L |
What about the navigation bar?
- You can get the new Android L navigation Bar buttons by installing a simple app called 'Xstana' (root needed). It also needs Xposed Installer to work.
To change the navigation bar buttons:
1) Open Xstana.
2) Swipe through a variety of nav bar themes and stop at 'Lollipop'. Don't confuse it with AOSP L Preview or AOSP L Concept.
3) Click on the Tick icon.
4) Now Reboot your device to see changes.
There are also some statusbar themes. But if you just want the Android L statusbar icons, no need to mess with those themes because we will discuss a better way to do so, later.
Now,
(1) See it works.
(2) Application Launcher - an extra button in the navigation bar. After pressing it, a window like this appears-
(3) The Menu button which is set to be always visible.
I will show you how to enable these ( (2) & (3) ) later.
Now, the keyboard.
Now,
(1) See it works.
(2) Application Launcher - an extra button in the navigation bar. After pressing it, a window like this appears-
I will show you how to enable these ( (2) & (3) ) later.
Now, the keyboard.
- An app called Google Keyboard (no root needed) developed by Google itself, can be themed as both the KK (Android 4 KitKat) style and the L style keyboard. It has almost all the features that a standard 3rd party keyboard offers. And all the L keyboard features are obvious.
Setting up the Google Keyboard:
1) Open the Google Keyboard app and follow the instructions shown in the app.
3) Goto Appearence & layouts.
4) Click on Theme.
5) And choose Material Light from the list that appears.
That's all you need to do to make your Keyboard look and function like Android L's keyboard. Yes, function like Android L's keyboard. The app gives all the functions that Android L's keyboard has to offer.
Okay, now the Dialer and Contacts.
- For the dialer and the contact manager, we will use the app called 'exDialer - Dialer and Contacts'. It is fully functional but has to be unlocked by a "pro key app". In the Trial version, after the Trial Period ends, it just shows a banner asking to buy the pro key app('pro key app' is not the name of the pro activator app). It does not need any configuration as it is pre-configured for the L dialer theme. After you install this app, you will see two new apps in your app drawer - Contacts and Dialer. As the name suggests, they are- a contact manager and a dialer (respectively), just what we want. In short, just install and enjoy!
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| Dialer |
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| Contacts (b) |
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| Contacts (a) |
- Do you remember I told you not to mess with the statusbar themes in Xstana? I did so because Xstana is not persistent and does not support all the Lollipop icons. So what to do now? An app called Gravity Box can do this very well. There is a different version of Gravity Box for each Android version. So, Gravity Box (root needed) also requires Xposed Installer to work. There are various tweaks that you can apply but we will focus only on the options that are necessary to turn your android phone into Android L. Let's see-
For the status bar icons-
1) Open Gravity Box and goto Statusbar Tweaks.
2) Select Signal cluster settings.
3) Check Use Lollipop icons. Reboot your device and done! You can see the changes as soon as you reboot your device.
<Time for some extras>
How to get these? and change the color of the navigation buttons?:
It can be done using Gravity Box.
To make the 'Menu' button persistent:
1) Open Gravity Box and goto Navigation Bar Tweaks.
2) Scroll down to NAVIGATION KEYS section and check Always show menu key.
There you go. Now the Menu button is persistent.
To enable the 'Application Launcher':
1) Open Gravity Box and goto Navigation Bar Tweaks.
2) Scroll down to NAVIGATION KEYS section and click on Custom key settings.
3) Check Enable custom key.
4) Click on Single-tap action.
5) Choose Show application launhcer from the window that appears.
That's how you enable the Application Launcher.
To change the Navigation buttons' color:
1) Open Gravity Box and goto Navigation Bar Tweaks.
2) Scroll down to COLORS section and check Enable navbar colors.
3) Change the Navigation key color and Navigation key glow color as per your choice.
<Let's get back to our topic>
- Lollipop's new incoming call feature displays a banner while incoming calls while you are using another applications. So there is less distraction while you are watching a movie or playing a video game. The default incoming caller screen is displayed while you are on your Home Launcher(Google Now Launcher in this case).
The next app called Lollipop Call (no root needed) does this job very efficiently. It displays an interactive banner while you are in another app and the default incoming caller screen is displayed while you are on your Home Launcher.
No special configuration required.
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| Incoming Call |
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| Receiving Call |
- The Android L messaging app has got a new makeover. And now has a Material Design UI.
Google's official messaging app called Messenger (no root needed) is a messaging app following the Material Design UI just like Android L's does.
No special configuration required.
- New Android, new gallery app. The new gallery app does not have much changes except the new Material Design makeover.
QuickPic looks the same and does the same, i.e., showing media stored on the device. But it doesn't support images having alpha values.
- The new lockscreen is the biggest change i've seen. It now displays notifications on the lockscreen which weren't shown on earlier versions of Android. The app called Lollipop Lockscreen(no root needed) looks the same and works just like the Android L's lockscreen. Although it has some bugs, you won't encounter them frequently.
Setting it up:
1) Open Lollipop Lockscreen and enable it.
2) Allow the app to access the notifications. You will get a popup asking you to do so.
Check Lollipop Lockscreen from the next screen.
3) Open the app and goto Lockscreen Settings.
4) Apply these settings :
5) Go back and goto Notification Settings.
6) Apply these settings :
So, this is how we turn an Android phone to Android L. We got to know that the new Android is smooth as silk and provides many features. And we also learn that this transformation is very time taking and this post was very very very long.
So, any doubts, suggestions, write them in the comments below.
Thanks for reading.
-Pratyush Kumar
