Themes “The Return of the look”
There is one thing that makes WM a great OS: if you don’t like something, you can change it. That ability sets WM apart from other major OS’s because it is the only one that allows you to change your UI, dialer, calculator, keyboard, menu, startup, main apps theme’s and even the whole OS with one flash of a new ROM. These things might seem minor, but very useful especially when it comes to Windows Media Player and your phone dialer. They are members of our great community that know the strengths of the OS and play with it, and that is what this is all about.
Dialer
There are a lot of good places to get a good dialer for your phone. HTC makes one of the best looking, most functional dialers out there and if you want your phone to have it, it is just a cabinet(CAB) file away. The are four main dialer that take the cake for this section, Tachi/At&t dialer(Vga), Rhodium dialer(Wvga), Minimal Dialer(Qvga) and Wqvga, but sadly I can not find a good version to go with.
Media Player
The windows mobile media player is from my point of view one of the worse things about the OS’s look. The skin is as old as time it’s self, and that is a well known fact in the windows mobile community. The people at xda and mylostblog have made some dialer skins to save the day. Their is one that looks the best and it is the windows media player12 skin for (Wvga, Vga, Wqvga) their is no version for Qvga, so sorry people, but there are more skins to go around. Their is a Manila 3D theme for (Vga, Qvga) so you qvga guys, we still have love for you.
The Final-Start up-
This is one of the less important Theme/skin, but some people care about it, so I included it. The are a lot of different versions, so it is all about what you like, but these are some that I choose and or have on my phone. EMSE’s startup screen for (Wvga, Vga, Wqvga, Qvga), is a pretty good start up screen and it all depends on taste to get one, because there is a version for everyone except square resolution. Their are many more start up screen at either XDA, PPCgeek or over at Mylostblog
The theme of your phone is something that is somewhat important, but with changes and WM7 coming, theme’s might become extinct for us and I would be glad if that happened.
Mr.J
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Posted in news
I want Winmo 7 to be so good that oems will have no need to put their own interface overlays on it. The os should be able to shine on it's own:) Nice post. I disagree; themes are still nice. There's always something for you no matter how good the default is.
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WMPerson Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 2:40 am
Thanks and What if the Original is Soo good and animated that it changes on its own, then you wont need it
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wreiad Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
I agree in a sense. I actually use a wm phone with the default 6.5 os :p
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I think MSFT should make a special part in the marketplace for themes, themes for everything
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WMPerson Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 2:42 am
The problem is that the charge a little much for theme and it would make it hard for people to upload there own Theme there, unless it was free of course.
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Lennard Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
that's exactly what I was thinking, free themes and premium themes. and I'm not talking about just a change of picture and color, I'm talking about deeper changes like icons and animations…..they should release the know-how to the rest of us and not just give it to HTC.
I think themes would be like the fart apps of for the marketplace (in a good way)….because themes are way better than fart apps. this would give true meaning to personalizing your handset to the way you're feeling at a certain time……there's a themes for that.
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Isn't there a way to add transitions to winmo? Like in opnening and closing applications. A simple fade or a center zoom like iPhone, etc
I know it's unlikely though
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wmpoweruser Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 8:58 am
HTC has added fade-ins to the mail client, so it is possible.
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mighty Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Isn't that HTC's own sms client ?
I mean for ordinary programs, like when you open IE mobile
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l3v5y Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 9:23 am
HTC have done that with a lot of graphics processing!
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l3v5y Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 9:24 am
There are some simple transitions that everyone disables because they're a line box that expands. And look horrible…
Part of what makes the iPhone feel snappy is that it's got loads of splash screens that appear instantly, whilst the actual loading takes ages.
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mighty Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 9:48 am
I once enabled that transition through advanced config, but it was as you say horrible; not worth remaining enabled.
So is there a way to add better transitions?
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l3v5y Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Not that I know of, I think that's the only one, and I don't think they have added any new ones in the latest builds…
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Lennard Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
I remember in the early builds of wim6.5 there were some nice transitions from window to window, it wasn't a fade out, it was a sliding action…the windows either slide left, right, or down. they somehow disabled it for some reason I don't know, but it was there, the registry keys are still there for the new transitions but even when you enable the reg keys the transitions are still missing. hopefully they will implement it again because it looked nice. I will try to find the build I saw it on.
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wreiad Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Find that build!
l3v5y Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
That's not something I noticed… If you know where it's from, we can try and bring it back!
WMPerson Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
I have actually Had this on one of the older Builds, It just like when your in the massage app, and slide it left it has had a cool animation, but after that build it was goon.
l3v5y Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Oh… I remember that… It was in a really early 6.5 build…
you need to get rid of this writer, his writing skills are crap
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mighty Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 9:15 am
but he's writing nice stuff, the exact things this place lacked
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Lennard Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
yeah I down ranked you, because your comment was not constructive at all. if you have a problem with the author's writing skills why don't you explain what you think "are crap" about it? I have to say I've seen a lot more people commenting since he got here. plus the things he writes about, as mighty says, is what this place lacked for a while. so please next time comment constructively so the aurthor can see what is lacking in his writing and will know how to better himself. thank you.
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mighty Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
really ? I didn't know! This would have been really nice… I hope they are included again in some future build.
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WMPerson Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Thank you very much mighty and lennard, All I ask is for comments that help me get better at what I do and not comments that are just trying to trash me. I am very glad the are people like you that stand up for me and can use my posts in a good way. If there is something you need just ask. Thanks guys. Also what do u think about my writing, I am getting better by the day.
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Well I think this can help me improve, so thank you for this, because i will remember it when i am doing my next post.
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I can't remember…Will try and find it…
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Foamy Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
I wonder why they took it out. maybe it was reducing battery life. it would be interesting to see how much of an effect good transitions have.
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l3v5y Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
It might (like a lot of features of WM) be disabled in registry. I can't see how it would have that much of an impact on battery life though…
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Foamy Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
I don't know another reason to disable or remove it then. assuming it looked and worked alright. i haven't seen it though so i don't really know.
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