Category Archives: Android

Android, Application Interfaces, Concept, Design, User Experience

[UI Concept] Twitter for Android with Ice Cream Sandwich Theme

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Twitter for Android with ICS Theme

Click the image above for full-size view.

I loved the Holo theme in Ice Cream Sandwich. That’s the reason I made the Android ICS GUI Design Kit in PSD for Android Designer to design high quality app with stock UI elements in mind. But I am also curious how well can the UI elements in Holo theme for ICS can be applied to the currently available apps, so I decided to start with the official Twitter Android app, which is an easy one I think. Continue reading [UI Concept] Twitter for Android with Ice Cream Sandwich Theme →

Android, Design

[Android] Printable A4 GUI Sketching Kit – Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus

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Details

Update 30-06-2012: Version 2.0 includes the new Nexus 7 in Portrait and Landscape!

Besides the Android ICS GUI Design Kit that can be used in Adobe Photoshop, I also think (and love!) that sketching is a big part of UI/UX designing, while it can be messy, but it definitely help in quick idea visualization and aid in brainstorming.

So here I come up with two sketch templates for Android App, using the Samsung Nexus S and Samsung Galaxy Nexus as the sample devices, and put them on an A4-sized PDF with almost real-life size so designers can sketch the app with the size as close as the real device (don’t blame me if there is one or two pixels off! /jk/).

Android app designer, go create some awesome apps with the GUI Design Kit and GUI Sketching Kit!

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Android GUI Sketching Kit – Nexus S

Android GUI Sketching Kit – Galaxy Nexus

Android GUI Sketching Kit – Nexus 7 Tablet – Portrait

Android GUI Sketching Kit – Nexus 7 Tablet – Landscape

Android GUI Sketching Kit – Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7 Tablet

Android, Design

[Android 4.0] Ice Cream Sandwich GUI Design Kits in PSD

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15AUG2012: Android ICS/JB Photoshop GUI Design Kit is updated to 3.0 and released at AndroidUIUX!

29FEB2012: Android Team have officially provided the Android Design Stencils in Adobe Photoshop format! Awesome!

26FEB2012: Android ICS GUI Design Kits updated to 2.0.1!

19JAN2012: Android ICS GUI Design Kits updated to 2.0!

Update

1.1: Added more stock ICS GUI elements. Refer below for details.

2.0: Based on the official Android Design by Android Team, most of the ICS GUI stock elements have been added. Below image shows a summary of the content.

2.0.1: Added the Back Arrow for the top action bar. Thanks Andy!

Details

I have been designing mock up of Android app in Adobe Photoshop and I find that a GUI Design Kit is extremely important, and I thought there isn’t any good (and simple) one in the wild, so I have decided to make this Android ICS GUI Design Kit for two different resolutions and dpi:

  • 720×1280 320dpi – Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  • 480×800 240 dpi – Samsung Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy S II

The main idea of this GUI Design Kit is not making everything scalable to the unfortunate fragmentation occurs in Android, but just provide some stock elements of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) in one .psd file so app designer can really focus on creating awesome mock up to show developers/clients. Some of the elements are just single layer of image from ICS, but I thought they are pretty adequate for mock up purpose.

Android, Beta Program, Latest News

[Android] First Impression of unofficial Ice Cream Sandwich on Google Nexus S

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The announcement of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) and the new Galaxy Nexus certainly are exciting news for Android supporter, though it is a little bit sad to know that Nexus One won’t get the sweetness that Ice Cream Sandwich offers (at least officially).

There has been a promise of Nexus S getting Ice Cream Sandwich few weeks after the release of Galaxy Nexus, however, I am sure most of the Nexus S (and other Android device that is eligible for the update) user couldn’t wait any longer for the release. Good news is that Google already released the SDK of Android 4.0, so while waiting for the official release, we can have a go on the sweetness via the emulator on the computer.

How about a real ROM on the device now? If you are adventurous enough to try an unstable ROM (and by unstable, I really meant it) which is not meant for daily normal usage – you got it. Drew Garen from drewgaren.com has put in some efforts to convert the available SDK into a working ROM for Nexus S and it is working surprisingly well (not entirely stable but it is surprise to see this stability from a ROM built from an SDK).

If you are interested and ready to take some risk, you can refer to the guide here on how to get it install (even if you haven’t root your Nexus S), however, if you would like to see what’s new and how does it run on Nexus S, keep reading.  Continue reading [Android] First Impression of unofficial Ice Cream Sandwich on Google Nexus S →

Android, MIUI, Tips and Tricks

MIUI FTP Service, iTunes Wi-Fi Sync, Shared Library is not working? Probably you have a hidden SSID.

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MIUI_FTPI love the custom Android MIUI ROM. It packed with tons of features that are not available in the stock Android ROM and it is an almost-complete solution for Android devices. One of the thing I love the most is the Wi-Fi FTP Service in it’s File Explorer, which allows the computer in the same network accessing the files in the Android device – No more cable for file transfer.

However, it surprised me when I decided to try this feature out – it fails to work. The device and the computer are in the same network, and there is definitely nothing wrong with my router. I have been looking for solution online and I don’t seems to be able to find any – it is definitely not rocket science to use this feature.

How to make it work?

After some trial and error, I finally figure out the issue. The Hidden SSID is the culprit. I configured my home network in such a way that it doesn’t broadcast the SSID (I know it won’t help in preventing hijacking, but yeah), but I never know that it is the problem that causing the FTP service to failed. So making the SSID visible solve the problem instantly. It also solved the problem that puzzled me on my iPad where my iTunes Wi-Fi Sync and Shared Library is not working over the same network.

So if you have a hidden SSID and you have these problems, make it visible – problem solved. A little bit of surprise to know that these features will not work with invisible SSID, but I am glad that I figured it out. Hope this helps.