The next version of Paranoid Android is still not quite ready for users, which is certainly unfortunate but only because we can’t get our hands on the wondrous magic that it works. What might be one of the most coveted and sought after features of the new Paranoid Android 4 is HALO, which is not only getting some updates and tweaks from the last version that they had running in their Jelly Bean based ROMs, but has also gotten a complete redesign for a refreshed look, to match the theme and color of Kit Kat with the same style and flare.
For those that have no idea about Paranoid Android or what its popular HALO feature is, i’ll explain. Paranoid Android is one of the most popular AOSP based ROMs out there, with great customizations in a minimalist package. There aren’t too many changes that they make to the overall design of the UI, but they do add in some of their own style and personalities with things like changing your UI from phone to tablet mode etc. Overall it’s a very speedy ROM that works great and has some nice features, without hacking up the stock Android UI too much. HALO, is a popular feature they previously introduced into an earlier version of their Paranoid Android ROM. It works pretty similar to Facebook chat heads, but on a much larger scale with more functionality and a much more seamless beautiful design.
It runs much better too, giving you the capability to pop in and pop out of whatever you open with more speed and virtually no lag. Facebook chat heads, at least for me, was laggy and made my phone run a little slow. As far as what HALO can do, it basically lets you open up anything in a little window panel over whatever else you have open. If you’re on the home screen, it just opens up a little panel on the home screen. If you’re playing Ingress and you get a message, it’ll open up right on top of the Ingress scanner UI, so basically there’s no limitations on what apps you can use with HALO, making it extremely versatile. This new Kit Kat refresh give HALO a nice little face lift with the seamless Kit Kat transparency so that it can better blend in with just about anything. If you’re just as eager to get your hands on the newest PA ROM and their new version of HALO as we are, stay tuned here, as we’ll post any information on its arrival. Oh, and if you like the wallpaper in the HALO ad, here’s the link to download it.