Now MWC has finished it is a return to business as usual in the custom and rooted world, with a number of new announcements, updates, new features and apps making their way. If you missed the news during the week then here is a quick rundown of a few of the more notable news from the last seven days.
Paranoid Android 5.0 Alpha 2
Last week we saw the alpha version of Paranoid Android 5.0 being released. This was long awaited for the PA fans out there. Well, already an update is available for those running PA 5.0 which will bring you up to Alpha 2. Changes on offer include the reintroduction of App Ops and a reworking of the Quick settings. Click the link below to find out more or grab your download, if you have not seen an OTA as of yet.
Heads Up Hide – Xposed
The Xposed Framework is an excellent addition to anyone running a rooted android device thanks to the wealth of Modules available. Well, a new one popped up this week entitled Heads Up Hide and does exactly that. This mod will allow you to hide heads up notifications as they come in. This means that when you swipe the heads up notification away, it will not be ‘dismissed’ but instead will just be hidden from view. Click the link below to head over to the mod listing if you are interested.
AOKP 5.0 Lollipop Update
Things have been quiet recently from the AOKP (Android Open Kang Project) lot with no real indication of when they will be bringing their Android 5.0 Lollipop ROM option to the masses. However, this week did see a blog announcement from AOKP advising that they are working on it and it should be landing soon enough. They also do advise that at first it will pretty much be stock builds, but the more AOKP like features will be added as and when time and ability permits. You can read the blog posting in full by clicking the source link below.
Xposed Lollipop
Like PA, it was only recently the long awaited after-root feature Xposed was ported over and made compatible with Android 5.0. This was a big milestone for those who like to further customize their devices. Well, also like PA, this week saw dev rovo89 roll out the first proper update to Xposed Lollipop and will bring your Xposed up to version Alpha 2. From what it seems, this update largely consists of bug fixes and performance issues. If you want to read more about what you can expect from Xposed Alpha 2 then click the link below.
Home Launcher Icon Packs
If you are an Xperia device owner and like customizing your device and in particular, are looking for customized icon packs but not too keen on any of those already being offered, then you might be interested in this post on XDA by serajr. This is a guide to help you learn to create your own icon packs for Sony Xperia devices. If this has peaked your interest then click the link below to find out more.
Skydragon HTC One M8
The Skydragon team are known for bringing great, lightweight and well-developed ROMs to a number of devices. This week saw the team offer their ROM version for the HTC One M8. If you own this device and fancy giving the Skydragon ROM a try, then this is a Lollipop level ROM and based off of HTC’s Sense 7 UI. Hit the link below to find out more and download and install instructions.
Nova Launcher Material Design
This week also saw some interesting news for those who use the Nova Launcher as your main launcher. It seems Nova received a pretty hefty update this week bringing with it masses and masses of Material Design. This is of course, a beta offering, but that said, is likely to be a fairly stable one. You can hit the link below to read the Google+ announcement post on what you can expect with the Material Design Nova Launcher, as well as the links to grab your copy. You also might want to consider joining their community group so that you can be first in getting the news of the latest updates and features.
KitKat ‘Recents’ On Lollipop
Those interested in custom android offerings will be well versed when it comes to Chainfire. He is after all, one of the main forces when it comes to rooting your device. Well, this week saw Chainfire release a new app which many Lollipop users will find very handy. ‘Recently’, will replace your Lollipop ‘Overview’ feature with more KitKat based ‘recents’ feature. If you have missed the way recents used to be displayed since updating, then this will be the app for you. Click the link below to find out more and how to grab your copy.
CyanogenMod CM12 Nightlies
This week saw a few more devices being added to the CM12 nightly official listings. If you missed our earlier posts then the devices which can now download the latest CM based Lollipop offering include the Moto E (2014), Moto X (2014), Oppo N3 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.4. Click the link below to head over to the CM download page if you want to grab your copy of CM12 for any of these devices.
Xposed Android 5.1
Closing out the list today is more news from Xposed dev rovo89. We already heard that Xposed saw an update this week which brought the feature up to Alpha 2 status. However, that was pretty much before Android 5.1 was officially announced. Once it was, rovo89 decided to send out a quick update post to let users know that a 5.1 version of Xposed will not be in the works for now. rovo89 qualified the reasoning for this as making sure that the 5.0 version becomes stable enough before looking to move on to a newer version of Lollipop. If you want to know more you can read the update post in full by clicking the link below.