iPad theme for Android?
 

Please, no OS wars... :)

I got an amazing deal on a barely-used Lenovo K1 tablet.

I'm having fun after a day of playing with it but I confess to finding the interface very, very confusing compared to the iPhone and iPad ones I'm used to. While I'm sure some of that is akin to Cessna vs. Piper and may be cured with time, I'm also wondering if there is some theme (is that the right term here?) for the Android OS that mimics the iPad arrangement of things (I know I've seen the reverse on Cydia -- "skins" for the iPhone/iPad that mimic Android or Blackberry).

Any other hints/tricks for a migrating iPad user?

Other then the icon differences(looks) and mechanical differences(button placement) what seems to be the issue? :D
A google search returns a little over 130,k results
Not sure what flavour OS your device runs but ADW, AHome and a couple other 'home screen' replacement apps all seem to have iPad themes available.

Thanks for the reply. When I go to the Android Market included with the tablet, and search for "Ahome" I get hundreds of hits that don't seem to be categorized and almost all seem to be themes rather than the program? plug-in? that allows new themes (like iPad or whatever) to run.

Here perhaps:

http://www.mappn.com/soft.php?id=2

Not sure if it will do an iPad theme or not but it seems ADW Launcher is the launcher to have.

I guess Apple fans are right when they say there is a value to something "that just works".

I'm not aware of any iDevice skins... Which part of the interface is confusing?

Cool story, bro. I'm sure OP found it extremely helpful.

Any different than all of the Apple haters who go onto every Apple thread to tell people how stupid they are for buying Apple products? Oh, right, at least I was trying to offer something helpful to the thread.

The power of Android is in it's ability to customize. However, this ability differs depending on how much each manufacturer locks down these functions. For that, people often "root" their devices and place customs ROMs that allow full customization and access to non-Marketplace programs.

While I'm sure there are skins, somewhere, that mimic the Apple, my advice is to take full advantage of what the Android does best and customize it to your own specs rather than following a "Henry Ford" type model.


Great, more rabid fanboys...

No, you weren't offering anything remotely helpful. You were snarkily adding the virtual equivalent of "Apple is like, totally the best" rather than addressing a question about an Android device OP already owns. It's really not that difficult. Oh, "but they do it too!" Great, glad we're back on the elementary school playground.

Grow up.

Is this similar to jailbreaking an IOS device and then getting apps from Cydia?

I found a launcher program that is very customizable and things are beginning to seem clearer (although I haven't yet figured out how to make the icons bigger for these sometimes challenged eyes :D)

Part of what I've figured out is that Lenovo's own customization (with it's carousel thingy and ugly launcher app) was making it more difficult to understand the OS interface.

Not sure what jailbreaking is but rooting is giving yourself superuser permission and allows you to get rid of that manufacturer's customization and start over from vanilla flavored Android if you so wish or install custom ROMs. Sounds like this might be something you want. For tablets, the latest version of Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich allow for the resizing of widgets. I haven't tried my icons now that you mention it.

Wow, ever so sorry that your world is so small and closed that you can't handle a discussion at a higher plain. Fandroids just love to bash anything Apple, and one of those things that Apple has going for it is that "it just works". I guess you have a problem with the truth, that sometimes the droid world is just not as nice as some like to proclaim.


Personally I think iDevices are great little units that work wonders for many people, and that there are some droid devices that do the same for many people. It is hilarious that Fandroids are so insecure that they have to try to run down the competition to make themselves feel better. Maybe be we need a tit-for-tat emoticon to make my original message clearer to sensitive individuals such as yourself.

Grow up indeed. LOL

It's far more than that. Jailbreaking just allows IOS devices to leave the walled garden but you're still using the vanilla iOS flavour. Rooting allows you access to the OS itself and change the ROM (kind of like installing Linux over Windows). While the ROM itself is still an Android ROM, the customizations out there allow for an entirely different and vastly more powerful experience.

I don't doubt it. The stock ROMS I've tried from HTC and Motorola are horrendous. I can't imagine Lenovo doing a better job.

However, one thing I haven't played with is trying to enlarge icon sizes. While launchers allow some customization of the size, I haven't even checked whether stock icons can be enlarged.

So glad only a couple of people have tried to light the os/device war flames...

As mentioned already, manufacture customization of the UI can lead to a poor user interaction with a device. This often leads to confusion and bashing of the Android OS as 'terrible' 'confusing' or 'worthless'. The OS it self is wonderful, stable, kittens, rainbows and puppy dog kisses :D
Just some manufactures have a weird sense of what people want.
Take the often bashed and hated 'Moto Blur' or the despised HTC 'Sense" UIs. Those companies feel/felt their choice in UIs were the best for their devices/customer base. Many of their customers agree and still many disagree and change the UI to suite their needs.
The stock Android UI is rather boring and needs dressed up a little :) Which is why we have at-least 6 'home' replacement apps' with dozens if not hundreds of themes, plug-ins, etc available.
My choice in launchers/home app is The GO Launcher EX

ETA:
Even in the droid world there is 'fandroids' within 'fandroids' of certain 'ROMs' Just mention Cyanogen(CM7) or MIUI.

You're absolutely right, apologies.

However, I'm still waiting for the OP to answer, "Which part of the interface is confusing?" It's hard to offer a real suggestion based on a generic complaint.

Please note that I fully grant that the "confusing" claim is contextual -- for those whose smartphone/tablet experiences are all on Android, I'm sure that it seems very intuitive.

Here's one example: on IOS, if you delete an app on the screen (by holding the home button until all the icons jiggle and then hitting the x on the icon) the app is gone/uninstalled. But I just discovered tonight (after downloading several email clients to find one that had threaded conversations) that when I deleted the icon off the home screen (by dragging to the trashcan) the app isn't actually gone. I was very surprised to find in the App list that all the apps I thought I had deleted were in fact still there. I find that confusing.

In fact, having several screens of icons AND having a global list of icons/programs is not very intuitive. I suppose I should think of those home screens as more like being populated with shortcuts?

And I can't move my widgets around on the screen. No matter what, they spring back to where they were.

And finally (for now :D) I do not know why AwardWallet isn't in the Market and when I go there via the Google route, it tells me that it can't be installed to this machine.

Despite all that, I'm still enjoying the tablet a great deal. :)

Agree, this is one of the first points Apple made in the battle. Your 'screen/s' icons are infact just short cuts. Many like this, in the way you can delete an icon and not the app. Like the IOS apps that offer 'App Folders or Drawers' you can control the 'screen' clutter.

Think of it like your desktop at home. You have short cuts on your desktop to apps you use all the time. Then those and other apps you don't use as often are on the start ->Programs menu

Sounds like a 'grid' issue. The screen is layed out in a grid and each icon takes up X amount of space. Kind of hard to explain that one, you have to play and learn where the icons will go.

Some apps are flagged to not install on certain carriers or OS's :mad:
You MIGHT have to enable "unknown Sources" to install the APK from their web site. This setting is under the Applications settings in Settings.

:D

Thanks for the VERY helpful post!

I enabled that, but still when trying to download/install, I get a message "This program is incompatible with the Lenovo K1"

Guess I should contact the Award Wallet folks.

Can you check to see if this helps:

https://groups.google.com/a/googlepr...lp/0ipdIR2j0u0

I run into this problem all the time.

My issue is caused because I have ro.sf.lcd_density=228 in /system/build.prop to give me a slightly zoomed out screen (the default is 240).

Google needs to stop treating us like Apple users and allow us to push an app to the phone anyway. We can decide for ourselves if it's going to work or not. If they prevent me from installing via the phone's Market app as well, I'll be very annoyed!

So can you see if this fixes your problem:

Wow! changing the lcd density from 200 back to the default 240 dip on my Thunderbolt did the trick. This is a problem that only people with rooted phones can get into. I used ROM Toolbox for the dip changes.

The symtoms were:
Missing apps in the "My Apps" section of market on phone and website for apps already on my phone.
1. No "install" button on market app description from my phone. You could uninstall with a market link, but then no link to install with no hints as to why.
2. Through website, it said my Thunderbolt was "incompatible" with many apps I have had in the past and know work. That is the equivalent of a missing install button in the phone version of market.
3. Apps already installed couldn't receive updates.

To fix:
1. Change LCD density back to stock (requires reboot).
2. Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications -> all -> Market -> force stop, clear cash and data.
3. Reboot. Changes won't show up until reboot.

Thank you, but I have absolutely no idea how to do this. Guess I need to study up.

It might be good for Award Wallet to contact Lenovo and ask them to uncripple this install?

I think the problem is that Award Wallet doesn't support the tablet-only Honeycomb version of the Android OS yet. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with Honeycomb 3.2 and Award Wallet doesn't show available for my device in the Android Market. On the other hand, it does show available for phones running the older Gingerbread OS for phones. I imagine that Award Wallet would be concentrating their efforts not on Honeycomb but on Ice Cream Sandwich, which powers phones AND tablets in a unified version. I expect your tablet is new enough that Lenovo will eventually release an ICS update.

Think of the launcher as the desktop on your PC. No real program information is held there, just shortcuts to folders and such. In that mindset, it's not very confusing at all.

I'm sure someone will reply that their far superior, rooted custom ROM device takes out that step, though. :D :p

That makes sense..... Thanks.

Well.... I've tried. I really have. But if someone wants to buy the K1 for what I paid, I'm all ears.