This is the essential Christmas theme for Android

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Themes are made to be changed, swapped, and remade, but every winter, I find myself coming back to the same trusted theme. I’ve refined this theme for three years now, and this year it seems just about perfect. It’s a little bit Disney, a little bit winter wonderland, a little bit Christmas cheer, and it makes me smile. It’s like breaking out your favorite ornaments to put on the Christmas tree or downloading your favorite holiday playlist to sing along to.

This is Christmas to me, and this is my Christmas theme.

• There are hundreds of holiday wallpapers out there, but this is the one that says Christmas to me. It’s a holiday wallpaper from Disneyland Paris. I combine it with the TouchCircle live wallpaper app to get something a little more special around the holidays.
• Nova Launcher is the best launcher for theming around a live wallpaper, and that’s what I’m using here. We need a launcher for this theme that supports custom individual icons, live wallpapers, and widgets.
• We’re going to be using the red icon variants in Glim for our dock icons, but for the app drawer and folders, I opt for the simple grace of Whicons.
• Using KWGT Pro and Material Music Komponent, we’ll add a color-matched music widget to our theme in the form of a Christmas Castle Music KWGT Preset.

Live wallpaper

Yep, I use a live wallpaper for my holiday theme. It allows me to sneak my countdown to Christmas, a little pick-me-up, and some park nostalgia into my desktop alongside my beautiful Christmas castle. The live wallpaper is called TouchCircle, and while it hasn’t seen an update since last Christmas, I’m still using it this year because I wanted that sweet circular multi-tasker. I received the Pro version of TouchCircle while reviewing the app, and it is required for the countdown screen. After downloading both TouchCircle and the Christmas Castle wallpaper, we can get started.

Open TouchCircle.
Tap Appearances.

Tap the Document source (the icon in the middle of the green bar).

Select your downloaded Christmas Castle.
Tap Circle.
Drag the color dot around the circle to Red.
Drag the first slider all the way to the right.
Drag the second slider about 15% from the left side.

Tap OK.

Tap Text
Drag both sliders all the way to the left for white.
Tap OK.

Tap the back arrow.

Tap Layout.
Use the positional sliders to set the dot to the right of the castle.
Tap the back arrow.

Tap Content.

Tap Days Countdown.
Tap Change Date.

Tap the date line.

Select December 25th.
Type in to Christmas in the title below the date picker.
Tap OK.

Tap OK again.

Tap the checkmate in the top right corner.

Tap Set wallpaper.

From here, you can have a little more fun with TouchCircle or move on. You can customize other slides, including have each slide be a shortcut to a different app.

Icons

This theme actually uses two different icon packs for two main reasons. The red variant icons in Glim are a beauty, but applying custom icons to the entire app drawer is a pain, so I keep the red icons for my dock and use Whicons for the icons in my folders and app drawers. This keeps my app drawer consistent while my dock is bright and cute. The folder style is from our Pixel 2 theme, looking a bit like shiny red ornaments on the dock.

In addition, if the cropped Christmas Castle lines up the left behind Santa boot with one of your dock icons, you can set that icon to be a blank png, turning the Santa boot into a nifty dock icon.

Applying Whicons

Open Whicons.
Tap the three-line menu in the top left corner.

Tap Apply.

Tap Nova.

Tap **OK.

Applying custom Glim icons

Long-press the dock shortcut you wish to change.
Tap Edit (it may be a pencil icon for apps with App Shortcuts).

Tap the icon to change it.

Tap Glim.

Tap Launch app in the top right corner.

Select the red icon you desire.

Tap Done.

Applying a blank icon

Long-press the dock shortcut you wish to change.
Tap Edit (it may be a pencil icon for apps with App Shortcuts).

Tap the icon to change it.

Tap Gallery apps.
Tap Files.

Select the blank png.

Tap Done.

Tap Done.

Music KWGT

Anyone who knows me and knows my work knows that if there’s a theme I’m rocking, it damn well better have a music widget, because music is the number one function of my phone. Yes, I’m serious. For the last year and a half, I’ve been using KWGT Pro and Material Music Komponent to create color-matched KWGT Presets for my themes so that my music widget is always on point and easy to return to when I switch themes.

As always, make sure you’ve installed KWGT Pro and opened it at least once so you can download and copy the Christmas Castle Music KWGT Preset into the Kustom/widgets folder on your phone using the file explorer of your choice. You might also want to open Settings > Apps > Special app access > Notification access and enable notification access for KWGT so it will pull in the info and media controls for your active music app notification.

Long-press an open space on your home screen.
Tap Widgets.

Under KWGT, press and drag KWGT 4×2 to the bottom of your home screen.

Long press your new widget until a menu appears.
Tap Padding.
Open the same menu again Tap Resize.
Drag the edges of the widget to the edges of the screen.

Tap your new widget to configure it.

Under Exported, tap the Christmas Castle Music preset.
Tap Layer.
Tap the + and – icons to adjust the scale of the music komponent until the widget fills the full width of the box.
Tap Save, the floppy disc icon on the top right bar of the screen.

Happy Holidays!

This theme is one I’ve refined for years, Here are a few tricks to take it to the next level:

• If the blank shortcut on your dock goes to a folder, they’ll appear like little ornaments above the boot.
• Set your folder background to 23% transparent red and your app drawer background to 35% transparent blue. The red folders will pop against the blue wallpaper, while the blue app drawer will mute the wallpaper just enough for the white icons to stand out against the red and white in the wallpaper.
• If you’re a gestures user, make sure you tweak your Nova gestures so that the Touch Circle ones don’t interfere with it. I turn off the swipe down gestures while using Touch Circle so I can scroll through the dots, but I leave swipe up enabled so I can still swipe to access the app drawer.
• The red Pixel 2-themed search bar at the bottom of the screen isn’t required, but it has added an extra pop of red alongside the TouchCircle and the music widget, and that’s always helpful. Our Pixel 2 theme is also where the Another widget came from.

How do you celebrate the season on your phone? Got any Christmas sweater wallpapers or snowy icon packs you turn to? Tell us in the comments below.

Are you keeping your Pixel 2 XL?

To keep or not to keep.

Just like pretty much every other phone that’s released, the Pixel 2 XL has had its fair share of ups and downs. The initial launch and the numerous display complaints left some folks with a bad taste in their mouths, but after Google addressed these issues and pushed out a handful of updates to the phone, it’s now better than ever.

Some of our forum users recently got to talking about whether or not they’re deciding to keep the Pixel 2 XL, and for the most part, people seem to be holding onto Google’s large and in charge flagship.

mlynch01
12-19-2017 10:18 PM

“

2 Pixel 2 XL’s here, me and the wife are both keeping ours. Love them! No issues. Blue tint is a non issue for us. Best phones we’ve ever used.

Reply

Mike Dee
12-19-2017 10:25 PM

“

Camera is phenomenal…battery is excellent and I like the big screen.
Wireless charging which I’ve had before is not essential. I use the dongle so you really don’t lose a jack… Just not part of the phone. No screen issues and the blue tint issue is overblown unless you get a bad one which some claim they do.

Reply

Almeuit
12-19-2017 10:54 PM

“

Keeper for me. Amazing performance, battery, and camera. Plus I enjoy actually getting OS updates but also patches such as KRACK fix and other things.

Reply

Then again, there are still some that think differently.

fjd726
12-19-2017 10:07 PM

“

Returned the XL2, Screen was the dealbreaker for me. No matter how much I tried to avoid the blue shift tint, it kept staring me in the face. Hoping next year’s 3 will be better.

Reply

Armeniandave
12-20-2017 02:04 PM

“

I’m sending mine back. It was definitely the best phone I’ve ever had no doubt about it. The problem is I picked up an Essential phone to play with and IMO it’s 94% as good at what I use it for. I bought it on the Sprint deal for $225 total and it works great on T-Mobile as does the Pixel 2 XL. The problem is I don’t think the Pixel is $700 better than the Essential phone. If the Pixel 2 Xl was a…

Reply

If you own the Pixel 2 XL, we’d like to know – Will you be keeping the phone?

Join the conversation in the forums!

Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL

• Pixel 2 FAQ: Everything you need to know!
• Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL review: The new standard
• Google Pixel 2 specs
• Google Pixel 2 vs. Pixel 2 XL: What’s the difference?
• Join our Pixel 2 forums

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Tips for using Portrait Mode with Christmas lights

Make your holiday photos a little extra special with Portrait Mode.

One of the biggest features to come to phone cameras over the last year has been Portrait Mode. This handy feature adds some depth to your photo, creating an artificial bokeh illusion as though a big lens was used to get the shot. There are plenty of great photos to come from this feature, as well as a few misses while Google’s computers learn along the way, but Christmas lights add both a fun background and a unique challenge in using this camera mode.

Here are a few quick tips on using Portrait Mode successfully when Christmas lights are around.

Distance is your friend

You don’t want the people you are snapping a photo of to be right up on the lights, or inside a gathering of multiple light sculptures like an outdoor setting. Google’s software may try to remove lights that are too close to the face, which may cause some awkward scenes when you go to check out the photo later. If the lights are at least a foot or two behind you, this becomes far less of a problem.

The further back, the better if you’re looking for that soft blur effect, but at a minimum you should aim for 1-2 feet between your subject and those pretty lights.

Foreground lighting is still important

As impressive as the Pixel 2 is at grabbing light from seemingly nowhere, the amount of light coming from behind in this photo forced the software to create a grainy foreground in order to properly expose the subject. The Portrait blur looks great, but the photo itself is now a little lacking.

Make sure your have decent lighting pointed at the people you are taking photos of, and not just light coming from behind them. Even if you’re just using the flash on your phone, it’ll be a better photo than with no foreground light at all.

Space people out a little

Portrait Mode on the Pixel 2 works just fine with multiple people in the shot, unlike some other Portrait Modes out there, but there’s a catch. The software needs to be able to “see” where one person ends and the other begins.

Keep a little bit of space between everyone’s heads, and your photo should turn out just fine. It doesn’t need to be a lot of space, just try to avoid heads touching.

Winter headgear can be tricky

Portrait Mode doesn’t handle a lot of crazy hats well. There’s a good chance the software will try to remove plush antlers or elf ears from a photo. This may not ruin the photo, but it’ll probably be a good laugh when you notice it later on.

There’s no 100% proven way to address this, so I usually suggest taking funny hats off if Portrait Mode is what you are going for. You could get lucky and have a perfect shot if the hat is caught just right, so give it a shot!

Also important, as you see in the photo above, keep an eye out for unusual lines in hats. The software may try to blur parts of your hat or sweater, which will leave the photo a little silly looking.

Enjoy Portrait Mode

More than anything, have fun with this photo mode. If you don’t get the blur effect you want, you can disable Portrait Mode and still have a perfectly good photo to edit and share.

Are you excited about using Portrait Mode during the holidays? Share your ideas in the comments!

Amazon Prime Video finally makes its way to Android TV

Amazon keeps offering olive branches.

Over the past few weeks, Amazon and Google have been at wits with one another. Google announced at the beginning of December that it had plans to pull the YouTube app from the Echo Show and Fire TV, and as we recently learned, Amazon used this same day to file trademarks for what appears to be its own YouTube competitor.

A few days after this, Amazon tried being the bigger company and said it’d once again start selling the Chromecast and Chromecast Ultra, and it now appears the online retail giant is offering yet another olive branch to Google by releasing a Prime Video app on Android TV.

Amazon’s had a Prime Video app on the NVIDIA Shield TV since its release, but this is the first time we’ve seen any sign of it expanding to other Android TV-powered televisions/streaming boxes. The listing for the app on the Play Store looks a lot like the one that was recently released for the Apple TV, but at the time of this writing, you don’t seem to be able to actually download it on any devices.

Amazon Prime Video for Android TV

Spotted by Android Police, the Prime Video Android TV app is not compatible with any devices. It’s said that it’s unable to install on the Nexus Player and other Android TV-powered tech, so it’s possible Amazon isn’t actually ready for a full launch quite yet.

Even so, the fact that we’re now getting Prime Video for Android TV is still exciting. Not only is this good news for Prime subscribers that prefer Google’s television platform, but this should also hopefully encourage Google to cease its ban of YouTube on Fire TV.

Amazon might be working on a YouTube competitor called ‘Amazontube’

Samsung Pay now supports bill payments in India

A new treat for Indian users.

Samsung Pay is already one of the most powerful mobile payment systems around thanks to its support for NFC and MST transactions, but for users in India, the service is gaining even more flexibility with the addition of a new feature called ‘Bill Payments.’

As the name suggests, Bill Payments allows you to pay for your electricity, broadband, gas, water, and other bills right within Samsung Pay. The feature is powered by NPCI’s Bharat Bill Payments Systems, and along with paying for existing bills, Bill Payments can be used to get notifications when a new one is due, search for new recurring payments that you’d like to add, and more.

Per Samsung India Director, Sanjay Razdan:

Consumer-centric innovation is at the forefront of our business. Since the launch of Samsung Pay, we have constantly innovated and added user-centric features such as UPI, wallets, Gift Cards and now Bill Payments. With the introduction of ‘Bill Payments’, consumers will be able to pay their utility bills seamlessly through Samsung Pay, set reminders and search favourite biller based on their current location. ‘Bill Payments’ is another ‘Make for India’ innovation that we believe will greatly benefit our consumers.

Bill Payments is currently only slated for a release in India, and it should be rolling out to users now.

Samsung Pay is now available in Mexico

You still have a chance to get these discounted Nerf toys before Christmas

Of course, nothing’s stopping you from buying a few for just yourself.

Nerf is a huge part of Amazon’s one-day sale covering tons of toy ideas from a variety of brands. We’ve pulled out all the best Nerf gear, and most of these are going for all-time new lows or at least matching the lowest prices they’ve ever been before. Some of these can even still arrive before Christmas if you’re quick!

Here’s all the Nerf blasters, bows, and darts on sale:

• N-Strike Elite Triad EX-3 Blaster for $3.80 (from $10)
• Rival Flashlight Grip for $4.45 (from $11)
• N-Strike Elite Series Vision Gear for $4.54 (from $8)
• Sports Aero Howler Green Football for $7.47 (from $15)
• Sports Dude Perfect Arrow Refill for $8.44 (from $13)
• Zombie Strike Crosscut Blaster for $8.50 (from $15)
• Star Wars Poe Dameron Blaster for $9.14 (from $14)
• Star Wars Imperial Death Trooper Deluxe Blaster for $11.38 (from $23)
• Fire Vision Ignite Football for $11.69 (from $16)
• N-Strike Elite Series 100-Dart Refill for $11.69 (from $30)
• Rebelle Combow for $12.99 (from $20)
• Sports Dude Perfect Signature Bow for $34.19 (from $60)

See on Amazon

Best Transit Apps for Android in 2017

Find your way around town with these handy Transit apps!

When you’re using public transit to get around, or you need to get around in an unfamiliar town, having an app to help you out can make things much less stressful. While summoning an uber is always an option, these apps will help you take advantage of public transit wherever you are.

Citymapper

Citymapper is the best transit app that you can use on your Android phone, as long as you are in a supported city. When you need help traversing larger cities, like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, or any number of international cities, that is where Citymapper comes in. The app can factor in buses, trains, subways, bikes and cabs, removing the daunting task of figuring out how to get from point A to B in the fastest or least stressful way possible.

Citymapper pulls all of this information into one place so you can check out the available options and see which is best for you. From directions that use the bus, subway, rail and even bikes, Citymapper will help you find the best place to get on the transportation method nearest you, and which stop you will want to get off. If you are one to travel into smaller cities, you may find that Citymapper doesn’t yet offer support for it. Luckily, Citymapper is always looking to expand the areas that it supports and you can easily suggest a new location to be added.

The beauty of Citymapper is in its simplicity: you only need to open the app from your location and tell it where you want to go, and the extensive database will take into account the various means of getting somewhere — bus, subway, tram, even walking — to determine the ideal route. It’s even smart enough to tell you when to leave to get there at a particular time, or which door to exit from to emerge from a subway closest to your location. The app is well-designed and extremely intuitive, and it functions as a replacement for Google Maps in every way but for driving directions.

Download:Citymapper(Free)

Google Maps

If you are looking for options in the most places possible, Google Maps is likely your best bet. While the other apps specialize in particular cities, Google is a bit more generic. This can be a good and bad thing at the same time. Sure, you’ll have more information at your fingertips with Google Maps, but the overall density of information may not be as high.

Once you find your location on the map, you’ll be able to pick between driving, taking a bus, train routes, walking directions, uber requests and more. From the settings, you’ll be able to set a time you want to leave or arrive so that you can see accurate commute options for that trip. This also means you can roughly plan out a day that requires multiple bus or train rides across a wider area rather than being within a single city.

Google Maps also includes a full Transit tab that will clue you in on local stations and methods of transit. This tab include sinformation on buses, and some train stations. Additionally, if you use public transit to commute to and from work, you can set it up in Google Maps so that you always know when there has been a delay, or issue in service.

Download: Google Maps(Free)

Transit

Transit offers support in more than 120 cities already both in and out of the U.S. From an easy way to grab step-by-step directions to get you around a new city to real-time predictions of when the next train or bus may arrive, Transit is quite powerful. The built-in map will show you where your train is, notifications of when to get off at your stop and more so you won’t get lost in that new city.

Whether you have an internet connection or not you’ll be able to view the schedule for upcoming departures, check estimated time of arrivals (ETAs) and even request an Uber if no other method of transportation meets your needs. It has support for nearly all methods of transportation, including ferry, Uber, bus, rail, train, bike, car2go and others.

Transit is a great alternative to Citymapper and a great addition to Google Maps for those times you may need more in-depth information about getting around where you are.
Transit offers support for more cities than Citymapper does, but its feature set isn’t quite as extensive although it does work in many cities in Canada, Europe, and Australia.

Download: Transit(Free)

Moovit: Bus&Train Live Info

Transit Directions by Moovit offers support for more than 1,200 cities around the world, which is far more than many of the other apps out there. Just because it supports more cities doesn’t mean it’s the best though. The interface is a bit different than others, and some may find that it works for them and others will be turned off and go back to another option.

The features of the app are great, though. With live directions that notify you when to get off at your stop, real-time arrival information, a favorites screen to quickly access places you frequently visit and more, there is no shortage of information in the app. The Moovit widget will help you keep an eye on your favorite destinations and travel lines to make sure things are operating as normal, and you can receive notifications for service alerts when things aren’t running as usual.

On top of that, Moovit has been aggressively expanding their reach and add an average of one new city every 15 hours. It supports over 100 US Cities, connects to every major transit operator, and can even direct you to a local bike share if you’d rather take the scenic route on your trip.

Download: Transit Directions from Moovit

Which is your favorite?

Depending where you live or where you will be visiting, one app may work better than the others. Each one has it’s own benefits and detriments that add up, and thankfully all of the options we’ve presented here do their job well. Do you have a favorite transit app? Let us know about it in the comments below!

Updated December 2017: We’ve updated the transit apps here with important updates for your user experience!

Firefox now available on Fire TV with support for YouTube

Mozilla comes to the rescue.

At the beginning of December, Google made the announcement that it’d be pulling its YouTube app from Amazon’s Fire TV devices on January 1, 2018. Google’s reason for this was due to Amazon not selling products like Chromecast and Google Home, and while Amazon’s since started selling the former of those two things, Google’s yet to revoke the YouTube ban.

Assuming Google does follow through and remove YouTube from Fire TV, Mozilla already has a workaround to ensure you can keep watching all of your favorite online content.

On December 20, Mozilla announced that it’d officially launched its Firefox web browser for the Fire TV. This enables users to go to their favorite sites like Instagram, Google, Pinterest, etc., but as Mozilla hints at multiple times in its announcement post, it’s also a great way for “watching web video.”

This is, of course, referring to the fact that you can watch YouTube on Firefox, and based on the screenshots Mozilla has shared, the YouTube web app you can access through it looks a lot like the app that’s currently available for the Fire TV.

Firefox for Fire TV.

Mozilla says Firefox for Fire TV will work on 2nd generation Fire TV devices and newer, and although it’s being targeted for U.S. users, anyone can download and use it.

Amazon Prime Video finally makes its way to Android TV

Cyber Paint Review: Lighthearted art for Daydream

Painting in the world of virtual reality

The team over at Sterling Crispin Software has released an app called Cyber Paint. This is an interesting turn on creating art in VR. With plenty of options for your canvas, including portrait or 360, you could see where things have the potential to get fun.

Read more at VRHeads!

Save on digital purchases with a $50 Google Play gift card for $45

This one doesn’t come around too often, so don’t miss out.

Amazon is offering $5 off Google Play gift cards of $50 or more when you enter promo code GOOGLE at checkout. This digital gift card will be emailed to you quickly after purchase.

The promo code is limited to 1 use per customer, but if you want to save more on your Google Play purchases, head over to Walmart where you can grab 10% off digital Google Play cards for a limited time, including the $25, $15 and $10 cards.

See at Amazon