Week Ending: May 31, 2014
“This Week in CyanogenMod” is an ongoing feature that aims to serve as a one-stop shop for weekly updates. Topics discussed are culled from our social media accounts, gerrit, status updates and general thoughts.”
Preparations for next week’s release of CM 11 M7 are already underway, as we wrap up a month that saw some big ticket items enter the OS.
Theme Chooser UI
Out with the old, and in with the new – the new Theme Chooser to correspond with the new CM Theme Engine has been merged and available the May nightlies. This chooser allows for users to tap into the new mix and match capabilities afforded by the Cyanogen Inc developed engine. In addition to supporting icon packs from the most popular launchers available, these icons can now be leveraged to theming system components as well, including the Recent apps switcher and Settings>Apps listings. New themes taking advantage of these options are already available via the Play Store and of course, all of your old T-Mobile format themes will continue to work.
Theme Template
For the more creative of you, we’ve also given you a headstart on creating a new theme to call your own. We’ve uploaded a complete Theme Template to assist you in creating and compiling a new theme. We’ll be adding additional documentation, tools and tips as time progresses, but the template is more than enough for you to get started!
Calculator Overhaul
From Play developer and CM contributor Xlythe, the CM calculator has gained some interesting new capabilities, including:
- Floating Calculator - Google Glass support - Graphs rewritten from scratch to support equations such as circles - Panels can be rearranged - Infinite scrolling option - Details in top left. Quick toggle for Radians/Degrees - Button vibration option - Widget UI updated to match stock apps
This underappreciated app has a lot going on under the hood, be sure to check it out!
Trebuchet Updates
Probably one of the first things you’ll notice if you use the CM launcher is that it is undergoing some heavy modifications to both the UI and the user experience. The settings panel is being moved out of the main Settings app, and more readily available directly from a new slide out panel, with consolidated settings for the home and drawer options. Additionally, on deck for the launcher are:
- Google Experience Launcher-like side panel - Dynamic Grid resizing and custom grid options - A new 'protected' app capability (require unlock code to access specified apps) - Continued refinement of the new UI elements (the grey isn't for everyone)
Performance Profiles
The beginnings of a new feature also made its way into the OS this month, with the introduction of support for performance profiles. This feature will grow over time to include tools for power saving options, low-battery options and for the power-gamers out there, a high power mode. Look for this to develop over the next few months.
Core OS
Features are fine and dandy, but what about the core system? Effort has been put in to identify and address various bugs throughout the system that was reported against the previous M releases. Most notably, low memory devices (eg. those with 512 RAM) should now see less issues as it relates to theming affecting performance. FFMPEG support has been included to add software playback support for many audio formats, including FLAC and DivX. Additionally, Bluetooth support has been improved for various new car audio systems and docks.
As always, if you are on the M releases and have a show-stop issue, please let us know on JIRA. We can’t fix what we are unaware of.
Devices
Newly added support this month comes in the form of the HTC One (m8), Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 (mondrianwifi), Galaxy Note 8.0 LTE (n5120) and LG G2 Docomo (l01f). Additionally, support for the jflte device has been expanded to include the I9507, a TDD LTE variant of the Galaxy S4.
Got a suggestion for a topic you’d like to see in the next round-up? Let us know in the comments below. All device/port requests will be ignored.