[Xperia Z1 Themes and Apps] funky0308:
O.K guys...

l'll give you "shell" - theme apk file and easy tutorial for editing and adjusting

your device to be more personal.

It is optimized and written to be easy and user friendly.

Only thing you'll need it WINZIP (or similar program) and , of course, yours pictures and icons.

You can easily create icons for navigation bar in PhotoShop , you just need to follow simple rules.

1.DIMENSIONS

Icons must be created in dimensions :

* FOR PORTRAIT - 144*240 (pixels)

* FOR LANDSCAPE - 240*144 (pixels)

* FOR MENU ICON USE - 141*144 (pixels)

(you can experiment with a dimensions but this tutorial is here to be exact and

that you could follow every step (for beginners).

2. NAMING THE FILES

This is very importing part!

All files must have proper name, if you don't follow this rule you'll end in a bootloop or

systemUI FC.

3. USE "STORE MODE" IN COMPRESSION METHOD (WINZIP)

O.K...let's begin.

*** PREPARATION ***

Find (online) or create (PhotoShop) wallpapers - dimensions should be 1080*1920.

Resize one and save as copy for landscape.

(Just resize it to 1920*1080)

Find or create icons for status bar (you can find great icons on "themes and apps" section

Save all that in one folder - we'll need that later.

*** DOWNLOAD "shell" apk ***

We will use this apk file for our base.

It's basically, my KitKat theme but slightly modified.

DOWNLOAD LINK

DOWNLOAD SHELL.APK

Open shell.apk with WinZip

You'll see few folders and files, what we need is folder called "assets"

So go to folder "assets" and you'll see four ZIP files

Let's explain what is what...

1. com.sonyericsson.home.zip

In this ZIP we have all png's (pictures and icons) for editing Xperia Home Launcher (stock!)

So, we can change few thing there, trash bin, trash lid, app drawer icon...

2. com.android.systemui.zip

In this ZIP we have all png's (pictures and icons) for editing SYSTEMUI.

So, we can change few things here too.... navigation bar icons or navigation bar color (transparency...)

3. android.zip

I modified this ZIP and deleted files we don't need.

It'll be used for changing settings, email, sms, call.... background picture.

Only thing what you need now, when you have pictures and icons already downloaded is

to :

* open shell.apk in WINZIP.

* decide what you want to change (lets say it's settings background)

* go to folder android.zip

* go to subfolder "res" , then "drawable-xxhdpi"

* you'll see two jpg files there, one is for dark mode and one for light.

we use light theme on our Z1 but we'll change them all.

* open your folder where you downloaded your 1080*1920 pictures

* choose one and make exact copy of it (right click copy or CTRL+C and paste (CTRL+V)

* now rename those two files to "semc_bg.jpg" and "semc_bg_light.jpg"

* do same thing for that picture you resized for lanscape (you'll have four files total- two with a name semc_bg.jpg (portrait and landscape) and two with a name semc_bg_light.jpg ( portrait and landscape)

* go back to your WINZIP and delete two files from "drawable-xxhdpi"

* now you can use drag and drop or add files through menu, I'll show you second method

* click "add" and find yours jpg files (semc_bg and semc_bg_light PORTRAIT)

* "say" O.K and be sure to select STORE MODE from compression method

*repeat same thing in folder "drawable-sw720dp-hdpi

* repeat same thing in folder "drawable-sw720dp-land- (add LANDSCAPE pictures here)

* close this (second) WINZIP windows and you'll get prompt "File "android.zip was modified.......

* Click "YES" and close WINZIP

Copy your modified shell.apk , you can rename it , of course to your device and

install like any other apk.

If you get error in install process, just sign apk file using ZIPSIGNER (MODE platform or media)

And that's it...

RESULTS COULD BE AWESOME

When you MOD other folders and files in theme (shell.apk) do same steps.

Only change will be in file names.

But if you are changing navigation bar icon "back" you'll go to com.android.systemui.zip ,

in folder res/drawable-xxhdpi and check what's original name of that png file.

For this icon is "ic_sysbar_back.png" (portrate) and "ic_sysbar_back_land" (landscape) so

you'll need to copy your icons (to have two same icons) and rename them to that names.

Also, don't forget to resize icon if it's not O.K

TIP ~ BONUS ~ EXTRA

If you wanna add wallpapers to your theme

Use same procedure and change. png or.jpg files in shell.apk/res/

As you can see you are able to set lockscreen background, wallpaper and preview picture (I'll show icon in settings/personalisation/themes)

If you need any help, ask here, on this thread.

That's why it's here - and remember, there's no stupid questions (only stupid answers) ;)

So..if I helped you - SAY TNX -