[General Topics] charansai:
The interfaces for both of these apps

are going to be very similar: just a list

of things you can tweak. The real

differences are going to come in what

exactly you can tweak.

The organization on both is pretty

standard, and once you get it all setup,

you likely won’t need to go back into

the app for much. Interface really isn’t

a deciding factor here, but at least you

know what you’ll be working with.

 So What Can They Customize?

Short answer: nearly everything. These

modules are both fantastic solutions for

customizing your Android device

without flashing a custom ROM.

Your best bet once you download one is

just to run through every section and

see what you can change — you’ll likely

run into a customization you didn’t

even know existed, but soon will wonder

how you ever lived without it.

Above you can see the options for

customizing the status bar in both

apps. You get mostly the same types of

things with a couple of noticeable

differences. For one, XBlast has

gestures available for the status bar.

GravityBox, while it supports a double

tap on the status bar to turn off the

screen, doesn’t support other gesturing

like swiping left or right or long-

pressing.

However, GravityBox has Notification

Heads Up, a feature that gained hype

recently with the announcement of

Android L and the new pop up

notifications. If either of those tickle

your fancy, you may want to pick one

over the other.

Moving onto the lockscreen is where

XBlast really shines. GravityBox has its

fair share of lockscreen tweaks for sure,

but XBlast outdoes it with the ability to

change the unlock icon, the color

around it, the size, and many other

parts of the lockscreen like showing

notifications on it. XBlast pretty easily

takes the cake here.

Each app has so many of its own

customizations that it would takes

pages and pages to elaborate on all of

them. If you’re curious about the

smallest of the tweaks available in

each, like XBlast’s ability to customize

your build.prop or GravityBox’s ability

to tweak the Google Experience

Launcher, download each of them

individually and give them a shot.

However, don’t have both activated at

once or you’ll run into some wonkiness.

 Multitasking Tweaks

Both of these apps take a slightly

different route for multitasking. There

are other ways of getting multitasking

on your device , but having it baked into

the module is super convenient.

XBlast takes this approach in three

different ways: a Circle App Launcher,

an Appbar, and Gesture Anywhere.

Circle App Launcher displays a cool

ring-like effects along one of the sides

of the screen that you can scroll

through to access other apps. Appbar

simply makes a list of apps appear on

the side of the screen. Both are

controlled by a swipe in from the

outside of the screen, and they make

for super simple multitasking.

They’re very customizable, from the

transparency to the size of the

activation area, and they work

surprisingly well. Circle App Launcher

can be seen below on the left, and

Appbar on the right.

For this kind of multitasking, XBlast is

your module.

GravityBox, on the other hand, has its

own kind of special feature: Pie

Controls. Pie Controls are useful if you

want to hide the onscreen navigation

keys and only access them from a

swipe up from the bottom (or in from

the side if you prefer). It comes from

the famous PAC ROM , and it has made

a name for itself as a staple of the

rooting and tweaking community.

You can customize the heck out of the

Pie Controls in GravityBox’s settings,

and it’s a fantastic way to save screen

real estate if your device has onscreen

keys. Plus, with the multitasking button,

you can reach Android’s built-in

multitasking super quickly anyway.

Above, you can see the Pie Controls in

action. On the left is what happens

when you swipe up quickly — releasing

from the swipe will press the button

your finger is on when you lift up,

making it pretty dang fast. However, if

you hold it and wait without lifting, it

greys out the background and gives you

some system info, especially helpful if

you like to live in fullscreen mode

without a notification bar.

If you like XBlast but still want Pie

Controls, check out another Xposed

module called Ultimate Dynamic

Navbar, which we’ve reviewed . It can

help complete your customization

experience.

 Who Is The Winner?

You tell us. Let us know in the

comments which Xposed module you’re

using and why.

As for me, I would have to recommend

XBlast. It’s available on a wider range

of devices (Android 4.0+) and it has

significantly more customizations like

lockscreen notifications, quiet hours,

multitasking, and build.prop mods. Still,

I love GravityBox and have used it for a

while on my own device. Try both out

and see which you like best.