Kustom-izing Android

I look back and realize that I've been dedicated to the Android environment for quite awhile.  One of the things I love about Android is how open and customizable it is.  I was tired of looking at the same screens of nothing but icons, and seeing various screenshots of widgets in those early days allowed me to dream of having a truly personalized phone with a minimalist view.  I'd wanted something akin to an interactive wallpaper... something where the widgets would just seem to blend in to complement whatever background I was using for my device.

One of the first things I did was find a proper launcher.  To this day, I'm still using Nova Launcher.

To complement Nova Launcher, my searches led me to Zooper Widget.  It's a no-nonsense app that, if you did your research and stuck to it, you could set up any type of widget to your heart's desire.  Used in conjuction with other apps (Media Utilities which was also under Zooper, and Popup Widget, both come to mind), I was able to set up an icon-free launcher which also dynamically changed which widget I wanted to access based on what I tapped on screen.  Zooper has been my go-to widget for years.  And then that stopped.

As ambitious as my setup went, a few years had passed and there was a lack of updates.  Outside of learning how to program the date in binary, there really wasn't too much else that I could do, and it just became nothing more than a custom clock for me.  I'm sure there could have been more to discover, but I was resigned to spend any more extra effort, and I was content with leaving things basic and minimalist anyway.

Then my always trusty "twin" Flow recently introduced me to KLWP (Kustom Live Wallpaper).  Now, Kustom Industries has other apps, like KWGT (Kustom Widget Maker), but the potential for using a live wallpaper instead of a wideget was brought to my attention quite quickly.  Checking the odd tutorials online, and seeing examples, I instantly fell in love, and realized that those ideas I had implemented years ago could easily be brought back to the forefront.  I dare say that compared to Zooper, certain presets (especially when it comes to the clock) makes things easier, and the programming is similar enough where I was able to jump in without much effort.  Even the integration of programming within the various objects you're working with, along with specifying Global Variables and object grouping, makes this app feel a lot more robust that I've completely dropped Zooper from my phone.

Currently, I'm now using 2 Android devices:  My trusty Pixel 2XL, and for work a Samsung Galaxy S8.  Rather than mess around with my personal phone, I've used the S8 as my little digial playground to test ideas that I have, and see if can apply what I've learned (and continue to learn) for KLWP.  I've since uploaded a couple of sample videos on YouTube of what I've played around with.

The setup is not quite ready on my 2XL, but I've at least included a screenshot as a teaser :)