[Quick Tip] Swipe Sideways Across The Notification Bar To Control Screen Brightness In TouchWiz, CyanogenMod, And AOKP Based ROMs

Yesterday, a great thread titled Share One Awesome Tip or Trick You Do With Your Android Phone, I'll Start... popped up on Reddit, and thinking I would be already aware of all the little tricks, I almost ignored it. By the end of the day, seeing over 100 comments piqued my curiosity, so I checked it out.

To my dismay, among all the great tips, I found one, courtesy of kennansoft, that somehow evaded me all along - and it was available in my own stock Epic 4G Touch Galaxy S II ROM of all things.

The tip itself is very simple - if you turn off auto-brightness, you can just place your finger on the notification area (as you can see in red below) and swipe it left and right to control brightness. Dead simple, right?

Apparently, Samsung added this feature in TouchWiz 3, and CyanogenMod and other ROMs, like AOKP, followed suit. Go ahead, try it.

Note #1: In AOKP, you will need to enable this feature first. Go to Settings > ROM Control > Statusbar/General > Enable brightness control (thanks, mumbling2myself).

Note #2: In CyanogenMod, you will need to enable this feature as well. Go to Settings > CyanogenMod Settings > Interface -> Status bar tweaks (thanks, Pablo). You will also need CyanogenMod 7.1+ for this to work.

Note #3: As I mentioned earlier, you will need to have auto-brightness turned off for this to work no matter what ROM you're running.

For more great tips, check out the Reddit thread - maybe you'll find a few you weren't aware of.

Latest CyanogenMod 9 Nightlies Now Include Theme Engine Support – AOKP Gets In On The Action As Well

  

If you’re currently running a rooted device that happens to be blessed with CyanogenMod 9 support, you’ll be glad to know that the world famous custom ROM now includes theme engine support in their latest “nightlies.”

Just like we saw back in CM7 (their previous Gingerbread custom ROM), users can once again take their customizing to new heights with the option to change everything from the color and icons of their favorite ROM. Very unlike CM7 however, is the Theme Chooser app has been kicked to the curb in favor of the new “Themes” option, accessed straight from within the settings app.

Also added in the latest CM9 nightlies are custom lockscreen shortcuts (picture above) that can be tweaked to launch your favorite and most used apps. Oh — and if you’re an AOKP fan, one of the devs from that project let everyone know via his Twitter today that this new themeing engine will also be making its way into their ROMs as well.

I always felt ICS could use a little more pink in it. Definitely excited to give this a go. Here’s a quick video showing off this fresh new feature in action.

[CM9 Nightlies | Google+ | Via Droid-Life]

HTC myTouch 4G finally gets a CyanogenMOD 9 ROM

For those of you still clinging to your T-Mobile HTC myTouch 4G like me, you’ve probably been anxiously awaiting the day when you’d hear CyanogenMOD 9 mentioned in the same sentence as your device. Well, I have good news for you my friends — that day has arrived, thanks to our good buddy febycv, the Ice Cream Sandwich master and lifeline for the MT4G community thus far.

Some of you may be familiar with feb and his well-known work around the XDA forums, but for those who aren’t, this guy definitely deserves a thanks and a beer. This offering from feb is in the form of an alpha CM9 port and boy, did it make my night to see it available.

The ROM is still in alpha stages, so there are a few kinks that need to be worked out. Have a look below to see if anything is a deal-breaker or not before deciding if you want to proceed.
Working

Sound
Boots without any issue
Live Wallpapers
Phone works 2G/3G
Touch
Wifi
Keys
Bluetooth
SD Card
Sensors
Root
Headphones
EGL
Advanced Power Menu
Screenshots
Market
Mic
3D Games
Gallery
3D Acceleration
Video Playback
GPS
Facebook contact sync
more

Not Working

Camcorder
Wallpapers
USB Mount
more…

Still with me? If so, you’ll also want to make a quick backup of your files, especially if you have anything on your phone you want to keep. Then, head over to febycv’s thread on the XDA Forums and check the instructions and grab the files you need to bring that tasty ICS treat to your myTouch.

I haven’t tested this ROM personally, but I’m about to now. If it’s anything like his previous ROMs, I’m sure it will be amazing. Over and out, until next time!

Thanks Chris!

Sources:  androidspin.com

CyanogenMod 9 Nightlies Now Available For The OG Seven-Inch GSM/CDMA Galaxy Tabs

You can always count on the Android ROM development community to extend a device's relevance in the tech world. Take the OG Galaxy Tab for example - this little guy was the first Android tablet to hit the scene (running a phone-specific version of the OS, no less). It has been around for about a year and a half now, and there's no hope that it will ever officially be updated to anything past Gingerbread.

However, thanks to the CM team, OG Tab owners (both the GSM and CDMA variants) can now enjoy the first taste of Ice Cream Sandwich on their old-school seven-incher, as CM9 nightlies are now available for the P1000 (GSM) and P1c (CDMA).

Definition: A "nightly" is a bleeding edge release that is built on a daily basis, usually at night after a full day's worth of new code has been committed.

It could oftentimes be unstable and not properly tested, lacking any changelogs, but eventually evolving into alphas, betas, release candidates, and finally stable releases.

Considering the new CM build servers are almost ready to start pumping out CM9 builds every nine minutes, we should be seeing these, along with nightlies for all other supported devices, on a regular basis.

Download:

GSM Galaxy Tab - P1000. We're trying to confirm whether these builds will also work on SGH-T849 (T-Mobile) and SGH-I987 (AT&T) - if you can provide a confirmation, please leave a comment.

CDMA Galaxy Tab - SPH-P100 (Sprint), SCHI-800 (Verizon).

CyanogenMod 9 Nightlies Drop For Sony Xperia Arc And Neo

CyanogenMod (CM) has long been the modding community's custom ROM of choice, and for good reason: it takes the goodness that is basic Android (AOSP) and adds a hearty dose of all-around improvement. The list of devices supported by CM is quite a long and impressive one (truth be told, they do a better job of supporting devices than the manufacturers do), and last night, cutting-edge nightly CM9 releases dropped for the Sony Xperia Arc (Anzu) and Xperia Neo (Hallon).

Definition: A "nightly" is a bleeding edge release that is built on a daily basis, usually at night after a full day's worth of new code has been committed.

It could oftentimes be unstable and not properly tested, lacking any changelogs, but eventually evolving into alphas, betas, release candidates, and finally stable releases.

No word yet on just how usable the builds are, but this is good news for Arc and Neo owners, as it means the devices are actively being supported at this point. Plus, who can complain about AOSPy Ice Cream Sandwich goodness?

[Source: CyanogenMod Downloads: Anzu, Hallon]