What’s new?

Embed wallpaper with your theme (new!)
There’s now a check-box in the upload screen which allows you to “Include Wallpaper” in your theme package!

Updated Theme List
No longer limited to 20 themes, you can now scroll through hundreds. Note that the first download will take some time, while subsequent loads of the theme list will be much quicker. View theme pages, including reading comments and ratings, and full screen preview of each theme. If you experience bugs please report them (Menu > Report Bug). The developer is rolling out incremental improvements so be patient and keep looking for new builds.

Current Time block
Make your own time widget with the Current Time block, which will natively show in all Sweeter Home themes when shared. Highly customisable right down to changing the separators between HH and MM.

If you have any questions or comments hit me up in the comments here, the forums at sweeterhome.com, or follow me on Twitter (reminder: I’m not the developer of Sweeter Home!)…

Sweeter Home isn’t a ‘normal’ home replacement app. In a ‘normal’ home replacement you are working within a set UI paradigm; working within the framework of that home app. No matter how flexible and customisable it is, NO home apps allow you to completely add, remove, or replace elements of their UI, let alone doing this on-the-fly. So Sweeter Home is unique in this, but in doing so it also opens some doors to functionality that Android is not optimised to perform. A good example is bitmaps. Read this article to see an example where using bitmaps in a gallery app just to find image widths was crashing his app, and his solution was to avoid using bitmaps! This is problem with how Android allocates memory for bitmaps and all apps have to deal with this. Now imagine adding more bitmaps, a completely editable UI, the half-baked Android widget framework and multiple devices all with varying processing power and RAM, and you’ll have some idea of what the developers of Sweeter Home have to work with when trying to get the app running smoothly on your phone.

Remember the app is in beta, and the developers are working on getting more resources to start expanding functionality. Until then have fun with Sweeter Home and be patient! Oh, and share your themes!

(PS – Theme tutorial is coming soon)…

Tell me which you’d like first:

• A tutorial covering building a complete theme from scratch with every step documented (simple theme with springboards, no images), which I’ll also use as a tutorial here. Or,
• Progressive updates with screenshots and tips as I port (and enhance) HotDock to HD screen resolution.

Let me know in the comments below…

I’m back on completing (slowly) the Sweeter Home documentation (want to help?) and planning some tutorials for new users to work through which will get them building faster. Have ideas for some basic tutorials? Leave them in the comments!

I fly to NZ this Friday night to visit family for 10 days so will be mostly off the grid until after that. Once I’m back you’ll be getting more videos and tips & tricks.

Thanks crew. I miss you! lol.

PS – ThrillhoRedux is updated and you guys have pushed it into the top 20 downloaded themes: THANKS!

PPS – I’m lining up to get a Nexus One or a Desire in the next couple months, which means I’ll be hitting you guys with high res themes soon-ish!

Please don’t harangue me if I don’t choose you, or get back to you. I only need one or two contributors and the decision to choose or not shouldn’t be any indicator of your skills or passion about SH.

If you’re interested please post in the comments on this post. Leave your SH user name and any links to forum or blog posts etc where you show organised written communication skills. I’ll contact you back via the email address you use in the comment form.

PLEASE UPDATE TO THIS LATEST VERSION:

Sweeter Home 2 BETA [UPDATE] Download

This build contains bug fixes, improved memory handling,  and some new widget handling.

Important info:

• Please ensure you download and install the correct build for your phone (1.5, 1.6 or 2.0+).
• If you experience bugs or crashes please log them!
• Remember this is a BETA with all that beta means and entails.

If you’re new to Sweeter Home:

• On starting the app create an account and log in
• Sweeter Home Forums
• Sweeter Home Documentation (work in progress)
• Sweeter Home FAQ
• More!!!

I’ll still be posting Friday Features, and once my life is back under control I’ll be getting some more videos and tutorials up for you all.

Keep following me on this blog, and on Twitter.