Video: Unreleased Dell Stage UI running on HTC EVO
If you're not keeping up with what's going on at StreakSmart, my Dell Streak site, then you may not know or care that the device will be getting an official update to Froyo this month. However, since new features from one Android phone can often be pulled out of their original ROMs and used on other phones like our very own HTC EVO, then there is actually something that could be of interest to you in Dell's upcoming update.
I've got a source who leaked some photos and info to me earlier this week (see here and here) and the headlining feature is a new UI called Dell Stage, which is made up of a launcher and 7 full-screen widgets on the Streak (it's different from what's been shown on the Dell Thunder). You already know where this is going so let me spare you the build up and say that yes, Stage can be installed and run on the EVO.
I've already done an HD video demo of Stage on the Streak, so I won't rehash the details and shortcomings of it here. Instead, I'll show you another HD demo of the UI, only this time I've got it running on my HTC EVO.
The widgets can only be used with the Stage launcher, so don't try to use them with Sense or ADW.Launcher or anything like that. Stage also requires that the LCD density be set at 160 (Sense is optimized for 240, which is the EVO's default setting) to display properly, so your EVO needs to be rooted if you really want to check out Stage in person. The UI itself doesn't require root, but changing the density using one of the LCD density apps in the Market does.
The Sense apps will retain their 240 settings for the most part, so using them with Dell Stage will result in some overlapping icons and oversized text because of the mismatch. Everything is still functional; some of it will just look a little weird. This isn't an issue if you don't use any of the Sense apps.
The email Stage widget keeps force closing on me for some reason, but everything else works as it should. You can get a pretty clear idea of what Stage is all about (it's pretty quirky) by watching the video I shot of the UI running on my Streak. Better yet, try it out for yourself by grabbing the Stage launcher and widget .apk files that untrueparadox kindly pulled from the latest custom Froyo ROM for the Streak and packaged in a .zip for everyone to use. You'll find it at the link below.
[MoDaCo]
