Custom Google apps now available in two pane mode without a specific DPI or ROM
We’ve seen the Android tablet mode interface on smartphones plenty of times before, with impressive ROMs such as ParanoidAndroid that allow users to customize the entire interface to take better advantage of the screen size. However, at times users may want the tablet interface of just one or two apps, without all the elements of tablet mode or dealing with the hassle of installing a new ROM.
If those apps happen to be some of the standard Google apps, then there is now a simple solution. An XDA user decided that he liked the two pane view of many of Google’s tablet interface apps, but didn’t want to completely switch to a hybrid or tablet interface ROM. In order to solve this problem, the developer took some themed Google applications and forced them to display in the two pane tablet mode you see on the right. These apps will display in tablet mode regardless of your screen DPI setting, which is what differentiates the tweak from the usual tablet mode.
Currently, the modification is Jelly Bean only, and available for just Gmail and Google Talk. However, the developer says that with enough requests, he will post more of Google’s or perhaps even other developer’s apps.
As a fan of the two pane app view of Google’s apps on my Nexus 7, but not yet a hybrid or tablet mode convert, I have to say that I really like this idea. I haven’t been particularly unhappy with the Gmail and Google Talk apps in phone mode on my Galaxy Nexus so far, but I don’t see a reason not to download the .apks just to see if the interface really works better.
[xda-developers]
