MyColorScreen is one of the most popular websites on the Internet where all Android nerds show off their beautifully customized home screen, which literally takes them hours to customize and setup. Recently, the folks behind MyColorScreen showed off Themer, an app that would allow you to apply any of the home screen themes, as shown on their website, in just a single tap.
The app recently went in closed beta, and I was among the few thousands who got the invitation code to try out the app. First and foremost, Themer is not an app but a full blown launcher. So to apply all those beautiful themes from MyColorScreen, you will have to give up on your existing launcher.
The Themer launcher in itself is fine, but lacks a few must-have features that some advanced users are going to miss. This mainly includes the lack of gestures, multiple docks, groups and support for third-party icon packs. As a launcher, Themer is pretty basic and is easily overshadowed by other launchers on the Play Store. However, what makes Themer standout from the crowd is its ability to install themes directly from MyColorScreen’s website in just a single tap.
Right now, even though the launcher is in closed beta, there are more than 40+ themes available for users to download and try. This includes home screen themes inspired from Breaking Bad to GTA V to Mario inspired ones. Nearly all the themes have been extremely well done and look absolutely stunning, which is their main purpose.
All the shortcuts in a home screen theme are completely configurable and customizable. All the default widgets in a theme can also be replaced by any other widget of your liking, even though they might not blend in with your current theme.
Nearly all the themes in Themer hide the status bar, which is not good for usability. In most themes though, the status bar can almost always be accessed by swiping down anywhere on the home screen. However, this is one additional step for accessing something very crucial to the OS. Keeping the status bar always visible is also not an option, since it does not blend well with the themes.
The major issue with Themer, and again with all its themes, is that they are not made and designed by you. Most of the time after installing a certain theme, I had to play around with them to figure out all the predefined shortcuts. For example, in the below home screen, it took me more than just some poking around to realize that the ‘My Apps’ text is actually a shortcut to my app drawer.
Notice how out of place the status bar looks in the second screen
Also, I have no idea what the 11 denotes below my Dialer tile, and no I don’t have 11 missed calls. Even after trying nearly all the available themes, this remains my biggest issue with Themer.
Overall, I truly enjoyed the ability to completely change the look of my home screen in just a single tap quite refreshing, but I definitely missed some of the features from Nova launcher. I am skeptical of hardcore Nova and Apex launcher users shifting to Themer because of the usability they will be sacrificing.
P.S. – There are some performance issues with the app, but talking about them is moot since the app is in beta and the developers are actively working on improving the overall experience.
