Android MX6 Kitkat (4.4) Icon Size / Update Launcher

[bill123]

System:

Mx6 - Kontron Board

Boundary Devices based on  boundary-kk4.4.2_1.0.0-ga / kk-nitrogen6x-20141007.img.gz

Screen Size 1280x800

I wanted to get some pointers the easiest way to increase the icon size on the home screens/Launcher -- my icons are very small and hard to touch.  I take it I need to change out or modify the launcher.  Kitkat is reported to have a "home" tab under settings, but this build DOES not have enabled..

I believe my choices are:

1) Create a new launcher and figure out how to install it

2) Modify default launcher (preferred)

3) ?

I have one group of developers that believes there is a "Tablet" vs "Phone" mode that can be "switched " in compile.. Does anyone know of said switch?

Edit:

I discovered today Screen type is set to XLARGE and screen size is 12.09412...

It appears the "hardware " believes the screen size is MUCH larger than my 4.66 inch screen..I am not looking into where Xlarge and screen size is calculated.

Thanks for the help

Message was edited by: Bill Butler

[gary_bisson]

Hi Bill,

Actually the Navigation bar doesn't disappear completely, part of it should be on the right side of the screen (vertical black bar). This is because of SystemUI which doesn't think the bar would fit considering the display dimensions and the density applied. There isn't much to do, in my knowledge, to overcome this issue.

Is the next density (TV, 213dpi) working properly? If not, have you tried non-standard density, like 180, it might not be ideal for App compatibility but could offer the best trade-off?

Regards,

Gary

[gary_bisson · Accepted solution]

Hi,

First of all, the HOME tab under settings only shows up if you have several applications listening to the HOME intent. As by default only Launcher2 is installed, the HOME tab is hidden.

Then on the icon size topic, I suggest you take a look at the ro.sf.lcd_density property. It allows to specify the screen density you want:

You can either change the value during the build:

android_device_boundary/nitrogen6x.mk at boundary-imx-l5.0.0_1.0.0-ga · boundarydevices/android_devi...

Or another approach is to modify build.prop from the /system directory and reboot.

Regards,

Gary

[bill123]

Gary,

Thank you for your response.. This was very useful.. When I changed this setting from 120 to 240. this caused the application menu  (::) button to move to portrait end but kept the icons in Landscape mode.. This is Perfect. Except ...

The Navigation bar (lower one with back, home,...) disappeared. However the Status Bar(upper bar) is still visible .

I am looking around a solution. Any thoughts?

PS. Navigation bar returns if I set lcd density to 160. Anything larger causes Navigation bar to disappear.

Thanks!