Android 12 News: Android 12 is currently on beta 2 and its stable build is expecting to release August or September. Meanwhile, users are getting glimpses of its features through several leaks and reveals. The beta build possesses several bugs and Google is rolling out fixes for them. Android 12 Beta 2.1 was released today itself addressing the issues that occurred in Beta 2. The build was named SPB2.210513.011 with a Security patch level dated June 2021 & Google Play services running on version 21.18.16. If you’re already running a Developer Preview or Beta build, you will receive an over-the-air (OTA) update to Beta 2.1. You can also download the update through OTA or System Image here.
One of the main features rolled out in Android 12 beta 2 is the wallpaper based theme engine called Monet. It’s one of the main features of Google’s Material You project. It creates customized colour palettes based on the dominant colour of your wallpaper. After that, based on the selected scheme, Monet will apply them to apps such as lock screen, Settings, Dialer and Quick Settings. For instance, if your wallpaper has got pink as the dominant colour, your phones UI will turn to Pink.
Monet was designed to change every aspect of the phone UI and apps as well. However, the feature in Beta 2 was currently confined to only change some parts of the system UI and some selected system apps. In other words, the full potential of Monet was still locked in Beta 2.
Android 12 News: Monet Full Potential Unlocked
The reason why Google hasn’t released Monet’s full capacity in Android 12 Beta 2 is because, the feature is in testing phase right now. However, a user on Twitter has able to unlock the full potential of the Monet by going deep inside Google’s code. A user name Danny Lin with Twitter handle “@kdrag0n” has able to unlock the full potential of the Monet by changing some parts of the code. He is the developer of ProtonAOSP ROM. David has come forth with his theme engine based on “Monet” and is calling it as “kdrag0n’s theme engine”.
Here’s my implementation of dynamic colors for UI themes, similar to Google’s Pixel-exclusive implementation in Android 12.
It’s not perfect, but I think the results have surpassed Google’s (as of Beta 2) by now 🙂 pic.twitter.com/b86uc7yxZq
— kdrag0n (@kdrag0n) June 23, 2021
Android 12 News: Kdrag0n’s Theme Engine
Kdrag0n’s theme engine can mimic Monet. It can change the UI of the system according to the wallpaper just like Monet. David also showcased the working aspects of his customized theme engine on his official Twitter account.
The redesigned UI also uses the Material shared X-axis animation seen in Settings on Android 12 Beta 2. pic.twitter.com/rIRnhvzhME
— kdrag0n (@kdrag0n) June 24, 2021
He built his theme engine by reverse-engineering the implementation of Monet. His implementation doesn’t use any code or APIs from Google or even from Android 12. Therefore, there’s no dependency on devices running Android 12 for his model to be used. His theme engine is quoted as an open-source under the MIT license, allowing custom ROM developers and also OEM’s to implement it if they wish to do so. This even opens door to several custom ROM developers & OEM’s to utilize it on their own custom ROM creations. All they need to do is pick up the code from his GitHub source and merge them into the build. After that, you are good to go and the ROM will get the working replica of Google’s Monet.
Source: @Kdrag0n (Twitter)
Kdrag0n Theme Engine VS Google Monet
If we compared Google Monet on Beta 2 with KDrag0n Theme Engine, it is more developed and even surpassed Google Monet. The developer also shared a video demonstrating an app changing its theme every frame at 90fps.
- His implementation extended the theming interface to many system apps other than confining to some apps.
- According to his words, his theme engine generates themes 34X faster than Monet i.e 0.05ms per the theme.
- It can even change UI theme every frame at 60-90fps.
If you want to try his creation, you can do it through the Android 12 Extensions 5.1.0, or his Magisk + Xposed module for Android 12. He also taken the chance to redesign the UI with Material You and even enabled more features that are right now locked or hidden in Android 12 beta build 2.
Get early access to his build right now by supporting his work on Patreon. The link is given below.
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