Performance & Customization Go Together in AOKP Milestone 2 ROM for Android Devices

OKP or Android Open Kang Project is a very famous and powerful Android Custom ROM coded, built and maintained by the worth members of Team Kang. The series began in November 2011 with the release of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and it stands high today with release of its latest Milestone 2 based on Jelly Bean 4.2.2. With the release of M2, AOKP now supports most of the Android smartphones and tablets, which now sums up to the list 44 devices.

Released: 21 July 2013

Today, we’re here to review and explain the major features supported by Milestone 2. Please note that these are only the major features which are observable by a user’s eye, but a huge list of other features and bug fixes are also there, merged in. The ROM took a huge leap by adding a large bunch of new devices, which are mentioned below.

The new devices added since the last Milestone 1 are:

HTC One (Intl, Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile)
Samsung Galaxy S4 (Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, US Cellular)
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (Intl, T-Mobile, AT&T)
SONY Xperia T
SONY Xperia V
SONY Xperia Z
SONY Xperia ZL
SONY Xperia Tablet Z (2 Variants)


AOKP Milestone 2

Features explored & explained!


AOKP Ribbons

One of the most usable and unique feature, developed and bought by Steve Spear. AOKP Ribbons slipped in during the late nightlies, which has evolved fast enough to be regarded stable in the latest JB-MR1 Milestone 2. The aim of Ribbons is to serve its users with usability with not just tap-to-open Apps/action icons but also the toggles.
Lockscreen ribbon

These icons/toggles are setup on the lockscreen, stacked finely spaced. You don’t need to worry about the number of icons or the space, as the arrangement is such that the icons are lined and can be swiped from right to left and vice-versa.




Elements that can be altered here are:

Vibrate on target click
Show app name
Action icon match text color
Icon size, Icon ribbon spacing
Color of app label text

To use, just press the lock/power key, you’ll certainly have all the ribbons displayed on your lockscreen.
Notification ribbon

Icons/toggles here are aligned on the notification panel while it is expanded. Elements that can be altered here are same as that of the lockscreen ribbon.

Vibrate on target click: The option enables/disables vibration when an icon/toggle is pressed.
Show app name: Enables/disables the app name to be shown below the icon/toggle
Action icons match text color: Matches the icon and text color
Icon Size: Increase/decrease the icon/toggle size
Icon ribbon spacing: Manage the space between icons/toggles
Color of app text label: Change the color of the app name labels (If Show app name is enabled)

To use, swipe down from the top of the status bar and press on the notification icon at the top left.


Quick settings ribbon

Icons/toggles are placed just over the quick setting toggles. One of the best thing that happened with Jelly Bean was the introduction of a separate toggles panel and so some of us here prefer to keep the notification area clean and thus this ribbon function comes in handy. The elements that can be altered here are:

Vibrate on target click: The option enables/disables vibration when an icon/toggle is pressed.
Show app name: Enables/disables the app name to be shown below the icon/toggle
Action icons match text color: Matches the icon and text color
Icon Size: Increase/decrease the icon/toggle size
Icon ribbon spacing: Manage the space between icons/toggles
Color of app text label: Change the color of the app name labels (If Show app name is enabled)

To use, swipe down from the top of the status bar. Quick setting toggles shall be visible below the ribbon icons/toggles


Left swipe, Right swipe and Bottom swipe ribbons

Swipe ribbon resembles much of Ubuntu’s sidebar making it a lot easy for lazy users like me. You can just put a large number of apps in it, so no more pressing the drawer button and swiping left and right to find your favourite app. Just place it in the swipe ribbon and access easily.
The elements that can be altered here are:

Enable swipe from right
Vibrate on touch of swipe area
Vibrate on target click
Show app name
Action icons match text color
Toggles button on bottom
Keyboard swipe area hide
Swipe area longswipe
Swipe area longpress
Ribbon dismiss action
Icon size
Ribbon auto timeout
Ribbon handle timeout
Icon gravity
Animation style
Icon ribbon spacing
Drag handle opacity
Drag handle length
Drag handle thickness
Opacity of swipe ribbon
Animation duration
Color of app label text

Quite a long list of modifications, huh? That is really awesome!

To use, gently swipe from the left, right or bottom of the screen respectively, the swipe ribbon will appear for you to scroll and select your app.

Note: Bottom swipe will only work if the on-screen buttons are permanently disabled or hidden.

So here, we’re done with the first and foremost feature offered by AOKP Milestone 2 (JB-MR1)


Permissions Management

Privacy and security are quite essential aspects of Android. It might itself be open-sourced but yet it provides the best sense of security. AOKP adds a bunch more to this, it adds Permission Management tool. While we install an app, we do go through the permissions that it will acquire but our stock Android doesn’t help us to amend those permissions selectively.

AOKP’s Permission Management helps its user to manage permission of each and every installed app. You can allow or deny selective permissions of any of the app installed on your device.