[lucid00]

Articles like this make me realize how much people barely know what's going on in Android.

The ability to change homescreens existed for years now, I think the API was even in Android 1.0 (I can guarantee it's in 1.6 at least).

The only thing 4.4 could do to clean up the experience is allow Android apps to theme the UI elements in the settings app, notification bar, face buttons, and apps that use Holo.

[yareally]

Modding community has given users the ability to retheme the entire UI since at least Android 2.x (including mods to make parts of the UI transparent, like the notification area). Cyanogenmod ROM added in the T-Mobile theme engine[1] and everyone else followed afterwards so we're to the point that you can go to the Android Market and actually download themes that work on most aftermarket ROMs. Good to see that Android may finally have it natively.

[1] https://code.google.com/p/android-theme/wiki/TMobileThemeEng...