How To Install

Rules to Installing a theme

1. Read the instructions. All of it. Always.

2. Only install themes compatible with your ROM. Developers will always plainly state which mod a theme was designed to be applied. In the video below, I opted to load Ted’s Hero Theme on my Cyanogen 4.0 mod.  Here is the tutorial – both written and video – showing how I applied Ted’s theme.

1. Rename theme to “update.zip”

Themes usually come in .zip format showing its title. Download a theme you like and rename the file to “update.zip” (right click file > click “Rename”)

Tip: If you want to store multiple themes, keep them with original file names in a folder marked “Android Themes.” When you want to load a theme, you can copy it to the SD card first and then rename the copied file to “update.zip”

2. Copy update.zip to the ROOT of your SD Card

Don’t put the file in any folders. Put it directly on the drive letter home as seen here:

3. Relaunch the phone in Recovery Mode

• Long press the Power/End Call button
• When the phone shuts off, press and hold the Home and Power buttons at the same time.
• Keep holding until the phone vibrates and the boot image (T-Mobile G1 or Android logo) appears
• Release and wait for the recovery screen

4. Perform a Nandroid backup (optional)

When applying themes or ROM’s, it’s a good idea to perform a backup just in case anything goes wrong. I try to do one every other time I change something. If things go bad, I can restore my phone to a recent state. Backup is built into the Cyanogen Mod, so follow these steps

• Scroll to and select “[Alt+B] Nandroid v X.X”
• Put your phone down and wait until the screen says “Backup complete!”

5. Apply theme to your phone

• Scroll to and select “[Alt+A] apply update.zip”
• Press the Home button to confirm
• Wait until the screen says “Install from sdcard complete”

6. Reboot your phone

• Scroll to and select “[Home + Back] Reboot Now”
• Wait until your phone reboots with the new screen. It should take 5-10 minutes, so don’t worry if the phone takes a little while to get update.

- by Andrew Kameka [androinica.com]