I have a habit of showing off. To anyone who has been around me for a while, this shouldn’t be a surprise. So when I tweaked and tuned my mobile to my usage patterns, people asked about it when they noticed crazy things and I gave many a short tour.

To any experienced android enthusiast, my customizations would be elementary. Rooted stock android on a Moto G 1st gen, Xposed, plus a bunch of nice Xposed mods ( special mention to Gravitybox ) , Greenify (Donation pack with extra goodies like patched GCM) , Nova Launcher (Prime) , Tasker, carefully selected themes and apps all make it look and behave very different from stock android. Giving up my warranty on day 1 was totally worth it. I spent few weeks making my mobile a very personal device.

One particular feature I love showing off is a simple gravitybox tweak, timed torch bound to volume down long press. There’s a dark unlit path I use regularly, which takes approximately 120 seconds for me to cross, and the torch is set to switch off 120 seconds after activation. Practically everyone found it cool. But there was one person who said it is stupid. There’s a CS professor who also happens to be a good programmer ( No, one does not imply the other. ) who said I should instead use ambient light sensors or GPS to detect when I crossed that patch and then switch off the torch. He says he is forced to use magic numbers in server monitoring scripts but that is sub optimal. He was concerned I would trip in the dark if I walk slowly and the light goes off sooner. I had to explain my device had a shitty ambient light sensor and the GPS resolution is often not very fine and takes time, so I will probably achieve similar results with added battery drain.

Today, the light went off when I was in the middle of the path. It has been doing that consistently for the past few days, probably because I walk slower these days. Time to tweak the timeout, and to consider the ambient light sensors more seriously. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to cook up an app anytime soon, since there are more important tasks that keep me busy. Another idea added to my ever growing list of nice-to-have-awesome-features-that-not-many-need.

You can haz time?

To anyone reading this who has the time and likes me enough to invest their time for me, please cook up an xposed mod or a tasker plugin and I’ll take you out for lunch/dinner. It should take a couple of days at most, but beware, I’ve a reputation for underestimating time lines. Following my rule of thumb and multiplying initial gut feeling by 3-5, 6-10 days is a pretty safe bet.