Arc

This is my review of Arc by @Coccco26. This is his latest theme and comes straight off the back of Desire, which was a great success and was known for its many many add ons that were available with the theme, as well as a large amount of icons that had been designed from scratch, and Arc is no different on that front.

I first came across Arc a few weeks ago whilst it was in beta, and from the outset I knew that this was going to be packed with extras from the word go, the loading screens alone were over 50mb and that just cemented my thoughts that this theme was going in the same direction his previous themes have in regards to size of packages and the shear amount of extras available to the user.

When you first open Winterboard after installing you'll find the main theme package and 5 iconomatics, ranging from white lights to purple lights. You'll also find 8 badges ranging from a glass badge to orange badges and red and even a dark glass badge, and that's only a few I've mentioned. And you will find a choice of wallpapers, wallpapers with docks (for those on 6+ who don't like ClassicDock) and wallpapers with a border around that gives quite a Latin look to the springboard, and you'll find normal Wallpapers that have a status bar gap to keep it seperated from the springboard. Once you've done a respring you'll notice your icons, and the amount that are themed, it's got a great calming look and feel around all the icons and the theme itself. Even inside whatsapp is themed as in the chat bubbles, which I've not seen for a long time and normal messages app is themed too, you need to see the screenshots to do it justice.

For those of you who like your SBHTML themes you can get UNIAW7 themes to go with Arc, you will need several tweaks for this, GroovyBoard+ and Api+ and WidgetWeather2 and all of these are free, WidgetWeather2 is free in Cydia and the other 2 are available via a link in the description for this package. The UNIAW7 themes consist of a big framed weather wall that changes when the weather does, you can get this in 3 options, top, middle, bottom, and they are available for iPhone 5/6/6+ which covers pretty much everyone who will wish to run these types of widgets. It's a great add on and this was available in early beta stages.

If your a Convergance user you then you'll be happy that Arc also has a Convergance theme for the 3 devices that can run the UNiAW tweak. And CustomFolderIcons is also included in Arc so no more boring folders. Everything has been covered in Arc, from your settings panel all the way through to your LockScreen and folders, and let's just remember this is still only early days for Arc.   

(Dock and Widget not from Arc) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

28AA

Hi today I'm bringing you a review of 28AA by @tvdMD. This is mainly an icon theme but don't let that put you off, it's in his own words "my take on flat".

Now you might be thinking oh it's only an icon theme, but it does have some UI touches like the ControlCentre is themed with its own little style, the toggles are fun yet affective in the design of them. The settings icons are themed though to so some UI elements have been added yet these are not really the priority as the icons are the main subject of this theme.

Right now let's get down to the nitty gritty, the icons. Icons like the AppStore and iTunes app have the symbol for each and a line towards the top which mimics a loading bar, the same applies to the DropBox app, but the DropBox app loader line is situated under the DropBox logo, same on the Google Drive and Box app icons also. The Path app is designed like a small ring back folder and you can see the colour section dividers in the right hand side. You'll get a choice of 4 TweetBot3 icons, from IronMan down to Spider-Man and more, but this applies to a range of the standard icons we all use, messages, FaceTime and the phone app also.

All the stock apps are themed and like I mentioned before so is a large amount of the icons we all seem to use the most, Facebook has 3, the normal Facebook plus a male and female version which incorporates the blank headshot that Facebook provides for you to add your profile picture. You will find a lot of Alt icons available at your fingertips and the best thing is you won't need to go through iFile to change them as all are available inside WinterBoard which just makes it easier for the user to access and change.

The theme is available in Cydia now and can even be found in the featured section of Cydia now, and there is also a pink version available for the ladies. Once you've purchased the theme make sure you grab the 28AA-Update Pack 1 which contains a ton of extra icons. Please check out the screenshots below.

(Widget and Dock not included) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Virtual 2

Today I'm bringing you a review of the fantastic Virtual 2 by @JedEye81 and the rest of the Virtual2 team. You might think by the name that it's just an updated version of his original theme Virtual, but you'd be wrong very wrong indeed as this isn't just an updated version but a completely different theme altogether and it's one hell of a theme.

Now where to start is the question, well let's start off with the obvious, the icons. Each icon has been carefully designed and made to a very high quality and standard, and some ingenious ideas brought to life by their design like for instance the ThunderCats clock and the Mickey Mouse clock, which are just fantastic and you will be torn between which one to use (if only you could have both on) as both just bring us great flashbacks of the kids shows we watched as kids, we all remember Liono being the top boss in the ThunderCats and Mickey Mouses laugh and his faithful dog Pluto and to have an icon do that is one of the things that makes this theme stand out.

The maps icon has a licence plate as the design, which again is an ingenious idea that is executed brilliantly and the health icon is a first aid bag and settings icon is dial which just works so well. The music app is styled like an old style radio with the frequency needle visible also and the phone icon is styled like the back of a iPhone and their is alts for that icon and many many more, the Tweetbot3 icon is one you need to see as its one of my favourites, and you'll find another awesome Tweetbot3 icon made by @MTK, not all of these icons have been made by @JedEye81 they've been made by members of the Virtual2 team, I will put all members at the end. And as its had a team effort it has definitely helped with the quality and diversity in each icon design. It's important when working as a group that your all on the same wavelength as each other and that is evident all through the theme with the consistency of each element to Virtual2. 

With this theme you'll get a range of ClassicDocks and also iconomatics available inside Winterboard to set this theme up exactly how you want it, from light docks to dramatic dark docks. Also you'll get some LockScreen themes that have been made by @Zooropalg so you'll get the complete package to maximise your iPhones look and feel. This really is a fantastic theme and a flash back to how icons used to be designed and made, a bit oldskool and we all love oldskool style. If your a theme lover then you'll really need to have this theme in your purchased list, and if you don't then go get it as you will not be disappointed. 

You'll find alt icons inside Winterboard and also inside of iFile for you to change manually. I would recommend you check out the Screenshots below so you can see for yourself just how good they are. Also don't forget to check out the ModMyi forum as its a hive of activity and loads of extras that others have contributed. Virtual2 has just had an update with new icons and some cracking docks from @studioproz, and will be updated on a regular basis.

Virtual2 Contributors 

@Attairdu57slm @S1lex_250681 @MTK_Des1gn @studioproz @RKO1195 and @Zooropalg. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afresco

Here is my review of the theme Afresco by @maximobarone. Well where to start is the first thing, this is maximo's first theme and you wouldn't think it when you use it as its nothing short of incredible, when I first got the beta for Afresco I was curious but wasn't expecting anything major from a Devs first theme, and wow I was totally wrong. 

The moment my 6+ resprang after enabling in Winterboard my jaw dropped! First thing I noticed was a massive amount of icons were themed, and the first impression was one of delight and confusion, delight due to the look of the theme and the confusion was thinking to myself "I can't believe this guy has waited until now to make a theme". 

This theme is such a joy to use on a daily basis, I can't really agree with myself on how to describe this theme, it's just incredibly made. What he's done is take a relatively simple idea and put his own splash of imagination and design style into every single icon he's made.

 I suppose there's an element of a retro vibe in his design style, for instance the camera icon is an oldskool polaroid camera, the older generation will remember these bad boys lol, the maps icon is of a Vespa scooter which again is super cool with a hint of retro. And one of my favourite icons is the SpeedTest icon which is of a big fish with teeth chasing a little fish, it's just utterly creative and shows that Maximo's got a great imagination.

With this beautiful theme you will get a huge amount of AppStore apps themed and most of the Cydia icons themed as well as the settings icons being themed and now UI and sounds and a selection of wallpapers. @ATT57 has made some Iconomatics and a dock and also @Mone from MMi forum has made widgets and SBHTML as well as an Iconomatic for the Afresco Notte version, which is a dark version of this wonderfully created beauty, please check out the screenshots below so you can see with your own eyes what this guy has created on his first attempt at a theme. 

I would like to say that in my opinion this theme will not only be one of the best themes to come out of the iOS 8 Jailbreak but probably an all time great. He has made one hell of an entrance into theme making and also firmly marked his place int he community and is definitely a Dev to look out for in future. Afresco is available now and Afresco Notte is in the same package. Big hats off to @maximobarone for this brilliant little theme.