Android Custom Call Screen App

Caller Id Skinz

Customize your call screen and optimize activities surrounding your phone calls with Caller Id Skinz.  Get quick access to functions and utilities when an incoming call arrives, during a call, and right after your phone call.  Its not all about work and efficiency either.  Have fun customizing the look of your call screen, and playing pranks on callers!  Out-of-the-box, this app is designed for functionality and easy operation with thumb-sized buttons that can overlay the stock Android call screen.  Tired of the default Call Screen? Interested in reflecting your personality with your own design? You can create and install your own skin! From the casual user to the business professional, Caller Id Skinz is designed to handle most aspects of communication during phone calls.  Sample functions include:

  • One click answer and reject modes: Answer calls with speaker phone, reject calls with a text message, hang up on caller without sending to voicemail.
  • Search for information on your phone without leaving your call screen. Open contacts, search call log, open other installed apps all from your call screen.
  • Search the web from your call screen.  Not able to access the internet during calls? No problem. Access Google search capabilities by utilizing the Google SMS service. Send search terms to Google in a text and get a response while on the call!
  • Lock your call screen to prevent button presses.
  • Save call notes to your Calendar right after a call.
  • Why remember to return calls? You can set call back reminders.
  • Have fun by playing music on answering calls.  Baffle bill collectors or other unwanted callers.
  • APPLY SKINS TO YOUR CALL SCREEN TO FULLY CUSTOMIZE YOUR CALL SCREEN THE WAY YOU WANT IT.  See our Theming Guide.

Caller Id Skins HomeIncoming call screen - TransparentIn-Call Screen with custom skinAfter Call ScreenReject call with text messageCall Reminder Alarm PopupIn-Call Google SMS searchIn Call search

Features

Theming Guide

You can create and install skins to customize the look and feel of your call screens.  Skin files are simply zip files with specification and image files.  More details on that in the Creating Skins section.  Installing a skin takes a few simple steps:

  1. Click the "Skins" button on the Caller Id Skinz main screen to open the Skin Installer screen.   Get your screen dimensions to ensure the skin supports your phone screen size.  Exit this screen.
  2. Create or download the desired skin.  You can download a sample skin here.
  3. Copy the skin file to the following location on your phone SD card: /sdcard/CallScreens/skins/.  Files downloaded from your phone browser are typically downloaded to /sdcard/download/.  You can use a file explorer app such as ES File Explorer to move the skin file to the expected location.
  4. Go back to the Skin Installer screen and click the "Load" button to install your skin. You can preview the installed skin and make changes if necessary.  Before this step, disconnect your phone from your PC if you connected via USB to access your SD card.
  5. Click the "Save" button to install the skin.

Creating Skins

A skin file is a zip file that contains image and specification files for supported phone screen sizes.  All files must be on the top-level directory of the zip file.  You can get a starter skin here.

 

There are typically two types of image files depending on the skin file implementation: background images and a default contact picture. Both files are optional and only necessary if the skin design requires them.  If a background image is not provided, a simple color background is displayed.  The default contact picture is the displayed on the call screen when the caller does not have an assigned picture in your phone contacts.  If this is not specified, the app default contact pic is displayed instead.  There are certain other considerations with the image files:

  • They must be png files.  Transparencies are allowed.  This allows the background color specified to come through the background transparent regions.
  • Image files are not scaled by the app.  Image files should be sized to the intended supported phone screen sizes.  As a result there are typically several background files to fit the different screen resolutions.  Your screen dimensions are listed in the Skin Installer screen of the app.
  • Image file names are flexible.  Entries in the specification file (discussed below) determine which image files will be used for the specific screen size.
  • It is nice to provide a preview png file to show the resulting skin layout. This is completely optional and has no impact on the theming procedure.

The skin Specification File is an XML file that provides information on the layout for different screen sizes.  The Specification file must be named according to the app theming convention, which is:

spec_<screen_width>x<screen_height>.xml. 

So the spec file for a 320px by 480px screen is spec_320x480.xml, for a 480px by 854px screen is spec_480x854.xml and so on.

The spec defines several elements of the Call Screen.  These elements are:

  • Name text: This is name of the caller if found in your contacts list.  Otherwise the phone number is displayed.
  • Number details text: Displayed only if the caller is in your phone book. Consists of the number and number type as specified in your phone book.
  • Call type text: Displays "Incoming call" or "Outgoing call" according to the call type.
  • Duration text: Displays the call duration.
  • Caller Picture: The caller picture if there is one, otherwise the skin or app default is displayed.
  • Background: The call screen background.

Text elements layout attributes are :

  • font: Can be one of serif, sans serif, or monotype.  Default is sans serif.
  • size: Default font size is 16pt.
  • style: Can be one of normal, bold, italic, and bold italic. Default is normal.  Note, not all fonts have all available styles. For example, only serif can be displayed as bold italic.
  • is_centered: Is element centered on call screen.  If so, ignores the left attribute.  Default is true.
  • top: The offset from the top of the phone screen.  Default is 0.
  • left: The offset from the left of the phone sceren. Only applies if element is not centered. Default is 0.
  • color: Element color. Default is white.

Caller picture layout properties are:

  • width: Width of the caller picture area.  Only square areas are supported, so must equal height property.  Default is 192px.
  • height: Height of call picture area.  Must be equal to width property. Default is192px.
  • is_centered, top, left: Same as text elements.
  • default_image_file: File name of image to display when the caller does not have an assigned caller picture.

Background picture layout properties are:

  • base_color:  Background base color.  Default is black.
  • image_file: File name of image to draw on top of base color.

Known Issues

  1. Caller Id Skinz does not work with multiple calls
  2. No button to access keypad.  Android does not allow third party apps send dial tones, this can only be accomplished from the default Android call screen.  Exit Caller Id Skinz by hitting the back button.  If the Call Screen is locked, be sure to unlock the screen first.
  3. Accept and Reject call buttons do not work in Android 2.3 and above (Gingerbread). Turns out that Android engineers disabled some functionality that a multitude of apps depend on.  Currently looking for a workaround.  See Issue 15031 (https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=15031)

Version History

1.0
  • Initial release