Paranoid Android (Android ROM) AMA!

What, in your opinion is the biggest problem with "stock" Android? And what features does PA add to actively enhance this experience?

Management of screen space. Android was designed to be modular and it does a great job of that, but what may be sized perfectly for one user may be to small/big for another. A great example of this is the Sony xperia Z ultra, this is a 6.4 inch device but uses a phone layout. enabling tablet layouts, improves the user experience by taking better advantage of the screen size.

--Aaron

Thanks for the reply, I understand what you mean, however, I feel that the Nexus 7 style tablet interface doesn't work on anything bigger than 5", I preferred when the navigation buttons were at the bottom left of the device (like the Xoom was on Honeycomb).

Sadly Google removed the code for tablet ui with the kitkat release.

-- Carlo (BigBrother1984)

Any possibility of substituting code from earlier versions?

Google removed the code in 4.3 we aded it back. But for 4.4 googles changes are to extensive to make that feasible.

--Aaron

Oh and where did the name Paranoid Android come from? Is it Radiohead reference..

It is, Paul our founder is a RadioHead fan.

Hey guys this is https://github.com/slickrick here. About legacy support, aka all devices besides Nexus devices, you must be able to find someone with the device that is willing to maintain it since no one on the team prefers blind developing. The official github for legacy devices can be found here https://github.com/AOSPA-legacy I maintain it for the most part with the help from a few more members. At the moment the CDMA Galaxy Note 2's, d2 family, galaxysmtd, LG G2 family, i9300 and n7100 are supported. If you want to add official legacy device support, send a pull request to https://github.com/AOSPA-legacy/android_vendor_pa. Feel free to message me on Hangouts if needed (Ricky Salinas). Thanks!

--Ricky

I am revising the AOSPA guide for other ROM devs out there that wants their device supported and we are adding legacy to the gerrit!

--Ayysir

Would the team accept hardware donations?

In theory we would if needed, but we pretty much have a handle on the devices we support (Nexus and Oppo). We don't really want to overload developers with additional devices which is why we leave the others to the legacy branch. What are you offering?

I am revising the AOSPA guide for other ROM devs out there that wants their device supported and we are adding legacy to the gerrit!

--Ayysir

The G2 is legacy? What?

The legacy moniker simply refers to all devices that are not Nexus or Oppo (official supported devices).

What is your opinion on Cyanogen Inc. and would you ever consider going the same route? What is the end goal of your project? Are you looking for corporate or hardware partnerships?

We are happy for them. Its always a great experience to see a passion grow into something great. In the short term we aren't planning on going that route but if we found the right investor or partner, we would definitely consider it. In terms of goals, we are trying to push the boundaries of user experience. If you look at Android today numerous features were inspired by the Android community.

--Aaron

will you be supporting my Toaster anytime soon? we have kernel 4.0 booting. Nearly everything works except that we do get burnt toast occasionally due to faulty timers

There was an issue with the AOSP blobs for this ..we are looking into it but can't give any firm ETAs Keep following us on G+ for updates.

With the move to your new hosting servers will you be supporting delta updates with 4.4 through the same means stock is updated or through an application?

Edit: Thanks for the gold! :D

Delta updates are definitely on the to do list. When it is implemented it will be part of PA ota.

--Aaron

Also, if you implement delta updates, will you be using Chainfire's OpenDelta system?

Related question: Any chance of having an official .torrent download as well?

Torrents are problematic for us because we lose control of the distribution. We are unable to pull bad builds and maintain download counts. Thanks to digital ocean we should have more than enough bandwidth to handle downloads.

--Aaron

I'd like to see this answered, as well. Delta updates are working flawlessly on omnirom, so far, for me (Nexus 4). It seems like the way forward.

However, an easier way to retain custom kernels and root, is something that needs work.

Any ideas, PA?

I have brought this to the team, this is a server dependent feature. As soon as we finish our main features then we will revisit deltas option --ayysir

Do you consider Matias Duarte to be your lord and savior?

Jesus does... I think of him like a perfectionist and a pattern to follow!

--Sfera

Who designs your boot animations, HALO icons, and other miscellaneous UI elements? They're really quite clean and I've always been a fan of PA from a design perspective.

They are deigned by a combination of people. We have an amazing design team consiting of Paul and Tina Henschel, Arz Bhatia and Lo Hout

--Aaron

Don't mean to be rude here but do you guys actually go nuts and smash your keyboards, falcon punching your led monitors, and gnaw your mouse when people ask for ETA. I want to know from a dev's perspective.

We mostly ignore it, we can't give ETAs, usually things don't come out as expected, so it takes either more or less time to develop.

Do you have an ETA on when you will stop ignoring ETA requests?

Sorry dude, no ETA for that one either :/

What's the ETA on the ETA for the ETA?

I'll show myself out.

Eta-ception

are you planing to have screen recorder in PA Kitkat release?

we are looking into a non-root option, not making any promises but it has been considered more than twice -- ayysir

What is your background? How did you get started with making custom ROMs?

Alot of us are CS majors. But me personally have been modding phones since the Windows Mobile 2005 days. I Do it cause it allows me to create something that is useful.

--Aaron

I'm actually a Bio major but heavily considering changing it since I enjoy building roms and learning to code so much :) First started messing around with my Palm Pre on WebOS enabling developer mode, installing homebrew apps, etc. Then I got my first android in the Epic 4G Touch and I've been hooked on building custom roms ever since.

--Ricky

I'm a starting computer engineering student. I got into custom ROMs when I got the original Nexus 7. PA was actually the first ROM I tried and I loved it. I started doing my own builds with some added features and couldn't stop.

--Evan

I'm also a tech student, I was a proud user of WinMo till Android arrived and I started building Custom ROMs and developing for it.

--Sfera

A Computer Tech undergrad student here. Android has always held an interesting flag when it comes to crescendo potentials. It's fun, it's exciting, it's challenging. I started messing with Android about 2 years ago. Everyone here, if I may speak for them, is here because we find Android Development an elating & exciting experience.

--Bidyut

CS major... fell in love with PA and started helping out with bug fixes. Eventually got an invite to join. This has actually been my first Open Source project and my first dive into modding the Android framework

--Anu6is

Software developer all my life in so many languages i wouldn't be able to name them all. Not the best coder but i make money by implementing ideas. Currently in Switzerland with an institute startup-up/spin-off. Android is a side-project or hobby.

--Paul

The future of Halo. What kind of ideas do you have to better the halo experience?

We have a great idea for a redesign. Something that combines HALO/PIE and pie and takes away from the distractions of your phone allowing you to focus on your app.

--Aaron

I'm curious what the PA team thinks of the Moto X features (active notification, hands free always listening, etc). Myself, this feels like the first time a hardware mfg has taken a stock android rom and modified it have actual useful features that don't get in the way, as if they were watching and learning from what CM and PA were doing ;)

They are great. Active notifications is truly a revolutionary take on notifications.

--Aaron

IMO, the open source implementation ActiveDisplay is useful, but very buggy. You guys could make it shine :D

Any plans on integrating it?

It's under consideration. We'll see what happens :)

As a big fan of paranoid android I'd like to know the story behind the ROM. How did it come about?

Well, the whole thing started when Paul (molesarecoming) had the idea of unlocking the real potential of the big screens (Galaxy Nexus at that time), that could bring the user a better experience on Android, making it more functional, with things like 2 column settings or gmail. It was first a serie of mods made by him, but then he discovered Per App DPI. For that time, I (D4rKn3sSyS) joint him, and we started to craft this stuff in the framework. Then we realised that we worked really well together, and here we are now, with a quite bigger group working day and night on the things we like :)

So will franco.kernel be part of PA 4.0? Or is the current kernel allready on it's base?

We are partnered with Franco. However the kernels that come with PA are NOT franco kernel. They are AOSP + kernels made by franco. You wont find things like over clocking, but various fixes and optimizations.

--Aaron

Any partership with XpLoDWilD? I think Focal could be a good feature. I'm asking this because i remember that someone from your team asked for his mail a few months ago (on G+).

We are not planing on that at this time. Because alot of the camera features (HDR+, photospheare) are closed source and we would like to offer those to our users.

--Aaron

Are there any plans to implement some sweet Chromecast functionality once the Cast SDK is (finally) released?

Time will tell... Let the Chromecast grow first, when it arrives to a worldwide stage with openness (no white listing) we could consider some native tools but nothing to say till it arrives to that stage.

--Sfera

If possible, sure. Everyone is interested to see a casting feature integrated into the depths of Android.

But again, it all depends on the SDK & any limitations to be overcome.

--Bidyut

First of all thank you so much for all your hard work!

I know you are all still knee deep in the beginnings of PA with Android 4.4, but do you plan on bringing it to the GNex?

Gnex Support is planned

Do you have any more groundbreaking features that may appear in 2014? We've seen pie, halo, and hybrid UI from you guys, arguably some of the most influential and unique changes to android in the past few years. Any other big plans?

We have something planned, can't say if it's ground breaking or not. Also can't guarantee it will see the light of day, but we have some idea's

[deleted]

Sure, why not. We'll be trying to improve our community interaction in the future, so feature ideas may be made public once a concept is agreed on.

What is the end goal for the paranoid android project? You guys have grown in number, features, and fanbase so where is the next direction? Do you plan to move into hardware? Would you take corporate sponsors? Also with the development of original ideas like PIE and HALO will you continue your commitment to open source or will you start close sourcing things to protect the worth of your group?

EDIT since you answered about CM and corporate funding, what about open source on original features

The direction is the same it has always been - make android better. Growth brings its challenges, as you grow project management and organization become the most important things. We have no plans to make hardware or take corporate sponsors but we are open to opportunities. We are 100% committed to keeping framework features (PIE, HALO, etc) open source

--Aaron

Are there any planned changes to the launcher? The AOSP launcher has always been a bit messy in my opinion. Do you have any ideas on how to make it "cleaner"?

Currently we plan to promote GEL (Google Experience Launcher) so we won't be concentrating on changing Launcher3 (AOSP). This may change in the future though

Do you guys plan on creating an installer similar to the CM installer?

We have already been working on something related. Stay tuned for more updates!

--Sfera

Hey guys, I had a small question.

What makes PA GAPPS different from others?

The goal of our GApps package is to deliver the 'Complete Google Experience'. Our featured GApps package Google Stock GApps will bring the same Google Apps experience to your device that you'd find on Google's flagship device - the Nexus 5. In addition, we try and keep our packages current and up-to-date with the latest updates directly from Google. --TKruzze

Isn't it exactly the same with the CM GApps?

Actually it's exactly the same as Google stock apps from the play store, but they are installed on the system partition

What do you guys do "in real life" as in, what do you do to earn money. I ask since I hear most ROM developers develop in their spare time.

The majority of us are students. The school/work/rom balance gets hard, especially when a something comes up.

--Aaron

I'm a student also and I have no secular work at the moment so incomes are limited. About time, Android gets all the time I can give to it but in some seasons it's very reduced...

--Sfera

Are there any plans to bring actual multi-window multitasking to PA? I'm not going to knock Halo, I think it's a great feature, but when it was first announced it was made to seen like a better multitasking method than what Samsung made. In truth I can't really do two things at the same time, it's just a nicer way to respond to some things than actually switching apps.

I have played around with the idea alot and have not found a good solutions for the small screen size of phones. On any device with a screen size under 5.5 inches its hard to use. The keyboard also presents lots of issues as it is designed to cover the bottom third of the screen.

--Aaron

[deleted]

No, most of us are students, we use the money from the apps to buy devices to keep development going on.

Are you working on any new features for PA that are currently not in any other ROM?

Always :)

--Aaron

One of my problems with the Hybrid properties is that you have to painstakingly configure the colors for each app. One guy, however, made an module in the Xposed Framework that does it automatically, albeit it only does it for the status bar. Do you guys plan to make something similar?

We know this is a problem and are actively working on a solution. When it comes you will wonder how you lived without it. :)

--Aaron

We are looking into it. There are some ideas we are entertaining for the future of Hybrid Properties

Do you plan to do anything else with the PA preferences app that is in the play store?

Yes, we have plans for it, as soon as we have everything ready for a 4.4+ stable release, you'll hear some news. We do intend to redesign the UI as well.

What did you originally think of doing when you started out using Android?

Make a working R2D2... Still a lifelong dream to be honest.

What do you think is your biggest differences between you and CM?

What do you think of their move towards becoming a company?

I had a really hard time finding a features list, or version comparison (other than XDA threads) and device specific instructions. are there any plans to make a centalized location for all the information (instead of having it spread across, git, xda and google+)?

We should be creating a website. But for now we have a dedicated forum on Xda and we'll probably make better use of that. Difference between us an CM...can't say really, different ideologies. We are focused on creating an enhance Android UI that still feels a lot like stock android. I think CM is more focused on internal frameworks changes.

The 'Paranoid Android' name implies a focus on security/privacy, but it seems that most of the innovations your team introduces are UI/UX improvements. Do you think that's a fair comment?

Also, do you sense that Google is closing off the possibilities for after-market ROMs? I'm thinking along the lines of this Ars Technica article: 'Google’s iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by any means necessary' i.e. moving more functionality into Play Services, stagnating AOSP apps, and so on.

Thanks

Edit: grammar

It's definitely a fair comment. We are more focused on the UI/UX. I don't see Google's move having that much of an impact on custom ROMs. While we do modify some AOSP apps, our main changes are in the frameworks. This change may actually have a greater impact on OEMs

Currently, me and a friend of mine are developing a few apps for a project and there are times we just have to meet face-to-face and discuss things out. Considering PA, a ten-fold larger project than ours, how do you guys do this? Do you arrange some meetings at times? Over online services like Skype or Hangouts?

We use all kinds of tools at our hand like Gerrit, Github, Google+, Hangouts, Video Hangouts over G+ and xda!

The HALO in ur gerrit looks pretty bugfree to me. Any reason for it not being merged yet? If there are any bugs can you tell me how to reproduce so i can do my own bit of atleast trying to fix them? :) And what about Hybrid 3? That hasn't been updated for some time now on ur gerrit!

I am the one working on that and just haven't had the time to debug it. To quote Brain Kernigain "Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it. " Hybrid 3 is very clever.

--Aaron.

We are hoepfully going to be redesigning it with pie ;)

Hi, thanks for doing this IAmA.

How hard is to port PA for an unlisted device? Also, I'm not quite experienced with this whole process per se. What do I start with?

Source port guide coming soon I'm working on it --Ayysir

Boxers or briefs

Who has time for underwear these days? -Matt

What is your favorite new feature that Google added to 4.4?

I really like the new ART runtime, I'm waiting to see what else has Google planned for it.

--Sfera

Immersive mode for me

--Ricky

Immersive mode for me

--Ricky

What's keeping you from becoming an entity that solely makes decisions based on profits instead of the ease of use for your consumers?

Not having profits is a good way to not have to worry about them.

--Aaron

it helps having either a job or a certain outlook on what you want to achieve in your life. some of us work in the industry, some study and look forward to. coding a rom then becomes fun and it frees you from the pressure to generate income. there's a little pocket money you earn from donations and apps, buys a couple of dev devices or whatever. -- paul/molesarecoming

Profits/Consumers I would not use that terms to describe our work. I prefer to talk about features and users. Maybe that difference already answers your question ;)

--Sfera

Hi there! Big fan without a smartphone. Still: big fan.

• what PA feature do you like the most? What do you think is really impressive?

• what do you think Goolgle should change in Android? If you could choose, what one feature, from PA or not, would you like to see added to Android?

• What can one without smartphone do to help?

I honestly love our first and what I consider our best feature hybrid engine. Pie takes second place.

I don't see Google adding most of these changes due to wanting to keep a consistent UI for the end user.

What you can do to help Translations are welcomed, detailed bug reports or UI suggestions (not this doesn't work or can you make this work better). If you are capable, big fixes, graphics work (icon design, boot animations) you can always reach out to us via the Google+ community (trust me we read everything)

First of all, thanks for your amazing work. I wanted to ask what features have you planned to add to PA ? Will all the old features be back in PA 4 ? What do you think of CM SMS encryption and will you bring it to PA ?

All the big features will be in PA 4 (HALO, Hybrid, Quicktoggles, etc...). As far as SMS encryption goes, we do not have plans to add it at this time. There are many issues with the CM implementation that are troubling.

--Evan

PIE, HALO are great custom features you have brought to android..

Do you have any new major features in the pipeline? Whether it's just whiteboard concepts or nearly implemented?

Thanks!

Definitely we have a number of project in the pipeline but with holidays/finals/life time has been at a premium.

--Aaron

I've noticed Android 4.4.2 has a few similarities to features in current and past iOS. Do you guys agree with the direction Android is taking?

In my honest opinion the guys working at Apple have always done a good work related to design and final product impression. Android is moving forward on that theme and I like it pretty much. About features, why an Android user should be unable to do certain things that an Apple user actually does? (Also applied on the other side)

--Sfera

Hello PA Devs, nice to talk to You. Loved Your AOSPA 3+ RC2 very very much

Here are my questions:

• Francisco Franco is helping You with the kernel. But I really liked, and like ATM too, Semaphore kernel. If I would like to use it in Your next KitKat ROM, do I have to flash the stock image before, to eventually get rid of Franco's RAMdisk tweaking?

  • I recently came across this post on XDA Forum

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2546120

Would it be useful and safe (performance and stability wise) to flash those patches on Your next ROM or will them lead to probably issues?

[added]

• Immersive mode is and will be great (now I'm on SlimKat just to try it), but will You include the possibility to resize the navigation bar height? It will be perfect, because the stock one is too big when it slides in

Hope I haven't been too long...

Thank Ypu very much for the hard work and the excellet quality products!

We don't really do any ramdisk tweaking with our kernel. Franco's official kernal and our kernel will be maintained separately. You should be able to change kernels without issue

No need to have a sequence for kernel flashing. Just pick your choice, make sure it's compatible (check instructions), & flash.

The Dalvik patch is quite safe to flash, & MIGHT help show some boost in performance. Bionic patch isn't really recommended, but there's no harm in flashing it all together.

1) I won't ask for an eta for the new halo or pie mode but how far exactly you are in their developmental process? E.g only ideas, or testing on your own devices?

2) Do you have leaders or a hiercarchy that dictates other devs?

HALO/PIE will be merged into a single feature and is currently in the mock up stage.

Why should we pick you over CM or OMNIROM?

cm and omni are nice, but they are made for a different kind of people. if you consider your rom some sort of box into which everyone can throw stuff, if it fits being as part of the os or not, then it shall be cm/omni. if you want specific features with a developer behind them that doesn't just stop but works on it until he deems it perfected then that is pa. plus it isn't always about java hacking. ideas, design, etc., these things are important as well. -- paul/molesarecoming

That depends what are your interests, what do you want on a ROM. It's all up to you

-- Jesús D. (D4rKn3sSyS)

The real question for me is: Why not?

My personal advise is to check out if a fully working build exists for your device or it is planned to appear, then check what features you like the most. If the review doesn't clears up your question you could probably test them for yourself and play with them for a week. The way you experience with the ROM is completely different from mine, so my recommendation could not help you at all.

--Sfera

I am junior in college studying computer science. I have written a few android apps but how would I get involved in working on custom roms? I have never been able to find a good amount of documentation to get started. Thanks!

Keep an eye on our Google+ page. We will be releasing a series of posts about how our team works and one will be about developing features.

--Evan

If you have some experience with writing apps, you're already ready to start dealing with custom firmwares.

Just download the source code of the entire AOSP project, (or custom forks of aosp), go through them manually, & you'll start to understand the mechanism behind the OS/Kernel. The official guides can get you so far. Beyond that, you just need to dive in, mess with it, compile & test. Good Luck!

--Bidyut

Are there any plans to officially support Oppo (Find/N1) and the Google Play Edition (GPE) devices?

I will be personally supporting both the Find 5 and N1. I love me some Oppo. GPE is being investigated but that requires a large investment in devices. --Aaron

What new Ideas do you have after the Kit Kat release? As a Nexus 5 user, I am really excited and cannot wait to flash your ROM!

You may find out soon enough!

What's your guys opinion on 'kanging'?

I know some devs are very much of the open-source mentality, that anyone who develops custom ROMs or features is essentially kanging others' work already; but then there are others who get mad when someone repackages their work, sticks in a couple of bloat features and then gets a tonne of karma (and maybe a few donations) off the back of someone else's work. Where do you stand?

We fully support the idea of open source and while this mentality is understandable, our take on it is that when/if kanging a feature, one should also see how they can contribute upstream. If there's some bug you can fix or UI change you believe would be cleaner. Even if you can't code the change yourself, a simple respectful comment like "hey, what do you think about doing x y or z" or "you might want to change this to do this instead"

The open source environment should be an open community, with ideas flowing in and out.

I've read at your G+ page that you've got new hosting servers. Does this mean that we are no longer able to download future updates from goo.im? Could you also provide me with the link for your new hostingservers?

The future of goo.im is not decided yet but should continue as a hosting alternative and mirror. Our current server is located at paranoidandroid.co but there are no official builds yet!

--Sfera

Do you have any plans of integrating Google Voice/SMS into the ROM a la Voice+ in CM?

It's currently on our gerrit for review. However just the framework will be merged. You will be responsible for installing the app.

Multitasking in Android isn't one of the best things of Android. How would you make it better but keep the "Google experience"?

That's a hard question, multitasking definitively needs some reworking on Android, and we've been brainstorming about it, but we have yet to come with a solution. HALO is a good start, though.

Halo + MultiWindow are one way to deal with multitasking. Another way, is real time dynamic multiwindow. Basically, something akin to multiple adjacent floating windows.

The only major problem is regarding devices with small screens. Multiwindow on such screens isn't exactly pragmatic option. For them, single floating window over running window is the best way to go.

Halo + MultiWindow are one way to deal with multitasking. Another way, is real time dynamic multiwindow. Basically, something akin to multiple adjacent floating windows.

The only major problem is regarding devices with small screens. Multiwindow on such screens isn't exactly pragmatic option. For them, single floating window over running window is the best way to go.

What do you think about PACman roms? Do you think they try to pack too much into their roms?

No comment. They're cool I guess?

For us, this approach isn't part of our philosophy. We want to integrate features without having to dig through too many options. That said though, there are users that love having the ability to tweak and modify every single detail of their device. It's part of what android is about.

I'm wondering whether the homebuilt versions will require a full wipe to upgrade to a fully featured version of pa 4.0?

It shouldn't but never say never.

--Aaron

Check against these points:

1. You are already running on 4.x version.
2. The home build is dated differently by a few days at most.
3. There're no major changes in code base.
4. There's no specific instruction stating clean flash.

If you answer Yes to all the above stated points, a dirty flash MIGHT work fine. But as Aaron said, never say never. There're exception cases which might just cause FCs. If so, wipe the data of the FC apps, & see if it works. Else, just wipe clean & flash again.

--Bidyut

If you are running on 4.x version already then a dirty flash should suffice unless you are using another rom

If the build is dated differently by a few days, or unless there're major changes in code base, dirty wipe should be just fine.

How does the process of making changes/adding features work for the team behind the scenes? Who's the main 'innovation guy', the one who makes things pretty, the team lead, and so on?

We work on our gerrit mostly. Biggest features are worked privately first, to make sure no ROM rushes to cherry-pick rough stuff. There is no such thing as 'Innovation guy' here (Paul has really good ideas though), we all brainstorm about someone's idea to discuss the UX and UI points. Our designers make things pretty, with a little of help from developers. There isn't a "team lead" thing either, some of the oldest members have a bit more of control over code review and what gets merged, but so far everyone's opinion counts.

-- Jesús D. (D4rKn3sSyS)

How hard is it to come up with an idea for the rom, and then implement it successfully.

It's not hard, it's just a matter of finding some good partners to work with, and having a lot of ideas

-- Jesús D. (D4rKn3sSyS)

if you are experienced not that hard. if you start from scratch its one gigantic hell, it will take you months/years. ~ paul/molesarecoming

How seriously do you take suggestions from the community, particularly when they may seem to be far out there?

We read everything. If I like an idea, Ill spend some time doing feasibility analysis to see if it can be done. Often times it can't be. But we are always open to new ideas. Removing the nav bar and replacing it with swipe navigation would have been crazy a year ago. But today its one of our biggest features.

--Aaron

Hi PA, any plans for your website (paranoidandroid.co) once the KitKat builds are out, or will the Google+ page still be your main outlet information?

I would love to see your site post the latest downloads, changelogs (human readable and git-generated), and tutorials for newbies on how to get started with PA. It would be nice to finally have an official site we can all look to, for all the PA goodness!

We have some website ideas and a couple of members working on it, Google+ is "the best" way to be in touch contact with our users (in my honest opinion) but a website denotes professional involvement and opens gates to new users. Blog + Downloads + What/Where/How should we sooner or later!

--Sfera

Few more questions... 1) Kinda personal but... were you on FIRST Robotics teams in highschool? :D 2) I'm a bit of a coder myself... but doing something like what you guys do seems overwhelming. How do you go about it?

Thanks! Love you guys!

To answer number 1: I was on a FIRST team for my entire high school career. (Team 1208!) I really enjoyed the experience and would do it again if I could.

--Evan

I had the opportunity do FIRST, but I am more of a hacker so to avoid using kits I did underwater ROV's (Remotely Operated Vehicles)

--Aaron

What is the largest challenge that the PA team had to overcome, code wise? Have there been features or fixes that took an inordinately long time to resolve, that you now look back and laugh at?

I think any programmer would answer that question with a resounding YES. Honestly there are times you go to sleep with a problem you've been working on for days and one morning you wake up with an answer. Or you spend hours debugging some piece of code only to realize one of your objects was returning null. Most times the challenge is fun... a few times however that fun turns to frustration. The joy of the breakthrough though always trumps whatever you felt before

Yes, definitively, a lot of stuff whose fix was a line of code, but you didn't really know. Then you look at it and say, OMG, I just spent 3 days on that?. One of my biggest challenges was to get QuickSettings reordering on the spot. Literally spent weeks on it, and the fix was quite easy. I learnt a lot from it though.

-- Jesús D. (D4rKn3sSyS)

Will there be an official release for the S4?

We don't support legacy (non nexus devices) but I (Ayysir) will be building for tmo and att variants

i registered on reddit just to ask this question. why don't you support other devices officially ?

Because they cannot support devices they do not own. Obviously the best devices to support are ones that are open source and do not require hacking the bootloader/finding exploits to get recovery and/or root.

All non-nexus/oppo device support needs to come from the people that port the rom to them. If you want a device supported officially you would need to make sure the dev team has that device.

This is pretty much the case.

If I have a Nexus 5, why should I flash a custom rom instead of using the stock Android?

depends on you. if you are happy with it as it is - why would you? to be honest, google has done things that make many rom scene tweaks obsolete. but there's still stuff left and many cool ideas to be explored. ~ paul/molesarecoming

We've heard talk of the PA team wanting to make things more "google-like" in the future, such as integration with immersive mode, and polishing and refining your current features like PIE and HALO. Can you give us any details on how you plan to make that idea a reality?

Additionally, is there anything you can hint at as far as future innovations or features that we can look forward to?

The main focus is perfection. So everything should be beautiful and perfect before going to release builds. We cannot give out details or hints but we will tease them sooner or later, so Stay Paranoid!

--Sfera

Simple feature question. How do you approach Immersive Mode in PA4? The way Google Now looks on GEL (i.e. making both bars transparent and rendering behind it) or the the way the "Immerse Me" XPosed Module does (i.e. completely hiding them and having to get them back with a swipe)?

Really hoping for the former or an option maybe. :)

You'll see it on the betas, as soon as they drop. Right now we're using Google's immersive flags.

Do you ever get upset about open sourcing your code, so that others can take it and put it in their ROM? Obviously this is the idea of open source and it's a great one, but this is more are there ever times where you think to yourself "dam, I wish we could just keep this feature to ourselves"

Sometimes could be a good answer.

I get annoyed when our features are kanged before we +2 them. The real problem is that sometimes the code they merged was unstable/unfinished/being reviewed. They give us bad press and "most of the times" they do not contribute back with bug reporting....

--Sfera

We are working on an open source operating system that google is under no obligations to release. We try to keep the mentality that it was given to us open it should remain open. The community knows where features originate form.

--Aaron

Will there be an OTA update system for PA, like CM, one day?

We had a OTA over 4.3 but due server issues it failed some times. We plan to get it back when official builds start again!

--Sfera

There is already an OTA system in place going back to 4.3 https://github.com/AOSPA/android_packages_apps_ParanoidOTA Still being worked on and improved of course!

--Ricky

There is already an OTA system in place going back to 4.3 https://github.com/AOSPA/android_packages_apps_ParanoidOTA Still being worked on and improved of course!

--Ricky

What devices are you planning to support?

Check http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1t0gkq/paranoid_android_android_rom_ama/ce32bz8

--Sfera

After having made groundbreaking changes like HALO and PIE that the Rom community cannot live without, have you guys thought of the next big feature? If so, any hints?

We have an idea for something. Not sure if it would be the next big thing or if it would even see the light of day but, that's all part of the process.

First off, I love PA. My friend convinced me to root my N4 and he said "Oh dude! Cyanogenmod is awesome!" So I tried it... Bleh. Nothing new there. Better than stock, but it seemed more like a stock update than a better OS. So then I tried PA. I fell in love with PIE, and Hybrid Properties instantly. Never going back!

Few questions... I read that you were students, I am too, I was wondering where you go to school?

Also, I see that you have implemented "full time immersive mode", which is cool, but it's in a few other roms. Do you have any new, PA exclusive features in the oven?

Also, would you consider maybe adding a multi-window feature? Like touchwhiz?

Thanks for all your hard work. Love PA!

There are devs in school and some out in the working world. We are actually pretty spread out (US, Colombia, Europe, Asia). We have something that we plan to work on, but right now we are looking at bringing back our standard features, maybe with a redesign or slight upgrade (even if it's not actually a user facing change). We are back and forth on the multi-window thing. It works ok on tablets but we don't think phones really provide sufficient real estate for this feature.

What brought up the name 'paranoid'? Can you describe your feelings when your first room was released?

radiohead and douglas adams hitchikers guide to the galaxy. when i made the first release i was pumped, it was a great feeling after having sat weeks to figure out linux and compilation. i guess this is the power that android had over me, it just drew me right into it. ~ paul/molesarecoming

First off... Thank you for making quality software. I'm typing this on a 4.3 build of PA (waiting for pie in 4.4).

The question: with all the different devices out there... How many people do you need, per device, to fully support said device?

Also, can I lend my support (time contributions not money)?

The beauty of Nexus devices is that it only takes one person per device and thats just a sanity check. By using a clean aosp base things transfer between devices easily. Its normally little things like this text is off center or this icon is to small.

--Aaron

ParanoidAndroidDevs , will PA 4.0 come for gnex ? Or will u support gnex ?

Previously asked and answered, but... yes

Maguro definitely. The other variants might come out a bit later I believe so.

--Ricky

Will you be introducing a custom pre-installed reddit app into PA's later versions?

Edit: forgot word

We have never thought about that, maybe it could be worth to brainstorm but it's not in our current desires.

--Sfera

So this is not a RadioHead AMA?

lol...no

When are we gone see xda thread for hammerhead? And official beta? Is this any reason why main features of pa is not merged into pa for beta.

Hammerhead thread will appear when official builds are released or even before but please no ETAs. The main features are not merged because are being reworked.

--Sfera

When do you guys think Paranoid Android 4.0 will be out? And what will be the key features of PA 4.0? I for one am REALLY excited for Immersion mode. Thanks guys!

No ETAs questions please --ayysir

Which is the best Kernel to save battery?

We aren't particularly kernel developers, that a completely different area. Also, various users get varying performance from different kernels based on their use case. Best option would be to try out a few kernels (2-3 days each) and see what works best for you