We're starting a new series of icon pack reviews we're calling #IconPackWednesday Spotlight - because we already share icon pack threads from our forums using that hashtag. The first launcher theme we're reviewing is Balx by DjSkarpia (aka Andrea Corvi in Google+). You may know him from some of his other themes such as Quadro, Cyrcle and Koogoo.
![Balx unthemed icon]()
![Balx Maps icon]()
Balx icons feature a glyph with a long shadow over a base that looks like kind of a circular wafer. The base of each icon is colored to match the dominant color of the system default counterpart. Any unthemed icon is simply cropped and fit onto the base without the shadow effect (see the LG Videos app on the right, for example). Balx has over 1750 themed icons (massive for an initial release) and 40 cloud-based wallpapers and support for Behang and Muzei wallpaper apps.
The app is somewhat different from your typical dashboard, the main difference being the left slide-out panel. It's divided into subsections "Theme", "Extra Features" and "DjSkarpia". In the "Theme" section you'll find links to apply the theme to your launcher, browse through and choose your wallpaper and preview the icons included in the app. In the "Extra Features" section you'll find links to the icon request feature (which also looks rather unique as you'll see in the screenshot below) and a link to the developer's Google+ community. The "DjSkarpia" section contains what you'd expect - contact info, a link to the Play Store to rate the app, a link to see his other themes in the Play Store and (okay, this last one might not be standard fare) a link to his Zooper widgets.
I included a few screenshots of how it looked on Action Launcher on my G2, both with one of the included wallpapers and with one of my own (you can download the full-res wallpaper here).
Balx by DjSkarpia is definitely a worthy theme to kick off our new #IconPackWednesday Spotlight series. It's well worth the $1.89 asking price with 1750 well-designed icons out of the gate.
Balx is available for $1.89 in the Play Store.
Balx icons feature a glyph with a long shadow over a base that looks like kind of a circular wafer. The base of each icon is colored to match the dominant color of the system default counterpart. Any unthemed icon is simply cropped and fit onto the base without the shadow effect (see the LG Videos app on the right, for example). Balx has over 1750 themed icons (massive for an initial release) and 40 cloud-based wallpapers and support for Behang and Muzei wallpaper apps.
The app is somewhat different from your typical dashboard, the main difference being the left slide-out panel. It's divided into subsections "Theme", "Extra Features" and "DjSkarpia". In the "Theme" section you'll find links to apply the theme to your launcher, browse through and choose your wallpaper and preview the icons included in the app. In the "Extra Features" section you'll find links to the icon request feature (which also looks rather unique as you'll see in the screenshot below) and a link to the developer's Google+ community. The "DjSkarpia" section contains what you'd expect - contact info, a link to the Play Store to rate the app, a link to see his other themes in the Play Store and (okay, this last one might not be standard fare) a link to his Zooper widgets.
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I included a few screenshots of how it looked on Action Launcher on my G2, both with one of the included wallpapers and with one of my own (you can download the full-res wallpaper here).
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Balx by DjSkarpia is definitely a worthy theme to kick off our new #IconPackWednesday Spotlight series. It's well worth the $1.89 asking price with 1750 well-designed icons out of the gate.
Balx is available for $1.89 in the Play Store.
