[adamgs]

Ok well this isnt exactly the holy grail (i dont think).

Its the chinese one off ebay which includes the dvd drive, bluetooth etc etc.

Long story short, the standard ui is HIDEOUS and after a couple days of reading ive managed to skin the main screen, heres the before and after...

You cant do much because i dont think the underlying operating system supports transparency or any fancy effects.

Trying to guage wether people are interested in this and im also looking for tips or hints on what might look good!

The pictures dont do the changes justice, before it was horribly pixelated and gross, the new ones are nice high quality graphics.

Just incase u didnt pick it up, the writing is in the typical Mazda font

This isnt the only button style i can do, not by a long shot..im gonna have a play around, i can do different shapes and sizes etc but i have to work within the constraints of the X by X bmp images. I also have to use a solid colour as the background because i cant have transparent buttons which makes things much more difficult. Im going to have a play around, see what i can come up with.

Before:

EDIT

New updated version, pics below

 

[banguyen]

hey adamgs, just like in the other post, i'm gonna pick up this unit. your new picture looks pretty sick. how'd you do it? definitely interested.

 

[addpinto]

That looks realy good!!

Nice job man, it looks so much better. Since you were able to change the fonts, you have access to the OS system files, correct?

If so can we change the navigation software? There's a lot post arount the forums thatpeople are installing Garmin Mobile into WinCe 5.0, which is in this unit.

Let me know if you have access to the files. Thanks

 

[mr.cheez]

That's really cool that you can change the main interface. Would like to hear more about how you did it...You just convinced me to buy this unit asap.

 

[adamgs]

Nice job man, it looks so much better. Since you were able to change the fonts, you have access to the OS system files, correct?

If so can we change the navigation software? There's a lot post arount the forums thatpeople are installing Garmin Mobile into WinCe 5.0, which is in this unit.

Let me know if you have access to the files. Thanks

Well i thought you could change the navigation software without having to go into WinCE at all? It has a link in the settings where you basically point to the GPS software .exe. I havent actually tried any other GPS software but i cant see why it would be any harder.

Im trying to skin the DVD player app at the moment. When i play MP3s with the "touch friendly" app it seems to skip in songs, stutter and freeze, but when i play them in the dvd player app its fine. Seems liek there isnt enough ram or something...hmm...

 

[adamgs]

Well...this is what ive come up with, and it looks pretty darn good at night (havent tested it during teh day).

They are blue because my car is blue ha...plus i switched all my interior lighting to blue so it matches in perfectly..of course i could do other colours..

I think im pretty happy with this so might skin the other components of the OS...however i cant seem to figure out how to skin the dvd player which is really depressing...because thats my most used app. The dvd player section might not be accessible to the end user, im not sure...

Oh and no its not pixelated like in the picture, thats jsut a result of uploading to this site with the shitty size limits.

EDIT

Better Pics below

 

[adamgs]

*sigh* but of course after all this i hadnt saved my photoshop work and it unexpectedly quit, so ive lost everything.

Fiddle sticks...

There goes 3 hours work.

 

[banguyen]

haha damn man. sorry to hear that. but from the pictures...definitely looking good. keep up the good work!

 

[adamgs]

Alright basically this is it, ive still gotta skin a heap of stuff but 2 screens are done...im not looking forward to doing the bluetooth bit haha, so many numbers!!

 

[triplejumper18]

Nice! I have this exact nav unit and the GUI is pretty cheap.

 

[banguyen]

dude, that looks hot! how goes the remaining screens?

 

[banguyen]

oh yeah...how'd it look during the day?

 

[adamgs]

Sorry i havent posted back. As you might guess its hard to see during the daydue to sunlight glare but its readable.

Ive skinned the calibration screen but thats about it for now.

 

[adamgs]

Skinned the settings screen, dont take any notice of the top bar...i havent finished that yet lol

 

[triplejumper18]

Look good! Can you rename the Engrish too?

 

[adamgs]

Look good! Can you rename the Engrish too?

Yes im doing that now..with all these changes it would be nice to have an on computer emulater, im sick of running back and forth to my car haha

 

[Michalki]

Hi
Adamgs could you please describe in step by step guide how to make changes like you did ?

 

[adamgs]

When i get some free time thats what i hope to do!!

Provide the files i skinned and a walkthrough how to do it.

I was gonna do it earlier but didnt bother cause looks like only 1 person owns the thing ha.

 

[triplejumper18]

When i get some free time thats what i hope to do!!

Provide the files i skinned and a walkthrough how to do it.

I was gonna do it earlier but didnt bother cause looks like only 1 person owns the thing ha.

I own it, heh.

 

[banguyen]

I own it, heh.

me too!