The Features of Paranoid Android: A Comprehensive Review

One of the most notable features of Paranoid Android is its implementation of floating windows, which allows users to open any application in the background and have it automatically appear as a floating window. This feature provides an alternative to traditional window management systems, allowing users to keep their favorite applications visible at all times. In addition, Paranoid Android's systemwide implementation of floating windows makes it easy to use or ignore, providing users with flexibility and control over their workflow.

OTS (On The Spot) Controls are also a notable feature in Paranoid Android. This feature allows users to quickly access certain actions without having to navigate through menus. When the user slides down the notification shade for the first time, they will be asked if they want to turn on OTS controls. If they miss this opportunity, they can find the option by navigating to the system settings, then "Back up and restore," and finally, "Feature preferences." Once enabled, OTS controls can be accessed by sliding down the notification shade with a single swipe.

Another feature in Paranoid Android is its implementation of quick settings. When the user slides down the notification shade for the first time, they will see their notifications like normal. However, if they slide their finger down over where the clock usually sits, they will be able to draw down the quick settings in one swipe. This feature mimics the functionality of just swiping down with two fingers, but is easier to use when holding the phone in one hand.

In Android Marshmallow, users have the ability to move their quick setting tiles around. However, if they want to delete them or add more, they will have to go into the system tuner and do it the hard way. In Paranoid Android, this feature has been improved by making it possible to move quick tiles around as usual, but also being able to drag them to the top and throw them away like you do with icons on your home screen.

The ROM also retains support for layers, which allows users to customize their experience further. Layers can be used to create complex customizations, such as adding animations or effects to specific elements of the interface. Users who want to know more about layers should refer to our previous video, "Diving into Android and M Series from Last Year."

The Power Menu has also been altered in Paranoid Android. The reboot option, screenshot option, and airplane mode toggle are now easily accessible through a single menu. Additionally, users can get the "Reboot to Recovery" Etc option in the developer settings if they so choose. Interestingly, the ROM does not come with Route Access by default, which means that users will need to flash the latest Super SU.zip along with the ROM and Gaps if they want to keep Rout.

For OnePlus and Oppo owners, Paranoid Android also includes features such as gestures and more involved kernel features. These features provide additional customization options for power users who want to take their device to the next level.

Overall, Paranoid Android seems like a very competently done ROM that maintains many of the features that made it popular in the first place while adding in new things for people to play with. The new features have been integrated seamlessly into the operating system, providing a natural fluidity that isn't typically found in custom ROMs.

The stability of Paranoid Android has also been tested by its developers, who were able to use the ROM without experiencing any force closes or performance issues. This suggests that the ROM is stable enough for daily driver use, making it an attractive option for users who want a high-performance custom ROM.

Finally, the supported devices list includes the Nexus 6P, Nexus 5x, Nexus 6 2014 edition, Nexus 7 2013 edition, Nexus 9, OnePlus 1, OnePlus 2, and OnePlus X, as well as various Sony devices. Users who are interested in trying out Paranoid Android for themselves can find download links listed in the video description below.

Additional Resources:

For more information on the features of Paranoid Android, users can refer to our previous video, "Diving into Android and M Series from Last Year." This video provides a comprehensive overview of the device and its capabilities.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ennine months ago the Paranoid Android team found some new life and began working on their next release the idea was to bring some fun new features that helped improve the user experience while maintaining all of the things that made Paranoid Android one of the best AOSP ROMs out there instead of putting out builds as Alpha and beta releases the team decided to forego those and go straight for a stable release that release is here and we're going to take a quick look at it floating mode is actually a floating window that you can use to view your applications without having to open the entire app this is useful for things like replying to Quick messages or checking on something on the fly without having to stop what you're doing the good news is that the window is large enough to make it useful for practically any application with the one downside being that you can't really move it around all that much there are three ways to make floating window mode happen the first is by long pressing any notification it'll turn dark and then you'll see the option on the right side tap it once and the application will open in front of whatever else you're doing do note this does not work with all apps you can also go into the recent apps View and find the icon there each application has its own little box and the icon will be at the top bar next to the close button tap it once and the application will open in floating mode the Third Way is by far the easiest and it's a toggle in the Quick Settings called floating Peak you enable it in the quick settings and then when you get a notification you can click on the heads up notification to automatically open up a floating window once it's open you'll have full functionality across the entire app application to do what you need to do once it's done you simply hit the back button and return to whatever it was you were doing before we found that if you don't have any applications open when you create the floating window it'll automatically open the most recently used application in the background just in case overall it's the best systemwide implementation of floating windows that we've ever seen and it's really easy to use or ignore it if you don't want it OTS or on the spot controls is something that Android tablets have had for a while already to some degree when you drag the notification shade down for the first time you'll be asked if you want to turn the feature on if you miss the opportunity then you can find the option by navigating to the system settings then to back up and restore and then finally to feature preferences this is a really simple feature the way it works is when you slide down the notification shade like normal you'll see your notifications like normal no magic there however if you slide your finger down over where the clock usually sits you'll be able to draw down the quick settings in one swipe it's true that this mimics the functionality of just swiping down with two two fingers but that's difficult to do when you're holding the phone in one hand the only issue we found with it is if you're using larger phones and your thumb may not make it close enough to Center to pull down just the notifications however if that does become an issue you can always turn the feature off otherwise we recommend you leave it on because it'll save you a couple of swipes once you get used to it in Android marshmallow you have the capacity to move your quick setting tiles around however if you want to delete them or add more you'll have to go into the system tuner and do it the hard way in Paranoid Android this function fun ality is baked directly into the Quick Settings you'll be able to move quick tiles around as usual but you'll also be able to drag them to the top and throw them away like you do with icons on your home screen at the top of the status bar there is a plus symbol where you can see all of the tiles that have been removed and you can read them to the Quick Settings at your discretion this is turned on by default and is usable immediately after boot so you can customize as soon as you want to of course there are plenty of features carried over from prior releases that are still there now for in since Paranoid Android has Cyanogen mods theme support and virtually any cm13 theme from the Google Play Store should work on this ROM systemwide immersive mode is still present and you can set the status bar and navigation bar to disappear pretty much whenever you want it to it will reappear when you swipe up from the bottom or down from the top just like it usually does in any application with immersive mode this release of Paranoid Android also retains support for layers if you want to know more about rro layers we took a closer look in our diving into Android and M series from last year and we'll have that linked up for you in the video description below if you want to know more as usual the power menu has been altered to include a reboot option a screenshot option and an airplane mode toggle you can also get reboot to recovery Etc in the developer settings if you so choose interestingly the ROM doesn't appear to come with any route access by default you'll likely want to flash the latest super su.zip along with the ROM and gaps if you want to keep rout it's also worth noting that there are additional features for for OnePlus and Oppo owners such as gestures and more involved kernel features overall Paranoid Android seems like a very competently done ROM it maintains a lot of the features that made it really good in the first place but it also adds in a few new things for people to play with we were especially impressed with how well the new features have been integrated Everything feels like an extension of the operating system with a natural fluidity that isn't generally typical for a custom rom it seems to work pretty well and we didn't have any force closes or performance issues but to be fair we've only been using it for a few days and your results could vary that said it is stable enough for daily driver use if you're interested if you're interested the following devices are supported by Paranoid Android the Nexus 6p the Nexus 5x the Nexus 654 the Nexus 7 2013 edition Nexus 9 the OnePlus 1 the OnePlus 2 the OnePlus X and some various Sony devices if you want to try it out for yourself we'll have the download links listed for you in the video description below and that about does it for this one folks if you want to keep watching we have a video where Jace rounds up the best Android phones as of June 2016 linked up on the screen there and in the video description below don't forget to subscribe and keep in tuned to Android authority because we are your source for all things Android thanks again for watching everybody and have a wonderful daynine months ago the Paranoid Android team found some new life and began working on their next release the idea was to bring some fun new features that helped improve the user experience while maintaining all of the things that made Paranoid Android one of the best AOSP ROMs out there instead of putting out builds as Alpha and beta releases the team decided to forego those and go straight for a stable release that release is here and we're going to take a quick look at it floating mode is actually a floating window that you can use to view your applications without having to open the entire app this is useful for things like replying to Quick messages or checking on something on the fly without having to stop what you're doing the good news is that the window is large enough to make it useful for practically any application with the one downside being that you can't really move it around all that much there are three ways to make floating window mode happen the first is by long pressing any notification it'll turn dark and then you'll see the option on the right side tap it once and the application will open in front of whatever else you're doing do note this does not work with all apps you can also go into the recent apps View and find the icon there each application has its own little box and the icon will be at the top bar next to the close button tap it once and the application will open in floating mode the Third Way is by far the easiest and it's a toggle in the Quick Settings called floating Peak you enable it in the quick settings and then when you get a notification you can click on the heads up notification to automatically open up a floating window once it's open you'll have full functionality across the entire app application to do what you need to do once it's done you simply hit the back button and return to whatever it was you were doing before we found that if you don't have any applications open when you create the floating window it'll automatically open the most recently used application in the background just in case overall it's the best systemwide implementation of floating windows that we've ever seen and it's really easy to use or ignore it if you don't want it OTS or on the spot controls is something that Android tablets have had for a while already to some degree when you drag the notification shade down for the first time you'll be asked if you want to turn the feature on if you miss the opportunity then you can find the option by navigating to the system settings then to back up and restore and then finally to feature preferences this is a really simple feature the way it works is when you slide down the notification shade like normal you'll see your notifications like normal no magic there however if you slide your finger down over where the clock usually sits you'll be able to draw down the quick settings in one swipe it's true that this mimics the functionality of just swiping down with two two fingers but that's difficult to do when you're holding the phone in one hand the only issue we found with it is if you're using larger phones and your thumb may not make it close enough to Center to pull down just the notifications however if that does become an issue you can always turn the feature off otherwise we recommend you leave it on because it'll save you a couple of swipes once you get used to it in Android marshmallow you have the capacity to move your quick setting tiles around however if you want to delete them or add more you'll have to go into the system tuner and do it the hard way in Paranoid Android this function fun ality is baked directly into the Quick Settings you'll be able to move quick tiles around as usual but you'll also be able to drag them to the top and throw them away like you do with icons on your home screen at the top of the status bar there is a plus symbol where you can see all of the tiles that have been removed and you can read them to the Quick Settings at your discretion this is turned on by default and is usable immediately after boot so you can customize as soon as you want to of course there are plenty of features carried over from prior releases that are still there now for in since Paranoid Android has Cyanogen mods theme support and virtually any cm13 theme from the Google Play Store should work on this ROM systemwide immersive mode is still present and you can set the status bar and navigation bar to disappear pretty much whenever you want it to it will reappear when you swipe up from the bottom or down from the top just like it usually does in any application with immersive mode this release of Paranoid Android also retains support for layers if you want to know more about rro layers we took a closer look in our diving into Android and M series from last year and we'll have that linked up for you in the video description below if you want to know more as usual the power menu has been altered to include a reboot option a screenshot option and an airplane mode toggle you can also get reboot to recovery Etc in the developer settings if you so choose interestingly the ROM doesn't appear to come with any route access by default you'll likely want to flash the latest super su.zip along with the ROM and gaps if you want to keep rout it's also worth noting that there are additional features for for OnePlus and Oppo owners such as gestures and more involved kernel features overall Paranoid Android seems like a very competently done ROM it maintains a lot of the features that made it really good in the first place but it also adds in a few new things for people to play with we were especially impressed with how well the new features have been integrated Everything feels like an extension of the operating system with a natural fluidity that isn't generally typical for a custom rom it seems to work pretty well and we didn't have any force closes or performance issues but to be fair we've only been using it for a few days and your results could vary that said it is stable enough for daily driver use if you're interested if you're interested the following devices are supported by Paranoid Android the Nexus 6p the Nexus 5x the Nexus 654 the Nexus 7 2013 edition Nexus 9 the OnePlus 1 the OnePlus 2 the OnePlus X and some various Sony devices if you want to try it out for yourself we'll have the download links listed for you in the video description below and that about does it for this one folks if you want to keep watching we have a video where Jace rounds up the best Android phones as of June 2016 linked up on the screen there and in the video description below don't forget to subscribe and keep in tuned to Android authority because we are your source for all things Android thanks again for watching everybody and have a wonderful day\n"