*** Nexus 10 Tablet ***

I'm pretty sure it's Google being lazy. There's been custom roms with transparent bars and that's been fine on the N10.

Tried out the GEL with the updated search app, and to be honest, I don't like it. I prefer nova over it. I also notice graphical glitches when swiping on the last homescreen (when the white panel appears). I'm just hoping it's because I'm sill using 4.3, or the launcher is simply not ready for such a high resolution.
 
I'm pretty sure it's Google being lazy. There's been custom roms with transparent bars and that's been fine on the N10.

Surely it actually takes more effort for them to remove the transparent bars from the N10, rather than just leave them in like they are for every other device.
 
Surely it actually takes more effort for them to remove the transparent bars from the N10, rather than just leave them in like they are for every other device.

All the coding is there, it's just one line of code disabling it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2510252

Code:
 <!-- Translucent status & navigation bars perform poorly on this device -->
<bool name="config_enableTranslucentDecor">[B][COLOR="Red"]false[/COLOR][/B]</bool>

If this was set to true then it will be enabled.

I wonder how much of the transpancy is done via the CPU work load and if that duel core processor is bulking.

Well if the dual cores stop dueling each other then it should be more than enough ;). But I'm guessing due to how Google implemented the transparent bars, something in the SoC must be bottlenecking it.

I did remember reading something a while ago that the Exynos chip does have bandwidth bottlenecking to the GPU (can't remember where I read it though), so maybe this is the main cause of the problem?

And an interesting thing on the same XDA thread I linked:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=47445465&postcount=65
You can view the translucent notification bar, by swipping down in the KitKat easter egg animation. Somehow it's semi-transparent there.

So... transparancy on the easter egg... but disabled everywhere else...



Meanwhile, while everyone seems to be noticing smoother performance, apart from the lack of tablet UI in the settings, ART, and GEL, general view of it seems to be just a reskin of the icons in the notification bar. Come on Google... stop leaving your flagship 10" in the dark... Or is the 2013 version soon...

EDIT: I decided, what the hell, let's just adb sideload it, but then I forgot how annoying it was getting adb drivers to properly work in Win 8.1...

EDIT 2: After finally getting the ADB drivers installed (hurrah for universal adb driver!), KitKat 4.4 has been installed! Now let's hope this has been worth it...
 
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MdwpZ09l.png.jpg

Yup, semi transparent status bar in the easter egg (click for full picture).

EDIT 3: Semi transparent notifcation bar appears for all full screen apps, just swipe down from the top.

3Dmark scores:

Ice Storm
4.3: 8755
4.4: 9483

Ice Storm Extreme
4.3: 5694
4.4: 6149

Ice Storm Unlimited
4.3: 8825
4.4: 8816


So there is some improvements, but the offscreen results stay the same.

RAM usage after leaving it for an hour is currently floating at ~600mb compared to ~735mb I usually get with 4.3.

EDIT 4: ~460mb after 2 hours. Now that's a very good improvement! I was getting worried why the N10 was using so much when the requirement for KK is 512mb.

Everything does feel smoother but not very noticable (compared to my HTC One's 4.2.2 -> 4.3).

Decided to stick with Nova as the GEL is still showing graphical glitches, and Nova still has far more customization options. The latest beta has the GEL look anyway.

And... my god the settings menu is so annoying to look at...
ECO7NDZl.png.jpg


EDIT: Solved the graphical glitch problem. It was my wallpaper. Changing it to a lower resolution one made it glitch free. Setting it to my 3342x1880 sized one causes the glitch to appear. I guess GEL hates ultra large images...

EDIT 2: I spoke too soon, the graphical glitches are still there but flickers for a few seconds then disappears. So I guess the smaller the wallpaper... the less chance of the glitch appearing?
 
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