Twitter is testing a dark themed UI that activates by itself based on time of day
Some of the most popular Android devices you’ll find on the market come with AMOLED displays. Although most Android users will tell you they like the punchy colors and deep blacks, it’s the battery savings that hardcore techies find most appealing. Because AMOLED doesn’t actually illuminate blacks, having a darker colored UI, wallpaper, or app can actually help prolong battery life on devices. If you’re in the camp that prefers a darker UI for whatever reason, Twitter appears to be testing a new dark theme in their latest alpha.
The theme can’t actually be initiated by the user, instead it appears to be activated all on its own based on the time of day. According to Taylor Wimberly who posted a screenshot on his Google+ page, there doesn’t seem to be a setting to even turn it on/off. The theme itself is more of a darker navy blue, something that should be easier on the eyes when viewing at night.
Before you run out and try and sideload the APK, it appears this dark theme is only in the A/B testing phase and features like this are rolled out on the server side. While it’s possible we’ll eventually see this dynamic theme in the beta, (maybe even the stable version), there’s never any guarantees features like this will ever make it out of testing. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.
[Google+]