Survey shows sponges aren’t the problem; Google branded Pixel themes

A big part of the Pixel UI’s accessibility is its lack of real customization options. It seems counterintuitive, but providing consumers with a largely invariant, common set of icons, fonts, colors, and invariant descriptions creates familiarity for ordinary users. However, for power users, this can be quite disappointing.

Google tried to address this late last year, and believed it would be a welcome splash of magic (and advertising, no doubt) with its limited-time Wicked Theme Pack – this appears to be the first of many. More recently, it also introduced a SpongeBob SquarePants theme-option. Complete with wallpapers, ringtones, alarm tones and GIFs, this pack turns the undersea-supported Pixel into an Android phone. Some of us loved it, and none more so than my colleague Zack Cave-Dennis.

Zack wrote about the theme pack’s demise the following month and also wondered whether readers really felt the same level of excitement and nostalgia. So, as always, we ran a survey.

Despite many comments finding the topic of the article ridiculous, over 4,000 readers felt they needed to share their opinion on Google’s Pixel SpongeBob SquarePants theme pack.

Interestingly, a surprisingly large portion of readers are actually super fans. I’d argue that 39.6% of respondents like the idea of ​​spongifying their Pixel phones, which lends some credibility to Google’s use of popular IPs for theme packs. About 7.3% are versed in SpongeBob lore, while about a third of all respondents are happy with some degree of customization on their devices.

Beyond the semi-serious polling choices, there’s a clear sentiment across the board: Users want Google to give Pixel owners more control over the look and feel of their devices.

Commenter VincentSpear offers a measured opinion for those who don’t necessarily hate SpongeBob, but aren’t convinced by Google’s motives for the theme pack.

Some themes that are more general would be nice. Like forest or water, something like that. I really don’t want my phone to be an advertisement for any IP, which is what all these topics have been so far.

Commenter meetax00 echoed this and believed that Google messed up the execution of its theme pack system.

This new theme feature is the worst implementation of a great idea. Having a custom theme is great but how many people actually want a Wicked or SpongeBob theme? Just let third party themes come to playstore. The new custom icons are just as bad. Limited designs and they are all terrible.

Reader John Dellman has a contrary opinion:

I hate theme packs with every fiber of my body, and every fiber of my soul. They are a waste of bandwidth, storage and processor capacity. You have your own personality: use it!

Ultimately, the reader turns the general sentiment on its head by creating a simile.

I just want to be able to customize my phone as much as Samsung does without third party apps. Pixel and Google have all the power to do this but they still don’t have it.

It seems unlikely that Google will abandon IP-centric theme packs, and given the overwhelmingly positive sentiment from our readers regarding the Sponge pack, I don’t think that should happen. But I am talking about practical things. The Pixel owner in me wishes Google would open up its theme pack system to third-party developers, or at least include support for icon packs.

For now, we’ll have to settle for the next branded theme pack coming to Pixel soon, presumably courtesy of Harry Potter.