A new fan-made user interface for Android turns your phone into a Shinra Personal Handheld System based on Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Players have been inspired by the game in a myriad of ways, creating things like custom FF7 Remake outfits for Animal Crossing: New Horizons and much, much more.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake thoroughly modernizes the seminal 1997 JRPG, and not just in its revamped mechanics and gorgeous visuals. There's a clear contemporary influence on the technology used by people in the game itself. Among other things, many Shinra employees are seen with personal handheld systems that are strongly reminiscent of smartphones. Now a dedicated designer has replicated the look and feel of those devices for real-world smartphones as well.
A user called Starcrossed Skye recently posted a video to YouTube that shows off the features of their "Shinra PHS v2.1" for Android phones. The custom user interface is strikingly detailed and accurate to the menu design of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, complete with the status screen and an EXP bar that represents charge level. There's also a "materia" screen that replaces the ordinary home screen app icons with materia slots, and related apps can be "linked" together. Even the GPS map now looks like the map screen from FF7R. The UI is available in two motifs, one for Shinra's Advanced Weaponry division and the other for the Space & Aeronautics division.
The files for the custom UI are freely downloadable from Skye's Google Drive and should work on most Android phones, but there are a few steps to get it up and running. Those who want to apply this to their phone will need to have Kustom Live Wallpaper Pro from the Google Play Store, and Skye recommends that it be used with Nova Launcher. A number of particular system tweaks also need to be made, but they're all fairly simple and more specific instructions are posted in the description of the video.
Aside from the fact that Shinra PHS is only available on Android for obvious reasons, this is a very cool addition to any FF7R fan's phone. Not only is it free, but it's impressive how incredibly smooth and well-integrated the UI is. The only downside may be that it reps a fictional monolithic megacorporation - maybe a stylistically "jailbroken" Avalanche version will be next?
Source: Starcrossed Skye