Shadowing Practice: Best Way to Customize your Google Pixel in Under 10 Minutes! - Learn English Speaking with Video

So you got a Google Pixel, but you don't really know how to make it look cool.

Well don't worry, I've got you covered, because in under 10 minutes, I'll show you how to turn the stock Pixel launcher into this really eye-catching setup, complete with a slide-able folder,

animated icons, and even wallpapers that automatically switch to the dark mode and light theme.

This is definitely not your average Pixel setup.

And by the way, I've done this same customization video for Samsung phones too, so if you want me to keep making these, just leave a comment and a like.

And if we hit 10,000 likes, I'll know to keep making this series.

Alright, let's jump in.

First things first, Google just loves tracking everything we do.

So let's tweak a few settings to give you a little bit more privacy.

So you can just go into the settings, security and privacy, more security and privacy, then go to usage and diagnostics and disable that option.

It's not really necessary to keep enabled.

Then you're going to want to go back to the main screen of the settings.

You're going to tap on your Google account, switch to the all services tab, go into the ads menu, ads privacy, and turn off all those settings

because it just lets Android show you ads that you may be interested in based on the apps you use.

It's not necessary.

And one last thing, let's quickly get rid of all the ads within apps or websites that you visit.

So just go into the settings, network and internet, private DNS,

choose private DNS provider host name, and type in dns.adguard.com.

Once you do that, hit save.

And just like that, most ads across websites and apps that you use are gonna be gone.

Now for the home screen.

You can start by getting rid of everything you've got.

Then you can just long press the home screen and tap home settings.

In there, tap the gear icon next to add a glance

and turn off show on home screen to just make that annoying widget disappear.

Then you can go back to the home screen, long press it again on anywhere and just pick wallpaper and style.

From there you can go into color theme

and you can choose whatever color you want but I went with black and white.

Then for the icons I switched the style over to minimal and hit apply.

Then for the layout I chose small so I could fit more icons on the home screen.

From there, as I told you before, I wanted my wallpaper to automatically switch between light and dark versions, so I downloaded this app called Dual Wallpaper.

You just choose your wallpapers for each theme.

You have a wallpaper for your light theme and a dark wallpaper for your dark theme.

And then whenever your phone switches themes, the wallpaper changes with it.

And for those curious, for my light wallpaper, I actually got it from a wallpaper app called Crimson.

It has a bunch of gorgeous high resolution wallpapers that are all made by the developer himself.

No AI.

My favorite is this one called Sakna.

And with this permission, I even linked it down below so you guys can download it for free.

The full app is actually only three bucks, and he also gave me a hundred promo codes to give away on my Patreon.

So if you want the full version, you can grab it from there as well.

For the Darkmoon wallpaper, I grabbed it from this app called Dusky Walls.

My favorite one is this one with a purple tin up top.

The developer also let me share this one for free too, so you can download it below.

And the full app is only a dollar with tons of other AMOLED wallpapers you can download.

Again, no AI was used to make these

and he also gave me a hundred promo codes to just give away on my Patreon too.

Huge thanks to both developers.

Now before moving on to the widgets, just like how I got great ideas for great home screen setups, I also get random ideas for genuinely useful things to make.

And lately I've been bringing some of those ideas to life with the Makara Z1, the sponsor of this video.

It's a compact, fully enclosed desktop CNC machine that can carve functional objects out of wood, metal, plastic, acrylic, copper, and a lot more,

all within an 8x8 inch work area.

I've actually never used anything like this before, but within a few hours, I was already making some really cool stuff.

I mean, on Makara's website called Makerables, it has a bunch of designs that you can choose from to create.

For example, I found this fancy aluminum bottle opener and I had the Z1 create it, and it came out incredibly well.

It even came out in really precise detail thanks to the Z1's roughly .02 millimeter resolution and .01 millimeter spindle run out.

And from there, I also made this hand soap holder out of clear acrylic too for my bathroom, which looks nice.

And it isn't limited to flat cuts.

It also supports full three-axis machining and can be equipped with an optional fourth-axis module.

With that module, the Z1 can rotate a block of material like wood

or certain metals while carving all the way around it.

I used it to make this mini Android collectible that I actually generated with AI on their website.

And then I also made this World Cup trophy too.

But it doesn't stop there because my favorite feature is this optional 5 watt laser module

that you can attach to it Which lets you engrave custom text, logos, photos, or pretty much any design onto different materials too

And even engrave my HowToMan logo as well in great detail And despite everything it can do, it's still really practical indoors The enclosure helps contain the noise

and debris While Makara's Cyclone Dust Collector on this side catches most of the dust, wood chips, and metal shavings too

and then when I'm done I can just grab the hose attached to it and basically vacuum whatever's left.

So whether you want to make custom desk accessories, signs, PCPs, prototypes, or even real metal parts,

the Makara Z1 just gives you a surprisingly powerful way to turn an idea into a finished object right on your desk.

You can check it out at the top link in the description.

Anyway, back to the Pixel, let's start by creating those widgets.

A lot of these two were actually created completely from scratch by our team, specifically for the setup, so you won't find them anywhere else.

All you need to do is download two apps from the Play Store, KWGT Custom Widget Maker, and the KWGT Pro Key.

And then I also dropped a zip file with all the custom KWGT widgets

that we created for this setup in the description.

You can grab it for free, and once you do, you can just extract it into your downloads folder using any file manager.

So on the main screen, the top widget is this funky clock

that we designed to just match Google's material expressive look with all its different shapes and sizes.

here's how you get it.

First place a 4x1 KWGT widget at the top of your home screen and stretch it all the way to the edges.

Then you can just tap it, hit import, and look for the custom widgets that we made which should be in the folder named HowToManPixelWidgets.

Go ahead and select the funky clock one

and by the way you might as well import the other

three widgets too since we're going to place them on the home screen in a bit.

Then you can tap on the funky clock one.

If you want you can adjust its size under the layers

tab by changing the scale just in case it feels too big or too small.

Then you hit save and head back to the home screen.

Next we'll add this handy widget below the clock for checking the weather and quickly opening Gemini or the assistant.

So place down a 2x4 KWGT widget and stretch it to the left by one notch.

Tap it and select the widget called weather and assistant.

It may also ask you for a permission that you can grant

and you can tweak the size 2 in the layers tab if it looks off and it's too big.

Then you can hit save and go back to the home screen.

Now for the second screen we're going to put down a calendar widget.

So first place down a 4x4 KWGT widget and stretch it all the way to the right.

Tap it, choose the calendar widget that we just imported, give it the permissions it needs, and resize the widget in the layer tab if you need it.

Finally hit save and swipe up to go home.

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It's that easy.

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And if it doesn't show your events right away, just four stop the KWGT app and it'll bring it up.

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Next, we're going to add a health widget.

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So drop another 4x2 KWGT widget right below it, stretch it all the way to the edge, tap it, and then you can select the health widget to import it.

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You might see a pop up that says fixed now, so you can go ahead and tap that and you'll need to grant a few quick permissions.

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And then you can save it and swipe home

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and there you go you should now have all my custom widgets on your home screen

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but we're not done yet the next thing we need to

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do is download this app called no widgets it's a free

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widget app that's packed with a bunch of material expressive widgets

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the one i place on my main screen is their music

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player widgets specifically the music art one once you place it

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down you just make sure to long press it hit settings

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and grant it the permission it needs so and knows what music you're playing in the background.

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I love it because it looks really similar to the YouTube Music widget, but it actually works with any music player app.

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Now let's add those animated icons and that slide up a folder.

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Pixels still don't support large folders like most Android skins do, but I found a pretty cool workaround.

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You can just download Pix Material Expressive icons.

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Now it does cost $2 to download, but the developer also gave me 100 promo codes to give away on my Patreon.

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Huge thanks to him for hooking it up.

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Once you have the app downloaded, you can go into your widgets panel and then you can search for PIX Folder Widget, and then you can place it on your home screen.

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From there you can pick your favorite apps, and it doesn't even matter how many you pick.

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You can even switch to a grid view too to just make selecting them easier.

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And then you can scroll down to the icon style, and you can turn off the app name, and enable this widget animation.

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You can also change the icon shape to whatever you like.

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I went with this diagonal pill shape.

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I also chose a darker icon color theme too.

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Then you're going to want to tap on the tab called

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Folder Appearance you're going to change the grid size to just one

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and you're going to add a folder stroke to it to just give it a nice clean outline hit apply

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and you should now see that nice folder

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but we can take it a step further

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and make it one notch smaller

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and then just stretch it all the way down to the bottom of the screen

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and just like

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that you've got a little slideable bar with all your favorite

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apps that's really easy to use with one hand too okay

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now on the second screen we're going to place down even more animated icons

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and it's done with the same app you just search for icon widget within the widget panel, place it on your home screen, select the app that you want,

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and then go into the tab that says widget design and layout.

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You can give it a random shape, remove the name, and enable widget animation so it moves around on the home screen.

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Hit apply and it'll be added to your home screen looking super clean.

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Now from then on you just repeat that three more times for your other favorite apps.

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And there you have it, my entire pixel setup in under 10 minutes.

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If you ended up liking how your pixel turned out

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and you want me to keep making these same type of customization videos, just show me by getting this video to at least 10,000 likes.

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Thanks for sticking around to the end and I'll catch you guys in the next one.

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Kapow!

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing Practice: Best Way to Customize your Google Pixel in Under 10 Minutes! - Learn English Speaking with Video

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What is the Shadowing Technique?