Want to 'mod' the look and feel of your Android device without having to root your phone (either to improve the usability or just to show off)?
Many people now root their android devices so they can flash custom ROMs with added functionality, however, if I were to root my phone, it would void my insurance. Therefore, I've put together a few apps that I’ve tried out that can improve your experience and generally spruce up your phone, without the need to root.
Go Launcher EX
Go Launcher Ex is a great replacement launcher. Mainly because there is no paid-for version, so you get full functionality, for free.
It features:
- Hundreds of themes
- Fancy home screen transition
- Smooth scrolling experience
- Icon popup menu
- Folder and task manager in app drawer
- Gesture supported
- Scrollable & resizable widgets supported
Go Launcher Ex runs very well on my Samsung Galaxy S, with all of the transitions working perfectly (the cube-style transition being my favourite!). There are a number of themes that come as standard, and plenty more to download from the market (I recommend the Blux theme , as seen below).
Go SMS Pro
Go SMS Pro is another great app from the Go team. It is designed to replace the standard messaging app (that is pretty slow on my Galaxy S) and add more functionality.
It features:
- Many cool themes; also support DIY theme, and Wallpaper Maker plug-in; Fully customizable look; Supports chat style and list style; Font changeable
- Security lock, support lock by thread; Blacklist
- Send messages at scheduled times
- Individual contact customization for notifications, ringtones, signatures and conversations
- Batch modes (add contacts, delete conversations/messages and backups)
- Supports gestures, you may switch between "Messages" and "Folders" view by swiping left or right
- Many 2D & 3D transition effects
Like Go Launcher EX, Go SMS Pro has no paid-for version, so you get complete functionality with no ads (woohoo!).
It runs much faster on my Galaxy S than the stock messaging app, and is very nice to use. There are so many customizable features (such as setting vibration length) and the transition effects look very impressive.
Launcher 7
Launcher 7 is a Windows 7 style replacement launcher app. There is a free version that contains an advertisement in the application menu or there is a paid-for version for £0.87 (I’d recommend paying the £0.87 as this is a great app!).
Launcher 7 makes a nice change to the standard multiple home screen style of every other Android launcher and I find it much faster to use. It is still in development so you can expect many new features to come in the future, however this is what is currently available:
- Layout animations (the tiles rotate based on the orientation of the phone, very good to show off to your friends!)
- Animated contacts tile! (Still work in progress)
- 2 x 1 tiles
- Original Windows Phone 7 backgrounds
- Display number of unread SMS and Gmail on tiles
- Use Windows 7 style status bar
I use Launcher 7 as my primary launcher app now as I find it runs much faster than the other launchers I’ve tried and the animations are very nice.
Regina 3D Launcher
Regina 3D launcher is a very flash launcher replacement app. It has a very impressive 3D transition effect between home screens and features:
- Separate wallpaper for each workspace
- Secret workspaces where you can hide some of your app shortcuts and widgets for your privacy
- Regina widgets (full 3D widgets)
- All widgets and shortcuts can be positioned freely without much restriction in workspaces
- Uninstall apps from workspace directly
- Various visual effects
I find Regina 3D runs quite well on my Galaxy S, although it does slowdown at times, so I’d recommend turning off some of the graphical effects to speed it up a bit if you have a less powerful Android device. Apart from that, it is a very impressive launcher and very handy for showing off your phone.
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