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Customise & Personalise Your Phone

Chris_K
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Hey guys,

As some of you know I'm a big Android fan, and one of the reasons is because of the customisation and personlisation options it gives me. Just because your phone comes with pre-set icons, widgets and layouts doesn't mean it needs to stay that way. Time to break the chains and make your device your own!

Note: Although I'll focus primarily on Android, I'm sure there will be similar ways to bling your iOS / Blackberry / Windows Phone device - i'll leave that to you guys, feel free to use this same thread.

Launchers
A launcher for Android is basically the front of a shop display. Your Android device probably came with a built-in one in the form of TouchWiz (Samsung), Sense (HTC), Xperia Home (Sony) etc. While some of these do the job, 3rd party ones can offer a tonne more options to get your home screen looking just how you want it!

Some 3rd party launchers: Nova, Apex, Go Launcher, Buzz

Icons
Bored of your icon designs? It's so easy to change them on Android and you'll find literally thousands of icon packs on the Google Play store. Many are free, and most paid ones (generally a bit more work goes into them and usually from an experienced designer) are under £1. If you've downloaded a pack of icons on your computer, copy them to your phone and you can usually change the icons manually with most 3rd party launchers.

Widgets
Widgets can really bring your homescreen alive - not only visually, but functionally too. There's widgets to display weather, times & dates, calendar entries, new emails. And if you're the creative type, start making your own widgets with the likes of Zooper, UCCW, Minimalistic Text etc.

To give you some idea and perhaps maybe even some inspiration, here's my home screen right now:
screen199

- I like a minimal style, for most of my wallpaper to be unobstructed, and yet still offer some functionality. The 'replacement status bar' is actually a widget I built from scratch in Zooper... It's very easy to use, no coding knowledge is needed, and there's tonnes of tutorials out there to help you get started.

So, lets see your homescreens... Let's share tips/tricks on getting the most and how to personalise and customise your phone to its fullest! slight_smile


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version7point0
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Nothing fancy with mine, I prefer a minimal look.

 

  • Nova launcher pro
  • MiUI icons
  • Hidden status bar
  • Sony clock widget
  • Own wallpaper
  • Swipe up gesture for app drawer
  • Double tap screen for app search
  • Swipe down for notification access

 

Screenshot_2015-11-14-11-11-17.png

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Cleoriff
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Hi @version7point0 I also prefer a minimal look. I hope you don't mind me saying that your wallpaper, though glorious. is very very 'busy'. I think it's very much down to personal choice (and eyesight) wink

This is my homescreen...clear as day. if I swipe across I get the same picture with the date, time and location...

Veritas Numquam Perit

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Anonymous
Not applicable

My iphone is on the charger at the moment, but the images it uses are from the Addams Family movies. And I have the sent and received text message tone set to that from the PC game "Life is Strange"

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jonsie
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Chris_K
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Some good stuff here guys 🙂

 

A great resource for wallpapers is InterfaceLift - it has all sorts... Space, nature, cars, people, objects, minimal, colourful, black & white.

 

Also if you use UCCW or Zooper for widgets, there's tonnes of free widgets on the Play Store... You don't need to make your own.


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Cleoriff
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@jonsie wrote:

Want to rename or change the icon....? A great tool here...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sika524.android.quickshortcut&hl=en&referrer=utm_s...

My current home screen, very basic.

2015-11-14 22.21.55.png

 


Blimey @jonsie I see you have 4G there?......who knew?...Jaw-dropping

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jonsie
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Very good 4G almost everywhere I go, Bkk, Rayong, Bang Saen, Pattaya Hua Hin....a 200km circle.

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Toby
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It's an iPhone, so I can offer my wallapaper (I've had it for ages!). Unless you guys have some great iOS ideas for me wink

 

IMG_2924.jpg

 

Let's see some more customized phones from you guys!

Fancy writing a great device review or O2 forum guide? Send me a message!

Get involved:
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• Want to have a chat? Drop me a direct message.

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Cleoriff
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@Toby wrote:

It's an iPhone, so I can offer my wallapaper (I've had it for ages!). Unless you guys have some great iOS ideas for me wink

 

IMG_2924.jpg

 

Let's see some more customized phones from you guys!


Well that looks like the night of the living dead @Toby  Fear

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