Ice Cream Sandwich Launcher

Excited about Ice Cream Sandwich but can't wait for launch?  Well try out this.  A bunch of amazing developers over at XDA have ported the Launcher from Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) into an APK file that can be installed on most phones.

Simply download the APK file and install it on your phone.  Once installed click the icon and it will install it as a launcher.  Works fast and looks great, with a ton of new cool features.

Download it right now from XDA by clicking here.

PS: Don't forget to check out (and download) the Old Android App here!

Samsung Epic Gingerbread Update

A tipster sent me a message to let me know that Sprint has rolled out an update for the Samsung Epic that should be rolling out over the air over the next couple of days. If you are an owner and want the update a little quicker it is available for download directly from Google.  This download is the exact same update that would be downloaded to your phone and is safe to install.  (Just don't pull the battery in the middle of the update, and make sure your battery is charged up.)

Here's the directions, (from Android Central):

1. Download the update from Google.
2. Rename the file to update.zip. (Make sure you don’t do update.zip.zip if you’re on Windows.)
3. Move the update.zip file to your SD card.
4. Turn off your phone.
5. Hold the Volume Down and Camera buttons, then press the power button.
6. The update should automatically launch itself. Sit back and relax.
7. Reboot the phone.

PS: Don't forget to check out (and download) the Old Android App here!

Make Your Phone Look Like an iPhone or Windows Phone 7

Love the ability to change up the look of your phone?  Have a friend with an Apple iPhone or Microsoft Windows Phone 7 device that likes to brag about how incredible the interface is?  Well that’s one of the great things about Android.  You have the ability to change up your home menu to make it look like another type of phones.

Today I am going to show you a couple of great home replacement apps that will make your phone look like an iPhone or a Windows Phone 7 phone.  

Starting off with the iPhone we have an app called EspierLauncher.  It provides a nearly identical home screen to the iPhone. If you are familiar with the MUIU custom rom, it gives you the same sort of interface without having to reflash your whole phone. It gives you a bunch of iPhone features:

1. The ability to have the universal search as a screen to the left of the home screen.

2. Pressing and holding an app allows you to either put it into a folder, move them around, or uninstall them.

3. No app tray.

4. It auto loads all of your icons into the home screen pages.

5. Plus a bunch more iPhone looking coolness.

Next up is the Windows Phone 7 interface, which I will affectionately refer to as WP7. For that we will turn our attention over to an app appropriately called Launcher7.  Launcher7 gives you the start screen look of WP7 along with the ability to customize your tiles, and pin an app to the start screen.  it also allows you to swipe to the right screen and get a full list of all your apps. The colors are customizable and you can even create custom tiles using your own images.

So that is a couple of examples of ways you can change up your Android phone to make it look more like and iPhone or a Windows Phone 7 phone.  

PS: Don't forget to check out (and download) the Old Android App here!