How to customise your Android smartphone

Samsung is currently being sued by Apple for copying the 'look and feel' of the iPhone with its Galaxy smartphones. If this is true it's hard to understand why they'd bother, aside from the hope that someone might pick up a Galaxy thinking it was an iPhone. There's a lot of good things about the iThings but the interface, with screens full of pretty rounded icons, isn't exactly ground-breaking.

Android may not be quite as user-friendly but its UI offers a lot more in terms of customisation and flexibility. Almost every aspect can be modified to ensure that no two handsets look alike.

The basics

• Changing wallpaper

To choose a new background image just go to the home screen and press Menu > Wallpaper. An option screen will pop up, select an image browser or a preset wallpaper gallery to choose your background.

If you've used a wallpaper gallery (availability will vary depending on your version of Android and whether the network or manufacturer has installed extra backgrounds) then just pressing 'Set Wallpaper' will instantly change the background. But if you go through an image browser a different screen will appear before the background is set.

Moving and expanding or shrinking this selection box sets the visible background so you can zoom in on an image or set a particular section of a picture, rather than displaying the entire thing. If your images are coming out blurry or with a strange shape, see below to find out how to create a custom wallpaper for Android phones.

• Ringtones

Messaging and call tones can be changed by going to Settings > Sounds. By default some phones will restrict the tones you can select to a limited choice of presets. Once again the Android Market comes to the rescue.

Rings Extended is a more powerful ringtone tool which allows any music file stored on the phone to be selected (there's also plenty of others available on the Market). And if you have an alternative messaging app like Handcent, tones can also be configured through the app's settings menu.

To prevent ringtones showing in the music player, create a folder named 'Media' with a sub-folder called 'Audio' containing 'Notifications', 'Ringtones' and 'Alarms' folders. Place your audio files in the relevant location. If they still show up in the music player create an empty text file and rename it ".nomedia" then place a copy in each folder, the files should then be ignored.

• Icons and widgets 

The shortcut icons on the phone's homescreen can be moved or deleted by long-pressing and holding, drag to the trash can icon at the bottom of the screen to remove or slide them around the screen (to move to another home screen just slide to the edge and wait until it switches).

Widgets are one of the best things about Android. They're more than just shortcuts, widgets display live content be it news and weather, system status, Facebook updates or anything else of which you may want to be constantly aware.

Typically, an Android phone will come configured by default with some widgets such as clock, weather, social networking and news. However, many apps installed from the Market include widgets and these can be added simply by long-pressing on an empty area of the home screen to bring up the shortcuts menu.

How to create your own wallpaper

Android handles wallpapers slightly differently to other phones; it doesn't just display the same static background image on each screen, instead it pans the picture each time you flick to another screen.

This means that for the best results a background image shouldn't be the same size as the resolution of the phone, to get the perfect picture you need to double the width of the image while maintaining the same height. So a HTC Desire with a screen resolution of 480x800 needs an image size of 960 x 800.

(Also worth noting that because of the panning images with faces aren't always ideal as backgrounds because people can end being cut in half by the screen transitions).

Use an image editing tool to crop or create the exact size required - doesn't need Photoshop, a couple of decent free alternatives are GIMP and Paint.net - and then copy the file to your phone, either by hooking it up with a USB cable or via an app like Dropbox or Awesome Drop.

As mentioned above, when changing a background image there is the option to select a visible area - to show the whole picture simply drag the selection box right out to the edges of the picture.

How to change the Android system font 

Changing fonts is not officially supported so in order to do it a rooted handset is required. We've got a guide to rooting the HTC Desire but if you've got a different model a Google search is in order to find out how.

Assuming the phone is rooted, the only other thing required is the Font Changer app and some fonts. Fonts need to be TrueType (.TTF) with regular and bold styles, and be placed in the .fontchanger folder created when the app is installed.

Once installed run Font Changer and choose the font from the list displayed. Restart the phone after selecting and the entire handset should now display your choice. A nice font has a huge effect on the look, particularly when it's part of an overall theme with background and icons to match.

Note that the latest version of Font Changer requires the phone to be NAND unlocked (or 'S-OFF') in order to operate. If yours isn't then download an older (unsupported!) version of Font Changer here which can work with any compatible rooted handset, S-OFF or not.

As with anything like this you must make a backup of the phone before changing fonts, because if anything goes wrong it's quite likely the handset will boot up but be rendered unusable with a screwed up display.

 Swap out the Android interface 

Unlike the iPhone it's possible to replace the entire interface of an Android phone. This is easy, doesn't require any rooting or technical knowledge and can dramatically alter the way a phone looks and functions.

It's achieved by installing a home replacement such as LauncherPro, Open Home or ADWLauncher, all available on the Android Market. These apps replace the Android desktop and provide more flexibility and control, allowing for a radically new design and layout.

Of the the three, LauncherPro offers the best mix of features, support, power and reliability. It's noticeably quicker than the default Android desktops, particularly if the phone currently has a custom interface like HTC Sense or Samsung TouchWiz which can be bloated and sluggish. And as it's so popular there's a wide choice of new icons and toolbars to customise your handset further, with apps like LauncherPro Icons to simplify the process of finding and installing new styles.

After installing a launcher pressing the Home key will pop up a menu which asks the user what action they want launched, check the 'always' box and then select the launcher you've installed to set it as default. It's also a good idea to download Home Switcher, an app which makes it very simple to set and swap launchers.

The nice thing about these launchers is that any time you get bored of the look it's really simple to change it up by changing the toolbars, choosing new icons or just uninstalling the app to get back to your original home screen. There's no risk of bricking the handset and nothing that requires voiding a warranty.