"tech"

How to make your HTC look more like stock Android 4.0 without Rooting

I use an HTC Sensation XE, which is a great phone. Recently HTC updated it to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), but in typical HTC style; it looks nothing like what Google released on the Nexus. There's nothing wrong with HTC sense, but it's not quite as modern looking as Ice Cream Sandwich is, and I'm the sort of nerd who gets bothered by stuff like that.

So, I was messing around on the Play Store and came across some ways you can make your HTC phone look that little bit more like beautiful clean stock 4.0, mostly for free.

If you haven't already, get the Go Launcher EX home application, and set it to the default home app instead of HTC sense. It's a great home app with an impressive amount of customisation. Once you have that, you can apply the ICS Theme for Go Launcher EX. Already it looks like stock ICS and has cost you nothing.

The Go Keyboard is a much better keyboard than the HTC one. In my opinion the Sense keyboard on the older HTC devices looks awful and dated. This keyboard has many pre-installed themes but you can download an ICS theme here. It's 65 pence but worth it for such a clean looking keyboard.

Lastly there's the ICS Messaging app (free) which gives you a whole new messaging interface, which is much  improved upon the HTC one, and has a similar feel to the Gmail app.

So you now have a few more tweaks which make your phone look more like tasty Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich without Rooting your device.
One more thing; there is a Go Launcher Lock screen app and a corresponding ICS theme for it. The reason I didn't recommend it is because it has been buggy on my device, but you're welcome to try it out. Let me know if it works for you.

My Top 5 Iphone Apps

EDIT 2017: this is a post from my old blog, kept it for the nostalgia. 

These are the ones I can't live without. Obviously I wont include the Facebook app because everyone knows about that, these are just the ones that I personally use every day and think are worth a download.

1. TwitterFon-

Brilliant Twitter application, handles all your 'tweets' and is very fast. My favorite part is the search, where you can set the application to find people around your location; a little bit stalker-ish but fun.

2. FC Tasks-

A mobile app by Franklin Covey, maker of stylish day-planners, which sorts all your tasks by date. I have used a lot of task manager apps and this is certainly the best one purely because of the amount of features it has. You can organise your tasks by date, and category, and then by order of importance. It is clear a lot of work has been put into this app and it looks brilliant, but there is a price to pay for such a great application, and that is £3.49.

3.Last FM-

Sign up for a Last FM account online and you can use this brilliant app. You basically search for an artist and it generates a 'radio station' for that artist, streaming songs which are a similar style to that artist (requires wifi). And it works really well. Great for when you are uncertain of what to listen to, and most of the time the app will introduce you to new artists. It's also free, which is hard to believe considering how well it works and the features available. Highly recommended.

4. National Rail-

A boring one I know, but the National Rail app is brilliant for when you are travelling by train. It allows you to add stations of your choice and create a route planner with live updates. It also has a location feature in the search, and home stations. It may seem steep at £4.99, but if you use rail travel a lot in Britain (and know how terrible it can be) live feeds are very useful.

5.The Telegraph-

Many apps offer news, but I like the way The Telegraph app offers many categories and is quite fast. I used Wall street journal, ITN, BBC reader and a couple of others but I found this to be the best.

Google Chrome


You're using it right?! Oh you're not? Well go ahead it's awesome. There's still a few tweaks here and there which need sorting (it's still a beta) but otherwise it is a perfect browser. Clean looks, nice tabbing, favorites bar and a spellchecker won me over.