Today, we’ll be covering a very nice theme that should easily find a special place in the heart of Androidlovers. Yes, you guessed it, there’s a well-done theme of Android’s new 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” release for Gnome Shell.

Installation

In order to install it, you’ll need to have the usual tools when it comes to installing Gnome Shell themes, including the Gnome Shell environment itself, the theme package, Gnome Tweak Tool, and the necessary Gnome Shell extensions for changing themes. If you’ve changed your Gnome Shell theme before, you should be fine. If not, you’ll need to install Gnome Shell and Gnome Tweak Tool, then run this (if you’re using Ubuntu) to get the necessary extension for changing themes:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/gnome3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-user-theme

Fedorausers will simply have to run:

sudo yum install gnome-shell-extension-user-theme

You should now be ready to go! Go ahead and download the theme from here, and for the best experience you can also download the corresponding desktop wallpaper and “Roboto” fontsas well. Once all of those are downloaded, you can begin by installing the theme via the Gnome Tweak Tool.

The Theme

As soon as you apply the new theme, you should start seeing a few things change. All items along the top of your shell will turn blue, and “Activities” will change into an icon. The font should also change as soon as you begin installing the four Roboto font files.

Activities

Going into the Activities window, you’ll see quite a few other things change. The favorite icons on the left are now only separated from the rest of the screen by a single, smooth blue line instead of an entire box, creating a very minimal appearance. The Windows and Applications buttons are also styled differently, where both have a blue line beneath them but the selected screen is presented in blue lettering as well as a thicker line. The search box located towards the top right is less transparent than the default theme, but uses a smooth gradient with nice corners. The dock on the very right holding the different workspaces outlines each workspace in blue while the free space is a dark gray. The Applications screen follows the color scheme as well. The icons of each application is a little smaller so that more applications fit on the screen at the same time, and all applications where the mouse hovers of them attain a blue background. The list of applications and the list of categories is only separated by the scrollbar. This helps maintain the minimal look that is present throughout the shell theme.

Conclusion

This new theme contains some great eye candy for all to enjoy. Even if you’re not an Android fan, you can still appreciate the beauty of this theme. Whether this is one of the best themes is debatable, but it certainly ranks among the better ones out there. What’s your favorite Gnome Shell theme? What are your thoughts about this theme? Let us know in the comments!

One of the things I like best about Android is how customizable it is. The Market is full of themes you can apply to different launchers, and if your Android device is rooted, you can even apply themes to the system as a whole, changing the appearance of the notification bar, buttons, and more. But it can often be annoying to sift through the myriad themes just to find the few good ones. That’s where this post, and N3xGen Theme Manager, comes in.

N3xGen Theme Manager is a free app that provides an easy, comfortable way to browse and filter lots of themes. Let’s look at how it works, and also at a few of the better free Android themes out there.

The App

The app bills itself as a “theme market’, and accordingly, it’s styled to look very similar to the new Market app. At the main screen, you can see the most recent themes, each with its price clearly marked (so you don’t have to waste time on paid themes if you just want the free ones). Along the bottom is a toolbar that lets you filter the view to see only ADW themes, themes for LauncherPro, Android system themes, and Go! Launcher themes.

System Themes

Let’s focus on the System Themes category, which contains themes for the T-Mobile Theme Chooser. While you won’t find Theme Chooser on the Market, it is a part of CyanogenMod, a popular alternative ROM supporting many devices. While filtering by system themes, you can swipe left to reveal other useful filters and zoom in on just the themes you want to see:

Above you can see what the screen looks like mid-swipe, when switching between “All Themes” to Categories. You can also filter by developer, and by free or paid themes.

Some Awesome Themes

Now that we’ve seen how the app works, let’s look at some of the beautiful themes you can discover with it. Here’s what a single-theme view looks like:

This is for LunarUI Black. Here’s what the theme itself looks like:

I really like the thin fonts, as well as the shape of the sliders. The whole theme feels a bit “angular” and sharp.

Let’s look at another theme:

This one is called Naked Simplicity. Not everything you see above is a part of the theme – it mainly changes the notification bar, which ends up looking something like this:

Finally, let’s look at one of the paid themes, just to see what they’re like. This one’s called Chroma 2.0 and it costs $1.29. There is also Chroma (basic), which is free. The paid version looks like this:

Installing a Theme

Now let’s buy that last theme and look at the installation process. First, tap the Download button:

This will take you to the Market, where you can buy or install the theme just like you would any other app.

Once the theme installs, run Theme Chooser. Again, this application is not available on the Market, but it is available with CyanogenMod and other custom ROMs. Theme Chooser looks like this:

You can swipe left and right to scroll between your existing themes. Once you found the one you wish to use, simply hit Apply. And… that’s it. There is no step 2. The end result looks like this:

I’m not sure yet if Chroma 2.0 is the theme for me (it looked better in the screenshots, to be honest). Do you have a suggestion for a better free Android theme? Let me know in the comments!

Well, today we’ll be taking a look at 6 of these meticulously crafted launcher iPhone themes for Android that can give your phone a refreshing dose of iOS rounded icons, docks and wallpapers.

While you can find a number of paid themes that can bring you even more customization options, the ones on this list are free and will get you started in making your phone look like a close brother of the iPhone. They all require you to have at least one third-party launcher/homescreen replacement app though, but most of them are free and very well-rated. One such launcher is ADW Launcher, for which we’ve already shown you where to get an iPhone theme for. For additional themes that you can use with other popular launchers such as Go Launcher Ex and even LauncherPro, read on!

Classic iPhone Themes

iPhone Go Launcher EX Theme [Android 2.0+]

For those of you who use and love Go Launcher EX, this theme brings you the default look from iOS, including classic rounded icons, dock and 3 wallpapers, but I couldn’t find the two other wallpapers that were presented on the Market product page (if you know, let me know in the comments!)

You can also choose a different app drawer background though the default one looks pretty slick.

QR Code:

If you’re using a different launcher, such as ADW or LauncherPro, worry not. There’s a similar theme for all three launchers that contains the classic icons, and a few more dock and wallpaper options.

iPhone VO Theme Lite [Android 2.1+]

For users with ADW Launcher 1.3.0+, Launcher Pro 0.86 or even Go Launcher 2.35+, this theme will provide a nice-looking launcher with classic icons, backgrounds and sounds as well.

If you like the icons from iOS, but don’t mind a few changes, this theme should be for you. You’ll see that the icons’ backgrounds are more colorful than on the original platform, and even the wallpaper is different.

What’s cool about this theme is that it comes with an actual drawer app shortcut, so you can browse through the theme’s backgrounds, sounds, etc, in contrast to other themes where you have to browse through the launcher’s preferences.

QR Code:

For more backgrounds, icon sets, and sounds, check out the full version.

iPhone-Inspired Themes

iPhone VD Theme Lite [Android 2.1+]

For the iPhone-inspired themes, we’ll be taking a look at this theme that wraps all icons in black, rounded containers.

This theme is available for LauncherPro, ADW Launcher and Go Launcher EX users, and as a drawer app, so you can browse through the theme’s offerings natively, without going through the launcher’s preferences.

As you can see, the ad only shows up when you open the app drawer. If you want more backgrounds, icon sets, and no ads, check out the full version here.

QR Code:

iPhone Black Go Launcher Theme [Android 2.0+]

I used to consider black a bit boring, but the previous and the current black themes have certainly proved me wrong. Like the previous theme, this one offers a set of cool and elegant icons, backgrounds, and more.

I know, the multi-color Apple logo on the wallpaper might be a little too much for Android purists, but I can’t help but think it’s absolutely gorgeous. Here’s a glimpse of the logo-free app drawer.

QR Code:

iPhone 3.0 Go Launcher Theme [Android 2.0+]

This theme brings forth slightly more vector-ish icons and cleaner but familiar overall looks. What’s neat is that the Market product page even has app and widget recommendations for the ultimate iPhone-ish look.

As you’ll see, this theme is iPhone-inspired, with even the wallpaper closely resembling the default raindrop background.

QR Code:

iPhone Epic Go Launcher Theme [Android 2.0+]

I’ve saved my favorite one for last, the iPhone Epic theme. It’s extremely colorful and has way-rounder icons (reminds me a bit of Puppy Linux’s original icon set).

If you need a refreshing splash of color, I’d definitely recommend this theme.

QR Code:

That rounds off our list of iPhone-inspired themes for Android. Care to share additional themes to this collection? Let us know about your favorite themes in the comments below!

Bisigi is a project “born from the desire to improve the visual appearance of Ubuntu” but their themes work in most Linux distros. Featuring themes from a variety of artists, Bisigi is a collection of only good-looking themes that work for older versions of Gnome, as well as Ubuntu’s Unity. Users of Gnome Shell should check out these Gnome Shell themes instead.

Whatever your Gnome-based distro of choice is, you’ll probably find a theme you like from Bisigi. I tried all of these themes out on my Ubuntu system, and in my opinion they all work really well.

Check Out These Awesome Themes

With a look inspired by retro airlines, the Airline theme gives your computer an adventurous feel.

See the cool wallpaper that comes with this theme? It changes based on the time of day. Most of the themes come with a wallpaper. If one you install does, you should see a notice like this when you enable the theme:

Click it and you’ll have your matching wallpaper.

Looking for something a bit more colorful? Aquadreams offers a lime feel for your desktop:

Some may find this cartoony, but others will love the fun feeling this brings to the desktop.

Looking for something soft? Ellena is a great way to go. This theme is quite unique in the Linux world:

Desktop interfaces tend to be hard, so it’s nice to have a softer option.

Orange is a very cool theme. With its neon wallpaper and its understated window widgets, Orange is sure to be the favorite of many:

Wish Ubuntu felt like Ubuntu did five years ago, with it’s orange colour scheme and African-influenced artwork? I highly recommend you check out Ubuntu Sunrise. This theme captures a lot of what used to be great about Ubuntu’s look:

These are the highlight themes in my mind, but feel free to check out the rest of the Bisigi themes. You might find something even better!

Installing The Themes

Ready to install these themes on your system and try them out? Awesome! There are great instructions for installing these themes on a number of different Linux systems. Find those installation instructions here. The instructions go through getting these themes installed on Ubuntu, Arch, Frugalware and Madriva. Users of other distros can find the source files, if they are adventurous.

Installed themes can be enabled in the “Appearance” menu in Gnome.

Conclusion

Tweaking the look of your operating system is part of what makes Linux fun, and Bisigi is a pretty impressive collection of looks. Do you have any favourites in this collection? Let us know in the comments below. Also feel free to point out any superior themes, because we always love hearing your opinion.

As the developers are still sane enough to include the capability to theme Gnome Shell, people have been hard at work to create some stunning themes, some of which I’ve covered in this previous article. However, only a few days ago a new theme has debuted, and honestly it has already won me over. The default theme that comes with Gnome Shell is pretty and elegant, but no matter how good it looks, it’ll always still be the default, which deters some people away automatically.

About Faience

Faience is a Gnome Shell theme created by tiheum, the same guy that brought you the very popular Faenza icon set. Based on his own description the theme (and supporting icon set) are currently “works in progress”, so it appears that this isn’t a final product at all and that we can expect to see updates in the future.

Currently there is no GTK3/2 theme that is made specifically for the Faience Shell theme, but that is also currently in the works. In the meantime, tiheum recommends a different GTK3/2 theme that you can install, which in my opinion fits perfectly fine.

Installation

In order to install the recommended set of themes, fonts, and wallpaper, there will be a couple of steps you need to take for a successful install. The instructions I give you should work for any distribution that is currently running/supporting Gnome Shell, though for those who like to know, I will be using Fedora. In order to make the final steps of installation as easy as possible, we will be using the Gnome Tweak Tool.

Gnome Shell Theme

The first step would be to place the Gnome Shell theme itself into the right location. First, visit this page and download the ZIP file, then extract all of its contents and place them in your ~/.themes folder. So an example folder path would be /home/makeuseof/.themes and therefore you need to enter the path manually or enable hidden folder view.

Icon Set

Faience works best with its own icon set, which holds the same name. For those familiar with the Faenza icon set, this new Faience icon set will look very similar. You can use the Faenza icon set in place of Faience without any issues if you would like, or install the Faience icons. To do that, visit this page, download the ZIP file, and extract all of its contents to ~/.icons.

Additional Font

Next you can download a font to aid with the visual appearance of the theme. Go to this page, download the ZIP file, and extract all font files into your ~/.fonts folder. That’s all you have to do for the font.

GTK3/2 Theme

Second to last is the GTK3/2 theme that will be used by all the windows themselves. You will need to install the Unico, Murrine, and pixbuf engines for the GTK3/2 themes to work correctly. Ubuntu users will need to get Unico from here (or just google “unico ubuntu“), and install the other engines using sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-murrine gtk2-engines-pixbuf. Fedora users will need to add this repository here by copying the contents of the page and placing them into a new file under /etc/yum.repos.d/, and then install all engines using yum install gtk3-unico-engine gtk-murrine-engine gtk2-engines. Finally, download the ZIP file, and extract all of its contents into ~/.themes.

Wallpaper

Finally, you’ll want to finish off the look with a nice wallpaper. A recommended wallpaper can be found here, or you can use whichever wallpaper you would like. If you would like to use the wallpaper that I used in my screenshots, then visit this page.

Selecting Them In Gnome Tweak Tool

Everything’s in place, but nothing is selected yet! Go ahead and launch your Gnome Tweak Tool, and then change the following settings:

• Under Interface Tab, change GTK+ theme to Zukitwo
• Under Interface Tab, change Icon Theme to Faience-Azur
• Under Shell Tab, change Shell Theme to Faience
• Under Windows Tab, change Current Theme to Zukitwo

In case Gnome Shell decides to take a break and crash for a moment, simply go along with its whims. In case that happens, you’ll get logged out but you can log right back in and continue changing the settings.

Conclusion

You’re now using the Faience theme for Gnome Shell along with the recommended GTK3/2 theme, font, and wallpaper. Use your computer to the fullest so that you can find all the changes that the new theme brings over your last used theme. Remember that as this Gnome theme is a work in progress, you should check the download page regularly for updates.

Do you use Gnome Shell? If so, what theme is your favorite, and why? Let us know in the comments!

There are plenty of iPhone themes out there for Android, but not all of them are very good. Some of them rely on you buying a home launcher application as well, which leaves you out in the cold if you find you don’t like the theme after all. So we’ve put together a solution involving an excellent free home launcher and the best of the many iPhone themes available for this launcher.

Get The ADW Home App Launcher

Most of the good iPhone themes for Android rely on the user having a home launcher application installed first. This is similar to having the home button open your favourite application. There’s a lot of home launchers to choose from: some good, some bad, some average. Previously, we’ve recommended HelixLauncher, Launcher 7, Regina 3D, MX Home and SPB Shell 3D.

Mostly, these home launchers cost a few dollars as well, so you’re out of pocket even before you decide if you like the theme or not. We’re going to spare you this pain by suggesting you use an awesome free home launcher application called ADW. Not only is ADW free, but it’s one of the best home launchers available. It’s also open source and only takes up about 1MB space.

ADW can support various application drawers, such as the iPhone style or Galaxy style as well as the regular Android style. It lets you set up up to 7 desktop screens and to set the icons small enough that you can fit 8 columns of icons on each screen.

Grab it and install it before moving on to themes. Once it’s on your phone, press your home button and your phone should ask you which application to use to run the command. Choose ADW and take a look. When you’re happy with the theme later, do this again and set ADW as the default application to use.

Get The ADWTheme iPhone 4

The best, and cheapest, iPhone theme for ADW is a high definition theme made by HydTech called ADWTheme iPhone 4. They’ve also just released the iPhone 4.2 iOS 4.2 for ADW theme if you’re keen to see iPhone 4.2 features in the theme as well. Either iPhone theme will set you back less than 1€, so it’s not a huge outlay. Both themes are about 1.5MB in size.

To use the new theme, head to your home screen using ADW. Then, press Menu > More > ADWSettings > Themes Preferences > Select Your Theme. You should see the iPhone theme you downloaded and installed listed in the available options. When you click on the iPhone theme you’ll get a preview of the theme. Scroll down until you see the “Apply Theme!” button and press that to apply the theme.

And you’re done. This iPhone theme uses iPhone icons and does a pretty good job of imitating an iPhone.

Have you tried other iPhone themes for Android with different home launchers? How did they work out for you? Which home launcher do you like the best?

But each person has different tastes. Users love to add their personal touch to everything they own. While iOS can be customized, some elements of the UI come with minimal customization options, one example being the iOS lockscreen. The only official personalization you can do to it is change the background image. Fortunately, there’s a solution. If you have a jailbroken iOS device and you want to customize your lockscreen, there are countless ways to do it. This is one of them.

Let’s Go Shopping

There are many reasons why people jailbreak their iOS device, but I guess the most popular one is to be able to change the look and feel. You can do this by activating Winterboard and applying a theme or two. There are lots of themes that you can find on Cydia, and choosing one among many is not an easy task. So I started my quest with the good old search engine.

I found that one of the good looking popular themes is LockMS. You can get the theme via Cydia. Just tap the search tab and type in the name. Tap LockMS from the result and tap the “Install” button on the top right corner of the screen.

I took the screenshot after I installed LockMS, so the install button is replaced by “Modify“.

As mentioned above, you’ll need Winterboard to be able to run themes. You can download and install it independently, but the app should be installed automatically along with the first theme that you download. But the theme alone is not enough. To further customize your lockscreen, you need other applications from Cydia. The first one is “CleanStatus“. This app will let you customize which screen information you want to display or hide.

The next one on our shopping list is “Lockscreen Clock Hide“. As the name suggests, this app will hide the big clock on the lockscreen so that it won’t overlap with the clock from LockMS.

And the last one of the pack is MiniSlider. This app will reduce the size of the lock slider so that the slider will not block LockMS.

If you want to completely hide the lock slider, you can use one of these themes along LockMS: “Hide Slide to Unlock” or “No Slider“. I don’t use them because I feel more comfortable having the unlock slide on the lockscreen.

Let The Game Begin

With all the ingredients ready, we can start the customization process. Go to “Settings” and scroll down to the Winterboard.

Then tap “Select Themes” to view the theme list.

You can find all the installed themes here. Tap on the ones you want from the list. LockMS comes in several flavors. They are the basic version, the 24-hour version, the version with the “Tap To Unlock (TTU)” feature, and the one with invisible TTU. To enable our customization, choose one of the LockMS themes and MiniSlider.

After choosing the theme, go back to the WinterBoard main screen and tap “Respring” to activate the theme.

After that go to the CleanStatus screen from Settings and disable the icons you don’t want by sliding their status to “On“.

Don’t forget to enable Clock Hide to complete the process.

And here’s the result of our customization. You can further customize the theme (such as adding a background image) by going to the “Root – Library – Themes” of your iOS device with the help of an application like iPhoneExplorer. But a complete explanation on how to do this would take another article, and it would bring our discussion out from the “easy” realm.

Even though the process we’ve discussed here is simple, I hope it’s enough to introduce you to the world of iOS customization. Don’t forget to check out some of our other articles about jailbreaking and iOS devices such as Jailbreaking & iOS: The Pros And Cons Of Voiding Your Warranty, JailbreakMe 2.0: Easiest Way to Jailbreak Your iPhone, and How To Get Your Own iPhone Wallpapers and Themes.

Do you jailbreak your iOS device? Do you use themes? What’s your favorite theme? Please share your thoughts using the comments below.

Image credit: toastr blog