Hello Android fans across Australia and the world! Following on from last weeks article that looked at different launchers available for Android we are announcing a new ongoing feature article: Show Us Your Homescreen. One of the best things about Android is the ability to theme your phone to your personality, much more so than you can with iOS or Windows Phones. This feature article is all about celebrating that.

The idea is simple, you send us screenshots of your phone’s home screen setup, and then every fortnight (to begin with) the Android Australia team will choose one to be featured on our site. Be creative and show us what you can do.

THE RULES

To be considered, you must give us all the information required to reproduce your homescreen, not including personal data. This includes.

• Screenshots of all your homescreens. The app drawer or lockscreen are not necessary, but if you think they add to the feel then fine, feel free. Keep in mind you might want to blur out any personal information, your mum might not appreciate it if you post her phone number online.

• What launcher you are using
• A link to the wallpaper, or what app it comes with (many launchers have a selection of wallpapers, for instance).
• A list of all the widgets used.
• Links to where the icons can be found, if you use a custom icon set.
• Any other tidbits that are required, this could include the custom ROM if that’s necessary to get the look you have.

• You may enter as many times as you like, but please keep it reasonable.
• Every fortnight, I will select 5 different setups that I think are the best. The entire Android Australia team will then vote on those 5 to select the winner. The 4 that don’t win will return back to the pile that I can select from next week.
• There’s no guarantee that just because a setup was chosen one time it will get chosen the other time, I might be in the mood for sparkles one week and rainbows the next.
• Entries never expire, so just because your entry didn’t make it one time, doesn’t mean it won’t win in a fortnight, or a month, or later.
• Obviously, the vote of the team is final. Don’t come to us if you think your entry is better than the one we thought was the best.

Goodness knows what the other people in the team are going to vote on, ask them. Me personally, I like something with nice continuity and feel, I’ll give extra points for unusual or original, but for me it has to look usable as well.

HOW TO ENTER

Ok, now that you know what to who thinks they’ve got a sweet setup? If you do, you can enter by emailing me at homescreens@askmeandroid.com with the subject “Show Us Your Homescreen.” Make sure you include screenshots as well as all the info I need in that email. Feel free to tell me a little about your setup and explain it, I’ll include it if you win. I will let each entry know if their entry is valid, and I will be emailing the winner shortly before their homescreen goes up.

MY SETUP (EXAMPLE)

So to get us off and to show you the kind of information you need to include, here is my current setup!

If you want to see it a bit bigger, click here. As you can see I’ve gone for a fairly monochrome look, but I like the little dash of blue for the background tying in with the default blue of Android. I have the dark grey One X, and for me the expanse of black and grey across both phone and screen, with a little dash of blue looks great. I work on the idea of most used screens being closer to the middle, with screens to the right of center being more used than screens to the left. I don’t like going into the app drawer too much, so the apps I use 95% of the time are available just to the right of center, though I needed to use some folders to get them all there.

Launcher: Apex Launcher
Wallpaper: Included with Apex Launcher
Widgets: Screens ordered 1-5 from left to right

1 (Evernote Widget, Google Play Music),  2 (Android Pro Widget), 3 (One More Clock Widget Free, Google Search Widget (with Apex Launcher)), 4 (Default Power Widget (with Apex Launcher)), 5 (Android Pro Widgets)

Icons: Glasklart GO Apex Theme

GO AND ENTER!

That’s it. Not the most out there theme I agree, but I like it and it serves to demonstrate what can be done very easily, and what I need from you to be in the running.

So what are you doing still reading this? Get theming and get those entries in! If you have questions, or just want to give me a heads up to expect your entry soon, let me know in the comments or feel free to email me.