Mike Southby

Throughout various different ROMs and various different firmware releases, the one thing that has always annoyed me is the inability to rename icons which you place on the home screen.  The most annoying thing is that not even the most rudimentary of icons actually fit in the allocated space; being a ‘Google’ phone and based on the integration with Google services I think it stands to reason that a lot of people as well as me with have the Google Mail shortcut on their home screens, and I’m sure you’ll all agree that it annoys the hell out of you when it only displays ‘Google mai’.

Just as on my laptop, I hate clutter;  I have a set way of organising my icons but I’d really like the ability to rename so in this case, if Google Mail doesn’t fit I’d like Gmail thanks.

Finally, I found a way.

It’s really simple actually and doesn’t involve any messing with code or reverse engineering.  Simply head across to the android market and download ‘Any Cut’ (which incidentally is FREE, even better).  Once installed to create the GMail icon all you need to do is the following (the same method applies to ANY other shortcut too):

• Long press on the existing Google Mail icon and drag it to the bottom of the screen to delete
• Long press in the blank space and choose Shortcut followed by Any Cut
• Choose Activity
• Scroll down and select Google Mail
• Type the name of the shortcut as you would like it to appear, I choose Gmail
• Hit OK

Follow this process for any application or service and it’ll allow you to have your home screen exactly how YOU want it instead of simply accepting the way it is by default.

Enjoy!

Does anyone actually use the Amazon MP3 app that comes bundled with the Cyanogen ROMs? I’ve always found it annoying that it is not able to be removed from the Manage Applications applet, but of course, there is another way to cleanly uninstall it.

Simply open your Terminal Emulator app and type the following:

su
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock03 /system
rm /system/app/com.amazon.mp3.apk

That’s it, no more Amazon!

Of course you can also use this method to remove other apps by changing the appropriate file in the code.  Enjoy!

I have to be honest; I can take or leave Facebook.  Sure it is probably the most used social networking service out there but I much prefer Twitter.  Facebook has too many Pirates, Vampires, Racers and other annoyances for my liking these days.  I wonder if Facebook – like many before it – is becoming a victim of its own success.  The number of Facebook users may well be continuing to climb but I wonder for how long, it’s becoming too commercialised and too full of junk.

Still, I acknowledge Facebooks relevance and am surprised to see that the latest version of the Android specific client which is found on the new Motorola Droid has not been ported back to the wider community.  The version available in the Android Market is pretty poor.

So you want the new version?  OK, it’s actually quite easy to get it to work:

Caveat:  You MUST uninstall any previous versions of Facebook from your device before trying to install this new version.

• Download this file and copy it to the root of your SD card
• Open a terminal window and type the following:
  su
mount /system –o remount,rw
rm /system/app/Facebook.apk
cd /sdcard
cp Facebook.apk /system/app

You don’t need to reboot, the Facebook app will show up immediately in your menu.

Enjoy.

Note:  Feel free to add me on Facebook if you wish but remember to add a note that you’ve come from my blog otherwise as if I don’t know where you’re from I may not accept your request, and more importantly, any requests to join your Vampire or Werewolf clan (or any other for that matter) will not be met with enthusiasm.

Typical, the day after I flash my ROM to Cyanogen v4.2.4 a new ROM, v4.2.5 is released!

To upgrade to v4.2.5 you can follow the same instructions as per my previous post but substitute the file in step 2 for this one.  If you already have v4.2.5 installed, you can also use CM Updater – available from Android Market – to automatically download and upgrade to the latest ROM.  I have tried both methods this morning to see if one is better than the other and they both produce the same results.

The change log from v4.2.4 to v4.2.5 shows the following:

• Eclair/Blur animations
• Eclair Dalvik
• WiFi update from Eclair
• Kernel tweaks
• Tiny video player is back
• Update phone mod from Cytown
• Contact list photos patch from Geesun
• Browser settings fix
• USB tether works thru WiFi connection
• Apps that automatically change the wallpaper work once again
• Other bug fixes and tweaks

I have only been running the new ROM for a few hours now but first impressions are that it is much faster.

Kudos goes once again to Cyanogen.