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!

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!

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.

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.