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!