Gadgetory

the HTC one is a gorgeous device but the thing is we're not entirely sold on the Sense interface and the same is true for samsung's touchwiz or any other skin that a phone manufacturer might lay on top of Android there's something so clean and consistent about Google's stock Android experience something you can really only get out of the box from a nexus phone but thankfully Android is highly customizable you can make it look like Google originally attended with only a few minutes and a handful of apps from Google's Play Store no hacking a routing required to get the HTC One a little more in line with my tastes I focus on three areas the launcher the lock screen and the keyboard within the launcher the home screen and app drawer is where you'll spend most of your time I chose Nova because it looks almost exactly like Google's default launcher Nova also includes a number of interesting improvements like support for custom icons and lots of screen transitions simply download it and set it as your default launcher it prompts you to do so the first time you press the home button and you're set to go as for the lock screen we've seen a lot of variety of form and function here personally I prefer the simplicity of Paolo Walker the HTC One S lock screen is kind of busy for my tastes well hollow Locker does yet again is make your lockscreen look very similar to stock Android 4.1 jelly bean now the keyboard there are a lot of insane third-party options out there but my favorite is Swift key word prediction is great and you can easily change the keyboards appearance with a few taps this app is the only paid app on our list but a quality keyboard could be one of the best app purchases you ever make and honestly is what you'll be using the most these tweaks only take a minute or two to install and they bring back some of the best and most beautiful features of Android that many manufacturers cut out it's a better cleaner experience of almost any phone you