Transform your Android Gingerbread phone into Jelly Bean in 5 minutes…

Like many HTC users, I am in a fix right now. The company on the contrary to its initial promise that most of its smartphones launched in the last two years will get an Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) or Android 4.0 update by August had backtracked- citing non compatiblity of some of its older devcies to run newer versions of Android. So HTC is not rolling out any updates - including one of its most popular phones- Desire HD and some other devices running the legacy Gingerbread 2.3. Many other device vendors too are not giving any concrete roadmap for ICS 4 or Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) update.

That leaves with two options. Go for the big kill by buying Jelly Bean phone all new or be content with Gingerbread which is totally outdated. But there is a third option- you can transform your legacy Android phone into a spanking new Jelly Bean user interface in just about 5 minutes. While you will not get the full functionality of Jelly Bean in no way, but from an UI perspective, you can do a complete overhaul-right from home lock screen to the key board and wallpaper. That's interesting. Right?

The road to Jelly Bean:

Action # 1:

On your Android phone running Gingerbread, open up Google Play Store and search for " Holo Launcher"- select the one from Mobint Software-download and install and check ‘ Holo Launcher' as default when the prompt asks for choosing between your phones default UI like HTC Sense or Samsung Touch Wiz et al.

Action # 2:

The second step is to get the Jelly Bean lock screen. From the Google Store, download ‘Holo Locker' again from the Mobint Software and once you install, your phone's Gingerbread lock screen will change to the Jelly Bean one, with the typical four directional swipe.

Action# 3:

Now it's time to get the Jellybean keypad. From the Google Store download the app called ‘Jellybean Keyboard' from VLLWP. Install and check the desired option so that it replaces your Gingerbread key pad.

Action # 4:

The final piece is the wallpaper, choose it from the Google Store and you can select one from Kovdev, which is by far the best right now.

And with that you are done!

Make sure you check all options enabling the launcher, locker, key pad and wallpaper. And with this you have successfully masked your Gingerbread phone into an almost authentic look and feel of a Jelly Bean.

Enjoy the new interface!