iOS Makeover for Android

While last week saw all iOS devices receiving the latest update of Apple's mobile operating system, this week brings a fresh update to the look and feel of your Android handset if you so choose.  Once again through the use of a launcher, Android users are able to replicate the look and feel of another operating system without sacrificing the advantages that led them to Android in the first place.  While the first launcher I covered, Win 7 Launcher, gave Android users the chance to re-imagine their phone as a Windows Phone 7 device, Espier Launcher for Android gives users the same opportunity with Apple's iOS.  All of the basic functionality and ease of use of iOS carries over into this launcher including the simplicity that Apple products are known for.  Espier Launcher is now being offered for free on the Android Market and that alone deems it worth a try.

Android Disguised as Windows Phone 7

If you have seen even a commercial for Windows Phone 7 or some of the news coverage regarding Windows 8 then this user interface will definitely look familiar.  This user interface is known as Metro UI.  It was designed to set Microsoft's new smartphone operating system apart from the rest and to give consumers something fresh.  It has also most likely helped Microsoft avoid the lawsuits that many other hardware manufacturers have become involved in with Apple.  Nonetheless the operating system does stand out from the crowd and gives users a much easier way to interact with their phone without being sucked in to it like many iOS and Android users have been.  This idea is really driven home by the tagline at the end of many Windows Phone 7 commercials: "It's time for a phone to save us from our phones."  However this is where the user interface truly shines.  However, today's smartphone consumers crave applications, something that Microsoft has quite few of.  Plus until the release of the next iteration of its operating system called Mango, Microsoft is still missing a few features its competitors have making Windows Phone 7 an unlikely choice for most consumers.