How to make your whole home screen look like Google Play

How to make your whole home screen look like Google Play

Google's Android services are looking pretty sharp these days -- and with a few minutes of setup, you can make your phone's home screen follow their lead.

Yesterday, I showed you how to make your whole home screen look like Google Now. But why stop there? Following our "Google-ize your home screen" theme, today we'll take a look at a way to bring the newly revamped Google Play Store design to the heart of your device.

Once again, you'll need to download and install the free Ultimate Custom Widget (UCCW) app to begin. Then grab the Play UCCW skin -- also free -- and, huzzah! The pieces are all in place.

With those two apps on your phone, all you'll need to do is add a new widget to your home screen -- the same way you always do -- and then select "UCCW 4x1" from the list of options. You'll see a list of Play Store-themed buttons that be placed anywhere you like and optionally resized via your phone's launcher.

The buttons includes standard Play-themed widgets for things like a clock and message counter as well as more basic shortcuts to a variety of system-level and third-party apps. You can customize all the buttons' hotspots, too, if you want to change what happens when you press them. Throw in a gray wallpaper, and boom: You've got the essence of Google Play in your hand.

Personally, I think the Google Now home screen setup is a bit more versatile and appealing, but it's cool that someone took the time to make the tools for this look as well. The real beauty of Android, after all, is that you can make your phone work the way youwant; no two devices have to be alike.