five ways to customise your new smartphone

Now turn over for some expert WIL EYFOX STO RM buying advice!

01 theme it up! If you’ve plumped for the Wileyfox Storm with its Cyanogen OS (or indeed the BQ Aquaris X5 in that variant), you can theme your smartphone in pretty much whatever way you want. Using the built-in Themes app, you can change everything on your phone, from the fonts to the boot animation. You’re no longer limited to just being able to change the wallpaper! 02 ge t a new launcher The beauty of Android (or Cyanogen OS, which is based on Android) is that you can pretty much change the entire look and feel of your Home launcher to suit your needs or preference. You could go for the Google Now Launcher for a stock Android experience, or plump for something like Nova, which gives you a load of options for customising your Home screen. Just search ‘launcher’ in Google Play – most are free, although you may have to pay a small price to upgrade to premium features. 03 add new widge ts One thing Android definitely has over iOS is the ability to add widgets to your Home screens. If you’re moving over to Android from iOS, these will be something of a revelation, enabling you to add small panels that hold such info as breaking news, weather and so on. There are a few already built into your phone – just push and hold on the Home screen, then choose Widgets. There are also a load available in Google Play. 04 MAK E YOU R PHON E MO RE SECURE Android by itself has plenty of security options, including being able to choose a pattern you swipe to open your phone, or using face detection. Cyanogen OS takes it further with some pretty nifty options (see p70 to read more). 05 customise your keyboard Just like your Home screen, you can customise Android with a brand-new keyboard. There are hundreds on offer, including the likes of SwiftKey (enabling you to swipe to type), as well as a choice of fonts and graphics.