You may want a Windows Phone like keyboard to pop up whenever you need to input text. An application called ai. Install the app and approve all the warnings, you know the kind of thing people complained about in Windows 10 Technical Preview, but they do oh so voluntarily on a daily basis on their smartphones and tablets.

[Launcher] Win Launcher for Android | Development Tools

You can always change the keyboard method in the settings menu. Once you fire up the ai. You might be interested in the latest Material Design theme used in Lollipop, or go for Windows 8 Tablet looks, which is what we're after. You may want your messages and conversations to have a Windowsy look, too. In that case, you want to install Messaging 7. Really nice, clean and airy. Readable to the max. To have the contacts show in a nice, tiled grid, and your dialer to look like the one on Windows Phone, you want WP7Contact Lite installed.

True, this program was designed for an earlier edition of Windows, but it will do just fine. If you are looking for Metro-like notifications, then you might want to consider Metro Notifications Free. Personally, I find this unnecessary, and the default Android notifications are good enough, but you can install the app and see for yourself. This step completes the visual theme change, as far as software goes.

And now you can start playing. Add new tiles. Change the wallpaper or the tiles background color. Fiddle, fiddle, let your imagination sizzle. Or something. Really, beyond this point, it's entirely up to you to find the right balance of beauty and purpose. You also get a very pretty lock screen with the vertical slide action.

If you want to revert, you can, very easily. Moreover, the original contacts, messaging and dialer are still there, so if for some reason you do not trust these new apps you added, you can still use the stock software, for say sensitive messages and calls.

Share your thoughts

But then you might not want to install the extras in the first place. There you are. This article tells you all you need to know to make your Android look nice. As the most popular smartphone and tablet operating system out there, it is the obvious target for software developers, so you probably do not want to compromise on the wealth of apps you get, but then you need not compromise on the good looks offered by the rivals.

And so you can blend both, and be the hero of your neighborhood. However, I still think Windows Phone is a superior product for smartphones overall, especially when wedded to Nokia. Sadly, you won't be seeing the Nokia brand Windows Phone combo in the near future, but the quality ought to remain, under the hood, stickers and labels notwithstanding. But then, there's another way. You might want Android and Nokia quality, and then you ought to consider Nokia's non-Windows products.

And THEN, it really gets interesting.

We'll see. Like all of these Android launchers, SquareHome 2 emulates the Windows 10 Mobile Start menu that we all know and love. SquareHome 2 lets you can resize your live tiles, and displays notifications and number count in your live tiles just as if you were on Windows 10 Mobile.

[Launcher] Win 8.1 Launcher for Android

Windows style Developer: ChYK the dev. While not highly-rated as SquareHome 2, Launcher 10 gives you the most similar Windows 10 Mobile experience. While there are sometimes a bit of lag displaying the live tiles and some annoying bugs, Launcher 10 was a more comfortable Windows 10 Mobile experience for me. Launcher 10 felt more like I was using my Lumia Upon installation, Launcher 10 allows for a calendar, clock, photo gallery, and contacts live tiles and notifications.

Opinions about Launcher 8 (Windows Phone)

Additional live tiles are available through in-app purchases. Launcher 10 latest update brought Android 7. By swiping right, Launcher 10 shows recently added apps, and the ability to search apps alphabetically, or using the search bar for easy app access. You can also group apps together just like in Windows 10 Mobile. The ability to resize your live tiles, set tile transparency, and even landscape mode is available.

The app developer, Nick Fisher , promises that a new Launcher 10 version is coming to help fix the annoying bugs that plague the app launcher:. Lightning fast new version built from the ground up! Focusing on performance and stability, the update will vastly improve the speed and functionality of Launcher 10 as well as fixing most of the bugs. There is no scheduled release date yet, but it is coming. The only downside to this Android app launcher is that it contains ads, and but the ads can be removed via in-app purchases.

WP Style Launcher 10 has functioning live tiles with notifications, such as missed calls, SMS text alerts, calendar, weather, time, email, and more. The app also has the ability to set the transparency level for tiles.