CyanogenMod 7
CyanogenMod 7 is one of the most popular custom ROMs available for Android phones today. Apart from its great community and fast new feature deployment it also is extremely customisable. With the themes below you can completely change your phone’s look, very easily!
Some of the themes can simply be installed from the Market whereas some others can only be downloaded from XDA. But fret not; getting the themes from XDA onto your phone is as simple as copying them onto your phone and using your File Manager of choice to install it. Than, as with the Market themes, just pick it from Theme Chooser.
Why Should I Theme My Android?
It doesn’t take an expert to tell that Android’s stock user interface is not the most exciting in the world and almost every technology enthusiast in the world will tell you that the feature that set’s Android apart from the crowd is it’s great customisation capabilities. If you have an Android with CM7 installed you are lucky enough to have a great theming engine built right into phone which allows you to completely change the look of your phone in under three taps and a swipe! So if you want to customise your phone, than the themes below are a great place to start!
1. Lunar UI
Lunar UI is created by a member of XDA known as “R3D X.” One of the main reasons I picked this team is because of how colourful it is. While a lot of other themes for Android stick with basic colours, this theme pushes the boundaries by having a new concept on how the signal and Wi-fi indicators look. Pair this theme with a great colourful background, a few great widgets and make your phone stand out with it’s bold colours!
Lunar UI
Download LunarUI Theme from XDA
2. MIUI
MIUI is another one of the most popular ROMs available for Android, and one of its main attractive features is its awesome stock look. Luckily, ZduneX25 over at XDA has developed an excellent theme that perfectly mimics the MIUI look on any CM7 phone! It provides MIUI’s lovely black status bar, white menus and even some custom notification icons. The original comes bundled with a battery percentage embedded onto the battery indication, whilst some people love this other do not. For those of you who do not, another member of XDA has created a theme with all of this themes previous elements minus the orange bar and battery percentage. It can be found here.
MIUI by ZduneX25
3. Windows Phone 7 Theme
If we were to talk about Mobile OSes with great user interfaces, Windows Phone 7 would have to be included in the conversation. From its minimal status bar to the live tiles, it offers a completely different approach to a phone’s design. “Mushroom_Lord” over at XDA has created a theme for Android that mimics this look. Pair this theme with a launcher such as “Launcher 7″ and your friends won’t be able to tell the difference between your Android phone and a Windows Phone.
Windows Phone 7 Theme by Mushroom_Lord
Download Windows Phone 7 Series Theme from XDA
4. MattedBlues
The name MattedBlues does what it suggests: it makes your phone’s primary colours a matte shade of blue. This theme looks great on all Android devices and its sheer simplicity makes it all the more beautiful. Apart from theming your status bar icons, your other icons (such as Messaging) will also get a MattedBlues style makeover! This theme costs a small amount of money but if you value simplicity on your phone like I do then you’ll consider it money well spent.
MattedBlues by Jabbawalkee
Download MattedBlues Theme from Market
5. Ice Cream Sandwich
Anybody who followed my guide How to Make Froyo Look Like Ice Cream Sandwich will definitely appreciate this theme! Google has gone with a futuristic look for the newest iteration of Android and many people were left drooling over its sleek UI when it was unveiled. Luckily, some guys over at XDA have created a theme for CM7 which perfectly mimics the ICS look. This theme reskins everything from your dialer to your keyboard. It really is an essential for any fans of ICS who can’t wait to get the official release!
Ice Cream Sandwich by sonnysekhon
Download Ice Cream Sandwich Theme from Market
6. Label Theme
This theme doesn’t give your phone a complete makeover like the others do; instead it focuses solely on your status bar. Rather than the standard icons that appear when you get notifications, this theme shows them through labels. Labels are a great way to make your phone look unique and this theme takes full advantage of them!
Label Theme by tarunagg
Download Label Theme from XDA-Developers
7. Wizmod
Very few smartphone vendors in the world manage to ship out a custom UI on top of Android’s that buyers actually want to use. Samsung is one of the few, and with the Galaxy S II they updated their TouchWiz theme for Gingerbread. This theme mainly focuses on the status bar but dialog boxes are also themed a nice shade of blue. It is a great theme as it does not stray too far from the stock UI.
Wizmod by nhnt11
