How to Give your Android Smartphone the Jelly Bean Look

While you might be drooling over the latest features that Android 4.2 has come up with, only the lucky few are getting a taste of the real thing. Even my neatly preserved Nexus S won’t be upgraded beyond Android 4.1. While I don’t lament that as much as other users, I still wish I could get the best features Jelly Bean has to offer on my device too.

Android 4.2 (also called Jelly Bean) comes with interesting set of features. First of all, the biggest change users will find is that Android now supports multiple user accounts. That means you can share your tablet computer or smartphone with your siblings, grandmother and almost anyone with a valid Google account. Secondly, you’ll find that Google Now has improved a lot and is almost as good as Siri. And among other great features, another interesting addition is the Swype-like keyboard that lets you slide your fingers across the screen to type. Though you might not be able to fully enjoy all those features right now on your device, some of the UI features can be imitated by installing some apps to make your not so old smartphone look like it is running Jelly Bean. Here are some of them:

Jelly Bean GO Locker Theme

One of the most striking changes in Jelly Bean is the lock screen. With this GO Locker theme, you can recreate the same effect on your pre-4.1 smartphone without making any big changes to your device.

 DOWNLOAD HERE

Jelly Bean Launcher

To make things even more authentic, you can download the Jelly Bean launcher. It supports the 4.1 search bar, home screen gestures, all static and live wallpapers and much more. Basically the launcher will give you an almost exact look and feel of Jelly Bean. This is definitely something you should try.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Jelly Bean Keyboard

If you are in awe of the Jelly Bean keyboard (without the slide), you can grab this great app for free. Once installed, you’ll get the Jelly Bean keyboard on your smartphone. It looks and functions similar to the Jelly Bean keyboard.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Wallpapers:

Nexus 4 Dot Live Wallpaper: This is Nexus 4 live wallpaper that you can install on your smartphone and brag about it to your friends. Note that live wallpapers consume a lot more battery than a static wallpaper.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Jelly Bean Live Wallpaper: Another Jelly Bean live wallpaper that gives you a nice effect that is reminiscent of the latest update.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Jelly Bean Wallpapers Set: If the live wallpapers aren’t enough, you can make your smartphone more Jelly Beanish by adding the default set of wallpapers to your repertoire. These wallpapers will help you recreate the look of Jelly Bean especially if you have ICS already.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Written by: Abhishek, a regular TechSource contributor and a long-time FOSS advocate.