We love Android devices as much as the next person, but sometimes the vanilla Android experience leaves us wanting a little more. Thankfully, it’s possible to change the whole look and feel of your Android device with only the minimum of effort – and no need to root.

Android launchers, or home screen replacements as they are sometimes known, aren’t anything particularly new but in recent months the idea of completely changing how your phone looks has broken outside of Android geekery and into the mainstream, so we thought it high-time we found out which are the best.

There are obviously a lot more features than we have time to go into for each now, but what we’ve got is a good overview of some of our favorites. As always, tell us your favorites in the comments and we’ll take a look at them for potential inclusion.

If you’d like to view this post on one single page, you can do so here.

Aviate

Aviate is one of the newer Android launchers on the scene  - in fact, it’s so new it’s still in invite-only beta mode, but maybe you were one of the lucky ones who grabbed a code from us a few months ago.

Rather than focusing on providing tools for creating icons, shortcuts and widgets in a whole range of wacky shapes and colors, Aviate takes a smart, mature approach to the custom Android home screen, with the key idea behind it being that it will provide contextually relevant information, no matter what you’re doing.

So, once you’ve installed the app and set it as your default home screen, the main screen that you’re met by is the second image above, the one with the dog. The first thing that you’ll notice is that your apps have been automatically arranged into Collections (image three above), like Work, Going Somewhere, Music, Games, News, etc. Naturally, you can edit the apps in these collections and create your own too. If you can’t seem to find what you’re looking for, the full list of installed apps can be found on the home screen (and in the image above) to the far-right.

Scrolling left from that first screen gives you quick access to some preset spaces – selecting any of them puts a slightly different set of apps and features at front and center. Aviate also automatically shows any other pertinent local information.

If you’re looking at the main home screen, scrolling that main image (which is customizable or removable) presents you with quick access to the apps and features associated with the ‘Space’ you’re in. Shown above are the three pre-defined spaces, with the company considering the possibility of adding new ones in due course. Apps relevant to each of these scenarios are placed at the top, and as shown in the Home Space, new apps can also be added (it’ll recommend some if you click the + icon) if you don’t have anything installed.

There’s also a settings Space too, which provides quick access to phone functions like switching WiFi or Bluetooth on and off, and things like that.

With a slick, clean UI and some smart, context relevant content, Aviate is one of our favorite launchers at the moment – and we’re hoping it can only continue to get better as it  matures.

➤ Aviate

Buzz Launcher

Launching in beta back in March of this year, Buzz Launcher is another full homescreen replacement, with all the bells and whistles you’d expect.

Rather than focusing on a particular set of features or core experience – like the context relevance of Aviate for example, Buzz Launcher goes for all-out optimization.

It does this in two ways: either by letting you loose and allowing you to create and customize your own widgets, backgrounds and other icons, or – if you’re a bit short on time – you can select from thousands of the pre-made options that the community have created. On the left, you have the ‘standard’ Buzz Launcher home screen and in the middle there’s one of the pre-made home screens that someone else uploaded. Applying entire home screens to your phone is as simple as hitting install, and then confirming once it has downloaded.

By providing this facility to download (or upload) different home screen packs with almost no effort at all it fosters the sense of community, and users have the option to favorite, comment on, download or recommend particularly good packs. With staff picks and a ‘hot’ packs section, it’s pretty easy to jump straight to some of the best. The right image above is the central store for all the uploaded themes.

With lots of personalization options, you’ll find some wildly varying ones too, and not just in the obvious ways. For example, with some layouts, you’ll find that the full app listing is provided in a semi-transparent overlay, meaning you can still see part of your home screen. Simple, but a nice effect. It’s worth noting, as everyone uploads these home screens themselves, some are more appropriate than others for high-resolution displays – currently the ‘homepack buzz’ store doesn’t provide any facilities for filtering by device resolution.

While downloading home screens is free, you’ll notice that the greyed out icons denote apps that aren’t yet installed – this can be anything such as a free one like Path, or a paid-for one, in which case if you want to use the home screen as designed, you’ll need to pay for the app. You also have the option of simply making the shortcut point at something else.

➤ Buzz Launcher

Themer

One more app that’s still in beta mode, Themer is another home screen launcher that takes the largely pre-made theme route, rather than allowing you to spend endless amounts of time creating your own custom widgets.

As with all the others, once downloaded, Themer appears any time you’d normally see your home screen – so when you unlock phone or hit the home button.

Below, just one of the many themes available to download for free on Themer.

Adding new themes is easy enough, you simply navigate to the Themer settings menu, or hit the Themer icon in the app drawer. Long-pressing anywhere on any of the home screens also pops up a list of options, from which you can select to download new themes. Then all you have to do is actually pick one. They’re free and more are being added all the time. It’s worth noting that first time out you’ll be prompted to log in with Google or Facebook before you can download a theme – it requests basic access to your account information.

There’s a whole lot of pre-made themes to select from too. Other options, like changing the wallpaper, the number of home screens, quick access to apps and more are also accessible from this pop-up options list.

It strikes a balance somewhere between Aviate and Buzz Launcher, by providing you with options to change icons, wallpaper and other things you’d normally be able to customize with Android, but doesn’t do it in an overwhelming way.

Similarly, while there’s a similar pre-made theme element as with Buzz Launcher, there’s far less information on show about the number of downloads, favorites and other things that have led themes to end up in the ‘most popular’ or ‘trending’ categories.

If it all feels like it would be a little too different for you, there’s also the option of importing the apps from your previous home screen.

If Themer doesn’t know which app is your favorite for a task – playing music for example, it will ask you the first time – and from then on it will use it as the default without prompting. Naturally, you can change these default settings in the preferences area – and indeed, restore your original home screen if Themer’s becomes a bit too much.

➤ Themer

Nova Launcher

Nova Launcher is a bit more straightforward than some of the others here – providing you with  a slightly tweaked version of a normal home screen – and tools to further fine-tune it to your liking.

On first install it will ask you if you want to import a home screen from another custom launcher, or the stock Android setup.

It strikes a balance somewhere between Aviate and Buzz Launcher, by providing you with options to change icons, wallpaper and other things you’d normally be able to customize with Android, but doesn’t do it in an overwhelming way.

Similarly, while there’s a similar pre-made theme element as with Buzz Launcher, there’s far less information on show about the number of downloads, favorites and other things that have led themes to end up in the ‘most popular’ or ‘trending’ categories.

If it all feels like it would be a little too different for you, there’s also the option of importing the apps from your previous home screen.

If Themer doesn’t know which app is your favorite for a task – playing music for example, it will ask you the first time – and from then on it will use it as the default without prompting. Naturally, you can change these default settings in the preferences area – and indeed, restore your original home screen if Themer’s becomes a bit too much.

➤ Themer

Nova Launcher

Nova Launcher is a bit more straightforward than some of the others here – providing you with  a slightly tweaked version of a normal home screen – and tools to further fine-tune it to your liking.

On first install it will ask you if you want to import a home screen from another custom launcher, or the stock Android setup.

What Nova is great for is taking a productive approach to your home screens. If you find yourself looking for certain device settings frequently, you might want to do what I’ve done (above right) and add all the Nova Actions to one home screen. I popped on a clock and a Sound Cloud widget too. Most of the pre-made Nova Actions widgets are used to quickly jump to frequently used settings and options.

Although not the most fully-featured, Nova Launcher certainly has some appeal, and there’s also a Nova Launcher Prime available for $4/£2.60, if you’d like more customization options.