The Android home screen is like a desk. Now use and organize your application in the most effective way.

You need to dedicate it to shortcuts for your most frequently used applications, as you will be taken to the home screen after pressing the convenient home button. Out of the box, Google has some of the most commonly used applications (Maps, Gallery, YouTube, Market, Phone, Gmail, Browser, Voice) in two widgets (Sophisticated Google Search at the top). New News & Weather widget at the bottom of the box.

Customize your app shortcuts on Android’s home screen with widgets and themes

The biggest feature of home displays is that they are completely customizable.

If you press and hold a shortcut or widget, you can see that the item can be moved with a slight vibration (called tactile feedback). If you press and hold an empty space in your home, you will be prompted to add a shortcut, widget, folder, or wallpaper to that screen.

In addition to the app, you can display widgets on the Nexus One home screen. Widgets are small apps that display dynamic information about your home. Power Control is another handy widget that allows you to switch between different Nexus One settings. Many other widgets show everything from the clock to the weather to the Twitter timeline.

Another great feature of the Android home display is that there are five. So when your main home screen is full (inevitably), you can easily add apps and widgets to any of the four additional home screens on your Nexus One. Simply swipe your finger left or right to go to additional screens.

Filling all five home displays will reach the limit. Android 2.1 currently has only five home screens that you can customize with shortcuts, but the only limit on the number of apps you can store on your phone is the amount of memory in them.

If you forget which home screen a particular app is on, you can bring up a cool thumbnail view by touching the left and right dots at the bottom of the screen. You will see 5 miniature home displays with miniature app icons and widgets.

Once you find the app, touch the thumbnail to go directly to that particular home screen. Good thing.

Manage apps and widgets

If you want to remove an app or widget from your home (which happens), just press and hold the icon. You will notice that the gray launcher icon turns into a trash can. Simply drag the item’s icon to the trash can to remove it from your home. If you touch the icon and the trash can, it will glow red and you can confirm the deletion.

This procedure does not remove the application itself from the phone. Only shortcuts or aliases to the app will be removed. To completely remove (or uninstall in Android terms) the downloaded application, follow these steps:

1. Launch Android Market.

2. Press the menu button.

3. Touch Download.

4. Scroll down to the app you want to uninstall.

5. Press the uninstall button.

You can also manage a particular application by tapping Settings> Applications> Manage Applications and touching the name of the app to open the Application Information screen. On this screen, you can press the Manage Spaces button to manage the amount of space your application is using, or you can press the Uninstall button to uninstall the app update that is causing the problem.

Use of launcher

The home display is where you store frequently used apps, shortcuts, and widgets. Touch the grid-like icon at the bottom center of the home screen to open the launcher and see a scroll list of all the apps installed on your Nexus One.

The applications are sorted alphabetically. You can scroll them vertically by flicking up or down anywhere on the launcher screen. To launch the app from this screen, touch the icon or press the trackball when the app icon is highlighted.