SeanBrunett

One of the great things about the Android OS is the ability to customize it however you want to. The mobile phone experience is so personal that it only makes sense to allow people to structure it how they wish. Folder Organizer is one of the greatest apps I have found to do this.

I have App Organizer installed on my phone also, but I've found Folder Organizer to offer more features, such as changing icons. App Organizer is actually made by the same developer, but it was an earlier build.

The Basics: The app is split into 5 different categories:
Labels
Apps
Bookmarks
Contacts
Shortcuts

I will take you on a short tour through the Labels tab and explain how to create a label, how to change the icon and put it on your homescreen.


Labels: Labels are essentially folders, a great to organize a group of apps that you use a lot or that go together in some way. To create a new label, simply short press on the menu button to bring up the option. Once a new label is created, it's very simple to add apps to it. Just go to the apps tab in the app and click on whichever app you wish. It will ask you to check all of the labels that you want to include it in.

Also available once a label is created is to change the icon. When it is first created, it has a default, boring icon that is pretty unattractive. But it is very simple to change the icon. Go to the Labels tab again and click the triangle on the right to give more advanced options. Slide to the right and you will see something saying Icon. Click this and it will present you with a bunch of options. I recommend downloading Icon packs.

Some Icon Packs I recommend are:

ibox-icons
ibox-icons2
ibox-icons3
Glared icons
Gloss Suite Icon Pack
Xbox360Icons

Once you have those installed from the Market, you can click Icon Packs from the previous options and begin choosing which icons you want to put for different labels. To put the finished product on the homescreen, simply long-press on the homescreen and select Widgets. Go down to FolderOrganizer label for the labels or FolderOrganizeritem for any other shortcut you have created with the app.

Apps, Bookmarks, Contacts & Shortcuts work in a similar fashion as labels do.

Customization is a huge selling point for Android in my personal opinion, particularly how you set up your home screens. I love labels because it means I don't have to go through a lot of different apps to find everything.

To give you an example of some of the labels I have created:

Google: Every app made by Google
Browsers (Dolphin HD, Opera, default)
Twitter (trying out different Twitter clients)
Useful (productive apps that don't fit elsewhere)
Games

I would highly recommend this app to everyone because of the ability to tinker with it yourself. I give it 5 stars because of how useful and user-friendly it is.

If you try this app and don't like it, here are some alternatives:

App Organizer (free) (made by the same developer)
Smartpad (full and lite version)
UltimateFaves (Free)


There is a Lite version and a paid version. The lite version is supported by ads, but this guy is a great developer, so if you try the product out, I'd recommend buying the full version. Try it out first though.

Here is a link to the developer's site: Folder Organizer