[Thanks, David]

Android's supposed to be all about peace, love, and openness, but that apparently doesn't exempt it from copyright law and trigger-happy general counsels (who knew?). In a move that should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone, Palm has sicced its legal team on the makers of the aptly-named "Palm Pre Android Theme" that borrows icons, wallpapers, and mojo (not to be confused with Mojo) directly from webOS. The concerns center around the usual suspects -- graphics copyrights and trademark infringement -- and the company is demanding that they cease use of the Pre's interface, name, and all that good stuff by some date that's been redacted from the leaked letter (we're assuming it's soon). To be fair, Palm comes out and says that it "appreciates that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery," but at the end of the day, they're concerned about the potential for consumer confusion. Interestingly, to the best of our knowledge, they haven't given the iPhone-based theme the same treatment -- but hey, maybe it's easier to confuse a Hero with a Pre than it is an iPhone... or something.

[Thanks, Justin]

So you're an iPhone owner with a massive case of Pre jealousy, but you've got another year left on your AT&T contract. We know you're out there, and we know you're struggling -- you're feeling totally alone and misunderstood, like a lone voice struggling to be heard amongst the din of a thousand push notifications. A gadget nerd without a clan.

You don't have to live this way. You don't have to be trapped into a single touch interface aesthetic by the fear of early-termination fees and loss of Tap Tap Revenge compatibility. You have a choice -- you can jailbreak your phone and install the Palm Prefection theme. You can show the world you're not afraid to mix it up. Sure, you won't be able to multitask for real and no amount of fevered prayer will ever bring a gesture area to your iPhone, but that doesn't mean you won't be taking a stand. Fly high, butterfly. Video after the break.

[Thanks, Dave]

Look, there's really nothing special going on here -- it's just a theme for BlackBerry devices. A totally, totally awesome theme for BlackBerry devices. So awesome, in fact, that it makes our corporate-issued / controlled phone seem somehow cool again. What are you waiting for? Go get it.

[Via Gizmodo]

Update: Sadly, it seems the theme has been removed at Bethesda's request -- because, you know, this is obviously bad PR for the Fallout series... or something. Thanks, Behzad!

Not into that Mizrahi theme that Microsoft showed off for Windows Mobile 6.5 a few days ago? No worries -- there are others in the pipeline, too, and odds are you'll be able to find something you like in here (either that, or your tastes are badly misaligned with the world's designerati, apparently). istartedsomething reports that Microsoft has roped in Ron Arad, Vera Wang, Rock and Republic, and Diane von Furstenberg among others to beef up WinMo's fashion cred, and judging from the leaked wallpapers, they're moving in the right direction. 'Course, no number of pretty backgrounds can counter an aging kernel, but let's take this thing one step at a time, shall we?

[Via wmpoweruser.com]

Details are starting to come into focus on some of the finer points of Windows Mobile 6.5's launch later this year after February's announcement at MWC, and if you had to boil the news down to just two words, they'd be "pretty" and "support." As "pretty" goes, it's been announced that Microsoft has partnered up with Design Museum London and the Council of Fashion Designers of America to offer designer themes for 6.5-based devices -- colors, wallpaper, and the like -- with the first designs coming from fashion dude Isaac Mizrahi. If that's not good enough for ya, the company will be releasing a Theme Generator later this year that'll let you customize colors of UI elements on your device, pair it up with wallpaper culled from your own photo collection, and send the batch straight to your phone.

Over to the "support" front, over 25 companies will be announcing their full support for the Windows Marketplace at CTIA this week, including EA Mobile, Facebook (pictured), Gameloft, MySpace, Namco, Pandora, and Sling Media. To help improve the Marketplace's public image, Microsoft is tweaking some policies, too: developers will now be able to issue unlimited updates to their apps free of charge, and users will have up to 24 hours to "return" apps they don't like (very cool). Notably, Facebook's new app will be available in April, offering direct video uploads straight to your wall if you're into that sort of thing (you know who you are).

Finally, Microsoft's issued a clarification regarding upgrades from 6.1 to 6.5: devices that are already out in the marketplace with a minimum of 128MB of RAM and a 400MHz processor or better are theoretically capable of being upgraded -- it's all up to licensees to decide whether they want to go to the trouble of offering the upgrades to their customers. Let's hope, shall we?

Seriously, what's with the fascination of getting a brand new device and trying to make it look like something completely different? First the 8900 theme for Curves and 88xx's, and then Vista for the iPhone -- will it ever stop? No longer will you have to be envious of your Sidekick brethren, Bold users, as the Android-style interface has finally made the jump to the BlackBerry in the form of DroidBerry, the newest theme from those classifiable techies over at CrackBerry. Only $7 and you could have all that cartoony icon and analog clock-related bliss you could ever wish for -- a small price to pay for a whole lot of beauty.

While you may be in love with the 480 x 360-pixel screen on the latest and greatest 'Berry straight out of Waterloo, we know that the really tantalizing draw of the 8900 is that gorgeous theme. Luckily for all you wannabe addicts out there, CrackBerry Forums member Tom1|21 has worked some magic with Plazmic's Theme Builder and has made the theme available for all 83xx and 88xx devices -- albeit for a price. Of course, the truly classifiable BB elite would've known that this very same theme -- or something remarkably similar -- was available for the incredibly low price of free just days ago. Interestingly, the original forum post has been updated and points to purchase links rather than the free-OTA download links that it was pointing to prior. A little bit of searching might lead you to the free version, and you can start saving up that coinage for the finally-available Sling client -- once it loses the beta label and gets priced, that is. Or, you can just bypass the whole theme situation and hopefully get the real deal sometime around February 18th.

Read - CrackBerry Forums thread
Read - CrackBerry Blog theme availability

Look, we know how it goes. Rent before new phone. 18 months left on your contract. Your mom kicked you out. They're all very valid reasons to keep on keepin' on with your current Sidekick, but that still doesn't alleviate the pain felt by wanting a T-Mobile G1 with every fiber of your being, now does it? Enter CubanitaStylezz, a theme designer who has taken the time to craft a few new ones for your Sidekick LX / Sidekick Slide / etc. that will make you feel just like the proud new owner of a G1. Almost. At any rate, tap the links below to get your poser on -- and remember, there's no shame in that game.

[Via Hiptop3]

Read - G1 themes for Sidekick I
Read - G1 themes for Sidekick II

For those with identity crises, great senses of humor, or serious cases of Vista Fever, Spec-Works' VistaPerfection theme for the iPhone brings all the splendors of Windows Vista -- well, the important visual aspects, anyway -- to your pocket in a way that we can safely say Microsoft never intended. If the wow hadn't already started, ladies and gentlemen, it certainly has now.

[Via IntoMobile]

Realistically we're still a good half year (at least) before we see any S60 Touch-based devices from Nokia or its software partners on store shelves, but in the meantime, Nokia's made it just a little easier for us all to fool ourselves into believing we're living on the bleeding edge of Espoo tech. Their Touch-inspired theme for S60 3rd Edition handsets is now freely available -- and while we wouldn't count on it magically adding a touchscreen to your N81 or N95, you can blur your eyes just a little bit here and play make-believe while you wait for the real thing. Actually doesn't look half bad, if we do say so ourselves.

With the various OS X and Vista themes we're always seeing crop up, just to be shut down by Apple and Microsoft legal teams all lickity split like, it's really no surprise that someone whipped up an iPhone theme for Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC already, and it's equally unsurprising that Apple legal is already doing its darnedest to put the kibosh on the skin. The pretty view comes to us courtesy of "hanmin" of the XDA Developers forums, and while there's only so much you can do by swapping out a few icons, we're still liking the look -- WM5 was never really the pretty one.

[Via MoDaCo; thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Where there's a will, there's usually a way. Sidekick 3 owners miffed about being trapped inside Danger's walled garden of content will be happy to know that some resourceful peeps have managed to drop custom backgrounds and themes on their units -- and it appears to be a pretty simple process, to boot. Modify a text file, drop a few images via USB, and you're good to go. At least until Danger decides to patch to get you non-conformists back in line, that is.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]