I want to maximize screen on my spica with 2.1 eclair... How?

I just recently upgraded my galaxy spica's firmware from 1.5 to 2.1 eclair, and the screen is exactly the same as the picture above of this forum. Notice the difference with 1.5? In 1.5, the menu is hidden, you just slide the arrow up to reveal all the menus. Whereas in 2.1, there are four icons that can be seen onscreen (in this case, the default as in the picture above is Phone, Messaging, Contacts and Browser).
Now, I kinda prefer the look of 1.5 better because the screen is bigger without those four icons showing. I've been tweaking all day on how to remove those four icons so I can maximize the view of my home screen. I can click the options and edit and remove the four icons, but then again, the home screen will show a darkened area where the four icons were before...That way, I can add more shortcuts or widgets on the homescreen.
Anybody knows the solution???

use helix launcher. it's snappier and way better than the pantheon(the default launcher of 2.1). you can get it through the android market and it's free

thanks for the advice. I'll check it out...

I just installed helix launcher. You're right, its much better than the original (Pantheon) launcher that came with 2.1 eclair. Thanks for the tip. I did read somewhere that Launcher Pro is much better. However, as I understand it, its still on Beta testing so I figured it still has a lot of bugs. Might as well stick to Helix and then change to Launcher Pro when they've finalized the beta version...

your welcome sir, sir dante said there was a new version of helix (forgot the exact version number). you can find it in the market, i tried it but didn't go well in my case so i sticked with the old helix launcher ;D, some say home++ (or "A++ home" i think) is a good one too, but I haven't tried it yet (no wifi at home XD).