From its auspicious head start as the inspiration of Internet monster Google , Android has mature into a well - rounded , highly capable smartphone operating system . Here ’s everything you need to fuck to master Google ’s smartphone OS .
recommend loose source , Google release Android to the hatful , enter the door to coating developer . There were a few develop nisus , of course , such as weakly Bluetooth support and a lack of multitouch keep , but today Android is knocking on the door of the iPhone mansion , and it ’s criticise hard .
Android hardware offer some of the most muscular smartphones we ’ve ever assure . The Android Market app store isgrowing inviolable , and the Android user base is growing just as tight . Android phones are fly off the shelves faster than they can be created , so we think it ’s about fourth dimension we put together a guide for the Android power drug user . On the survey page , we ’ll take the air you through what you postulate to sleep with about Google ’s roving OS and how to make the most out of it .
General Usage Guide
Using Android ’s canonical touch - screen port is relatively straightforward . You ’ll find that many applications and functions utilize the “ longsighted mechanical press , ” where you deem your digit to the screen door rather than just pink it . remember of a long printing press as a rightfulness - tap a mouse ; it will bring up additional functionality for the target you press . All of this will be familiar to anyone coming from any other touch - enabled smartphone .
When come from an iPhone , though , the changeover can be passably awkward because the Android platform brings several additional buttons over the iPhone ’s single clit interface . Get comfortable with Android ’s Menu button , as it ’s essential . You ’ll find that many setting , functions , and option can only be accessed via the Menu button . Holding the various hard keys can also bring up additional mathematical function ; for instance , holding the home base push will open a leaning of of late used apps .
For the Android devices with a hardware keyboard , you also have the option of using keyboard shortcuts , which are done through combinations of keys . you’re able to also make customs cutoff under the Quick Launch selection in the Applications division of your phone ’s preferences .
Default Keyboard Shortcuts
Quick Launch
hunt + B = web browser
Search + C = Contacts
Serach + E ( or ) G = Email ( or ) Gmail
Search + M = map
Search + S = message
Inside the Browser
Menu + B = bookmarker
Menu + W = New Window
Menu + R = Refresh or intercept Sir Frederick Handley Page load
Menu + F = Find on Page
Menu + J ( or ) K = Navigate Backword ( or ) Forward
Inside Maps
Menu + D = counsel
Menu + M + Change Map Mode
Menu + O = My placement
Optimize Your Android Experience
One of the primal lineament Android offers is the ability to tailor-make nearly every prospect of your gimmick . you’re able to download widgets to keep data available in good order on your rest home filmdom , install custom skins and keyboards , and create presentment and ringtones .
Stay Up to Date Using Widgets
With Android , you may have several home screen , each with its own unequaled collection of widgets .
Widgets are like small applications that run on your home blind and keep information right at your fingertips . A childlike recollective press on an empty space on your home screen will bring up the option to add widgets . Because many apps in the Android Market have widgets , there are widgets for just about everything including texting , Twitter , and email ; conditions , farm animal , and news information ; and euphony control . Because Android let you configure several home screens , you’re able to aggroup message doodad on one screen , news and weather on another , your music library and Pandora on the next , and so on , keeping all of your significant information just a finger swipe away . Widgets on your abode screen door are kept active and update on a regular basis , so you have to be measured not to add too many , specially on honest-to-goodness and lower - close devices . If swiping between nursing home screens begins to appear sluggish , you may require to consider removing a few widgets .
Stay Organized with Shortcuts
Just as with contraption , Android allow you supply shortcuts directly to your home screen . Adding a crosscut is done the exact same way as tot a thingmabob ; just prospicient closet on an empty quad and you ’ll see the option to create a shortcut . If there ’s anything you find yourself doing often with your phone , create a crosscut can make it even well-off . crosscut can be created for launching a bookmarked site , calling a specific middleman , accessing mount , playing a music playlist , open a specific inbox , and , of course , applications . If you detect your house covert becoming cluttered with shortcuts , you may produce home screen folders that permit you aggroup like shortcut together . For case , you may put all of your email inboxes into one brochure , your work reach into another , and your personal touch into yet another . One common practice is to make software shortcuts on your chief home cover for your top four to eight apps , loosely messaging , electronic mail , web browser , and single-valued function . Then , one screen over , put the runners up , like the market place , contacts , calculating machine , etc . It does n’t in particular matter where you put your shortcuts or how you aggroup them as long as it ’s intuitive to you , and you could get them speedily .
Find Your Perfect Software Keyboard
One of Android ’s most criticized features is its nonpayment software keyboard , but thanks to Android ’s unrestrictive nature , there are several peachy alternatives available both on and off the Android Market . We recommend Better Keyboard ( available on the Android Market for $ 2.99 ) , theHTC IME modified keyboard , andSwype .
The HTC IME modify keyboard is superior to Android ’s default option keyboard .
All of these keyboards offer significant improvements over the stock Android keyboard . Better Keyboard has a multitude of skin as well as many customizable configurations . HTC IME modified keyboard is a well - made imitation of the keyboard found in HTC ’s popular SenseUI custom Android pelt . Swype offers a unequalled and original schoolbook stimulant user interface that greatly ameliorate texting speed . set up a custom keyboard is not entirely straightforward , though . You will require to both start the keyboard in the Keyboard and Language part of your phone ’s preferences , as well as long pressure on a text box seat and take the newfangled input method acting .
Use Identifiable Ringtones and Notifications
In four elementary steps , you’re able to fix up a different custom alarm to wake you on each sidereal day .
Like all modern mobile phones , the Android platform lets you select and produce your own ringtones . create ringtones and notifications can be done manually or with the help of an app from the Android Market . Manually add together a ringtone to your telephone set involve creating several specific directories on your South Dakota card , base on the eccentric of ringtone you ’d like to add . The other method is far easier . Simply download the Ringdroid app free from the Android Market and use it to edit out and trim your audio files before saving them as a ringtone , notification , or warning machine . you could customize notifications and ringtones on a per contact basis by start the trust link ’s info and take Set Ringtone . you may change electronic mail notifications within the Gmail app ( though you might want to select Silent if you encounter a lot of emails).you may also determine a unlike song to wake you for each day of the week by creating an alarm ringtone of your favorite call , and make an alarm for each daytime of the week , then selecting the desire song .
Create a Unique Look
With the aHome app , you may use subject that even make your Android headphone look like OSX .
The keyboard and ringtones are n’t the only things Android countenance you tailor-make . you’re able to also select your own background wallpaper , which for many Android 2.1 devices , admit Live Wallpapers that in reality move and react to your interactions . wallpaper are just the tip of the iceberg , though . Apps like aHome , chance on the Android Market for $ 4.99 , permit you apply cutis to just about every prospect of your interface . With aHome , you may download tegument , themes , baptistery , and doodad to make your Android earphone look as unique as possible . Some themes not only change people of color and add flare , but also make significant change to the interface itself , admit you to customize the mode you interact with your phone to precisely how you need it .
Under the Hood: Tweak Your Settings
With GPS , Bluetooth , 3 G ( even 4 G ) , and astounding processor speeds , smartphones are smarter than ever . All of this extra intelligence means that the apps can be more complex , selective information can come faster , and battery management is far more critical . It ’s important that you configure your options decently to get the most out of your phone .
Sync More with Integrated Accounts
Add Accounts screen for synchronize additional societal electronic internet with your phone .
When first congeal up your Android earpiece , you have the option to add several different type of accounts , including Facebook , Flickr , Microsoft Exchange , and of course Google . you may always add more accounting after setting up your phone by live into Accounts & Sync under your sound ’s options , although only Android adaptation 2.0 and later allows for multiple Google accounts . Here , you ’ll be able to tot up extra Google account for synchronise calendars and e-mail , Facebook accounts , which can synchronise your contacts ( including impinging photographs and phone turn ) , Exchange accounts for syncing with Microsoft Exchange server , and Flickr accounts for sharing photos .
Network Speed vs. Battery Life
Having 3 thou connectivity is extremely convenient , especially when accessing large amounts of Internet data , like when streaming music or video , but there are still some area where 3 G just is n’t available yet . When you live in an area where a 3 G signal is poor or nonexistent , it can have contrary personal effects on your speech sound ’s electric battery life . When a 3 G phone is on a 2 G net , it significantly boost its broadcast power in hopes of finding that faster 3 G tugboat , which enfeeble your battery even faster . fortuitously , Android let you incapacitate your 3 gravitational constant antenna if you are on the edge or exterior of a 3 constant of gravitation coverage domain . you’re able to do this by go into your earphone ’s configurations under Mobile Networks in the Wireless & Networks class . You will see an option phone web Mode or Use Only 2 G Networks , depending on your gimmick . You will want to select the GSM Only option or break the box for 2 G Networks . This same conception can also be applied to 4 G phones like the EVO 4G.
Configure Your Search Settings
Searchable Items family under Search in the main options menu .
Being a institution of Google , it ’s not surprising that Android offers a superfluity of lookup functionality . If you ’re invariably using your telephone to look the web , you ’ve probably incur the Android Search thingmajig and have it smack in the heart of your home blind , but there ’s more to that little lookup Browning automatic rifle than meet the heart . conceal under the Search class in your Android sound ’s setting are some very useful tool . Under the Google Search configurations , there is a check boxful that enables vane mesmerism . When you ’re typing with your thumbs , this is super useful , as it let you typewrite the first couple letters of your question and returns a list of probable entries . You ’ll also want to look into the Searchable Items option where you ’ll be able to configure exactly where that Search widget looks . you may fructify it to search the cyberspace , your contacts , your music , your mail , even your text messages .
Location, Location, Location
Mobile telephone set have had Assisted GPS for quite some time now , but it was n’t until somewhat recently that true good turn - by - turn instruction and other placement - based services came to the mobile phone platform . That being said , you ’ll find a span choice under the Location options of your Android phone . The first , Use Wireless Networks , is a course - emplacement organisation , which triangulate your approximate position establish on tower signal military capability . It ’s precise to about 1.5 miles , which take a crap it utile for most any location serve that goes by energy codes . The other , Use GPS Satellites , is the true AGPS background , which can be precise up to three meters . This must be enable for feature of speech like release - by - number way and cross transcription . While using electronic internet location only will relieve some battery power , Android is actually very adept at managing the GPS receiver to the compass point that you will not see much of a difference in barrage fire life with both scene enabled at all times .
Get More out of Maps with Google Labs
Google Labs is accessible in the Maps app via Menu > More > Labs .
Google Maps is by far one of the most used apps on the Android platform . you may use it to explore for nearby businesses , consummate with addresses and contact info . It can also give you focus , and for the devices with Android variant 2.0 and later , alive turn - by - turn teaching . While all of these features are great , there are actually more , somewhat hidden feature , available through Google Labs . To get at these features , strike the Menu button while in the Maps app and choose More . You ’ll see the Labs option , inside of which is a lean of independently created and unreleased feature of speech , such as a plate barroom , a point - to - head measurement subprogram , and additional shortcut buttons .
Root Your Phone for Extra Functionality
Although Android is an open platform , cellular carriers still care to put certain limitation on their gimmick . Wireless tether is a prime example . The Android platform is more than capable of wireless tethering , but without root approach to the scheme , it ’s unacceptable . Up until the release of Android version 2.2 Froyo , you had to “ rootle , ” or whoop , your Android phone to get wireless tethering ( with a few exclusion ) . Prior to Froyo , run software from the SD card was also not possible without hacking radical privilege . Rooting also allow for various other affair that apps on the Android Market provide , such as overclocking and taking screenshots .
Rooting has another not bad reward , as well . It allows you to instal tradition read-only storage . While Froyo is bring a muckle of root - only functionality to official Android release , it ’s scarce available on a unmarried model . By style of a usance ROM , Froyo can be port to devices that do not yet have Froyo or may never get it . The same has already taken berth for 2.1 Éclair , bringing it to devices months before the manufacturing business released an official update . For a more detailed scout to installing custom ROMs seeour clause .
Staples in the Android Arsenal
Just like the iPhone , Android is nothing without apps . We see to the take after applications to be crucial for getting the most out of your Android phone .
Astro File Manager
Astro filing cabinet coach display the contentedness of your SD card .
Today ’s smartphones are apace approaching the capability of modern computer . They can already browse the web , meet music and video , take photo , and edit documents , all while pullulate it up and down the cyberspace . pull off all of this data would be unacceptable without the help of a file coach . Astro File Manager , uncommitted on the Android Market , is presently the pinnacle of Android file manager , and , at least for now , is altogether free . Astro does n’t just let you look at a filing cabinet tree of your SD card ; it cave in you a full - featured toolset for managing your files . With Astro , cut , copy , paste , and edit as well as zip and unzip files , install apps , take in exposure and written document , trifle videos , and search and shift file .
Add a Task Manager
Android is touted as the king of multitasking , and it certainly does that very well . Unfortunately , this puts a lot of trust in the developer , trust that they will manage their resource ingestion fairly and diligently , but this is n’t always the character . There are always a few apps that will run unnecessarily in the background , slowing down your phone and eating up your battery . A undertaking manager allows you to exit the background processes you do n’t need , relieve memory and saving battery spirit . There are several dandy task coach that can be found in both loose and paid versions in the Android Market , the most popular of which are Advanced Task Manager and TasKiller , which both permit for configurable automated task vote down . Both are available in free “ Lite ” or add - supported variant , but the full version are less than $ 1 .
Upgrade Your Messaging App
Chomp SMS provide a uncontaminating interface and ready to hand dwelling house cover thingumabob .
aside from the standard keyboard , Android ’s stock message app , while perfectly functional , is another weak link in the political platform . It ’s biggest downfall being a bland interface and barren feature listing . Fortunately , all of this can be remedied with a quick trip to the Android Market where you may find Handcent SMS and Chomp SMS , both free , feature - pack electronic messaging apps . Each offers a similar feature of speech list , capable of sending and obtain MMS messages , saving attached Indian file to the South Dakota card , and tailor-make conversation threads . Which to choose is primarily a personal druthers . The most substantial difference is that Chomp SMS has a herculean gizmo while Handcent SMS instead has a advanced popup presentment boxful . Both provide a great alternative to the standard message app .
Locale
Available on the Android Market for $ 9.99 , Locale is relatively expensive , but it ’s one of the good apps on the Android platform . With Locale , you’re able to program your phone to be aware of its location at all metre , and align its place setting accordingly . For instance , when you get home or go far at work , Locale can automatically enable Wi - Fi and turn it off again when you leave . It can put your phone on vibrate when you walk into the league room at work or into your favourite movie theatre . It can block birdsong from specific people based on your location or the fourth dimension of day . There are also plugins available that allow other applications to launch or perform specific action at law with emplacement or prison term cues from Locale . With the proper apparatus , you may never have to manually change your preferences again .
WaveSecure Mobile Security
The WaveScreen app helps you find your earpiece when it ’s lost and protect your datum when it ’s stolen .
lose your cell phone can be a nightmare . Smartphones are expensive to exchange , and then there ’s always the fear that should someone come up it , they can potentially bring mayhem with the information that might be on it , usernames , passwords , speech sound telephone number , maybe even citation card numbers . WaveSecure , a gratuitous app from the Android Market , gives you several line of refutation . If you ’ve only mislay your phone , WaveSecure can enable your phone ’s GPS and relay its exact location to you . If it turns out that your speech sound has been stolen , WaveSecure can lock up it remotely , back up your datum , and even pass over your information clean , ensuring that the stealer ca n’t do anything like slip your identity or rack up a huge phone bill .
If Android’s So Great, Is There Any Need for Chrome?
Android ’s adoption rate has been grow steady , and so has the Android platform , from its humble beginnings on a single gadget as Android 1.0 , to its numerous hardware and software upgrades in its current pattern as Android 2.2 . Of of course the updates will keep come , introducing young features and use unexampled technologies . Just recently , hearsay of Android 3.0 surface , suggest that Android was branch out from the nomadic phone market . Google was nimble to denounce these rumors , of class , as Android is and always will be a nomadic phone OS , but that has n’t stopped the OS from distribute its annex .
Android ’s receptive nature has set aside manufacturers to try out with the OS on other program , let in pad and netbooks . Even Google ’s freshly announced Google TV is produce for Android , giving path to Android - power high-definition television ’s like Sony ’s Dragonpoint . It ’s possible that Android ’s success has exceed Google ’s original intentions and has become a potential terror to the society ’s forthcoming Chrome OS , an operating organization contrive to be as lightweight as possible , idealistic for tablets and netbooks .
Android and Chrome OS have some similarity . Both are designed to have a small operating footprint , are ideal for ultra portable devices , and utilize an app - driven interface . The law of similarity stop there , though . Chrome OS commit an wholly unlike spin on the operating system of rules . rather of providing you an interface with your hardware , Chrome OS is simply an user interface with the Internet , essentially a web web browser with a few system management feature . The end behind Chrome OS is to alleviate the demand for local storage ; everything is stack away on the swarm . Its app are almost all web - driven , capable of being go in a standard web browser app . As Google has express , “ Chrome OS is being created for people who drop most of their fourth dimension on the web . ”
Android , while capable of always being connect to the Internet , is design as much more than just a web web internet browser , and if Android were created to work in the same sense as Chrome OS , every Android user would have his or her data plan reverse due to steep information use . While the two operating systems overlap , Chrome OS has a much more specific target than Android , and the two should be able to pull through together without much issue .
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