Monday, November 25, 2013

10 Great Things About Android 4.3

The user-friendly Android 4.3 mobile operating system can be made more powerful by following these important tips and tricks. It is worth noting that although a few of them may work on other versions of Android, many of these are for Android 4.3 and later versions.

As stated on www.groovypost.com, given below are the tips.

1. Make Restricted Profiles for Users – You can use this feature to ensure that your child does not access anything that you don’t want him to see. This feature helps you decide the apps the user of the profile can access and if he can use Google Play Store for adding new apps.

2. Using an Office Suite for Managing Documents – You can access and edit documents while travelling by using certain great free office suites. Among them is Kingsoft Office that allows you to open no less than 23 types of document files, which include DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX or PDF. You can download it from the Google Play Store.

3. Using Google For Getting Information Whenever You Require – Google Now can provide you information as and when you need them. It gives you flight data just before your flight, sports scores for your favorite teams, weather, photo spots and much more. It’s user-friendly and can perform every activity on its own.

4. Not Limiting Yourself to Apps from the Google Play Store – Contrary to iOS, Android permits you to install apps from non-Play Store sources. This helps you in getting better deals on apps that are on offer in other stores. For eg. the Amazon App Store offers a paid app for free each day.

5. Stay Organized with Google Keep – Google Keep was launched in the early part of this year. It’s a user-friendly tool that helps you in keeping yourself organized. It can be used for taking notes like voice recordings, images or text. It can also be used to store shopping lists and allows everything to be synced to your Google Account.

6. Enabling the Emoji Keyboard – Many of us use Emoji for communicating different feelings that traditional emoticons don't offer. For Android 4.3, you have the Emoji keyboard. You need to simply long press the Space bar on the regular Android keyboard and select the Emoji Input. 

7. Enhance the Quality of Your Music – You can enhance the quality of the sound through an equalizer app. Music Equalizer that is available in the Google Play Store is the best and for free. It has presets, and you can also customize your own.

8. Using your Android Device Manager for Locating Your Lost Device – The Android Device Manager is a useful feature allowing you to readily find your device if it is stolen. You can also delete the data on it from a remote location. Off late Google has brought a feature that permits you to set a password on your lost device that can be reset once located.

9. Keeping Your Mobile Data Use In Control – Android’s data usage feature permits you in finding out how much data has been used during a certain period of time. You need to go to Data usage in your device’s Settings menu for locating it. You can then set your billing interval, as well as decide when you should be warned that you’re closing in on your data cap. It can also be set to turn off data completely after a certain amount.

10. Make an Offline Cache of a Google Map – When you are going on a trip and don’t want to use up all your data on Google Map, you can cache the map of the area on your drive.


Monday, November 18, 2013

Enabling Bluetooth

Just like with Wi-Fi,you can turn on Bluetooth from either the main list of wireless controls or from Settings.


You have three basic options here:

• Bluetooth: This option enables or disables Bluetooth.

• Discoverable: If you would like other devices to be able to find this device,you need to check this option.

• Device name: When your phone is discoverable,it shows a name.By default,it’s a pretty plain name.If you tap the Device name,you can change it to whatever you want.

After you’ve enabled Bluetooth and have a device you’d like to connect to it,press the Menu button and tap Scan for devices.When you see the device you want to connect,or pair,to,tap it.That’s all you need to do,unless the remote device is protected,in which case you need to type in a PIN.

Using Wi-Fi

Setting Up Wi-Fi

First,tap the Applications tab,tap Settings,and tap Wireless controls.


Although you can turn on Wi-Fi from here,you can do that from the Wi-Fi settings as well,so tap Wi-Fi settings.

Without Wi-Fi enabled,the only thing you can do here is enable Wi-Fi,so the next step is to tap that option.

Note: Wi-Fi drains the battery pretty quickly.If you don’t need it enabled,it’s worth disabling.If you do need it enabled,it is wise to keep your phone plugged in.

As soon as Wi-Fi is enabled,your phone begins scanning for Wi-Fi networks.If any are avail- able,you see them so that you can connect to them.If no networks are available,your phone scans for newly available networks on a regular schedule (every few minutes).

Note : that open networks and secured networks are distinguished by an icon and a description.The network’s relative strength is indicated by the white waves radiating from the dot. The more white,the better.


If you want to force the phone to scan for a new network (perhaps because the network was temporarily unavailable when the phone last scanned),press the Menu button and tap Scan.

As you can see,two networks are available to connect to—one secured and one open.

Note : A secured network requires a password or key to connect to it.An open network lets anyone connect to it. Lots of open public networks are available,particularly in large metropolitan areas.If you’re in a location that you know offers free Wi-Fi,feel free to connect to an open network.However,all data that you send to the Internet through this open network (including passwords and credit card numbers) could potentially be monitored by the network’s owner.Although this isn’t common,it can definitely happen.Certain coffee shops and bookstores often have secured networks because they require you to purchase some of their product before you can use their wireless networks.

We cannot condone stealing Wi-Fi from someone’s house or business that isn’tintending to offer their Wi-Fi free.We also recommend that if you have a wireless network at home,be sure to secure it.

When you attempt to connect to an open network,you see the signal strength and security of the network you’re connecting to.

If you connect to a secured network.

You need to use the keyboard to type in the security code.If you’re like me,you’ll want to check the Show password box so that,instead of seeing dots,you’ll be able read what you type.If you’re connecting to a secured network in a public location,such as a coffee shop or an airport,you’ll likely need to purchase access to the network.When you do so,you’ll obtain the security code for the network.If you’re connecting to a secured network that a friend owns,they will have to give you the security code.

You have a couple other options.First,there’s the option to add a Wi-Fi network manually.Tap Add a Wi-Fi network.


Note: You won’t usually need to add a Wi-Fi connection manually.Your phone should automatically detect any available connection in range.However,suppose,for example,that you’re going to a conference and you know secured Wi-Fi will be available.If you have the SSID (the network’s code) and security information, you can actually set up the network ahead of time.

Occasionally,to connect to a network,you need to create the network on your device,be it phone or computer,before you can connect to it.You need to talk to whoever runs the wireless network to get the login credentials.

You also see advanced options after pressing the Menu button and tapping Advanced.


This is another instance where you need to talk to whoever is running your wireless network. If you know what all this means,you probably know what values you need to provide.If you don’t,you’ll have to ask to find out.

As soon as you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network,your Internet traffic is routed over that network rather than over your mobile phone’s data plan.

Screen Lock

With the touch screen being such a major part of this phone,there’s an ingenious method of unlocking the phone that lets your fingers do the walking—or,in this case,sliding.

Tap the Application tab,tap Settings,and tap Security & location.We’ll focus on the Screen unlock portion of the list.

First you need to set an unlock pattern,so tap that option.You see an information screen explaining what you need to do,followed by a screen that looks something like figure below:



As the instructional page said,you need to draw a pattern on the screen,connecting the dots. You need to drag through at least four dots;they don’t need to be adjacent.


After you’ve input the pattern once,you’re asked to verify the pattern by doing it again.As soon as all the verifying and confirming are done,you can choose whether to require the pat- tern to unlock the phone.If you don’t,the device is always open.

If you choose to use the pattern,you can choose another option as well.The Use visible pattern option displays feedback on the screen as you’re unlocking your phone.If you uncheck this option,you don’t see the trail that your finger makes as you drag it across the screen. Unchecking this option will prevent anyone who looks over your shoulder from getting a good look at your pattern,but it can also make it harder to enter a complex pattern.

If it was at all tricky to make your pattern,you may not want to uncheck Use visible pattern. You may not be able to unlock your phone again,which leads us to the next section.

SIM Card Lock

This extra bit of security allows you to lock your phone’s SIM card (the little card that lets you connect to your mobile phone provider).That way,no one can make phone calls without the PIN.

If you’d like to set this up,tap the Application tab,tap Settings,tap Security & location,and then tap SIM card lock.

The settings are rather basic:

• Enable Lock SIM card locks the SIM card.

• Change PIN code changes the PIN code.

Don’t you wish everything was so clearly labeled?

If you don’t know your SIM card PIN,you need to contact your mobile phone service provider.You can’t lock your SIM card without that PIN.

Note: You’ll still be able to make emergency calls (such as 911 in the United States).

Locking your SIM card won’t prevent anyone from accessing documents stored on your phone,so don’t rely on it to secure all your data.If you’re worried about someone accessing your data when you’re not in possession of your phone,use the screen lock function,discussed next.

Google Maps

With Google maps and the GPS on this phone,no matter where “there”is,you’ll know where you are.

Let’s start with the basics.Maps may be on your main screen already,so you can tap it from there.If it isn’t,tap the Applications tab,and tap Maps from there.

Do you want the phone to show you where you are? Press the Menu button and tap My Location.If you haven’t configured the Location settings to allow the phone to figure out where it is,you get a notification message .


You could tap Cancel here,but that wouldn’t tell you where you are.So instead,tap OK;you see two options for your location sources.

First,you could use wireless networks.This option tries to use your mobile phone network to determine your position.Or,if you’ve already configured Wi-Fi connectivity,despite our not discussing it yet,and you’re connected to your Wi-Fi network,your phone uses that to determine your physical location.

However,if you’ve enabled the GPS functionality,and you have a good signal to the GPS satellites,your phone zooms right in on where you are currently located.

On the other hand,if you don’t have a good signal,or the Wi-Fi or mobile networks aren’t helping you figure out where you are,you end up with an error message.



But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.We’ll talk much more about GPS in the section “Using Google Maps with GPS.”For now,let’s start with some of the basics of viewing and using maps on your phone.

Viewing a Map

Your location on the map is marked with a flashing blue dot.Hopefully the phone has found your location easily and it’s mostly correct.Now let’s look at a few different views for your map.Press the Menu button and then tap Map mode to display the screen.

Map View

The default map view is a road map.Tap Map on the Map mode menu if you’ve somehow gotten yourself into another map view.

As you’re looking at the road map view,you can move around and zoom in and out.If you touch the screen,you get the same zoom in and out buttons that you get from the web browser.You can also drag the screen in whichever direction you want to move the map around to move the map around.



Note: Although the default map view is a road map,you should never use your phone and the Map application while driving.Either have someone else in the car navigate,or pull over and check your map.Driving while dividing your attention between the road and that small screen is dangerous and,in many states,illegal.

The phone attempts to figure out where you are based on mobile phone towers.


As you can see,the dot shows approximately where we are currently located.If you scroll around a little bit,you’ll also notice a circle surrounding that glowing dot.The circle doesn’t serve much purpose other than to show all portions of the map within half a mile of your current location.

When the phone approximates your location from mobile phone towers,as opposed to GPS, you should really put emphasis on the word “approximate.”If you live in an urban environment and have a good signal from all the local towers,you might be close to the dot. 

In fact,if you just leave the map up,it may refresh itself and believe you’re in a completely different location without your even moving,all through the magic of triangulation.

The road map is pretty cool,but several other views offer even more information,as discussed in the following sections.Press Menu and tap Map mode again,and then tap Traffic.

Traffic View

Simply press the Menu button,tap Map mode,and then tap Traffic.If you’re lucky enough to live in an area with online traffic information available.

If you don’t see the telltale green,yellow,and red highlights on the roads,you might not live in an area that has online traffic information available.More and more areas are providing traffic information,so if you don’t see traffic information today,don’t despair.You might find it in six months or so.

Note: The Traffic view screen can be very helpful when you’re away from your computer and need to know the fastest way to get from point A to point B.We use it all the time to check traffic between our house and the airport or between work and home.You can even use it to find the quickest way home after a late-night concert.


A very simple way to tell whether traffic information is available in your area is to head to your computer and surf to http://maps.google.com. Click the Traffic link at the top of the map.If you zoom out to see the United States,you see traffic lights in every area where you can get traffic information. Click one of the traffic lights,and then click the Zoom In link.


Satellite View

Road and Traffic maps are handy,but sometimes you want to see an aerial view of where you are. Press the Menu button,tap Map mode,and tap Satellite. .As with the Street view,you can zoom in and out.Just don’t expect to be able to read license plates or check out the color of someone’s eyes.


Note: Looking at the aerial view of your house,and someone else’s car is in the driveway? Is your house a color it hasn’t been in two years? Is your relatively new office building not even there? Well,aerial view isn’t an actual live satellite view.It’s a compilation of static images taken at some past date.

Street View

First,the bad news:Street view is available in only certain areas.Some are obvious,like the Bay Area in Northern California,Seattle,and New York City.Others are not so obvious,like Mount Shasta National Park in Northern California.But where Street view is available,it can be a great way to figure out where something is.

To see where Street view is available,go to http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/ in your web browser on your computer.You should see most locations that are available in Street view.

Note: You have a more advanced method of finding what is available in street view.Go to http://maps.google.com. At the top of the zoom bar on the left stands the Google street view “man.”Click and drag him onto the map of the United States.Areas with Street view are blue on the map.

Now,the good news:If you live in an area covered by Street view,you can see it on your phone.

Start by pressing the Menu button and tapping Map mode and then tapping Street view.

If you’re covered by Street view,or at least the area you’re looking at on the map is,the roads are outlined in blue.

Normally,when you want to see the Street view,you just tap the blue road you want to see. We aren’t zoomed in quite enough to get Street view to work;we need to zoom in quite a bit to be able to use it.For now,just tap the plus sign to zoom in.

After you are fully zoomed in,indicated by the fact that the zoom in button is now unusable, you should be able to tap a road.If you find it difficult to tap a road you want,you can use the trackball to move the small circle around the screen,stopping it on the road you want.After you’ve tapped where you want,or anywhere near a Street view location,a little box shows you what you’ve selected.You also might see a little snapshot of where you’re looking.


If this is the location you want to see,tap the box.

The screen shows a gray line stretching off into the distance,along with two arrows—one pointing toward you and one pointing away.Tapping either of these moves you in that direction.Moving your finger around the screen allows you to look around.

If you press the Menu button,you can also step forward and back,as well as zoom in on any image.Note that when you zoom in,you can move forward and backward only by using the Menu,not the screen.When you do move,you zoom right back out.

Note: As with the Satellite view,Street view is a compilation of images taken at a fixed point in time.It can be fun to walk through street view and see the weather change from sunny to cloudy.All this means is that the part of the street that’s sunny was recorded on a different day than the part of the street that’s cloudy.

Two other options show up when you press the Menu button.The first is Report image. Tapping this opens a web browser so that you can report an image.You can report Privacy Concerns,such as removing your house,or blurring out someone’s face or a license plate.Inappropriate Content covers nudity and the like.The general Other option covers blurry images,incorrect images,security concerns,and so on.


The second option is Compass mode.If you just tap it,you won’t see what’s so cool about it. You need to pick up your phone,hold it in front of your eyes,and then spin.

If you look at the Street view of where you are right now,the phone recognizes what direction you are facing.As you turn,the phone moves the picture to show you what you should be seeing.

Searching for a Location

You can move your way around the map with your finger only so quickly,and accuracy obviously is an issue.There must be an easier way to find things,right? Enter the Search box.

Press the Menu button and tap Search.You see a simple text box where you can type in a location you’d like to find.

When you open the Search box,you see a list of things you’ve searched for before,including My Location.I happen to be fond of the restaurant Cha Cha Lounge in Los Angeles,so I’ll type cha cha lounge, los angeles, ca.You don’t always need to be so precise.If a place is uniquely named and in your local area,you can leave off the city and state,and you likely will find it.If you know the address,you can search for that.

After you type in what you want to search for,either tap the Search button on the screen or press Enter,and you see a list.Tap the item in the list you want to see.If you tap the Show map button,you go to the first item in the list.Tapping Edit search takes you back to the search box.


You have a couple options on this screen.First,the left and right arrows next to the name and address you searched for move you through the list of items that came up in the search.

The lower-right corner of the screen has a button that allows you to return to your search results.
Last,the map is populated with numerous pushpins,each of which represents a different item from the search box.You can tap a pushpin to jump to its location.

If you tap the box containing the address you’re looking at,you’re given a few options of what to do.You can zoom in to the address so that you get a close-up of the area.If you searched for a business name and the phone number is listed,you can call the business with a simple tap.We’ll skip the directions option for now,because we’ll talk about that in a moment.You also have the option to add this business as a contact so that you can find it more easily.Also, if the business has a website in Google’s directories,you have a very simple method to visit it.

Using Google Maps with GPS

One of the better features of modern phones is the convenience of having a built-in GPS, removing the need for you to carry a separate device.

Don’t get me wrong.A dedicated GPS device has more features when it comes to getting from here to there,but your phone’s GPS capabilities are a good substitute.

To use the GPS,first you must turn it on.

But before you do that,you need to know that GPS drains your battery.If at all possible,keep the phone plugged into a charger while you use the GPS.If you need to use the GPS while not on a charger,make sure you disable the GPS when you’re finished using it.

To turn on the GPS,tap the Application tab,tap Settings,tap Security & location,and tap Enable GPS satellites.

That’s all you have to do to enable it.

Note that GPS probably won’t work while you’re inside a building.

Getting Directions

You just read about one way to get directions to (or from) a location.How about another? When you’re looking at a map,press the Menu button and tap Directions.


You’ll find that you can get to a certain level of vagueness in your directions.For instance,you can simply put in a city and state for your starting location,and the directions you are given start from the center of the city you’ve selected.This is an excellent workaround for when you know the basics of how to get out of town,but not the specifics of how to get where you’re going.We all know that online directions are not always the best when it comes to the ins and outs of a city,but generally they are correct.So,to save time,rather than starting from your home address,just start from your city.You know how to get to the highway,after all,and you probably know a better way than the directions will give you.

Also,if you don’t know the address of where you are going,and it’s a business,you can put in the same sort of information you’d have used in a search to find it on the map.

But let’s make a pit stop here,because the directions search screen has a few other interesting features.The button on the left,for instance,swaps the Start and End locations.

Also,the buttons to the right of the start and end locations allow you to fill the box with an address you’ve used before,the address of one of your contacts,or your current location.This is an exceedingly useful option if you have the GPS enabled.

After you put in your start and end location and tap the Route button,you see a list of directions.

First,you can tap the Show map button.This takes you to the start of the route.

On this screen,you can tap the location,or the right arrow,to move to the next step in the directions.After you’ve moved past the first step,you can tap the left arrow to go back to the previous step if necessary.


In the lower right is a button that takes you back to the list of directions.

From the directions screen you can also tap any particular step to zoom to that part of the map.This is really good when you know how to get halfway there,so you need directions after only a certain point.

The directions have some drawbacks.First,unlike a normal GPS,the phone’s GPS doesn’t tell you when you’re off course,or readjust your directions based on going off course.

Also,as you approach a waypoint,the map doesn’t update to where you are;nor can you see the directions and the map at the same time.You can only view the map and tap on a single step of the directions at once.

If you have a navigator riding with you,the GPS works great.If you’re driving alone,it’s not quite as useful.


Sunday, November 17, 2013

Other Instant Message Programs

AIM,Windows Live Messenger,and Yahoo! Messenger are three other popular instant messaging systems.Maybe you already have accounts on them,or maybe you don’t,but setting them up is always roughly the same.So rather than telling you about each one individually,we’ll show you how to set one up.

Adding an Account

We’ll go through setting up an AIM account.Open the IM application if you aren’t already in it. If you are in it,you need to get to the Account list.

If you’re looking at a chat,press the Menu button and tap Friends list.

If you’re already looking at the Friends list,press the Menu button and tap Account list.

Because we’ll set up AIM (AOL’s instant messaging application),tap that.As you can see,we’re already set up on the other available instant messaging application.

When setting up a new connection,you’re presented with a pretty basic logon box.


If you don’t already have an account on whatever system you want to connect to,the logon screen includes a link to create an account.In the case of AIM,as you can see,it is Get a Screen Name.The link is in the same location regardless of the account,but it might say something a little different for each service.

If you don’t have an account and you need to create one,tap the link.Doing so opens the appropriate page in a web browser to allow you to create the account.

If you do have an account,just fill in the account name and password.

If you want your phone to remember your password,check the box.If you do,you get a friendly reminder to change your password using your computer should your phone get stolen or lost.


                    

Choose Sign me in automatically if you want the application to sign you in automatically whenever you launch it.

Removing an Account

Let’s say you added a Yahoo! account and then realized that you wanted to add a completely different Yahoo! account.Or maybe you were just experimenting with creating an account, and now you want to use a different account.

Head back to the Accounts screen,tap and hold the account you’d like to remove,and select Remove account from the list.That’s all there is to it.