?? Switching From Another Platform, Or Just Joining Android Central ?? {READ THIS}

[RUSH]

••••• HELLO....

If you're coming from any one of these platforms, or just joining Android Central - then you've made the right choice. --- continue reading the tips & tricks below. ••••••

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•• == WELCOME TO ANDROID CENTRAL -

You can follow Android Central on Twitter. == ••

There is no doubt that you've chosen one of the better operating system around - Android is a very powerful and very customizable OS, and android phones are robustly built.(IMO)

?? Here are some tips that might help you along the way. These definitely aren't the only way to do things, nor will they be the - preferred method that people choose. However, they're worth mentioning. ??


Switching from one Platform to another sometimes can be "difficult", and usually requires strong determination, and a "Helpful" community to make the move a successful one. I've posted two very "Informative Links" that should assist you in making the transition a lot easier, and to help you know more about Android and your phone capabilities. •• Before tapping the "Links" below, continue reading the rest of the thread.••
For webos users.
http://forum.androidcentral.com/general-help-how/33254-palm-webos-homebrewers-guide-android.html

For everyone!
http://forum.androidcentral.com/general-help-how/31622-getting-started-android-tips-tricks.html

? Important ?
Remember… ••> Reading and understanding should be your best friend.

Thanks for joining Android Central.​

 

[RUSH]

•• Multitasking ••
Usually, one of the first question most WebOs and other platform users asked is - How well does Android devices multitasked? Well..that's an easy question to answer - - Android does multitasking (Very Elegantly.) Every platform does multitasking differently, and you have to get familiar with the way It's done. At first, I did miss "cards" on Webos, then I found out that Android multitasking is a lot easier... and very intuitive ...just like any other operating system - it gets better with time.


•• Note ••
When viewing your call list you can easily send a text message without dialing the number - by touch-on-hold the contact or number for options.

The most common issues can be fixed by power OFF and ON the device.

Remember to charge your phone with the kickstand support. (if applicable) It prevent the camera lens from scratches.

Removing YouTube account via phone
Do you want to delete your YouTube account, but don't know how to.. well, now you can by using your phone. Since youtube is part of google now, your youtube account becomes an account on your phone. so going into the accounts in the phone settings lets you remove the youtube account.​

 

[RUSH]

•• Clearing Cache On Your Device ••

Clearing the Cache on your phone: If your phone appears to be sluggish or running out of room. You can go into Menu - Settings - Applications - Manage Applications. Once the list populates (may take a while), you can order them by size. Clearing the cache on the apps that are consuming the most ROM and RAM is a good idea occasionally. The two apps that have the biggest caches are the Browser and Albums. Clearing the cache frees up memory and may improve the speed of your phone. Warning, by "Force Closing" apps that are crucial to the OS in this section of Manage Applications you can cause your phone to miss text messages, alarms, etc. Don't Force Close the app unless you know exactly what that application does. After clearing cache you should notice a "difference" in your device performance.

•• Task Managers ••

Task Managers Are Completely Unnecessary. You do not need to Force Close applications on your Android phone. Android knows when to shut down programs if you haven't properly backed out of them. There is a built in Task Manager on Android 2 point plus. Menu = Settings = Applications = Running Services. Don't force close things like voicemail, phone apps, Messages app, etc. You will miss text messages, phone calls, etc. Android is an amazing OS and doesn't need any help from any "Task managers".​

 

[RUSH]

•• Copy and Paste ••

Copy & Paste is one of the features on Android that is done quite elegantly. YOU can Copy and Paste text by long pressing on that item. This works very well in the HTC Mail application and browser. On the Evo, copy and paste also gives you other options, you can highlight a word or string of words and then search that word, look up a definition, or copy to clipboard. How awesome is that.


•• Factory Data Reset ••

•• Warning •• - Only do this if it's absolutely necessary ••
Make sure to back up all your data first before doing this. This will wipe all your data and return the phone to the original factory state. This can be performed by going through the menus to reset the data {Menu = Settings = SD & phone storage or Privacy = Factory Data Reset = Reset Phone = Erase everything}. Follow the prompts to clear the data and reset the device. The device will reboot once the process is complete.

•• Attention ••
For non-rooted phones... you could installed "AppBrain" from the android market(free) before doing any "Reset" of the device. Sign into your google account..Sync your apps to your Google account using "AppBrain". After resetting the device open market and reinstall AppBrain, Sign into your Google account and manually reinstall all your apps.​

 

[RUSH]

•• Back Arrow(hardkeys) ••

To exit an application use the "back arrow" hardkey until you back out of the application. Hitting the "home" key will leave the app running in the background, which is okay if you are going to be using it frequently. Android will close this application when it needs to free up RAM. It is good to get in the practice of backing out of apps rather than hitting the home key.

•• Calibration ••

Calibrate your keyboard and accelerometer. Menu = settings = Language & Keyboard = Touch Input = Text Input = Calibration Tool. Perform this if your keyboard isn't responding correctly to touch.. or if the accelerometer on the device seems off.


•• Apps ••

Downloading|Removing apps from the Android Market You can easily add apps from the market by following the installation instructions. If you ever want to remove an application, go to the Android Market = downloads section and remove the app using this method. There are other ways to remove applications, this (in my opinion) is the best so it is off your account… If you have paid for an app and you want to remove it (after the 15 mins refund time) you will be able to reinstall the application free of charge as long as you use the same google account on the phone.
Periodically you can check for application updates by visiting the Android Market - My apps section.​

 

[RUSH]

•• Dictionary ••

Removing saved words from your dictionary. Lets say you add words to your dictionary on accident like "te" instead of "to" or "do" then you can erase all saved words in your dictionary, you can also remove single words from the list of remembered words. Menu = settings = Language & Keyboard = Touch Input = User Dictionary. Then you can add and remove words as necessary.

If you can't find options first try "Menu hardkey", then try long pressing on it.



•• Getting Music On Your Device ••


Follow these steps on how to get music on your device ... Connect your Android phone to a PC and select USB Connected, then Mount SD Card. This will mount your phone's SD card like a flash or thumb drive on your computer. You can just drag and drop MP3s or other formats directly on to your SD card anywhere and the Music app will recognize it. If you want to organize your music it might make it easier to add and remove in the future. When finished make sure to "Turn off USB storage" before disconnecting the device.​

 

[RUSH]

•• Battery Widget ••

There is a pre-stock battery widget available on our phones... to installed/download this widget - you would have to go to "Get More HTC Widgets".

To place battery widget on your home-screen, make sure there is available room to place the widget.

•• Here's How To Do It ••
Tap the plus sign(+) on phone (softkeys) ••> Tap widgets ••> Get more htc Widgets ••> battery icon. ​

 

[RUSH]

•• C@nt@Cts, C@LenD@r and Google SYnC ••

Take a few minutes (or more, depending on how much contacts you have) exporting all your contacts into your google account online (Gmail Contacts). In the least you can enter names and phone numbers. You can also easily add several phones, several email addresses, home postal addresses, birthdays, etc. You can. import contacts into google contacts several ways and from several different programs....Just export your contacts using a .CSV file and then import into Gmail contacts. Gmail Contacts also automatically detects duplicate contacts so you can keep your contacts clean. The HTC Evo and Hero phones will also sync with your MS exchange contacts as well. As you add new contacts to your phone, make them "google" contacts under type of contact. These will automatically sync with your Android powered phone (Menu = Settings = Accounts and Sync). The reason you want to use this method is that it will always be backed up in case you...(1)lose your phone, .... (2)damage your phone , (3)or have to update your phone. Doing this now will save you tons of time in the future. For those who want to increase the font size of their email messages... can do so by tapping menu - more - settings - general settings. Android stock email apps are awesome… However, there are other email apps available in the Android market. ​

 

[RUSH]

•• How To Post Screenshot ••

Follow these three easy steps ••> First, installed an app called "ShootMe|work on a few non or rooted devices[Evo and many more]" available for free on the Android Market. Second, send screenshot to ImageShackdroid, Photobucket, or your preferred photo hosting service. Third, copy & paste the URL inside the message field(long press), or use the message upload system(tap to bring up URL input) - either way it should work. Check out the "screenshot" below.

 

[RUSH]

•• Posting GIF images to post ••​

Posting gif images are really simple when using your device. (1) Type or say the gif image you want (Example: Thanks gif, Tap images at the top of the page. (2) Choose the image that you want by tapping on it, then tap view full size... copy the URL by long pressing on the page url. Paste the URL inside the message upload system by tapping the yellow & black square box.(see screenshot posted above with yellow and black square box) (3) Preview post before pressing the post quick reply button. (Check out the gif image I posted below.) > cool uh!

•• Note ••
Sometimes the URL might not show up inside the message field after pasting it, if so..just tap inside the open message field and it should become visible.

•• Changing URL Link Into Word ••​

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Have you ever wanted to post a URL link in the form of a word, but have no idea how to do it.. well, now you can - follow these simple steps and you'll be posting word link in no time. Copy and paste the URL of the page inside the link upload system(beside the yellow and black square box shown in two posts above - the icon on the left.), then delete the second URL shown - Start deleting right before this sign •>> [/URL] <<•(do not delete this) to where the URL begins •>> http:<<•(this should be the last thing deleted). Type in whatever you want and that's it.] Preview post before submitting. ​

 

[RUSH]

•• Home key button ••

Holding down the "Home" key (while in apps or not) will give you a list of the last 6 - 8 applications that are either open or were open. This allows you to quickly switch between them to take advantage of the multitaksing of the phone.


MicroSD Cards

MicroSD cards are used to store information, the HTC Hero and Samsung Moment came with a 2GB microSD card stock, the HTC Evo4G comes with an 8GB card already. In Android 2point2plus you are able to run some of your applications directly off your SD Card (that's up to the developer, don't expect to move them all over automatically.....a good app for this is SDmove). Currently the Samsung Moment, HTC Hero and HTC Evo4G all support up to 32GB microSD cards. The best cards to get are that of "class 6" rating.(it will have a little 6 within a circle on it). 8GB class 6 cards are ~ 15-20 bucks on amazon.com. 32GB Micro SDHC cards are very expensive still.



•• File Manager ••

Astro file manager is a free (currently) application on the Android market. You can use a file manager to manager your files on your SD card directly from your phone. This will allow you to copy, paste, delete, rename, or create folders, files and directories like you would from your desktop or laptop computer. This particular app also has a utility to back up your applications to your SD card (again, the apps can't run off your SD card, they are just stored there). This is a handy feature when you need to do factory resets OR firmware upgrades.
Another handy backup application is BookmarkBR which makes a backup file of your Browser applications web bookmarks. (Before firmware upgrades it is recommended to back up these items.) You may also find a program that will backup your SMS and MMS messages if they are needed after firmware or factory resets. Your emails are held on the server and will repopulate after you update or reset your phone.​

 

[RUSH]

•• Multitasking ••
Usually, one of the first question most WebOs and other platform users asked is - How well does Android devices multitasked? Well..that's an easy question to answer - - Android does multitasking (Very Elegantly.) Every platform does multitasking differently, and you have to get familiar with the way It's done. At first, I did miss "cards" on Webos, then I found out that Android multitasking is a lot easier... and very intuitive ...just like any other operating system - it gets better with time.

•• Tip ••
Placing the internet (app) on your home-screen gives you one touch access to the last webpage visited. Also, placing the call history app allows easy access to all previous calls.​

 

[Smitty_82]

Nice job Rush!

 

[RUSH]

Nice job Rush!

Thank you Smitty.

I try to assist as much as possible.... My (`small but significant`) ways of giving back to such an awesome community.

 

[reginald_1986]

I liked it! Thank you

 

[RUSH]

•• Google Dashboard ••​

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You might want to edit, add, or delete some information in your Google account - but you can't figure out how to do this. Well, this is one way using your device. 1) On your main- screen tap menu, then settings. 2) Tap on voice input & output. 3) voice recognizer & settings.. then tap on Google account dashboard.



•• Undo Modifications done to Data Settings|Data Profile(##3282#) ••

If you've change the settings in your data connection/data profile(##data#) •>"Sprint devices" - (not sure how other carriers work).. you can restore all settings to factory default without resetting the device.(no data would be lost)

Follow these steps to restore all settings 1) Touch phone icon, and press (## data#). 2) Type in your MSL code(contact your carrier), then tap edit mode] - put in your password(which is your Msl code). 3) Tap ok.. then menu on phone hardkeys - and touch 'restore', phone will then power off and on.. then automatically update "Data profile >Prl update > Firmware update.​

 

[RUSH]

•• Google Search by Voice ••

You can long press the search key when on your home screen and it will bring up the google voice search that will search the web, you can also access applications, say things like "call: "Mary Jane" Mobile" or "Navigate to Burger King".

Quick press the key for the text search option.....you can easily search the web, applications, people, etc.. In certain applications, you can use the search key to find things within that application. Example: you can search your installed applications quickly when in your app drawer. This is one of Android awesome features - and it's nice to get in the habbit of using it.

 

[Johnly]

Great thread for those new to android. Once you get comfortable with the OS, it is hard to go back! It took me time to discover the major facilities of android, but I went at it on my own. This thread would have been a good read when I was

 

[RUSH]

?? Shortcut To Cached Webpages ??

When in your browser, holding the "back arrow" key will bring up your history which makes it easier to find cached webpages plus other options.​

 

[RenoD2010]

Yes Thank you. Although, I had figured out much of this on my own, I did learn a few new things. It really is a clever OS. Can't wait for the next version. Hoping that moving app tiles around will get easier like on iOS.