Android How-Tos
How To: Identify Missed Alerts by Notification Type Just by Looking at Your Samsung Galaxy S4
Previously, if you missed a call or text on your old Samsung Galaxy S3, there was a white LED notification to let you know. It's a nice feature that most smartphones have, but wouldn't it have be nice to know what kind of notification it was before picking up the phone?
How To: Revert Back to a More Traditional Sense-Style Home Screen on Your HTC One
The newer HTC One is arguably the best smartphone yet in terms of hardware, but its software moves considerably farther away from the stock Android experience. Even more so from HTC's own Sense.
How To: Improve Note-Taking on Your Nexus 7 Tablet by Adding Handwriting Recognition
Writing longhand may boost learning and goal achievement, but that doesn't mean squat if you don't have pen and paper on you.
How To: Get Ambient Weather Readings Instantly Using Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2's Built-In Sensors
The new Samsung Galaxy S4 may be the only phone to include temperature and humidity sensors, but your Galaxy Note 2 has a few weather-detecting features of its own.
How To: Stop Android Lag in Its Tracks on Your Nexus 7 for a Super Smooth Tablet
Lag has been a serious issue on Android devices since the very beginning. Even the Nexus 7's quad-core processor can't stop it from happening. That's because the pauses and long responses are coming straight from the Android OS itself, not the hardware.
How To: Flash a Custom ROM onto Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Enhance Your Android Experience
The new Samsung Galaxy S4 just received an update to Android 4.2.2, so why is it that my Galaxy Note 2 is still running an older version of Jelly Bean? It felt like yesterday that my device was finally updated to 4.1.2, but why even bother since 4.2 has been around since last November?
How To: Turn Your Samsung Galaxy S4 into a Personal Ambient Weather Station
The new Samsung Galaxy S4 has something no other phone has ever had before—weather sensors. Older devices like the Galaxy Nexus, S3, Note, and Note 2 do have a atmospheric pressure sensor, aka a barometer. However, they do not have a thermometer or hygrometer like the GS4 does, which measures ambient temperature and humidity.
How To: Root Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Using ODIN for Windows (So Easy Your Grandma Can Do It)
Just like the recently rediscovered Star Wars ruins in the Tunisian desert, there are tons of hidden treasures in your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 just waiting to be unearthed.
How To: Ditch Stock & Install a Custom Android ROM on Your HTC EVO 4G LTE
HTC's Sense 4 may be leaner and faster than previous versions, but one thing my EVO 4G LTE sorely lacked was the "Quick Settings" option that Sense 2 and 3 had. Developers were able to port it to Sense 4 for Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), but the only way to get this feature was to install a custom ROM. With the update from ICS to Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), my EVO 4G LTE received the new Sense 4+ version. This new Sense made it possible to add widgets to the Notifications pull-down menu, so...
How To: Totally Maximize the Battery Life of Your Samsung Galaxy S4
The battery in the Samsung Galaxy S4 may pack 500 more milliamps per hour than the old S3 battery, but that doesn't necessarily mean more battery life. High-powered devices need lots of juice, and the S4 is definitely more powerful than its predecessor. The new battery can handle a third more in standby days, and over twice as much in talk time hours. But, when you live on your phone all day long, that means nothing. You're battery is still going to have a hard time keeping up with you.
How To: Play 4 Videos at the Same Time on Your Nexus 7 Tablet
According to Nielsen, the average American spends about 34 hours per week watching television. That may sound like a lot, but when you factor in multi-screen viewing, it could be even higher—81 percent of Americans use their smartphones or another device while watching TV. It's the new picture-in-picture.
How To: Remove OEM Skins & Carrier Bloatware on Your HTC EVO 4G LTE with CyanogenMod
Sense appears on over forty Android devices, but HTC's notorious GUI was actually designed with a completely different mobile OS in mind—Windows.
How To: Set Exotic Photo Spheres as Panoramic Live Wallpapers on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2
"We all want to escape our circumstances, don't we?" Benedict Cumberbatch may have been talking about acting, but the sentiment rings true for all of us at some point or another. Whether it's work, school, or just boredom at home—we all wish for an escape sometimes. If only.
How To: Stay Updated on All the Latest News for Your Samsung Galaxy S4 with Drippler
Written news was first delivered by an elaborate courier service used by the Pharaohs nearly 4,500 years ago. About 2,300 years later, Romans would post public announcements via bulletins carved in metal or stone. Fast forward 1,600 years to the first monthly handwritten gazette published in Venice, the forefather of modern newspapers, which didn't become commonplace until the early 17th century.
How To: Forget Remembering! Schedule Recurring Texts, Emails, Tweets, & Facebook Posts on Your Samsung Galaxy S3
I'm sorry your mom hates you now, but it's pretty hard to forgive someone who forgets to say "Happy Mother's Day." Your poor ole ma could've spent anywhere from 10 to 20 hours popping you out, so the least you could do is set aside two minutes every year to say thanks. If you live to be 90 years old, that's only 3 hours over your entire lifetime!
How To: Completely Back Up Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Using Kies, Helium, or the Note 2 Toolkit
An average of 140,000 hard drives crash in the United States each week, according to online backup service Mozy. Additionally, 70 percent of Americans have lost a laptop, smartphone, or tablet, and the average person now loses 1.24 devices each year—less than half of which are ever recovered.
How To: Play Almost Any Retro Video Game on Your Nexus 7 Tablet
Arcades, Nintendo, Sega, and 16-bit graphics ushered in a new level of gaming that was leaps and bounds ahead of the early Pong days. I remember loading quarters into the machines and playing 2D fighting games until all my money ran out. When I wasn’t in school, you could usually find me at the arcade playing Street Fighter, The King of Fighters and Marvel vs. Capcom. At home, I had my Super Nintendo and Super Mario World keeping me glued to the television until the next boss stage.
How To: Root Your HTC EVO 4G LTE Using TWRP & SuperSU
Your HTC EVO 4G LTE has been lying to you. It will tell you when you're connected to a 4G network, but it will say 3G even if you're connected on 1X, which is a 2G CDMA network!
How To: The Real Story Behind Rooting the Samsung Galaxy S4—And Its New Secured Kernel
Rooting a mobile device may not be a big deal these days, but not being able to root definitely is. Even the Library of Congress, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and White House can agree on that.
How To: Get Google's Latest Play Store Redesign on Your Nexus 7 Tablet Right Now
What's the most installed Android app in the world? Facebook? Gmail? Maps? While those all have well over 100 million installs, the one that takes the cake—and always will—is Google Play.
How To: Make Your Car Read Texts Out Loud the Moment They Arrive on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2
Last month, Alexander Heit drifted into oncoming traffic after being distracted from the road. His sudden correction forced his vehicle to roll and flip over. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly thereafter. All because of a freaking text message. He was only 22 years old.
How To: The Easiest Way to Unlock the Bootloader on Your HTC EVO 4G LTE or Other HTC Smartphone
Nearly two years ago, Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, confirmed that the company would no longer be locking bootloaders. Whether or not they've actually lived up to this claim is debatable. Any phone bought from a wireless carrier comes locked. Only the new HTC One Developer Edition ships with an unlocked bootloader, and it does not have any carrier add-on software installed.
How To: Transfer iPhone Contacts Over to Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or Other Android Device
Why is transferring contacts from an old smartphone to a new one still insanely difficult? I can check my bank account, upload a picture to Instagram, email someone across the globe, and check the weather forecast on my phone—all in under five minutes.
How To: Squeeze Blazing Fast Speeds Out of Your Samsung Galaxy S4
We've already covered how to remove the Home button lag on the Samsung Galaxy S4, now let's take a look at how to speed up a few more key areas on your new device. This GS4 is already blazing fast, but let's squeeze every ounce of speed we can from it by making a few basic tweaks. This is a really simple hack, and all you'll need is to have Developer Options enabled.
How To: Fix the Home Button Lag on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
Your new Samsung Galaxy S4 is fast, but it can definitely be faster. One issue that carried over from the Samsung Galaxy S3 is Home button lag. Instead of it being an instantaneous response, it takes a split second for the action to take place—and a split second is enough to irritate the best of us. The culprit here is S Voice. The built-in voice assistant is great, but whether or not you use it, one of its features remains persistent—its strenuous use of the Home button—where you double-tap ...
How To: Running Out of Disk Space? Stream Music & Video Files from Your PC to Your Nexus 7 Tablet Anywhere, Anytime
A single movie download can consume a good ten percent of the storage on your Nexus 7 tablet, unless you went all crazy and opted for the 32GB model. Even then you're bound to run out of space fast, especially if you're like me and have tons of media files you want readily accessible on your tablet.
How To: Play Any Kind of Music or Video File by Modding Your Nexus 7 into a Media Powerhouse
The biggest complaint I have with my Nexus 7 is the lack of support for different types of media files. I have a lot of movies and music that I've downloaded off the web, in many different formats, and I want them on my tablet.
How To: Get the Exclusive Awesome Note App from the Galaxy Note 8.0 on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2
According to WitsView, 8-inch displays will rule the tablet scene this year at 11.9% market share, compared to yesteryear's 2.6% market share. By year's end, it'll be almost 18%.
How To: Enable the Hidden Developer Options on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
There's something missing on your brand new Samsung Galaxy S4, and if you're a softModder like me, you know exactly what it is already. If you don't know, keep reading, because you should—anyone who wants a better Android experience should.
How To: Tired of the Play Store? Use the Amazon Appstore on Your Nexus 7 Instead (& Get Free Daily Apps!)
In a previous article, I pointed out a few criticisms of the Google Play Store, mostly about how unpolished and inefficient it is. To give you a better idea of what I mean, here are just a few of my complaints with the Play Store:
How To: Root U.S./Canadian Galaxy S4!
Here's a quick and easy video tutorial on how to root any Qualcomm-based U.S. or Canadian Galaxy S4 Android smartphone.
How To: Root Your Samsung Galaxy S4 (GT-I9500)
Ready to start rooting your Samsung Galaxy S4? For those of you with the GT-i9500 model GS4, this quick video will walk you through the entire rooting process using Odin and CWM.
How To: Make Photo Time-Lapse Videos of Yourself Using Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or Other Smartphone
In early 2000, at the age of 19, Noah Kalina began taking a photo of himself with the same facial expression—every single day. Six years and over 2,000 photographs later, Kalina turned his project into a time-lapsed montage on YouTube. In just one day, his video received over a million views.
How To: Get the New GS4 Weather Widgets on Your Samsung Galaxy S3
Now that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is becoming increasingly available, we're going to begin seeing many more of its software features leak out.
How To: Root Your Brand Spanking New Samsung Galaxy S4
If you pre-ordered your Samsung Galaxy S4, it might very well be possible that you're reading this on your brand spanking new Android device. As is commonplace with the release of popular smartphones, rooting instructions are usually released simultaneously. I mean, what's the point of paying so much for an expensive phone if you can't have a little fun? Android developer Dan Rosenberg (aka djrbliss) recently announced that you can root your Samsung Galaxy S4 using the root exploit he origina...
How To: Find Only the Best Tablet-Specific Apps for Your Nexus 7
Apps sure do run great on Android tablets! If you caught that little whiff of sarcasm, you probably already figured out I was lying. There is a definite lack of good, high-quality apps specifically made for Android tablets. If you've ever tried Facebook or Twitter on a tablet, you know exactly what I mean.
How To: Control All of Your Music Apps from a Single Widget on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2
There are a ton of streaming services available at your disposal in the Google Play Store—Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, Last.fm, and the list goes on and on. These apps help satisfy my day-to-day cravings for good beats, but I tend to do a little too much hopping around from music app to music app (and music widget to music widget) in the process.
How To: Play Almost Any PSP Game Smoothly on Your Nexus 7 Tablet
Remember that PSP you had? I pretty much dropped mine when smartphones became more prevalent in the mobile gaming scene. Why would I want to carry around a huge PlayStation Portable when I've already got an Android in my pocket?
How To: Cheat Your Way to More Lives & Faster Crops in Time-Based Games on a Samsung Galaxy S3
Of the hundreds of uses for our devices, the one that I cherish most is the ability to kill time just about whenever and wherever I need to. Whether it's reading news, checking social media, or watching videos, we have a ton of ways to pass the time in that two-hour DMV line or dentist's waiting room.
How To: Capture a High-Quality Video Recording of Your Samsung Galaxy S3's Screen
Screenshots are great, but sometimes they don't tell the whole story. You can show off that new app you got or that awesome new live wallpaper, but a screenshot isn't going to get the point across. What exactly am I trying to show you in the screenshot above? You probably have no idea, and that's the point. You can't see the action I'm trying to demonstrate, but in a video you can.