Android How-Tos — Page 75 of 78 « Android

How To: Improve Battery Life on Your Nexus 7 Tablet with This Easy Power-Saving Tweak

Like most Android devices, the Nexus 7 suffers from its fair share of battery gripes. Nobody wants to see that dreaded "connect charger" warning pop up on their screen. NOBODY. Yet it probably happens to you every day nonetheless. What can you do about it besides charge, charge, and charge? Well, there's actually plenty that you can do. You can manage your notifications better, keep your screen brightness low, and kill apps running in the background. Or, you could just optimize your battery t...

How To: Get Beats Audio on Your Nexus 7 and Take Your Music to Another Level

BEATS by Dr. Dre started making their studio-style headphones and speakers over four years ago, which claim to help listeners actually "hear" music as it was intended by the artists, since commodity headphones and earbuds are known for producing lackluster results. But you can only go so far with Beats Audio headphones, since your computers and mobile devices weren't built to take advantage of high quality audio equipment.

How To: Get Rounded Screen Corners on Your Samsung Galaxy S3 or Other Android Device

Tired of your Samsung Galaxy S3 being a square? Make it more well-rounded by ditching those 90-degree corners on your screen for new adjustable round corners instead. It may be a minor tweak to your device, but the psychological effects of a more circular screen may help you feel more connected, safe, and, well…perfect. If you're the type that prefers the logic, order, and security of a sharp-cornered screen, then stick with your standard Android interface. Otherwise, keeping reading.

How To: Speed Up Charging Times on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or Other Android Device

We've all been there. Your phone's either dead or barely hanging on with a few minutes of life left, and you only have a small window of time to charge it before you need to head out. Sure, you can charge it for the few minutes you have, but what's the point if your device is going to die again in several minutes?

iPad Cloning: How to Replicate the iOS Home Screen on Your Nexus 7 and Fool Your Friends!

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. You have a Google Nexus 7 tablet, but you really wanted an iPad. What do you do? Skin it to make it look like an iPad, of course! Today, I’ll show you how to transform your Nexus 7 into an iPad and trick your friends into thinking it runs iOS! Let’s begin.

How To: Install the New Facebook Home Launcher on Your Nexus 7 Tablet

Facebook Home was just released in the Google Play Store a couple days ago, and for those of you eagerly waiting to get it on your Nexus 7, you'll unfortunately be stuck with this message: The new Facebook Home launcher app is blocked on the Nexus 7, because Facebook only released it for a few select Android phones. Home for tablets probably won't appear for months, but that's okay, because you don't have to wait that long! In this article, I'm going to show you how to get Facebook Home insta...

How To: Install Flash Player on Your Nexus 7 Tablet to Watch Streaming Web-Based Flash Videos

You've probably see this a million times on your Nexus 7 tablet: On some streaming sites it's "You need to upgrade your Adobe Flash Player to watch this video," and on others it may be "You need to install the Adobe Flash plugin." Whatever it is, you have the same problem—Flash does not work on your Nexus 7.

How To: Float Any Widget Above an App on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2

When it comes to multitasking, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is the master of all smartphones, thanks to its huge screen size and many features. The phablet's display compliments its multi-window mode, which lets you run two apps simultaneously side by side Another cool feature is floating apps, which makes multitasking even better. So, with all of these cool features, what else could possibly be added to the Note 2's arsenal that it doesn't already have?

How To: Schedule Ringtone Silence for Weekly or One-Time Events on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2

We've all had that moment when we enter into a classroom, meeting, or theater and completely forget to put our cell phones on silent.

How To: Install the New S Translator from the GS4 onto Your Samsung Galaxy S3

If you watched Samsung's Unpacked 2013 live last month, where they announced the new Galaxy S4, you probably sat through this awkward skit: This was Samsung's way of introducing their new translation software, dubbed S Translator. In the skit, the backbacking American traveler in Shanghai typed his question in English, and the phone spoke it aloud in Chinese. The other man replied in Chinese, and the app translated the message back into English. Live conversation translation aside, the app ca...

How To: Mod Real Racing 3 for Higher Quality Graphics on Your Nexus 7

Real Racing 3 is by far one of the best racing simulators available on Google Play, and best of all—it's free! If you're playing this game on your Nexus 7, you've probably noticed that the graphics just don't look anywhere near as good as the in-game screenshots floating around on the web.

How To: Prevent the Screen on Your Nexus 7 from Shutting Down on You While You Read

For being an inexpensive tablet, the Nexus 7 packs a 1,280 x 800 pixel resolution into a relatively small display, offering a very sharp-looking 216 pixels per inch. What does that mean? It's one of the best e-readers on the market.

How To: Liven Up Your Samsung Galaxy S3's Home Screen with Custom 3D Panoramic Wallpapers

Live wallpapers are part of what make Android's features so unique and wonderful, making your homescreens come alive and much more interesting. The wallpapers are extremely customizable and interactive, many times sensitive to swipes, finger-tapping, and other multi-touch gestures—Ditalix being one of the frontrunner apps in the field. The only problem with these live wallpapers is the toll it takes on the device's battery. While not all live wallpapers kill the battery, there are many of the...

How To: Turn Your Samsung Galaxy S3 into a Functional Keyboard & Mouse for Your Computer

These days, we increasingly have more and more devices in our everyday possession. While a notebook computer, a tablet, and a smartphone may seem like overkill, they do work to make our lives easier and even help reduce clutter in certain ways.

How To: Mod Your Nexus 7 to Make Netflix & YouTube Show You More Video Options on the Screen

Ever use Nexflix and YouTube on Your Nexus 7 tablet? It sucks! The menus are too big and not enough videos are shown on the screen. What gives?!?

How To: Block Every Single Annoying Ad on Your Nexus 7 (In Both Apps & Websites)

Adblock Plus is a well known add-on for Google Chrome and Firefox that eliminates all of those annoying and obtrusive advertisements on the webpages that you visit.

How To: Put Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 in Deep Sleep Mode to Save Battery Life

Newer smartphones are more power hungry than ever before, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has a mighty appetite for amps that only Jenny Craig could possibly curb. On average, your Note 2 (or other Android device) lasts for what, a day, maybe two days before dying. Mine barely lasts 8 hours! This is thanks to all of the apps running in the background of your phone, even when you're not using them, eating through all of your CPU, leaving nothing but crumbs.

How To: Nexus 7 Feeling Slow? Here's How You Overclock It for Insane Speeds & Increased Performance

If you're an avid PC gamer, then you're probably well familiar with the term overclocking, which is basically just tweaking your computer hardware to run faster than it was originally intended.

How To: Turn Your Samsung Galaxy S3 into an Effective iPhone Clone

So, you've finally converted from an iPhone to a Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone. Great. Only now you're overwhelmed with the unfamiliar look and feel of the Android operating system.

Warning: Your Nexus 7 Tablet Is Not Actually a "Tablet" (But Here's How You Make It One)

If the Nexus 7 wasn't your first Android tablet, you may have noticed something different with the user interface when compared to other Jelly Bean tablets. You may not know exactly what it is off the top of your head, but it's there.

How To: Remotely Power Off Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 with a Simple Text Message

Gaining remote access to a phone isn't only for super hackers and spies. There are plenty of times when the average smartphone user would want to have remote access to their device.

How To: Hack the Front-Facing Camera on Your Nexus 7 to Record 720p HD Video

You've probably already figured out that your Nexus 7 doesn't have a rear camera, but that doesn't mean you can't do some awesome things with your tablet's front camera!

How To: Make the Ringtone on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S3, or Other Android Phone Auto Adjust to Your Surroundings

Having your phone ring loudly in a quiet environment could be potentially embarrassing for you, but also quite annoying for everyone else that didn't forget to put their smartphone on silent. Whether it's in class, at work during a meeting, at the library, or a movie screening—you can bet that someone's phone is going to ring loudly, pissing some people off. You don't really want to be that douchebag that interrupts a movie or the middle of a lecture with their annoying ringtone just because ...

How To: Hack Your Nexus 7 into a Hybrid Android Tablet That Looks & Feels Like Both iOS & TouchWiz

Do you like Samsung's TouchWiz and the iPhone's user interface, but wish you could bring the best of both worlds together onto your device? You can! MIUI (pronounced me-you-eye) is a heavily modded custom ROM that brings a different UI experience never before seen on stock Android devices. Over in the Nexus 7 SoftModder forum, Shashou Jian mentioned MIUI as a ROM every user should try out. The interface is a fresh mix of Apple’s iOS and Samsung’s TouchWiz elements—with a large dose of customi...

How To: The Definitive Guide on How to Restore Your Nexus 7 Tablet (Even if You've Bricked It)

Something went wrong and your Nexus 7 is freaking out on you. Maybe you flashed a bad ROM or ZIP file, or maybe it's just bugging, and it's time to restore your tablet back to a working condition. Thankfully, you've already made a backup of your Nexus 7!

How To: The Definitive Guide to Backing Up Your Nexus 7 Tablet

So, you've flashed a bad ROM or ZIP file, and now your Nexus 7 won't boot up. Maybe it just went haywire for no reason. Whatever happened, the bad news only keeps coming—you didn't make a backup of your system, contacts, or apps.

How To: Simplify the Home Screen on Your Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Grenade Launcher

One of the best things about Android phones is that they are much more readily customizable when compared to the iPhone, but for newcomers and recent iOS defectors, Android can be a bit overwhelming.

How To: View Notification Details on the Lock Screen of Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or Other Android 4.2 Device

Besides having an awesome name, widgets are nice little additions that help make your phone more functional and customized. There are plenty of Android widgets available in the Google Play store and from other third-party sites and developers, but XDA forums member Roymam decided to make his own.

How To: Install the New GS4 Version of S-Voice on Your Samsung Galaxy S3

With the release of the Samsung Galaxy S4 right around the corner, us Galaxy S3 users also have reason for excitement. We already know that many of the S4 features will make their way to our devices, but who knew it would be this soon!

How To: Make Your Nexus 7's Brightness Auto Adjust to Your Preferred Levels in Different Environments

When it comes to our smartphones and tablets, we're always on the lookout for ways to beat the oh so common rapid battery depletion problem that affects practically every mobile device. We'll do anything and everything to keep our battery life at an optimum, from turning off certain features (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) to removing widgets and applications that use an exorbitant amount of CPU. One of the most popular and efficient ways of saving battery is to lower the screen brightness. Usually, we...

How To: The Easiest Way Possible to Root Your Samsung Galaxy S3 (Just One Click!)

Samsung does a good job of making their devices fairly open, and the Galaxy S3 is no different. There are numerous way to root a device, but sometimes the jargon and steps can be a little intimidating for new rooters, and even pro rooters.

How To: The Super Simple Secret to Fixing Wonky GPS Problems on Your Samsung Galaxy S3

As with practically any other device, the Samsung Galaxy S3 has its fair share of complaints. Some have workarounds, some can be solved with mods or apps, and some seem to have no fix at all.

How To: Hide Private Calls & Texts from Nosy People on Your Samsung Galaxy S3 or Other Android Phone

When it comes to your smartphone, you don't have to be a cheater to want a little privacy. I don't even like people playing Temple Run on my mobile because I don't want anyone beating the achievements I've been working on getting myself.

How To: Send & Receive Text Messages Right from Your Nexus 7 3G Tablet (Rooted & Non-Rooted)

In a previous how-to, I showed how to send and receive text messages by wirelessly syncing them from your phone to your Nexus 7 tablet. Some eagle-eyed users may have notice that the Nexus 7 with 3G actually has a SIM card slot.

How To: Make a Samsung Galaxy S3, Sony Xperia Z, & Other Android Phones Safer for Driving with Car Launcher

I'm all about safety in my life. I even put on safety goggles when someone opens a bottle of champagne—high life problems. But when it comes to driving, you have to be double safe, because the other drivers on the road may not have your safety in mind.