How To: Get the OnePlus One Lock Screen on Your Nexus 5 or Other Android Phone
Depending on who you ask, the OnePlus One smartphone has so far been either a bit of a letdown or a rousing success.
Paranoid Android Halo Search Results
How To: Theme Android L on Your Nexus 5 with New Colors & Icons
Google's upcoming Android release hasn't even received a name or version number yet, but the third-party development community is already having its way with the firmware.
How To: Install Adobe Flash Player on Your LG G3 to Play Web Games & Flash Videos
Google, like Apple before them, no longer supports mobile Flash, but clearly there's plenty of Flash content still available on the web. From games to videos, it can be frustrating to get the most out of your mobile browsing experience without Flash functionality.
How To: Get the Samsung Galaxy "Smart Alert" Feature on Your Nexus 5 or Other Android Phone
Samsung catches a lot of flak for all of the "bloatware" it preinstalls on its Galaxy line of devices. Many users complain that "TouchWiz," Samsung's custom Android skin, causes lag with its overabundance of features. But some of these features can actually be pretty handy, like Multi-Window Mode or Milk Music.
How To: Get the Android L Launcher on Your Nexus 5 or Other KitKat Device
As Matias Duarte and the team over at Google's Android Design department ready their wares, they've given us a preview version of the upcoming "L" release of Android to try out.
How To: Stay Anonymous on Your Nexus 7
When browsing the web, you may not be quite as anonymous as you think, especially if you are using public WiFi. The easiest way to stay as anonymous and safe as you are going to get, is to use a VPN (there are a number of great free ones). In this tutorial, we will show you how to set up a VPN on Android, and how this protects you.
How To: Get L-Style "Heads Up" Notifications Without Rooting Android
Google announced Android L to the masses at their I/O event, and with it they introduced their new "Heads Up" notification system. These notifications are part of the new Material Design UI and are sure to change the way we interact with notifications on our devices.
How To: Install OmniSwitch for Streamlined Multitasking on Your Nexus 5
Multitasking has always been one of Android's strengths relative to other mobile operating systems. As the first cell phone OS with "true" multitasking, Android's been ahead of the game in this department for quite some time.
How To: The Easiest "One-Click" Root Method for Your Samsung Galaxy S3
Rooting an Android device used to be a nightmarish labyrinth of .zip files and command prompts, confusing seasoned modding veterans and newbies alike. Thankfully, the process has gotten simpler over the years, with various "one-click" rooting tool kits surfacing and working for nearly every major Android flagship on the market.
How To: Root Any Samsung Galaxy S4 in One Click
Something pretty awesome happened over the last couple of days. George Hotz, better known as Geohot, the infamous hacker known for jailbreaking iOS and exploiting the Sony Playstation 3, has brought joy to owners of just about all Android smartphones and tablets, especially those on AT&T and Verizon.
How To: Prevent Thieves from Turning Off Your Stolen Nexus So You Can Locate It
Back in August, Google introduced Android Device Manager. This new service allowed you to locate, lock, or wipe a lost or stolen Android device from either a companion app or a web interface. Effectively, this is the "kill switch" that legislators are clamoring for.
How To: Add "OK Google" Hotword Search to HTC Sense & Other Android Launchers
When I'm showing off my HTC One, the first thing I do is unlock my device and say, "OK Google". It may earn me a weird look or two, but in the end people are amazed by the voice recognition and automation of the Google Now Launcher.
How To: Beam Any File You Want from Your Nexus 5 to Another Android Device
Your Nexus 5 comes with a pretty cool feature baked in called Android Beam. Using NFC, or Near Field Communication, this functionality allows you to send information to another compatible device by simply touching the two together. Most flagship devices have NFC built into them these days, so there is a broad range of devices that your Nexus 5 is capable of sharing information with wirelessly.
News: Android 4.4.3 Update Rolling Out Now for the Nexus 5
It appears that the next iteration of KitKat, Android 4.4.3, is fast approaching. If the past is any indication, today's update to the Nexus 5 software changelog on Sprint's website tells us a new version of Android will begin rolling out within 24 hours. Sprint has broken the news of a forthcoming Android release twice in the past. With 4.4.1 and 4.4.2, a mini-changelog was posted on the Sprint website about a day before Google began pushing updates to its Nexus devices.
How To: Block Phone Calls More Efficiently & Conserve Battery on Your Galaxy Note 3
When it comes to blocking unwanted calls, your Android device comes stocked with a native blocking feature that allows you to reject certain phone numbers. That being said, the native blocking feature on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 isn't the prettiest or the smartest, with its non-obvious setup and lack of features.
How To: Use Two Different Instagram Accounts at the Same Time on Your Android Device
While you may suck at Instagram, it's likely that you manage multiple Instagram accounts, whether strictly for personal use or for managing blog and business pages.
How To: Get Facebook's Future Android Look on Your Galaxy Note 3 Right Now
Currently in its alpha stage, Facebook has pushed forward a redesigned mobile app for Android users that provides a flat user interface and rearranged navigation tools.
How To: Exploit Apple's AirPlay to Record & Save Music from an iPhone to Your Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Ever since its introduction back in iOS 6, AirPlay has been helping us iOS and Mac users stream content over to an Apple TV or third-party speaker system. It's an incredibly useful feature. However, it's also severely limiting. The few compatible products out there are extremely expensive, making wireless streaming a not-so-easy task.
How To: Customize Your Android Device's Homescreen Buttons by Using Your Own Graphics
Many people are bored of the typical square-ish icons arranged in a uniform grid on their Android homescreen. I dislike looking at grids of buttons and sometimes I would like to have some really HUGE buttons for the applications that matter the most at any given time.
How To: Play Flash Videos & Games on the Nexus 5 (& Other Android 4.4 KitKat Devices)
So, you've finally scored the coveted upgrade to chocolaty KitKat deliciousness, or you've managed to get your hands on a Nexus 5, the freshest thing from LG and El Goog. Satisfied with your new lease on life, you direct your phone's web browser to catch up on your Amazon Instant Video library, but not all is well—there are errors to be found. Much of the internet utilizes Adobe Flash, and Amazon Instant Video (who does not have an Android app) is just one such example. It simply won't work u...
How To: Get iOS-Style "Badge App Icons" on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or Other Android Device
Converting from iOS to Android doesn't have to be a particularly difficult process, but people make it that way anyways. Transferring contacts becomes a big deal, dimensions and hardware become an issue, and most importantly, features that were once loved become sorely missed.
How To: Text Better on Your Samsung Galaxy S4 with This Hybrid Messaging App Based on Android 4.3 & CyanogenMod 10.2
With CyanogenMod 10.2 recently released and the Samsung Galaxy S4 still waiting on Android 4.3, it only makes sense that the coveted features from both firmwares are highly desired by Android owners all over. We've already brought you a feature from each firmware—the cLock home/lock screen widget from CyanogenMod and the Google Play Edition Camera and Gallery from Android 4.3. Now we're bringing you another in the form of an updated text messaging application, ported from both Android 4.3 and...
How To: Install Snapchat on a Nexus 7 or Any Other Android Tablet
Snapchat users upload a whopping 150 million pictures a day—which are deleted as just quick as they're sent. However, none of these images are coming from Android tablet users. If you try downloading Snapchat from Google Play on your Nexus 7 or other Android tablet, you'll get the "Your device isn't compatible with this version" message. Even those with the new Nexus 7 tablets that have the front and rear cameras are out of luck. Unless you're a softModder.
How To: Control Your Computer Remotely from Your HTC One or Other Android Device
With so many cloud storage services out there, many people are starting to keep their important documents online, especially when they know they'll need to view them when they're away from their computer.
How To: Prank Friends, Cheat Games, & More with Android Bot Automation on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2
During a contest in 2010 regarding which country Justin Bieber should visit next on his tour, North Korea won by a landslide. Unfortunately, he never went, and that's partly because nobody in the internet-less dictatorship probably voted. Instead, the contest was rigged by 4chan members and a few playful bots that voted for NK hundreds of thousands of times. What this shows is that not only is Justin Bieber an asshole, but that bots can be used as a very powerful tool—not only to cause mischi...
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: Install the WhatsApp Messenger onto Your Nexus 7 and Sync It with Your Phone Number
WhatsApp is a very popular messaging app on the Play Store, but unfortunately, tablet users have been left out of all the fun because WhatsApp only works on smartphones—until now.
How To: Trick Verizon into Thinking You Never Modded Your Samsung Galaxy S III
One of the main reasons why the Samsung Galaxy S III has dethroned Apple's iPhone 4S as the best-selling smartphone in the world is due to Android's open-source operating system. The vast spectrum of customization that comes with Android has become one of its focal points, allowing n00bs and programmers alike to build and destroy. The open-source OS has allowed rooting and modified ROMs to flourish within Android community. The only problem with this is that rooting and installing your own RO...
How To: Preserve Battery Life on Your Jelly Bean-Powered Samsung Galaxy S III
With Sprint already rolling out their Jelly Bean updates to Samsung Galaxy S III owners here in the United States, international users have already had a chance to check out Android's newest OS on their S3, but all is not gravy.
Final Release: Upgrade Your EVO 4G LTE to Android 4.3 Right Now
All you Sprint customers still rocking the HTC EVO 4G LTE got some good news last night. Per Martin Fichter, a US Vice President at HTC, the once flagship Sprint device has been issued a final update, taking the device from Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) to Android 4.3 (Jellybean). While not the latest Android version, this update also carries the upgrade to Sense 5. As the company stated in their Reddit AMA, HTC will continue to update their flagship devices to the latest Android versions ...
How To: Should You Install Android 11 Beta? Here Are All the Major Problems
Android 11 is available as a simple beta install for Pixel devices right now. Just visit Google's beta signup page, make sure you're signed in with the same account used on your Pixel, then opt into the program. You'll get an OTA update that will put you on Android 11 in no time. But is it ready to be a daily driver?
News: The Math Says You Should Stop Buying Current Flagship Android Phones
We're all feeling the impact of the economic recession underway due to the coronavirus. With millions of Americans filing for unemployment benefits, now more than ever should we focus on the best deal rather than the best model. And in no industry is that more evident than smartphones.
How To: Enable or Disable Chat Heads in Facebook Messenger on Android for Quick Access to Conversations
Popular chat apps like Messenger allow us to communicate with friends and family across iOS and Android phones alike. However, that interconnectivity doesn't mean both apps are the same. While Facebook has made strides to close gaps between these two platforms, chat heads remain an exclusive feature for Android devices, and they let you keep Messenger threads close by.
How To: Bring Back the Vertical Recent Apps Menu on Your Galaxy in Android Pie
The Android 9 Pie update brought a lot of visual changes, some of which are a little too reminiscent of iOS. There's the new gesture controls, which are okay, but then there are things like a left-justified clock and the fact that the recent apps menu now scrolls horizontally instead of vertically. Luckily, Samsung has given us a way to bring back the classic Android style.
How To: Get Over 100 New & Unique Themes for Gboard on Android
Gboard has come a long way from its roots as the "Google Keyboard" in the earlier days of Android. It's now the most popular, feature-rich, and useful keyboard app on the market. Google even includes quite a few themes right out of the box for Gboard — but what if you could have even more?
How To: Enable Bitmoji Integration in Gboard & Share Personalized Reactions Faster
Bitmoji are personalized emoji that look like you and can be used to make funny memes or snappy replies. Normally, you have to find one of these reaction emojis in the Bitmoji app, then use Android's share menu to send it to the app where you ultimately want to post it, but there's a much better way.
How To: Enable Dark Mode in Google's Contacts App for Android
With the rise of OLED displays, Android users have been begging Google for a true system-wide dark mode for years. While a system-wide solution is still somewhat unlikely, Google has given in by providing a dark mode for certain apps, including Contacts.
How To: Everything You Need to Know About Android Pie's New Adaptive Battery Feature
Battery drain is a major pain point for Android users, though that promises to change thanks to Android Pie's new Adaptive Battery feature. But Google hasn't said much about the inner workings of this feature, only publicly stating that it uses AI to boost battery life. So we dug in to find out what's really going on under the hood.
How To: Create Your Own Gesture Controls with the Microsoft Launcher
Ever-shrinking bezels and disappearing hardware buttons make for good looking phones, but they also increase the need for gesture controls. Android Pie comes with seven new swipe gestures, but if you don't have the update yet (or find its default gesture options to be lacking), you should take a look at the Microsoft Launcher.
Google Chrome 101: How to Unlock the Material Design 2 User Interface with Round Icons & Blended Status Bar
Google's been using their "Material Design" look in Android for years now, but a change is coming up with "Material Design 2," their updated version focusing on new colors, icons, and spacing. Whether it'll be called "Material Design 2" or not remains to be seen, but you can try it out right now in Google Chrome on your Android device right now.