Monday, 9 July 2012

50 really useful Android tips and tricks- 25 more really useful Android tips and tricks

26. Turn off Google auto-suggest

If you're phone's a bit on the entry level side of things, your Google searching will be speeded up quite significantly by turning off the web suggestions feature. Having Google constantly guessing what you're about to type is nice, but can bring older phones crunching to a halt. Deactivate this feature by heading to Settings > Search > Google Search Settings.

27. Add a hotline to the Android Home screen

If there's one person you tend to call more than most - wife, councillor or parole officer - make it easy on yourself by adding a Direct Dial shortcut to the Home screen. Long-press on the background, then select Shortcuts then Direct Dial - to add the modern equivalent of a big red telephone to your Home page that instantly dials the one number without messing around with the Dialer or Contacts pages.

28. Add a hotline to Techradar

You can do the above with web site pages, too. Simply long-press on a web bookmark when in the browser, and you'll be given the option to "Add Shortcut to Home" - which will indeed drop an icon onto your Home screen that instantly launches the browser and starts loading your favourite site.

29. Shortcut to music playlists

If you've setup a playlist for your music, it's also possible to add a shortcut to that on the Home screen in a similar fashion. Beats fiddling with the music player.

30. Bypass Android slide unlock

You don't have to slide the screen locker to bring your phone out of standby. A double press of your phone's Menu button will also wake it up, as long as your manufacturer hasn't removed that feature from its skin.

31. Unconfirmed deletions

Pressing Menu while in the Gallery lets you switch off the deletion confirmation dialogue, which could shave many seconds off your photo management times.

32. Alternate text fields

If you're a bit of a grammar fetishist, the Android stock keyboard can help. Holding down a key brings up a floating alternate text field for that letter, with all the special characters needed for accurately sending SMS messages to French and German people popping up.

33. More Android emoticions

The above tip also works with the Android keyboard's selection of smiley faces, with a long-press on the smiley pulling up loads more. Although there still aren't enough sad/depressed ones for our liking.

34. "What I meant was..."

And if you're too old to know what all these smiley faces actually mean, press Menu then Insert Smiley while on the Android keyboard - then the meaning of them all is nicely explained for granddad.

35. Change Android auto-correct

If you're having problems with the Android keyboard auto-correcting or simply don't like words completing and capitalising themselves, the options can be changed in Settings > Language and Keyboard > Android Keyboard.

36. Install am Android file manager

The lack of a way to properly manage files on Android 2.1 is quite odd. Sure, you can delete photos and music from within their apps, but you'll need one of the many file managers on the Android Market to mass-delete things in comfort, PC style. Astro is a good, free one to start with.

37. Manage your Android battery

Keeping track of the occasional rogue app is important when it comes to making sure you've got enough battery left for those odd occasions when you might actually need to make a phone call. The data collected by your phone and stored under Settings > About Phone > Battery use will tell you if one of your apps is staying on and hammering your battery, letting you do the human thing and delete it.

38. Set keyboard, from keyboard

Another rather obscure feature, this. Long-pressing the 123 button on the standard Android keyboard brings up a keyboard settings page, where you're able to switch keyboards (if you have others installed) and fiddle with settings on the fly.

39. STOP

Also, further speed up your typing by double-pressing the spacebar - this automatically inserts a full-stop.

40. "Never heard of her"

If you need to delete all mentions of ex-partners from your phone, the dictionary can be edited - go to Settings > Language and Keyboard > User Dictionary to clean up your typing history.

41. Speak the Queen's English

If you're fed up of the bizarre accent of the Maps Navigation voice, there's an English variant - go to Menu > Settings > Text to Speech > and tick the box to use your own settings. Now you're able to have an English accent. Much better for navigating the M25.

42. Delete fat Android apps

If you're running low on internal memory space, your apps can be sorted by size - and big ones binned to make space. Head off to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications and press Menu to filter them by memory use.

43. Activate speakerphone

It's not particular user-friendly having to press the Menu button while making a call, but you if you do so you're able to select the speakerphone option - plus other calling features.

44. Delete entire threads

If you have a late night SMS conversation you'd rather forget, long-pressing on the thread from the Messaging app's front screen lets you delete the entire thing in one go. It'll be like it never happened.

45. Make your own wallpaper

You don't have to stick with Android's default collection of 1990s corporate imagery - any photo can be used as your desktop image. And you're even allowed to crop it, so it scrolls nicely with the desktop. Simply long-press on the Home screen and select Wallpapers then Pictures to use any pic you've previously taken.

46. Android recent apps list

Holding down the Home button brings up the Android equivalent of your most recently used apps list. It beats paging through the phone, if you've just quit something by mistake.

47. Lose non-essential fancy stuff

Speed up your phone and save a teeny amount of battery life by binning the fancy animations. You can turn them back on again when you need to impress an iPhone user. Find the toggles under Settings > Sound and Display > Animation.

48. Built-in Android task killer

Android features its own little task killer, but it's very, very well hidden. Manually close apps by going to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications then pressing Menu - and filtering the results by running apps. If you can be bothered with all that, you're than able to force close anything that's running.

49. Lock your phone

Setting an unlock pattern adds a small layer of additional security to your phone - just remember to wipe the tell-tale finger smears from the screen.

50. Keep the screen on while charging

It's often handy to have the screen stay on all the time, especially if you tend to recharge your phone overnight and use one of the fancy apps that turn your phone into a nice 1980s clock radio and. Go to Settings > Applications > Development and tell the screen to stay on while charging. Just don't tell your environmentalist friends you're burning through electricity like this.

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50 really useful Android tips and tricks for Android Newcomers

So here, to make things a little easier for Android newcomers and those seeking a few more power tips, we present 50 essential Android facts and techniques.

These tips are mostly for the 2.1 version of Android, which is by far the most common form of the OS out there today - but much of the advice will also work on older and newer versions and those boutique varieties skinned by some hardware makers.

1. Activate the Android Power Strip

The single most important feature in Android 2.1 is its built-in power strip widget. Here, you're able to quickly disconnect all the phone's battery-destroying features, like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the Great Batter Killer that is GPS. Long-press on the screen and install it via the widgets category.

2. Android call screening

If you're a paranoid call-screener, Android is there for you. Open up the Contacts listing of the person you're currently avoiding, then select Menu > Options. From here you're able to ping all incoming calls from this person directly to voicemail. Give people the brush off with Android.

3. Set up custom caller ringtones

Alternatively, if you like talking to people, the same screen lets you allocate a specific custom ringtone to each caller stored in your Contacts directory.

4. Add your alarm clock to your task killer

A classic mistake, this. We're constantly being told of the (debatable) importance of using a task manager to maximise Android battery life, and if you want to go down that route you're welcome. However, when killing all your tasks to save battery life, remember that your alarm clock is a task in itself - kill that and you'll wake up in a panic at 10.15am tomorrow morning.

5. Organise things into folders

While Steve Jobs may have recently made quite a big deal about letting iOS users organise things into folders, Android's been doing that for ages. Fancy a quick Home screen shortcut to your starred favourite contacts? Long-press the Home screen and make it so.

6. Rename Android folders

And, once you've done that, to customise things to perfection it's possible to rename folders. Simply open the folder, then long-press on its name in the top bar to bring up the Top Secret renaming field.

7. Check the date

Possibly one of the tiniest undocumented features is the date-checking facility. Press the Notification bar at the top left of the screen. It tells you what the date is. Go on, try it. It will.

8. Mount your SD card

Also accessed via the Notifications field is the "Mount" option. Many an Android newcomer has failed at this hurdle, as mounting your phone's SD card is an awkward step that needs to be taken before it'll appear as an external drive for data copying. Plug it in, mount it, then copy.

9. Set up your keyboard launch shortcuts

One of the reasons many people still love their QWERTY keyboards is Google's inclusion of the reliable old keyboard shortcut system in Android. The phone has a completely customisable collection of app launcher shortcuts, which are found under Settings > Applications > Quick Launch.

10. Download more Android live wallpapers

One thing that makes Android 2.1 a little more swish and exciting than the rather dull earlier versions is its support for Live Wallpapers - the animating image format that brings your Home screen to life. There's a negligible battery life hit for doing so, but in return you get a phone that looks cool. Which is what life's all about, right? Search the Android Market for Live Wallpaper - there are loads.

11. Easy zoom

A teeny little feature, this, but one that's super-useful if you're using all five of your Home screens - or a custom user interface that offers even more. Tapping the dots beside the dock at the bottom of the screen brings up a mini thumbnail list of all Home screens, allowing you to get from Screen 1 to Screen 5 without wearing a groove into your screen surface.

12. Add a Navigation shortcut to Android

Android 2.1 lets users set up local short-cuts to the Maps Navigation satnav app. As long as you have one of the latest Google Maps updates, you're able to select one of your Navigation routes and attach it directly to a shortcut on the Home screen - creating a one-press launcher for your favourite trips.

13. Set your double-tap zoom level

On phones that don't support multi-touch zooming, you can take more control of your web browsing zoom via the browser's setting page. Change your view to "Close" if you want the page to fly right into extreme close up when you double-tap the screen, or leave it to "Far" if you're happy to have text only cropping in a little closer when you double-tap.

14. Change Android browser font size

From the same menu you're also able to select your browser font size. Your personal ideal settings will vary depending on your screen size, resolution and eye sight, but a few minutes getting it set up so pages are instantly readable will save many cumulative hours of resizing over the coming years.

15. Search web pages

Menu > More > Find on Page lets you search for specific text terms on web pages, if you can't be bothered reading the thing properly as the author intended.

16. Practise your robot voice

Android 2.1 features voice-input for every text field. Which is nice, although the delay for "processing" - and often rather left field results - mean it's usually quicker to just bite the bullet and type things. Remember to say "comma" to tell it to insert a comma. Full stop.

17. Add words to the Android dictionary

This is such a useful feature it ought to be screamed about via a sticker on the phone when you take it out of the box. If you've been labouring through life with a difficult-to-spell surname, type it once into your Android phone's text field - then long-press on it in the suggested word field. This adds it to the dictionary, so you'll never have to type more than the first couple of characters of your stupid name again.

18. Sign up for a Picasa account

Google's online image-sharing tool may have failed to capture the public's imagination in the same way as Flickr, but there's one good reason to register yourself one - Android 2.1's 3D gallery can auto-sync your photos with your Picasa account. Photo sharing works both ways, so you'll have to deactivate sync if you don't want your entire web gallery popping up on your phone.

19. Download web images

If you've seen one of those funny photographs on the internet, long-pressing on it lets you download it to your phone - and it'll pop up in your Gallery for easy sharing.

20. Manage your Android call log

It's very easy to delete individual items from Android's log of made and received calls - simply long-press on an item and delete it. Then sleep easier.

21. Facebook your Contact photos

If you combine Android with the official Facebook Android app, it's possible to automatically pull in photos for your contacts through Facebook. You're also able to create a specific Facebook Phonebook folder on the Home page, keeping internet and proper friends separate.

22. Browser combo button

The Android 2.1 web browser features a clever multi-function button beside the address bar. While a page is loading it turns into a "X" to cancel loading, but once a page has finished it transforms itself into a bookmark adding and history management tool. It's always there for you.

23. Android web history shortcut

Also, further speed up browsing by holding down the Back key - this is your shortcut to your internet History. Ideal for navigating those complex browsing sessions - and also cuts down on unnecessary reloading.

24. Use browser tabs

The standard Android browser offers tabbed browsing, it just doesn't do a very good job of advertising it. Long-pressing a URL lets you open web links in a new tab - you then switch tabs by pressing Menu and selecting the Windows option. Not that user-friendly a system, but it works. Just remember that quitting to the desktop may automatically close everything in the middle of a tab-heavy session.

25. Multiple Gmail accounts in Android

Android 2.1 added support for multiple Gmail accounts. Add a new internet identity to your phone by opening the Gmail app, then pressing Menu > Accounts > Add Accounts. Then remember who you're pretending to be.

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Installing non-Market Apps on Android Phone

If you own an Android Dev phone, at some point you'd probably want to create and try

your own apps (or apps from your friends).

To ensure that you do not break your phone by installing malicious apps, Android has a

couple of safety features built in. So you need to specifically instruct android to be able

to install unsigned / non-market apps.

Menu > Settings > Applications > Unknown Sources

Check "Unknown Sources" to allow install of non-Market applications. While developing,

you most likely also want to enable "Stay awake" in Menu > Settings > Applications >

Development so that your screen does not go to sleep every often.

Now you can install any app (including malicious ones) the usual way either by browsing

to the app using the browser or using adb installcommand.

20 Android Ice Cream Sandwich tips and tricks

Google's latest version of its Android software takes it up to version 4.0 and higher, which is commonly known as the Ice Cream Sandwich update of the mobile OS.

The big selling point is that it unifies the experience across all hardware, so users of phones running ICS see largely the same interface, albeit with some layout changes for the bigger screened devices.

So Samsung's Android 4.0 update, which we're seeing arrive on its Galaxy S II right now, looks and works differently to the Android 4.0 you'll shortly see arriving on HTC's exciting new One Series of phones.Of course, there's still the issue of manufacturer skins to take into account. While Android 4.0 offers a basic and seriously updated feature set, some tools and features may be missing or accessed through different means when using the same OS on phones made by different companies.

Which makes compiling a list of tips that work on all versions of the OS out there rather hard. But enough of our moaning. Here are a few useful shortcuts to getting the most out of your Ice Cream Sandwich serving, whenever the metaphorical waitress decides to bring it to your metaphorical table.

1. Add quick controls to the browser

One of the options buried beneath the Labs section of Android 4.0's web browser is the Quick Controls option. This adds a pop-out menu to the browser, which pulls in a little semi-circular collection of shortcuts to the main browser features, removing the URL bar and giving you more screen to play with. Also, holding down the Back button is the Android standard way of bringing up the bookmarks and history tool, too. But that's been around for years.

2. Long-press to uninstall

Long-pressing on an app within the app drawer lets you drag it to a Home screen, but it also pops up a couple of menus along the top of the screen. App Info gives you the boring technical stuff about how much memory it's taking up, or you can fling it off the other way to uninstall it.

3. Flying Android screensaver

One odd undocumented little secret within Android 4.0 is this strange little collection of flying Androids, which you can... look at. Look at for as long as you like. To activate it, head into the phone's About screen and hammer away at the Android Version tab and it'll all happen.

4. Save your eyes with inverted rendering

Inverted rendering is a posh way of saying it makes the pages black and turns the text white, so it looks like you're reading the internet from 1997. It also supposedly saves battery, plus is easier on the eyes if you're reading in the dark. It's under the browser's settings tab, within the accessibility area - and there's a contrast slider, too.

5. Set a custom rejection text message

When your Twitter action is rudely interrupted by someone actually telephoning you, there's a polite way to give the caller the boot. Android 4.0 lets users ping a rejection text message to callers - and you're able to customise this too. Just answer a call and ping the lock screen notification up to access to custom rejection messaging area.

6. Stop app icons automatically appearing

One of the many new ICS features is the way Google lets apps automatically add shortcuts to themselves on your Home screen when they've finished installing. It's useful, but if you're a control freak and wish to remain 100% in charge of your Home layout, head to the Google Play app's settings tab and untick the Auto-add Shortcuts toggle.

7. There's a Settings shortcut in the Notifications pane

That little settings icon in the ICS notifications area isn't just art to fill the space. It's a shortcut to your phone or tablet's settings area. So use that instead of giving it a Home screen icon slot all to itself.

8. Manually close apps

Google's lovely new recent apps multitasking menu also lets you close apps quickly, should you suspect one's gone rogue. A Long-press within the Recent Apps listing lets you visit the app's info page, from where you can easily force close it.

9. Remove the lock screen

It's possible to entirely bin your Android 4.0 lock screen, making the phone instantly turn itself on when you press the power button. It's a security nightmare, but if your phone lives entirely on your desk and you demand instant access without any unlocking, head to Security > Screen lock and select none. Then be very careful.

10. Folders in the dock

Android's new official love of folder formation makes it dead easy to combine app shortcuts and make folders, simply by dragging one icon on top of another. You can make these groups of apps even easier to access by dragging a folder onto the ICS floating dock, meaning you can squeeze stacks more content on to each creaking Home screen.

11. Take photos while recording video

The Android 4.0 camera app that arrived with the Galaxy Nexus has one cool little extra feature - the ability to fire off still photos while recording video clips. Simply tapping the screen takes a shot at full resolution, which is saved to the phone's gallery while the video's still happily recording away.

12. Bin animations and transitions

Hidden within the Developer Options section of the Ice Cream Sandwich software are quite a few nerdy ways to adapt your phone. Most won't be of any use to those who are just using their phone as a phone, but if you want it to feel faster, or at least look a little different, the scrolling, zooming effects on windows and menus can be edited in many ways.

13. Take a grab of your phone

Screen grabbing of your phone's display is finally in Android. On the Galaxy Nexus, it's activated through holding the power button and volume down switch. On HTC's new models it's done by holding the power button and pressing Home. Other phones had different techniques for doing this before Ice Cream Sandwich, but it's good to see this now becoming part of the standard Android feature set in Android 4.0.

14. Long-press dotted words

When typing on the Android 4.0 keyboard, you may see some suggested words appear with the "..." icon beneath. Doing a long-press on this one will pop up a much bigger window of suggested words, letting you bail out on some of that tedious typing a little quicker.

15. Add additional faces

The ICS face unlock feature, as found in the Galaxy Nexus, lets you unlock it by scanning your face with the front camera. Which is great, but what if you haven't shaved for a month? The software can actually store multiple images of your face, so you can do left parting, right parting, shaved, unshaved - or even add a trusted a friend to the visually verified user list.

16. Experiment with GPU settings

Another hidden little gem found within the Development options tab is the hardware acceleration 'Force On' toggle. This makes ICS attempt to boost the performance of any apps that don't already use the feature. It may also break them in the process, though, so it's something of a trial and error fiddling exercise to do on a very rainy day.

17. Type like an adult

Make a stand for grammatical standards in this day and age by long-pressing on the stock Android 4.0 keyboard's full stop button. This brings up such doomed punctuation as commas and speech marks, plus even a semicolon for the extra brave mobile typist.

18. Nick wallpapers off the internet

Found a lovely photograph of some stars, a pretty computer generated planet or even the mighty Professor Brian Cox himself? Long-pressing on any image in the web browsers lets you instantly set it as your wallpaper, without the hassle of saving it, finding it, and setting it the long way.

19. Limit background process

If you fancy an even more serious bit of fiddling, the same ICS developer area contains the option to "limit background process" demands by the OS. You can use this to stop your phone or tablet storing so many apps in memory. Whether this has any effect of the actual battery life of us users is up for debate, but again, it's something to play with and see if it suits your phone use patterns.

20. Quickly access Notifications

Here's a simple yet huge change Google's made in Android 4.0 - the Notifications pane can be accessed from the lock screen. Press power, touch the Notifications area, then scroll down to read your latest messages. Obviously it's a bit of a security risk and lets anyone access your messages, so best be careful.

Huawei Ideos X5 U8800 Pro Gets Official Android 4.0 ICS Update

his month is certainly ending on a high note, first with Google Nexus 7 tablet been launched along side with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. And Samsung Galaxy S III takes the title of top end smart phone. Apart from that several of the existing smart phone from various manufacturers received the much awaited Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade. First Samsung, Sony almost completed the update to their various devices, HTC and Motorola soon followed the upgrade procedure to existing smart phone which qualified for the upgrade.

Huawei now finally has announced the big update to Huawei Ideos X5 U8800 Pro smart phone featuring the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich pack. The Huawei Ideos X5 U8800 Pro was launched in 2011 and it’s along the few phones from Huawei which qualified for the ICS upgrade seeing its hardware. The Huawei Ideos X5 U8800 Pro is powered with 1 Ghz Qualcomm MSM 8255 processor.

These updates are available via the PC Companion and the file size is around 355.85MB and can be downloaded from the official Huawei Site.

Improvements & Enhancements

Interestingly Huawei has provided the list from the Improvements and enhancements included in the update included -

Introduces Smart dialing feature
Smart search for contacts
Calendar Adds Exchange synchronization
Power on Optimize the boot speed
5.GPS has been optimized for faster response speed
Wi Fi Support the WPS feature & Enhance the WIFI wireless performance
Huawei devices now supports DLNA Share
File manager Support file browse, more convenient for find files
GUI Improve the charge design when power off
Camera Support CAMERA UI style, continuous auto focus, touch focus, HDR feature, panorama feature
Alarm “Optimize the Power-off Alarm”
Multimedia now support animated GIF

Interestingly this year Huawei announced a lot of devices during the Consumer Electronics Show and Mobile World Congress in Q1 this year but none of those devices has finally been launched as the launch got delayed.

How to Install Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on HTC One X – SDK Port

HTC One X smartphone users seems to be luckier than the Samsung Galaxy S3 users as all thanks to the leaks with which its now possible to install the latest Jellybean 4.1 firmware in your device. Please note that this is not an Official firmware released by HTC or Google Inc. and is being extracted from the SDK (Software Developer Kit). Please be informed that, to apply this firmware, you need to ensure that you have a network unlocked device with unlocked boot loader and should have the root access. You can download the “Root Checker” app from the Google PLAY Store to check whether the device is rooted or not. If your device is not rooted then you need to root the same. Since this firmware is a beta port, all the functionalities won’t be working. The below functionalities won’t be working as of now but in the future releases, the support will be added. HTC has confirmed that there will be an Official update of Jellybean 4.1 firmware but for which there is no ETA given by the same.

Wi-Fi
Audio
Camera

Disclaimer: We should not be held liable for any damage caused in the process of applying this rooting process in your device. It is very unlikely that your device will be damaged if you follow all the instructions to the point which are mentioned in procedure.

Lets head to the procedure section directly wherein we will be checking out on how you can easily apply this firmware update in your phone. Please note that you need to follow all the instructions mentioned below so as to facilitate smoother firmware upgrade process.

Procedure to Upgrade HTC One X with Jellybean 4.1 Firmware Update:

If your device is not Rooted, then you need to root the same with the help of instructions mentioned in the corresponding link.

Up next, install the Official HTC Sync in your computer which will ensure that all the device drivers will be installed in your computer which is a must before proceeding.

Download the Jellybean Firmware Package from here to your computer. once downloaded, connect your device with the computer and place the downloaded zip file in your device. Ensure that you are not placing the file deep into the device. Once the file is copied, you now need to download and extract the Flash Boot Zip file.

Now, open the “jellybean_endeavoru_tgascoigne.zip” which you got by unzipping the firmware zip file and unzip the boot.img file to get the boot.img file to the folder where you have extracted “Flash_Boot.img” file in the last step.

Disconnect the device and turn Off the device so that it can be then entered in the boot loader mode first. To enter the device in the boot loader mode, you now need to press Volume Down button and press the Power button and enter the device in the FASTBOOT Mode by selecting the option. In the boot loader mode, you need to select “recovery” so as to enter into the recovery mode. In recovery mode, select Wipe data/factory reset and also you need to select Wipe Cache partition.

Once its done, all you need to do is to just connect your device with the computer using the Original USB cable. Now, you will have to open the flash-boot-windows.bat file from the extracted folder which will flash the required kernel. Once the kernel is flashed, the device will be rebooting the device.

Now, press the Power button and select the boot loader option present and select the “Recovery” option to enter the device in the recovery mode. In clock work recovery mode, select install zip from sd card, then select choose zip from sd card. Scroll down to the jellybean_endeavoru_tgascoigne.zip file on the SD card and select the same. It will take around 4 – 5 minutes for applying this update. Once its done, the phone will be restarting or will enter into the recovery mode.

Note: At any point of time just in case if the process of firmware update gets stopped due to any reason, all you need to do is restart the process from the start by re inserting the battery.

Congratulations, you have now successfully applied the update of Jellybean 4.1 firmware package in your computer. Do share with us in the comments section just in case if you face any issues as we will try out level best to sort out the same.

Best Navigation Apps for Android with Turn by Turn Driving Directions

Turn by turn navigation using the pathfinder in your mobile phone has become essentially required. All users whether they have iOS, Java or Android based phones are in need of navigation apps on their phone. Android users have got benefited as operating system itself provides turn by turn navigation and users don’t have to struggle for anything else to get navigation usually in the form of Google Maps Navigation.

Many users will directly make use of the Google Maps service for navigation between point A to point B and we have found out that Waze is another alternative which provides better turn by navigating maps.

Waze GPS navigation is a social Android application which allows users to get driving directions on their mobile phone. It comes with complete voice guidance using the natural text to speech capabilities. If you are commuter then you would be always looking for the best way to get to your destination. Usually when you travel from A to B there are several routes to choose and you have the maps of those directions too. The only thing which you are missing is what’s happening on those roads which way you will choose to travel today.

Thanks to Google Live Traffic Maps which shows at which road there is traffic and this Waze application is never less as this application used by others users provides information on the route they traveling thereby letting us know their speed, they are strucked or not. This application is powered by social people who contribute to provide information to others so that users can choose optimized route to reach their destination.

The process by which this application shows traffic jam is full automated as if you are strucked in traffic, a red line will fall behind you on the maps which is visible to you and the others users using the Waze application which is not limited to just Android users but also to iOS users and other phone users. You can help you fellow users by providing accident information, construction stoppage and you can take the photo of what you see and make it alive to other users. Since routes are based on the update traffic and up to the minutes conditions, Waze will automatically reroute you in the most optimized path to get to your destination in the shorter way possible.

The advantages of using Waze maps for GPS are as follows –

You get the voice guided turn by turn navigation for driving
The route are recalculated depending on minute by minute conditions
Automatically recalculate routes when you make a wrong turn
Provides live traffic feed and road conditions
Provided alerts and photos uploaded by users when there is road in construction or a major accident
Switch between day and night maps for easy reading

Waze GPS Navigation Download

Waze GPS Navigation Android application can be downloaded from Android Apps Labs for free. To download it on your mobile phone, you need to open the Waze GPS Navigation page on the Android Apps Labs and then click on Install button to automatically proceed with the installation.

Turn OFF Status Bar Notifications of Incoming Mails on Android

You receive a lot of mail in your favorite Google Mail services, Isn’t it? The Android phone powered by Google, sends you notification in your top notification bar for each email that you receive. The notifications are instant and for each email that you receive on your Google mail account, you are notified for the same. In some cases its good because you get instant know of an important email but what if you receive a lot of spam mails.

I receive a lot of mails from Facebook about someone comment on my photo, story, liked, birthday reminders and all creates junk. You can bear with the junk mails in your Gmail but the notification on your phone for every mail is quite annoying thing.

Switch Off Notification of Incoming Mails

If you are strucked and wanted to get rid of those notifications mails in your Gmail Inbox then you can easily do it by following the below procedure –

From your Android phone open the Gmail application.

Once you are in your Gmail app, tap on Menu and then tap on More button.

This will quickly open few menu options for you, tap on Settings.

In the Settings you will find the Account Settings tap and then click on the Gmail account for which you want to stop the notifications.

Now the settings for that particular Gmail account will be available there and scroll down and you will find ‘email notification’. Uncheck it to receive the notification as the email arrives in your status bar.

That will do it for you.

Its so simple but at first sight you would be unaware until you know this and once you do it, you would be easily doing it the next time.

How to Turn Off Notifications for Apps in Android Jelly bean 4.1

The Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is here introduced along side with the launch of Google Nexus 7 tablet. Just like other firmware’s this comes, Android 4.1 Jelly Beam comes with introduction of some new features from the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. One of the interesting features included is the ability to disable app notification.

There is not one application I use on my phone, I have more than 50 installed on my device and each developer of individual application is back of coming out with new improved version and hence the app updates are available every week or respective month. Every day I have one or the other app with new updates available and its quite annoying to go ahead with this minor updates for each apps. Also many applications provides unpredictable ads which are annoying while using the applications. The big thing is these are seen on our device via notification and if you are tired of such notifications on your Android 4.1 Jelly Bean then you have option to disable this feature.

Open Menu and go to Settings.

In the Settings section choose Applications

From the list of the applications, you need to select the app for which you want block notifications. For example, xyz application is sending you annoying notifications, then tap on it. Tap on it to access

the information.

In the Application info page uncheck Show notifications and this option can be found right under the

Force Stop button.

Tap OK button to see the warning window.

Now notifications from that application will not appear in the top drop down notification.

Tutorial to Fix Wi-Fi Bug in Jellybean 4.1 Powered Verizon Galaxy Nexus

Verizon Galaxy Nexus smartphone users who have upgraded with the latest Jellybean 4.1 Custom ROM

firmware can now get rid of Wi Fi issues as there are some minor instability issues in Wi Fi. In the process of this tutorial, we will be checking out on how you can fix this Wi Fi issue, you will need to have boot loader unlocked. As per different forums and websites, it has been reported that there are issues like frequent disconnection, unable to latch on to the Wi Fi network despite adding the MAC address of the device in the trusted list of device access listing and also some users reported that internet couldn’t be accessed despite getting latched.

So, basically, in this article we will be checking out on how you can replace the Wi Fi drivers with that of the earlier firmware version which are of IMM76K. The Wi Fi drivers of IMM76K are highly stable and the same will be replaced once you follow the instructions. To apply this fix, you need to ensure that the device has to be rooted and is boot loader unlocked. Despite applying this Wi Fi fix, the firmware of your device will still remain as Jellybean 4.1 and not be changed to IMM76K build. Before proceeding, ensure that your Galaxy Nexus is on the latest Jellybean 4.1

Procedure to Fix Wi Fi Issue in Verizon powered Galaxy Nexus:

Before proceeding, you need to ensure that your device is boot loader unlocked, Rooted & installed with Clock Work Mod Recovery which we understand that it will be satisfied as Jellybean is not yet officially available as of now and those installed in devices are the pre-released / leaked version. Also, the ADB should be installed in your computer.

Download the WI Fi fix for VZW Galaxy Nexus Package in your computer. Once downloaded, you now need to connect the same with your computer. Place the downloaded Wi Fi zip package in your device and disconnect the phone from computer.

Up next you need to enable the USB Debugging in your phone from the path “Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging. Ensure that the USB Debugging option is ticked as shown in the below screen capture. Also, the minimum battery charge left should be 50% to make sure that it doesn’t get turned Off in the middle of firmware update.

Turn Off the phone so that it can be entered in the recovery mode. To enter into the recovery mode, you need to first enter the device in the boot loader mode. Boot loader mode can be entered by entering the below command,

adb reboot bootloader

Once the device is entered into the boot loader mode, you need to select the “recovery mode” to enter into the same.

In recovery mode, select “install zip from sd card” > “choose zip from sd card” and then choose the Wi Fi Fix Zip file which is placed in your Verizon Wireless Galaxy Nexus.

Once the device is updated with this firmware, select “++++ Go BACK ++++” and choose the option of “reboot system now”. Now, you can remove the connected USB cable to enjoy the seamless Wi Fi in your Galaxy nexus.

Note: At any point of time just in case if the process of firmware update gets stopped due to any reason, all you need to do is restart the process from the start by re inserting the battery.

Congrats, the bug now in your Galaxy nexus has been fixed. Do share with us in the comments section below just in case if you face any issues as we will try to fix the same.