Android Tips and Tricks

Some useful android tips and tricks for android user who has a version greater than Gingerbread.

Google Maps in 3D: If you are using the latest version of Google Maps, just tilt the map by sliding two fingers vertically up/down the screen, and just rotate it from 12 and 6 o’clock to 3 and 9.

Text or talk: If you're getting a call on your android phone you can swipe up to reply with a default text message "I'm busy right now. I will call you later." If you are a busy person this will trick will be handy for you. If you wish you can change the default message in the phone's app's Settings area to something you like.

Launch your camera without unlocking the screen: Using this trick you can launch your camera from the lock screen. Just don’t sliding the ring towards the center of the screen, just tap and hold the camera icon on the bottom right of your Android device and drag it to the ring and then let go to launch the camera.

Easy text copy/paste: If you want to copy paste something from a web page, long press some text, drag the handles around to select the text you want to copy, and then press anywhere in the selected region then simply long press where you want to paste the text and select paste. But if you are in Gmail >> go to Menu >> More >> Select Text.

Speed dial: If you are calling someone very often then there's an easy way just create a speed dial for them on your Android Smartphone. Just tap and hold anywhere on your Android homescreen wallpaper and select Shortcuts from the list of options. Then, touch Direct Dial and select the contact from your contacts list. Simply touching this Direct Dial icon you can call that person. If you select the Direct Message option instead of Direct Dial option you can use this tool for one-touch texting.

Voice commands: Simply press the microphone icon next to the search box on the home screen and give orders to your phone. Like “send text to Joe, Happy birthday”, "call Hudson", “navigate to Washington DC”, or "listen to Mamma Mia".

G mail app short cuts: Here are some short cuts for those who use Gmail on an Android Smartphones: If you are inside of a message, touch the R key to reply to the message. If you tap on F, then you can forward it. If you want to reply everyone in the To: and Cc: field simply tap A or Y to archive the mail. If you are in the inbox view then compose a new email by tapping Menu + C. In the inbox view you can Refresh your Gmail inbox with Menu + U.

Turn a Gallery stack into a slideshow: If you are in Gallery, when you are looking at a stack of photos, place 2 fingers on the stack and unfold them. The stack will spreads out and the pictures travel from one finger to the opposite and that will create a moving slideshow.

Reduce your data consumption: If you want to reduce your data usage you can launch Flash on-demand. After selecting this option no flash content will load automatically. You can load Flash content by tapping it.

Go to the Settings of the web browser>>select Advanced >> tap to change the Enable Flash and Plug-Ins tab from "Always On" to "On demand" or "Off."

 Use your Android device as a Wi-Fi hotspot: Go to Settings > >Wireless & Networks > >Tethering & Portable Hotspot.

 Dictate your messages and mails: The voice-to-text dictation feature in Android is useful tool which can save you so much time. To use this feature just tap the microphone icon to the left of the spacebar while inside of a text or email, then start talking. You can see the words typed out as you speak, if you want punctuation please say it "comma,' "period" and "question mark."

Take you screen shots: You can take screen shots of your device by simply pressing the power and volume-down buttons at the same time. You'll hear a sound and the screen will flash white. The image of your screen will be saved in your photo gallery.

Read it later: If your device has an Android version of ICS or later you can save web page to read at a later time without out the help of any other third party apps. If you like to read something interesting on a web page and you are busy now, then save it for later reading offline. Tap the menu tab >> "Save for offline reading", it will be saved on your device unlike bookmarking you can read it offline.

Visual Clue: If you are in a scrollable list and you reach the end of the list it shows an orange hue which means you can’t scroll any more.

Clean up the mess: If your pages are littered with multiple app icons and you want to reorganize apps. You can press and hold on an app icon, drag it onto another one and it will create a folder with both of them in it. Now, you can tap and hold on to rename the folder as you like. Example, Video apps, social apps, Music apps, etc.

Source Google