Sunday, November 25, 2012

Advantages To Rooting Android


It has been brought to my attention that a lot of people are unaware of the full potential that they have in their hands and pockets for most of the day. The Android smart phonethat is in their possession is one of the most powerful things they own.

You are probably wondering, "Well if it's so powerful, why would I need to root it?"

Phone companies, while developing a phone, can either release the phone when they need to (if they think it will profit, or there is other competition being released), or they can work out all of the kinks and optimize it. Sadly enough, they rarely get optimized. That's where rooting come in.

Rooting is possible by a developer (thanks to the fact that Android is open source software). Think of the developer as the phone companies working overtime, and for no pay. They can tap into the full potential of your phone.

What rooting does: 

Rooting your phone does a number of things. It lets you get Superuser access to your root directory (where you can customize things like appearance or performance). It also allows you to flash(flash is rooting terms for install) a different kernel, optimized for the ROM of your choosing.

ROMs. ROMs are what I referred to earlier as the developers overtime. They create their own version of Android, a new Operating System, that customizes your smart phone experience. It can change the color of your icons, change the app dock, whether or not you have an app menu, etc. It can do basically anything. With a ROM you can uncap the full potential of your phone.

After ROMs there is apps. There are a number of apps on the market that only work while rooted. Screenshot apps, overclocking apps, etc. Just by rooting you are able to do so much more in the Market.


Speed and performance. Kernels are the things that tell your processor what to do, and how to do it. By changing that, you can change your processor speed and voltages. Meaning you are able to do what you love to do, only faster.

Looks. If you have the latest and greatest Android smart phone, you can't deny wanting eye-candy. It's your desire, and the reason you enjoy Android so much. When you root, you can take any imperfections out. If you think it would look better with a blue theme instead of a green one, or you want your favorite color everywhere, you can do it. If you don't like the default layout of the phone, or the styling, you can change it too. You can even make it look like an iPhone. (Though I wouldn't know why you would.)

Customization. This ties into the looks and speed and performance sections. Being able to say that no one around has the same phone as you is nice (iPhone users reading this don't know what it's like). But the moment when you do see someone with your phone, and you can still say your phone is different, is priceless. It gives people warm fuzzies inside.

Now that you have read that and know that you want to root, what next? This is the part where you head over to XDA Developers, go to the top right, and type in your phone. From there, you can find guides on rooting, installing ROMs, and tips and tricks. The best ROMs are the ones that people try to port like MIUI, Cyanogen Mod, and others depending on your phone.

Android Battery Life Optimization Guide


If you have just purchased your first Android smart phone, do not panic about what I am proceeding to tell you. We both know you will be on your phone for countless hours because it is such an upgrade that it is unbelievable. However, your battery will not last long. I know, tragic. Luckily, I can help you make the most of it without spending a dime.

First off, you need to limit what resources are being spent (resources being your battery).
Android Battery Life Optimization


Unknowingly, the #1 cause of short lived batteries is yourbrightness level.

This is when you go into Settings -> Display -> Brightness and turn off auto brightness on your phone. Then set it to a consistent setting to where you can see easily in a moderately lit room. This will undoubtedly increase your battery life tremendously. It might even benefit your eyes a little too.

Second step is to get into the habit of toggling your WiFi.

When you are out and about you do not need WiFi on. It will just spend precious resources trying to find what isn't there. Go to Settings -> Wireless & network settings and make sure it is off.

Step three is GPS. It is the same as WiFi, it's only useful while you're using it. So when you are about to use it, turn it on. And when you are done, turn it back off. Go to Settings -> Location & security settings and uncheck "Use GPS Satellite ".

WiFi and GPS can be easily maintained by the Power Control widget. To get to the widgets, long press on your background and select "Widgets". From there, locate "Power Control" and select/place it on your home screen. From left to right the toggle selections you have are: WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, Auto sync, and Brightness control. I prefer to have all of them off, except when I need to use WiFi, Bluetooth, or GPS to make sure my battery stays alive.

 The fourth step is to turn off Bluetooth, which you can do through Power Control, like I stated previously. You can also go to Settings -> Wireless & network settings and uncheck it there. 

Next, download JuiceDefender off of the Android Market.

With Juice Defender, you have to power to control and limit what has access to data while your screen is off, you have the ability to restrict multiple apps from accessing the internet period, and you can customize your settings between 4 different level restrictions. Despite what I have said earlier, do not download Advanced Task Manager, as I have stated in my newest Android Advantage article update.

After that, look through your Applications and check out which ones you really need. Delete any that you don't ever use, and your battery life will also improve. (Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications)

major reason people's batteries die so much is Live Wallpapers. They look really cool, but since they are running 24/7, they drain your resources in a hurry. Long press your home screen and go to Wallpapers to change it.

Last but certainly not least, is rooting your phone. It is highly unrecommended by phone companies, as is voids the warranty, but it essentially modifies the Android Operating System, allowing people with significant tech know-how to customize and improve your smart phone. A rooted phone typically has no bloatware (apps that no one uses or are useless), which will improve the performance as well as battery life. They also can overclock your phone and improve the speeds of it as well.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Notifications on your android device

Some of the default icons that the status bar would have include the Time, Battery level indicator, Network strength indicator, Data network connection icon and Alarm all on the right side. There are even the connectivity icons shown in the status bar:
  • Wi-Fi icon
  • Bluetooth icon
  • GPS tracker icon
  • Airplane mode icon
  • “Network name” icon on the extreme left
The left side contains the instant notifications that appear in accordance to the functions. A limited number of notifications icons are shown in the status bar, and if it exceeds that number, an icon showing a Plus sign along with the notification count would show up.
Status icons android
Here are some of the basic status icons that frequently would appear in the status bar:
  • Mail icon: New Message on Gmail App
  • A Smiley: A new Text or Multimedia received message
  • An icon with Exclamation mark: Problem in delivery of SMS or MMS
  • Icon with “Talk” word: New Message on Google Talk
  • Phone icon: New Voicemail
  • Date in Calendar: Upcoming event listed in Calendar
  • A refresh icon: Data sync is in progress
  • A triangular icon with Exclamatory mark: Problem with signing into the account, or syncing
  • Storage disk with Exclamation mark: The storage SD card is full
  • Wi-Fi icon with Question mark: Open Wi-Fi network is available. This shows only when you have the Wi-Fi connectivity turned on.
  • A USB icon: Phone USB cable connective active
  • A Blue USB icon: This indicates that the phone is sharing its data connection with the computer via USB, which we call as USB tethering.
  • A Blue Wi-Fi icon: This indicates that the phone is sharing its data connection to the computer or other devices by becoming a personal Wi-Fi hotspot, and we call it Wi-Fi tethering.
  • A Blue round icon with a center dot: This indicates that the phone has multiple connections on at the same time.
  • Plus icon with a number: Multiple notifications not displayed
  • Green call icon: Voice call in progress
  • Blue call icon: Voice call in progress using the Bluetooth headset
  • Missed call icon
  • Green call + pause icon: Call on hold
  • Call with an arrow mark: Call forwarding is active
  • Music Play icon: Song is being played
  • File with “up” arrow mark: Uploading data
  • File with “down” arrow mark: Downloading data
  • File with a check icon: Download completed
  • A white key icon: Connected to a Virtual Private Network
  • A grey key icon: Disconnected from a Virtual Private Network
  • Triangle icon with up and down arrows: Network data limit threshold reached or exceeded
  • Market icon with Android robot: Update available for Application
  • Android robot with down arrow: System update available
  • SIM with Exclamation mark: SIM-card is not installed or placed properly
  • Micrphone icon with a diagonal line: The Microphone of the phone is muted
  • Sound icon with an X – The ringer of the phone is silenced
Status icons
There are several other icons that appear based on the applications that you download from the Android Play Store (previously Android Market). One of them is the Facebook messenger chat notification which appears just like the Google Talk icon when you receive any message from your Facebook friends.
The status icons in the status bar appear even based on the phone. For example, the Motorola Droid Razr would have the Data Manager icon always shown if you have the data network connection disabled.
Apart from the various status icons, one of the important range of icons that keep changing are the Data network connection icons which lets the user know about the network to which the phone is connected to, ranging from GPRS to 4G LTE. The icon with the shining or darkened arrow marks would indicate whether the data network connection is currently active or not.
Note: Many of the icons would just the users know the status of the phone or activity, but a few would take you to the particular app. You would need to check the Notification panel to see if there is any extra function or shortcut available for the icon that appeared on the status bar.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Android 4.2 – Build JOP40C – Heading to Nexus 7 Owners; Manual Update Here Read more at http://androidheadlines.com/2012/11/android-4-2-build-jop40c-heading-to-nexus-7-owners-manual-update-here.html#eliCU8HuHiyTIdSJ.99

November 13, 2012 |
That’s right, today is becoming a very busy day indeed for those that are Nexus fans and owners. With the news that the Galaxy Nexus is getting its fresh helping of Android 4.2 we were all wondering when the Nexus 7 would be allowed to join the party after all, the N7 did get to the Jelly Bean party first now, didn’t they? There’s no telling just how long you’ll be waiting for the update but the word is that the JOP40C, the same build for the Galaxy Nexus, is now making its way to Nexus 7s all over the place.
As always, there is an alternative to updating your device if you have absolutely no patience and quite frankly, we don’t blame you one bit. If you want to know how to get 4.2 on your Nexus 7 then read on and download this zip file before you get started!
  • First of all download the zip file above, do NOT rename this file.
  • Reboot your Galaxy Nexus while holding the Volume Down button – this will take you to the fastboot menu
  • From there, hit start and then hit the Volume Up key to get to Recovery and hit the Power Button
  • If you’re stock – with no CWM – then you should see a red exclamation point, after this hit the Power Button and the Volume Up button
  • From here, select “apply update from adb”
  • Then go ahead and open up a command prompt – terminal in Linux and Mac OS X – navigate to the same directory as the downloaded zip and input this command:  adb sideload 094f6629314a.signed-nakasi-JOP40C-from-JZO54K.094f6629.zip
  • Reboot and then you should be in Jelly Bean 4.2!
Of course, if you’re like a whole lot of other Nexus 7 owners out there and have gone a little rogue and installed a custom recovery and so on you can just simply copy it to your device and install it like you would any other zip!
Have fun and let us know how it goes in the comments!

Just Got Your First Android Device? Here Are Simple Answers To Your Everyday Questions by Joel Lee

The popularity of Android has been on a slow but steady rise. If you aren't using an iPhone, then your options are pretty limited: Blackberry for the business folk, Android for the everyday iPhone equivalent, then Windows Phone for the rest. Of those 3 alternatives, Android is the most popular. So if you're just starting off with an Android device, you probably have a few questions on how to proceed.
I'll be honest-I was a latecomer to the world of smartphones. Yep, I was using an old Samsung flip-phone until Fall 2011 when my contract renewed and I was able to grab an Android phone for free. As a newbie, I had a ton of questions. How do I do this? Where can I get that? The learning process was frustrating, but fun.
Here are some common questions that Android newbies might ask. If you're new to Android, the answers may help to ease your transition.

1. What is Android?

Android is an operating system based on Linux that has been designed for use in mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. The chief developer behind Android is Google, though they work in conjunction with the Open Handset Alliance, an organization that aims to develop and maintain standards for mobile devices.

2. Why Android?

There are a number of reasons why users could prefer Android over competing mobile operating systems:
  • User choice. Android can be used on hundreds of handsets and tablets. Instead of being pigeonholed into a particular device, users have the option of choosing which device they would prefer to use.
  • Customization. Because Android is an open source operating system, it can be modified by users. If you have the required expertise, you could very well change fundamental functions of the phone to fit your own desires.
  • Google. As the number two largest tech company in the world, Google has proven itself as a competent business. It's competitors-Microsoft and Apple-are also competent businesses, but some users prefer the way Google does business.
Of course, there are other reasons, too, but these are the main ones that often win users over. None of this is to say that Android is the best mobile operating system-that would be up to personal preference.

3. Where do Android's version names come from?

You may have noticed a delicious trend in the way Android likes to name its versions: Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean. As I type them right now, my mouth is starting to water.
In essence, Android names each successive version after a dessert that starts with the next letter of the English alphabet. That's all.

4. Do I need a Google account to use an Android phone?

Technically? No. The phone itself will work just fine without a Google account. However, if you want to take advantage of Google Play-to download apps-then yes, you will need a Google account.
Furthermore, Android actually uses Google accounts to sync phone data if you allow it to. This means that your phone setup is stored on Google's servers in case something goes wrong and you lose all of your data or something, you'll be able to go back to a previous version.

5. What are these buttons on my Android phone?

The majority of Android devices come with 4 hardware buttons that are built into the phone. These buttons are (in the sequence shown above):
  • Back: This button will take you back one step to whatever you were doing before your current step. For example, in a web browser, it'll take you back to the previous page.
  • Menu: Depending on when you tap this button, something will happen. Usually, if you're inside an app, you'll be presented with a number of choices. For the most part, it's used for accessing an app's settings.
  • Search: If you're on the home screen, this button will show you a search bar that takes you to search results in a web browser. If you're in a program, however, usually it will result in finding a specific phrase in that program (like the Find function in Word).
  • Home: If you single tap, this button will take you back to the home screen. If you hold the button, however, it'll show you a list of all running apps, allowing you to quickly switch between them or close them.

6. How customizable is Android?

The answer is, of course, very customizable. Once you get past the numerous choices of which device you want, you'll then be able to ponder just which software you want.
Like other mobile operating systems, Android has app functionality. Through Google Play, you can download and install various apps that improve your phone in different ways. There are: games to stave off boredom; productivity apps to keep you sharp and punctual; themes and skins that change how things look; and more.
But unlike other mobile operating systems, Android gives you the freedom to install new ROMs. ROMs are basically other versions of Android. Each ROM is unique in that they are each designed for different purposes. Some ROMs are designed to be fast at the cost of features; others are designed to pack in as many features as they can.
If you know anything about Linux, you can think of ROMs as different flavors of Linux. One ROM might be a Fedora, another could be Red Hat, while another ROM could be Ubuntu. Each is Linux, but they're all different in noticeable ways. Same with Android and its ROMs.

7. How can I customize my Android home screen?

You can customize your home screen by holding down on icons and moving them around or deleting them. There are three main ways to customize the home screen: wallpapers, app shortcuts from the app drawer, and widgets.

8. What's the difference between "home screen" and "app drawer"?

This distinction is one of the big differences between Android and iOS. In iOS, when you install new apps, they are placed directly on the home screen. If you fill up your screen, the app icons overflow into the next page. If you want to hide those icons, you can't-at least not without fiddling with your phone in ways that could void your warranty.
In Android, however, all of your apps are kept in the app drawer. The home screen, then, only contains shortcut icons to the actual apps. Think of it like a Windows PC: your programs are installed into various locations on your computer, but only the shortcuts that you want appear on the desktop. In the screenshot above you can see a home screen to the left (emptier), and an app drawer to the right (a grid full of icons).

9. And what are widgets?

Widgets are dynamic elements that operate directly on the home screen. Every widget looks different and can do pretty much anything that the programmer wants it to do. It sounds confusing, I know, but hopefully I can clear it up.
One widget that you might know is the weather widget. This widget sits on your home screen and displays the current temperature and current weather conditions. It updates over time depending on weather changes.
Another widget you might know is an email inbox widget. This one sits on your home screen and updates every time you receive a new email, allowing you to stay on top of your email as soon as it comes in.
Android comes with a few default widgets, but most of the popular ones are developed by hobby programmers and third-party developers. Widgets can be downloaded on Google Play.

10. What is the "notification bar"?

At the top of your screen, you'll see a bar that stretched across. This bar will display icons for all of the services currently running on your device, as well as showing you WiFi signal strength, reception bars, time, and more.
If you press and drag the notification bar down, it'll open up to show you a bunch of notifications (if you have any). This way, you aren't bombarded by popups and messages every time an app wants to notify you of something.

11. How do I transfer files from my computer to my phone?

The quickest way is to connect your phone to your computer using a USB cable. Once you enable USB storage on your phone, you can freely transfer files back and forth just as if you were transferring files to an external hard drive.
There are other ways, such as through Bluetooth or WiFi, but they are more convoluted and would require an article onto themselves.

12. How do I add apps to Android?

There are two ways you can add apps to your Android device: 1) through Google Play on your phone, or 2) through Google Play on the web.
If you open the Google Play app on your device, you can search the market and find different apps, both free and paid. The operating system handles everything for you, so once you find an app that you want and you click "Install," you won't have to do anything else.
If you log into Google Play online using your Google account (the same one you use for your device), then you can actually install straight to your device through your browser. Very convenient.
There are other app-downloading services and markets, like Amazon App Store, but they are another topic altogether.

13. How do I install a new ROM on Android?

Our very own Ryan Dube actually wrote up a post detailing how you can install a custom ROM on your Android device. Be aware, however, that ROM installation is an advanced topic and doing it incorrectly could render your phone bricked.
What is "bricked," you ask? It means your phone no longer starts up, making it no more useful than a paperweight. A brick, you could say. For more on Android-related terminology and jargon, check out this article with a mini Android glossary.
Hopefully these questions were pertinent to you and you have a better understanding of Android. If you have a question that wasn't answered here, feel free to ask it in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them.
Image Credit: Apple & Android Via cio.com.au

Friday, November 9, 2012

How to Install apks from computer directly.[for all android devices]


  1. Go to Setting of your android device
  2. then,Application
  3. then,Development
  4. make sure that USB debugging is connected ie clicked.
  5. Connect your device to computer
  6. now you just need to download small application in your computer
  7. here goes the link http://www.mediafire.com/?os4q4lhdnp9tgex
  8.  open the application
  9. drag the downloaded apks to marked area of below fig.
  10.  
  11. This image is captured after successfull installation of apk to my device. 
  12. Have fun guys.