10 Tips and Tricks for your Android Device

1. Download maps for offline use

Open Google maps application and choose your desired map area for offline use by zooming in or out. 
Then tap on the search bar on the top. You'll see an option "Make this map area available offline". Tap it and the selected area will be download for offline use. 
There's a maximum size for the area you can download; if surpassed, you’ll be asked to zoom in to a smaller area.

 


2. USB Connection Problem
 
Go to Settings > Storage > Tap on the 3-dot menu on the top right corner > USB computer connection > select Media device (MTP)

 


For MAC users

Download "Android File Transfer". Instructions are given in the download link below

Download : http://www.android.com/filetransfer/


3. Take pictures while recording video

While recording video in the nexus devices or the newer Samsung and HTC devices, tapping the screen will take pictures while still recording video. 


4. Access developer options
  

      Go to Settings > About phone. 

      Scroll down and tap on "Build number" more than six times quickly .This will bring out extra menu item under Settings called "Developer options". 

5. Turn your phone into a portable Wi-fi hotspot

If you are using an Android phone with mobile data enabled, wouldn't it be cool if your other devices like a tablet or a  windows laptop could use that connection to access internet?  Yes, you can create a portable  Wi-fi hotspot for connection. In this way you can share the connection to multiple devices nearby.

 


- Go to Settings > More > Tethering & portable hotspot.
- Tap "Portable Wi-Fi hotspot" to enable it.
- Tap "Set up Wi-Fi hotspot" to enter a Network ID and password to prevent unauthorized connections.
- On a computer with Wi-Fi connectivity, click the network icon on the system tray to identify and connect to the wireless network you set.

If you need to share the connection to only one device then you can use a wired connection using USB cable.

- Connect your Android device to a computer with a micro-USB cable.
- On your phone, go to Settings > More > Tethering & portable hotspot.
- Tap "USB tethering" to enable it.
- On the computer, click the network icon on the system tray to identify and connect to the wired network. 

The Windows system can take more than a minute to discover the network for Internet access.

6. Close an app

How do you close an app?? You just tap the Home button or key, right?? No. That doesn't actually close the app on Android, it just puts it into static in the background. Most of the android users don't know this. In this way those apps in the background might be eating up a lot of resources thus reducing battery life and producing lag on the device.

So to properly close the app, press the multi-tasking button or key and swipe the app away. 

7. Set and Clear a Default App

In Android, you can set an file type to open with a certain app by default like in windows. If you have multiple image viewers installed then the system will ask you to select an app hen you try to open an image file (like in the screenshot below). 

     

To set a default app for this action, check "Use by default for this action" before you select that app. Now the next time you open an image file it will always open it that last app without asking you again.

To clear the default app, go to Settings> Apps> Choose the app you donot want to launch by default for some file types or action. Then tap on "Clear defaults".

8. Cut, Copy and Paste Text

To select a word, double-tap or touch-&-hold. Now drag the handles to adjust the area you want to select. Then tap Cut or Copy from the top bar. 

To paste you can simple touch-&-hold which brings out the paste button. Tap it to paste the copied or cut text.

       

 

9. How to delete synced Google photos

 At first, go to Settings> Accounts> Google>Tap in your account> Uncheck Google Photos

This turns off google photos sync so that they wont be deleted from your google a/c when you remove them from your phone later on.

Now go back to Settings> Apps> Swipe to the right to get to All tab. Scroll down and search for Gallery. Tap it, and tap on Clear data and Clear cache.

       

   

Now go to the app drawer and open gallery, those google photos are no gone.

10. Monitor and control mobile data

Go to Settings > Data Usage. 

      

   

Here you can set a warning for a certain amount of mobile data. For eg. 700 MB if you are using a 1 GB plan or anything you like. You can also restrict background data usage so that the applications running on background don't use up your data. You can also restrict certain app from using mobile data.

Stay High on Android. Peace!!!