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May

[I/O 2013] Google Gives Developers A 'Better Distribution Experience' In Revised Play Store Console Coming 'This Summer'

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, Development, News

Between Hangouts, the gorgeous new Maps, Play Music All Access, and everything else discussed in I/O's opening keynote this morning, several revisions to the Play Store developer's console were announced.

Perhaps the most interesting addition to the console will be an organized method for alpha and beta testing, and staged rollouts. Basically, developers can select alpha and beta testers, receiving all feedback directly (instead of through reviews) and, when the time comes, roll out the app to certain percentages of the user base.

The changes also include a major help in ensuring your apps make sense to international users – a full translation service by which developers can order specific translations, come back a week or so later, and download the translations directly from the console.

Apr

Tip: Use Facebook Home Alongside Another Launcher By Leaving It Enabled, But Not Making It The Default

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News, Tips & Tutorials

When I went hands-on with Facebook's new launcher a few days ago, I stepped away pleased with the overall experience, but felt that it lacked a lot of the features a power user (or even a regular user who does stuff) would like. Still, I found the "lock screen" functionality to be a very pleasant experience – turning my phone on to nothing more than a scrolling photo and the time is very minimal and relaxing. I even made the comment that I wish I could use it as my lockscreen and return to Nova for my actual launcher. Turns out doing just that is actually extremely easy.

Feb

Quick Tip: Long Press Google Search Suggestions To Pop Them Into The Search Bar

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Applications, Tips & Tutorials

Remember that little diagonal arrow that used to appear next to suggestions in the Google Search box as you typed? The arrows could be used to insert suggestions into the search bar, while you kept typing away. For a while now, though, the arrows have been missing from Google Search. Those that want that feature back are in luck, however – astute Redditor Foxsbiscuits notes that a simple long-press will fling search suggestions into the search bar, providing essentially the same functionality with a slightly more discreet UI.

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Keeping this handy tip in mind, your searches can be as quick and efficient as ever.

Nov

Tip Of The Day: How To Defeat The Pesky Play Store Server Errors And Order That Elusive Nexus 4

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Google, News, Nexus 4, Tips & Tutorials

And the tip of the ~~day~~, ~~month~~, year goes to... Syko Pompos! Here I was, sitting on the couch, trying to order the 16GB Nexus 4 for the last 4 hours. That's a lot of hours practically wasted. And I'm not even talking about the first batch which resulted in exactly the same failures and poor experience.

Turns out, there's a little trick you can use to defeat these errors and finally place your Nexus order. Sure, it'll arrive weeks or maybe even months later, but at least you'll reserve your place in line and stop ripping out hair from places where you might still need it.

Oct

Quick Tip: How To Search Only Android Play Store Titles And Cut Out The Noise

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, News, Tips & Tutorials

I do so much searching in the Play Store on a daily basis that every little trick that helps surface relevant results faster and filter out things I don't want is worth its weight in gold. Sometimes, you're searching for XYZ, which you know should be in the title, but instead get a ton of results back with XYZ in the description. This is especially frustrating when a new app or game gets released, and Google hasn't figured out it's popular yet. In that case, it's more than likely that searching for the name of the app will show it somewhere near the last results page.

Mar

[Updated: LG Viper Too] Rumor: Sprint's Galaxy Nexus And LG Viper Poised For An April 15th Release

Posted by Liam Spradlin in 4G, Galaxy Nexus, LG, News, Rumors, Sprint, Viper

Going on a tip received from within Sprint's Product Development division, S4GRU, a site pretty well connected with Sprint's insiders, has reported that the third largest wireless network in the US is aiming to get the Samsung Galaxy Nexus on shelves beginning April 15th.

The mid-April date has been rumored for some time now, as it coincides with the end of Sprint's Data Storm contest, and several WiMax device promotions which end on or around April 14th. You may remember that Sprint's Galaxy Nexus also just got through the FCC, making a not-too-distant release even more plausible.

Update: LG Viper is also supposed to come out on the same April 15th date.

Mar

[Quick Tip] Swipe Sideways Across The Notification Bar To Control Screen Brightness In TouchWiz, CyanogenMod, And AOKP Based ROMs

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Tips & Tutorials

Yesterday, a great thread titled Share One Awesome Tip or Trick You Do With Your Android Phone, I'll Start... popped up on Reddit, and thinking I would be already aware of all the little tricks, I almost ignored it. By the end of the day, seeing over 100 comments piqued my curiosity, so I checked it out.

To my dismay, among all the great tips, I found one, courtesy of kennansoft, that somehow evaded me all along - and it was available in my own stock Epic 4G Touch Galaxy S II ROM of all things.

The tip itself is very simple - if you turn off auto-brightness, you can just place your finger on the notification area (as you can see in red below) and swipe it left and right to control brightness.

Sep

Captain Unobvious Tip: New Facebook For Android Has Swipe-To-Delete For Wall Posts And Comments, Swipe-To-Archive For Messages

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News, Tips & Tutorials

If you belong to the dying breed of people still using Facebook (at least that's what everyone on Google+ seems to think), I think you will find today's tip quite handy, to say the least.

As it turns out, you can actually delete wall posts and comments (on your own wall or ones you created) as well as archive messages all by swiping away the item in question. Both left-to-right and right-to-left gestures seem to work, though left-to-right is a bit more reliable and natural.

Note: The gesture doesn't work everywhere - for example, it didn't work when I tried to swipe away a post by page (Android Police), probably because it still uses the old layout.

Aug

[Tip] Is Your Sensation Having Touchscreen Issues? Here's A Potential Fix.

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid), Tips & Tutorials

Shortly after the HTC Sensation was released, we covered a seemingly random issue with the touchscreen. Not all Sensation owners experienced this issue, and it's still relatively unknown what the exact cause of the problem is.

However, one of the theories formed on XDA is that it's a grounding issue on some devices. On others, though, the issue seems to be completely software related. If you can easily solve the problem by rebooting or a factory reset, then the fix outlined below will not work for you. If, however, this doesn't remedy the problem - even temporarily - then you should continue reading.

Aug

[Update: EVO 3D Too] Tip: Android 2.3.4 Update For HTC Sensations In Europe Enables Screenshot Shortcut

Posted by Brian O'Toole in News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid), Tips & Tutorials

Earlier this week, the OTA update to Android 2.3.4 finally began rolling out to HTC Sensations around Europe. Our unit received the update yesterday, and quite by accident we discovered that - besides being able to make voice/video calls in GTalk - we also had a new ability to take screenshots untethered from a computer.

Those of you familiar with the standard method of taking screenshots through the Android SDK know how convoluted the process can be: hunting for drivers, enabling debugging, living down those notification-bar icons ... all a fairly time consuming process. Not to mention you have to be at a computer.