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Tip: Add A Phonetic Name To Contacts Voice Recognition Just Can't Get Right

Bertel King, Jr. — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:50:00 +0000

Perhaps the most time-saving key on the Android keyboard is the microphone, but using it is more hassle than it's worth when certain words just refuse to be recognized. More often than not, these words are contact names. Luckily, there is a way to trick your phone into recognizing even the most tongue-twisting of names. If you're tired of your phone turning "Demonte Jones" into "Demon's bones," just teach it to recognize the latter as the former. Granted, this might be a problem when you're texting a friend the location of a secret item in your favorite MMORPG.

The instructions are pretty straightforward:

Open up the People app and find your desired contact.

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Tip: Add A Phonetic Name To Contacts Voice Recognition Just Can't Get Right was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Tip: The Google Keyboard For Android Supports Text Expansion, Here's How To Use It

Cody Toombs — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 15:16:00 +0000

I'm a huge fan of text expanders. Seriously, they are necessary to me. As a regular user of both Mac and Windows, I have sought out solutions on both platforms and rely on them daily. That's why I've always felt horrified that there weren't any great options on Android. After all, mobile devices are already input-impaired, it only makes sense that we need quality shortcuts. As it turns out, such a shortcut has been under our noses for quite some time, tucked away where few would look and only available with the stock Android 4.1 (or higher) keyboard. But, thanks to the newly minted availability of the Google Keyboard on the Play Store, it's time to call out this great little feature.

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Tip: The Google Keyboard For Android Supports Text Expansion, Here's How To Use It was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

PSA: Your Gmail's "Delete" Button Is Not Gone In The New App, It's Just Hiding - Here's How To Re-Enable It

David Ruddock — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 19:32:26 +0000

Do you have this (look down) problem after installing the new version of Gmail? That is, when you open a message, all you see are options for archive, mark unread, and add to folder? You're not alone! If you downloaded the new version of Gmail (v4.5) from the Play Store today, it's likely that your "Archive & delete actions" were reset when the app was installed. We're not sure why Google did this (well maybe Google doesn't really want you deleting your email, that would make sense from a business standpoint), but here's how to fix it.

Hit the menu button, and go to settings.

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PSA: Your Gmail's "Delete" Button Is Not Gone In The New App, It's Just Hiding - Here's How To Re-Enable It was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Tip: Multi-Select Is Still Alive And Easy To Use In The New Gmail 4.5

Artem Russakovskii — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 22:45:17 +0000

Gmail 4.5 started rolling out today to Android devices (have you installed your update yet?), and immediately some of you noticed that it has definitely shuffled some things around. The bottom bar moved up top, the navigation is now on the left, and the multi-select checkboxes are gone. Don't worry, though - multi-select functionality hasn't disappeared. In fact, it's still very easy to use.

If you lost your Delete button, look no further than PSA: Your Gmail's "Delete" Button Is Not Gone In The New App, It's Just Hiding - Here's How To Re-Enable It.

With the addition of sender images, two separate scenarios exist for using good old multi-select.

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Tip: Multi-Select Is Still Alive And Easy To Use In The New Gmail 4.5 was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Here's How To Enable The New Hangouts In Gmail, But Only If You're Ready To Lose Phone Dialing

Kyle Wiggers — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:09:18 +0000

Google may've said during Wednesday's keynote that it planned to roll out Hangouts to Gmail users gradually, but if you just can't wait to integrate the new messaging service into your e-mail dashboard, there's a way to gain early access. Simply log into Gmail, ensure you've signed into Google Talk (if you're having trouble enabling Talk, try installing the browser plugin), click on the thumbnail associated with your account in the Talk sidebar, and select the "Try the new Hangouts" option.

If you don't see the option right now, you can trick Gmail into giving up the goods by clearing your cache and cookies.

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Here's How To Enable The New Hangouts In Gmail, But Only If You're Ready To Lose Phone Dialing was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

PSA: Removing Or Adding Sports Teams Or Stocks In Google Now Currently Causes It To Crash Endlessly

Artem Russakovskii — Tue, 14 May 2013 01:57:53 +0000

Listen up, Android users. If you're using Google Now, don't go to its Settings -> My Stuff and try to modify sports teams or stocks right now, as doing so completely borks the whole app. As soon as you go back to the main screen or click into Search, you will experience a force close. Repeated attempts to restart it will result in a crash as well:

The only thing that works is clearing out Google Search's data in Settings -> Applications, after which you need to re-enroll into Google Now. Changing your Home or Work locations does not seem to trigger the issue - it's just sports teams and stocks.

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PSA: Removing Or Adding Sports Teams Or Stocks In Google Now Currently Causes It To Crash Endlessly was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

[Video] Must-See Home Automation Project Controls Lights And Entertainment Center By Voice, Starfleet Captain's Chair Still On Backorder

Cody Toombs — Tue, 07 May 2013 19:12:00 +0000

Let's be honest, most of us will never get to live in a crazy futuristic home like the Jetsons, but that doesn't mean we can't strive for a few of the simple luxuries. To that end, Doug Gregory is on track to make his living room smarter than the bridge of the USS Enterprise, all with a few electronic controllers and extensive use of Tasker. There's no way around it, you really need to see the video for this one.

Not counting home theater equipment and the Nexus 4, Doug was able to put everything together for less than $300, but he appears to have had the advantage of working for an authorized dealer.

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[Video] Must-See Home Automation Project Controls Lights And Entertainment Center By Voice, Starfleet Captain's Chair Still On Backorder was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Tip: Facebook Messenger For Android Has Hidden Sticker Support, Here's How To Enable It

Cameron Summerson — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:54:00 +0000

Facebook has been making numerous changes to its Android apps as of late, thanks to the arrival of Facebook Home. Sometimes, new features also bring "hidden" options – things that may not be quite ready for prime time but can be accessed within the app. Facebook Messenger has one such "feature" tucked away in its emoticon menu: stickers. Big ol' images with goofy faces and cats and other stuff. I'm not entirely sure why this is a thing that anyone wants, but it's there, and you can use these oversized emoticons now. Fun.

^{That's right, Internet – I don't really like cats.}

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Tip: Facebook Messenger For Android Has Hidden Sticker Support, Here's How To Enable It was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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

Cameron Summerson — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 20:24:00 +0000

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.

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Tip: Use Facebook Home Alongside Another Launcher By Leaving It Enabled, But Not Making It The Default was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Tip: Switch To The Stock 4.2 Launcher On Your Transformer Pad Infinity With This Simple Trick

Cameron Summerson — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:36:00 +0000

When the official 4.2 update started rolling out to the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity, one of the things I was most looking forward to was switching to the updated launcher. Unfortunately, ASUS decided to omit this option, which happens to be readily available on the TF300 with 4.2. Feeling disappointed and sad, I turned the TF700 off and set it to the side.

Thanks to a comment left on our TF700 Jelly Bean ROM download post from earlier today, my spirits were once again lifted. Turns out there's actually a very simple way to enable the new launcher, ASUS just decided to leave the option out of the standard settings menu.

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Tip: Switch To The Stock 4.2 Launcher On Your Transformer Pad Infinity With This Simple Trick was written by the awesome team at Android Police.