What's hiding in Android
4.4?
Android 4.4 is the most
polished and feature-rich iteration of Google's mobile OS yet, and comes with
plenty of new and exciting functions to keep fans happy. However, not all of
them are immediately obvious from the start.
Allow us to educate you on
some of the most interesting and useful tips, tricks and secrets hiding in the
software. Grab yourself a hot beverage, find a comfortable seat and prepare to
taste the future of smartphone software.
18) Fire up Google Now
with just your voice
It's possible to activate
Google Now - Android's answer to Siri - simply by saying "OK Google".
When you're on the home screen, simply utter those two words and you'll be
prompted to speak your next command, which can be anything from asking for
Google to search the web to setting an alarm for a particular time. Just be
wary of any annoying friends shouting the same phrase when you're trying to do
other things on your phone.
17) Switch on Developer
Mode
Developer mode used to be
a part of Android's settings menu that was easily accessible, but recently Google
has hidden it away to prevent users from tinkering too much. However, it's
still fairly easy to discover if you know what you're doing - go to Settings
> About Phone and then tap the "Build Number" section seven times.
This will unlock the developer menu, allowing you to access a whole number of
nerdy features.
16) Taste the next
generation with ART runtime
Android uses Dalvik
runtime by default, which is described as a "just in time" compiler.
That means it does all of the application processing as and when it's required.
Moving forward, Google is looking to use ART runtime, which is a "ahead of
time" compiler. ART is actually featured in Android 4.4 already, but it's
not enabled by default - you'll need to enter the Developer menu to switch it
on.
Your handset will reboot
and it will take a short time to recompile your apps - you may even notice some
stability issues - but on the whole, ART should be quicker and friendly on your
battery. As more apps are optimised to use ART, you'll find it more beneficial
to use.
15) Use Wi-Fi to determine
your location to save battery
Previously with Android,
determining your location was based almost solely on GPS, which consumes a fair
amount of battery life. Android 4.4 now comes with three modes for this
functionality.
High accuracy uses GPS,
Wi-Fi and mobile network signal to get a fix on where you are, while Device
Only relies totally on GPS. In the middle there is Battery Saving mode, which
abandons GPS and uses Wi-Fi and your mobile network - amazingly, this is still
pretty precise, and doesn't drink as much juice. Go to Settings > Location
> Mode to pick the one that suits you.
14) Keep track of your
movements each day
Another cool Android 4.4
feature is the power to track the steps you take each day, as well as
differentiate between walking, running, cycling and climbing. This ability
hasn't been leveraged as much as you might expect, and only a few apps make use
of it right now.
One is the highly polished
Moves app from ProtoGeo, which tracks your movements and gives you data on how
many steps you've taken, as well as a visual "storyline" of your
daily life.
13) Exit immersive mode
One of the new features of
Android 4.4 is the "immersive" mode, which basically removes all of
the on-screen interface to give you an unimpeded view on your current
application. Apps that support immersive mode should automatically remove UI
elements, but if you want to get them back, simply swipe down from the top of
the display - the notifications bar will magically re-appear.
12) Install an alternative
SMS client
Hangouts replaces the
default SMS client in Android 4.4, and while it does the job perfectly well -
integrating instant messaging and text chats - some people will no doubt long
for the old way of doing things.
Thankfully, it's possible
to specify a different app for SMS messages. Find one that you like on the Google
Play market, install it and then go to the Settings menu within Hangouts. Tap
SMS and then SMS Enabled, and you'll be able to select the app you want to use.
11) Record your phone's
screen
Taking a screenshot in
Android used to be like pulling teeth - you had to connect your phone to your
PC in order to grab any kind of on-screen image. Since Android 4.0, we've had
the trusty "Volume down and Power button" combo, but 4.4 goes to the
next level - it features the ability to record video from your screen as well.
As it is primarily aimed
at developers who want to add video to their app listings, taking advantage of
this native feature is quite tricky - you'll need to follow these incredibly detailed
instructions - but it's a smart bonus nonetheless.
10) Remotely wipe your
phone if you lose it
Losing your phone is a
painful experience - especially if it provides your daily Flappy Bird fix - but
the amount of data contained on our handsets means that having it fall into the
wrong hands can have all kinds of negative ramifications.
Google has your back,
however, and provides the means to remotely locate and wipe your phone should
it go walkabout. You'll need to enable it from the device before you lose it,
though - go to the Google Settings application in your app drawer and select
Android Device Manager, then turn on "Remotely Locate This Device"
and "Allow Remote Lock And Factory Reset".
The latter option also
allows you to remotely change the lockscreen password, should you be too scared
to wipe the entire device. In the event of your phone going missing, visit the
Android Device Manager page online and you can choose to ring (even if the
phone is set to silent), lock or wipe the phone.
9) Get the stock Google UI
on your non-Nexus handset
Don't have a Nexus device
but crave that uncluttered stock experience? Fear not, you don't have to rush
out and invest in a brand new blower - you can get the same result by
installing KK Launcher from the Google Play market.
Alternatively, you can
download the APK file of the Google Experience interface yourself. It’s
available from Android Police. Before you install, make sure third-party apps
are switched on in the Settings menu. Android blocks third-party installs as
standard.
8) Switch launchers
quickly
One of Android's big
advantages over its rivals is the ability to change your launcher, which
essentially means you can drastically alter the way your homescreen looks and
behaves.
Previously, switching
between launchers was something of a pain, but Google has now added a quick and
easy toggle in the settings menu - so now there's no excuse not to try the many
amazing launcher alternatives available on the Google Play market.
When you have more than
one launcher installed on your phone, the Settings menu will show a new
"Home" option - tapping this will bring up all of the available
launchers on your device, allowing you to toggle between them quickly and
easily.
7) Enable lock screen
widgets
Lockscreen widgets are one
of Android's more recent innovations, but in Android 4.4 they're not enabled by
default. To turn them on, you'll need to drop into Settings > Security and
tick the "Enable Widgets" box. To add widgets, simply swipe from left
to right on your lockscreen and tap the "plus" icon. You can choose
from Gmail, Calendar and Google Keep, amongst other things.
6) Print wirelessly
Regardless of how much we
now rely on paperless documents, there comes a time in everyone's life when a
digitally signed PDF just isn't enough and a hard copy is required.
Android 4.4 thankfully has
wireless printing baked-in, with HP's Cloud Printing application doing the
heavy lifting. You'll need a compatible printer of course, and only certain
apps support the feature at present, but it's unquestionably quite handy to be
able to send a document through the air and transform it into a physical sheet of
paper with nothing but your phone.
5) Gain an easy speed
boost by disabling animations
The animations that occur
as you move between applications and screens might look pretty, but they can
slow you down - especially as they essentially force you to wait a short period
before moving to another page or loading an application.
Thankfully, it's possible
to reduce the time they run for or disable them completely, both of which will
make your handset feel faster. Go to Settings > Developer Options and scroll
down to the Drawing section. Find the options which refer to animation scale
(Window, Transition and Animator) and toggle them all to "Animation
Off". Your UI might not be as pretty in motion, but it will be so fast you
may even struggle to keep up.
4) Keep an eye on your
data usage
Most carriers enforce data
allowance limits these days, which means media-hungry mobile owners with their
fingers in all kinds of cloud storage pies are at risk of running over and
incurring prohibitive fees.
Thank goodness then for
Android's built-in data usage monitor, which tells you exactly how much you've
been gobbling up via your mobile network. You can set warnings for when you're
close to your limit, or have a ceiling that disables data traffic the moment it
is reached. You can even specify a day in each month where your allowance
renews and reset the data counter to zero accordingly.
3) Link up your cloud
storage accounts with Android's Storage Access Framework
Storage Access Framework
is basically a grander way of saying all of your data can be accessed from one
convenient menu. When you're prompted to locate files you'll notice that a
side-menu has all of your connected cloud storage accounts - such as Drive,
Dropbox and Box - listed, so you can easily pull content from these sources
without having to open multiple applications. It's one of Android 4.4's most
potent features, yet it has received very little attention.
2) Dismiss an alarm before
it bothers you
There are few social
situations more awkward that an alarm that you no longer need sounding during a
meeting or when you're trying to blend in on public transport. Only appearing
in public naked comes close, in our opinion. You may not think it's quite that
extreme, but you'll still be thankful of Android 4.4's advance alarm
notification system.
An hour before the alarm
is due to fire, you'll get a pop-up notification on your screen which allows
you to dismiss it before it has chance to sound and make everyone on the bus
look at you.
1) Get under the hood with
Process Stats
Smartphones are very much
like computers in your pocket, and sometimes it's nice to get super-detailed in
order to get a better understanding of how things are ticking over. In Android
4.4, Google has added a Process Stats section to the Developer Menu, which
contains all kinds of information about which apps are running, what processing
they're using and how long they've been running since you booted up the phone.
It's gloriously geeky, and ideal for those who want to fine-tune their
handset's performance.
MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
Share this
Related Posts
Maleficent Free Fall apk Download Android From the creators of Disney’s #1 hit game Frozen Free Fall comes an all-new match 3 puz
Top 10 apps android of This Month
top 10 apps android
1. SuperBetter
SuperBetter is a task management ap
Beats Music Apk Download Android
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NON
Download Beautiful Widgets Pro
Download Beautiful Widgets Pro Apk
|
Beautiful Widgets Pro v5.6.0 Apk Do
:)
:(
hihi
:-)
:D
=D
:-d
;(
;-(
@-)
:P
:o
:>)
(o)
:p
:-?
(p)
:-s
(m)
8-)
:-t
:-b
b-(
:-#
=p~
$-)
(y)
(f)
x-)
(k)
(h)
cheer