The Q&A

Note: Some of the questions will be rephrased and will not appear exactly as they were written in MTE’s inbox, for the sake of simplifying the question and giving as much space as possible to the answer. If you believe your answer was not adequately answered, go ahead and leave a comment at the bottom. We’ll get to you ASAP.

Q: How can I get my computer to recognize my tablet?

A: There really isn’t a good way to have your tablet recognized. The problem has to do more with the lack of software available for one to read the other. Some tablets have the software built in to let you access the internal memory or the microSD card. HTC devices also have HTC Sync built in so you can sync calendar and contacts with Outlook.

In most cases, people are looking to simply backup or sync information to their desktop. There are a host of applications to backup applications depending on if your device is rooted or not. If you are looking to sync information, the application needed will greatly depend on what you are syncing. Something like files on your SD card can be synced using DropSync and Dropbox. Mark/Space makes software to sync make devices with commonly used desktop applications too.

Q: I have an EVO 3D and using standard SMS app. I have a couple of huge conversation threads and would like to save them to my computer before I lose them. How can I back them up to my computer?

A: The application that has worked flawlessly for me is SMS Backup+. It syncs with your Gmail account. You can save call logs, SMS and MMS messages. You can also have it backup only the information for specific contacts. There are many other applications out there that offer similar services. MyPhoneExplorer will also save your SMS and MMS messages to your computer.

Q: I can’t seem to find how to change my notification ringtone for incoming text messages. I am using GO SMS. The notification tone doesn’t change if i try changing it in the GO SMS settings.

A: There could be a duplication with the GO SMS and your stock SMS app. Most of the add-on apps like GO SMS need you to turn off the notification for your stock SMS app otherwise strange stuff happens. You can turn off the vibrate and the tone in the options for most stock SMS apps. You may want to double check the GO SMS settings in the advanced tab too.

Q: How do I sync my Android with Outlook?

A: MyPhoneExplorer is probably the most flexible application for your Android. MyPhoneExplorer lets you sync with other similar applications to Outlook like Mozilla’s Thunderbird. You can sync way more than your mail and calendar too. MyPhoneExplorer will sync your SMS messages and call logs too.

Why Wasn’t My Question Answered?

If you asked a question and it wasn’t answered here, it could be one of three reasons:

• Relevance: Your question needs to be totally relevant to the Android operating system.
• Detail: Try to include as much detail as you can, such as the Android device and version of the Android OS you’re using.
• Other Reasons: For some unfortunate reason, we couldn’t include your question in this edition. We’ll try our best effort to include the question in the next edition.

What’s your Android question?

If you have questions you think might fit well with MTE’s next edition of “Ask an Android Expert,” send us an email at android-help [at] maketecheasier.com. Leave comments only to discuss the questions presented here. If you want to ask a question, use the aforementioned email address.

Related Posts:

• Android Q&As: Create Screenshots For Websites, Connect Two Android Phones Together And Many More… (Week 8)
• Android Q&As: Make Skype Video Call, Mass Convert Contacts, Disable WiFi Shut Down On Screen Lock And Many More…
• Android Q&As: Auto-sync Emails, Add ICE Contact, Removed Preinstalled Apps, And Many More… (Week 6)
• Android Q&As: Applications For Missed Notifications, Unable to Download Apps From Play Store, Connect to Ad-hoc Connection And More… (Week 5)

The Q&As

NOTE: Some of the questions will be rephrased and will not appear exactly as they were written in MTE’s inbox, for the sake of simplifying the question and giving as much space as possible to the answer. If you believe your answer was not adequately answered, go ahead and leave a comment at the bottom. We’ll get to you ASAP.

Q:How can I create screenshot from my Android while I visit websites?

A: While most of the screen capture programs are for rooted devices, there is a paid application that works very well on non-rooted devices. The application I use is Screenshot It. You will pay $4.99 USD for it but I have had no issues with it and use it all the time on my tablet and several phones.

There is a shake to take a screenshot, a delay, you can edit the images and choose how they save. If you have a rooted device there are a lot of other choices. All of the screenshot apps will take some action on your part for each capture.

Alternatively, get a phone that is running Android 4.0 as it comes with a native screen capture feature.

Q: I installed Skype and checked SET AS DEFAULT.  Now all of the calls are going through Skype.  How can I deselect this?

A: You should be able to eliminate Skype being the default application for calling by following this “Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> Skype -> Clear Defaults”. What this should do is remove Skype as the default application for calls or anything else.

Q: How to I connect two Android  devices together?

A: Because there are differences in the Android OS on an HTC vs a LG or any other 2 manufacturers, there isn’t a direct way to connect them. Your best bet for keeping files synced is to use Dropbox. When you use Dropbox and DropSpace, your files will be the most current no matter where you edit them.

Q: How do I change the look of a bookmark icon on my home screen?

A: You have a couple of options to change your browser bookmark icons. The first way is to add the bookmark as a shortcut. Many times this will do what you are asking. To add a bookmark as a shortcut on your homescreen, you will want to press and hold an empty spot on your screen or press the menu button and click Add. You should see an option for Shortcut somewhere in this menu. Find Bookmark and choose the site you’d like quick access to.

The other easy way is to use GO Launcher EX. Any icon from any application can be changed to whatever picture you’d like. Press and hold the icon once you have the shortcut created following the steps listed above. There is an option to change Replace. When you choose Custom Icon, you can add any picture you’d like.

Why Wasn’t My Question Answered?

If you asked a question and it wasn’t answered here, it could be one of three reasons:

• Relevance: Your question needs to be totally relevant to the Android operating system.
• Detail: Try to include as much detail as you can, such as the Android device and version of the Android OS you’re using.
• Other Reasons: For some unfortunate reason, we couldn’t include your question in this edition. We’ll try our best effort to include the question in the next edition.

What’s your Android question?

If you have questions you think might fit well with MTE’s next edition of “Ask an Android Expert,” send us an email at android-help [at] maketecheasier.com. Leave comments only to discuss the questions presented here. If you want to ask a question, use the aforementioned email address.

Related Posts:

• Ask MTE: Sync Android With Computer, Backup SMS, Change SMS Ringtone And Many More… (Android Week 9)
• Android Q&As: Make Skype Video Call, Mass Convert Contacts, Disable WiFi Shut Down On Screen Lock And Many More…
• Android Q&As: Auto-sync Emails, Add ICE Contact, Removed Preinstalled Apps, And Many More… (Week 6)
• Android Q&As: Applications For Missed Notifications, Unable to Download Apps From Play Store, Connect to Ad-hoc Connection And More… (Week 5)

Skype

Skype is probably the most common application to chat with someone on your Android or computer. You have 3 free choices with Skype chats: text chat, audio chat and video chat. To use the video chat option, you will need to have a front facing camera. The other 2 options will work on pretty much any Android device.

Many business and web workers have adopted Skype for its cost effective calling to any phone number as well as the awesome video chatting.

Google Talk

Google Talk is Google’s own instant message service. If you are on your computer, you can chat with people through text or audio/video conversations. On your PC you will need the stand alone Google Talk application with an extension.

When you are on your Android device, again you will need a front facing camera to use the video chat. Many of the newer phones and tablets are coming with some sort of front camera now. There is not an option to chat with audio only, it is either video with audio or text.

Google+ Hangout

Google+ lets you connect to a small group of people and all chat with each other. Google calls this a Hangout. From your Android, you need to start a normal text conversation. You can then click the video camera icon to change to a video chat.

A Google Hangout is similar to the chatting with someone on Google Talk, however you can converse with more than one person at a time. You can also stream conversations so others can see or join.

Tango

Tango is an Android application we previously mentioned here on MTE. Tango lets you make free audio and video calls anyone else using Tango on Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and PCs. There are little add-ons for Tango video chats. These add-ons are like emoticons for video chat. It’s something a little different to add to your video chat.

ooVoo

ooVoo is an application similar to Tango in the way you can audio and video chat for free with other ooVoo users. You can group up to 6 people in a conversation making ooVoo great for small collaboration meetings. You have the option of text chats too.

Conclusion

As you can see there are several video chat applications for Android that will also work on other platforms. Having the flexibility to talk on your PC to someone while they are mobile is great. Not to mention, you won’t need to talk your friends or people at your company into changing from iPhones to Android just so you can video chat.

Image credit: image

Related Posts:

• 5 Android Video Players To Watch That Obscure Video
• 5 Alternatives To Android’s Calendar
• 5 Awesome News Applications For Android To Keep You In The Know
• Tips To Use Less Google On Your Android Phone

The Q&A

NOTE: Some of the questions will be rephrased and will not appear exactly as they were written in MTE’s inbox, for the sake of simplifying the question and giving as much space as possible to the answer. If you believe your answer was not adequately answered, go ahead and leave a comment at the bottom. We’ll get to you ASAP.

Q:Why do I get force close errors?

A:There are a couple of typical reasons you will get a Force Close Error on and Android. The first is the application is not compatible with your device or OS. While it may download and start, there may be something about your Android device the application doesn’t like.

The other option might be you have too many things running on your Android. If your phone needs the resources, it will close applications hogging memory. Many apps take a good chunk of computing power to open. A lot of new phones have a built in task manager which you could use to close down some running applications and see if the problem persists.

Q:When my screen blacks out, my Wi-Fi shuts off. How can I keep the Wi-Fi connected?

A:Some devices have what is known as a Wi-Fi sleep policy. I ran into this myself on the Motorola I use now. The setting is buried in the settings. Try to follow this path and see if yours has a similar setting: Menu -> Settings -> Wireless and networks -> Wi-Fi settings -> Menu -> Advanced -> Wi-Fi sleep policy. Change this setting to Never and that should cure your problem.

Q:How do I mass-convert all of my contacts to “phone-only”?

A:There really isn’t an easy way. If perhaps you are trying out a lot of different ROMs and don’t want to get your contacts intermingled with other apps, you could use a generic Gmail account to initially log in when you change the ROM. Then you can turn off the syncing right away when you add your normal Gmail address later.

Q:How do I make a video call through Skype?

A:The first thing you will need is a device with a front facing camera. Beyond that, there is an option to turn on the video chat option in the settings. The check box is near the bottom of the settings page. When you check or uncheck the box, you may need to restart Skype to have the change take effect.

Why Wasn’t My Question Answered?

If you asked a question and it wasn’t answered here, it could be one of three reasons:

• Relevance: Your question needs to be totally relevant to the Android operating system.
• Detail: Try to include as much detail as you can, such as the Android device and version of the Android OS you’re using.
• Other Reasons: For some unfortunate reason, we couldn’t include your question in this edition. We’ll try our best effort to include the question in the next edition.

What’s your Android question?

If you have questions you think might fit well with MTE’s next edition of “Ask an Android Expert,” send us an email at android-help [at] maketecheasier.com. Leave comments only to discuss the questions presented here. If you want to ask a question, use the aforementioned email address.

Related Posts:

• Ask MTE: Sync Android With Computer, Backup SMS, Change SMS Ringtone And Many More… (Android Week 9)
• Android Q&As: Create Screenshots For Websites, Connect Two Android Phones Together And Many More… (Week 8)
• Android Q&As: Auto-sync Emails, Add ICE Contact, Removed Preinstalled Apps, And Many More… (Week 6)
• Android Q&As: Applications For Missed Notifications, Unable to Download Apps From Play Store, Connect to Ad-hoc Connection And More… (Week 5)

1. Lockscreen Calendar

One of the reasons Androids and other devices with large touch screens have poor battery life is the screen is on a lot. Sometimes it is just to check to see if you have a new email, or in this case, what is your next appointment.

Lockscreen Calendar displays your next several appointments on your lockscreen so you don’t need to unlock your phone, click on the all and look at the date. Being able to see your next appointment from the lock screen will make you more productive and save battery.

2. Touch Calendar

Touch acts almost like a web page. You can zoom in and out on it with the pinch to zoom feature. As you tap on the day or event, you will see a pretty standard view of the event. The default view is the month view and didn’t look like you could change it. If you like the month view, this is a great simple calendar to use. The upgrade to the paid version will give you access to the widgets and other handy features.

3. Deadline Calendar

Having a calendar for your deadlines is a great idea. Normally you would need to add in all day appointments or tasks into your normal calendar making it look really really full. Having a calendar with a field for completion time is very handy for the person who has a lot of projects to manage. The paid version allows syncing with Google Calendar.

4. Fliq Calendar

Fliq Calendar is a free stand-alone calendar (does not sync with Google Calendar) that competes well with some popular paid calendars like Business Calendar and Calengoo for looks and ease of use. Fliq Calendar is made by Mark/Space, the people who bring you the apps to sync just about any phone to any computer. Because of this, if you have the need to sync with Outlook or iCal, Fliq Calendar is an Android calendar you may want to take a look at.

5. Quick Calendar

Quick Calendar is an add-on allowing you to see current or future appointments in your notification bar. Having your future appointment right in your notification bar will save you the space on the screen you’d normally use for a calendar widget.

Conclusion

Calendars are super useful when you keep them tamed. When you are using a calendar fitting for your needs as well as easy to use, you are more likely to use your calendar regularly.

intro image

Related Posts:

• Tips To Use Less Google On Your Android Phone
• 4 Android Apps To Improve Your Productivity
• 5 Excellent Ways Make Free Video Calls On Android
• 5 Awesome News Applications For Android To Keep You In The Know

You probably guessed that these would be WordPress plugins if you don’t need to know how to code. While you do not want to run an over abundance of plugins on your WordPress site, a handful of plugins won’t slow down your site.

1. Drop Caps

Sites covering certain topics might need to have a fancier look to them. For example, a site about web design would likely have a more well designed and detailed look than a site about animal chew toys. In this case adding what is known as a Drop Cap will make the writing a little classier looking.

A Drop Cap adds a large first letter in the first word if the first paragraph on the page. I am sure you have seen something like this in your travels around the web. The Drop Caps plugin lets you choose where you want the Drop Cap to show up (i.e. only on single blog posts, archive pages, feed, etc.)

2. Simple Pull Quote

Personally, I like when sites accentuate important parts of an article I’m reading. I can scan the article and see if I want to take the time to read it thoroughly. Using a Pull Quote can add a nice addition to headers and bullet points.

Adding a Pull Quote is super easy. When the plugin is installed and activated, you can highlight the text you want to show up in the quote and click the new button in your WordPress text editor. Alternatively, you can add [pullquote] highlighted text here  [/pullquote] around the text to get the same effect.

3. Readability

One of the things that separates one site from another is how easy it is to read. Text, distracting ads and other elements of your site can take away from the readability of the content. What the Readability plugin does is lets the reader click a link to see the article in a lightbox-like popup window.

There aren’t a lot of adjustments to the Readability plugin. You can adjust what displays as the name of the link on your page and the minimum word count on the single page for the link to appear.

4. WP Google Fonts

Adding a font to WordPress isn’t the easiest thing to do. And let’s face it, the choices are kinda lame in most themes. Using the WP Google Fonts plugin, you can add fonts from the Google directory to your WordPress site and there are a lot of them in there.

You can change the fonts for the body text independently from the H1 headlines and blockquotes. Keep in mind though, in some cases the CSS for the theme may override the plugin.

Conclusion

Even if you aren’t a master of WordPress, you can still look like you know a little something. These plugins make it super easy to add little details to your site to set it apart from the millions and millions of sites on the web.

What are your code free tips to make your site stand out to your readers?

Image credit: intro image

Related Posts:

• How to Turn Your WordPress Site Into A Forum With SimplePress
• 5 Useful Ways To Protect Your WordPress Login
• How to Add Dynamic Widgets To Your WordPress Blog Without Meddling With The Code
• How to Add The Facebook Send Button to Your WordPress Site

The Q&A

NOTE: Some of the questions will be rephrased and will not appear exactly as they were written in MTE’s inbox, for the sake of simplifying the question and giving as much space as possible to the answer. If you believe your answer was not adequately answered, go ahead and leave a comment at the bottom. We’ll get to you ASAP.

Q:My emails stopped automatically syncing with my phone. I can manually retrieve them, but how do I get them to sync automatically like they did before?

A: It could be something as simple as your data sync got turned off. A lot of time there is a setting in the Wireless and Networks–> Mobile network tab. You may also want to look at the Accounts tab in your phone settings to see if there is a generic sync option. Using a widget like GO Switch or the built in Power Control widget to toggle the syncing on and off.

Usually each application allows for the syncing to be toggled off independently from the other apps on the phone. You could look in the settings for the email application you are using to see if the sync was set to manual or something longer than you are accustomed to.

Q: How can I add an ICE contact to my phone and use a pattern lock?

A: This can be very useful if you want to secure your phone and still feel comfortable knowing your emergency contact will be able to be reached in case something happens to you. For starters, you will need to download an application. There are a lot of them in the Google Play Store. ICE (In Case of Emergency) is the application I used here.

Another solid option is to use a Lock Screen application. What this will do for you is add the option to have shortcuts to applications right on your lock screen. You can use this as a bypass for the security. If you try to back out of your ICE app or hit the home button to access other stuff on the phone, you will be asked to enter the PIN or pattern.

There is one paid application ICE application that says it will let you use it in conjunction with the pattern lock or a PIN.

Q: How can I remove the preinstalled applications on the phone?

A: On most phones, you cannot remove the preinstalled android applications unless you root your device. On some of the newer devices like the Motorola I use, there are some 3rd party applications installed on there that can be removed (i.e. Zappos, Amazon, Amazon Cloud Player, etc.)

If you do root your phone, I would recommend making a backup with something like Titanium Backup first, just in case you need one of them back or something disastrous happens when changing ROMs later on.

Q:How do I see a list of everything I’ve purchased in the Google Play Store?

On your computer, go to the Google Play Store. Once you login to your Google Account, in the top right corner of your screen, click on the gear icon. You should see “My Orders & devices”. In here, you will see the list of things you have purchased and downloaded. This includes the free applications and songs too.

Why Wasn’t My Question Answered?

If you asked a question and it wasn’t answered here, it could be one of three reasons:

• Relevance: Your question needs to be totally relevant to the Android operating system.
• Detail: Try to include as much detail as you can, such as the Android device and version of the Android OS you’re using.
• Other Reasons: For some unfortunate reason, we couldn’t include your question in this edition. We’ll try our best effort to include the question in the next edition.

What’s your Android question?

If you have questions you think might fit well with MTE’s next edition of “Ask an Android Expert,” send us an email at android-help [at] maketecheasier.com. Leave comments only to discuss the questions presented here. If you want to ask a question, use the aforementioned email address.

Related Posts:

• Ask MTE: Sync Android With Computer, Backup SMS, Change SMS Ringtone And Many More… (Android Week 9)
• Android Q&As: Create Screenshots For Websites, Connect Two Android Phones Together And Many More… (Week 8)
• Android Q&As: Make Skype Video Call, Mass Convert Contacts, Disable WiFi Shut Down On Screen Lock And Many More…
• Android Q&As: Applications For Missed Notifications, Unable to Download Apps From Play Store, Connect to Ad-hoc Connection And More… (Week 5)

Starting out

Like most of the mass changes Google makes with their apps, they roll them out in batches. It took me a few days for my Google Docs to change over after I started to read about Google Drive. So if yours hasn’t made the switch yet, don’t worry, it’s on the way soon.

When you get the option to change your Google Docs to Google Drive, you should see a welcome screen, something like this asking you if you want to try Google Drive.There isn’t much you need to do online or on your Android to make the change, just click yes.

What changed

Once you have agreed to make the change, you will see some slight changes. The word Docs is now Drive and your Collections are now called, get ready for this…. folders. I was happy about that one.

Another change is Google added SlideRocket presentations. When you make a lot of presentations, the presentations Google Docs could make did leave a something to be desired. SlideRocket will pick up the slack in this department.

More than a name change

So far none of the changes I’ve talked about have been life altering. The part everyone has been waiting for is increased space and the desktop app. Let’s talk a little bit about that why these are so great.

The space increase

You now have 5GB of free storage space to store whatever you’d like. This is quite a bit more than what you had with Google Docs.

If you need more space, the rates are really reasonable. The 25GB upgrade is $2.49 a month. The cool part is, your Gmail inbox gets bumped from 10gb to 25gb also. If you need even more storage, there is a 100GB upgrade for $4.99 a month with the same bump to your Gmail account to 25GB.

Desktop sync

The desktop sync is the part you have been waiting for. You will need to initiate the download of the desktop app and log in with your Google credentials.

Once you are all logged in, you can choose the location of the folder or folders you want to keep in sync. If you use Box or Dropbox, the setup is really similar to those. Now when you place something in this folder, it is automatically synced with your Google Drive.

Google Drive for Android

Drive on your Android got a lot nicer. The layout of the document editing screen seems easier to use. Before the upgrade, editing a document was inconvenient because the interface made you select a line to edit almost like you would for a spreadsheet. Now editing is very similar to the web editing, just with less features.

You can now upload any kind of file right from your Android device. This means backing up music and pictures is an easy possibility. While there isn’t an automatic upload for your pictures like there is with Dropbox, most Android devices have the option to select several pictures at a time to upload or share.

Conclusion

I think with the large amount of Google Docs users that the change to Google Drive will bring on more users who are new to cloud storage. While the amount of free space could be more in comparison to some other services out there, the fee to increase the space is less than most. I for one am excited for Google Drive because now I don’t need to have an Internet connection all the time when I am typing something like this up. I can use something like Open Office and save it to the Google Drive sync folder. Trevor is a happy camper now.

Will you switch to Google Drive as your cloud storage?

Related Posts:

• How To Take and Edit Screenshots With PicMonkey Chrome Extension
• A Comparison Guide Of The Various Cloud Storage Services
• 11 Tips For Navigating The New Gmail Interface
• How to Claim 25GB of SkyDrive Storage Space While It Lasts

Other Android camera applications offer some really cool features and effects to make your images really stand out on Facebook or wherever you share them. Vintage looking pictures seem to be the thing lately. I have always preferred black and white, it seems classy to me.

1. Camera ZOOM FX

A popular paid camera is Camera ZOOM FX. While we normally do not talk about paid applications here, this is one worth the money. Camera ZOOM FX has features Instagram doesn’t have like access to the front facing camera and multiple shooting modes.

A feature of Camera ZOOM FX not offered directly by Instagram is adding more effects. This is where your pictures will really be a step apart from the crowd. Here are some of the cool effects for Camera ZOOM FX:

• Holiday packs
• Textures
• Picture Frames
• Props packs

2. Retro Camera

A really popular effect for pictures is adding a retro look. Retro Camera gives you nothing but retro looking pictures. Choosing between the 5 different camera options gives you a different look and feel to the instantly vintage picture. Effects like film scratching are part of the nuance of certain cameras. You can see which cameras add which effects by tapping on the About this camera tab below each camera on the selection screen.

3. Pudding Camera

Pudding Camera adds effects others on the list do not come close to. Like Retro Camera, you have your choice of cameras. The difference is there are 9+ cameras and 9 different film settings for each camera.

Pudding Camera can be used with your front facing camera if your Android device is equipped with one. Real cameras have knobs and buttons so Pudding Camera gives you an classic lighting adjustment knob too for that real camera feel.

4. Camera360 Ultimate

I added Camera360 to the list because of 1 effect that caught my eye. Have you ever seen one of those commercials with everything black and white except one thing like a red rose or a blue pair of jeans? You can add that effect using Camera360; it’s called Magic Colors.

A professional looking effect called Tilt Shift is included in Camera360. This is the look where the picture is focused on one thing in the foreground and everything else is kind of blurry. For Android phones with a 5MP or 8mp cameras, this could take some really artistic photos.

Conclusion

About the only thing you are missing out on when you use Android camera apps that aren’t Instagram is the community wall. If you are just starting out with adding cool effects to pictures taken on Android devices, that’s not a big deal. You are more than likely going to share them on Facebook or Google+ anyway.

What is the most important feature you look for in an Android camera app?

image credit

Related Posts:

• How to Send Large Files From Your Android
• PicPlz: The Ultimate Photo Sharing Website for Computer and Smartphone Users
• Touch Retouch Is A Mini Photoshop For Android + Free Giveaway [Update: Contest Closed]
• How to Manage Your Picasa Web Album From Android

The Q&A

Note: Some of the questions will be rephrased and will not appear exactly as they were written in MTE’s inbox, for the sake of simplifying the question and giving as much space as possible to the answer. If you believe your answer was not adequately answered, go ahead and leave a comment at the bottom. We’ll get to you ASAP.

Q: How can I enable or manually connect to an ad-hoc connection without rooting device?

A: You cannot connect without rooting your device. There are many many tutorials out there once it the device is rooted. Many of the replacement ROMs have this feature enabled, but not the stock ROMs.

Q: Why can’t I download apps from the Google Play Store?

A: There could be a couple potential problems. If you are in an area of the world that may have a block on certain application or even certain wireless carriers block downloads so you need to purchase apps from them.

If your device is rooted, you may have a glitch in the aftermarket ROM used. In the past I have personally ran into a problem with this. You can try and reload the ROM and that may fix the issue.

A 3rd possible fix could be you are using a Google Apps email address (an email address powered by Google) and not one ending in Gmail.com. While this doesn’t always cause a problem, you surely won’t be able to buy any apps because Google Wallet isn’t part of Google Apps.

Lastly, it could be possible your device doesn’t come with Google Play installed (for example, Amazon’s Kindle Fire), so you can’t download apps to your device.

Q: **Reply to previous answer: In my pc the SD cards are working OK. I can write to it easily and read the files back as if it was an ordinary hard drive. I checked another 8Gb  micro SD card and it also mounts read-only. These same SD cards mount read/write on my other Android devices running Android 2.3.5. I checked these cards for errors, but none were found.

A: Try this method. It seems to work for rooted devices:
1. Using a root-enabled file manager, navigate to /system/etc/permissions and make sure you have mounted the filesystem r/w.
2. Edit platform.xml and find the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission.
3. Add an additional group definition for this permission…<group gid=”media_rw” />
4. Save the changes to the file.
5. Restart and test

Q: What is a good application for missed notifications? My phone does not have an LED light that flashes either.

A: The best application I have found is NoLED. The way it works is instead of flashing an LED like other devices can do, a single colored pixel moves around the screen like a screen saver. Alternatively, you can have icons for different apps like Gmail or a voicemail or SMS show up on the screen.

Why Wasn’t My Question Answered?

If you asked a question and it wasn’t answered here, it could be one of three reasons:

• Relevance: Your question needs to be totally relevant to the Android operating system.
• Detail: Try to include as much detail as you can, such as the Android device and version of the Android OS you’re using.
• Other Reasons: For some unfortunate reason, we couldn’t include your question in this edition. We’ll try our best effort to include the question in the next edition.

What’s your Android question?

If you have questions you think might fit well with MTE’s next edition of “Ask an Android Expert,” send us an email at android-help [at] maketecheasier.com. Leave comments only to discuss the questions presented here. If you want to ask a question, use the aforementioned email address.

Related Posts:

• Ask MTE: Sync Android With Computer, Backup SMS, Change SMS Ringtone And Many More… (Android Week 9)
• Android Q&As: Create Screenshots For Websites, Connect Two Android Phones Together And Many More… (Week 8)
• Android Q&As: Make Skype Video Call, Mass Convert Contacts, Disable WiFi Shut Down On Screen Lock And Many More…
• Android Q&As: Auto-sync Emails, Add ICE Contact, Removed Preinstalled Apps, And Many More… (Week 6)

1. News Republic

News Republic is a one of the most beautiful apps on the list. The home screen is tiled with the top news stories from your feeds. You can personalize the feed categories and choose the default content providers. There is also an option to add hot topics to your home screen tiles. These are trending topics like the Republican Party, Apple, Euro, Petroleum and others.

2. Pulse News

Pulse News is one of the most popular apps in the Google Play Store. Not only does Pulse let you read the current news from the preloaded sites, you can add your own blogs and other news sites. Think of Pulse as half news and half RSS reader.

When you are adding your news sources, Pulse lets you make extra pages so you can organize a bit. The tiles are similar to News Republic but the stories are laid out in rows versus clicking on the topic and seeing the new stories.

3. Sky News

Sky news is a super popular UK and world news application. When you install Sky News on your Android, you not only have news coming to you, there is an option to send in your own newsworthy stories to them.

There is a whole lot of video to watch if you have the time or ambition. You can also read the lastest news as it is breaking. Sky News is not available in the US.

4. Congress

When you live in the US, there are a lot of reasons you may want to know what Congress is doing. Currently the build up to see who will run in the next presidential election is happening. You can favorite your local Congressional representative, bills they are sponsoring and other information to keep you abreast to information  that affects you or your business.

There is also a possibility you are the kind of person who thinks the government is trying to pull one over on you and others. This is a good way to see what Congress is hiding in plain sight.

5. Onion News Network

The Onion is just plain funny. If you haven’t checked out the paper or the videos on Youtube, you are missing out. The ONN app is sure to bring you a chuckle by taking real news stories and adding a comical twist. The headlines alone are enough to make you laugh out loud.

The ONN app is packed with lots and lots of videos and shows. If you are a fan of news and comedy shows like The Corbert Report, download this one.

Conclusion

When you have the urge to get news on any topic you may be interested in, there are a lot of different Android news apps out there to feed your need. Depending on what you are interested in, you may find something predesigned for your tastes or you can customize something to make your ultimate news source fit in your pocket.

irina slutsky

Related Posts:

• 5 Excellent Ways Make Free Video Calls On Android
• 5 Alternatives To Android’s Calendar
• The iOS Guide For Mobile News Readers
• Tips To Use Less Google On Your Android Phone

We will make an attempt to answer as many questions as we can each week.

The Q&A

NOTE: Some of the questions will be rephrased and will not appear exactly as they were written in MTE’s inbox, for the sake of simplifying the question and giving as much space as possible to the answer. If you believe your answer was not adequately answered, go ahead and leave a comment at the bottom. We’ll get to you ASAP.

Q: How to perform cut/copy paste on an Android phone?

A: In 2.3 and higher, you can copy text in a SMS or an email you are composing if you press and hold the text and select the action from the pop-up window. If you are talking about selecting text from a web browser, Opera Mini and NetFront Life Browser will give you this option. Otherwise, there are a few applications like Copy And Paste It (trial) that work great. However after the trial is done, there is a cost to keeping it.

Q: Can I switch back to an older version of the Android OS?

A: The short answer is no, unless you have rooted your phone. There isn’t an easy way to downgrade your Android OS version without rooting your device. Once rooted, you can change the ROM to whatever is available to you. This includes experimental builds of new versions of not yet released OSes.

Q: I rooted my Android phone and installed ClockWork Recovery on it. I later has a service technician upgrade the firmware and my phone got unrooted. How do I root my phone again.

A: Different phones have different methods to root them. When a firmware update comes out, many times there is a “patch” to fix the exploitation in the software which allowed your phone to be rooted. There are sites like XDA Developer Wiki or CyanogenMod that have great walk through on rooting different devices.

Q: Very often I have difficulty in “powering off” my ‘phone. Usually I press the power button then “Power Off”. It then fades away and it’s only later I find that the phone hasn’t turned off. How can I fix this?

A: Most commonly there is an application holding up the process and not letting your phone power down. Check that you have not installed any system maintenance app that is always running in the background monitoring your activity. If yes, check inside the app and see if there are options to prevent monitoring during powering off. I have also seen devices with slower processors or phones with low memory taking a long time to power down or power up. Take a look at your available space, perhaps this may be low. If so, try moving applications to the SD card or deleting some apps and try powering it down. Typically you want between 15MB and 30MB free. More free space is better though.

Why Wasn’t My Question Answered?

If you asked a question and it wasn’t answered here, it could be one of three reasons:

• Relevance: Your question needs to be totally relevant to the Android operating system.
• Detail: Try to include as much detail as you can, such as the Android device and version of the Android OS you’re using.
• Other Reasons: For some unfortunate reason, we couldn’t include your question in this edition. We’ll try our best effort to include the question in the next edition.

What’s your Android question?

If you have questions you think might fit well with MTE’s next edition of “Ask an Android Expert,” send us an email at android-help [at] maketecheasier.com. Alternatively, click on the “Ask Our Experts” banner on the right and fill in the form. Leave comments only to discuss the questions presented here. If you want to ask a question, use the aforementioned email address.

Related Posts:

• Ask MTE: Sync Android With Computer, Backup SMS, Change SMS Ringtone And Many More… (Android Week 9)
• Android Q&As: Create Screenshots For Websites, Connect Two Android Phones Together And Many More… (Week 8)
• Android Q&As: Make Skype Video Call, Mass Convert Contacts, Disable WiFi Shut Down On Screen Lock And Many More…
• Android Q&As: Auto-sync Emails, Add ICE Contact, Removed Preinstalled Apps, And Many More… (Week 6)

Q: For business presentations, I am using a Windows 7 laptop with projector. I also have a Galaxy Note. How I can connect the phone to my laptop and draw on the laptop-screen during presentations.

A: Right now, it doesn’t appear there are any easily found apps out there to let you interface the phone to the laptop in the manner you’d like as you probably noticed. However, have you considered using an office application to run the presentation from your Note and using the HDMI output from the phone to plug into the projector? I’m not sure if the the presentations you are involved in would put you near the projector or not.

Q:I have a Android device with version 2.3.3 OS and a custom Kernel 2.6.37 with the Chinese market on it. How do I erase it and put Google market on instead?

A: The short answer is to install a new Kernel on your device.

The longer answer is under the assumption your device is rooted. Always be aware you can make your device inoperable if rooting or changing ROM or a Kernel goes bad. If you are unsure of yourself, please seek help. There is a thread on the XDA forum talking about the Kernel 2.6.37. To change the Kernel, you can use the ROM Manager application. Flashing a new Kernel is very similar to changing the ROM on a rooted Android.

Editor note: Alternatively, you can try downloading the Gapps (Google Apps) and install it in your Android phone. You can find the download here

Q: I have a tablet running 4.0.3. When I insert an external micro SD card, I cannot write information to the card unless accessed using root privileges. How can I write to the external memory?

A: My first question is, did you try and format the card? This will a lot of times solve the problem as you may know. The second thing I would suggest is to try the card in a computer and see if you can read/write information on the card. Many times when the card is read only, there may be corrupt files on the card. Run chkdsk on the card to see if it passes. You may have a card that has gone bad. Lastly, check the filesystem of your SD card. If it is formatted in FAT32 system, you shouldn’t have a problem accessing it. If it is formatted as EXT2, 3 or 4, you might need to install Drive Mount from the Google Play Store. It will require root though.

Q: How to get Facebook friends profile photo to my Android contacts?

A: To get your Facebook friends pictures to show up in your contact list, download the official Facebook for Android app. After you log in, there should be the option to sync your contacts with Facebook. If you are already using this app and chose not to sync them originally, you can go to Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> Facebook -> Clear Data. You can then login again and sync your contacts.

Why Wasn’t My Question Answered?

If you asked a question and it wasn’t answered here, it could be one of three reasons:

• Relevance: Your question needs to be totally relevant to the Android operating system.
• Detail: Try to include as much detail as you can, such as the Android device and version of the Android OS you’re using.
• Other Reasons: For some unfortunate reason, we couldn’t include your question in this edition. We’ll try our best effort to include the question in the next edition.

What’s your Android question?

If you have questions you think might fit well with MTE’s next edition of “Ask an Android Expert”, send us an email at android-help [at] maketecheasier.com. Leave comments only to discuss the questions presented here. If you want to ask a question, use the aforementioned email address.

Related Posts:

• Ask MTE: Sync Android With Computer, Backup SMS, Change SMS Ringtone And Many More… (Android Week 9)
• Android Q&As: Create Screenshots For Websites, Connect Two Android Phones Together And Many More… (Week 8)
• Android Q&As: Make Skype Video Call, Mass Convert Contacts, Disable WiFi Shut Down On Screen Lock And Many More…
• Android Q&As: Auto-sync Emails, Add ICE Contact, Removed Preinstalled Apps, And Many More… (Week 6)

1. Cozi Family Organizer

Cozi is one of the coolest ways to keep track of what your family are going on. What you get with Cozi is an all inclusive family organizer. What I mean is, you have more than a calendar. From the Cozi home screen, you have access to all of the main components to keep up with what your family is doing. The different sections are:

• Calendar
• To Do
• Shopping
• Meals
• Journal

The calendar is the most useful part of Cozi. On the calendar you can add a lot of information about family happenings. All family appointments like dinner, sports practices and games for individual family members and even family or individual routines.

The To Do list is a great tool for parents to delegate chores to kids. Tasks can be added, assigned and sent to a specific person in your family. Or Mom can make a honey-do list for dad.

The meal planner is a fantastic addition to planning your family’s week in advance. There is a recipe box for you to save all of your family’s favorite meals. You can also get the new meal ideas from Cozi. Adding a recipe to a day is simply dragging the recipe from the right sidebar to the day you’d like it to be. The ingredients for the meals can be added to a shopping list.

The shopping checklist can then be viewed on your mobile so you can check off items at the store as you shop.

Cozi for Android

2. Google Calendar

Google Calendar is another great way for families to share what they have going on. While Google doesn’t offer meal planners and sharable to-do lists, Google Calendar does give you an easy to use and share calendar.

To share a calendar with someone, you can click the little arrow to the right of your calendar name in the sidebar.

When you click on Share this Calendar, you can enter in the Gmail or Google App address of the person you want to share the calendar with. You can choose how much information and what privileges you want the person you are sharing the calendar with to have. If you want them to be able to add, edit and delete events, you can do that. Or if you only want them to see whether you are busy or not, you can do that too.

Conclusion

Cozi is by far the most feature rich way of keeping your family organized. However, it may be overkill for some families. If all you and your group need is to see what the other is doing or if they are busy, Google Calendar will work flawlessly for you.

Related Posts:

• 5 Alternatives To Android’s Calendar
• Tips To Use Less Google On Your Android Phone
• 4 Android Apps To Improve Your Productivity
• Android Widget Series: Agenda Widgets To Keep Your Life On Track [Part 3]

Please keep sending  us your questions and requests. This is a great way to be more helpful to all of you. We will make an attempt to answer as many questions as we can each week.

Q: I have a Samsung Galaxy Player which I have been putting mostly short video clips on. My problem is they seem to automatically go into my internal  storage which quickly takes up space and slows the device. How can the default location be changed?

A: For built-in applications like the camera/video camera, you can follow these steps. Many times however, there are settings to change the default download location within an application. Usually if you press the menu button then preferences, there can be an option to change the download folder location like you see here. Press the “..” and navigate to the folder you’d like to use your downloads to go.

Q: Are there any audio visualization apps? Live wallpapers or player with visualization?

A: Here are a couple different applications to visualize your music.

• Epic Audio Visualizer Lite can be used as a Live Wallpaper.
• Wall Speaker Visualization is a speaker pumping to the music.
• Deadmau5 Audio Visualizer is a Live Wallpaper $2.87.
• projectM Music Visualizer is an application for $2.99.

Q: How can I make the Android Battery meter easier to read?

A: There really isn’t a way to make the battery meter in the application bar any larger. However, you can add widgets to display a larger notifier in the notification bar, or a widget on your home screen.

• Battery Widget will give you larger icon in the notification bar and the option for a home screen widget.
• Battery Status Widget is a home screen widget.
• Battery Notifier (Big Text) gives you a larger digital readout for your battery in your notification bar.

Q: How can I increase the font size?

A: I feel your pain, I recently started needing glasses to read and feel the strain when I use my phone a lot. Big Font (change font size) is a great app for non-rooted Android phones. Using Big Font, the size of the letters and numbers can be increased to 130% the normal font size.

The Q&A

NOTE: Some of the questions will be rephrased and will not appear exactly as they were written in MTE’s inbox, for the sake of simplifying the question and giving as much space as possible to the answer. If you believe your answer was not adequately answered, go ahead and leave a comment at the bottom. We’ll get to you ASAP.

Why Wasn’t My Question Answered?

If you asked a question and it wasn’t answered here, it could be one of three reasons:

• Relevance: Your question needs to be totally relevant to the Android operating system.
• Detail: Try to include as much detail as you can, such as the Android device and version of the Android OS you’re using.
• Other Reasons: For some unfortunate reason, we couldn’t include your question in this edition. We’ll try our best effort to include the question in the next edition.

What’s your Android question?

If you have questions you think might fit well with MTE’s next edition of “Ask an Android Expert,” send us an email at android-help [at] maketecheasier.com. Leave comments only to discuss the questions presented here. If you want to ask a question, use the aforementioned email address.

Related Posts:

• Ask MTE: Sync Android With Computer, Backup SMS, Change SMS Ringtone And Many More… (Android Week 9)
• Android Q&As: Create Screenshots For Websites, Connect Two Android Phones Together And Many More… (Week 8)
• Android Q&As: Make Skype Video Call, Mass Convert Contacts, Disable WiFi Shut Down On Screen Lock And Many More…
• Android Q&As: Auto-sync Emails, Add ICE Contact, Removed Preinstalled Apps, And Many More… (Week 6)

The premise of the Android applications below is to supply a picture to have other people vote up or down whether they like it or not. This is a pretty simple yet powerful way to get hones opinions from people because people are not afraid to tell a stranger what they think.

Both of the applications below need you to sign up for a free account.

1. Thumb

Thumb for Android is a social question asking and answering application. Think of Thumb like Stumbleupon. You can sign in, select the filters for the topics you’d like to vote on and you give it the thumbs up, down or neutral. There is also a text box to give your opinion. When people have no real interest in the outcome of something, people will be honest. And if they can be anonymous, they will be brutally honest so be careful what you ask about.

If you are asking a question, you can filter who sees your question. An example would be a guy going out on a first date with a girl. He could post a question so only women can see in the relationship section asking if the shirt he bought matches the shoes he wants to wear. Or if you are trying out dressing in a different way, you could try on a few outfits and see what strangers think.

2. Wayin

Wayin is a similar social application for Android. With Wayin, you have the option to answer questions people ask, but there is more you can do other than answering questions. There are Live Events. These Live Events can range from sporting events to parties to fans of a tv show commenting on a episode. All of the Live Events are people watching or participating in an event, for example, a game and talking about what is going on while the event is happening.

All of these are ways to meet other people who have the same interests as you do.  During Springtime in the US, the NHL season is nearing the last couple months. There were a lot of hockey games in the Live Events section.

In the account settings, you can search your social contact lists like Facebook to find current friends using either service. Otherwise, you can use Wayin to meet new people.

Conclusion

Social applications are meant to bring out the social butterfly in people. While applications and web events can bring people to events and activities getting them into the real world, some people feel more comfortable in the digital space. If you prefer to stay inside or glued to your Android phone, then meeting new people through apps like these should be a breeze.

How do you meet new people from all over the world?

Related Posts:

• Phonebook 2.0: A Great Alternative to Android Contact App
• Ask MTE: Sync Android With Computer, Backup SMS, Change SMS Ringtone And Many More… (Android Week 9)
• Tinychat For Web Allows You to Chat, Listen to Music And Draw Simultaneously
• Android Q&As: Create Screenshots For Websites, Connect Two Android Phones Together And Many More… (Week 8)

The Q&A

NOTE: Some of the questions will be rephrased and will not appear exactly as they were written in MTE’s inbox, for the sake of simplifying the question and giving as much space as possible to the answer. If you believe your answer was not adequately answered, go ahead and leave a comment at the bottom.

Q: If my phone does not have root access, can I use Super User?

A: Unfortunately there isn’t a way to use Super User on your Android without root access.

Q: How do I uninstall Go Launcher EX?

A: Uninstalling a launcher is no different than uninstalling any other application. You can uninstall applications in the “Manage Applications” part of the Applications Menu. If you aren’t sure how to get to this menu, follow this path Press the Menu button –>  then Settings –> then Applications –> finally, Manage Applications. Scroll to find “Go Launcher EX” or whatever application you’d like to uninstall and click on it. In this screen you should see an uninstall option. Click uninstall and follow the steps.

Alternatively, you can download an application to uninstall applications.

Q: How to logoff the current account in my Facebook?

A: If you’re using the Facebook for Android downloaded from Google Play, you can open the Facebook app and press the menu button on your Android phone and select Logout.

If you’re are using the preinstalled Facebook application some phone manufacturers use, you will need to take a different approach. Not all versions of the Android OS have this option, but it is worth a shot.

Follow this path Press the Menu button –>  then Settings –> then Applications –> finally, Manage Applications. Find the Facebook for LG and click on it. In this window, you should see a Clear Data button. What this will do is reset the application to the factory default, just like when the phone was new. It will not delete anything in your Facebook account. Press the Clear Data button to reset the preinstalled Facebook app.

Q: Is it possible to make a disk image style backup of an android device? If so how would you do so and how would you restore the image to the phone?

A: There are a couple options to do a thorough backup of your device. Titanium backup is the go-to application for users with root access. If you do not want to root your Android device, you can try Backup Master. Backup master will not back up the OS, but will let you back up the apps, settings, SMS and MMS messages to name a few things. Great if you are master-clearing your device or install a new version of an OS.

Q: Why isn’t there a good file manager like in Windows devices?

A: There are quite a few file managers out there. Astro File Manager is a really popular file manager for Android. There are a lot of features other than just viewing files, there is application back up and a task killer too.

Why Wasn’t My Question Answered?

If you asked a question and it wasn’t answered here, it could be one of three reasons:

• Relevance: Your question needs to be totally relevant to the Android operating system.
• Detail: Try to include as much detail as you can, such as the Android device and version of the Android OS you’re using.
• Other Reasons: For some unfortunate reason, we couldn’t include your question in this edition. We’ll try our best effort to include the question in the next edition.

What’s your Android question?

If you have questions you think might fit well with MTE’s next edition of “Ask an Android Expert”, send us an email at android-help [at] maketecheasier.com. Leave comments only to discuss the questions presented here. If you want to ask a question, use the aforementioned email address.

Related Posts:

• Ask MTE: Sync Android With Computer, Backup SMS, Change SMS Ringtone And Many More… (Android Week 9)
• Android Q&As: Create Screenshots For Websites, Connect Two Android Phones Together And Many More… (Week 8)
• Android Q&As: Make Skype Video Call, Mass Convert Contacts, Disable WiFi Shut Down On Screen Lock And Many More…
• Android Q&As: Auto-sync Emails, Add ICE Contact, Removed Preinstalled Apps, And Many More… (Week 6)

Here are some pretty simple changes you can make to changes to take Google out of the picture for most things.

Applications

Something to keep in mind with applications is how you purchase them now. You likely have a credit card number on file with Google Wallet to make purchases easy. When you use a service like Amazon, you can have a card on file with them to make the purchase of applications just as smooth. Other markets may require a Paypal or offer other payment options.

Amazon App Store for Amazon

The Amazon App Store for Android is the most popular app store aside from Google Play (formerly the Google Market). A cool feature of the Amazon App Store for Android is there is a free application everyday that would normally cost you money.

Most of the applications in the Amazon App Store for Android are what you will find in Google Play. There are some difference though. You can’t get the Google applications like Gtalk or Google+ apps. There are other 3rd party apps that can manage these services though if you need to access your accounts.

GetJar

Getjar is a smaller alternative Android market, but GetJar has several applications for free. The Free Android applications are in the Gold category. When you use Getjar, you will be more likely to find lesser known applications that would normally get buried in the larger app stores.

Email

There are a lot of email providers out there. Choosing one that suits your needs can be easier for some people than others. While email is basically for sending and receiving information, Gmail offers a lot of cool features that are hard to pass up. Getting an email service offering most of the same abilities will be tough, so you will need to decide what is most important to you in an email service.

Yahoo Mail

Yahoo is an ever-evolving email service. The Android application is pretty basic and will let you send and receive emails. You can also move emails from folder to folder. Syncing your contacts is pretty much the only extra feature.

Hotmail

Your MSN, Live or Hotmail account will fill a basic need for email on your Android phone. If you have an organizational folder system in your Live account, you can see these folders and transfer emails to other folders from your inbox. You can choose to sync your contacts and your Hotmail calendar with your Android.

Calendar

People are pretty particular about their calendars. If you use your Android calendar a lot, you may rely on Google Calendar too. If you switch to a service like Hotmail, you can sync their calendar with your Android phone.

Keeping your calendar in sync is a breeze with Hotmail. Add an appointment in either your phone or your web account and it will sync.

Browser

For those who browse the web from their Android phone, you may not want to give Google information about how you search and what you search for. Using a different browser other than the pre-installed Android browser will help.

Firefox

Firefox is a really cool mobile browser. The Android version of Firefox offers a lot of the same add-ons you may be using for your desktop Firefox making the download to your Android a good choice.

Dolphin HD

Dolphin HD is a feature-packed Android browser that gives desktop browsers a run for their money. You can download extensions to customize Dolphin HD to create your ultimate mobile web browsing choice.

Music

Music lovers will be happy to see there is another choice to using Google Music

Amazon Cloud Player

Google music is pretty cool. However, Amazon has a similar service letting you store your personal library and MP3s you purchase through Amazon on their servers. Amazon Cloud Player was also around before Google Music too. You can stream your songs right from the cloud or have them available for offline playing.

Conclusion

Google is awesome at what they do but too much of a good thing can be bad. Sure,by putting all of your information in one spot, you can make your life easier, but if you aren’t comfortable with every bit of your life being in one place, know there are other options while still using an Android device.

Now, to the poll of the week: How comfortable are you to entrust your personal data to Google?

Take Our Poll

Related Posts:

• 5 Alternatives To Android’s Calendar
• 4 Android Apps To Improve Your Productivity
• Sync And Listen To Your Music With Google Music Beta
• Go Launcher Ex: An Impressive Home Replacement App For Android

On your Android devices, one of the most popular services to get your daily fix for information is Google Reader. While there are some good options to share an interesting article, there isn’t much in the way of organizing what’s saved.

Instapaper is another super popular application for saving a URL for later reading, but alas there is no official Android application yet.

So what should you do?

Here are some Android applications that you can use to save articles for later reading. Most of the applications will work with Google Reader or Instapaper.

1. Read Later for Instapaper

Read Later is an Instapaper app that is really basic and to the point. When you are browsing the web or Google Reader on your Android device, and you see an article you’d like to save for later, Read Later for Instapaper is one of your options to share. There is not an option to see the articles you’ve saved. Think of this application as a bookmarklet for your Android.

2. InstFetch

If you need something where you can save and access the URLs you save to Instapaper, InstaFetch will be more of what you are looking for. With addition of saving the URL, you can read the article and like it, archive it. If you use the pro version, you can even send it to Evernote.

3. PaperSpan

PaperSpan is it’s own service and not an application used to save information on another web-app. What sets PaperSpan apart from most of the other applications is the option to create an offline version of the URL. For people on a limited data plan or WiFi only devices, you can see the benefit of this feature.

4. Power Note

Power Note is the official Diigo application for Android. While Diigo is primarily a bookmarking site, part of what Diigo offers is a read later option when you are saving a URL. In the Android app, you have a whole dedicated column for these URLs.

Another cool feature Power Note gives you is the option to upload other notes. You can store images, snapshots, text notes and use your voice to compose text notes. Diigo seems like they are trying to steal some of Evernote’s thunder with these additions in their mobile app if you ask me.

Concusion

No matter if you already use a web-based service to save your URLs for later reading or you are just starting out, there is something here to fit your needs. Personally I use Diigo for bookmarking and saving URLs to read later. You may prefer another service based on what your needs are.

How do you remember that cool website or article you spotted on your Android that you want to read later?

intro image

Related Posts:

• 5 Excellent Ways Make Free Video Calls On Android
• 5 Alternatives To Android’s Calendar
• 5 Awesome News Applications For Android To Keep You In The Know
• Tips To Use Less Google On Your Android Phone

There are other articles out there that talk about Gmail extensions for Chrome. In the list below, I am going to list some lesser known but very useful Gmail extension.

1. Snooze Your Email for Gmail

When you are busy, you may not want to attend to an email on the spot. However, there are times when an email is urgent and need you to look into it soon. One way you can handle this is to snooze the email until later. You have predetermined times and days or you can set something more specific. When that time arrives, you get a little pop-up on your screen to remind you.

2. Temporary Email Alias

There are a lot of uses for a disposable email address so I won’t go into detail on why this is a useful extension. In the settings, you can select how long you want it to be active.

The way Temporary Email Alias works is, right-click on the email address field and select generate an email address. All of the messages will be forwarded to your Gmail account. Tell me that’s not super easy.

3. Send to Evernote

For the avid Evernote user, being able to easily send an email to Evernote with a single click is the best feature of this extension. There are a few other ways to send a webpage to Evernote, but this is the quickest. You will need to have your Evernote email address. If you use Instapaper or just want the page sent to your Gmail account, you have options for that as well.

Once you have the destination set, you can turn on the 1-click option. If this is on, you just need to click the icon to the right of the address bar to send. There are also keyboard shortcuts if you prefer to use them.

4. ezAutoCorrect for GMail

People suck at emailing. When most people type up an email, they spell things wrong and don’t add punctuation. ezAutocorrect will bring some of the features word processing programs like OpenOffice use.

The most important feature ezAutocorrect brings to the table is the replacement of incorrect words, not just underlining them in red. You can also set ezAutocorrect to insert a period “.” and capitalize the next letter automatically when you press the space bar twice.

5. OmniMail for GMail

OmniMail is a great idea. in short, it allows you to send an email right from the Chrome address bar. If you have ever used a service like Tweetbar, OmniMail works in a similar way. To activate an email, you type the word mail into the Chrome address bar.

When you see OmniMail for Gmail in the drop-down, you can select it. Start typing the email address. You can then add in your message and send it. This is great for those quick emails you want to send to someone before you forget.

Conclusion

These lesser known but really useful extensions that combine Google Chrome and Gmail will add some great options to your browser. Extensions like Send to Evernote and OmniMail will save you a lot of time, not to mention you wont need to have the extra apps or windows open.

What is your favorite Gmail extension for Chrome?

Related Posts:

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