Because I’m an Apple and iOS person through and through, it means the first thing I did was look for an app. I found an app available for both my iPhone and iPad. Opening that, I was presented with a choice of browsing existing chats, starting my own chat, or joining a chat. To join the chat with my son and his friend,  I could either type in the room name or accept an invite from Facebook or other similar social networks. The problem with trying to connect through the Facebook notification was that it sent me through the Internet instead of through the app. Safari can’t handle the TinyChat website because it’s most likely Flash. Because I was trying to go through the iOS app, I had to manually type in the name of the room.

It turns out because it’s a flash-enabled website, that much of the functions on TinyChat that make it so great to use weren’t available on the website. The only function that was available here was just the video chat. There was no texting, drawing, YouTube, or sound files I could view or listen to here. While I could have switched to a flash-enabled browser (I like Photon) and enjoyed all the functions, I decided to switch to my Mac to make it easier for review purposes.

I rejoined the chat this time from the web on my Mac. This time I had all the functions available to me, as I would have using a flash-enabled iOS browser. Opening it on the web, I could see the same three videos before of everyone talking, but I could also “see” if they were typing in text. It also notifies you when someone joins or leaves the room, just like other chat rooms.

One very unique feature of TinyChat is the Whiteboard. This is a board that anyone in the chat can draw on, even simultaneously. You can jot down notes for a job you’re discussing or just have a lot of fun on it with your friends. It has all the standard drawing tools on it – lines, text, pencil, eraser, etc. It opened up in a separate window, so instead of flipping back and forth, I moved the window out to a separate pane so that I could see it and my video chat at the same time.

Ever watch a YouTube that you just can’t wait to show your friends? Now instead of emailing or sharing it on Facebook or Twitter, you can watch it together on TinyChat. Search for a video from directly within Tinychat, and when it opens up, it does so so that everyone on the chat can see it. Laugh together! Songs can be opened up the same way to also be enjoyed together. Additional options are going full screen and taking a snapshot of the people in the chat.

There are just so many possibilities available with TinyChat. I can see using this during chats, especially with a larger group of people. It just isn’t the most iOS friendly because of the Flash video use, but it can still be used, with the right browser, or with limited function in the app.

Tinychat

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• Use Your Webcam With Multiple Programs Simultaneously
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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:

• 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)
• Android Q&As: Copy/Paste In Android, Re-rooting Phone After Firmware Upgrade And More… (Week 4)

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:

• 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)
• Android Q&As: Copy/Paste In Android, Re-rooting Phone After Firmware Upgrade And More… (Week 4)

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

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• 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

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:

• 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)
• Android Q&As: Copy/Paste In Android, Re-rooting Phone After Firmware Upgrade And More… (Week 4)

1. Download and install the SopCast Android app from the SopCast website. You will need to enable the “Allow installation of non-market apps” option before you can install the apk.

2. Once installed, open the SopCast app. The first screen will prompt you to sign in. If you have a device ID or a user account, you can sign in with your username and password. If not, just select the option “Sign in as anonymous”.

3. Choose the “Default Server”.

4. That’s it. You have the full list of TV channels to choose from.

Simply tap on your favorite channel to watch the streaming. The streaming speed will depend on your Internet connection and the number of peers streaming.

Other than watching online TV, you can also use it as a media player to watch the video that you stored locally. In addition, if you have the URL to the streaming server, you can also add custom URL to the app.

Lastly, sit back and enjoy!

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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

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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:

• 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: Copy/Paste In Android, Re-rooting Phone After Firmware Upgrade And More… (Week 4)

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:

• 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)

Installation

Install Apex Launcher from Google Play Store.

Press the Home button. When prompted, select Apex Launcher from the list.

While Apex Launcher looks and works the same as the stock launcher, the functionality is different. You can now remove the search bar from the top and enjoy a big 5 x 4 screen space. In addition, the dock is scrollable and allows you to place up to 35 apps. I am not a dock person, so a static dock with 5 apps placement is sufficient for me. However, I do have friends who love the additional docks so they can free up spaces at the main area and keep the number of screen to the minimum. For this, I appreciate the flexibility that Apex Launcher has provided.

Once you run Apex Launcher, you will see two icons on the Home Screen – Apex Menu and Apex Settings. The Apex Menu, when tapped, pop up a screen with shortcuts to various phone features. You can add extra Apex buttons, change wallpaper, manage your apps, go to Apex Settings, go to System Settings and Lock Desktop. The Lock Desktop feature is used after you have configured your home screen. Once the desktop is locked, any long press on the home screen will become invalid and you won’t be able to add/remove widgets, shortcuts, icons to the home screen.

Configurations

Apex Settings is where all the configuration options are. It is divided into several sections: Homescreen, Drawer, Dock, Folder, Behavior and Advanced.

The Homescreen Settings allows you to set the number of screen size (up to a maximum of 9) and the grid size, which will determine how many icons you can place on the home screen. You can also select the transition effect when moving from one screen to another and whether it should do a infinite scrolling once you reach the last screen.

One notable feature of Apex Launcher is the gesture actions that you can configure for swipe up, swipe down, desktop double tap and desktop long press. Since I am using a Galaxy Nexus with a big screen, I can configure the swipe down gesture to show the notification bar, so I don’t have to stretch my thumb all the way up to pull down the notification bar.

The next best thing is the resizing of widget that are normally not resizable. The stock launcher only allows you to resize widgets that support resizing. Apex Launcher allows you to resize all widgets, regardless they support the resizing feature or not. While some of the widgets might look weird after resizing, some of them look perfect.

Conclusion

There are plenty of home screen replacement app in the Google Play Store and some of them like the Go Launcher and ADW launcher are wildly popular. If you love the stock ICS launcher, but wanted more customization options, Apex Launcher is the one for you.

Apex Launcher

Related Posts:

• Go Launcher Ex: An Impressive Home Replacement App For Android
• Give Your Android Phone A Mac-Like Dock
• Llama: Transform Your Android Phone to A Fully Automated Bot
• Android Power Monitoring At Its Best

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:

• 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)

Cryptonite is a file encryption/decryption app for Android that is based on the EncFS. It is still in active development mode and only works with rooted phone for now. It allows you to create an encrypted volume in your Dropbox folder and place files/folders into it, or decrypt your existing encrypted volume and mount it as a local folder. In both scenarios, it gives you both read/write access to your files/folders.

1. Install Cryptonite from the Play Store.

2. Once installed, run the app. There are three option tabs at the top – Dropbox, Local and Expert. The Dropbox tab is where you can create encrypted volume, or decrypt an encrypted volume in Dropbox. The Local tab gives you option to create an encrypted volume in your Android storage (SD card). The Expert tab comes with a terminal that allows you to run commands. This is for Advanced users only. Use it only if you are proficient enough and know what you are doing.

3. At the Dropbox tab, tap the button “Link With Dropbox”. When prompted, select “Full Access”. This allows Cryptonite to access your encrypted folder. Assuming that Dropbox is already installed in your phone, it will load the Dropbox app and prompt you to grant permission to Cryptonite. Select “Allow”.

4. Back to the main screen, select “Decrypt Dropbox folder”. It will then prompt you to select the encrypted folder and enter the password. Once it is done, the “Browse decrypted folder” and “Forget decryption” button will become active.

5. Tap on the “Browse decrypted folder” button and you will be able to access to your encrypted files. At the moment, there is no in-app editor for you to view and edit your files. You will have to export the file to your SD card, view or edit it, then re-upload back to the encrypted folder. Don’t forget to delete the files after you have edited it.

If you are paranoid about the privacy of your data, one alternative mean is to create an encrypted volume in your Android SD card (with Cryptonite). Mount the encrypted volume. Export your Dropbox files to this mounted volume. (The default mounted volume is at csh.cryptonite -> mnt folder). In this case, the exported file will be encrypted and you can edit it as well.

Lastly, I would advise you to password protect this Cryptonite app. It wouldn’t be good if anyone can access your encrypted files/folders without your permission.

Related Posts:

• How to Send Large Files From Your Android
• How to Encrypt Your Files And Improve Dropbox Security
• Taking Your To Do List Mobile with Todo.txt Touch
• How to Sync Android’s SD Card With Dropbox

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:

• 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 smartphone nowadays is more than just a simple calling device. The Android phone or iPhone that you own is a powerful mini-computer that allows you to surf the web, check emails, chat with friends, read books, listen to music, watch videos or even work while on the move. Thus, it can be a frustrating experience when it lags terribly, or the battery runs out of juice very quickly. With a little (and regular) maintenance and the help of several applications, you can easily get your phone to perform at its best, consistency.

Security

Protecting your Android phone is the most important thing that you need to do. Having a virus or malware attack on you is no joke. It might cause your phone to lag, applications to crash and the performance to deteriorate. On a heavier scale, it can also send unauthorized (and expensive) SMS or make oversea call without your knowledge. Worst still, it accesses your file folders or emails and steals your confidential data.

1. Install anti-virus software

Unlike the anti-virus suite you install on your PC, the anti-virus applications for Android often come with much more features than just simple virus scanning. Avast Mobile Security is one anti-virus app that I use and love. It comes with a virus and malware scanner for the apps you installed and the files you downloaded, a privacy advisor that shows the privacy issue for each app, a firewall that you can use to configure which apps can access the Internet and lastly, a comprehensive anti-theft feature.

2. Backup your system

If you have associated your Android phone with your Google account, there is an option in the phone that allows you to sync your data (all apps installed from the Play Store, WiFi, passwords and other settings) to the Google server. For apps that you installed directly using the .apk file (Google doesn’t sync apps that are not installed from Play Store), you can make use of Astro file manager to backup the app. If you have a rooted device, the Titanium backup is a better choice since it backups your app settings as well. Lastly, you might want to sync your files with Dropbox or Box. One tool that I use to sync between phone and Dropbox is Dropspace.

Performance

One of the main factor that affects your phone performance is the battery life. Before we go on to fix the battery life, it is best to go to “Menu -> Settings -> Battery” to check out which function is sucking away all your battery juice. In most, if not all, Android phone, the screen will be the killer followed by the Android OS.

To combat this:

3. Switch to Auto-brightness for your screen setting

At the Brightness section in the Settings, set the phone brightness to “auto-brightness” mode. In this mode, the phone will detect the surrounding light and adjust the screen brightness accordingly. Alternatively, you can turn the screen brightness to the lowest when you are indoor and switch to auto-brightness when you are outdoor. An easier way is to place a Brightness toggle widget on your home screen so you can switch between each brightness level quickly and easily.

4. Disable battery-sucking settings in standby mode

If you care about your battery life, Juice Defender is the app that you must install. It helps to preserve your battery life by automatically turn off the battery sucking settings (such as 3G mode, screen brightness etc) when your phone is in standby mode. I have been able to stretch my battery life to 25 hours (from 18 hours) right by installing this app.

5. Monitor apps and kill them when they misbehave

Watchdog Task Manager is one app that you can install and leave it to do its work. WatchDog works quietly in the background to monitor your Android system for misbehaved apps and kill them when they are taking up chunks of your CPU power. It will ensure that your Android phone is always at its tip-top conditions and is not affected by any poorly-coded app.

6. Clean up your system cache, history and temporary files

Just like the browser in your PC, the more cache, history and temporary files it have, the slower it runs. This is especially if you have limited (internal) storage space on your phone. One tool that I use is the ZDBox. It comes with a system cleaner function that allows you to clean your system with one click. Other than that, ZDBox also has app locking, task killing, battery saving and do not disturb feature. All these made it a versatile, useful and handy tool for your Android phone.

Efficiency

Your smartphone should be able to improve your efficiency and help you to do more things with lesser efforts.

7. Automate the mundane tasks

Llama is one powerful (and free) and easy to use app that you can use to automate plenty of stuff on your phone. You can get it to automatically switch phone profile (Silent, Loud, Vibrate etc) according to preset events. You can also set rules and conditions and get it to perform tasks when the rules/conditions are met. One rule that I set is for it to switch to flight mode during sleeping hours. This will ensure that I have a peaceful sleep and save my battery life as well.

8. Change the workflow

The best way to improve your productivity is to change the workflow of your phone. If your Home launcher is very limiting and doesn’t allow you to do custom configuration, it is best to switch to one that gives you flexibility. There are plenty of launcher apps out there, with ADW Launcher, Go Launcher and LauncherPro among the more popular one. Most of them come with plenty of configuration options for you to customize your homescreen to the way you like it.

What other tips do you have to get the best out of your Android phone?

Image credit: By MJ/TR (´???)

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Related Posts:

• Gives Your Windows Total Protection With Bitdefender Total Security 2012
• Unplug And Reconnect Lets You Take Some Time Off Your Android Phone
• 4 Ways to Keep Your Windows PC Secure Without Paying for Third-Party Applications
• 4 More Distraction Deterring Android Apps To Increase Your Productivity

Don’t you wish that you could take some time off from your phone and not to be bothered by any incoming call/email/notification?

Unplug and Reconnect is a simple Android app that allows you to schedule a period of time where you want to be unplugged from the mobile world. It can be during an important meeting, or just a stroll in the park with your loved ones where you want to have some peace and not have your phone disturbing you.

How the app works is by automating the phones call settings via scheduled events.

Once installed, you can go to “Menu -> Add” to quickly add an event.

Things you can enter in the event:

• Name of the event
• Details of the event
• Unplug method (set your phone to silent, vibrate, airplane or call reject mode)
• Start and end hours
• Repetition
• Alert
• Social media options

Once you have created and saved your event, when the Start time arrives, the app will automatically set the phone setting to the mode (silent, vibrate, airplane of call reject) that you have configured. After the end time, the phone will be restored to the previous settings.

If you go to the Settings option, there is also an option to “auto-reply” for incoming calls. You can compose your own message and whenever someone call you during your unplugged time, it will automatically send a SMS to that person to inform them that you are unavailable right now. In addition, you can also add your Facebook and Twitter accounts so your friends will be notified whenever you go unplugged.

Back in the dashboard, you will be able to see all your schedule in one glance. Each event should run automatically according to the allocated time slot. You can also manually deactivate each event, which can be useful for repetitive event.

Conclusion

The general concept of the app is good, but the implementation could be better. The app requires you to enter every single field before you can save the event. There are times where I just want to quickly create an event and not to bother about the details, apparently this app doesn’t allow me to do that until I have entered the details. In this case, some sort of preset settings would be great here. In addition, there is no way to disable the alert. You can set 5 mins, 10 mins or 15 mins alert notificatio before the event start, but there is no way to disable it. If I have tons of scheduled event, that means I will also have tons of alert popping up to disturb me. Just this annoyance itself is enough to make me uninstall the app.

When it comes to automating your phone, Unplug and Reconnect is definitely not the best in the Play Store. Tasker or Llama can do the job better. However if you are looking for an app without a steep learning curve, and without plenty of useless features, then this could be handy.

Unplug and Reconnect

Related Posts:

• 8 Useful Tips To Get The Best Out Of Your Android Phone
• 3 Android Apps To Automatically Silence Notifications On A Schedule
• How to Get Android Notifications On Your Computer
• Need to Send/Receive SMS From Your Chrome Browser? Try Texty [Android]

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
• 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)
• 5 Excellent Ways Make Free Video Calls On 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.

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:

• 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)