The applications talked about below all have the same theory behind them – they allow you to schedule times where your Android phone will automatically silence or turn the notifications back on after the allotted time. Each of these applications is a free or Lite version and most of them have an inexpensive paid version if you want a few more features.

1. Husher

Husher seems to be the most feature-packed free version of the group. The key features that set Husher apart are the option to set up to 5 keywords to automatically include or exclude. What I mean by this is, you can sync your calendar with Husher. Husher will automatically look at the appointments and when it sees a word you have chosen (e.g. meeting, interview, court, date night), it will automatically silence your Android phone for the duration of that appointment.

There is a feature that allows you to quick activate silence by turning your volume down using the volume keys. When you do this, a screen will pop up asking you how long you want the phone to be silenced. There are always last minute times when your boss may pull you into his office for a quick sit-down.

2. Ring Scheduler

Ring Scheduler lets you make rules for how and when you want your phone to be silenced. There isn’t any association to your calendar like some of the other applications in the list. The way Ring Scheduler works is you can choose a time of day, what days you’d like it to repeat and the ringer settings. What I thought was neat here is, you can have your Android set to Airplane mode. There is also a blacklist application letting you create a setting for a specific phone number.

3. Phone Silencer

Phone Silencer does one thing. When you turn your volume down manually, you are asked for how long. When that time is done, the volume is restored. Pretty straight forward and useful if you don’t need all of the other bells and whistles. Phone Silencer would be more for the person who remembers to silence their phone but not to turn the ringer back on.

Conclusion

There are 3 different levels of Android automatic ringer and notification silencer applications. Depending on your needs, you can see that Husher offers the most personalization. If you are constantly in meetings or varied places where you need a silenced phone, this should fit your needs. However, if you are an occasional user or have a pretty set schedule, one of the other two apps will do the trick.

How do you remember to silence your Android phone before a meeting?

image: Sarah G

How to use it?

First of all, get the AirDroid app from the Android market. You do not need to install anything on your computer. Once you have installed it on your phone, go to the app. On the main screen of the app, you will have few options, namely, a web address (with port number), a password and a start/stop button.

All you have to do is open any web browser (like Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer) and type the displayed web address (192.168.40.54:8888) in your browser’s address bar and press enter. You will find yourself with a welcome screen asking for password like this:

Type the password which is shown on your smartphone and you are connected to your phone. Your phone notifies you when you connect to the computer. It will show you the memory used, the files you have on your Android, messages, contacts, battery status, installed apps, basically everything. You will see a screen like this:

What are the things I can do with AirDroid?

This awesome apps frees you from the likes of a dedicated suite application. All you need is your Android phone and a computer with a web browser in it. You can then do all the stuff you want to. Here are a lists of thing which you can do with it:

• Import/Export pictures
• Import/Export music
• Import/Export all types of files
• See Messages and Call logs
• Send new messages by using your computer keyboard (my favorite)
• Check memory status of your device
• See Installed apps, delete them
• See and edit contacts

Conclusion:

Despite using the WiFi interface, it is not noticeably slow. It works flawlessly with any operating system and with all the major web browsers. It gives options enough to make it one of the best free app available in the Android market. My verdict, you won’t regret downloading this app.

What are your views on AirDroid? Do you use some other app/suite to manage and transfer data between your Android phone and computer? Do share your ideas with us. Cheers.

What if you decide to change your phone number and the person who had it before you signed up for all kinds of services to text message information to them? Or maybe they had a lot of bill collectors or a persistent ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend? All of these are pretty realistic things that can happen.

Another possible reason may be you need block calls and SMS messages while you are in meetings or on vacation. Below are a few options to take control of your phone.

1. Gang Filter – call block

Gang Filter is an Android application to block a time where you can limit calls. There are options to choose sections of the day when you can receive everybody’s calls and messages while blocking them at others. This is a great feature if you have a company issued phone. You can set the auto-reply to activate when you are done with work for the day or on the weekends.

There are some other great features too. You can whitelist numbers so they will always come through, backup and restore your settings and enable security to protect your settings.

2. Call blocker – Privacy Box

Call Blocker is a more of an on-device privacy measure than restricting who is calling you or messaging you. When starting Privacy Box for the fist time, they suggest you set a pattern lock for security. What you can do then is add the contacts you’d like to lock down to the Privacy Box app. Any calls or SMS messages to or from this person will not show up in the logs on your phone.

I am sure there are other reasons for an application like Privacy Box other than to hide communications from your spouse, but that is one of the uses they list. I would think using it to keep business communications a bit more protected is a better reason.

3. Ultimate Call Blocker Free

Ultimate Call Blocker really is the most feature filled option. What is cool is, there are multiple options from what happens when a person calls you; one is to pick up the call and hang up right away. You can get pretty specific on who you allow and who you deny. There is an option to set an auto-reply message for calls and messages when they are being blocked too.

Conclusion

I think the phone part of your phone is one of the most overlooked parts of any smart phone when it comes to apps and adding features. Adding a call blocker or way to keep your communications private is something everyone should really consider. Do you want someone picking up the phone and calling your mom? I know I don’t.

What are your thoughts on the privacy of your phone and what precautions do you take to protect it?

Image credit: spierzchala

When you are in a meeting or at a lunch with a client, you don’t really want to be focused on what your phone is doing. You should focus on what you need rather than wasting time playing on Facebook.

Here are a few Android applications to help you manage your distractions and be more productive.

1. Txt Msg Away Message Lite

One of the biggest distractions for many people is the amount of SMS messages they receive. Having an application that will notify someone that you are in the middle of something without you actually needing to pick up the phone and reply to them can save you a lot of time.

You can set up several different messages. I have one for driving, when i am at soccer practice and another that I am working and will get back to them on my next break.

2. Handy Profiles

Not all phones have profiles. This is something I really loved when I had a Blackberry. If you aren’t sure what a profile is, they are different settings for your notifications and other settings. What Handy Profiles does is let you set up different ringer modes, volumes, syncing options, wireless connections, forward and even filter calls.

One feature that is super cool is the option to have Handy Profile search your calendar for certain words. When it sees the word “work” or “meeting”, you can have it automatically change to a different profile for the duration of that calendar appointment. As you can see, you have a ton of options to configure what will work best for you when you need to concentrate on the task at hand.

3. Business Calendar

While the Google Calendar on most Android devices is adequate, there is always something out there that is a little better. Business calendar gives you more of the look you have on your web-based Google Calendar. You can see all of your appointments instead of a colored line slotting off the time.

To jump from month view to week view, just swipe your finger across the week you want to see. If you need to see more day, there is a slider across the bottom where you can add or subtract the amount of days showing up to 14 days and as little as one.

4. Taskos To Do List | Task List

A productivity article would not be any good without a to-do list app, right? Here is that app. What is nice about Taskos is how it uses more of the phone than other task management apps. What I mean is, to finish a task, you swipe your finger across the task. To clear all the completed tasks, you can shake the phone.

Aside from those two features, you can quickly add a task just by tapping on the microphone at the top. If you want to add more details, you can do that as well. The reason easy voice access is important, is that you are less likely to forget to add a task if you add the task right away after a phone call.

Are there Android applications you find increase your productivity or decrease distractions?

Image credit: underminingme

I wasn’t even looking for such an app, but now having it, I can’t imagine being without it. Voxer doesn’t just work on iOS devices; it also works on Androids, meaning you aren’t as limited. My son started using it on his Android phone, and with him leaving to go back to college, we started using Voxer as a way to keep in touch. I like it much better than texting him from my iPhone.

On startup of the Voxer app, you can either create an account, or have it connect through Facebook. Initially I created an account, then decided I wanted to connect through Facebook. While that feature is there to allow you more messaging opportunities with Facbook friends, I like it because it connected me to my profile on Facebook and picked up my profile picture. It even changed my profile picture within my Voxer conversation when I changed it on Facebook.

With the Voxer app, you can invite your friends to join, and can do so by combing through your contacts. If you connect it with Facebook, you can also invite your friends from Facebook. You can even invite a whole group to join one conversation. There is also an option to include your phone number, and although it says it won’t be published, I tried this option, and had an unknown person trying to chat with me. I deleted my phone number from my profile and no longer have unknown people trying to contact me.

Voxer compares the audio options of the app to a walkie talkie, and that’s exactly how it operates. Using the Hold and Talk button imitates the use of a walkie talkie. As I speak into it, the person or people on the other end of the conversation can hear me in real time. Yet, unlike a walkie talkie, if they aren’t there to receive the conversaton, my words aren’t lost. It stays there as a message for them, and when they return to their phone, they can hear what I said.

Yet, you’re not limited to just speaking. You can also text within the same conversation. It’s not always appropriate to be publicizing a conversation you’re having. I was in contact with my son through Voxer throughout the day while he was traveling back to college via train and car. He wasn’t always in a place where he would want others to hear what I was saying. Yet, when he called to check in and I was shopping, it was great to be able to shop and talk to him, instead of having to stop and text him.

Just like with texting, you can also send and receive photos. Again, you can mix and match between sending photos, speaking, and texting, all within the same conversation.

Voxer also tracks your location. This became invaluable to me with my son traveling to and within another state. Once his train arrived, his ride wasn’t there to greet him, and he couldn’t get ahold of the driver. He was in a city that was foreign to him, and through the location on the Voxer message, I was able to see where he was. He could do the same with his Android, but as a worried mom, I wanted that assurance. There were a few times on the train where I couldn’t see his location, but that was most likely when he was traveling outside of a GPS range.

Voxer keeps a running log of all your conversations. Once you message with that person again, it picks up where you left off, just like when you text normally. Even though my son is now safely returned to his college, I prefer to keep messaging him with Voxer. I was surprised to find that even though my iPad isn’t connected to a phone service, and isn’t on a 3G plan, that I can still message on that. I’m able to message both through my iPhone and my iPad through either 3G or WiFi.

There are only a few negatives using Voxer. One of those is that the texting doesn’t work in landscape mode on my iPhone. If I’m texting more than a few words, it’s a slight pain to have to type it all on the iPhone in portrait mode. The other negative is the most obvious. People who aren’t using an iOS or Android device won’t be able to converse with you. This means you’ll still have to use your standard messaging with them.

My Life Organized is a cool little Android application that lets you treat your life like a project. Think of MLO as a to-do list on steroids. Let me explain.

With a regular to-do list, there are the basic options: task, due date and maybe a sub-task.

This is great if you have things on your list like get milk, pick up dry cleaning and fill out permission slip for Jimmy’s field trip.

What if you are planning a party or you are remodeling the kitchen though? These will have multiple mini projects that need to be completed before the main16 project can be completed. Does this sound like your life? While there is a desktop application (both free and paid versions, I will just be talking about the Android app here) Here is how MLO can help. The paid desktop applications will let you sync with Outlook or the Windows app.

Starting out with My Life Organized

When you download and open the app, you will have a bunch of sample text to show you how to use the app. This can be easily erased or marked as completed.
16

There really isn’t an obvious menu to switch between the different modes oalign=”left”r sorting options. To switch modes, touch the left side of the top green bar.

This will pull up a list of options. You start in the Inbox, but some other options are:

• Outline
• Goals
• Active Actions
• Due next 7 days
• Start next 30 days
• Nearby

Using MyLifeOrganized

When you start adding goals, tasks and projects, you will see you can add in as much or as little information as you need. For example, when you are adding a task, you can add the usual info and add reminders, but if you look at the picture below, you will see more options. Urgency, which Goal the task is for and Context.

Goals

The goals feature is great. You can add a goal and select timeframe for the goal. If you read any kind of success or productivity book, short and long term goals are talked about a lot. This is a good way to set a goal then add in all of the tasks you need to complete to reach that goal.

Context

Context is a cool feature. It kind of goes with the Getting Things Done (GTD) style of managing your time. You can set a context of @OfficeComputer or @Home to a task. Then, when you are at your office computer, you can use the menu to sort by this context and see everything you need to do while you are at your desk. I thought this was a great way to stay focused.

Conclusion

What I like about this super to-do manager is that it works well if you are following the GTD time management method, but it also works for those of us who do not. The goals and context feature really set this organizational app far apart from the others I have tried.

Do you think this is overkill for a to-do list? If so, what apps do you use to manage your time?

The key to keeping track of where your money is being spent, is using the tool you choose regularly. Having a money managing tool on your mobile is a great way to get in the habit. Below is a list of some money managing apps for your Android device.

1. PageOnce

PageOnce is a really neat mobile money and bill tracking app. You can put in all of your creditors, investments and bank accounts. For most, you will need to give them login information to your web account. This is how they will monitor your current bills and account balances. There are reminders and options to pay your bills right from the app. How great is it when you are traveling and you remember you need to pay your credit card and can pay it right on the spot?

2. Mint

Mint is a really popular money management web app. It lets you keep track of all of your expenses, income and retirement funds. There is an option to have Mint check your bank account and automatically add the current statement data and categorize it for you. Having mobile access to this is great because you can input your purchase right on the spot so you don’t forget.

3. TaxCaster by TurboTax

It is a bit early in the US for a lot of people to be thinking taxes, but this handy little app from the folks at Turbo Tax will help you guesstimate what your refund will be. While there are a lot of variables to account for when you file, TaxCaster will ballpark your return or tell you how much you need to pay so you can make a plan early.

4. Expense Manager

Expense Manager is a simple application to track your monthly money flow with. You can set monthly reoccurring transactions. You simply add in a transaction like groceries or your morning coffee right then and there. If you cash a check instead of depositing it, you can add that as income. Think of this app as a digital checkbook registry.

5. Google Finance

For those of you who dabble in the stock market, you can download Finance by Google to help you track the daily ups and downs for the stock market. Finance for Android will sync with your Google Finance portfolio so you have current information about what matters to you.

6. EasyMoney (30 day trial)

EasyMoney is a mix of simple and features. There are basic money tracking features like adding in expenses and income, but you can also categorize the transaction. A bill payment reminder is a must have feature for anyone who has ever forgotten to pay a bill on time. You also have the option to set a budget, well several budgets actually. Some people need a different budget for different times of the year, so this would work well for them.

7. Money Lover

The neatest feature in Money Lover is the budget planning. If you have every tried to save for anything instead of just putting it on a credit card, you know how hard it can be. Setting a savings budget for buying a new laptop or taking a trip is a breeze… well, the tracking part is easy anyway. Many times when you see growth in your accounts you are more motivated to save, I know I am.

8. Easy Envelope Budget Aid: Sync

Using paper envelopes to separate your money is one of the oldest budgeting methods I can think of. Easy Envelope Budget Aid is a digital version of this. I found it pretty easy to use. You will need a free account and to create a few envelopes to get you started. You can always add more envelopes and change the budgets for each later on.

Conclusion

Whichever way you decide to manage your money, it is rarely time ill spent. Having a cushion so you are not living paycheck to paycheck helps you rest a little easier and chip away at one of life’s biggest stress creators.

Do you manage your finances on your mobile? What are your tips?

Image credit: image

Recently, I re-checked the XDA-Developers forum again and found that someone has created a super-easy way to create a dualboot system. I tried it and it works! Here’s what I did:.

Disclaimer: This tutorial will format your tablet hard disk and wipe out all your data. It could also brick your tablet. It would definitely void your warranty. MakeTechEasier will not be held responsible for any damage, data loss, fire or death of a loved one resulting from using this mod for your device.

Note:
1. This tutorial is based on Linux/Ubuntu. If you are running Windows, this tutorial is not for you.

2. This tutorial only works for Asus Transformer with SBKv1. If your device is running SBKv2. This tutorial is not for you. Here’s how to check if your device is running SBKv1 or SBKv2.

• Download sbkcheck.tar
• Extract the tar file. Open a terminal and cd to the sbkcheck folder
• Put your Asus Transformer to APX mode. To do that, first power off the device. Power on the device again. When you see the Asus EeePad splash screen, press the “Power + Vol up” buttons. When the screen goes black, and remain black, you are in APX mode. Once it is in APX mode, connect the device, via USB to your computer
• Back in the terminal, run the command:

sudo ./sbkcheck

It should return a message whether your device is running SBKv1 or SBKv2. As a general guide, if you bought your Asus Transformer after Aug 2011, most probably it is running SBKv2.

3. The Asus Transformer mentioned in this article is the 1st gen Asus Transformer, not the quad-core Transformer Prime.

Backing up your data

There are a few ways to backup your data. You can either:

1. download a file manager app from market. Use the file manager to transfer important files to the external SD card.

2. Sync your emails, contacts, calendar, files with Google and Dropbox. Even if your device is wiped, your data is still intact in the cloud.

2. For app backup, use Titanium Backup or Titanium Backup Pro if you wish to backup to Dropbox. You will need to root your device first (depending on your firmware, rooting your Asus Transformer is only a 1-click process).

Now that you have verify the SBK version and backed up your data, here the exact steps to create a dual-boot system:

1. Download OLiFE Prime.

2. Extract the file (DO NOT extract the files on a windows type filesystem such as NTFS or FAT or you will run into problems. Do it all inside your linux partition).

3. Open a terminal and cd to the OLiFE directory. Run

sh OLiFE.sh

You will see an agreement page. Read it carefully. Once done, type “understood” and press Enter.

4. In the next screen, press ’2′ to select the flash device option

5. Now, it will show you the different option to flash the device. Regardless what your intention is, choose ’1′ to dualboot.

6. Choose ’1′ to select the Android as the default OS. Ubuntu as the default doesn’t work.

7. Put your device in APX mode and connect it to the computer via USB. The script will now format your device, partition the hard drive and copy the ubuntu and Android img over. This will take a long time, so go grab yourself a coffee and relax.

8. Once it is done, your device will restart and boot into your Android OS.

Installing Ubuntu

Now that the Ubuntu.img is copied over to your device, it is time to install it.

1. Power off your device. Press “Power + Volume Down” button until the splash screen comes alive. At the top, you should see a message asking you to press the “Volume Up” button. Release the “Power + Volume Down” button and press “Volume Up” button. This will boot into the Ubuntu installer (this is also the way to boot into Ubuntu in the future).

2. Once you reach the Ubuntu main screen, proceed on to install Ubuntu (make sure your device is connected to the keyboard dock).

If you don’t have the keyboard dock, connect it to the computer via USB again. On your Linux computer, in the terminal, run the command:

sh OLiFE.sh

This time, press ’5′ to select the “Onscreen keyboard”. You should now see the onscreen keyboard appear on your Ubuntu screen.

3. Proceed with the Ubuntu installation. If everything goes well, you should have a dual OS tablet now.

Post install configuration

Everything works out of the box for Ubuntu on Asus Transformer, however, the Unity desktop is taking up a lot of resources, causing the system to run very slowly. What I did is to open the Ubuntu Software Center and install LXDE – a lightweight desktop manager. Once I switched to LXDE, everything runs smoothly and quickly.

Inject bluetooth firmware

The bluetooth firmware is not included in the Ubuntu installer due to licensing issue. Here’s how you can get bluetooth working on Ubuntu.

Connect the device to your computer again and run the OLiFE script. This time, press ’4′ to select “Inject Firmware”.

Press ’1′ to select the Default Install.

When prompted which firmware to inject, select either one will do.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Reference: XDA-Developers Wiki

Androidonweb.com is a free application to help you manage the activities you would normally do on your phone. Using Androidonweb, you can access your photo gallery, SMS messages, contacts and your phone’s location.

Setting up Androidonweb

The only download is from the Android Market. Once you have it installed on your phone, you can start the app. It will sign in using the main Gmail account associated with your phone.

On the web side of it, you will need to go to http://androidonweb.com and log in with that same Gmail account. It may take a minute for you to see anything, but it should show up with a screen like this when the Android phone is paired with the web app.

Using Androidonweb

Not much action is required on the phone after you grant access to the application. When you log in and the device is paired with the web app, all you really can do on the phone is turn on and off some notifications.

On the web is a different story; that’s where you are going to do pretty much everything. Like I mentioned earlier, you will need to login with your Google Account. When everything syncs up, you should see something like this.

As you can see, there are a 5 tabs across the top of the window. You start out on the contacts tab. You can edit your contacts right from here. You can also email them by clicking on the @ icon. Clicking the phone icon didn’t seem to connect the call to my phone. Maybe this feature will be added later.

The text message tab is probably the tab where you will spend most of your time. You can initiate a message to anyone in your contact list by clicking the compose button and starting to type their name in the green bar. If the person isn’t in your contacts, you can type in their number.

When you press send, the message will magically be sent from your phone. If you’d like to see what was sent from your phone, you can look in the Tasks tab on your phone.

The gallery works pretty much the same as the SMS tab. You can see your pictures when you take them.

Finding the location of your phone could be a great feature if your Android phone is lost or stolen. To see the location, you can click on the location tab and view its location on Google Maps.

Conclusion

While testing Androidonweb, it worked great. The location was really close, the contacts and gallery were accurate. One part of the text messaging made it a bit difficult to follow the SMS thread. The messages were separated into incoming and outgoing, not a back and forth like I am accustomed to. There are options to sort the messages, I couldn’t make it work as a back and forth conversation though.

What other applications do you use to manage your Android phone from the web?

Androidonweb (Market link)

1. Install the Tablet Remote app on both the tablet and phone.

2. On your tablet (or the device that you wish to control), run the tablet remote app and go to Setup.

Select the two settings: “Enable Tablet Remote in the settings” and “Change the input method for tablet remote”.

It will bring you to the Settings page. You will have to change the keyboard setting to “Tablet Remote”

3. Next, turn on your tablet bluetooth and pair it with your phone.

On your phone,

1. Turn on the bluetooth and pair it with the tablet. Run the Tablet Remote app and go to the Connection page.

Click on the tablet device to connect to it. Once you see the connected icon, you are ready to control your tablet from your phone.

This is what you will see at the remote control page.

There are a few things you can do with this remote. You can access the Home screen, Menu option, issue the Back command and perform a search. You can also Play, Pause, Fast Forward and Rewind the current video or music. At the two sides are the Volume and Brightness control.

If you put your phone in landscape mode, the remote control will turn into a gamepad where you can use it to play game on your tablet. However, this seems to work only for games that support key input with the gamepad.

The navigation (left, right, up, down and Enter button) is rather filmsy at the moment and it is always a hit or miss when trying to launch an app. However, if you are only using this to control the video playback, volume and brightness, it is a good app to use.

Tablet Remote (market link)

1. Regina 3D Launcher

Regina 3D Launcher is a great looking replacement for your home screen. You have access to a new set of widgets that match the layout of the launcher. You can also download different wallpapers and themes if you don’t like the default wood grained look.

There is a really cool feature with Regina 3D. It is called Secret Workspace. To access the Secret Workspace, you need to tap a code you create using the 4 corners of the screen. It is a whole different set of screens where you can load different icons onto the pages. In the Secret Workspace, settings, you are given the choice to hide applications. Yes, this means it hides them from the app drawer when you do not have the Secret Workspace open. Wrap your head around the possibilities.

2. Zeam Launcher

Zeam Launcher is a very minimalist launcher. After you have installed it and activated it, all you see is the background picture you had. There is are no apps or widgets on the screen other than in a task bar at the bottom. Even then, there are only 4 app icons and an app drawer icon. You get 3 home screens to do with as you please.

In the settings, there are a few settings like Action bindings. These are gestures like swiping up on the screen or double tapping a blank spot on the screen.

3. Launcher 7

Launcher 7 gives your Android the tiles and the app drawer the look of a Windows 7 Phone. Personally I like the tiled menu on the Windows 7 Phones. It is very functional and lets you make adjustments to the color of the tiles, background and aspects of the app drawer. You can add widgets as tiles too.

4. [SSKIN] Butterfly+ launcher

Probably the coolest feature of Butterfly+ launcher is the option to transfer the settings from your previous launcher. Granted, it may not keep everything, but in my opinion, adding all of the apps and widgets to your screens again has kept me from trying new launchers.

Butterfly+ comes with its own set of widgets. Aside from being able to change the wallpaper and add and remove home screens, there are not many adjustments.

5. MXHome Launcher

MXHome Launcher is a pretty simple launcher. You start with 5 screens but can change that number from 1 – 7. There is a screen all the way to the left that is a cool looking analog clock with the gears showing. There are spots on it to get to your mail, contacts or the Internet. There is also a battery gauge along with options to put your phone on vibrate and turn both your Wi-Fi and your Bluetooth on and off.

The app drawer is really neat if you are an app’o’haulic. You can sort the apps by date, alphabetical order or even by category. You get the applications in the categories, you can drag the app into the appropriate folder.

6. ICS Launcher

ICS launcher is the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich look-a-like launcher. It gives you the look and feel of Ice Cream Sandwich on your older OS. There are different widgets and the font is different. You will gain gestures so you can swipe up and open the app drawer if you set it to do that. You can add a banner too. This may not seem like anything special, but most launchers do not have this feature.

Conclusion

In the end, your Android home screen needs to be pleasing to the eye, but still needs to be functional. It make take some time to find the right launcher. I have personally tried several on my newest phone and haven’t found the right one to balance fun and functional.

What is your Android home screen launcher of choice?

Onavo’s features

You will get a couple key features when you install Onavo. You will have:

• A data tracker to keep tabs on how much data you are using overall during the month.
• A warning system to let you know which applications are consuming the most data while it is happening.
• The option to restrict certain applications to Wi-Fi only.

Tracking Android data usage

When you are on a data budget, you may need to keep a close eye on your usage. Onavo lets you input your data limit, start of your billing cycle and even a cost for your data. The pay-per-use feature is great for people who have the option of pay as you go data plans.

Be warned

When you are using your mobile data to listen to music or watch video while you are commuting may be your biggest known data hog, but what about the application you just download? It may not seem like it would need a lot of data, but the initial download of the game and needed files may take a bite out of your data allowance for the month.

Onavo will put a pig with an exclamation point by it in your notification bar to let you know when an app is using more than its fair share of data. When you see this pig, you can click on the notification to attend to the data hogging app.

Restrict applications

When you determine the applications that are using too much data for your liking, you can restrict them to Wi-Fi.

If the application is something you know uses a lot of data and you do not want to see the warning pig icon, you can turn the warning off for that application.

If you are super worried about going over your data, there is an option to block your data usage when you reach 99%

Advice

Once you use Onavo for a while, you will get some recommendations on whether of not your data plan is right for your needs or not.

Widgets

The Onavo widgets are probably the easiest way to see what applications are running and what is your top data consumption application for the month. Here is a picture of your 3 widget choices.

Conclusion

I like Onavo a bit better than similar apps because of the warnings and ability to restrict applications to Wi-Fi. It seems to be really on par with my usage. I tend to use a good amount of Wi-Fi during my normal month so I usually don’t even come close to my monthly data allowance.

Download Onavo for Android and monitor your data consumption.

What do you use to Android applications data usage?

Before that, one can use the SuperOneClick tool to root the device, but, as soon as this update arrive, all that magic is gone. The good thing is that it doesn’t take long for the community to find a way around it. The method below will show you how to root your Amazon Kindle Fire 6.2.1 version.

Note: You need to keep in mind that once you root your Kindle Fire, its warranty will be voided and there are even chances of getting your tablet bricked during the process – it happens rarely though.

I assume that you know all the advantages of having a rooted tablet, if not, a rooted one allows you to access a vast gallery of apps and games (especially the Android market) and enables you to install any app that requires access to the system files. Rooting also adds ability to modify the system files and even to replace them with other files. All these things posses the risk of getting phone damaged, so be careful while going through the processes as Make Tech Easier holds no responsibility if any damage happens to your device.

Pre-Requisites

• Kindle Fire Root App (Download)
• Superuser (Download)
• Android SDK (Download)

Steps to follow to Root Kindle Fire on version 6.2.1 (Windows)

• After obtaining all of the aforementioned files, install the Android SDK on your PC.
• Thereafter, install the Kindle Fire Root App on your tablet and then open it. It will prompt you with three options when you open it for the first time, choose the Root option from it.
• Now, extract the files from the Superuser ZIP archive to the ADB folder on your PC.
• Open the Command Prompt on your Windows using Win Key+R and then type the CMD in the dialog box that appears. CD to the ADB folder and then run the commands given below one by one.

adb root
adb remount
adb push su /system/xbin/su
adb shell chown 0.0/system/xbin/su
adb shell chmod 06755 /system/xbin/su
adb install com.noshufou.android.su-1.apk
adb reboot

After executing above commands, your Kindle Fire will now reboot. Once it is booted up, you will have access to the root. Enjoy!

Best of Games

1. Ant Smasher

Ant Smasher is a game that kids love. There are also a lot of videos on YouTube showing animals like Frogs and Dragons playing the game. The basis of the game is to squish all of the bugs that appear on the screen.

2. Angry birds

Angry birds is one of the most popular mobile games of all time. It has even transitioned into stuffed toys so you can throw them around the house.

3. Fruit Slice

Fruit Slice is a surprisingly addictive game. It is simple in theory, but can be pretty challenging too. You need to chop all of the fruit being thrown into the air while avoiding the evil looking bombs.

4. Defender

Your job is to defend the castle against the waves of attackers. You have a bow and arrow as your main weapon, but also have spells and other weapons you can buy and unlock.

5. NinJump

In this game, you start as a ninja running up a building. you need to jump over to the other building to avoid and kill your enemies. If you get hit or run into a balcony, you will fall to your demise.

Best of Productivity

6. Evernote

Evernote is a great note taking application. It allows access from pretty much anywhere with an internet connection. You can not only type in a note, but you can enter in audio notes, take pictures, make check lists and more. Evernote is like the Twitter of note management apps. There isn’t a right or a wrong way to use it, just your way.

7. Dropbox

Dropbox is pretty awesome. It lets you have 2GB of free storage with the option to add more. You can really use the storage however you choose. I keep everything I may need while away from my computer; files, a few songs, eBooks, etc. Being able to share files like a generic contract or resume while on the go is really handy.

8. GO Launcher EX

While Go Launcher Ex is the base application, there are a lot of other applications and widgets by the Go Launcher Dev Team. We have talked about Go Launcher Ex before. It is one of the smoothest operating, most versatile launchers out there; and it’s free too.

9. Google Goggles

Google Goggles offers a lot of handy features. Features like scraping the information off a business card and importing it into your contact list or even solves a Sudoku puzzles in the newspapers snapping a quick picture of the puzzle.

10. Battery Widget

While some may disagree with a Battery Widget being a productivity app, It sure makes it easier to get an exact amount of battery life versus that little battery meter in your notification bar.

Best of Photography

11. PhotoWonder

PhotoWonder is a pretty simple photo enhancing app. You can add some effects as you can with other apps. However, with PhotoWonder, you can enlarge eye, create collages and make it look like the picture you took was sketched.

12. PicSay – Photo Editor

PicSay lets you add annotations, text and effects to your pictures. There is also the option to change the saturation, tint and other editing tools to make the picture look great.

13. FxCamera

FxCamera strictly adds effects to pictures you take. The Fisheye and SymmetriCam can be fun for pictures you upload to your social accounts.

14. Adobe Photoshop Express

This version of Photoshop for Android is a very lite application. By that I mean it is not even close to the desktop application. It is however, a very cool mobile photo editing app. You can crop, add effects and edit the tint, saturation or even convert the picture to black and white.

Best of Music

15. Pandora

Pandora is a very easy to use streaming music application. The way it works is, you choose an artist or song and Pandora will play that artist and others who sound similar. So if you create a station to play Pink Floyd, you will also hear The Doors, Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull.

16. Shazam

Have you ever been listening to the radio and heard a song you like but don’t know who sings it? Fire up Shazam will listen to the song and tell you who sings it. You will also see places to buy the song and you can search YouTube for the video.

17. TuneIn Radio

TuneIn Radio streams live local radio stations as well as internet radio stations and podcasts from all over the world. Great for people who travel and want to hear local stations from back home or if you want to see what songs are popular halfway around the world.

18. Amazon MP3

You can play songs you have stored in your Amazon Cloud or the music stored on your device. You also can buy songs from the store. You have a set amount of space for your uploaded music, but can buy more. What ever music you buy does not go against this quota.

19. Slacker Radio

Slacker Radio is similar to Pandora. You can create your own stations, listen to a genre or listen to one of the preprogrammed stations.

Best of Social

20. Tango Voice & Video Calls

Tango lets you make free audio and video calls to other users. You can talk to anyone between Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and PCs. In one of the most recent updates, you now can leave video messages for someone.

21. myYearbook

myYearbook is an app to meet people near you. It is geared toward the teenage crowd. You can add pictures of yourself, buy items for your page or others with L$. You have the choice to see people near you or sift through everyone on the site when you are looking for new people.

22. Facebook for Android

The Facebook app for Android is becoming more like the website with every update. You can use Facebook chat, check in, send and receive messages, upload pictures and a lot more.

23. Google+

The Google+ application is getting better all the time. If you take a picture on your Android, you can have it instantly upload to your Google+ pictures (optional). Group messaging and being able to easily group people in circles are unique features for Google+.

24. TiKL – Touch To Talk

TiKL is a walkie-talkie app that works over the internet. Aside from having a device with TiKL installed and internet access, you do not need anything special to be able to chat with someone. You can chat with individuals or groups either by instant messenger or the push to talk feature.

25. TweetCaster for Twitter

TweetCaster is a Twitter app that offers a lot of features. You can narrow your Twitter searches with smart search, post to Twitter and Facebook at the same time, access multiple Twitter accounts and “Zip” (silence) people from your feed without unfollowing them to name a few features.

Conclusion

There are hundreds of thousands of applications in the Android Market. These few applications are not even the tip of the iceberg, they are a snowball on the tip of the iceberg. The best way I have seen to find applications is to search for something you need, download it and try it.

What are your most recommended Android applications for 2011?

The list here will give you a good intro into the possibilities in the business category in the Android Market.

1. UPS Mobile

The UPS mobile application will help you track your packages from the day they ship to the time they reach the doorstep. When you are expecting delivery, you can track the prothengress right from your Android. You can also see the estimated shipping costs.

2. USPS MOBILE

Many times the Good old US Postal service will be the best route to sent your package. That being said the USPS Mobile app is ideal for finding the nearest US Post Office, search for a zip code, track letters or packages, find the nearest drop boxes.

3. Private SMS & call

Sometimes you just don’t want to talk to someone. Be it a pesky vendor trying to get your business or a wrong number that keeps calling. If you use Private SMS and call, you can block those calls or text messages from coming to your phone.

4. Square

Many people, including myself, use Square to take payments while mobile. While Square limits the amount of money you can take and what they will deposit into your account each month, it is a great option for the low volume user. The reader is free and the per transaction fee is pretty cheap.

5. Intuit GoPayment

Quickbooks users will really like GoPayment because you can link it to your Quickbooks account. There are options for both low usage of $1250.00 a week and a package for a higher volume user. The per swipe rates are also lower for the higher volume package option.

6. GoToMeeting

Many businesses are seeing the value in attending webinars and other web conferences. Being able to attend but not be tethered to your computer while watching is ideal. You don’t need to wake up 2 hours early to attend a webinar that’s at 9 AM EST and you are in a different time zone.

7.Fill and Sign PDF Forms

More and more people are using PDFs with AcroFields (the sections of the PDF that you can input your information). If you deal with a lot of these forms, you may want to get this application for your Android. This way, you do not need to wait until you get back to the office just to add your signature to a contract.

8. Cisco WebEx Meetings

Some of the webinars are not Citrix based so you may need a different application to join into your webinar. That’s where Cisco WebEx Meetings comes in. It is the same type of application, just a different system.

9. CardSharing

One way to save some money is to go digital with your contact information. CardSharing lets you create a business card with all of your relevant information. The card is shared through email, text or a QR code displayed on your phone.

10. QuickBooks Mobile

Lots of businesses are moving all of their accounting to the cloud. Quickbooks online is the choice for many. Because of this, you can access things like invoices and sales receipts and your customer list on the go. Easily create a receipt on the spot for a cash transaction.

11. QR Droid

QR Droid is my QR reader of choice. The reason is, it is more than a reader. You can also create a QR code for different things and share right away. Some of the QR codes you can create are: a pre-formatted email to a specific person, URL, geo-location, SMS, contact and a business card.

12. Android Time Card Free

Tracking your time as a freelancer or consultant is very important. Using this time card application, you can punch in and out for each job or task you are billing the client for.

Conclusion

While you may not like to manage your whole business from your Android device, there are a lot of occasions where one or more of these applications will come in handy. Depending on your business, some of these applications may allow you more time away from the office and more time on the golf course.

What applications do you use to manage your business on the go?

intro image

Below are several Live Wallpapers for Android to get your Android phone into the holiday spirit. Some of them are Christmas specific, others are winterly or have counters for New Years day too.

1. Real Snow

Real snow gives you a evening background with falling white snow flakes. You have the choice of having text displayed with a countdown to New Years day. The settings let you change the speed and the number of flakes that fall.

Download Real Snow

2. Christmas Snow

Christmas Snow is one of the most configurable Live Wallpapers on the list. It offers about 20 different backgrounds and 3 different looks for your snowflakes. You can also select the speed and density for the falling flakes. The images are cartoony, but fit well with the holiday season. Not all of the images are geared toward Christmas specifically. There are other winterly scenes packed in there too.

Download Christmas Snow

3. Santa’s Sleigh

Santa will travel across your screen with his reindeer dropping presents in the snow below. You do not have many options to change the speed, number of gifts or sound in the free version. If you really like the free version, but want more features, you can opt for the paid Live Wallpaper.

Download Santa’s Sleigh

4. Snowfall Free

Snowfall free is great Live Wallpaper for a wooded winter snow scene on your Android. There are no adjustments in the free version so either you like it the way it is or you can pay the fee for the pro version. The paid version was one of Google’s 10 cent apps when they were running their sale to celebrate 10 billion downloads.

Download Snowfall Free

5. White Christmas

White Christmas is, by far, the most customizable of the Android Live Wallpapers listed here. What I mean is, you can change the background to one of your own images. This is something none of the other wallpapers on the list offer. You can also remove parts of the wallpaper you do not want like the little animated GIF. There is a countdown timer to Christmas too.

Download White Christmas

6. Christmas and New Years Countdown

The countdown to Christmas and New Years is just what you would think it would be. It is a widget that gives you a counter with the days, hours and seconds until Christmas day. Many people download this thinking it is a wallpaper so make sure you look for it in the widgets and not as a wallpaper.

Download Christmas and New Years Countdown

7. 3D Christmas Lights

3D Christmas Lights gives you a rotating cube with a Christmas tree in it. I like the red one personally. There are several adjustments you can make such as, the background and light color, rotate on touch, the light source and the angle. There is a pro version if you want to get more into customizing or want more tree options.

Download 3D Christmas Lights

Conclusion

The people who go all out on the holidays will really like being able to make their Android Live Wallpaper match all of the holiday decorations in their home and probably the pet they dress up for the family photo (poor dog).

For security sake, it is best to set a password so others can’t access your desktop easily.

That’s all you need to do for your Ubuntu.

Configuring remote access in Android tablet

There are several apps in the market that allow you to connect to a remote device, but the one that I found to be working best is Wyse PocketCloud RDP/VNC. It is free, fast and easily configurable.

In your Android tablet,

1. Download and install Wyse PocketCloud RDP/VNC (market link)

2. Run the app. Select the “Add Connection” link at the top right corner.

3. Select the Manual Connection, follow by “VNC”.

4. At the configuration window, choose “Windows” under the Operating System dropdown (it will work for Mac as well). Give the connection a nickname. The most important part is the Host address. This is where you enter the IP address of your Ubuntu machine. If your Android tablet is on the same WiFi network as your Ubuntu machine, all you have to do is to enter the local IP (192.168.x.x) of your Ubuntu machine. However, if both are not connected in the same network and your Ubuntu machine is using a dynamic IP, you may want to configure it with a dynamic DNS. Lastly, tap “Save”.

5. Back to the main screen, tap the big “Connect” button. If everything is set up properly, you should be connected to your remote machine in less than a minute.

Wyse PocketCloud even comes with a mouse icon that you can use to simulate left and right click of the mouse and also the keyboard so you can type on the screen.

To exit, simply press the Back button and it will prompt you if you want to exit the session.

Conclusion

As can be seen, it is very easy to connect remotely to your Ubuntu machine. There is no need to install additional software on your Ubuntu. In addition, even on a slow network, the remote connection on the Android tablet works well too.

What other apps do you use to connect remote to your desktop?

The Hardware

There is no question that the Galaxy Nexus possesses what can only be described as an amazing screen. It’s bright, vivid, and sharp as they come. However, for those of us who are highly aware of the pentile layout’s shortcomings, it is not perfect. If you have no idea what pentile is, the image below might help clear things up. Essentially, the pentile matrix is a different way of arranging the sub-pixel types and is easier to mass produce. Unfortunately, a downside is that it can create visual artifacts that are unpleasant. The resolution is so high on the Nexus that it is hard to see these artifacts, but they do nevertheless exist if you look close enough.

The speed of the Nexus is one of my main gripes. It sports a 1.2GHz TI OMAP processor along with a PowerVR SGX540 GPU. These are both sub-par when compared to the specs of the Samsung Galaxy S2. As a result one might expect a minor speed decrease. However, the higher resolution of the Nexus actually means that the GPU needs to drive more than twice as many pixels. Let me be clear – the Samsung Galaxy S2 is butter smooth. The Galaxy Nexus is NOT. It stutters and it lags, it takes too long to load contacts and web browsing can be slow if the page is large.

The camera is also not that great. The zero shutter lag is a nice touch, but it’s hard to take a sharp photo – you need to hold it perfectly still. The flash also produces unnatural colors – every person I’ve photographed in low light ended up looking a sickly alien green! Comparing this camera to the SGS2, there is no contest. The SGS2 produces beautiful images, sharp, colorful, and the flash does a good job. Keep the S2 if you have one!

The loudspeaker is too soft, but otherwise sounds good. Call quality has been just fine, and I feel like I’ve been experiencing less missed calls than with my S2.

Battery life has been decent – better than my SGS2, but not amazing. Basically, I need to have it plugged into the car charger when I drive around during the working week otherwise it might not make it to the end of the day. However, I make close to 2 hours of calls daily, use the navigation constantly, have it syncing to 5 email accounts and browse the web on it in the morning. All things considered, even when I don’t have access to a charger during the day it usually holds up pretty well.

The Software

The Ice Cream Sandwich update has been a long time coming. It brings together many of the new features Google developed for their tablet OS, Honeycomb, and unifies the OS under one banner. Ice Cream Sandwich is the best part of the Galaxy Nexus. It’s pretty, it works well, and it makes the whole experience feel far more polished. It’s the little things, like an old-school television CRT switch-off animation when you power off the phone. Or the full-screen high resolution image of a person when you make or receive a call from them.

From a functionality perspective, it sometimes seems a case of two steps forward, one step back. Certain useful features that should be there are not there. For example, something simple like a number auto-complete when you type a number into the keypad is missing (this could have been a vanilla Android thing, correct me if I’m wrong).

The browser has some cool features, like opening a new page in another tab in the background, and auto-syncing your bookmarks with Chrome. However, it suffers from the occasional incorrect formatting of pages and reloads pages far too often when you multi-task away to another program and then back again.

A few little bits under the hood:

- Multitasking is done well and shows you a preview of what’s running in tabs, which you can flick away to close for good.

- The battery app within settings gives you a good idea as to what’s causing battery drain. Unsurprisingly the bulk is eaten up by that enormous screen, followed by voice calls.

- There’s a cool data usage management app within settings that lets you set a warning limit and a hard limit on data usage for your mobile. A great feature for those of us who don’t have unlimited data.

Conclusion

If you have the Samsung Galaxy S2 and have been thinking about “upgrading”, don’t. If you have anything else, you could do worse than to consider an upgrade. However, my feeling is that the next wave of smartphones is only just around the corner. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an SGS3 or a newer, better HTC phone near the end of Q1 next year. If you can’t wait, however, this is definitely not a bad phone. It has its shortcomings, but it’s built well, looks good, and if you’re a little patient it should do you just fine!

Related article: How to root your Samsung Galaxy Nexus

1. Iris

We have covered Iris before and we think it is one of the most advanced alternative to Siri.

Iris commands are pretty effective and accurate. You can perform pretty much anything with voice-commands – call someone, text someone, search the web, manage and browse contacts, find local weather, and much much more.

Price: FREE

Iris

2. Vlingo Virtual Assistant

Vlingo is one of the best Android alternatives for iPhone Siri. Vlingo Virtual Assistant will complete any task you want by voice. For most people, who have used Vlingo Vlingo is considerably rated more powerful than Siri in terms of usability, capability and speed.

Vlingo can perform any action you want – voice dial, open apps, writer and send messages to contacts, search the web and even update Twitter/Facebook status. You can do pretty much anything you want.

Price: FREE

Vlingo Virtual Assistant

3. Edwin, Speech-to-Speech

Edwin presents a very simple and user-friendly interface for users to communicate with their phones. To use it, it first requires SpeechSynthesis Data and TTS Extended apps to be installed.

The Edwin assistant comes equipped with some great features which include giving you the ability to tweet messages, using text-to-speech technology, sending SMS, searching the web, data and time management, weather forecast, make calls and even launch apps right from the app.

Price: FREE

Edwin, Speech-to-Speech

4. Sonalight Text by Voice

As the name of app suggests, Sonalight Text by Voice allows you to go completely hands-free and control pretty much everything just by the audio of your voice.

You can have it read your incoming SMS and thus keep your eyes on the road or on whatever task is at hand. And you can even reply back by speaking to it, and dictating it the reply!

A must try if you want to replicate the Siri messaging feature capabilities on Android.

Price: FREE

Sonalight Text by Voice

5. Speaktoit Assistant

Speaktoit Assistant is pretty much a very capable alternative for Siri, for the Android device. Just like Siri it allows users to pretty much do everything with voice and lets them go all hands-free.

You will be able to do many things just through voice. You will be able to get maps, send email, launch apps, find information and news, look up weather reports, dial, text and email friend from contacts and even connect with various services like Twitter and Facebook.

Price: Free

Speaktoit Assistant

Conclusion

There are just five of the finest alternatives to Siri (on the iPhone) for the Android platform. A few more good ones include apps like: Voice Actions, Cyberon Voice Commander and TopVoiceControl.

Do you know about any other Android application which can serve as a good Siri alternative?

If you are one of the lucky few who have got your hands onto this device (it is only available in UK for now, but will be made available Worldwide from December onward) and you are looking to root the phone, we’ve got the guide for you.

Note:
1. The following steps will work only on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone. Do not try it on other phones.

2. Rooting your phone means voiding your warranty. While we have tried and tested the method (and make sure it works) before posting, we are not responsible if you bricked your phone during the process.

3. The method shown below is for Windows only.

Rooting your Galaxy Nexus

There are a few things that you will need to have in order to proceed further in rooting your device. Those are:

• Galaxy Nexus Root Package (Download)
• Android SDK and ADB Utility (Download)

All the required utilities are included in the above root package so you don’t need to download each file separately. Moving forward, the steps below should be followed.

1. First of all, you will need to have Android SDK and the ADB installed on your system. These can be obtained using the above download links. To make the process a little bit simple, install the SDK in C:\android-sdk-windows.

2. After installing the SDK, extract files from the Root package to the below directory.
C:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools

3. You will see four files after extraction, among them, one is the drivers file. You need to install the Samsung USB drivers in order to get your smartphone recognized by your computer. It is named as Samsung_USB_Driver_for_Moblie_Phones_v1_4_6_0.exe. Double click on it and install it.

4. Now, it’s time to play with your device. Turn off your phone and connect it to your PC via the USB cable.

5. Open the Command Prompt on your Windows. Type the following command to change your current working directory to the SDK directory.

cd C:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools

6. Turn on your phone in bootloader mode so the aforementioned task can be completed.  It can be done by holding the volume up and the volume down key and then pressing the power key. It lets you enter into the bootloader mode.

7. Get back to the Command Prompt again and type the following command to see whether your PC recognizes the phone or not.

..\tools\fastboot devices

8. If the PC has recognized your phone, it will show it on your screen. That was just to check the connection between your PC and your phone.

9. The below step will wipe all your phone data. So, if you have stored your important data on your phone, backup it now.

10. Now, we need to unlock the bootloader to soft-boot the unsecured boot image. Type the following command in the command prompt to do so.

..\tools\fastboot oem unlock

11. After the bootloader unlockes, we need to boot up the phone with the boot image, following command will do that.

 ...\tools\fastboot boot boot.img

12. The boot image has successfully been installed on your phone. Start up your phone as normal and enable USB debugging to finish the final step. USB Debugging can easily be enabled by going to “Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB debugging“, mark the box.

13. Here goes the final step that will install the super user access on your phone. Type the following commands in the CMD one by one. Be sure to type commands as they are given below.

adb root
adb remount
adb push su /system/bin
adb push Superuser.apk /system/app
adb shell chmod 06755 /system/bin/su
adb shell chmod 06755 /system/app/Superuser.apk
adb reboot

After finishing the above steps, your phone will reboot and then it will be a rooted phone. You will be prompted for the Super user permission when any app requests for it. If you are having any problems rooting your Galaxy Nexus, do let us know it!