Sunday, March 25, 2018

ANDROID SPECIAL ....Advanced Android Hacks


Advanced Android Hacks

Android’s open nature makes it easier to customise as well as enhance with the right apps and tweaks. In addition, some advanced features are hidden away from basic users to avoid confusion. Karan Bajaj lists down some handy features you should be using

Add Face Unlock to any Android Smartphone
After Apple launched FaceID on the iPhone X, face unlock has become a hot feature for Android smartphones. A number of brands now offer it on their smartphones or have added it via software updates. However, the majority don’t have it. If this is something you like, you can get face unlock on any Android phone running Android 7.0 or later. Head to the Play Store and install the free AutoInput app. Open the app and you will see two options — ‘Purchase Full Version’ or ‘Use for Free’. If you select free, you will have to watch a 1-minute ad per day to keep using the app. If you prefer to purchase the app, you will need to install another app called AutoApps and purchase it from there for 110 (one time). Then go back to AutoInput, tap and enable ‘Auto Dismiss Keyguard’. Your phone may prompt you to enable accessibility for AutoInput which you can do from the accessibility settings. Once enabled, open phone settings, go to ‘Security’ and tap on ‘Smart Lock’ — you will see a ‘Trusted Face’ feature. Set it up via the step-by-step on screen instructions. After this, each time you power on the phone, it will scan you face and unlock the device. We recommend doing the face scan setup under different lighting conditions to improve face detection. Note that this method is not as secure as fingerprint or PIN/password locks.

Stream Photos & Videos to Multiple People
Imagine a scenario where you are at a gathering and you have captured hundreds of photos and videos. Everyone wants to view these photos/ videos but you can’t really start sharing these one by one. A easy solution is to use the free VuLiv Player app. VuLiv has a handy feature called VuShare using which you can use your device as host server to simultaneously cast videos and photos to other users in the vicinity (without anyone needing to use a 3G/4G data connection). To become a host, tap on the VuShare icon in the app and select Share — app will ask you to select the videos, photos and songs that you will like to share with others. As the host, you have control over playback and content. Users who want to connect and view need to download and install VuLiv, tap on VuShare and select Join (your host name will appear in their search box). Once connected, users can view all the photos/videos you selected from your device’s gallery. Note that they will only be able to stream unless you give specific permission to download.

Easily Recover Deleted Items
On a computer, when you delete a file, it goes to the recycle bin/trash. The advantage is that you can recover files you may have accidently deleted before they are gone forever. Unfortunately, this handy function is not available on smartphones. If you’ve ever deleted something and regretted it later, you can enable recycle bin functionality on your Android device with a free app called Dumpster. Once you install it, you will need to give it permission to access your phone storage. You can choose what items have to be moved to Dumpster before it gets permanently deleted (this includes photos, videos audio, documents and apps). That’s about it. Now if you delete something from your phone, it will go to Dumpster instead of being permanently removed. You can recover it in case you need to. One caveat is that Dumpster only works with the default phone apps and file manager. Note that even in Dumpster, the file does take up storage space on your phone. You can permanently delete files from Dumpster one by one or all at once. You can also set it to auto delete everything each week/month/3 months.

Android Nougat Easter Egg
You can have a virtual cat on your phone if its on Android 7 Nougat. Open phone settings and go to ‘About’. Tap multiple times on the ‘Android Version’ tab — this will bring up the Android Nougat logo on screen. Tap the logo quickly a few times and then press and hold — you’ll briefly see a cat icon on the bottom of the screen. This signifies that the cat mode is on. Head back to the home screen and pull down the quick settings panel, tap on edit (pencil icon), scroll down and add the Empty Dish icon to quick settings. A pop-up prompt will show you food items you can add to the empty dish — add a food item and wait for your virtual cat to arrive. You’ll get a notification each time a cat arrives — you can name your cats, feed them and even show off your cat collection to friends by sharing their pics over chat or email.

Access Advanced Settings via System UI Tuner
System UI Tuner is an advanced hidden settings in smartphones running Android 7.0 or above. To enable it, pull down the notification panel and press and hold the Settings gear icon on the top right corner for about 10 seconds. You should get a prompt saying ‘System UI Tuner Enabled’. Head to Settings and you will see a new section for System UI Tuner. Here, you can get advanced access for various features depending on the phone. Some phones will give you access to Status Bar and Do Not Disturb settings while others might give you advanced notification controls. Start playing with these settings to gain more control over your smartphone

ET19MAR18

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