Tips & Tricks for Android OS

Some of you might have known already that I recently moved over from iPhone to HTC Rezound with Android IceCream Sandwich OS. I should say I am quite impressed with the super fast Verizon 4G LTE network and am happy with my device as well. There are times when I miss Apple and the ever-confusing iTunes interface (somehow I never figured it out!!!).

Once onto my new phone, I went about exploring the new features and widgets available and was amazed at how open the Android Market is as compared to the Apple OS. There are a lot more free apps which is of primary concern to most of us trying to get something at no cost!!! Apart from these, there are some cool things you could do to make your phone customized to your liking. So, I thought why not share them with you and in return we could exchange ideas to make our phones even smarter 🙂

1. Adding a Shortcut – I am usually re-using the same apps or calling the same people again and again and I was finding it rather lengthy with more than 3 to 4 clicks. Also when I added my wife to the Favorites, to get there it took me 3 clicks to place the call. When I discovered that you can easily add a shortcut right onto your home screen or any of the screens to almost any app or contct on your phone, I immediately started adding them.

All you have to do is “Long-Press” on an empty space on the screen where you want the shortcut and immediately you will be prompted with the “Personalize” menu where you can select “Shortcut” option. In the subsequent pop-up select what type of a shortcut you would like to have, maybe a Person or Mail or Messages.

2. Add a Shortcut to your favorite website – To add a shortcut on your home page to your favorite website, long-press the site in your Internet bookmarks and choose ‘Add  Shortcut to Home’ option.

3. Customize Ringtones, Alarms & Notifications – If you wish to use your own MP3 files for any of these options, just connect your phone to the USB port and select “Data” to make it available as a hard-disk on your computer. Create a folder called ‘ringtones‘ or ‘alarms‘ or ‘notifications‘ and copy your MP3 files into the respective folders. These music files will automatically show up on your list of options to choose from.

4. Additional Shortcuts – Once you become aware of adding shortcuts to your favorites onto your home screen, you will eventually run out of space to hold any more icons there. Try downloading the “Ultimate Faves Carousel” which will allow you to organize your shortcuts into separate “carousels” and thereby allows more favorites on your home screen.

5. Show Recently Used Apps – The “Long-Press” option on the home screen opens up the recently opened apps whereby you can re-visit the same with a single touch. This list will be available in memory until the phone is re-started.

Below are some of the Keyboard Shortcuts that will make your life easier when using an Android enabled Smart Phone.

Android Keyboard Shortcuts: Scrolling

• Spacebar: Page down in any Web page/document view

• Shift + Spacebar: Page up in any Web page/document view

Android Keyboard Shortcuts: Typing

• Alt + Spacebar: Insert a special character

• Shift + Del: Delete the character to the right of the cursor

• Alt + Del: Delete an entire line

• Shift + Shift (press it twice): Activate caps-lock; press shift once more to exit

• Alt + Trackball-Left: Move cursor to beginning of line

• Alt + Trackball-Right: Move cursor to end of line

• Alt + Trackball-Up: Move cursor to top of page

• Alt + Trackball-Down: Move cursor to bottom of page

• Shift + Trackball-Left/Right: Highlight text for cutting or copying

• Menu + X: Cut text (will cut all text on-screen unless specific characters are highlighted)

• Menu + C: Copy text to clipboard (will copy all text on-screen unless specific characters are highlighted)

• Menu + V: Paste text from clipboard

• Menu + A: Select all text in the current field

Android Keyboard Shortcuts: Browsing

• Menu + I: Zoom in

• Menu + O: Zoom out

• Menu + J: Go back a page

• Menu + K: Go forward a page

• Menu + R: Refresh current page

• Menu + F: Find on page

• Menu + B: Open bookmarks

• Menu + S: Open social network sharing menu

• Menu + H: View browsing history

• Menu + S: Open browser settings

Android Keyboard Shortcuts: Gmail

• F: Forward current message (works only while inside the message)

• R: Reply to current message (works only while inside the message)

• A: Reply-all to current message (works only while inside the message)

• Y: Archive message (works from within message or while on main inbox list)

• Menu + U: Refresh inbox

• Menu + C: Compose new e-mail

• Enter: Open an e-mail (from the main inbox list)

• Alt + Trackball-Up: Jump to top of inbox

• Alt + Trackball-Down: Jump to bottom of inbox

Android Keyboard Shortcuts: Apps

• Search + B: Open browser

• Search + C: Open contacts

• Search + E: Open e-mail

• Search + G: Open Gmail

• Search + I: Open calendar

• Search + M: Open maps

• Search + P: Open music

• Search + S: Open text messaging

• Search + Y: Open YouTube

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us

Save