Lenovo Announces The Vibe Shot And A7000 at MWC 2015

Lenovo has lately been in news for a mixed bag of reasons. That includes a much reprimanded Superfish debacle and a shock coming as reverberations to it with Lenovo website getting hacked. But ahead of all the turbulence, Lenovo has launched Lenovo A7000 and Lenovo Vibe Shot smartphones at the ongoing Mobile World Congress. With beautiful design and impressive features, these devices are set to grab attention in worldwide market.

Lenovo Vibe Shot is priced at $349 (about INR 21,500) and will be available by June. Lenovo A7000 variant would start at $169 (about INR 10,500) and will hit the markets by March. Lenovo Vibe Shot beats camera at heart. And the design too looks like one from the rear end. The buttons for camera control are placed at the right side of the device, giving a feel of point-and-click conventional camera. Rear camera is of 16MP type which is equipped with six piece modular lens. Rear camera is also coupled with a tri-colour LED flash. For getting a faster focus, the camera boasts a infrared focus feature. Camera unit has sensors to provide low-backlight illumination image rendering and optical image stabilization. There are options provided for pro and preset settings for the camera. The front camera unit is of 8MP. The secondary camera unit is of fixed focus type.

On the smartphone front, Vibe Shot holds a 5-inch full-HD (1080*1920 pixels) display. It holds a octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC which is coupled with 3GB of RAM space. Adreno 405 GPU will handle all the graphics related processes. Four of these cores run at 1.7GHz and the rest four at 1.0GHz. Inbuilt memory capacity is of 32GB and storage capacity can be expanded up to 128GB with the conventional microSD cards. Vibe Shot runs on Android Lollipop 5.0. Connectivity features comprise of the latest standards of WiFi and Bluetooth, LTE support will other basic necessities. This device is a dual-SIM type. It boasts battery unit of 2900mAh. With all these features, Vibe Shot is designed to target the high-end market and specially for the shutterbugs.

On the other hand, Lenovo A7000 is designed to impress the mid-range customers. It comes as a successor of A6000 and like the same this too is a dual-SIM device. This device holds a 5.5-inch 720p HD display unit. Under the hood, it holds a 64-bit MediaTek MT6752M processor which clocks as 1.5GHz. The SoC is coupled with 2GB RAM. Internal storage unit is of 8GB and the memory can be further extended to 32GB.

Primary camera unit for Lenovo A7000 is of 8MP and the secondary snapper is of 5MP. This would certainly cheer up the selfie lovers. Lenovo claims it to be the first smartphone having a Dolby Atmos surround sound feature, although it is said to have only one speaker outlet. Like Vibe Shot, A7000 too supports LTE and other connectivity features are listed as WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and micro-USB slot. Also A7000 is powered by a 2900mAh battery unit. It runs on Android Lollipop 5.0 with Vibe UI over the top.

Overall with A7000, Lenovo has made its move to increase its presence in the mid-range devices. And weighing all the features with the price tag, it can be predicted to be a hit. Along with all these Lenovo smartphones, they also launched another gadget at its MWC presentation. It is the Lenovo Pocket Projector. For this device, Lenovo claims it to be the first standalone projector which is compatible with and Miracast or DLNA-enabled smartphone be it Android, Windows or iOS operating system based. It can project up to 110-inches of screen and has dual speakers inbuilt. It claims to have 2.5 hours of battery life and supports 32GB of memory unit via microSD card.

Guest Post by Ronak Totla

Ronak is an Electronics and Telecommunication Engineer and has worked on Embedded Systems and Robotics. He likes to keep himself updated with the latest technology loves to travel in his free time.

Battery Saver Mode on Android Explained

The latest version of Android i.e v5.0 Lollipop is full of new features and bugs. While Google is fixing the buggy part we thought of explaining the features to the masses. Lollipop is full of tiny little updates all over with a few new features that really stand out. After covering the priority notifications feature a few days back we thought of explaining the power saver mode on Android Lollipop.

One of the major issue with Android phones is the mediocre battery life. While a lot of people complain about it, the only fix that really worked was buying a phone with a bigger battery. This solution didn’t work for everyone though, phones with bigger batteries were heavy, bulky and had uninspiring design. Some of them had average specifications, keeping people away from buying such phones. The ones that did really everything well — like the Samsung Note series — had a hefty price tag. One of the methods to save the battery on the Android Phone is to tweak the software on it. On Android Lollipop they have done it with the implementation of Project Volta, which will only show improvement once app developers start implementing it.. But something that works very well even now is the inbuilt Power Saver mode in Lollipop.

The main purpose of the Power Saver mode is to save the battery when it is really required. The mode is automated and can activate from 2 points — When the battery reaches 15% and when it reaches 5%. Users can choose the from these two based on their preference. Along with  the automated setting, the mode can also be activated manually at any given point of time by going to Settings>Battery> Clicking Icon on the Top Right corner and switching it on. This should be done when you are away from a charger for a really long time to save the battery from draining out.

How Does Power Saver Work?

You might be curious as to how a minor software tweak can help the battery last longer. The answer lies in the way the mode works, when it is activated it switches off one or more cores of the processor, switches off animations and reduces background data. While this does affect the overall performance of the device, it manages to save the battery in the process. The data connection is still active for you to use but apps cannot access the internet unless you are using it. This reduces the data transfer between the apps and the internet, reducing the load on the already starving processor.

Does it really work?

My first doubt was if it would work as promised, so I switched it on with around noon with 94% battery still left on my Nexus 5. The system notifies that the power saver mode is on and changes the colour of the Status Bar and the Lower System buttons to Orange. There was a noticeable lag in the performance of the device, it took longer to open apps and games. Networking apps like WhatsApp and Facebook stopped showing notifications; in fact they only refreshed when the app was launched.

The main reason for the power saver mode is to get you through your day when you cannot charge your phone, which it manages to do well. We have seen Sony use something similar to extend the battery life on their smart phones where it completely disconnects the data 15 minutes after the screen switches off. I switched it on my Nexus 5 with the battery at 94% and the phone was at 77% after 7 hours of use. Generally my phone would have dropped down to 30-40% but it seems Power Saver was doing the job rather well. With the mode being a part of Android Lollipop we can expect it on upcoming smartphones soon. But if you ask if it works when its required the most the answer is a big YES!

Android Auto: How Google can make it better?

The Google I/O last month led to the launch of a range of Android products. The preview of the next version of Android — Android L — was shown off. Also updates to the Google Chromecast were announced along with the introduction of Android TV. Then there’s Android Wear; spawning the next generation of smartwatches. We pretty much knew about most of these before the keynote, except for Android Auto.

Android Auto

It’s a fact that people now spend a considerable amount of time in their cars. The car population has been on a rise and can be expected to grow consistently. Android Auto has been introduced by Google to bring the Android experience to the car. What Android Auto does is provide a receiver that will display your Android phone on it. Just like the Chromecast made your TV smarter, Google plans to do the same to your car with Android Auto.

Car with Android Auto Dash

The software for Android Auto will run from the phone and will be displayed on the dashboard of the car. From what Google demoed at the I/O, it is certain that it’ll do navigation, play your music etc. But come to think of it most existing car infotainment systems already do that. The “Ok Google” functionality is new you’d say, well not really. Some car have voice input available but it might not be as good as Google is.

The point I’m trying to make here is that Android Auto is not doing anything extraordinary compared to what currently exists in the market. I was expecting more from Google, you simple can’t sell a dumb unit with a car that needs a phone to run the whole damn thing. A couple of questions come to mind when I think about this.

What if I don’t want to connect my phone to the head unit, will it be useless without it?

Will it play FM Radio or music from a flash drive if I want it to?

What if I have an Apple iPhone 5s? Do I need to change my buying decision just so that the system is compatible with my phone?

If you still manage to get the car you want with Android Auto, the experience still could’ve been better. Google has not made any information public about integrated on-board diagnostics, the OBD-II (On Board Diagnostics) port is become standard on all cars since 1996. Google could use it to make Android Auto better. Imagine the experience where the Android Auto console could show details about the car. Diagnose problem on the go and since its connected to your phone anyway maybe send it to the manufacturer. Maybe book an appointment for a maintenance check with a dealer. The possibilities are endless, these updates might come in later after a while who knows.

Android Auto Alliance

Google has a good concept in hand and the list of manufacturers in the Automotive Alliance is impressive. There are also aftermarket system providers who are part of the Alliance so you expect some Android Auto enabled head units finding their way in older cars.

Author Bio: Aditya Shenoy, Associate Editor at Pricebaba.com
A management graduate, passionate about gadgets and automobiles. Likes to be up to date about the latest things in the tech industry. An avid Android user who Lives to Drive. Follow me on twitter @adishenoy.

How to view Security Certificate of Websites on Android devices?

Website offer an additional layer of security, by implementing secure server protocols (https). HTTPS stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer. Implemented using OpenSSL, etc. This

How to view security certificate on Android devices?

1. Open any website having https URL's.
2. Tap on the Lock icon.
3. A pop up will show up, click on "View Certificate" option.
4. The Security Certificate will pop up.

View Security Certificate on desktop

To view these certificates on desktop. Follow the steps below in browser image. Certificates can be viewed from all major browsers.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Android L - Google I/O 2014 Keynote - Brief Introduction

Next version of Android OS is ready to be launched later this autumn, and will bring to users a lot of better features.

According to Google I/O 2014 - Keynote Android L will have more than 5000 API. Newer libraries for developers. One of the key feature in new UI (user interface) will be animation. New buttons and taps will provide active feedback. For example, ripple on touches/taps.

A single application design will update according to the screen size (watch, smartphone, tablet, etc.). Typography and grid is changed to make text look a lot more clean. A library named "Polymer" will take web experience to a whole new level, with animation running at 60fps.

Users can now access all notifications from the lock screen. The notifications will be prioritized to give users the most relevant and useful notifications.




For developers, the Preview version of Android L is available from June 26th. Full version will be available to users later this year in autumn.

Google's first priority has always been its users or consumers. So, Android L is made to evolve in accordance to human needs. When using any Android smartphones, the first thing a user wants is to get fast notification of everything. Smartphones have redefined online social life. Android L will take it to a step further with even better innovations.



On developers side, Android L will have a depth specification. This will allow developers to arrange elements, and elements will virtually cast shadows in real time.

A new library named, Pallets will automatically extract colors from images to display on the applications. Developers can now customize entry and exit animation.

Watch full details on Google I/O 2014 Keynote.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Remove bloatware from Android devices

First, note this only works on rooted device. You are required to root your device before trying the remove bloatware from your Android devices tutorial.

How to root any Android device in one click?

Bloatware are pre-installed applications that comes with your Android smartphone. Maximum of these applications are on trial or are never used. For example, live wallpapers, games on trial and Manufacturer's app store. Common when you have Google Play store why would you use any other app store. Though, it is true that sometimes, you may find useful apps on these Manufacturer's app store.

Remove bloatware from Android devices?

1. First root your device.
2. Download "NoBloat Free" from Google Play Store. Its free.

remove bloatware or crapware

There are 4 options-

1. Disable - Your application will still remain installed but will not work. As if hidden.
2. Backup - This option will create apk file on your SD card.
3. Backup and delete - Create apk file and then will uninstall and delete the application. I'll recommend this one.
4. Delete without backup - No apk file wil be created. But your application will be uninstalled and deleted.

WARNING - Some application may be required by other to work. So don't unnecessarily delete any application.  

Enjoy your free space.

In case of any problem comment below.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

How to root any Android device in one click?

Maximum Android devices run slow then they are supposed to. You can make them run faster. Moreover a lot of you phone storage is full with bloatware, those software that comes pre-installed in your Android phone you never used and you'll never use.

Remove bloatware from Android devices

For example, a bunch of pre-installed Carrier App Stores like "Samsung App" and pre-installed games that are on trial and you are allowed to play only certain times. Without rooting the device, you can disable the application.

Disadvantages of rooting Android device

1. Warranty void - Your rooted Android smartphone will be considered as out of warranty.
2. Bricking you phone - As after rooting you will be able to remove a number of applications from you device. So, it is possible that you'll remove some important app that is required by you phone to work properly. 

Advantages of rooting

You can free a lot of phone memory by removing bloatware from you device. You will also have greater amount of RAM.

How to root any Android device in one click?

There are software that can save you from the technical part. One click and you will be done with rooting your Android device. The best part another click and you can un-root it too. The two software packages are  Kingo Root and SuperOneClick.

Kingo ROOT

How to root any Android device in one click

1. Go to "Developer options" and check "USB debugging".
2. Connect your phone to your computer and launch Kingo ROOT application.
3. Wait for the application to connect to your Android device.
4. Click the Root button and wait till all the processing is done.

USB debugging option in Android 4.1.1

NOTE -  In case you will connect your device without turning on the USB debugging option. The application will automatically guide you through the process with the help of screen shots.

SuperOneClick

This application also follows similar steps. Enable USB debugging from developer options. Connect and hit the big ROOT button.



In case of any queries feel free to comment below. Enjoy

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Google Analytics Application for Android devices- Analytics at your fingertips

Google's Analytical tool's newer version is live at Google Play store. Though the newer version is available only for Android 4.0 and up, but the new application is loaded with a lot of features.

The new version is exactly a minor version of the Google Analytics, as it offers almost all the features that are required to do active analytical watch. 

Monitors available

1. Overview
2. Real Time Traffic Tracking - The new version of Google Analytics app also have Real Time analytics. Therefore, now you can track real time visits to your website/blog.
3. View audience based on language, location, new vs returning, browser, network, mobile overview, mobile devices.
4. Traffic Sources- all traffic, direct traffic, search overview, organic search, paid search, social.
5. Content- all pages, landing pages, exit pages, site speed, top events.
6. Conversions- overview and goal URLs.

Below is the image of the sources which provides details in visualized format (graph) with percentage as well as numeric data from various countries and territories. In the screen shot below the data collected is from 98 countries.

ALSO SEE: How to add new users to your Google Analytics?
Track your visitors flow with Analytics
E-mail your Google Analytics data directly from google analytics

Sources Overview: Google Analytics

Easy navigation for accessing and moving through the data and accounts very easily. Switching between different accounting profiles is now a work of seconds. Open the list using the drop down menu, in this case where it is written 'Sector Techno' (refer to image below).

You can also change Chart Granulariy, see your data in daily, weekly or monthly basis. With all of these features, Google Analytics app for Android is complete app to monitor your websites traffic on the go.

Choose Granularity

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

The Most Helpful Apps for Busy Executives

A smartphone is now an indispensable tool for busy executives. They almost feel like it is a part of their bodies. They are constantly on the go, and having access to the power of mobile computing that a smartphone offers is invaluable. The thing that really makes the smartphone so valuable for busy executives is the variety of apps that are available. Here is a look at the most helpful apps that busy executives can use to make their work more efficient.

Expensify 

This mobile app is available both for iPhones and Android phones. This is an incredibly helpful tool for executives who need a simple way to keep track of their expenses when they are on a road trip. Instead of having to save all their receipts and fill out an expense report at the end of their trips, busy executives can use Expensify to keep track off their expenses as they compile them. 

This app keeps up-to-date records of spending when users take pictures of their receipts as they receive them. It will also update records of credit card expenditures automatically. Executives who use Expensify will have their expense reports ready to be printed out as soon as they arrive home.

ALSO SEE: Stock market watch apps for Android

Documents to Go 3.0

This is another powerful business app that is available for both Android phones and iPhones. This is a great tool for executives who like to take a look at their documents without having to go through the hassle of pulling out their computers. This single app allows users to view nearly any form of document. With one app, executives can view PDF files, Word documents, Excel files, PowerPoint files and Google Docs. This makes it a very handy tool that executives on the road will make excellent use of. 

OmniFocus

One of the most difficult parts of being a busy executive is keeping track of everything that needs to be handled. This makes it imperative for successful executives to use task manager to keep them on point. OmniFocus is an iOS-only software, which means Android phone owners will need to look elsewhere. OmniFocus is one of the most amazing task managers on the market today. It can keep track of projects in a number of different ways, including by person, place project, and date. It notifies users about upcoming deadlines and important events. It is wonderful to have all the tasks organized in an app that users can take with them anywhere on their iPhones.

Pocket Cloud Remote Desktop Pro

This is a great tool for executives who spend a lot of time on the road. It is available both for iPhones and Android phones. Executives can use it to access their Mac or Windows desktops from anywhere in the world. It is a very simple program to use, and it makers things very convenient for users who do not want to carry a laptop with them everywhere. 

CamCard

One of the annoying little things that business executives have to deal with is keeping track of all the business cards they receive. This app eliminates that headache. When users receive a business card, they can simply scan it into their phones with their phone cameras. The photo will be added to the CamCard app, which organizes all the business cards into an easy-to-read format. 

Author's Bio: This has been a post from the tech savvy consultants at Naked Business Consulting, in Melbourne Australia. If you want to give your business an edge, talk to them.

Stock Market watch apps for Android

If you are busy in investing in stock market to have some profit. Then the first requirement is to have an active watch on the stock markets. Well, I have almost no idea about stock markets but I will let you know the perfect applications that you can use, if you are an Android user.

Finance

Google Finance App :: News Tab

Finance or Google Finance is an application by Google. it uses your Google account credentials to log-in n into the application. from where you can have real time quotes and portfolios. It synchronizes with Google Finance portfolios and lets a user have quick access to charts, comp news, and latest market.

Stocks

Not very different from Google Finance as this application too, synchronizes with Google Finance. You can view company news, have a watch on stock markets, etc. You get data from markets in US, Canada, UK, HK(15 minutes delay), Japan etc.

But as of user preference, this application is much more popular and preferred among the users. So, if you are going to install Google Finance or you are currently using Google Finance, then you must give it a try,

Stock Watcher

Another market watching application but this is does not rely on data by Google Finance, rather the data displayed is taken from Yahoo Yahoo Server in US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India, Canada Mexico, Brasil and Argentina.

You get financial news (RSS), access to portfolios, twitter news search, run application is full-screen mode, have a look on technical indicators like ROI, RSI, MFI, etc.

NOTE- These app may produce delay, due to a number of reasons like slow net speed and bad connectivity, etc. at the extremes, so blindly relying on the data feed via these applications is not advisory. For, important decisions use the regular methods of market watch. These application are meant for having data on the go.

Google launched Books for Android

Google officially launched Google Books for Android. Till now we needed to rely on Kindle Application for android.But no more. The real fun lies in reading on Kindle devices rather than installing application on your desktop and devices. With Kindle you needed to manage your Amazon account.

Application can be installed from Google Play Store. You will be asked to install it whenever you will try to access 'Books' from Google Play Store. The screen shot below is the screen that you will get when accessing Books when the application is not installed.

Look and feel

Turning pages with Google Book is real fun with the 3D animation offered. This 3D animation of pages is optional and you can turn it off or on via Settings option of the application. You can read books (free and paid both are available), bookmark, create notes. 

Google Play Books also renders graphics, so reading is a bit more fun and illustrative. It will push your fantasy into reality.

Bookmarks and Notes

Creating Notes is simple, and you get a number of colors to choose from, while creating notes. These colors highlight your notes as in the screen-shot above. To create note, just select the text by tapping and holding the text, and then use the markers to select the exact text. 

Furthermore, all the created notes and bookmarks are accessible with content frame.

Chapters

Chapter section contains your book's index. You can skip or jump to anywhere or to any chapter. Maximum readers don't go thought the introductory part. A great option for them. Undoubtedly, useful section of all the books.

Synchronization

The application actively synchronizes your app with your Google account so no need to turn pages while trying to read on some other device. Reading options lets you easily customize your reading experience. You can change your font size and line spacing.

Unlike Kindle, which required an application to be installed on your Desktop, Google Books offers direct access to your books via a web browser.

Desktop Access

Goto Google Play Store. And click My Books. The entire list of your purchased books will open open. Select the book you want to read. It will open in your browser. And as you know about the sync function, you don't requires to shuffle between the page to reach where you left.

Hands-on with Sprint's Flash Android Smartphone

Sprint has named its new gadget as ‘Flash’ and has quietly slipped into the category of budget smart-phones. ZTE and Sprint released the gadget with less paparazzi by simply selling it in online stores. They also released a spec sheet for customers who are much interested in learning about this new budget phone. This hidden gem has been noted for its 12.6MP camera. Take a look at a detailed description of this phone.

Specifications

• It weighs about 5.2 ounces with a height of about 5.27 inches
• The HD display screen looks fair enough with 4.5 inches built-in with IPS technology
• It comes with a 1780mAh Lithium battery that is capable of withstanding 8 hours of talk time in a single charge
• Flash sports a 8GB ROM and 1GB RAM
• Memory can be expanded up to 32GB using the microSD card slot

Hardware

• Comes with a 1.5Ghz Qualcomm dual core processor
• Supports 4G and 3G LTE hotspot connectivity and can be used up to 8 devices that enable Wi-Fi at the same time
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
• The highlight of the gadget is the rear camera with 12.6MP. It comes with LED flash and autofocus
• Flash also comes with a front camera of 1MP with 720p sufficient for playback, uploading and recording
• Stereo headset jack

Software

• Comes with the popular Android Ice Cream Sandwich Operating System
• Availability of Google Talk™ using which business and personal emails, messages can be done with ease
• Comes built-in with the Google Mobile™ services like Gmail, Google Search, YouTube, Voice Search, Google Calendar and Google Maps
• NFC (Near Field Communication)technology
• Have access to the Play Store with almost 600,000 apps. It consists of songs, books and movies to match the needs of different people
• The all new Sprint ID provides you with unlimited apps, ringtones and widgets to personalize your phone

Multimedia

• MusicPlus and Sprint Radio to entertain the music lover within you
• Sports lovers can get first hand information of your favorite sport with NASCAR, TV and Live Sprint Football

The Beam

The all new feature is the ‘Beam.’ With this feature you can share data with other phones much faster than before. Using the ‘Beam’ you can share contacts, webpages, maps and YouTube videos by merely touching the two phones together. Is your friend new to your town? He might find great difficulty in finding out directions in a map. You can go to his immediate help by sharing directions using the Google Maps.

Verdict

The ‘Flash’ is popular for its 12.6MP camera, but sadly delivers a sub-par performance. The Sprint’s Flash Android Smartphone is a decent one, but can never be compared with some of the high end phones like LG Optimus G, Samsung Galaxy S3 and others. These Android based phones deliver better performance in terms of features, battery life and outward appearance. Whereas, when this phone is weighed against some of the other budget phones in the market, ‘Flash’ holds a special place for itself.

Author's Bio: This is a guest post is brought to you by Samantha Kirk, a writer for AT&T U Verse. Samantha provides up to date content and information for AT&T.

Charging pauses in Android Devices

Android Operating System has a great functionality that pauses charging  if temperature of the battery is too high or too low. Well, it is a known fact that high temperature is an enemy of every type of battery.

Android devices uses Li-ion batteries, and the charging temperature of these batteries is 0°C to 45°C, whereas  tolerance span while discharging is pretty wide ranging from -20°C to 60°C. This higher lets your phone work even at very low and high temperatures.

At higher temperature there is an increased charging/discharging but batteries suffers shorter life.

Li-ion batteries are unable to accept charge under freezing point. This doesn't mean only the outside temperature but the temperature of the battery which may be higher due to constant usage or by the heat of your palm. Indoor temperature may vary too.

WARNING: If you encounter such cases don't try to heat your battery by flame, these batteries will catch fire, in worst cases burst too.

Sticky Notes application for Android

In Android devices the usual way to create a note is by using memo application that comes pre-installed. But you cannot put it on your home screen, just like sticky notes in Windows 7.

Well, all Android users can have the same functionality through an app available on Google Play and that too for free. One of the best feature of this app is the intelligent blurring of the background when you open your note.

Sticky Note

After installing this application from Google Play, go to your home screen and tap and hold to open up Add to Home screen menu. Select Widget from there and in the list of available widgets search for Sticky Note widget. There are two widget, 1*1 and 2*2, select anyone they are just the size of widget select smaller one if your note title is small about three words or about 19 characters otherwise bigger one (2*2).

Now enter title and description in your note and select a color your note will get created. You can also add your note to calender by selecting the date and time. The default calender application is used to create event, that is what happens when you add your note to calender.

How to edit a note already created?

If you have created a note and it is now on your screen. To edit it, just tap to open that note and then long tap the opened note to access menu that will allow you to edit, SMS and Email that note.

How to delete Note?

Deleting is just like removing any gadget from your home screen, i.e., long tap that note wait for your device to vibrate and then drag it down to remove bar at the bottom.

Best Android Apps to Compare Prices

  by  bump 

The burgeoning influence and use of the World Wide Web has opened many an avenue for business. Shopping has become one of the most important affected areas what with almost all enterprises setting up online stores to market their offerings. You, as a consumer, have never had it so good given numerous buying options on hand. Now how about making your shopping more cost effective? Enter Android apps that compare products prices and help you make the optimal choice.

Presented below are some of the best price-comparing Android apps:

Consumer Reports Mobile Shopper 2012

This is essentially a barcode scanning program with exceedingly comprehensive features. This app displays detailed information gleaned from the popular "Consumer Reports" buying guide, which encompasses several well-known brands and companies. The information, which is portrayed in a very neat and expeditious manner, covers the following aspects: 

• Product prices 
• Product rankings 
• Critic and user reviews 
• Exhaustive purchasing counsel 
• Manufacturer reputation summary

You have to pay a small price for availing yourself of this service: USD 4.99. Consumer Reports Mobile Shopper 2012 may be derived from https://market.android.com/details?id=org.ConsumerReports.MobileShopper2012.

Amazon Price Check 

This is a hugely popular price-comparing application not least because it is free to use and download. Amazon Price Check is easy to operate:

1. Simply enter a product of your choice in the inbuilt search engine or have its barcode scanned to add it to the app's database. For products like DVDs, music compact discs, books, and video games, taking their cover photographs will also achieve this function.
2. The app then returns the prices of the same product charged by all vendors registered with Amazon.

Through this app you can easily get the best value for money thanks to the gargantuan amount of vendors affiliated to Amazon. Amazon Price Check has many other aces up its sleeve. The app gives you buyer reviews as also Amazon's personal suggestions, permits you to buy products, allows you to mark products as favorites, and regularly features special daily offers and schemes.The app can be freely derived from https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000715211

Smoopa 

Smoopa is an ingenious application that renders a product's selling price as levied by a large assortment of reputable online merchants like Amazon, Best Buy, TigerDirect, WalMart, and Buy.com. The ingenuity lies in the interface cleverly giving color coded purchasing advice – yellow denoting more scope for price comparison of the base product; green indicating that the base product is indeed available for the lowest price.

In keeping with the innovativeness, this app also notifies you about any price drops of your specified product – all by a simple user setting. In addition, Smoopa also features a novel rewards scheme with attractive benefits. The app may be freely acquired from https://market.android.com/details?id=com.smoopa.client.android

Barcode Scanner

This app facilitates the speedy scanning of universal product codes as well as quick response (QR) ciphers. Once added to the database, the app employs Google-enabled services to locate price information across various vendors as also numerous product reviews. Barcode Scanner also allows you to process data matrix and QR ciphers that comprise uniform resource locators (URLs) and address book data. Moreover, you can also utilize the user-defined QR codes to exchange information pertaining to friends, bookmarks, events, applications, and more.

The app may be freely downloaded from https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.zxing.client.android&hl=en%20target=

ShopSavvy

This is another admired barcode scanning app that harnesses the power of social networks to generate price information and assist price comparison. ShopSavvy also supports keyword search, incorporates a special discount section, helps users purchase products, and issues availability as well as stock alerts. The app can be freely attained from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.biggu.shopsavvy&hl=en

Author's Bio: This is a guest post by Samantha Kirk of mytechhelp.com, a site that offers savings and current information on Remote Tech Support.

Hidden image in every Android device

Ever spotted this image. It is there in your Android device and is not easy to reach. One of my friend always has his Android device in his hand. I took it from him and opened up this image and challenged him. He was not at all able to find it.

I was going through some menu when I unknowingly spotted this image. I was inside setting menu and I was bored so I started tapping screen very fast and suddenly this image opened up. So here are the steps to open this image.

1. Open menu, then goto Settings.
2. Goto About Phone. In this menu you will find Android Version.
3. Triple tap Android Version, it will open the hidden image.

I believe that different version of Android will display different images. I tried this on a number of Android devices but all were running on Android 2.3.6 and thus I got same image. If you have another version of Android OS, then you will encounter a different image.Jelly Bean or Android 4.1 will show you an image of jelly bean. And so on...

The above image is by Jack Larson.

Extend Android battery life

Android based smartphone and tablets has captured the market very efficiently. Today, almost every 10th person is using Android devices. Almost every Android based devices are capable of running a number of applications and can transfer data at high rates. Along with a number of features comes one problem, low battery life.

How to Extend Android battery life?

Some measures can be taken to have a better running Android batteries.

• Turn off all unnecessarily running hardware like Bluetooth, WiFi and Gps.
• Turn off all unwanted applications running in the background. 

When you press Home button instead of tapping back button the applications keep on running in the background. Some people think that application wont use extra charge. It is true apps don't consume battery but the hardware that is being used. When there is an app running it uses both RAM as well as processor, consuming battery even when idle.

How to know what applications are running in the background?

Well, just go to Task Manager, it will show all apps running in the background. Also, it will show the amount of RAM and percent of processor that it is using.

How to terminate them?

There is an end button in Task Manager.

How to save battery overnight?

When you are off to bed and ready to sleep. Turn off your phone's internet connection. To do so, go to Settings> Wireless and networks> Mobile networks and uncheck Use Packet data. Now, there will be no data transfer until you turn it on.

Facebook app- Chat upgrade

Facebook's latest app version for Android got an excellent chat upgrade. Unlike the last version, where you have to navigate to chat using the menu, the new version has a docked chat tab.

Android application undergo a number of upgrades. These upgrades range from minor to major bug fixes, better functionality, interface changes. If you have used android then you do know that having a phone with all applications up to date is a hard task. Even I ignore a number of upgrades.

But this app upgrade is worth updating. The list of contact shown can be edited as per your like using the 'edit' button. You can use edit button to pin the friends you chat to most. After pining them to your list of favorites, you can rearrange them very easily. All you need to do is tap, hold and swap just like you arrange your playlist in music player.

If you haven't upgraded to this newer version. It's perfect time to do.

The chat window interface also got an update. The team has added bubble chat interface which makes messages much more easily readable. You can also jump to the mini profile of the person on other side. Where you can get to know all the information that the user has made public. This jump is made using info button on the top right corner.

Ejecting memory card in Android Devices

Almost all mobile devices support SD cards. In windows and other OS there is an option to eject or safely remove external storage devices. In lower grade mobile devices there is no option to eject SD cards. But there is a procedure to do so and that is to shutdown your device and then remove or put in the SD card.

What is safely removal of external devices?

Well, it is all simple. Pulling out these external devices may cause damage to them because if it is being used by the system then the current is flowing through it and sudden removal means sudden change in flow of current. This won't happen every time you pull out the external devices without safely ejecting them. The ratio of damage is 1 in every 1000 attempt, now the thing is not that it is very rare but what if it happens and you lose your device as or maybe your important data.

How to safely remove SD Card in Android devices?

1. Open menu.
2. Goto Settings>SD card and phone storage.
3. Select Unmount SD card.
4. Unmounting will take some tome. After it is finished, Unmount option will change to Mount.

Android Users Beware!

As technology advances, criminals are also getting craftier. According to a McAfee research, hackers and other cyber criminals are now using mobile browsers to spread viruses and other malware. These criminals are implanting downloads in web pages that can be viewed on a mobile device.

The research found more than 4,500 new mobile malware during the second quarter of the year. Most of the malware discovered were designed for Symbian or Java ME. The Apple devices are still quite safe.

One malware that you should be on the lookout for is called ‘Android/NotCompatible.A’. This malware tricks a user into downloading a fake file. This fake file claims to be an Android system update.

It doesn’t stop there. Be careful with what you post on your Facebook accounts and other social media. These hackers tend to be systematical in their approach. First, they gather information about their target through the target’s social media sites. Facebook is at the top of the list as people in general reveal a lot of personal information there. These criminals don’t go for random victims. They are now more specific with whom they want to target.

If marketing people do targeted marketing, these hackers also do targeted hacking. For example, in Brazil, Belarus, Germany, Russia and India, the emails are flooded with drug spam. In France, there is an increase in emails about single women. While in America, email accounts receive fake email delivery errors.

These criminals study the lifestyle of a specific group. If you don’t have much technical knowledge, you can fall victim to one of their scams. Until antivirus companies develop a robust anti-malware program for mobile devices, you have to be vigilant.

What small businesses can do

If you are using tablets and smartphones in the office, make your employees aware of the dangers of downloading unknown files and apps. Downloads must be cleared by the IT team first. Make it known that violators will be seriously reprimanded depending on the damage done.

If there is an email asking for sensitive information regarding a client or project in the company, double check with the person who sent the email if he or she really sent the email. It’s better to put in the extra effort to avoid having confidential information stolen from you.

Limit Internet access and limit the number of people who have access to your mobile devices. Protect your devices with passwords and give the passwords only to people who are involved in a project. After you’re done with a project and you need to start with a new team, change the passwords.

Cybercriminals will always find a way to bring harm to people so everyone should take extra precaution when entering the World Wide Web. 

Author's Byline: Protect your company by installing secure office phone systems. Check out businesstelephonesystem.org for more information.