Top 11 Android Hacks and their applications

Top 11 Android Hacks and their applications March 1, 2013 By Martin D 3 Comments Android is now the most used mobile operating system in the world, with many commentators putting its market share at around 70%. With such growing presence, there are too many applications if we are able to hack Android and customize as we wish. Not to worry, crazy Android developers have already done this for us. People have successfully rooted Android and there are number of wild hacks with countless applications. Some are fun and some are very useful too. 1. Get Android updates before your handset manufacturer releases it For most people using Android phones, they usually have to wait for Google to release updates for Android, and this may sometimes take months. However, the problem is that when the new updates are released, handset manufacturers have to readjust them in order to run on their handsets, and also add new software, before releasing the updates to their customers. However, the good news is that you do not have to wait this long for the latest updates. Since there are a great number of people working on releasing their own stable updates, you can root your Android phone so that you are able to release such updates as soon as the developer has released them. 2. Scale up your media center One of the major reasons why people usually buy smartphones is so that they are able to play their favorite music and videos. However, this usually comes with some limitations, mainly with regard to storage space. For many people, most of their music and video files are usually stored in their PCs, while just a select number of files are stored in their smartphones. This thus means that they cannot access their music files, and they have to keep deleting some of the files in order to make room for new files. This is a great inconvenience; the good news is that someone saw this and decided to come up with a simple hack that enables one to stream their music from their PC to their smartphones by using Wi-Fi. There is an app called Gmote that makes accessing this future a breeze. Gmote 3. Change the appearance of Android user interface One of the most common tasks that people usually perform on their mobile phones is changing the themes and wallpapers so that they can suit their fancy. If you have tried this before, then you will have realized that there are numerous limitations, thanks to the small number of wallpapers and themes that ship with your Android phone. The wallpapers and themes are also not that inspiring, since most of them are static. But you can change all this and bring your Android’s user interface into life. This is easily done through the use of tools, such as Beautiful Widgets, which will then give you access to tonnes of customized and animated wallpapers that you can use on your phone. 4. Play retro games on your Android phone If you are an avid gamer, then you most definitely usually pull out your old game console ad play a few classic games so as to remind yourself of how it used to feel playing such games. Android, being open source, has stirred some interesting thoughts from some top tinkerers who also happen to love playing games. They have come up with simple hacks that can enable you to play classic games on your Android device. Gameboid and Ataroid are two such apps that allow you to play some classic games on your Android device. There is another hacker, who even went ahead and rooted his Android phone so that it is now able to use an NES controller by attaching it to the phone. 5. Install apps that are root-only If you like tinkering with different aspects of your Android phone and would like to get as much flexibility as possible, then you should go ahead and root your phone by installing root-only apps. These apps will open up a whole new world of possibilities for you, as you will be able to undertake some tasks that are not usually support by the standard Android software that is usually shipped with phones. For example, you can install a root app that allows you to gain access to extra memory on your phone, making it run faster, especially when running apps that demand plenty of computing power. 6. Open your garage door Now this is very interesting! With an imaginative Android hackers, there have been some simple yet highly effective hacks. For example, there is an app called OpenSeMe that makes it very easy to enable your Android phone to open your garage door; this is pretty cool. This app has some simple features that make it safe and easy to use. It uses a pin to verify authenticity of the owner before opening the door; it also only opens the garage door when within a radius of one block. In short, it acts as a garage door opener. 7. Overclock your Android phone Are you tired of having your android phone hang up every time you use an app that is resource-intensive? If this is the case, then you should consider overclocking your phone. Overlocking is noting but rooting your Android mobile to such an extent that a user adds permission to OS settings and removing number of hardware limitations such as inernal memory, battery life etc., However, you have to take note of the fact that overclocking your phone has a number of side effects. You may wear out your phone’s processor since overclocking it creates intense heat, which may overwhelm the in-built cooling system. It may also shorten your phone’s lifestyle. However, by using well-designed overclocking apps, you will be able to also underclock your phone’s processors so that their lifespan is prolonged. You also need a new generation Android phone in order to run such apps. One great app that you can use for this function is called SetCPU, and it comes highly recommended. 8. Run Android on an old iPhone If you love playing practical jokes as well as tinkering, then you may find this hack hilarious: install Android on your old iPhone. This is a cool way of finding out how Android would perform on an iPhone. If you have an old iPhone lying around, say iPhone 2G, then you can install Android on it. Doing this will also open up quite a number of apps that you can then use. In order to have some fun doing this, you can install apps that have been restricted by Apple. But in order to get this hack to work, you have to break into your iPhone; you can use software such as Redsn0w or PwnageTool to do this. 9. Take screenshots One of the common complaints about Android is that it does not allow users to take screen shots. However, some clever developers have made this possible by creating some interesting apps that enable you to take amazing screenshots of your Android phone, albeit with some fancy effects. However, you need to first root your phone before trying these apps. You can use the ShootMe app that enables you to take screenshots of your phone, with a little shake. This is a simple yet very effective feature. 10. Block Ads on your phone Advertisements are the price people usually pay for using free software, and this is not different on Android. Many free apps you will be using will be running ads, and one of the ways of getting rid of these apps is to use paid versions f the apps. However, after you have rooted your Android phone, you can install the Adfree app that essentially blocks ads from everywhere on your phone. This is quite handy if you usually use plenty of free apps. 11. Turn your Android phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot Android-WifiMany people would be more than happy to use their Android phones as a Wi-Fi hotspot, but only a few of them are able to do so. Once you root your Android phone, then you can easily turn it into a Wi-Fi hotspot, regardless of the carrier you have subscribed to. You can use the Wireless Tether app, as it makes it such a breeze to turn your Android phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot that other devices can plug into. So, by rooting your Android phone, you can turn it into a very powerful mobile device with limitless possibilities. However, always bear in mind that rooting your phone usually makes your warranty void, and it may end up totally messing up your phone.

20 Android Voice Commands to Take Full Control of Your Phone

20 Android Voice Commands to Take Full Control of Your Phone June 27, 2013 By Martin D 2 Comments Androidjust keeps getting better! The next time you feel like you have had a really tiring day at the workplace, in school or office or wherever, don’t bother tapping your android smartphone to keep communicating with your friends or open your favorite apps, JUST SPEAK IT into the microphone! Well, you can compose an email, scan a barcode, get directions or even name a song – all with a bare minimum of taps using android voice commands. The latest version of Google Search, which (strictly speaking) is now part of a new Android app called ‘Google Now’, boasts a tiny microphone icon on its right side that can be used to instruct any android gadget via voice commands. By tapping this icon, you can speak your searches rather than have to type them. Better still, there are many more things you can do with android voice commands, or rather, as Google calls them, ‘VOICE ACTIONS’. This post introduces to you a composition of android voice commands that you can use to take full control of your phone. Android Voice Commands like Siri Back in June 2012, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean just managed to bring Android’s voice actions to the forefront in a most meaningful way. And while iOS fans have been having quite a fair experience with Apple-acquired voice-command personal assistant Siri. Android buffs cannot complain about the voice actions. Actually, by dressing up the voice searches interface like Apple’s Siri, and making voice search functions available from any screen, Android is just doing plain awesome. Android Voice Commands like Siri In tests we conducted with the Apple iOS 5 and iOS 6 devices, compared with tests on a couple of android smartphones and 7 inch tablets, android voice commands like Siri scores pretty impressive on the accuracy score sheet. Depending on their preference, some people would argue that Siri is better with more voice commands and customization, while others would insist that Google Voice Actions are better in terms of speed and accuracy. It’s an open question, but nevertheless, you get so many voice commands on android that are also on Siri, including voice search, calendar management, memo, navigation, text messaging and so on. Android Voice Commands List 1) Google Search The most basic thing you get to do with Google voice commands is perform a simple Google search by uttering a few words. If Google doesn’t recognize something you say to be another voice action, it will perform a simple search for it. For instance, if you say ‘history of modern artificial intelligence’, Google will get your results for the query ‘history of modern artificial intelligence’. Google has a support page that lists down key search tips and tricks. Android Voice Command Google Search 2) What’s this song? Well, the next time you want to know the name of the song playing on the radio, android voice commands comes in handy. now_whats_song Tap the microphone icon in the Google search box and simply ask, ‘what’s this song?’ Your android phablet, or rather smartphone, listens carefully for a few seconds and if it comes up with a match – it’ll pop up on the screen, complete with the link to the Google Play music store. Cool, isn’t it? 3) Map of [place] Android Voice Command: Map of This is another android voice command that can sometimes prove very useful the next time you want to check out the location of a place. Works this way: MAP [say a place]. For instance, if you want to go to check out Starstreak Cinema on the map, just say ‘Map Starstreak Cinema’. Or ‘Map Gas Station’ if you’re looking for places to fuel up near your current location. 4) Get Directions Get directions is yet another one of the classic android voice commands that come in extremely handy at times. If you find yourself in some city neighborhood you are not familiar with, tap the microphone and say (for instance) ‘Get directions to the nearest bank” or just ‘Directions to Bank’. Android Voice Command Google Search Within a couple of seconds, a series of nearby banks marked on a map pops up on the screen; tap one, and driving directions appear. If instead you want to get walking directions, just say ‘Get walking directions to a bank’. 5) Go to a Website With android voice commands, you get to open a website by saying ‘Go to [website address]’. For instance, the next time you need to check out our latest posts, simply tap the microphone icon and say ‘Go to crazy android dot com’. Your android phone or tablet will get you right here. Android Voice Command Go to a Website 6) Send Email Send-email This is an easy way to send emails from your device. To compose an email and send it in just a couple of taps, tap the Google search microphone and say ‘send email to [contact or name], subject: let’s meet, message: I am out of work, can we meet?’ After a few seconds, your phone will transcribe your words into a new mail message and if everything goes alright, your last step will be to tap the ‘Send email’ button. 7) Note to Self Note to Self You are walking around the park on that free Thursday afternoon with your android smartphone in your pocket when suddenly a brilliant, new idea strikes you, maybe an invention!! Sometimes, you just remember the name of that thing you need from the grocery store. ‘Note to Self’ is android’s seamless way of recording notes using voice commands. Simply tap the microphone button in the Google search box and then say ‘Note to self: Kids Learning Website idea’. Your android device will send you an email with a transcription of this, plus an audio recording of your mobile musings. 8) DEFINE [say a word] For instance ‘define prospect’ – well, you may be getting a list of guesses if the word you say is quite strange, but that’s ok because you are trying to get the definition right? Android Voice Command DEFINE [say a word] Select the right word choice from the list and it then takes you to the web with the definition for that word. Easy and cool! 9) Calendar Event Create a calendar event By way of speaking, you can create a calendar event in a matter of seconds. Simply say, ‘Create a calendar event: Corporate meeting in Manchester, Monday at 8′o clock.’ 10) Start Navigation This is the android voice command for navigation. You say the word ‘navigate’ followed by the destination. For instance, ‘Navigate to General Post Office’. Android Voice Command Start Navigation 11) Post to Google + post to google plus voice command You may also post to your Google + profile using android voice commands. Use the format ”Post to Google+ I’m chilling at the beach.” Android Voice Commands without Internet Android voice commands also work without internet connection. These voice commands are highly useful for android users without internet connection. We have listed few important voice commands that work without internet below: 12) Call Someone To make a phone call, say ‘Call’ followed by the number or name of the contact you want to communicate with. For instance, ‘Call David at Home’. Call Business – you can also call a business by simply saying ‘Call Soft link enterprises’. 13) Send SMS Android voice commands also present you with an easy way to send text messages in the same way as you can send an email. If you would like to send a text to a guy named Ben, simply tap your microphone icon and say ‘Send SMS to Ben, message, let’s meet at 4.’ Android Voice Command Send SMS 14) Set Alarm Time Set Alarm Time To quickly set up an alarm via voice actions, just say ‘Set alarm for [time]’. If I am taking a nap and I need to be woken up after an hour, I would say, ‘Set alarm for 1 hour from now’. 15) Open an App Open an App You don’t need the internet to open an app on your android phone or tablet PC, and neither do you need to type on your screen. Simply tap the microphone icon and say ‘Open [app]’ to open the app. If I need to open the avast antivirus app to scan my tablet, I would say ‘Open Avast’. 16) Scan a Barcode Scan a Barcode Say ‘Scan a barcode’ and Google will give you a barcode-scanner. 17) Listen to a song You can listen to a song by saying ‘listen to’ followed by the song title, artist, and album. For instance, Listen to ‘Linkin Park’. 18) PLAY [say the name of a group or a particular song] For instance, ‘play forever young song’. If you have the Jay Z song and a music player app on your device that can handle voice commands, it will start playing the music for you. 19) Set an Appointment Allows you to make an appointment, for instance, ‘schedule meeting with [contact name] at [time/day]’ 20) Call [Phone Number] Call [Phone Number] The next time you need to dial a phone number the easy way, simply speak the word Call followed by the digits of the phone number in question. Conclusion The android experience just keeps getting better, more seamless and more convenient. With Android Voice commands, you can take control of your phone in many ways, save effort and easily accomplish tasks that would otherwise have taken quite a chunk of your time. Important to note, though, is that android voice commands, just like all other voice instructions to a computer are not perfect. But they go a long way. Using the list of commands we have outlined in this post, get your phone out of your pocket and make notes or send emails and take the full control of your android phone in easy way!

12 Top Android Widgets to make the best of your phone

12 Top Android Widgets to make the best of your phone June 24, 2013 By Martin D Leave a Comment Your android smartphone’s or tablet’s home screen doesn’t have to be plain and boring. At least not when there are so many android widgets that can not only improve the look on your screen but also help you make the best use out of your android device. By adding some of the best widgets on your android phone or tablet, you can instantly access information and easily perform certain actions directly from the home screen. Here is our list of best android widgets that will help you make the most use out of your phone, chosen on the merits of looks and usefulness: 1. HD Widgets [$1.99] HD Widgets Described by the android community as ‘amazingly awesome and beautiful’ and by Computerworld as ‘elegant and eye-catching’, this is a classic widget app for android devices. HD Widgets are some of the most configurable info widgets in the Google Play Store. They come in different sizes, and can even fill up the size of a seven inch tablet pretty easily. Within the different sizes you get different set configurations, and you will be able to change parts of the widget, colors and styles. Download HD Widgets on Google Play 2. Evernote Widget [Free] Evernote Ranked among the top 10 must have apps by New York Times, Evernote is an easy to use free app. Also one of most downloaded widget apps on Android, Evernote helps you remember anything across all of the devices you own. This widget for android will help you stay organized, save your ideas and more importantly improve your productivity. If you are looking for a widget that will make it amazingly easy for you to take notes, capture photos, record voice reminders, create to do lists, and make everything (notes) completely searchable from wherever you are, Evernote it is. Very conveniently, Evernote is available on any computer, phone or tablet PC. Download Evernote on Google Play 3. Extended Controls [$0.99] Extended Controls Android Widget This great app offers one the finest collections of all android widgets. Extended controls enable you to easily adjust various controls and settings. The widget app has a friendly user interface, an easy configuration manager and a phenomenal battery saver functionality. Here are some of the features that you enjoy when using this widget app: Lots of different icons Ability to edit existing widgets Widgets transparency Customizable labels and colors Clock widget System info widget that displays details about the RAM, CUP, network, external memory, etc Notification widget Different widgets sizes On/off dividers Direct home shortcuts Get the extended controls widgets app on your android smartphone and easily control most settings and other widgets on your phone. Download Extended Controls Widgets on Google Play 4. IMDB Movies & TV for Android Widget [Free] IMDB Android Widget Android-toting movie aficionados can stay up to date on all the latest occurrences and events in Hollywood and at any local box office via this IMBD app and widget. This widget for android app features a rotating selection of news and reviews about movies, and shows images and text related to all the popular films. With just a single click, you can access all the details and application features on any of your favorite new movies, including popular trailers and local theater show times. Download IMDB Widget on Google Play 5. Android Pro Widgets [Free] Android Pro Widget With a set of powerful and extremely useful home screen, Android Pro Widgets is something you might want to have on your smartphone, phablet or tablet PC. Designed to work optimally in most android devices, this widget app features useful widgets for agenda and calendar, bookmarks, people, contacts, messaging, twitter, Facebook and Google Reader. With the android pro widget, you get the Quick Events and Say What tools. Quick events allows you to make quick calendar insertions with native language processing and speech recognition abilities, while on the other hand Say What is a little 4×1 widget that will easily allow you to update your Facebook and twitter accounts from the home screen. Download Android Pro Widget on Google Play 6. Beautiful Widgets [Free and Paid $1.99] Beautiful Widgets for Android Beautiful Widgets is the perfect android widget application for enhancing the look on your device. This widgets application features tons of themes that are aimed to make your android device look awesome. As the name implies, this widget will help you make your device unique, expressive and more so personal. Beautiful Widgets was the first paid app on the Google play store to hit the 1 million downloads mark, and it has been increasingly popular among android users for the last 3 years running. The other widgets that this android widgets app comes with will easily and conveniently display the weather, clock, battery and toggle themes on your device. Beautiful Widgets will not work on the SD card, so you should make sure that you have enough space on your device to install it. Download Beautiful Widgets Pro on Google Play 7. Battery HD [Free and Paid $2.56] Battery HD Pro Android Widget You do not want to run out of battery on your android device just when you are about to receive an important call. The Battery HD android widgets app is a cool battery monitor for the android smartphone or tablet PC. This is a simple, beautiful and easily calibrated widget app that enables you to know how many hours you have left for: Video watching Time to use the LED flashlight GPS navigation Video recoding Video chatting Photos capturing Standby Internet browsing Talking on the phone Play 2D or 3D games Reading books This widgets app allows you to closely monitor your device battery. Download Battery HD Pro on Google Play 8. Days Left Widget [Free and Paid 0.99] Days Left Widget Did you ever forget an important date or miss an important event just because you were too busy? Do you need to count down the days until your next big soccer game? Do you need a widget that will remind you anytime your girlfriend’s or mom’s birthday is close? Days Left Widget is a suitable widgets app that will just help you remember all important events and occasions. You may want to try this little widget app on your home screen and set up a daily countdown to the new years eve, birthday, Christmas or any totally random day – just because you love daily countdowns. You can also customize this widget to suit your favorite colors and overlays. Download Days Left Widget on Google Play 9. DIGI Clock Widget [Free and Paid $1.29] DIGI Clock Widget An excellent android widget application, DIGI Clock Widget is a classic collection of five highly customizable digital time and date widgets. The different size widgets are optimal for different sizes of android devices, from the smallest smartphone display to the large tablet-size display. This widget makes possible a lot of customization. You will be able to: Select widget click actions Select preferred colors for time and date separately Put outlines and local preferences Put a widget background with color and opacity selection This useful wizard will make it fun for you to check the time and date. However, like other widgets, do not install this widget app on your SD card as it will not work. Download DIGI Clock Widget Free on Google Play 10. Fancy Widgets [Free and Paid $2.59] Fancy Widgets Personalize and enhance the appearance of your android gadget with highly customizable clock widgets, home widgets, forecast widgets, weather widgets and scores of other customization options. This fancy widget makes available several features: Configurable refresh interval Additional information Customizable widget tap actions Moon phase calendar Celsius and Fahrenheit temperature support Geo-location for weather or city search by name/zip code Choice of Google or AccuWeather for weather forecast Current weather condition and ¾-day weather forecast The full version of this app offers more exclusive features such as multiple location support for the clock and weather, additional weather providers, current temperature notification, easy backup/restore of your widget settings and fancy weather animations. Download Fancy Widget on Google Play 11. Multicon Widget [Free] Multicon Widget Now that you have installed so many android widgets on your home screen, it is time to save some space. The Multicon is a free android widget that allows you to easily save space on your home screen by cleaning up applications that you don’t use or adding the ones that you need. With this useful widgets app for android, you can add shortcuts, applications and special functions. Download Multicon Widget on Google Play 12. Slider Widget – Volumes [Free] Slider Widget This is another useful android widgets app that will give you control over screen brightness and the sound volume directly from your home screen. With this widget, you can easily take care of these using the widget’s slider or your hardware buttons. Download Slider Widget on Google Play Conclusion While a good number of these apps come for free, some of the more advanced features will come for a price. And while the android platform is known for its abundance of free apps and other goodies, you may sometimes want to invest a few dollars in a widgets app that will change a whole lot of things in the way you make use of your android gadget. According to our reviews, these are some of the outstanding android widgets apps. Still, opinions may vary. If you have any other widgets app that you have used and feel they are excellent, feel free to contribute to our list via a comment below.

Top 11 Android Hacks and their applications

March 1, 2013 By Martin D 3 Comments

Android is now the most used mobile operating system in the world, with many commentators putting its market share at around 70%. With such growing presence, there are too many applications if we are able to hack Android and customize as we wish. Not to worry, crazy Android developers have already done this for us. People have successfully rooted Android and there are number of wild hacks with countless applications. Some are fun and some are very useful too.

1. Get Android updates before your handset manufacturer releases it

For most people using Android phones, they usually have to wait for Google to release updates for Android, and this may sometimes take months. However, the problem is that when the new updates are released, handset manufacturers have to readjust them in order to run on their handsets, and also add new software, before releasing the updates to their customers. However, the good news is that you do not have to wait this long for the latest updates. Since there are a great number of people working on releasing their own stable updates, you can root your Android phone so that you are able to release such updates as soon as the developer has released them.

2. Scale up your media center

One of the major reasons why people usually buy smartphones is so that they are able to play their favorite music and videos. However, this usually comes with some limitations, mainly with regard to storage space. For many people, most of their music and video files are usually stored in their PCs, while just a select number of files are stored in their smartphones. This thus means that they cannot access their music files, and they have to keep deleting some of the files in order to make room for new files. This is a great inconvenience; the good news is that someone saw this and decided to come up with a simple hack that enables one to stream their music from their PC to their smartphones by using Wi-Fi. There is an app called Gmote that makes accessing this future a breeze.

3. Change the appearance of Android user interface

One of the most common tasks that people usually perform on their mobile phones is changing the themes and wallpapers so that they can suit their fancy. If you have tried this before, then you will have realized that there are numerous limitations, thanks to the small number of wallpapers and themes that ship with your Android phone. The wallpapers and themes are also not that inspiring, since most of them are static. But you can change all this and bring your Android’s user interface into life. This is easily done through the use of tools, such as Beautiful Widgets, which will then give you access to tonnes of customized and animated wallpapers that you can use on your phone.

4. Play retro games on your Android phone

If you are an avid gamer, then you most definitely usually pull out your old game console ad play a few classic games so as to remind yourself of how it used to feel playing such games. Android, being open source, has stirred some interesting thoughts from some top tinkerers who also happen to love playing games. They have come up with simple hacks that can enable you to play classic games on your Android device. Gameboid and Ataroid are two such apps that allow you to play some classic games on your Android device. There is another hacker, who even went ahead and rooted his Android phone so that it is now able to use an NES controller by attaching it to the phone.

5. Install apps that are root-only

If you like tinkering with different aspects of your Android phone and would like to get as much flexibility as possible, then you should go ahead and root your phone by installing root-only apps. These apps will open up a whole new world of possibilities for you, as you will be able to undertake some tasks that are not usually support by the standard Android software that is usually shipped with phones. For example, you can install a root app that allows you to gain access to extra memory on your phone, making it run faster, especially when running apps that demand plenty of computing power.

6. Open your garage door

Now this is very interesting! With an imaginative Android hackers, there have been some simple yet highly effective hacks. For example, there is an app called OpenSeMe that makes it very easy to enable your Android phone to open your garage door; this is pretty cool. This app has some simple features that make it safe and easy to use. It uses a pin to verify authenticity of the owner before opening the door; it also only opens the garage door when within a radius of one block. In short, it acts as a garage door opener.

7. Overclock your Android phone

Are you tired of having your android phone hang up every time you use an app that is resource-intensive? If this is the case, then you should consider overclocking your phone. Overlocking is noting but rooting your Android mobile to such an extent that a user adds permission to OS settings and removing number of hardware limitations such as inernal memory, battery life etc., However, you have to take note of the fact that overclocking your phone has a number of side effects. You may wear out your phone’s processor since overclocking it creates intense heat, which may overwhelm the in-built cooling system. It may also shorten your phone’s lifestyle. However, by using well-designed overclocking apps, you will be able to also underclock your phone’s processors so that their lifespan is prolonged. You also need a new generation Android phone in order to run such apps. One great app that you can use for this function is called SetCPU, and it comes highly recommended.

8. Run Android on an old iPhone

If you love playing practical jokes as well as tinkering, then you may find this hack hilarious: install Android on your old iPhone. This is a cool way of finding out how Android would perform on an iPhone. If you have an old iPhone lying around, say iPhone 2G, then you can install Android on it. Doing this will also open up quite a number of apps that you can then use. In order to have some fun doing this, you can install apps that have been restricted by Apple. But in order to get this hack to work, you have to break into your iPhone; you can use software such as Redsn0w or PwnageTool to do this.

9. Take screenshots

One of the common complaints about Android is that it does not allow users to take screen shots. However, some clever developers have made this possible by creating some interesting apps that enable you to take amazing screenshots of your Android phone, albeit with some fancy effects. However, you need to first root your phone before trying these apps. You can use the ShootMe app that enables you to take screenshots of your phone, with a little shake. This is a simple yet very effective feature.

10. Block Ads on your phone

Advertisements are the price people usually pay for using free software, and this is not different on Android. Many free apps you will be using will be running ads, and one of the ways of getting rid of these apps is to use paid versions f the apps. However, after you have rooted your Android phone, you can install the Adfree app that essentially blocks ads from everywhere on your phone. This is quite handy if you usually use plenty of free apps.

11. Turn your Android phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot

Many people would be more than happy to use their Android phones as a Wi-Fi hotspot, but only a few of them are able to do so. Once you root your Android phone, then you can easily turn it into a Wi-Fi hotspot, regardless of the carrier you have subscribed to. You can use the Wireless Tether app, as it makes it such a breeze to turn your Android phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot that other devices can plug into.
So, by rooting your Android phone, you can turn it into a very powerful mobile device with limitless possibilities. However, always bear in mind that rooting your phone usually makes your warranty void, and it may end up totally messing up your phone.

Mind Blowing Top 10 Android Live Wallpapers that Went Viral

June 14, 2013 By Martin D 1 Comment

Most likely than not, you’ll get bored by your static picture android wallpaper. So what do you do to change this? One of the enhancements that make android amazing is the awesome collection of live wallpapers. You will be able to make your tablet or smartphone come to life with an active, live, moving wallpaper. Literally, there are hundreds and hundreds of choices that are available for you to choose from Google Play Store or Google play alternatives. And most likely than not, you will come across a live wallpaper that fascinates you so much you want to install it right away on your android gadget.
Most of these live wallpapers will scope around certain topics and genres. For instance, if you love animals, there are dozens of exemplary android live wallpapers that will reflect your love of animals’ every time you look at your home screen. The same goes for other subjects such as the galaxy, aquariums, photos and extreme weather events. Over the years, there has been gradual but steady improvement in the quality and creativity featured in android live wallpapers. When the android platform was new, only a few wallpapers were available, and you really didn’t have much choice. Today, however, there are scores and scores of absolutely appealing wallpapers, and in this post we highlight the top 10 android live wallpapers that went viral!

1. Koi Live Wallpaper

One of the best android live wallpapers apps for android, the Koi Live wallpaper is something you’d want on your device. This amazing live wallpaper app is all about koi and her adventures. Well, if you haven’t heard of her, koi is a Japanese word referring to ‘carp’, and includes both the dull grey eye and brightly colored fish varieties. With this top android live wallpaper app for android, you can watch Koi jovially explore their pond! The application features some very colorful fish and backgrounds that nearly make this live wallpaper app better than the real thing. You can be able to select from twenty different Koi types, everything is 3D rendered in OpenGL 2.0, and with completely interactive water that is sensitive to multitouch! If you need to feed your fish, just double tap on the screen and it so happens. There is both a free version and a paid version on the Google Play Store. While the free version is nothing short of awesome, the paid version of this app, going for around 1 USD, will enable you to access the settings screen and control your fish population, background image, time of day, raindrops and some other cool things.
The Koi Live wallpaper app for android is compatible with both the android smartphone and the tablet, in portrait and landscape modes.

2. Bubble Live Wallpaper

This is another one among the top 10 android live wallpapers apps that went viral. The bubble live wallpapers, in all sense and manners, lives up to its bubbly name! This is an amazing wallpaper option with an attractive feature that enables you to pop the bubbles by simply tapping them. You will also be able to choose your lucky color theme, bubble colors and the number of bubbles floating. Supporting most resolutions including Android 3.0 tablets, this live wallpaper application makes use of 3D hardware to render images and save battery. Try it and have some fun right on your android device screen.

3. Aquarium Free Live Wallpaper

The aquarium is another great android live wallpapers app that went viral, with its classic beautiful 3D fish and plants dressing up your home screen. This live wallpaper app features gorgeous backgrounds and smooth motions, making it not just interesting but also entertaining. You can double tap to feed you fish, or just tap once to get their attention. While you’d be tempted to think that this app is sort of a movie, it is not. The app makes full use of OpenGL and supports both portrait/landscape modes and home screen switching. If you love the aquarium free live wallpaper application, its paid alternative gives you more control over the settings of your aquarium.

4. Sun Rise Free Live Wallpaper

Sun Rise Free Live Wallpaper is one of the best android live wallpapers apps. With its classic representation of the sunrise phenomenal, this application can put a smile on your face when you look at your android phone after waking up. This top android live wallpaper application features a tree silhouette, birds flying, a morning sky background with soft moving clouds and occasionally a rainbow. You hear the morning birds welcoming you to the new day right from your android gadget. Like most of the other live wallpaper apps, they also have a paid version that offers more control over the settings.

5. AniPet Aquarium Live Wallpaper

The AniPet Aquarium Live Wallpaper is definitely one of the best wallpapers that you can make use of. If you love eye candy, you’ll want to give this top live wallpaper app for android a try. AniPet Aquarium live wallpaper lets you manage your own virtual aquarium behind your app shortcuts and widgets. You may have up to twenty fish in your aquarium with the free version. The full version on the other hand offers upto 180 different species across twenty categories of fish. If you feel you need the paid version, you will also be able to control the customization options including the size of each individual fish, and have the fish slowly mature the more you feed them! Mature fish can even have babies, and there’s also an option you can turn on where your fish may die if you don’t feed them well. Are you responsible enough to take care of a pet at home? This AniPet aquarium android live wallpaper app can help you find out.
A great enhancement on your android gadget, this application borders between wallpaper and game.

6. Thunderstorm Free Wallpaper

The Thunderstorm Free Wallpaper is a spectacular backdrop of storm clouds, lightening and rain. This app is not a movie, but offers full support for home screen switching and landscape mode. If you love a stormy scene, get this live wallpaper app right on your device. The paid version offers some more customization options, including the number of clouds, the bolt or light color and many other options.

7. Photo FX Live Wallpaper

If you want a top live wallpaper android app that considers your photos and makes an amazing display from them, this is it. Photo FX Live Wallpaper has time and again been ranked the best photo LWP on the market. You can watch your favorite snaps drop one after the other with a stunning animation. Here are some of the features that this app offers:

• Allows you to choose images from our camera’s gallery
• Allows you to select photos from folders
• Adds a stunning floating animation
• You can change slideshow interval
• You can set image opacity, saturation and photo frame color
• Can work as a lock screen wallpaper

8. Snowfall Free Live Wallpaper

Snowfall is a beautiful live wallpaper app that features gentle snowflakes falling over the top of swaying pine trees. This application offers full support for landscape mode and home screen switching. If you love an live wallpaper app that reflects a snow fall perfectly on your android gadget, this application is worth a try. The paid app offers more customization options and more control over the settings.

9. Galaxy S3/S4 Live Wallpaper

Characterized by cute flying seeds, the Galaxy S3 (and S4) is one of the best android live wallpapers apps. This application comes with the new Samsung GS4 wallpaper background, and has a beautifully calming ‘water droplet’ effect that can be enabled on the settings options. By simply tapping or touching the screen, you can easily include water drops on the home screen. A live wallpaper android app that is first getting viral, this live wallpaper app will trouble you with neither notifications nor icon ads, and has been tried on most of the latest android devices, including the HTC Desire S,  nexus 7, XPeria S and Samsung Galaxy S3.

10. Nexus Revamped Live Wallpaper

A live wallpaper android app that is similar to the ‘default’ Nexus live wallpaper but with enhancements such as improved efficiency and customization. This is a cool app that is interactive to touch and multitouch, has power saver settings and many other adjustments available. The pro version additionally has reaction to battery level (speed and colour), custom background images and custom particles colours.

Conclusion

Most of these best live wallpapers apps for android are free, and you can always get one running on your device from the Google Play Store within no time. There is no reason why you shouldn’t customize your home screen with brilliant, livening wallpaper applications. You may just want to try with a free wallpaper option at first, and then if you like it or realize that it can be more fun with more customization options, upgrade to the pro version (most cost between 1-2 dollars) to enjoy the full unlimited wallpaper experience.

24 Android App Store Alternatives for those who hate Google Play

July 7, 2013 By Martin D 1 Comment

When you hear of android apps, what comes to mind? Well, if all you can think about is the ‘Play Store’ icon on your smartphone home screen, you are way too restricting. Borrowing from statistics, the official android marketplace is the leading ever hub where android users get the applications they need. But there are many Android app store alternatives where you can get a wide range of similar applications for your android phone, tablet PC or phablet. Indeed, you might even be able to come across unique apps that you wouldn’t otherwise find on the Google Play Store. Not all android developers are willing to pay an annual fee to Google Play store to list their apps, so they might as well opt to upload them in alternative stores. To install apps from third party app stores on your you need to configure your android device appropriately by enabling ‘Unknown Sources’ under Settings > Applications just like the screenshot below.

In the following post, we roam around the World Wide Web and bring you a list of the top 25 android app store alternatives:

1. Amazon.com: Appstore for Android

Amazon app store is a favorite app store for scores of android users. Amazon introduces offers to the paid apps, which makes the process of acquiring a paid app just better! Amazon also gives one paid app for free in a day. Moreover, Amazon offers paid apps at discount rates. Many useful and unique applications are categorized under different topics and you can use the test drive feature which helps you try out apps using the browser before you actually buy.

2. Slide ME

Slide ME, with a global reach of decent android users, is another place you can get a collection of great apps from talented developers on the platform. Slide ME offers free and premium apps in various categories. To ensure that you only get high quality apps, each application submission has to go through a quality control process before it’s listed on the platform. Slide ME supports a number of payment options, including PayPal, and it’s also easy to filter your searches in such a way as to find good app results from the descriptions. The next time you need an app to do anything, visit the Slide ME android app store and see what they’ve got for you there.

3. Apps Zoom

Appszoom has been recognized as the best android app review website by about.com.  Apps Zoom lists most of the famous apps available in the Google play as well as unique useful android apps. They have hundreds, if not thousands, of cool apps listed for sale. They also help you whenever you need to hire an android developer. You can filter app search to “Top apps” to list all the famous apps available in this website.

4. Cnet

CNet download is a famously known software download website. CNet offers several android apps with comprehensive CNET user reviews. They also display their apps with full descriptions, which is highly useful to all users as they can get an insight before they actually download their applications of choice. All apps in this website are checked for malware, so you need not panic when downloading application from this store.

5. F-Droid

F-Droid is another great android applications platform that has a separate application to list all their android apps. This application can be downloaded from their website. One cool advantage of the apps listed in this website is that they are free, and feature no tracking or ads.

6. Aptoide

Aptoide is a famous android apps store where you can upload and invite users to download and experience your app. Lot of new developers upload their applications on this platform.

7. AppsLib

 Appslib claims that more than 38,000 of their apps have been installed in android tablets as on Q1, 2013. They have apps both for mobile and tablets PCs. This app provides an easy, convenient way for android app developers to list their applications.

8. Yandex

Yandex features more than 50,000 apps as of Q1, 2013. All apps listed on their platform are checked using for malwares using the Kaspersky Anti-Virus, hence you are unlikely to host a malware on your android smartphone.

9. 91 mobile

91 Mobiles lists scores of useful applications. Their featured app lists are widely downloaded by thousands of android users. As it is, most of the apps listed on this platform will be useful for students.

10. Mobango

Mabango lists more than 100k apps in different categories developed by 40k developers. More than 8 million users download millions of apps from this platform every year. Well, if you are looking for a giant house featuring some of your favorite applications, you should probably check out this platform.

11. Pandaapp

Pandaapp feature android app downloads, easily and conveniently. More importantly, all their app listings are free so if you are looking to populate your android tablet PC or smartphone with interesting stuff without having to deep your hands in your pocket, this is one good place to get started looking. However, you should make a point of carefully reading the reviews before you actually download anything. You want to make sure that you are downloading the right applications for your android smartphone, not a masqueraded malware.

12. Baidu App Store

Baidu ranks 5th on the Forbes World’s Most Innovative Companies List. Baidu is a Chinese search giant that also features an app store for android users. These apps are listed from their own making and also from collections on other websites as well. You can find lot of unique and useful apps for android here.

13. Tencent App Gem

Just like Baidu, Tencent is also a search engine. Tencent allows users to download apps directly from their website and also from their custom made app. They have apps both for android mobile phones and tablets. If you own an android tablet, don’t miss out on this one.

14. Opera Mobile App Store

Opera mobile store has many useful and unique applications that you might want to have on your android gadget. The Opera app store claims that all their applications are safe and tested. Well, they offer a wide number of android applications falling within different categories. If you are looking for a good discount the next time you are purchasing an android application, be sure to consider this store.

15. MIUI.com

MIUI refers to the Xiaomi OS. They have their own website where users can download from a greate variety of android apps. Many of their apps are unique and useful. They also offer numerous tips and tricks on android’s common issues.

16. GetJar

GetJar offer you to choose from a huge variety of android apps. They also offer a lot of unique hacking apps that are developed by budding coders. This apps store has more than 5 million android app developers registered.

17. AppChina

The AppChina database is another good place where you might want to dig out for those apps you can’t easily find anywhere else. Well, they get their funding (as much as 6 million dollars) from happy sponsors, who keep their community of developers motivated and productive.

18. Handango

Handango is yet another famous sore where you can get both free and discount apps. The suitability of this apps store can be only likened to the Google Play store. Visit them and check out what they have on their apps menu.

19. D.cn Games Center

D.cn Games Center features collections of games apps, some of which may also be found in the Google play store. Most of their apps are free but advertisement supported. If you are a gaming freak, this is the one place you ought to check out.

20. Insyde Market

Insyde Market feature an amazing collection of fascinating apps.

21. Gfan

Initially Gfan was a forum website used to share user’s experience on apps, queries and hacks related to android applications. However, after the platform become more popular, they upgraded it to an android apps store.

22. YAAM Marke

YAAM is a simple website facility that features scores of useful android apps.  Their apps are listed as both free and paid.

23. Taobao App Market

Taobao recently entered into the android app market and already the’ve got a good number of users visiting and downloading apps listed on their website. They use their own unique payment method named Alipay.

24. Google Chrome

You might have been surprised to see Google chrome appear in this list. Yes, you can android apps using Google chrome. Simply go to the Google webstore and download the extension APK Downloader. Using this extension, you may download android apps to your PC and then install them in your mobile device.

WARNING

Please make sure to know fully what application you are installing in your mobile, which means what are the permission that the application will control. Follow the below instruction before downloading a third part application in order to avoid virus and malware into your mobile.
As told before, android has been designed open to install third party applications. Lot of unique, different, useful android applications are available. Please do share your third party applications experience with us. Also do comment if you know any other good Google play alternative markets.

Conclusion

Google’s plain old play store is sure a great place to download your favorite apps, but it SURE isn’t the only place. The next time you need that cool 3D game to keep you busy thinking during the drive home on public transport, or that office application that will record your pending tasks and remind you about them, be sure to explore the other stores as well. You might be surprised to realize how much you have been limiting your android apps arsenal!