Android Tips & Tricks » Showcase

Top 10 android setup tasks for a new android user

droid — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:18:39 +0000

Kickstart your shiny new android phone including the Droid family, Evo 4G, Galaxy S or other Motorola, Samsung and HTC android phones.

For the best experience, open this page on your android phone, so you install the apps just by clicking on them.

Bookmark/Follow Android Tips via Email/Twitter to receive infrequent, but only the best tips.

Top 10 Android setup tasks:

Import contacts:
- Export contacts to CSV, import to Gmail contacts.
- Sign in to your phone with

read tip.

Now that you have more screens, fill them up: Best android widgets

droid — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 13:47:24 +0000

Now that you added more screens to your phone, fill them up with these top android widgets:

Power widget: Default widget in the android widgets folder. Lets you switch wifi, bluetooth, gps, sync, brightness with a single click.
Smooth Calendar: A calendar widget that’s a lot better than the default one.
Battery time lite: Shows battery status.
NYTimes widgets: Allows you to select a NYTimes news category and place that on your home page.

read tip.

Force stop Android Applications

droid — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:39:21 +0000

Settings Manage ApplicationsMenu button Filter by “Running.” Select application Force stop

You could also try the Advanced Task Killer to manage running apps more easily.

... read tip.

Blacklist or block a phone number (no apps required)

droid — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:25:14 +0000

Browse to a contact -> Click “Menu” -> Select “Options”.
Select “Send calls directly to voicemail”.

Yep, its that easy!

Try this one too on older phones: Settings -> Call settings -> Blacklist

Interested in more setup tips? Top 10 android setup tasks. ... read tip.

Forgot lock pattern on android? Here’s a way to reset it.

droid — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:53:13 +0000

Enter wrong pattern 5 times and wait for 30 seconds.
Select “Forgot pattern” and enter your gmail account username and password.
Make sure you use the same account that was used to activate the phone and double check the password by logging in to that Google account in a browser.
If you don’t have access to the original Gmail account, you will need to do a hard reset and loose your settings and apps on the phone. The data on

read tip.

Use keyboard shortcuts to switch between applications in android:

droid — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:01:36 +0000

Don’t forget to bookmark this page, this is a long one!

If you want to create your own shortcuts: Settings Application settings Quick launch

Open applications:
Browser SEARCH + b
Contacts SEARCH + c
E-Mail SEARCH + e
Google Mail SEARCH + g
Calendar SEARCH + l
Maps SEARCH + m
Music SEARCH + p
Messaging SEARCH + s
YouTube SEARCH + y
You can add/change these here: Settings Application settings Quick launch

Scrolling tips:
Page down SPACEBAR
Page up ... read tip.

How to add ringtones on Android, so they appear in the ringtone menus

droid — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:46:44 +0000

Locate music dir on the SD card (create it if not found)

Create three directories, ringtone, notification, alarms in it.

Any music files placed in these directories will appear in their respective menus.

May have to reboot the phone so they can be seen and picked.

You can also long press on a song in the songs list in the music player to add it to the ringtones.

Use Ringdroid to cut a song and use it as a ringtone. ... read tip.

How to import contacts into android

droid — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:30:48 +0000

Export contacts from Outlook or Outlook Express (or any other application) to csv format and then import to gmail. That should do it for most users.

If you have your contacts on an old GSM phone, you could export them on to the SIM card and then import them to your new phone.

Google Contacts

While you are there, try the “find duplicates” functionality. You can also add contacts into groups. The groups show up on your phone too ... read tip.

Android Reset Directions:

droid — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:58:43 +0000

Reset your phone to increase storage space and speed it up:

The easy way:
Settings SDCard Format
Settings Privacy Factory Reset

The hard way:
Do a hard reset and format your phones. You will have to re-download your apps and settings.
1. HOLD power button and shut down the phone.
2. Hold HOME and RED POWER down for 25 seconds until you see a triangle with an exclamation mark in it. Keep holding it down even though the G1 logo ... read tip.

Market is open. Shop for droids!

droid — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:22:14 +0000

... read tip.