There is no longer any doubt about the flexibility of Google’s Android as an operating system. However, for the uninitiated and even for somebody well versed with the working of a smart phone, it can be a tad difficult to pick up all the nuances about this wonderful system without assistance.
So here we go, covering some relatively unknown aspects which will help you optimize the working of your smart phone.
a) Stick to the Google Play Store for your apps requirement. It has been found that just about 0.1% of apps on the Play Store had malware. Contrast this with the high number of threats found in third party stores and you would appreciate the importance of keeping your mobile phone free from any virus or malware or spyware threat.
b) If you find browsing sites that lock out the Android system, all you need to do is make use of the menu button of Chrome (this is at the top right corner of your screen). Scroll down and lightly tap on the Request desktop site and viola, you have the desktop version of the page you were struggling to open, displayed on your screen.
c) Another advantage with the Android system is that it does not close the GPS receiver of the phone once you are in Airplane Mode. This happens with the IOS though. Just run an app such as the free FlyoverGPS and you would be able to track your position as well as know about the speed of the airplane, the altitude it is cruising and its position.
d) Though you would not be able to uninstall a majority of the apps that are unwanted, but bolted to your phone by the makers of your phone, without doing a ‘rooting’ job on it, you can surely retrieve the space they are occupying by just selecting the bloatware and hiding them permanently. Go to settings, select Apps, pick out the unwanted apps and then tap Uninstall updates before tapping Disable to hide them permanently.
e) Use the NFC or near field communication feature on your Android to communicate with other devices. This feature was initially conceived to help the user buy stuff but till that takes off, you can for example, use this feature to do picture transfers to your real camera.
f) Use the swipes on Android as short cuts. Nexus users and other gadget users swipe from the gadget bottom to access Google Now. You can also get to Google Play store by swiping it from the left and across. Similarly, to get to the Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth, you may use just two fingers to swipe from top. The upcoming Material Design from Google is expected to make things much better.
The above are just some of the things you probably were not aware of. There are definitely more of them that you will get to know as you use your Android phone more and more.
