Carbon is a two-part app, meaning you need the app on your computer and on your Android device. You are not required to root your Android. What you will be allowed is the back up of your apps, app data and also syncing of your apps. Does this sound like something you can use? Let’s take a closer look at how to back up your Android with Carbon.

Enable Debugging in the Developer Options. You can follow these instructions on a newer Android OS like Jellybean 4.2.

There is a good chance you will need to install drivers if you are using Carbon on a Windows computer like I was. Take a look at the YouTube video to explain the process. Installing Samsung drivers for the S3 works just the same.

Once you have everything downloaded, you will need to activate Carbon on your Android and connect it to your computer.

Once connected, you can start Carbon on your computer. The computer app is really just used for the drivers to access some of the information. It appears that if your phone is rooted, you can grant SuperUser permissions and do not need the desktop app.

When everything is up and running, you will be offered choices on what you would like to do. For this article, we will create a backup.

When you are backing up your information, it is always a good idea to make sure the battery on your device has a good charge. Even though the USB can charge your device, you are likely to be drawing more power than you would get through the USB cable.

To create a backup, you will need to select the apps you’d like to backup. There is a “Select All” option to make that option easier. Otherwise, you can individually select the apps you’d like to backup.

You will then need to choose the location to store your backup. You can create the file on your device’s internal storage then move it somewhere else.

If you would like to use the paid option, you can back up and restore your information with Google Drive. You can also choose to connect Dropbox or Box to Carbon and back up/restore to these services. If you choose to not pay for the Pro version, you can still back up to the cloud services but will need to move the file to your device’s internal storage to restore it.

Once the destination is selected, the process will start.

Restoring the apps is just as simple. Select the apps to restore and click the Restore button. If you are restoring an app no longer installed on your device, you will be prompted to go to the Google Play Store and install it.

 Final Words

Not everyone wants to root their phone or tablet, but backing up your data is a necessity. Carbon is a great option for the non-root as well as the root user to easily make a backup of their app data.

What method do you use to back up your Android when it isn’t rooted?

Image credit: Android Lineup – Shadow

The Bridge

To gain access to your Google Music library in another player, you will need a rooted Android phone or tablet running 4.0 or higher. The test device I used was a Nexus 7 running the stock 4.2.2 ROM. You will also need a compatible music player and music already downloaded into your library. The app we are going to use to bridge your Google Music library to your music player is called GMusicFS, currently in beta.

When you click the download link, you will be downloading the app APK. You will need to move the APK file to your Android phone or tablet. I moved it to my Dropbox folder on my computer, let it sync and downloaded it onto my Nexus 7.

When GMusicFS is started, you will be asked to grant Super User permissions.

You will also need to tell GMusicFS which Google Account on your device has your music library.

Once you give the okay for GMusicFS to access your Google Music account, it will be scanned. The scan looks for the albums and artwork and the usual metadata. Depending on the size of your library, this can take a while. I had about 300 albums in mine and it took a couple of minutes for the initial scan.

In a nutshell, GMusicFS is making your Google Music accessible like it is a folder on your device. It’s like when you plug in an external drive to your computer or add in a microSD card to your phone or tablet. Each time you start your phone, GMusicFS is set by default to remount giving you access to your Google Music library.

The settings for GMusicFS offer some tweaks, but all of the defaults should work for most users.

Your Music Player

GMusicFS has been tested on some of the popular music players for Android. You may need to play with some of the settings by toggling them off and on to get the music player to see the music correctly. If you go to the Help tab in GMusicFS, you can see the settings you will need to change to get things working. If you use a player other than one they have listed, you can contact the developer to see if they have a solution for you.

For this demo, I used the N7 player. Initially I didn’t change any settings, and there was no music found. Once I toggled the Watch Filesystem option to Off in the Library tab then manually rescanned, everything worked great.

Using your favorite music player does not change. Over a Wi-Fi connection I didn’t have any buffering time or skipping due to the music being streamed slowly.

Final words

I know I have had some disdain for the Google Music player since I started uploading and buying music there, but if you have a rooted Android and use Google Music, this is an ideal solution.

Do you know of another solution to play your Google Music library in another player? Let us know below in the comments area.

Compressing a file on an Android

The process of making a compressed folder is pretty easy actually. After ZArchiver is installed and opened, there are some icons in the top right corner of the window. The one farthest to the right will give you a drop-down menu. In these options is where you will be able to make a compressed folder.

When you click create, you can create a folder or an archive. The archive formats can be 7z, Zip or TAR.

Like many desktop apps, you can choose the settings of the archive. You can add a password, choose the level of compression and even split the archive into multiple volumes.

Once you have all of the settings ready and the archive named, you are ready to add the files. It is a good idea to make sure you are in the correct folder or subfolder so you can easily add the files at this step. You can create a new folder and move all the files there if needed. Tap the files to highlight them and press down arrow icon to create the compressed archive.

Decompressing a file on an Android

Decompressing a file is just as straightforward. When there is a file emailed to you or otherwise downloaded to your Android device, you have a few options. The first option is to view the contents of the compressed archive.

Open ZArchiver and use the file manager to find the archive. click the archive when you find it. You should be presented with a few options, one of which will be View. You will be able to see the folders and files in the compressed archive. If needed, you can extract a single file.

If you want to extract all of them, there are other options. You can Extract here, this will empty the contents into the main folder. You can Extract to ./<Archive name>/, this will create a new folder and extract all of the files into it. This is usually a great option.

File types

This is a list showing all of the compatible file types you can compress, view and decompress. If you notice, there are a lot of not so commonly accessible files on an Android.

Create archive: 7z (7zip), zip, bzip2 (bz2), gzip (gz), XZ, tar

Decompress archive types: 7z (7zip), zip, rar, bzip2, gzip, XZ, iso, tar, arj, cab, lzh, lha, lzma, xar, tgz, tbz, Z, deb, rpm, zipx, mtz

View contents: 7z (7zip), zip, rar, bzip2, gzip, XZ, iso, tar, arj, cab, lzh, lha, lzma, xar, tgz, tbz, Z, deb, rpm, zipx, mtz

Final words

When you use your Android phone for more than calling and texting, you will need apps like ZArchiver. Compressing and extracting files on an Android is very useful. The more apps you have to make your Android more like your desktop will help you be more efficient while you are mobile.

What do you use to open a 7z file on your Android device?

Image credit: Zipper Three Quarter Perspective by BigStockPhoto

ApkRenamer does exactly what you think it does. Automagically it will look through your Android device and find all the downloaded APK files so you can automatically rename APK files for better organization. The nice part about this is, you do not need to have a rooted device for this to work.

The initial folder ApkRenamer will look for files in may not be where you have all your apk files stored. In this case, there is an option in the settings to look through the sub-folders on your device. This may take a little while to search through all of the information on your phone, but it will save you some work tracking them all down.

Alternatively, you can direct ApkRenamer to the location of the folder where the files are stored (if you know where that is). You need to make sure the files are on your device or microSD card for ApkRenamer to automatically rename APK files.

While you are in the settings, you can make some other adjustments. I have chosen the Dark theme, but the default is light. You can also choose the order of the name and other information you’d like to display. The default is App name then the version number. The third choice is an empty spot. If you would like to show just the name and not the version, go to the Second item and change it to “<empty>”.

There is also a setting to change the separator used between the name and version number. The pro version offers even more renaming options.

After the APK files have been found, you can sometimes see the names of the files.

In some instances, your apk file will have a generic name like “tablet.apk”, or “app.apk”. However, when ApkRenamer reads it, you will see the actual name of the app.

When you press the “Rename Files” button, the apk files will be renamed to the configuration you set earlier.

Final words

If you have plenty of apk files and have no idea what they are, this will be a useful app for you. Instead of running the APK again just to see what the app is, you can simply scan the microSD card or memory of the device to see what the files are.

I found this to be really simple and use and solves the much needed problem of being able to automatically rename APK files for better organization. This way when you look at a backup, you will better know what you need from it if you are partially restoring information to your device.

What do you do when you find an APK file named app.apk?

Image credit: Android puzzle

Google Keep is a new Android note-taking app Google developed to compete against the popular Evernote and many other note apps in the Play Store. Keep goes with the same simplistic design as the other Google applications. You get what you need and nothing more. Also in typical Google fashion, they released the app lacking some features (though there is no “beta” tag this time) to really let it compete with some of the major players.

The first and foremost thing you want in a note taking app is a super easy way to create and retrieve a note. Google Keep does this well. Starting out, there are 3 different methods to quickly access the notes – the app icon and two different widgets.

The first time you access Keep, you will need to let it know which Google Account you want to associate it with.

To make your first note, you can tap the first icon on the left of the menu bar. This will open up a simple note taking screen. Simply tap the screen and you can type a note with the keyboard like normal. Other than the normal note, you can also create a list note, audio note and a image note (using the camera).

At the top right of an open note, there are a couple of icons. The first is a color palette. This allows you to change the color of the note. This is more of an organization tool than anything. Having different color notes will make it easier to distinguish what they are about. Or if you just like red better than yellow, you can change the color too.

The next icon is the camera. Pressing this will let you add a picture to the note.

Then you have the settings icon. Right now there isn’t a lot in the way of settings for this Android note-taking app compared to others in the Google Play Store. All you can do is switch accounts and turn the sync feature on and off.  You can see the Google Drive address below because Keep is sort of an offshoot of your Google Drive account. We’ll talk more about this in a bit.

There are different types of notes. You can make a note, list, add audio or add an image to the note as mentioned earlier. You do not need to go through the widget to create the different style notes.

Sharing is somewhat limited though. Other note apps allow you to easily share notes with other users, but Keep does not. It is shared like other information on your Android. Click the Share symbol and it pulls up the app options.

Earlier I talked about Keep being an offshoot of Google Drive. To create or access notes, the web address you will go to is drive.google.com/keep. The interface is very simple here as well. You have 2 views, list or grid and the same basic controls as the Android app.

Final words

Right now, Google Keep is a pretty basic Android note-taking app. Depending on what your needs are in a note app, you might need to stick with your Evernote or other feature rich app for now. If you are looking for something to sync with your heavily used Google Account, this might just be what you’ve been waiting for.

Google Keep

1. JusWrite Stylus Task Organizer

When most people think stylus these days, they think of the Galaxy Note 2. JusWrite is made to work with the Samsung devices with the S Pen, though it will work with any stylus as well as your finger. JusWite has several modes. You can write your appointments in the calendar or just jot down notes. There is also Evernote integration so you can backup your hand written notes.

2. ezPDF Reader Multimedia PDF

Some of the PDF files out there do not allow markup. However, there are some apps out there allowing you to add arrows, circles, text notes and other annotations to a PDF. That’s what ezPDF Reader does. While ezPDF Reader isn’t specifically made for the use with a stylus, when annotating a PDF, using a stylus will make the mark-up a lot easier and more accurate with a pen.

3. Write

A lot of schools and businesses are seeing the benefit of using a tablet or smart phone during the course of the day. This is where Android apps that work with a stylus come in really handy. An app like Write will let you easily take notes in class or in a meeting just like you would if you had a notebook to scribe in. Write gives you different style screens to write on such as black sheets, lined and graph paper styles. Having the different styles make it easier for you to think of Write like your digital notebook.

4. SignEasy: Sign On The Go

When there is a need to sign a document, using your finger does not always give you an accurate representation of your signature. Using Android apps that work with a stylus like SignEasy will make it look like you used a pen to sign and date the paperwork instead of a crayon. To sign a document, you can import it right from the email or storage app. Once you sign and date it, you can email it right back.

5. FreeNote

You know how Evernote can be a really powerful note taking app. Well think of FreeNote to be that powerful for stylus users. You can easily create notes, add images and use a combination of the stylus and keyboard to enter in notes. A really cool feature of FreeNote is when editing a note, you can sort the note by layers. So when you markup an image, you can choose which part of the complex note you’d like to modify or erase.

6. Infinite Painter Free

It is pretty difficult to draw on the mobile screen with your finger and still be artistic. Infinite Painter eliminates the limitations and gives you an app where you can let your inner Monet flow from mind to screen. The different features like Pressure-sensitivity and blending colors to make the art you are creating look more like it would in other mediums.

7. StylusKeyboard

A lot of people would prefer to write something than type it on the small Android keyboard. StylusKeyboard lets you use your stylus to write over top of the keyboard. You can write letters and symbols. There is also the option to add gestures. The gestures are great because you can add a gesture to complete whole words.

Final Words

When you have a cool accessory for your phone, you will want to use it. Having a stylus can make your Android user experience a lot better if you have the right applications. While the applications in this list are only a small few of what’s available, you now have a place to start.

Share your most used Android apps that work with a stylus in the comment section below.

Image credit: Stylus by Wikimedia

For this tutorial, we will show you how to do so on a Nexus 7.

Prerequitise:

• A computer running Ubuntu Precise (12.04), Quantal (12.10), or Raring (13.04).
• Nexus 7

Preparing your computer

On your computer, open a terminal and add the following repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:phablet-team/tools

Update your system and install the required flashing tools:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install phablet-tools android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

Unlock your Device

This step assumes that your device is locked and unrooted. If you have previously rooted your Nexus 7, skip this step.

Note: This step will unlock your phone and wipe all your data. Make sure you have backed up all your data before you proceed with this step.

1. First, power off your Nexus 7. Next, press and hold the “Power + Volume Down” buttons together until the bootloader screen appear.

2. Connect your Nexus 7 to the computer (via USB cable).

3. On your computer, type in the terminal:

sudo fastboot oem unlock

4. On your Nexus 7, accept the terms of unlocking and press the Power button. This will unlock the bootloader and wipe all your data.

5. Once it is completed, it will reboot your device and prompt you to set up your device again. Follow the guide to setup your device again.

Enable USB Debugging

The next step is to enable USB debugging mode in your Nexus 7.

First, activate the developer options

Next, go to “Settings -> System -> Developer options” and enable USB debugging.

If you are running Android 4.2.2, you will need to go to the terminal in your computer and type

adb kill-server
adb start-server

Lastly, connect your Nexus 7 to the computer via the USB cable. You should see a popup in your tablet’s home screen. Tap “OK”.

Flashing Ubuntu Touch

Once you have done the above steps, you are ready to flash Ubuntu Touch.

Note: The following step will wipe your Android and install Ubuntu Touch. Double check again that you have backed up all your files and data.

In your computer’s terminal, run the command:

phablet-flash -b

You should see the following warning:

Type “yes” to continue.

When clicked, the necessary files will be added to the Nexus 7 storage. Once all the files are on the Nexus 7, Ubuntu Touch will install itself.

This whole process will take some time. When you see this screen, do not unplug your Nexus 7 from the computer or the process will not complete.

There will be another set of actions. You will see the process as the files are extracted and deployed. When the full installation process is completed, your Nexus 7 will reboot.

Ubuntu Touch Installed and Running

After the reboot, you will see a whole new screen.

To get out of the lock screen, slide finger in from the left side of the screen’s edge to show the Unity Launcher. This will unlock the screen and take you to the different home screens.

Congratulation. You have successfully installed Ubuntu Touch on your Nexus 7.

Back to Android

After you have tried out Ubuntu Touch and find that it isn’t for you, you can always go back to the stock Android ROM.

1. Download the original ROM to your computer.

2. Extract the ROM. Open a terminal and change the directory (using cd) to the extracted directory.

3. Connect your Nexus 7 to the computer via USB (make sure your device is powered on). Run the command:

adb reboot-bootloader
./flash-all.sh

Note: If ./flash-all.sh doesn’t work, add a sudo to the beginning of the command:

sudo ./flash-all.sh

Once the computer finishes its job, your Nexus 7 will run the same version of Android OS you started with previously.

Let us know what you think of the Ubuntu Touch Preview in the comments below.

There is a manual way to set the default apps in Android and an app in the Google Play Store to help you do the same thing. Below is a description of both methods.

Manually Setting the Default App

When a default app is set, such as your browser, you will first need to remove it before you can set a new app as the default. To clear the defaults, you will need to go to “Settings -> Application Manager”, then look for the app. In this case, Chrome is being used.

Clicking on the app in the Application Manger will show options to uninstall, clear data and a few others. What you are looking for is the “Clear Defaults” option. Once clicked, any link Chrome was used to open by default will now ask what app you’d like to use.

If you installed a new browser like Firefox, you can start adding this as the default app to open web links when prompted. You may be asked if you want to set the app as the default at that time and should say yes. On other phones, you might see a “Just Once” or  ”Always” option. When you are testing a homescreen launcher, you may want to toggle back and forth between the new and old launcher. This is a case where you would want to say “Just Once” option so there is no app set to the default and you’ll be prompted each time.

Using an App

The app we’ll be talking about is Default App Manager Lite. Tthis app makes the process a little easier by giving you a list of different categories like Browser, Audio, Calendar, Email, and more. Having all of the categories right there will save you clicks.

Starting out, you will see a big list of everything your phone can open. The list is in category form so you will see categories like browser and audio with some file types like .xlsx and PDF on there as well. Next to the category type, you will either see the name of the default app or No Default App.

If there is an app set as the default and you’d like to change it, click on the category tab. Inside will be all the possible apps you can use.

You will need to clear the defaults first. Clicking on the “Clear Default” button will take you to the app page in the Application Manager section of the settings. From here, the process is the same. When the defaults are cleared, press the Back button.

After the defaults are cleared, you can click the “Set Default” button. You will be asked to select the app you’d like to be the default for this action. Click it then click either “Always” or “Set as Default”. Confirm if needed.

Once you have the default app set, you can move on to any other actions you’d like to change.

Final Words

While the process is almost the same either way, having an app to help you in setting the default apps will put everything in one place. This saves time clicking around to find the app used to open a link or file type.

Have you used a different app or method to set the default apps in Android? Leave a comment below letting us know.

In talking to people who own the Note 2, the hardest part of using the S-Pen stylus is getting to know what it can do and remembering to use it. If you are not a stylus user, this can be a bit of a challenge. However, once you start using it, the S-Pen is great.

1. Enabling the S-Pen input method

The first thing to know about using the S-Pen is you can use it on any app on the Note 2 and Tab Note 10.1 where you would normally use the keyboard. Finding the spot is not the easiest thing to do, though. Open an app will normally require you to use the keyboard. Press and hold the microphone button on the keyboard. In the pop-up window, check the box in the second row from the left at the bottom that has the “T” and the pen. To change back to the normal keyboard, do the same in reverse.

2. Quick Commands

The Quick Commands are great shortcuts for things like creating email or creating Web search. To access the Quick Commands, here are the steps:

• Hold the S Pen button down.
• Place the stylus head on the Note 2 screen and swipe up.
• Write a command in the box that pops up.
• To create your own commands, tap the Settings tab then Quick Command settings.

3.User Guide App

Do you need a few good ideas on using the S-Pen? Here is an app that Samsung put out to help you figure out different ways to use the pen. It’s basically an instruction manual on different uses. While the app is nothing more than a link to YouTube videos, its good to have all of the instructional videos grouped in one place.

4. Screen Grab

Press the button on the side of the S-Pen and hold it to the screen. This will enable a screen capture.

5. Copy something

When you see something on the screen, you can press the button on the side of the S-Pen and draw around the shape. When you do this, there is an option to copy it. You can then paste it wherever you’d like, in a note for example.

6. Quick Note

Remove the pen while on a phone call to have a sticky note-like window pop up so you can take notes if needed.

7. S-Pen Shortcuts

Use the S Pen to drag the notification bar down to see and select one of the S-Pen shortcuts.

 Final Words

The S-Pen is one of those accessories that can really make your Samsung Note 2 really useful if you know how to use it. Like any technology, you will want to get a feel for the basics then add some slightly more advanced skills. Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed or you won’t have the urge to even try to use the S-Pen Stylus at all.

Do you have a tip or trick you’d like to share about using the S-Pen Stylus? Leave us a comment below.

Nope, this is not a tutorial on installing Ubuntu on your phone (that will come later). Here we are going to talk about some cosmetic changes to your Android OS to mimic the Ubuntu Touch interface, nothing more.

Launcher Theme

The easiest way to change the theme of your Android is by installing a home screen launcher that supports themeing. The home screen launcher we recommend for this is ADW.Launcher since there is a Ubuntu Theme available. However, if you are using other launchers like Nova and Apex, you can also use themes made for ADW.

After installing both ADW.Launcher and the ADW Ubuntu Theme, you will need to activate the theme in the home screen launcher settings. Once you do, you should see some changes to the application dock at the bottom of your screen. You can now proceed to the Wallpaper section to select a Ubuntu-like background for your home screen.

Unity Launch bar

The Unity Launch bar is another useful part of the Ubuntu desktop. To add this to your Android desktop, we have two options available for you. Unity Launcher and Glovebox. Both are great choices to add the launcher sidebar. Both are free and have paid upgrades if you really like them and want more features.

1. GloveBox

When installed, GloveBox will add the launcher dock to the left side of your screen. You can add up to 6 apps to it in the free version. To access the launcher dock, swipe your finger from the left screen’s edge toward the middle of the screen. Without picking up your finger, glide it toward the top or bottom to highlight the app to open and release your finger to open the app.

2. Unity Launcher

Unity Launcher offers most of the same features as GloveBox. Some of the differences are, with Unity Launcher, there are more locations to access the launcher bar, not just the left or right side. There is a setup tutorial walking you through the process of adding apps and how to use Unity Launcher. When you drag the launch bar open, it stays open. You also have the choice to add more than 6 apps in the free version. Another thing I like is the area used to drag out the launch bar is larger with Unity Launcher.

Final words

While these cosmetic changes are not the same as actually running Ubuntu on your phone, it can help you to get by until the actual release is available on a phone you can buy. If you have a rooted device, there are apps out there to help you install Ubuntu on your Android. If you really want an actual Linux OS, you can try out some of those for now.

Would you use an Ubuntu phone for your everyday uses?

Using Trigger

Using Trigger is not difficult. Right after you have installed it, you can start to add apps or other actions.

Starting out with the tabs across the top, you have six different parts of the phone or tablet you can control by gestures. Start by taking a look through all of the different options to get a feel for what you might want to have easier access to. Remember, the free version only lets you set up six different gestures. Most of the time you need fast access to an app or a setting, so that’s where we will be focusing.

With the Apps tab opn, you will see a fairly empty screen. To add an app, press the “+” at the top right. When you do, you will see a scrollable list of your apps and a spot to draw the gesture. Adding gestures to settings or other options is done the same way.

In this tutorial, I’m setting up a gesture for Dropbox. The gesture needs to be a single motion. So drawing an “=” or multiple letters will not work.

Once you have the gesture decided on, you will be asked to test it out. If the gesture is difficult to repeat with ease every time, you may want to try a different gesture.

When you have a few apps and settings added to Trigger, you can start to use it. You may have noticed the floating blue teardrop shape on your screen. This is how you open the Trigger screen to draw the gesture. You can also set up apps to be activated by dragging this little icon in a direction. To hide and show this icon, go to the notification bar and tap the Trigger Toggle tab.

Now that the HOW part is all done, let’s take a look at what you can really do with Trigger.

Uses for Gestures

As I mentioned earlier, the most common things most people are interested in having fast access to are apps and settings. Here are some possible uses:

• Toggle Google Voice call settings.
• Opening the compose window for a SMS to a specific person.
• Dialling a specific contact.
• Turn WiFi on or off.
• Toggle Bluetooth on or off.
• Start Google Maps with a predetermined location entered.
• Open any app on your phone or tablet.
• Go to a bookmark in your browser.
• Create a shortcut to something stored in Google Drive.
• Open a feed in Google Reader.

As you can see, there are a lot of possible uses and what I listed here is a really small portion of all the choices.

Final words

Whatever the reason you are getting into using gestures, Trigger is one of the most full-featured gesture launchers I have come across. If you are using some gestures in Dolphin HD or another browser and like how handy they are, Trigger would be a great addition to your phone or tablet.

How are you using gestures on Android?

1. Call Notes

Call Notes is similar to another application previously covered here called Call Reminder Notes. Call Notes is a bit different because of the information displayed. In Gmail or on your Android device, you have the option to add notes to a contact in your address book. These are the notes to be displayed. A great time to have the notes displayed is when you are making business calls. You can keep notes of your previous meetings or other info you may want to talk about and have it displayed when you make or take the call.

The Pro version of Call Notes lets you edit the the notes for a contact right from the app opposed yo having to go to Gmail on the web or your Android contact list. You can also have the notes displayed for the whole call or a set amount of time.

Call Notes

2. Google Voice

While Google Voice is not anything new, there is a little shortcut not many people use. What the shortcut does is change the default app to make outgoing calls. The shortcut will let you toggle through the choices of using Google Voice to make:

• All Calls
• No Calls
• International calls only
• Ask every time a call is made

The toggle can be essential for anyone who uses their Google Voice number for work and their actual cell phone number for personal. Toggling to ”Ask every time a call is made” can be an easy way to know you are calling someone from the correct number. You can usually get the the shortcuts by long-pressing the screen and choosing Shortcuts. Look for “Toggle Google Voice”.

Google Voice

3. Missed Call Auto Reply

Some Android phones come with an option to send a text message to someone when you miss their call. Think about it, you are in a meeting or a movie and you get a call from someone. You can’t answer but you want them to know you got the call and were just in a spot where you couldn’t talk. If your phone doesn’t come with this feature, this is a useful app for you.

Missed Call Auto Reply asks you to create an event. You will pick a length of time and a message to send. When a call is silenced, the predetermined message will be sent. On some devices, the voicemail will need to be shut off for this to work. I didn’t have this issue when I made a call to the phone and missed the call.

Missed Call Auto Reply 

4. T9 Dialer

One of the fastest ways to text a few years ago was by using T9. As it learned how you typed, it would auto complete the rest of the word for you. While some phones eliminated this feature for texting, some phones kept it for finding contacts quickly and the dialer app. If your phone is not one that has this feature, you might want to give EasyDialer T9 a try. When you open the app, you can start typing the person’s name or phone number and your list of contacts will be narrowed down to only those possibilities.

EasyDialer T9 would be a replacement app for your dialer meaning you could see your call log and dial normally from this app too. In addition to the basic phone tasks needed, you can also set a custom background image making it more personalized than the preinstalled dialer.

EasyDialer T9

5. Old School Dialer

Old School Dialer is just a fun app to turn the buttons of the dialer into a rotary phone dial. If you miss the 70′s and want to have a different look for your phone, this will do it. It’s fun to watch people use Old School Dialer when they want to make a call from your phone.

Old School Dialer

Final Words

While the Android phone dialer is not the most popular app to tweak, there are some apps out there to add some good functionality to it. Whether it’s by viewing notes, changing the look or adding an auto reply, they can help make things just a little easier.

Are there apps you use to extend the abilities of the Android phone dialer app?

Tasker is one of the most well known and also one of the most complicated apps out there to automate actions on your Android. In light of that, we are going to talk about some other Android apps to automate some of redundant tasks and actions on your phone.

1. Llama

Llama is one of the staff favorites here at MTE.  It is a great low-power way for you to automate some of the functions on your phone. What’s great with Llama is you can keep the battery draining GPS off and still get it to maintain location awareness. Instead of using GPS, Llama use cellphone towers to determine your location. Once you tell Llama where home or work or other location is, you can have applications activate, WiFi turn on, modify ringtones and volumes, screen times and all sorts of different aspects of your phone.

A few of the actions require root access like option to reboot your phone automatically, the majority can be used on pretty much all of the devices out there.

Llama

2. Impel

What Impel offers is a catalog of popular Tasks. The Tasks are actions you can automate on your device such as making your phone silent when you have it face down and returning it to the previous state when the device is face up. You can take a look through the catalog and see if any of the pre-made tasks will work for you. Otherwise you can create your own.

The only frustration about the free version is that it always redirects you to the Play Store to purchase the Pro version. You can always press the Back button to exit the purchase page and continue to use the free version, just keep in mind that it is going to be a frustrating experience. Once in the Tasks menu, you can view all the available Tasks in the catalog and download the one you need. By pressing the menu icon in the bottom right corner, you can create your own from the step-by-step wizard.

Impel

3. beeZee | Auto Reply SMS

Sending a quick test message is a lot easier than sending an email or making a call to a person. The problem is, some people want a reply right away. When you are working or otherwise engaged, you might not be able to reply in a timely manner. Having an automated reply to incoming text messages will let the sender know you are busy and will get back to them later.

The setup is pretty standard. Set up a profile for the event and how long you think you’ll be busy and beeZee does the rest. When someone sends you a message, they will be replied to right away with whatever reply you have set up.

beeZee | Auto Reply SMS

4. AutomateIt

AutomateIt is a full featured app to automate your Android phone. Starting off, you can look in the Rules Market. There are a lot of different pre-made ways to automate actions and apps. For example, shutting off your GPS when Maps closes, or turning off your Wi-Fi when no longer connected to the preferred network.

When creating your own Rules for your phone to follow, you can choose from the list during each step. Start with a Trigger like Pandora starts, you can have the music volume turn up automatically. Or have your device speak something every time your phone boots up.

AutomateIt

Final Words

Automation can be as simple or as complicated as you’d like it to be. Most of the automation apps in the Play Store come with the same functionalities, but some of them are easier to use while others are very complicated. The trick is to find an app(s) that you are comfortable to use. Once you have a feel for how they work, you can quickly setup an automated action for just about anything on your phone.

Do you automate your Android actions? How do you do it?

Image credit: By nicolas.boullosa

What we are going to talk about today is a solution to gain access to more applications using less widgets. This way you’ll have more space on your home screen to do whatever you like. Previously we talked about making a custom widget which might be an option for some people but the options below are less technical and more suitable for everybody.

1. App Space

App Space is a fun widget. It’s almost like a background image as well as a functional 4×4 widget. App Space isn’t currently supported on tablets bigger than 7”. The reason App Space is a little different than a lot of the other widgets out there is it’s a pre-made image. On the image are items like a radio and these items are hotspots. Once you assign a application to that hotspot, what we need to do is tap on the radio to start Pandora or whichever application you chose.

The different styles of backgrounds lend themselves to different personality types. The backgrounds are geared towards a younger crowd. App Space comes with one free background, the others are $0.99 each. Once you select a specific background, you’ll see a list of all of the clickable items. For example on the default image there’s the calculator, phone, magazines, keyboard, camera and lots of others. All of these items can be a shortcut to whichever application you like.

Just remember to associate an app to an item in the widget that makes sense. You might not want to have the phone item activate Dropbox or something.

App Space

2. Elixir 2 – Widgets

Elixir comes with 21 different widgets. The widgets are described a little bit differently than how a typical widget is described. Normally, a widget size is described as how many places tall and wide it takes up (e.g. 3×2). Elixir has the same style description as well as the number of rows and icons sitting in each row. This second description is a little better for our uses. This is because the icons are actually shrunk down and more than fit in a smaller space.

When you choose a style widget, you’ll then have to choose what you want in the widget. If you choose to add application icons, those are available. You also have lots of other shortcuts such as battery voltage, CPU usage, running applications, email unread count, Wi-Fi link speed, NFC toggle , etc. to choose from.

All of these shortcuts may have their own individual pre-installed Android widget on your phone without Elixir, but having a single widget with access to all of these apps and settings makes life a lot easier.

Elixir also offers some basic customization. For example you can change the background color or transparency so it looks less like something that’s out of place in your screen.

Elixir 2

Final Words

Widgets are really a great way to utilize space on the home screen. These Android widgets are only a couple of the choices out there. It’s nice that they are more customizable than other options in the Google Play Store, yet are not too complicated to use.

Do you prefer individual widgets or ones like we talked about today?

Here’s an example of what the compressed image size can be.

As you can see, the image was compressed to over fifty percent its original size. Using Image Optimizer to shrink images to save space is fairly easy. When you open the application, you’ll immediately see all of the images available on your phone or tablet. To choose an image or images to optimize, tap on the image. When you have all of the images chosen, press the button at the bottom of the screen to start optimizing.

This is one of those unique applications that has one purpose and one purpose only. It’s not cluttered with tons of extra features or options to weigh it down.

The default settings do a decent job of compressing the image. The compression setting is set to compress up to seventy-five percent. Depending on the size of the image, this can take a little while. If you have multiple images it can take even longer. If you require more compression or optimization, you can go into the settings and increase the optimization level or compression percentage. Keep in mind these will increase the amount of time it takes to optimize the image.

There is a difference in the way PNG and JPG images are handled. With a PNG image about 600 KB, and all of the compression and optimization settings cranked up as high as they would go, it took about two minutes to optimize the image on a single core processor tablet. After the image was optimized, the size of the image only went down about 100 kB. While this performance is decent, a JPG image will allow for much more size reduction.

As with any image compression, there is always the possibility of  the image being slightly distorted or showing a loss of quality. You can play around with the settings to find a happy medium between the compressed size and retention of quality.

Final Words

No matter where you’re storing your images, at some point you are likely going to need more space. Getting into the habit of compressing or optimizing your images might not be a bad habit to learn.

What do you do when you need to shrink images to save space?

If you are looking for a full backup and not just an app on your phone, take a look at the Ultimate Backup Tool (UBT). There are versions for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Download the tools

You will need to download the Ultimate Backup Tool from the XDA Developers site. Look for the latest Windows version. At the time of this writing, it is v1.3.2.

1. Download Ultimate Backup Tool

2. Depending on the version you downloaded, you may need to get the Android SDK.

If you need to download the Android SDK, move the ”adb.exe”, “AdbWinApi.dll”, “AdbWinUsbApi.dll” and “fastboot.exe” from the zip to where you have UBTv1.3.2. If this is a little confusing, there’s a great video explaining the whole process on the download page.

Using Ultimate Backup Tool

Ultimate Backup Tool will only work on Android devices running 4.0 or higher. If you have a Nexus 7 or other non-rooted device running 4.2.1, you may not be able to find the developer options. Here’s the way to activate the Developer Options in 4.2.1.

After extracting the files from the zip file, start the Ultimate Backup Tool by clicking on the UBT batch file. You should get a Command Line window that looks similar to the following:

When reading it over, one thing you’ll notice is the SMS messages are not backed up. To back them up, take a look at our solution to back up SMS messages.

If you haven’t connected your 4.0 or higher Android device yet, you can do so now. If nothing happens, you may need to use option 14 to refresh. Otherwise, you should see the name and version number of the operating system you’re running in the first box.

The next box down is the backup options. If you would like to set a specific location for the files to backup to, you can do that by choosing the first option. Options 2-7 are the backup choices.

1. Set path
2. Back up all without system apps
3. Back up all with system apps
4. Back up app and device data
5. Back up apps
6. Back up device shared storage/SD card contents
7. Back up a single app

A good general backup choice is option 4 - ”Back up app and device data.” This  option will back up everything on the device and the device data, just not the actual applications.

If you want a complete and total backup, you can use option 2 - ”Back up all without system apps.” This should back up the app APKs as well.

Once the backup is initiated, you’ll need to look at your phone or tablet. If you want to encrypt the backup, you can enter a password. If not just click backup data.

You will see the different information and app names or package ID flashing across the screen.

Do not shut off your computer or disconnect the phone or tablet while the backup is in progress. Wait until you see the “backup completed” window pop up on your computer.

To restore the apps and information, use option 8 – “Restore” and follow the steps in reverse.

Conclusion

Ultimate Backup Tool is one of the easiest ways to completely backup Android data without rooting. If you are one to switch devices often or are having problems with your device and need to send it in to get fixed (but don’t want to lose any of your information or progress), it’s great.

What apps do you use to backup Android data without rooting?

Image credit: jaguaralani XDA Forum

The lay of the land

Knowing where the options are and how everything works will greatly increase your chance of creating a useful widget instead of a mess on your screen.

To get started, add a widget to your home screen the way you normally do and select UCCW as the widget. Choose a larger size like a 4×4 for this learning process.

Tap the “Create a new skin” button.

Now we are at the build screen.

If you do nothing and press the home button, you will see nothing more than a white square on your home screen.

Let’s learn the basics. In the navigation bar across the top, you’ll see three choices: “Select Object”, “+/-” and “Sort”. Each of these are very important to adding and arranging the different things to the widget.

Select Object

Select Object is where you choose an object to modify. It can be the color, transparency, font, size and so on.

+/-

This is where you add or remove a object.

Sort

When you have more than one item in your widget (i.e. time, date, message notification, etc.), each of these is in their own layer and sometimes are not accessible by simply tapping on them. The Sort option lets you arrange the layers so you can access the item you’d like to modify.

Menu icon

The menu is where you will save your skin (the widget you are creating), export it, turn on the hot spots ( we’ll talk about this later) and more.

Adding items to the widget

While working on your custom Android widget, make sore you save your progress regularly. Start to add a few items to the custom widget by pressing the +/- button and look through the long list of options. Check the box next to the items you like to add and press “Close”.

All of the items whose the boxes you checked are now placed within the widget in a big mess.

Press the “Select Object” button and choose an item. Here I chose time. You will see all of the options to customize the time display on the screen. The first thing you might want to do is press the Position button. This will give you the ability to move this item across the screen. I recommend either using your finger to drag the item across the screen or take the Faster movement box and use the arrows.

Now that the time is in a place where we can see the changes we are making, press the Close button and start making adjustments to the size, color, angle, transparency, font and/or the format (12 or 24 hour).

When you are somewhat happy with the way the clock looks, move on to some of the other items you’ve added to the widget. The adjustments for all of the options are pretty similar to each other but look closely at what options are available for each item, some items have different customizing options.

Downloading add-ons for custom looks

The default fonts and options give you some pretty good starting points. Since we are creating a widget specifically for us, we will need some more fonts and other means to customize it.

The Google Play Store

Head over to the Google Play Store and search for “UCCW skin” you will find a lot of options – some paid and some free.

UCCW Fonts

Adding a font to UCCW is actually quite easy. Any .ttf font can be used. You can go to any free font site like dafont.com and find something you like. When you download it, transferred over to the storage of your Android in a folder labeled “fonts”. Once this is done, you’ll be able to press the font button and select your newly added font.

Now What?

Well, the rest is about your creativity. Spend some time to play with the app and familiarize yourselves with the different objects and icons. Personally, I like to have a transparent background so there isn’t a big blocky widget sitting on the screen.

It is also best to take some time and create hotspots. These will let you activate an app when you tap on a section of the widget. For example you could have a timer start when you tap the clock or time icon in the widget.

Conclusion

This is definitely an application you need to play around with to get the hang of. However, once you do, you can really start to design some pretty cool looking widgets. There really isn’t the room in one article to go over all of the options and possibilities. For some good examples check out MyColorScreen. You are sure to see something there to inspire you.

If cost is your concern …

Just about any of the tablets on the market can currently beat the iPad in price. However, some of the really cheap tablets also have limited features. Some features to be potentially lacking on a cost-effective tablet could be: lower screen resolution, no access to the Google Play Store, smaller internal storage, slower processors, and lesser quality build materials.

1. Nook HD

The Nook HD is a pretty simple device. While there is no access to the Google Play Store, the Nook can be rooted fairly easily to allow the installation of Google Play Store application. The Nook HD 8 GB model comes in at just under $200. If you are not really looking for anything overly fancy and just want something for reading books and other entertainment options, this could be a great device for you. You can even set up different user profiles which is not common on Android devices.

2. ARCHOS 70b Internet Tablet

The ARCHOS 70b is a fairly good tablet in the $200 range. Its features include TV output, access to the Google Play Store and Honeycomb 3.2. While it may not be a brand as talked about as the others out there, it is a good low cost option.

If portability is your concern…

A 7-inch tablet is a lot more portable than a full-size iPad. Not to knock the size of the iPad, though; a 10-inch Android tablet is equally as difficult to carry around. Below are some smaller screen tablets with a lot of features that are much more portable than a full-size iPad.

1. Nexus 7

You can’t write a tablet article without mentioning the Nexus 7. This brilliant 7-inch screen and lightning-fast tablet make it a great choice for everyday use. Being a Google Nexus device, it also has the benefit of receiving upgrades faster than all other Android devices. The 7-inch screen size makes it small enough to fit in the back pocket of a pair of jeans or a coat pocket.

2. Samsung Tab 7.7

The Samsung Tab 7.7 is a great size for everyday use on the go. Slightly bigger than the Nexus 7, it is great for watching a movie or reading a book while in a waiting room.

3. iPad Mini

If you like the iPad, but not the size, then the iPad Mini is going to be your ideal solution. It’s almost exactly the same as an iPad, except for a smaller screen (7.9 inch screen without retina display).

If you plan on typing often

Many of the tablets on the market have very similar features (e.g. a front camera, great resolution screen, ability to download apps, etc.). The two tablets below were chosen because they had a feature others didn’t have – a good physical keyboard.

1. Microsoft Surface RT

I brought the Surface to this list because it is a pretty good middle ground between a Windows computer and a tablet. The reason for this is the Microsoft Surface RT is usable through a touchscreen w/ stylus and has a detachable keyboard. To get a keyboard with an iPad, it’s an additional cost and third-party accessory.

2. ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700

The Asus Transformer series is very popular for those who prefer a tablet with laptop capabilities. The ASUS TF700 is a great everyday tablet because of the brilliant HD screen and the very usable convertible keyboard dock. While the resolution on a full-size iPad is a little better than the TF700, for the same price as an iPad, you’ll save money and headache trying to find a keyboard perfect for the tablet.

If you need a tablet that can do everything

For the person who has no specific needs in a tablet, the two Android tablets below are great general-purpose devices. They’re not too big, not too small and priced well.

1. Kindle Fire HD 8.9

As you may or may not know, the Kindle Fire HD cannot access the Google Play Store, only the Amazon AppStore. For the person who is looking for more of an entertainment device to read books, watch movies, download a few games and surf the web, this is a popular choice. If the time comes when you’d like to get more from it, you can always root it.

2. Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9

The Tab 8.9 is a WiFi and cellular device so you can have access anywhere if you opt for a wireless plan. The peppy processor speed makes it a great all-round tablet. One thing, though it is still running the older Android 3.2 (Honeycomb), but it shouldn’t deter you from doing anything on it.

Conclusion

As you can see, using alternative tablets has advantages and disadvantages over iPads as well as other devices on the market. When making the choice, you can make a more informed decision. If you aren’t going to be using all the features of an iPad, there is no real sense in dropping more money on a device that doesn’t fit your needs..

Image credit: Google Nexus 7 Unboxing

We have previously covered plenty of home launchers for Android, and we realized that this is an area that is updated regularly. Many new and better Home Launcher spruce up with each update of the Android system and it is worthwhile to revisit the topic again.

Normally we like to mention mostly free applications. However, some of the best possible applications might cost a couple bucks. That being said, the following is a list of different home launcher options, both free and paid.

1. Chameleon

Chameleon is the home launcher on this list made specifically for tablets. Some launchers give you different widgets. Usually the widgets offer sizes of their choice, and you just need to deal with it. Chameleon was designed to increase your productivity while using your tablet. The screen is broken down into the grid. The size of the widgets are extremely customizable. For example, you can have a Twitter widget that’s only one block of the grid or it can take up a whole screen. If you are the crafty type, you can make your own widget too.

Only one home screens is meant to be used in each category. Each screen can have different widgets, apps in the dock and conditions. The conditions are things like time and/or day of the week, being connected to a specific WiFi network or in a specific location. These conditions let your tablet know which home screen you like to see during certain times of day or at certain locations.

Pros: 

• To my knowledge, this is the only home launcher built specifically for tablets.
• The way the screen grid is designed, it lets you be more productive by not letting you overload the screen.
• The conditions make it easy to see different important information at different times of the day.

Cons:

• Right now it is only for tablets. A phone version is in the works.
• Limited number of widgets.

Chameleon  ($3.99)

2. ADWLauncher

ADW has been around for quite a while. In fact, ADW Launcher was the first home launcher I ever downloaded. The reason it made the list is because some developers recently reworked it completely. Now ADW is more competitive with some of the newer launchers in the Google Play Store.

What you get in the new ADW is a lot more customization. For example, you can resize the screen. It let’s you designate an area where widgets and application icons will be. Everywhere else will just be open. Another handy feature is the ability to group applications. This might not seem like something you want to spend your time doing, but for an Android power user, this can save a lot of time.

Pros:

• Really fast and lightweight launcher.
• Not only can you use ADW.Launcher themes, you can use themes and skins made for other launchers.
• Gestures, screen resizing and tons of other customization.
• Add-ons like ADWNotifier add even more functionality.

Cons:

• Too many options can be intimidating to new users.
• To get some cool 3D features, you need to buy the paid version.

ADW.Launcher

3. Nova Launcher

Nova Launcher is made for devices running Android OS 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or higher. Right now, Nova Launcher Prime (the paid version) is the launcher I’m currently using on my Nexus 7. The reason I chose it over some of the others is because it offers features like overlapping widgets. I like a fairly minimalist screen, and being able to overlap the widgets lets me create this kind of look.

The dock is really nice and gives you a lot of room to keep the most used applications easily accessible. I also really like some of the built-in actions. The Nexus 7 doesn’t have a button allowing easy access to voice search. Nova Launcher makes this possible. After playing with quite a few different home launchers, this was the one best fitting my needs.

Pros:

• Very clean design.
• Allows add-ons like TeslaUnread.
• Gestures, actions and other settings give just the right amount of customizing options.
• Overlapping widgets let you move things closer together and create different looks.

Cons:

• Not as many features or widgets like some launchers on the market.
• Only on 4.0 or higher. I have to use a different launcher on my main phone and tablet.

Nova Launcher

 Final thoughts

A lot of different home launchers out there offer different combinations of features. Picking the right one really comes down to trying the different options and seeing which one has the right combination of features and cosmetics that work best for you.

We will cover more on this topic as we discover more gem from the Play store. Meanwhile, you tell us which home launcher do you use and why?

To stop Android apps from starting by themselves, you’ll need help from an app. Startup Auditor is a simple startup manager app NOT requiring root access to manage the app startup list. The following shows how to manage your Android startup list.

Find the running apps

For starters, you will want to find out which applications are running when they shouldn’t be. To do this, go to “Settings -> Applications -> Running services”. The list you’ll see will show all of the applications currently running on your phone. If you see an app running and you haven’t used it for anything, it’s a good one to take note of. Make a list of any of applications (other than system applications) you’d like to stop from starting by themselves.

Setup

Once Startup Auditor is installed and opened, you will see a list of all the applications on your phone. Keep in mind this list also shows system applications. Typically these system applications are not something you want to shut down, especially while booting up or even after starting your device. You could be shutting down a service needed to run the phone.

Tap on the misbehaving application, Google Maps in this instance, and see a screen something like this.

Checking the boxes for “Startup Disable” will stop Android apps from starting by themselves next time your phone or tablet turns on. The “Keep Disabled” option will make sure the app isn’t being sneaky and waits for a few minutes after you restart your device to turn on. This is where a startup manager really comes in handy.

What this does for you

The first thing you should notice is an increase in the speed at which your phone powers up. If you only disabled an app or two, don’t expect your phone or tablet to boot up much faster. You will likely need to disable several apps to notice a huge difference. Another benefit you should see is increased overall performance. Because fewer apps are running, less of the RAM is being used. It should make your phone or tablet run faster.

Conclusion

While this is a quick app install and setup, you could potentially see a huge increase in your performance. For people who love to try out new applications, something like Startup Auditor is a good way to make sure some of those new applications are not trying to take over your phone or slow it down.

Alternatively, for those who want to disable the apps completely without uninstalling them, here is another way to disable them from running in the background.

Do you have another startup manager app you use to stop Android apps from starting by themselves? If so, leave us a comment so we can try it out.