Android 4.3 (Jellybean) Tips and Tricks

To enable / disable your notification light, go to Settings – LED indicator.

From here you can choose various options.

This may not be available on all models. An alternative however is to download NoLED from the Play Store, which has many options for incoming notifications.

It can be very useful to see your battery life in percentage terms instead of just the icon.

To enable this, go to Settings – Display and tick Display battery percentage.

The stock Android browser does not have a privacy or incognito mode, so the best solution is to download Google’s Chrome browser for Android from the Play store. Then open Chrome and go to Settings – New incognito tab.

Another option is to use the popular Dolphin browser whenever you want to browse privately. Then each time you exit, Dolphin asks you whether you want to delete your Cache or History. If you select yes, then your activity will be untraceable.

While in the Camera App, there are two ways to zoom in or out.

First, you can use Volume Up and Down keys.

Secondly, you can pinch your fingers on the screen to zoom in and out.

Android now has a way to display your name, phone or email on your lock screen. Perfect if you have lost or misplaced your device.

To enable this go to Settings – Lock screen – Lock screen widgets. Then at the bottom press Owner information. Here you can enter any information you want, such as your name or email address.

If you would to see a preview of text messages appear on your homescreen or lock screen as they come in, then to into the standard Messaging App. Then go to Settings – Notification settings – Preview message

Normally when Apps are installed, an icon is automatically placed on your homescreens.

This can be annoying for users who want to keep their homescreens clutter-free.

To stop then, go to Google Play – Menu Key – Settings. Then untick Auto-add Widgets.

If you are browsing a website and want to see the HTML source code behind the page, then Android doesn’t offer you the ability to do this by default.

There is however a handy App called View Web Source which can be installed. Whenever you want to view the HTML of a web page, you just press the Menu – Share – View Web Source.

You can then browse the code or copy the content into the clipboard.

Face Unlock allows you to unlock your phone by holding it up to your face. It is highly recommended to use the Improve Face Unlock feature to make the recognition faster and more accurate.

First, ensure you have Face Unlock enabled. Menu – Settings – Lock screen. Then chose Screen lock Face Unlock.

Once that is done go to Menu – Settings – Lock screen – Improve facial recognition. You might have to do this a few times to improve the speed of recognition. It is also a good idea to position the phone at different angles to your head to improve the accuracy.

If you don’t want to have to unlock your screen every time you take your device out of standby then go to Settings – Lock screen – Screen lock and change the settings there.