Android 4.3 (Jellybean) Tips and Tricks

While in your email App, a handy trick is to pinch and zoom out to see a ‘day view’ of your emails. This is handy if you have a lot of emails and want to quickly sort them by recency.

If you would prefer not to be told every time an Application has been updated, open the Play Market – Menu – My Apps. Then Menu again. Then Settings.

Under General settings, untick the Notifications option.

From your Homescreen press Menu – Settings – About device.

This should list your Android version, Build number and Model Number

If you want to hide folders or files from being index or displayed, simple put a . (full top / period) before the file or folder name.

To soft reset your phone press and hold the Power/Lock button for around 8 to 10 seconds. The phone will restart automatically.

If that doesn’t work, then remove the battery (if it has one). Wait 30 seconds and put the battery back in. Then press the Power/Lock button to turn the phone on.

To quickly close Apps, press the Home key

This will display your currently running Apps. From here you can simply swipe the Apps off the screen by dragging your finger left or right. This is a very quick way to free up some memory.

If you want to check how much RAM you have available, go to Settings – Application Manager. Then swipe from right to left so you see the Running Apps. At the bottom it should say how much is used and how much is free.

There is no need to be stuck with the standard Android keyboard.

Go to the Android Market and search for ‘Keyboard’ to see some great alternatives, many of which are more accurate and make typing much easier.

One of the very best is Swiftkey. They provide a free trial, but once the trial is over it is well worth the small amount of money they charge. It can increase your typing rates massively.

Another good one is GoKeyboard.

If you see a warning saying the keyboard will collect all information (including credit cards) just ignore this. This is just a security feature that Android shows for every third-party keyboard that you install.

If you tend to run out of battery power quickly, then you can turn on power saving mode.

Pull down the notification screen by swiping your finger from the top of the phone. Then select Power Saving.

To change the settings, go to the Homescreen – Settings – Power saving mode. Then press on that option.

If you find yourself woken up by notifications, text messages or incoming calls, then there is a handy feature called Blocking mode.

To enable this go to Settings – Blocking mode. From here you can set a From and To time in which to block these notifications.

You can also allow notifications through from certain contacts that you don’t mind bothering you.