HTC Desire 500 Tips and Tricks

From the Contact list or the Messaging list, swipe from Left to Right to call a Contact.

This might not work on all models.

If you want to install Apps outside of the Android Market (called sideloading), then go to Settings – Security – Unknown sources.

Note: use at your own risk.

To silence the phone when ringing there are two methods:

Either press the Volume Down (or Up) button or if the phone is on a surface facing up, simply flip it over so it is facing down.

If you’re worried about your sensitive data falling into the wrong hands then Jelly Bean has a great new encryption feature that scrambles every pieces of content on your device.

Go to Settings – Security settings – Encryption to enable it.

If you use the Face Unlock feature but you’re in a dark room or wearing a hat and scarf, you can bypass the unlock just once.

Simply press the Lock icon on your screen and you can then enter your PIN instead.

To copy photos to your computer, plug the device in via a USB cable. (you might have to install your device’s software or drivers first).

Then locate the new drive on your PC. Go to the /DCIM/Camera/ folder Your photos will be stored there.

This may vary slightly between devices, however once you have opened the device’s drive, you can do a quick search for .jpg files which will show you where your photos are located.

To stop the Photo App or the Music player from indexing your files, place a blank text file called .nomedia in the folder containing your photos or music

To share or upload a video to services like Facebook or Youtube, start from your Gallery App and long press on a video.

From here you will be given options to share the video with various services.

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.

Jelly Bean has an interesting new feature called Talkback which is designed for blind and low vision users.

The feature is an interesting way to navigate your phone however.

Simply go to Settings – Accessibility – Talkback to activate it. Then your phone will give you an ongoing narration of its various functions.