HTC U11 Tips and Tricks

Android 7 (Nougat)
Phone: HTC U11
Factory OS: Android 7 (Nougat)

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If you call someone regularly this can be useful as you will have a shortcut to them usefully placed on your home screen.

To bookmark a Contact on your Home Screen, then first go into your Contacts App.

Find the Contact you want to add to the Home Screen and go into their Contact details.

Then press More or the Menu key and select Add shortcut to home.

Then go to your Home Screen, find the Contact you’ve just added. Press, hold and drag to another position.

If this doesn’t work, then try this alternative method:
Go to one of your home screens.

Find a blank space, long press and hold.

Select Widgets, then scroll until you see the Contacts Widget. From here there are various options to add contacts to your home screen as bookmarks.

If you would like to unmount your SD card for whatever reason, then drag down your notifications menu from the top of the screen and press the Settings icon.

Then go to Device management – Storage – SD card.

This will depend on your device, but you should then be able to select Unmount SD card.

While the stock standard keyboard is fine, there are much better keyboards available for the Htc U11.

First, you need to go to the Play Store and download one. Try searching for the word ‘keyboard’ and you will see a number of options.

One of the best keyboards is a keyboard called Swiftkey, which is a top-rated App. This will literally change the way you feel about your phone as the standard keyboard can be quite a frustrating experience.

Download your chosen keyboard and go through any install steps that you are presented with.

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.

Then, go to the App you want to type in. You should now see a little Keyboard icon on the row at the bottom of your screen, towards the bottom-right corner. Press that icon and you can switch between all of the keyboards you have installed.

Some other notable keyboards that work on the Htc U11 are GO Keyboard and Gboard (the Google Keyboard). Download and install your keyboard app of choice. Once that’s done, follow these steps to switch your current keyboard to that newly installed one:

  1. You can click on your newly installed keyboard app (icon).
  2. Most of them can assist you on how to switch your keyboard.
  3. Just follow the instructions from the new keyboard app.

How to Switch Your Phone’s Default Keyboard to A New One

You can follow the steps above because most keyboard apps can assist you when it comes to switching the default keyboard to theirs. However, you can also do it manually by going to your Phone Settings. Just follow these steps:

  1. Go to Settings and scroll down or look for the “System” sub-menu.
  2. Under “System,” tap “Language and Keyboard” or “Language and Input.”
  3. Tap “Default Keyboard” and select the new keyboard app.

Depending on your unit and model, this method could vary. For those who can’t find the “Default Keyboard” option, you can follow these steps:

  1. Under “Language and Input,” you need to look for Virtual Keyboards → Manage Keyboards.
  2. Tap your keyboard of choice to activate it.
  3. You will get a message of confirmation. Just tap “OK.”
  4. Open your keyboard. You can do this by trying to write a message, email or search.
  5. Then tap the keyboard icon.
  6. Choose the Input Method (tap on your preferred keyboard).

Done! You can change your Htc U11 keyboard’s theme, predictive text, and other settings by opening its menu. You can do this by locating the keyboard icon on your home screen, or by tapping on the settings icon when you open the keyboard for typing.

If you already have an Android phone, then simply ensure each of your old Contacts are stored on Google (rather than the Phone memory). This means your contacts are stored on Google’s servers under your Google/Gmail login. Then once you get the new phone, log in with your Gmail account and your Contacts will be automatically synced.

If you do not have an Android device, you need to find a way to Export your old contacts to a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file and save this to a PC. You may need to install the correct software for your phone first in order to do the export.

Then, if you don’t have a Gmail account, sign up for one.

Once that’s done, open Gmail. Go to Contacts, then press More – Settings – Import/Export Contacts. Then import the CSV to your Gmail contacts.

Then on your phone, go to Settings – Cloud and accounts – Accounts – Google and then select Sync to pull the contacts from Gmail to your phone.

If you want to access certain features of your device that are only available to developers, then you want the Developer options setting.

On most devices, this feature is hidden so you will need to pull down your notifications screen go into Settings. Then scroll down to About device or About phone.

Then select Software information and you should see Build Number.

Press on this option a total of seven times. You should get a message at the fourth press. On the seventh, you’ll get another message saying that Developer Options are unlocked.

If you have decided to ditch your iPhone in favour of Android, then there is a simple way to take your iTunes music, playlists and album art with you.

Simply go the Android Marketplace and download a Free App called iSyncr.

You will also need the computer version of the software, so go to http://www.jrtstudio.com and download it from there.

Then, when that is done, turn your phone into a USB storage device (this will vary from device to device, but instructions are on the website).

Once your device is connected to your computer, open the computer version of the software and select your device from the Easy Phone Tunes list. Then follow the instructions to Sync your media.

The fast and easy way to change the wallpaper on the Htc U11 is to tap and hold on a blank space on your home screen and then tap “Wallpapers.”

From there, you can choose any image from your gallery or from a preset selection of live wallpapers from your device.

You may also go directly to your Htc U11 Gallery then open an image of your choice. Once you open the image, select “More” to look for the “Set as Wallpaper” option.

You can also change your wallpaper from the Settings menu on your phone. Just follow these steps:

  1. Swipe up or unlock your home screen to display all apps.
  2. Look for the Settings icon, tap and then look for “Display.” For some phones, you might want to look for “Home Screen” or “Wallpaper” right away.
  3. Next, tap “Wallpaper” and select which folder or file you want to use.
  4. Find your desired image and tap “Set Wallpaper.”

You can always use your own image as a wallpaper. However, most phones also have a preset selection of wallpapers (or live images) that can be used anytime too.

You may also choose different images each for your wallpaper and lock screen. However, you may also use just one image for both.

Instead of the simple swipe gesture to unlock your phone, you can set a custom one which can be extremely difficult for a thief to guess.

From your home screen, go to Settings – Lock screen and security – Screen lock type and choose Pattern.

It is also a good idea to untick Use visible pattern. Then if someone is watching over your shoulder while you entering your pattern, it will be harder for them to remember the pattern.

If you have forgotten your unlock pattern, then after 5 unsuccessful tries a button will appear saying ‘Forgot pattern’.

Press this and you will be asked to enter your Gmail username/password. The phone will then ask for a new unlock pattern.

If you don’t have a Gmail account, then you will have to either call your carrier or factory reset your phone.

To set different notifications for each contact on your Android Device, you can use apps like Contact Alert (Free) or Custom SMS Tones (paid).

These apps work alongside the default/stock messenger app.

Make sure to disable the notification tone in your stock messenger app to avoid hearing two alerts.

Normally you can simply insert a SIM card and you will be able to browse the internet using 3G or 4G. Sometimes, this must be setup manually however.

Before you start, you will need to ask your carrier or Telco for your APN settings.

Once you have those, go to Settings – Connections – Mobile networks – Access Point Names.

From here press Add or the Plus sign at the top right and select New APN.

Then fill in the details your carrier gave you. Then press the menu button and press Save.