Android 2.3 (Kindle) Tips and Tricks

Go to Settings – More – Device. This will show you how much memory has been consumed and how much is remaining

While you can’t install a text / SMS messages without rooting your device, there is another method.

Simply download the IM+ App and then set it up to use Google Talk.

From your homescreen, press Settings (top right) – More – Device. Under this section you will see exactly how much battery life and memory storage you have left.

The Kindle Fire allows you to highlight text in an eBook, similar to using a highlighter pen on a real book.

First, find some text you want to highlight. Press and hold at the start of the text, then drag your finder to the end of the text. Then remove your finger and select Highlight. The text will be marked in yellow.

By default, if you rotate your Kindle the screen will rotate with the device. You can lock this into either Portrait or Landscape mode.

From your homescreen, press Settings – Then choose Locked or Unlocked.

When browsing the notifications bar will be hidden. Press Menu and the Browser menu and Notifications menu will appear

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

Go to the Android Market (you may need to enable this first) and search for ‘Keyboard’ to see some great alternatives, many of which are more accurate and make typing much easier.
A 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 try to open an ePub file on the Kindle Fire, then it won’t open by default. There are two ways to get around this.

The first is to convert the ePub file to a PDF file via an online converter. Go to: http://epub-to-pdf.com and use their converter, which is free and doesn’t require registration. Then copy the PDF file to your Kindle Fire via USB.

The other way is to use an App outside the Amazon App store. First you must allow this in your software. Go to Settings – Device and turn on ‘allow installation of applications from unknown sources’. Then you can download the Apps from third-party websites. Some good Apps are as follows: 1Mobile Cool Reader, Aldiko, Calibre, FBReader, Nook for Android and OverDrive.

Go to your browser bookmarks. Long press on a site and select Add shortcut to Home

If you haven’t already, then make sure your device requires a PIN number to unlock. Go to Settings – More – Security. Then turn Lock screen password to On.