Android 2.3 Tips and Tricks

To create homescreen shortcuts to your Gmail folders, long press on a blank part of your homescreen.

Then select Shortcuts – Gmail Label – Then choose the label you want. This will create a shortcut straight to that Gmail folder/label.

You can tether your computer or laptop to your phone so that the PC uses the phone’s 3G or 4G connection.

To do this, connect the phone to your PC via USB cable. If a screen appears saying Choose a connection type, then select USB tethering and you should be able to start surfing straight away. If it doesn’t then press the Home key to go into normal mode. Then go to Menu – Settings – Wireless and network – Tethering and portable hotspots. Then tick USB tethering. Your computer should then install the relevant drivers. To test, simply open your browser and start surfing.

Another alternative if the above doesn’t work is to use an App called PdaNet. Before you install this App, you will need to go to Menu – Settings – Applications – Development. Then tick the option which says USB Debugging. Then download both the App and the software for your computer. Once they are both installed run PdaNet on your laptop and then on your phone. Follow any other instructions to complete the process.

Warning: Some carriers will tell you that tethering is not allowed in their contract. You should still be able to use the above techniques, but be aware that your carrier may not be happy. Also, if you are not on an unlimited data plan, be sure you do not use too much data through your laptop or computer as you may incur extra charges.

If you are browsing and have zoomed in to a column on a web page but you want it reformatted, you can pinch to zoom in. Then double tap on the column. The column will then be reformatted to fit the screen width.

Ensure auto-brightness is disabled, then press and hold on the notification bar at the top of the screen.

After a second, start sliding your finger to the left or right. This will adjust the screen brightness up and down.

To lock your screen while you are watching videos, simply press the power button.

This will disable the touchscreen buttons while the video is playing, but it won’t turn the screen off like the lock key normally does.

Note, this will only work on video files that you are playing that are stored on your phone. It won’t work for videos played within websites, such as Youtube videos.

To add pauses when dialing numbers, or storing numbers in your contacts, then insert a comma ( , ) when entering the number.

This will pause the dialling for about 2 seconds.

To soft reset your phone press and hold the Power and Down button together for 10 seconds and the phone should  restart. Wait about 10 seconds and then press and hold the Power button again to restart.

To quickly search for a contact, open the Contacts App and start typing the name of the contact you want to dial.

This will quickly filter the correct contact.

Warning: This will remove ALL data on the phone (but not the MicroSD card).

To perform a hard reset, or factory reset, then there are a number of methods to try:

1) From the home screen, press Menu – Settings – Privacy – Factory data reset – Reset phone. It may ask for a password. Then select Erase everything

If the phone is totally unresponsive, even after a reboot, then try the following methods.

2) While the phone is turned off, press and hold the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons together. Then, while holding these, press and release the Power button (keep holding the volume buttons). The phone should turn on and a menu will appear. Press the Volume down button to navigate to the Recovery option. Press the Volume Up to select (if that doesn’t work, use the Power button to select). A yellow triangle and an Android logo will appear. Press the Volume Down and Volume Up button together and a recovery menu should appear. Use the Volume buttons to move to the Wipe data/Factory reset option and then press Power to select. Again, use the Volume Down key to choose Yes and press the Power button again to select.

3) While the phone is turned off, press and hold the Volume Down button. Then, while holding, press and release the Power button. A menu should appear. Use the Volume down key to go to Clear Storage. Use the Power button to select the option. Then when asked to confirm, press Volume Up for Yes.

4) While the phone is off, press and hold down Volume Up + Home + Power buttons at the same time. Then release the buttons when you see the Logo. Use the Volume Down button to go down and the Home or Power key to select. Choose the Wipe data/Factory reset option. Then Select Yes to delete all user data. Then choose to reboot the phone.

5) A final method is to enter the code into your phone’s dialer: *2767*3855# This method will not give you an option to reverse the process, so be careful! This method will only work if you can boot into your phone.

If you want to find your phone’s WiFi MAC address (for improved WiFi security), then from the Home screen, go to Menu – Settings – About Phone. Then scroll down until you see WiFi MAC Address. The address should be a series of Hex numbers and letters.