Bada Tips and Tricks
While viewing your list of Contacts you can swipe from Right to Left to send a text message to the selected contact.
This might not work on all models.
Most Android devices come with an alternative way of entering text called Swype. Many prefer this method and believe it is quicker.
When any text entry box appears, press and hold the box. Then select Input method: SWYPE. Once enabled, you simply drag your finger around the keyboard moving over the letters in the correct order to spell a word.
Smartphones that are always connected to the internet are great, but if you have a data plan that is capped each month, then you will want to keep an eye on how much data you are downloading. Fortunately there is a built in feature to monitor this.
Go to Settings – Data usage. From here you can set a limit and set the usage cycle (eg a from and to date).
If you press the Menu button on this screen you will also see a number of features such as restrict background data usage (although this will prevent some Apps from working).
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.
At the bottom of each homescreen is your favourites tray, which consists of 5 icons. You can customise it by adding icons to the tray. If it’s full however, you will first need to remove some.
To remove an icon, simply press and hold an icon. Then drag it to your desktop.
Then to add a new one, simply drag an icon from your homescreen to the favourites tray.
To enable / disable your notification light, go to Settings – LED indicator.
From here you can choose various options.
This may not be available on all models. An alternative however is to download NoLED from the Play Store, which has many options for incoming notifications.
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 homescreen, go to Menu – Settings – Lock screen. Then chose Screen lock 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.
If you like your Apps neatly sorted into folders, then there is a simple way to accomplish this.
First find the first App you would like in a folder. Then choose a second App. Press and hold on the second App and drag it over the top of the first App. They will both combine into a folder.
You can repeat this process to add more.
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.
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