The Ultimate Android Guide for Beginners and Experts.

Rohiggidy · Oct 6, 2012

Read over this thread if you are new to android or thinking about switching to android. Most of your questions are answered here. After reading the thread in its entirety Your google and android experience should be improved. This is from the guy who is behind Android. Duarte: I'm 'a third of the way to where I want to be' with Android.

Android Timeline
http://www.droidlife.com/#1

Welcome to the Android Ecosystem
Gmail
Google search
Google maps
Google now

http://www.google.com/insidesearch/landing/holidays.html

The Android Team
The Guys behind Android
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+VicGundotra/posts
https://plus.google.com/u/0/112218872649456413744
https://plus.google.com/u/0/114892667463719782631/posts

Follow these android sites for up to date android news and info

sign up for these forums and look for your devices
rootzwiki.com
xdadevelopers.com
theverge.com
androidcentral.com
Androidpolice.com
droidlife.com

Then
The Evolution of Android
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLwncJZ3Uvw[/ame]

Now
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66-4uMQqerA[/ame]

The Evolution of the apps

Rohiggidy · Oct 6, 2012

Hidden features in google map lab settings/settings that you should turn on in google maps

Google Maps Lab #1 : "Measure"

The "Measure" option in Google Maps Labs is probably my favorite of the bunch. Once you check it, you'll get an extra on-screen button that looks like a ruler anytime you're viewing a map. You can tap the ruler and then tap any two points on the map, and Google Maps will tell you the exact distance as well as elevation changes between the spots.

Google Maps Lab #2 : "Bigger Text"

The "Bigger Text" setting in Google Maps Labs is pretty self-explanatory: When checked, it makes the text in all of your Maps labels larger. Not the most exciting thing, by any means, but it could definitely be useful for a lot of people.

Google Maps Lab #3 : "Directions Elevation"

The "Directions Elevation" setting gives Google Maps' walking and biking directions a little extra oomph: It adds an "elevation profile" to those directions so you can see the total ascent and peak of your journey.

Google Maps Lab #4 : "Intersection Explorer"

The last Google Maps Labs option is an experimental accessibility setting that lets you explore maps by using a combination of haptic and spoken feedback.

Google Maps Update Includes Better Search Syncing From Browser to Phone (Updated)

A Google Maps update will be arriving shortly on your Android device. Once updated, your location searches from your PC browser will sync seamlessly with your mobile device at a faster pace, so that you can find info you’ve searched for in the past or even moments ago. All you have to do is sign into Google Maps and make sure your web history is enabled to get these new search and directions histories.

To see more history with this new feature set, you can go into the “Search” or “Directions” tab under My Places. Under these sections, previous places and businesses that you searched for will show up as suggestions to save you time and energy.

For those not on Google Now, you can also set “Home” and “Work” locations so that you can quickly find directions from whichever dark alley you have wandered down. I mention Google Now because it suggests directions to work or home automatically, but this should make the feature essentially available to everyone.

Update: The update is live in the Play store! They also tossed in a cool new single-handed zoom. Double tap with a finger, hold and drag your finger.
How to sync google maps web version to phone
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT9IXAHL9_g"]Google Maps How to: Sync Desktop searches to mobile - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ntvK2RuxBk"]Google Maps for Android: Single-handed Zooming - YouTube[/ame]

Get Your Android's GPS to Lock in 3 Seconds
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...wsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5lY2xpcHNpbS5ncHNzdGF0dXMyIl0.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6UuU3E6ivU&feature=related"]Get Your Android's GPS to Lock in 3 Seconds [App Slackin'] - YouTube[/ame]

Indoor maps
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DdEjaJHRyA"]Take Google Maps inside Mall of America - YouTube[/ame]

Offline maps
Google Android - How To Use Offline Maps [Tutorial]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt5rYRb7I8c&feature=related"]Google Android - How To Use Offline Maps [Tutorial] - YouTube[/ame]

See businesses inside and out on Google
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMWxBpM-MSA&feature=channel&list=UL[/ame]

Rohiggidy · Oct 6, 2012

BONUS ROUND

Speed up your phone
go to developers option then turn on USB debugging. If you want your phone to transition faster. Turn off animation scale and set to off.

Getting the Most of Chrome
http://gizmodo.com/5949625/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-google-chrome

Try out Canary its a google chrome nightly build
https://tools.google.com/dlpage/chromesxs

Watching High Quality videos on the youtube app
Go to youtube then setting there you can change your feed. go to preloading then check preload subs and watch it later
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmTDy5WsI50"]Android New YouTube Jellybean update - YouTube[/ame]

How to get back adobe Adobe Flash on Jelly bean devices
Adobe Flash apk( Latest) - xda-developers

firefox browser is the only one that will work with flash inside the browser
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.firefox_beta&hl=en

What are Phone Launchers and the Best ones
Most of us use a third party launcher to enhance our experience on Android. Most of these include lots of options for installing icon pack themes and customizing every aspect regarding the look and feel of the device. On the Play Store you’ll find lots of options making it almost impossible to not find one that suits your needs. Here are the best for Ice Cream Sandwich as well as for the new version of Android – Jelly Bean.

http://www.androidpipe.com/top-5-best-android-icsjelly-bean-custom-launchers/

Extra

Tracking growth: the iTunes app store vs Google Play
There are now more than 675,000 apps available in Google Play, a noteworthy figure not for the number of apps, but because it means Android is now within striking distance of overtaking iOS as the mobile operating system with the most apps.

For reference, Apple announced there were 700,000 apps in the iTunes App Store during the iPhone 5 launch event just two weeks ago on Sept. 12. The timing of today’s announcement from Google can hardly be a coincidence, and now that the two stores are basically at parity, its worth going back and comparing their growth rates.

Screen-shot-2012-09-26-at-11.26.42-AM.png

Both Apple and Google launched their mobile app stores in 2008 — Apple in July and Google in October, giving iOS a three month lead time on Android. Despite having similar birthdays, the iTunes App Store pulled out to an early lead in terms of app availability. It took the iTunes app store 11 months to cross the 50,000 app threshold, a milestone the Android Market (now Google Play) wouldn’t hit until April 2010, a full year and a half later.

By November 2009, Apple was reporting 100,000 available apps in the iTunes App Store. Google hit that mark in October 2010, 11 months behind Apple. This difference in growth rates between the stores remained fairly steady in 2010 and 2011, with Apple reaching the 250,000 app milestone in April 2010, and Google following 15 months later in July 2011.

However as both app stores have grown larger, Android’s growth rate looks to be catching up to iOS’. Google announced there were 600,000 apps available in Google Play during this year’s I/O keynote in June. Less than a month later Apple reported there were 650,000 iOS apps available during its Q3 earnings call.

While companies like Flurry and Appcelerator have reported developers are losing interest in Android, its clear from today’s numbers and historical data that this doesn’t seem to be the case. With the holidays fast approaching, its likely both app stores will have more than 750,000 apps by the end of the year — it just remains to be seen which app store will reach that point first.

Bonus setting up XBMC
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L0GFVg-bp8"]The Ultimate Guide To Install XBMC And Addons Including IceFilms And More.wmv - YouTube[/ame]

The remote
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...remote&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDNd

jalamanta · Oct 6, 2012

nice one

Rohiggidy · Oct 6, 2012

Hidden features in Android 4.0 ICS

jelly bean google search action features

Jelly Bean Features
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE1WxgYtqqA"]Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Full Review! - YouTube[/ame]

Turn your Android device into a full Gaming console - Nintendo - Sega - Playstation
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvyX3n66VAc&feature=relmfu"]Turn your Android device into a full Gaming console - Nintendo - Sega - Playstation - YouTube[/ame]
One of the huge benefits of Android, is that you can run Emulators without needing to root your device. I will show you how easy it is to setup your Android device to play Nintendo consoles, Sega Consoles and even Playstation.

MHL Adapter - http://goo.gl/m2XJp
Phonejoy Controller - http://goo.gl/uGiBx

GameKlip™ Real controller. Real games.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wiek3pgBxqk"]GameKlipâ¢ Real controller. Real games. - YouTube[/ame]
The GameKlip™ attaches your phone to a real full sized controller for a full mobile gaming experience. Available now ($15) at http://thegameklip.com

Hersh · Oct 6, 2012

nice thread-- but too lazy to search for these apps.

Rohiggidy · Oct 6, 2012

This is a Must. Turn on 2 step Verification for your Gmail to avoid hackers. Read this article about a writer who got hacked
How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/apple-amazon-mat-honan-hacking/

get the app
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...9nbGUuYW5kcm9pZC5hcHBzLmF1dGhlbnRpY2F0b3IyIl0.

Your Google account holds your e-mail, apps, music, books, documents, cloud storage, credit cards and more. It’s time to protect that stuff with more than a simple password.

If you’ve been watching the wider tech world over the past couple of days, you’ll be familiar with the recent misfortune of Wired writer Mat Honan, who succumbed to a devastating hacking attack that annihilated his iCloud, Twitter and Google accounts and locked down several devices in the process.

In Honan’s case, the attack was enabled by compromised (yet publicly available) personal info, as well as failures by Amazon and Apple customer support, rather than a traditional brute-force attack or contact with malware. But a crucial part of what allowed the attackers to take down not only his Apple accounts and devices, but also his Gmail and Google stuff, was the fact that he wasn’t using Google’s two-step authentication to protect his account.

Stories like these always bring home the importance of basic digital security precautions. And one of the most basic, yet most effective steps you can take to protect your account is turning on two-step.

Read on to find out how and why you should do it.

What is two-step authentication?

Two-step authentication adds an extra layer of security by requiring you to enter a six -digit code, generated by Google and sent to your phone, when you sign into your account. That means even if your password is cracked, your account should still be safe. Chances are whoever’s trying to break into your account from afar also doesn’t have your phone in their possession, so they can't get that secondary code.

You can set up six-digit verification codes to be sent via SMS, or if you’re an Android, BlackBerry or iPhone user, there’s an app called Google Authenticator, which you can use to generate a code instantly. These apps work by accessing your Google account on your phone, then scanning a secret barcode on-screen using the phone’s built-in camera.

What about Android devices and certain apps?

Sometimes an app or device that uses your Google account isn’t able to ask you for a verification code, or it isn’t practical or desirable to have it ask for one. The main example here is Android devices. Sign into one with two-step authentication enabled and you’ll need to use an “application-specific password” instead. These are passwords that give a single app or device access to your Google account at any one time. You can get to them by navigating to accounts.google.com and clicking “Security” from the sidebar, then “Authorizing applications and sites.”

Yes. This part is a pain. But it's important to do.

For example, if you’ve got a Galaxy Nexus and a Nexus 7 tablet, you’d create one for the phone and another for the tablet, and you'd only need to enter it once on the device you're using it for. If you need to stop either from being able to access your Google account, for whatever reason, you can simply hit “revoke” next to the name of the device. And as that password is 16 characters long and only usable by one app or device at a time, everything’s kept securely siloed.

Contingencies

Two-step authentication is good, but it isn’t flawless -- what if your phone’s stolen, for instance? To make sure you’re not locked out of your account if the unexpected happens, Google has a few contingencies in place:

When you first sign up for two-step authentication, you’ll be asked to provide backup phone numbers, which you can use to get hold of a six-digit verification number in the event that your primary phone is indisposed.
You’ll also be given a set of backup codes, each of which allows you to sign in once. If your main phone is unavailable, and you’re unable to get to any of your backup numbers, this will allow you to sign in once and set things straight.
Contrary to what you might think, the Google Authenticator app for Android doesn’t require an Internet connection to work. Even in airplane mode, it’ll generate a working verification code.
How two-step could’ve helped Mat Honan, and how it might help you

Amazon and Apple’s customer service blunders (combined with iCloud’s lack of two-step security) had already ensured that Mat Honan’s iPad, iPhone and Macbook were toast. However, enabling two-step auth. could’ve saved his Google account, and the Twitter accounts that were associated with it.

Assume you don't have two-step authentication turned on. If you want to try to recover your password (because you're dumb and forgot it), you're given a few options for account recovery. Part of this involves letting you send a recovery email to an alternative email address you've already linked, and this is only partly obfuscated on the recovery page. That’s how the hacker got into Mat Honan’s account -- without two-step, his recovery address of m******n@me.com was easy to guess. From there, it was simply a case of taking advantage of lapses in Amazon and Apple’s customer services security to take over that account, and then have a password reset email sent to that me.com address.

Had two-step authentication been enabled, the hacker would’ve instead seen a message like this when they attempted password recovery -- an instant roadblock in their attempts to hijack Honan’s Google account.

Journalists, especially those dealing in technology, aren’t normal cases when it comes to phone or web account usage, so if you're not broadcasting your name all over the Internet, you're less likely to fall victim to these kinds of shenanigans.

Nevertheless, it's a simple and easy precaution, and one that everyone with a Google account, and particularly those heavily invested in Google's ecosystem, should take. Depending on how you use Gmail, an attacker gaining control of it could effectively have the master keys to your digital life. What's more, they could gain access to all the purchases and other content associated with your Google account -- if you're a big Android user, that could amount to a significant quantity of stuff. Worse still, if they pulled the plug on your account, you might lose all of this.

So despite the minor, occasional inconvenience, please, please turn on two-step authentication on your Google account. You'll thank us when no-one hacks your shyt.

Rohiggidy · Oct 6, 2012

trick to adding events via sms to google calendar
Writing & Submitting The SMS Calendar Entry
Users can type out the SMS calendar entry using simple language and Google Calendar will interpret it and enter it in for you. For instance, an entry like “Lunch with Rebecca at Riverside Restaurant 1pm Monday” will be entered as “Lunch with Rebecca” in a time slot of “1pm Monday” and with the location of “Riverside Restaurant”.
All entries are added to your primary calendar.

It’s much the same process as when you enter a calendar entry using Quick Create from within Google Calendar itself.
Checking Your Upcoming Events Via SMS
Google allows US Google Calendar users to check their upcoming Calendar entries via SMS. All you have to do is send a quick SMS to Google Calendar and it will return your upcoming events in the format you request.

These are the commands you can use in the body of the message:
‘next’: request your next scheduled event.
‘day: request all of your scheduled events for the present day.
‘nday’: request your events scheduled for the following day.
Note that it can only send you information from your primary calendar.
SMS Notifications of Calendar Entries
SMS notifications of calendar entries can be set up on a per-event basis or for every event in a given calendar. This is fantastic news for families sharing calendars or for people importing events from Facebook as it means you can receive reminders a couple of hours before something is due to happen so that you won’t miss out on events or worry about people unnecessarily.

SMS Calendar Entry And Checking Only Available In The US
The SMS event creation number is only available in the US at the moment. The shortcode number spells the word GVENT (48368) to make it memorable.
Calendar notifications, however, are available in most countries worldwide.
Setting Up Mobile Phones In Google Calendar
Whether you’re going to use notifications, calendar entry or checking your calendar by SMS, you’ll need to verify your mobile number with Google. It’s pretty easy to do.

Head to Google Calendar Settings > Mobile Setup and enter your mobile phone details. You’ll be sent a verification number by SMS which you can then enter into that same page. Once you’re done, Google will be able to send Calendar notifications and receive your requests if you live in the US.

Rohiggidy · Oct 6, 2012

Always good to check out the keynote from this year

Rohiggidy · Oct 6, 2012

The best android blogs to follow
Droid Life - An intense Android news community bringing you the latest in phones, rooting, apps, and reviews.
androidpolice.com
androidcentral.com
android authority

Rohiggidy · Oct 6, 2012

best youtube channel to follow for android news
flossycarter
QBking77
Zedomax
phonearena
phonedog
jon4lakers
theverge
heelsandtech

Rohiggidy · Oct 6, 2012

NFC and tec tiles

NFC transfer
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ba8eyhoDAo]Android Beam [Demo][Hands-on][HD] - YouTube[/ame]

NFC google wallet

Rohiggidy · Oct 6, 2012

Google Local- is the quickest way to look for places in the area. Type in the name of the store or place and it will give you reviews and direction and a phone

Google drive is google's version of microsoft office

Petty Crocker · Oct 6, 2012

*subscribing* I have a HTC Evo with Sprint..and its time for a upgrade.. not sure what I should upgrade to..not really a phone tech..I would like to have extended battery life, be able to take great pictures and view the web at a fast pace..and the phone has to look good as well..
Hopefully I'll pick up some tips in this thread

Rohiggidy · Oct 6, 2012

GMAIL hangout group chat with 12 people

The Ultimate Android Guide for Beginners and Experts.

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Rohiggidy

The Big League

Rohiggidy

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jalamanta

GOAT

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The Big League

Hersh

Superstar

Rohiggidy

The Big League

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The Big League

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The Big League

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Petty Crocker

Looking GREAT in my 30s

Rohiggidy

The Big League