Switching off the GPRS/3G data usage on your Android devise.

Have you ever felt that you are being automatically charged for the data that you haven’t used? Is you devise downloading the data automatically from the mobile network?

If the answer is yes then there is a way to switch off mobile data downloading, follow the steps below.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich

1. Activate System Settings by using buttons on home screen (generally bottom left) or locating it in Apps menu.
2. Select Data usage option located in WIRELESS & NETWORKS section.
3. Locate and select your SIM card provider from tabs above.
4. Locate Mobile data on the tab located just below the tab name.
5. Select Mobile data option and switch if Off.

Android Gingerbread

1. Activate Settings by using buttons on home screen (generally bottom left) or locating it in Apps menu.
2. Select the Wireless & networks option.
3. Scroll down, locate and select Mobile networks option.
4. Locate Data enabled option and uncheck it.

Slowness of the device/moving app to Internal Storage (SD card) on Android

Have you ever faced slowness on your device? Have the applications off late started crashing? Do you feel your device is no more as fluid as it was new?

If the answer is yes then most likely you have bloated your device’s primary storage! The phone storage is generally partitioned in to two logical storages. One where vital system files are present (called primary storage) and the other where you can copy your data like music, video etc.  

Generally, downloading and installing apps occupies space in primary storage which is kept relatively low due to performance factors. Over the time this storage gets fully occupied hindering system in performing its vital operations.

Since introduction of Android Gingerbread, Android supports installing/moving application to internal memory/SD card (the secondary partition explained above) thus freeing the primary storage.

Note: Not all applications can be moved to internal memory/SD card. The decision of allowing the application to be stored on internal memory is kept with its developers.

To move an app to internal storage, do following.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich

1. Activate Application by selecting Manage apps on home screen or going to Settings->Apps.
2. It will activate Apps application which will give details of all the applications installed on your machine. Observe at the bottom of the application, it will give you information of the consumption of primary storage.
3. Select any app to get onto App info page.
4. Scroll down and find Move to Internal storage option and click it.
5. In a while it will move your application to internal storage thus releasing primary storage.

Android Gingerbread

1. Activate Manage applications by selecting Settings->Applications->Manage applications.
2. It will activate Apps application which will give details of all the applications installed on your machine. Observe at the bottom of the application, it will give you information of the consumption of primary storage.
3. Select any app to get onto App info page.
4. Scroll down and find Move to SD card option and click it.
5. In a while it will move your application to internal storage thus releasing primary storage.

I discovered a great application that informs me about whether an application can be moved to storage thus releaving me from checking same. You can find it here App 2 SD.

How to uninstall Application on Android?

We may at times need to uninstall applications for various reasons. It’s pretty easy to uninstall an app in Android. Here is how it can be done.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich

1. Goto to the applications list by pressing on app icon at lower centre (above home button) of screen.
2. Find the application you want to uninstall and long press on it.
3. It will bring home screen images for placing the icon and you will see Uninstall on top right corner of the screen.
4. Just drag the icon over there and it will be uninstalled.

Alternatively, you can also use Manage apps (also accessible from Systems settings-> Apps) to uninstall apps. All you have to do is select an app you want to uninstall from the list and click on Uninstall button.

Android Gingerbread

1. Select the application from the home screen or Goto to the applications list by pressing on app icon at lower centre (above home button) of screen and find one.
2. Long press the application icon to get a screen trash icon at bottom.
3. Drag the icon over the trash and confirm you want to uninstall.

Alternatively, you can also use Manage applications (also accessible from Systems settings-> Applications->Manage applications) to uninstall apps. All you have to do is select an app you want to uninstall from the list and click on Uninstall button.

How to Switch between open apps on Android?

We all know that Android allows us multitasking. Multitasking is feature with which multiple apps/services can be kept running at same time. You can keep the email app open while you surf on browser and at same time can receive notification from online chat application.

So how do we exactly switch between applications? Here is how.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich

1. Long press the Home (present either on screen or as dedicated button below screen panel)
2. You will see a list of snapshots of various applications running with their names. Selecting any will bring that application on foreground.

Android Gingerbread

1. Long press the Home (present either on screen or as dedicated button below screen panel)
2. You will see a list of snapshots of various applications running with their names. Selecting any will bring that application on foreground.

How to turn off camera shutter sound on Android?

It’s great always to hear a nice and firm camera shutter sound while snapping pics from your device’s camera. It certainly reinforces our photographer within however there are times when we want to be quite and so does our camera!

Android Ice Cream Sandwich

The camera’s shutter sound is driver by device’s profile. You can do following to suppress the sound.

1. Turn your device to Silent profile
2. Turn your device to Meeting (Vibration) profile.

To change the profile you can navigate to Systems Settings->User profile and select appropriate.

How to set Wallpaper on your Android devise?

Wallpapers are images those can be set as background of your devices home screen which makes it more appealing and attractive to look.

Android supports following kind of wallpapers.

1. Static wallpapers – Can be images, photos etc.
2. Live wallpapers – Can still be images, photos but have some animation to it which keeps on playing or activates on some action. For example, water ripples on your screen when touched.

Note: Animated/live wallpapers tend to drain more battery as they use more system resources like CPU, GPU, Memory, etc. than ordinary wallpapers.

Follow these steps to set the wallpapers.

1. On home screen of your device use the lower left button to activate menu listing Wallpaper option (see image on right). Alternatively, you can go to Settings->Display->Wallpapers. Select the Wallpapers option.
   
   
   
   
2. You will be presented with multiple options. 
• If you want to set a static image do following.
• Select Gallery if you want to set the images shot from your camera as wallpaper or anything else in gallery.
• Select Wallpapers if you want to set the predefined Wallpapers installed on your device.
  
  
  
  
• If you want to set an animated/live wallpaper do following.
• Select Live Wallpapers option.
• You will be presented with a list of live wallpaper
• Select one to load a preview.
• Select Set wallpaper option at bottom to set it as wallpaper

How to enable pattern locking on Android?

Pattern locking is mechanism to unlock your device using a pattern that has been set while enabling this lock mechanism.

See below steps to enable pattern locking.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich

1. Activate System Settings by using buttons on home screen (generally bottom left) or locating it in Apps menu.
2. Scroll down and locate Security option (generally located in Personal section)
3. Select Security option to see various security options listed.
4. Select Screen lock option to get lists of various options those can be set to unlock your phone.
5. Select Pattern in the given options and you will be presented to draw a lock pattern.
6. Draw the Pattern, set it and you are done!

Hint: To get more secured, you can uncheck the option Make Pattern Visible. This will not show the connecting lines while you will be drawing the pattern to unlock.

Android Gingerbread

1. Activate Settings by using buttons on home screen (generally bottom left) or locating it in Apps menu.
2. Scroll down and locate Location & security option.
3. Select Set up screen lock option
4. Select Security option to see various security options listed.
5. Select Pattern in the given options
6. Follow on-screen procedure to complete the setup.