Share:
5 tricks only Android pros know
Smartphones have become an integral part of our lives and our identity. Often times that phone that you carry may say as much about you as the outfit that you wear. Sometimes just a simple device to receive calls and check emails is sufficient, other times we need to use it for GPS navigation, flashlight, controlling our smart home, and the many, many other tasks.
Are you a fellow Android owner? I bet you enjoy the flexibility of apps and the huge amount of features that come with your device. Android phones are known for versatility and customization. Keep in mind that the following features were tested on an Android 7.0 Nougat OS, and may work differently on different operating systems.
With that in recognition, let’s take a look at some of the more advanced options that you may not realize you have.
Split-screen Apps
One of the useful features that is available on the Nougat OS is the ability to split-screen your apps. This is fantastic for social media use or news consumption. Imagine sending an SMS to a friend while viewing their new Instagram post, it is easy with Nougat.
To get this feature rolling simply go to the overview menu (press the square below the screen). This will open up a list of recently used apps. Select the app you wish to open from this list, then hold and drag that app’s title bar to the top left or the top right of the display screen. Repeat this with another app to have them both open side by side. To quickly swap out two additional open apps simply double-tap the overview button.
Change Display Size
If you are squinting to see your screen this may be just what you need. It can be difficult to read the tiny text on the small screen of a phone, especially if your phone is sitting in a dock or otherwise out of arm’s reach. This little trick may save your eyes the strain of trying to focus on such a small thing.
Visit the Android Settings menu, then go to the “Display” tab. From here you are given options to increase the default font size, as well as to make on-screen objects larger or smaller.
Adjust volume independently
Afraid you may miss the alarm? Wish to turn up the volume of media, but don’t want your call volume to blow you away? No problem. With your Android device, it is easy to adjust the volumes of each source individually.
To do this simply press the volume button, then tap on the volume indicator that displays at the top of the screen. When you do this a volume slider comes down from the top of the screen. From here you can manually change the volume for alarms, rings, media, or in-call volume, notifications and system alerts.
Change Default Apps
If you are familiar with the Windows operating system for PC then you have definitely used to this feature. it’s the ability to choose a default application for various functions on the phone. Say you want to open up the Chrome browser whenever you click on a link, you can easily change the default application to Chrome.
To change defaults head on over to settings again, then go down to “apps.” From here tap on the cog in the top right to see a list of categories. When you tap on a category you will see a list of applications that can take over the default, select your favorite.
One-Handed Mode
As our phones are slowly increasing in size it has become harder to use them with one hand, but thankfully Android has a useful feature to aid you in this task. The one-handed mode allows you to shrink the keyboard and move it to any location on the screen. On a Samsung or LG phone, you must select the default keyboard as the “Google” option. To do this see the tip above.
To activate one-handed mode simply open up the keyboard as normal, then hold down on the backslash key. When you do this you will be able to move the keyboard around on the screen by clicking and dragging or using the arrows to select an anchor location. To increase the keyboard back to the full size, tap on the icon at the top of the screen.
Android features that iPhone users envy
If you are interested in learning a bit more about the unique features available on your Android device, check out this list of several app functions and utilities that only Android devices are able to use.
Click here to learn more about your device.
Tags: Android, Apple iPhone, Google, operating systems
Share: