What is Android Auto? App Rreview , Features & How To use.

From thrilling road trips to picking up groceries from the nearby store, we use GPS navigation all the time. A navigation system acts as a light in a dark tunnel (it literally lights up!), helping us avoid traffic, travel safely, and optimize our route to reach the destination on time for all this the first thing we do “Turn on the GPS and search for the nearby things”. And this is what the new “Android Auto” does and meaningfully in a lot more interactive way.

While initially launched as in-dash navigation in 2015 and presently be downloaded from Playstore. And Apple is also not less in the Market it has also released Apple released a similar GPS system known as Apple CarPlay in 2014, but sadly it continued the Apple Maps legacy of notorious glitches. With the upcoming overhauling of Apple Maps, we can expect improvements to CarPlay as well.

What is Android Auto?

All this is ok but what exactly is Android Auto. Android Auto is a simplified version of your Android phone and carefully crafted for driving and riding. So now let’s go through the new features in the App.

– Voice Automated Navigation

The same Google Assistant is your GPS assistant. Just tap the mic button or say “Ok Google ” and get your work done easily.

– Composition and layout

The minimalist design makes the navigation much easier with a spacious layout and easy handling.

– Card-based menu

This notification and other important updates appear in form of the card which can easily be dismissed once seen.

– Battery Usage

It’s obviously good in comparison of Google Maps. Android Auto uses a very minimal amount of battery. The secret behind this is a feather-light interference and low RAM usage.

How does the Android Auto work?

The app casts a lightweight UI on the dashboard via a USB and to save battery the phone screen goes off.

– Compatibility

Android running on 5.0 and above. But a huge no for the iOS user.

-Compatible cars with Android Auto

A quite extensive number of cars which counts nearly 400 can use Android Auto

-Companion App that can be used with Android Auto

Messaging apps like WeChat, WhatsApp, Telegram, Music apps can be used along with Android Auto.

-Now at last where the Google Maps goes down.

While Android Auto turns an Android phone into a car-friendly device, Google Maps, on the other hand, still deals with sluggish performance and other apps distractions. It still is slow and not at all smooth as The new Android Auto.

– Another significant drawback is that the Google Maps still behave like an app rather than a fully fledged GPS Navigation System.

The most annoying things are the accidental sudden app switch over and other app distraction.
But after all Google Maps is not that bad With the alternative in hand, Google Maps might only be useful while walking or cycling since other app involvements are not really a concern at that time.

– where it can be downloaded

It can be downloaded directly from Playstore or if someone what indirect download then there are many sites like APK mirror, UP to DOWN studio etc.

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What Is an API?

You’ve likely seen the term “API” come up. Operating system, web browser, and app updates often announce new APIs for developers. But what is an API?

Application Programming Interface

The term API is an acronym, and it stands for “Application Programming Interface.”

Think of an API like a menu in a restaurant. The menu provides a list of dishes you can order, along with a description of each dish. When you specify what menu items you want, the restaurant’s kitchen does the work and provides you with some finished dishes. You don’t know exactly how the restaurant prepares that food, and you don’t really need to.

Similarly, an API lists a bunch of operations that developers can use, along with a description of what they do. The developer doesn’t necessarily need to know how, for example, an operating system builds and presents a “Save As” dialog box. They just need to know that it’s available for use in their app.

This isn’t a perfect metaphor, as developers may have to provide their own data to the API to get the results, so perhaps it’s more like a fancy restaurant where you can provide some of your own ingredients the kitchen will work with.

But it’s broadly accurate. APIs allow developers to save time by taking advantage of a platform’s implementation to do the nitty-gritty work. This helps reduce the amount of code developers need to create, and also helps create more consistency across apps for the same platform. APIs can control access to hardware and software resources.

APIs Make Life Easier for Developers

Let’s say you want to develop an app for an iPhone. Apple’s iOS operating system provides a large number of Apis—as every other operating system does—to make this easier on you.

If you want to embed a web browser to show one or more web pages, for example, you don’t have to program your own web browser from scratch just for your application. You use the WKWebView API to embed a WebKit (Safari) browser object in your application.

If you want to capture photos or video from the iPhone’s camera, you don’t have to write your own camera interface. You use the camera API to embed the iPhone’s built-in camera in your app. If APIs didn’t exist to make this easy, app developers would have to create their own camera software and interpret the camera hardware’s inputs. But Apple’s operating system developers have done all this hard work so the developers can just use the camera API to embed a camera, and then get on with building their app. And, when Apple improves the camera API, all the apps that rely on it will take advantage of that improvement automatically.

This applies to every platform. For example, do you want to create a dialog box on Windows? There’s an API for that. Want to support fingerprint authentication on Android? There’s an API for that, too, so you don’t have to test every different Android manufacturer’s fingerprint sensor. Developers don’t have to reinvent the wheel over and over.

APIs Control Access to Resources

APIs are also used to control access to hardware devices and software functions that an application may not necessarily have permission to use. That’s why APIs often play a big role in security.

For example, if you’ve ever visited a website and seen a message in your browser that the website is asking to see your precise location, that website is attempting to use the geolocation API in your web browser. Web browsers expose APIs like this to make it easy for web developers to access your location—they can just ask “where are you?” and the browser does the hard work of accessing GPS or nearby Wi-Fi networks to find your physical location.

However, browsers also expose this information via an API because it’s possible to control access to it. When a website wants access to your exact physical location, the only way they can get it is via the location API. And, when a website tries to use it, you—the user—can choose to allow or deny this request. The only way to access hardware resources like the GPS sensor is through the API, so the browser can control access to the hardware and limit what apps can do.

This same principle is used on modern mobile operating systems like iOS and Android, where mobile apps have permissions that can be enforced by controlling access to APIs. For example, if a developer tries to access the camera via the camera API, you can deny the permission request and the app has no way of accessing your device’s camera.

File systems that use permissions—as they do on Windows, Mac, and Linux—have those permissions enforced by the file system API. A typical application doesn’t have direct access to the raw physical hard disk. Instead, the app must access files through an API.

APIs Are Used For Communication Between Services

APIs are used for all kinds of other reasons, too. For example, if you’ve ever seen a Google Maps object embedded on a website, that website is using the Google Maps API to embed that map. Google exposes APIs like this to web developers, who can then use the APIs to plop complex objects right on their website. If APIs like this didn’t exist, developers might have to create their own maps and provide their own map data just to put a little interactive map on a website.

And, because it’s an API, Google can control access to Google Maps on third-party websites, ensuring they use it in a consistent way rather than attempting to messily embed a frame that shows the Google Maps website, for example.

This applies to many different online services. There are APIs for requesting text translation from Google Translate, or embedding Facebook comments or tweets from Twitter on a website.

The OAuth standard also defines a number of APIs that allow you to sign into a website with another service—for example, to use your Facebook, Google, or Twitter accounts to sign into a new website without creating a new user account just for that site. APIs are standard contracts that define how developers communicate with a service, and the kind of output those developers should expect to receive back.

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If you’ve gotten through this, you’ll have a better idea of what an API is. Ultimately, you don’t really need to know what an API is unless you’re a developer. But, if you see a software platform or service has added new APIs for various hardware or services, it should be easier for developers to take advantage of such features.

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Android 8.0 Oreo Everything you need to know about Google's latest OS

Google updates its Android mobile operating system every year and Android O, or Android Oreo, is the latest version which is baked into the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.

While there's not a whole lot new visually in Android Oreo, there's plenty that will help improve it in very important ways. Want to know when Android Oreo is coming to your phone?

What is Android Oreo?

Android Oreo is the next major update to the Android operating system. It follows the release of Android Nougat from 2016.

Android Oreo is also labelled Android 8.0. After all, Android Marshmallow got the numerical designation Android 6.0 and Android Nougat got Android 7.0-7.1.

However, older versions of Android, such as Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, and KitKat, were all labelled 4.x updates.

Note that all versions of Android have a 'dessert' theme; Oreo marks the second time Google has partnered with a particular brand after the earlier KitKat tie-up.

What is Pixel Visual Core? Inside the new co-processor from Google

What are the key Android Oreo features?

The key message from Google is that this update is all about "Fluid Experiences" and "Vitals". That essentially means things overlap, and flow together better on screen, and that it's far more efficient than Nougat.

Picture-in-picture

The first Android N developer preview from 2016 had a picture-in-picture mode, like you'd see in Apple's iPad, but it was for Android TV.

This feature is widely available in Google Oreo for smartphones as a baked in feature. So you can continue watching a video while, for instance, answering a chat in another app.

Launching it is as simple as pressing the home button while a video is playing. The video then becomes a small window on the home screen and you can move it around the screen so that it's not in the way of what you're doing. Then continue doing whatever else you need to be doing. When you're finished, swipe it away, off the screen.

 Notification Dots
Google billed Notification Dots as "a new for app developers to indicate that there's activity in their app". On the surface, it looks similar to the app badges we've seen on the iPhone's operating system for years. It's essentially a little dot that appears on the app icons when there's a notification.

To interact with it, you can long-press on the app icon and a pop-up bubble appears showing the notification, right above where the app icon is on the screen. That means - while you still can - you don't have to drop down the notification shade from the top of the screen to see your alerts.

And, thankfully, the dots disappear as soon as you dismiss the notifications from the drop-down shade.

What is Android Go and why does it matter?
Autofill with Google
We use Autofill every day in the Chrome browser, and now Google is bringing a system-wide iteration to Android. If you've ever told Google Chrome to save details in browser, you'll be able to use that information to automatically fill in fields in Android Oreo.

As an example, you can log in to the Twitter account on your phone using the suggested account name and password that Google remembered from your Chrome browsing. It will work for most applications, presuming you opt-in to the feature.

Google Chrome tips and tricks: Master your web browser
Smart Text Selection

Smart Text Selection is another new feature that's designed to make daily interactions with your phone less tedious. For instance, if an email contains the name of a restaurant or cafe with more than one word, you can double tap any of the words, and it'll select the whole name.

More importantly, it can detect entire addresses; so double tapping any part of an address will automatically select the entire thing. What's more, when it is selected, the system knows it's an address and offers you the option to navigate there using Maps, along with the usual cut, copy and format options. It's the same for phone numbers or email addresses, automatically giving you the relevant functions for those.

Google Play Protect
Google has decided with Android Oreo that it wants to make its efforts to keep your phone secure more visible. In the apps and games screen, a small card appears to let you know that it's scanning all your apps to make sure they don't contain anything harmful.

OS Optimisations
With Android Oreo, Google has done some serious work on the backend to improve speed. That means, booting up your phone will take far less time than it does currently. With the Pixel, Google claims it boots up more than twice as fast. It will also mean that apps load faster and smoother by default, without any work needed by the developers.

Background limits

To improve the battery life of Android devices, Google plans to reduce the background activity of apps in Android Oreo. Android can now limit how apps function in the background, thus improving a user's battery life and the device's interactive performance.

The best Android apps you must download first
Keyboard navigation
Google added a "reliable, predictable model" for "arrow" and "tab" navigation that helps both developers and users, the company said.

Connectivity
Android Oreo supports Bluetooth audio codecs like the LDAC codec. There's also a new "Wi-Fi Aware", which was previously known as Neighbor Awareness Networking. On supported devices, apps and nearby devices can communicate over Wi-Fi without an internet access point.

Support for wider colour gamuts
Android Oreo will make it possible for app developers to take advantage of support for a wide-colour gamut displays. There's a growing trend for improving displays by making them HDR compatible (both on Android TV, but also in smartphones and tablets). A large component of HDR is supporting wider colour gamuts, which goes hand-in-hand with this aspect of Android Oreo. Google says it's aimed at imaging apps, however, with support for profiles like AdobeRGB, Pro Photo RGB or DCI-P3 to get the most out of the display.

Yes, we're sure you want to know when Android Oreo is coming to your phone

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How to Set Up Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Contacts on APPLE iOS

The iPhone is a fantastic phone, but if you're a heavy user of Google services, it can be a little confusing to set up your Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Contacts to sync with iOS. The default method's no good. Here's the better way to do it.
This article is the easiest way to get everything up and running quickly. If you want a more detailed, more effective method for your calendars (not to mention options for Google Voice, Google Maps, and more), check out our guide to getting Google and iOS living in perfect harmony.
No matter if you use iCloud, Gmail, or another email, calendar, or contact service, it's pretty easy to set up these days on your iPhone or iPad. While the old "Mail, Contacts, & Calendars" section of Settings is gone, having been split up into separate sections, there's still only one place you need to go to set up your email, contact, and calendar accounts.

You can get all your Google services syncing (complete with push sync—that is, messages push to your phone as soon as you receive them) with iOS by setting up just one account. The trick is to choose Microsoft Exchange at the prompt instead of Gmail. This will give you access not only to your Gmail, but your calendars and contacts, and they will all sync directly to your phone—when you add a contact in Gmail or edit an event on Google Calendar, you'll see it show up on your phone without having to sync anything. To set it up:

1.Open up the Settings app on your iOS device and go to the "Mail, Contacts, Calendars" section. Hit "Add Account".

2.From there, choose Microsoft Exchange as the type of account (again, don't choose Gmail).

3.Type in your Gmail address under Email. Leave the Domain field blank and enter your full Gmail address under Username (including the @gmail.com, @googlemail.com, or other suffix). Type in your password and give it any description you like. Mine's just called "Gmail".

4.Press the Next button at the top of the screen. It should pop up a message saying Unable to Verify Certificate—if it does, just hit cancel. Then, type m.google.com in the new "Server" box that shows up at the top of the screen. Then tap Next

From there, you should be all set. You can turn on Mail, Contact, and Calendar syncing from the account settings page that shows up. Note that pressing the trash can icon in the Mail app will archive a message, not delete it completely. If you want to delete it, you can hit the folder icon and choose Trash from the menu to move it to the trash. For more information on setting up Gmail with iOS, check out Google's help page on the subject.

Emailable Tech Support is a series of easy-to-share guides for the less tech savvy people in your life. Got a beginner tech support question you constantly answer? Let us know at harkesh9872@gmail.com. Remember, when you're just starting out computing, there's very little that's too basic to learn.

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How to delete your WhatsApp data from Google Drive

Google Has recentybeen facing the heat for tracking users' location even when they have turned off the the location. Amid all that, the issue of users' data privacy has again caught people's attention as it affects some two billion users of devices that run Google's Android operating software and hundreds of millions of worldwide iPhone users who rely on Google for Maps or search.
Among all the things that Google stores for us, there is also our WhatsApp data that has recently seen a policy change. All your chats -- that also include heavy multimedia files as well -- will no longer occupy space in your Google Drive. This means that all your chats messages, photos, and videos on WhatsApp will be synced with your Google Drive using a Google account but will be stored without using up the limited 15GB of Google Drive space that you get.
But given that there is always a risk of privacy infringement and data theft, your data is never completely safe if it's stored in Cloud. Follow these steps if you want to remove WhatsApp data from your Google Drive:
1. Go to Google Drive website (https://drive.google.com) on your desktop and log in to your Google account
2. If you are accessing this URL via your smartphone, tap on the top left corner and select the "Desktop Version"
3. Click the Gear icon in the top right corner

4. Open Settings and look for Manage Apps

5. Scroll down to find WhatsApp

6. Wait for the “Hidden app data” size to appear below the WhatsApp Messenger

7. Click on Options and tap on Delete hidden app data

8. The Drive will confirm with you one final time saying, "xGB of hidden app data from WhatsApp Messenger will be deleted from Drive. Tap on Delete to confirm.

FOR MORE 

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Useful smartphone tips and tricks , thats Help In EVERDAY oF lIFE.

Smartphones are more advanced than ever. They’re packed with tons of features, like front- and rear-facing cameras, heart rate monitors, fingerprint screen lock, and access to apps galore. For some, there’s a strong learning curve that accompanies the highly sophisticated smartphones of today. Although, most devices are user-friendly enough to warrant ample praise for usability.

Even if you’re a tech-savvy smartphone user, you probably don’t know every tip and hack in the book to get the most from your device. We’ve compiled this comprehensive guide to most useful smartphone tricks to solve common problems. There’s plenty of tips to help you use your device in new ways. This comprehensive list will change your relationship with your smartphone.

For tips on a specific topic, click a link below to jump to a specific section:

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Tips for conserving your smartphone’s battery and data usage

1. Disable background data for your non-essential apps.

“Many apps run in the background, even when you’re not using them. This makes sense for things like email and social media, where you might want to know the minute you get a new message or comment, but do you really need your games, notes, and music players gobbling up battery resources 24/7?

“With iOS, you can turn off background data on an app-by-app basis. Go to Settings—>General—>Background App Refresh, and select apps to turn off.

“With Android, you can “restrict background data” for each app. Go to Settings—>Data usage. Tap on your app of choice, then scroll to the bottom to restrict background data on cellular networks. (Note that this setting can also save you from accidentally going over your data plan threshold.)” – Ben Taylor, 15 Tricks For Getting Way Better Smartphone Battery Life, TIME Magazine

2. Disable app notifications that you don’t really need. 

“Bugged by annoying app notifications that just keep coming? If you don’t know already, these app notifications also drain your phone’s battery. If you want to turn them off, and you are on Jelly Bean 4.1 and above, here’s how. On any of your unwanted notifications in your notification bar, long press on the notification for a message box to appear. Tap on App Info > Untick Show Notifications > OK.” – Nels Dzyre, 10 Useful Android Tips And Tricks You Should Know, Hongkiat; Twitter: @hongkiat

3. Disable cellular data usage for specific apps and features to conserve battery power.

“Turn off cellular data usage for certain apps and features that you won’t be needing to save battery. Go to the Cellular or Data Usage tab under your phone’s Settings, and toggle off cellular data for specific apps that use a lot of your data. You can always #latergram your photos when you have more battery.” – Brooke Shunatona, 16 Cell Phone Hacks Every Twentysomething Needs to Know, Cosmopolitan; Twitter: @Cosmopolitan

4. Premium versions of your favorite apps can save both data usage and battery power.

“Yes, we like free apps. Like most free things in life, they always come with a price. Castro recommends paying for premium version of apps that won’t show you ads. He says free apps constantly use your data to deliver you different commercials! Besides saving your data consumption that way, Castro says it can also save some battery power on your device.” – Wendy Tang, 8 smartphone hacks for the non-tech savvy, LinkedIn; Twitter: @wwtang

5. Don’t use your smartphone while charging it.

“Ever wondered why phone manufacturers make such short charging cables? Do they want to save money? No, the answer is — They don’t want you to use the phone while charging. Yes, they discourage the idea of simultaneously charging and using it, as it reduces battery life to a large extent. Most phones run on Li-ion batteries and these batteries have a limited charge cycle after which they need to be replaced.” – Ashkay, 12 Amazing Smartphone Hacks For The 20 Something, LifeHacks; Twitter: @LifeHacksIO

6. Extend your battery with low power mode.

“Your battery is at a low percentage, and you’re no where near a charger. Don’t panic just yet. If your phone is running on iOS9, go to Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode. (Siri can do this for you too.) By going into Low Power Mode, non-essential tasks are disabled, giving you up to FOUR more hours of battery life.” – Marlisse Cepeda, The Best iPhone Hacks We Learned in 2015, Woman’s Day; Twitter: @WomansDay

7. Disable notifications and turn the fetch function off.

“Every time your phone buzzes with a notification of a new Snapchat, tweet or Instagram like, it loses a little bit of power. Keep the notification alerts to a minimum to maximize that battery life.

“We know, you don’t want to miss an e-mail. But the fetch function—which is always looking for new mail and pings you with inbox updates—is a major battery drainer. Turn the function off on the weekends (at least) to extend the power while you’re out and about.” – Kevin Aeh, Better Battery Life: 10 Ways to Hack Your Smartphone, Birchbox; Twitter: @Birchbox

Smartphone hacks to make your life easier

8. Put the weather forecast on your lock screen.

“Put the weather on your lock-screen! There are many apps to choose from, but here are two free ones I recommend for iPhone and Android.

“For iPhone: Weather Lock Screen (Free, iOS), For Android: Beautiful Widgets (Free, Android).” – Karam Ahmad, 6 Brilliant Smartphone Life-Hacks you should be using, Otterbox; Twitter: @OtterBox

9. Get around storage issues on your Android smartphone with Gmote.

“One of the major reasons why people usually buy smartphones is so that they are able to play their favorite music and videos. However, this usually comes with some limitations, mainly with regard to storage space. For many people, most of their music and video files are usually stored in their PCs, while just a selected number of files are stored in their smartphones. This thus means that they cannot access their music files, and they have to keep deleting some of the files in order to make room for new files. This is a great inconvenience for smartphone users; the good news is that someone saw this and decided to come up with a simple hack that enables one to stream their music from their PC to their smartphones by using Wi-Fi. There is an Android app called app called Gmotethat makes accessing this future a breeze.” – Dani, 29 Incredible Android Hacks You’ve Probably Never Heard, Joy of Android; Twitter: @JoyofAndroid

10. Capture something important or entertaining.

“Your friend just made a hilarious typo in a text message and you want to share it with your other friends. Capture it as an image with a screenshot.

“On an iPhone, press and hold the Home button along with the Sleep/Wake button. You should hear a shutter click. The screenshot will appear in your Camera Roll or Saved Photos section.

“On Androids, hold the Power and Volume Down buttons at the same time. The image is saved to the “Captured Images” folder in your Gallery app. That only works in Android 4.0 and higher, though. For Android 3.0, 2.3 or earlier, use an app like AirDroid.

“Once you have the image, share it to your favorite social media site or through email.” – Kim Komando, 5 secrets every smartphone user needs to know, USA Today; Twitter: @USATODAY

11. You aren’t stuck with the keyboard that comes with your smartphone.

“What’s the best Android keyboard? Simple: the one that works for you. You don’t have to put up with your device’s keyboard. There’re loads of keyboard options, from the manufacturer’s version that Samsung or HTC bundle in, through to the stock Android keyboard, or third party keyboards like SwiftKey or Skype.

“First up, turn off the vibration feedback on keypress. You’ll find this in settings > language & input (or language & keyboard) where all the keyboard settings lie. Sometimes the vibrations get backed up and once your fingers start flying, they can’t always keep up, which is annoying. The buzzing of the vibration may also be really annoying to those around you. Some vibrations get hidden in the sound and notification setting. Again, less is more, as they say.

“Although some of the manufacturer keyboards are pretty good, the stock Android keyboard (available on Google Play) is also good, but we’re fans of the advanced features of SwiftKey, which is well worth a try too, because of the strength of its predictive suggestions. It’s also free.” – Chris Hall, Android for beginners: Tips and tricks for your new smartphone, Pocket-lint; Twitter: @Pocketlint

12. Open links in a new browser window on an Android device.

“The standard Android browser offers tabbed browsing, it just doesn’t do a very good job of advertising it. Long-pressing a URL lets you open web links in a new tab – you then switch tabs by pressing Menu and selecting the Windows option. Not that user-friendly a system, but it works. Just remember that quitting to the desktop may automatically close everything in the middle of a tab-heavy session.” – Gary Cutlack, 50 really useful Android tips and tricks, TechRadar; Twitter: @techradar

13. Use the “remind me later” feature to skip calls on your iPhone, without forgetting about them.

“Alternatively, you can get iOS to remind you to call back later. As with the auto-replies, the way you do this depends on your version of iOS: in iOS 9 you tap the Remind Me button above the slide, but in earlier versions you swiped upwards and selected Remind Me Later.

“You can choose to be reminded in an hour, ‘When I Leave’ or (where applicable) ‘When I Get Home’. Make sure your address details are up to date in Contacts, so your iPhone knows where home is. The timings will be based on your GPS movements.” – Ashleigh Allsopp, The 25 best iPhone tricks you didn’t know existed, MacWorld; Twitter: @MacworldUK

14. Back-up your data to avoid losing photos, videos, and other important information.

“A friend of mine recently took her phone back to the store for a replacement battery and the technician ended up deleting all her photos and contacts through an inadvertent factory re-set. Make sure you use one of the many cloud services (Verizon customers can use Verizon Cloud) to sync and store all your important photos, media, contacts, and even text messages.” – Monica Vila, 7 Essential Tips for New Smartphone Owners, The Online Mom; Twitter: @TheOnlineMom

15. Download memory management software.

“Users can download and install memory management software for free or a very low cost to use on their smartphones. These programs restore memory lost by defragmenting the hard drive or performing a recovery to find the lost information. Defragmentation also helps the Android run faster and this can even be done while using the phone. Once the software is installed, users can click on the app at any time to run the program and free up some memory. These software apps also provide other features for users to help them stay on top of their memory usage.” – 6 Tips for Keeping Your Android Smartphone at Peak Performance, eBay; Twitter: @eBay

16. Use the DiskUsage app to identify major data hogs.

“Like most Android users, you may run into slight space issues when it comes to available internal storage for apps. The daunting task you face, then, is to go through each of your apps and locate the major megabyte offenders. One way to tackle this is an app called DiskUsage. DiskUsage scans the location and displays a visual representation of your disk usage.” – Thomas Jones, Top 5 android memory management Tool to Get the Most Memory of Android, WonderShare; Twitter: @Wondershare

Smartphone camera tips and tricks

17. On an iPhone, you can take photos using the headphone cord.

“You can take a picture using the headphone cord. Ever want to get a bit father away from the camera when taking a self portrait? Everyone should know that you can snap a picture with your iPhone by pressing the Volume Up button, but few people realize this works with the volume buttons built into the headphones, too.” – Ed Hardy, Top 10 iPhone Tips and Tricks, Brighthand; Twitter: @Brighthand

18. Use the volume button to snap pictures.

“Taking selfies is serious business. But it doesn’t have to be a difficult one. It’s surprising how many people don’t realize that you can just hit either volume button (on most phone models—both iOS and Android) to snap a picture. You don’t have to hit the virtual button that’s on your screen. This works one both the front- and back-facing cameras, but it’s particular handy when shooting a selfie. If you didn’t know this before, you will never go back to shooting by tapping the screen. We were able to confirm this feature on various iPhones and several Android models.” – Evan Dashevsky, 14 Cool Smartphone Camera Tricks You Should Know, PC Mag; Twitter: @PCMag

19. Make better use of your smartphone’s camera – it’s not just for selfies.

“It seems so simple, but getting more mileage out of your phone’s camera can truly make your life easier. Snap a picture of your fridge/pantry before you head to the grocery store so that you know exactly what to buy. Suffer from parked-car memory failure? Take a picture of the closest intersection to your car’s location. Use your smartphone camera to store highly useful information like your prescriptions (photos of your medicine bottles), your frequent flier number (photo of your frequent flier card), or your hotel’s address (photo/screen-grab of your travel itinerary) in case your lose service.” – Brenna Loury, 7 Easy Hacks That Turn Your Smartphone into the Ultimate Productivity Tool, Todoist; Twitter: @todoist

20. Use an app (and your device’s camera) to make all your documents digital.

“Thanks to the increasing quality of smartphone cameras, you no longer need a scanner to get all of your paper files up into the cloud. Evernote, Google Drive and CamScanner are three of several apps that can do the job.” – David Nield, 23 smartphone tricks to impress your friends, T3, The Gadget Website; Twitter: @t3dotcom

21. Edit and retouch your best photos.

“Be selective! Try to choose only the best pictures and then edit those.

“There are many apps that will help you to do this, and while we can’t understate their help in creating beautiful images, but don’t try too hard. You should remember that sometimes a picture can be better off without any filters.

“It’s also worth mentioning that there is no ‘magic’ application. Sometimes a picture can not be saved and instead of ‘torturing’ it, you’d be better off taking another photo. Try to use less filters and more individual adjustments that you can apply — each of of your photographs is different, so take an individual approach to editing them.” – DL Cade, 35 Mobile Photography Tips That’ll Help You Take Much Better Smartphone Shots, 500PX ISO; Twitter: @500px

22. You’re not limited to the camera app that comes with your smartphone.

“The camera app that comes with your phone is perfectly adequate (if somewhat minimalist) most of the time. But what if you want to capture the light trails of cars driving past a nighttime holiday display? Or maybe you want to use your phone’s digital zoom while shooting a video of kids unwrapping presents? If so, it’s time to check out one of the many camera apps in your phone’s app store. On the iPhone, I highly recommend Top Camera, which does all the above and more. If you’re looking for other camera-enhancing apps, we have several great suggestions for iPhones and Android phones.” – Dave Johnson, Smartphone photo tips for the holidays, PCWorld; Twitter: @davejoh, @pcworld

23. Use gridlines to line up your shots.

“One of the easiest and best ways to improve the photos you take on your mobile device is by turning on gridlines so you can properly set up your shot. It superimposes a series of lines on the screen of your smartphone’s camera app that are based on the “rule of thirds” — one of the most well-known principles of photographic composition.

“The rule of thirds says to break an image down into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, so you have nine parts in total. The theory is that if you place points of interest in these intersections or along the lines, your photo will be more balanced and will enable your viewer to interact with the image more naturally.” – Lindsay Kolowich, How to Take Good Pictures With Your Phone: 17 Tips & Tricks to Try, HubSpot; Twitter: @HubSpot

24. Don’t use the digital zoom on your smartphone.

“On most DSLR and even some point and shoot cameras, you are able to zoom in on your subject by using what they call an optical zoom. This is where the optics, or the actual lens of the camera, moves to get a closer view of your subject. Due to the fact that most cell phone cameras have to be crammed into tight spaces to make them fit, they generally don’t have the necessary optics needed to zoom in and out.

“Manufacturers have compensated for this by equipping most camera phones with a digital zoom. The main difference is that a digital zoom is done with software and not hardware. Basically, the camera takes the image you want to zoom in on and spreads it out over more pixels on your screen. This creates a subpar and often times blurry photo.

“Instead of using the digital zoom, try to get closer to your subject. If that is not possible for whatever reason, do your zooming after you take the picture by cropping out the unnecessary parts of the image. This will yield a sharper image while still keeping the focus on your subject.” – Dave Koen, Five Tips for Great Smartphone Photography, Storenvy; Twitter: @Storenvy

25. Consider a smartphone lens attachment.

“Invest in a fun smartphone lens. If you’re missing some of the features of your multi-lens camera, check out the fun options for smartphone lens attachments. These attach magnetically and can be switched out quickly and easily. With options like a wide-angle macro lens, an ultra-magnifying telephoto lens and a polarizer lens for a ‘sunglasses on’ effect, the possibilities are endless.” – Five New Tips to Make the Most of Your Smartphone Photography, Princess Lodges

26. Filters are your friend.

“Don’t listen to haters that say how inauthentic and corny filters are. Sure, it’s a better idea to make your own tweaks in apps that allow for more subtle controls over color and tone. Take VSCO Cam or Afterlight for a spin. But if you don’t have time for all that jazz, cozy up to Instagram and be proud of a little filtering. There’s a reason they’re so popular.” – Michael Hession, 7 Tips For Less Terrible Smartphone Photos, Gizmodo; Twitter: @Gizmodo

27. Use a cloud service to share photos with friends and also as a back-up.

“Share your pictures with family and friends! Apps like Dropbox and Google Drive can be used to send large amounts of photos, but also serve as a photo backup. If you have a Dropbox account, pictures can automatically be uploaded, saving you the worry of losing your priceless travel snapshots. Flickr, which also allows you to back-up and share photos via its app, now offers 1TB of storage for free.” – Emily Fischer, 9 Smartphone Travel Photography Tips, Travel and Transport; Twitter: @TandTNews

28. 360-degree panoramas capture the full spectrum of beautiful scenery surrounding you.

“Take 360-degree panoramic video with your iPhone 5, 4S, or 4 using Kogeto’s Dot snap-on accessory lens and Looker, a free companion app from the iTunes Store.” – Amy Bizzarri, Top 9 Smartphone Travel Photography Tips, SocialMoms.com; Twitter: @socialmoms

Smartphone tips for travelers

29. Download movies, music, and other media through Wi-Fi to watch in-flight. 

“Rather than streaming everything, you are better off saving some media (music, movies, video, etc.) directly to your device for your travels. You may not always have a data connection and, even if you do, streaming can eat into your data plan and cost you a lot of money. Even though your airline may have on-board Internet service, you can’t normally stream movies using their connection.” – Robin Wright, 6 Useful Smartphone Travel Tips, The Online Mom; Twitter: @TheOnlineMom

30. Charge your device using the USB port in the back of the television.

“When you’re packing for a trip it’s easy to forget a few things, even if you’ve got a great, geeky travel checklist. If you forget your charger, the television in your hotel room can fill in as a substitute.

“I often travel with a single charger and multiple devices to avoid packing too many things, but I’ve neglected to use the TV as a spare power source despite knowing this tip. While not every hotel television will have this option, it’s a good thing to remember in case you’re in a bind or would find it convenient to have that extra charger without packing it.” – Adam Dachis, Charge Your USB Gadgets Through the TV in Your Hotel Room When Traveling, Lifehacker; Twitter: @lifehacker

31. Take advantage of Google Translate and Google Maps (or Apple Maps).

“I looooove Google Translate. I hope you’ve tried it. Not only can you type in a word or phrase and have it translated (to or from dozens of languages), but you can also speak into it, like some sort of Universal Translator, and it will then speak back in the other language. It’s not real time, but certainly close enough. You can even take a picture of a sign or menu, and it will pick out the text and translate it for you. This feature doesn’t work quite as well as the other methods, but it’s still cool.

“You generally need a data connection for it to work, though you can download specific languages to your phone as well.

“I’m sure you’ve all used Maps, but there’s a great feature you might not know about. If you don’t get a local SIM, but still want to access Maps while you walk around, you can save an area’s map to your phone while you’re on WiFi, so you have access to it while you’re out. I’m not an Apple guy, but I believe Apple maps has similar functionality.” – Geoffrey Morrison, 10 Tips for Travelling with a Smartphone, Forbes; Twitter: @TechWriterGeoff, @Forbes

32. If data usage is a major concern, use Wi-Fi exclusively while traveling.

“Simply put your device in airplane mode and keep the Wi-Fi radio turned on. This means you won’t be charged anything if someone tries to call your phone or text message. Your carrier will think you’re phone is turned off. You may even be able to access free Wi-Fi hotspots at your hotel, local cafes, or public parks.

“Access to Wi-Fi allows you to check emails, upload pictures to social media sites, and surf the Web. You can even call folks at home using a voice over IP or video conference app, like Skype or FaceTime.

“The biggest downside to this approach is, of course, Wi-Fi’s limited range. By going exclusively Wi-Fi calls, you’ll be limiting your Internet access to times when you are in a hotspot. What’s more, friends and family won’t be able to call or text message while you’re away.” – Marguerite Reardon, Traveling abroad this summer? Assessing your best smartphone options, CNET;

33. Stay safer with security apps for travelers.

“Connect with the Department of State’s Smart Traveler app to get travel alerts and warnings, U.S. embassy locations and more. The !Emergency! app supplies emergency-services phone numbers for wherever you are, and will automatically dial them for you.” – Kelsey Rexroat, 30 Ways to Use Your Smartphone When You Travel, Travelzoo; Twitter: @Travelzoo

34. Use services like Google Voice or Skype to save on charges for voice overages.

“Finally, whether you’re using Wi-Fi or cellular data, consider using smartphone apps like Skype or Google Voice when you need to stay in touch with friends and family back home. Rather than paying high international calling and text rates, these apps let you talk and send texts for free or cheap to anybody around the world.

“Using Google Voice lets you call phones and send texts in the US or Canada at no cost, and any number outside that for a small fee. Skype also has low per-minute rates for calls and texts, and both apps let you call other users of the service for free no matter where they are.” – David Dean, Five Tips for Using Your Smartphone Overseas, About.com Travel; Twitter: @TooManyAdapters, @AboutTravel

35. Use your smartphone to take photos during your trip.

“The crucial thing to remember is to think of your camera when something exciting happens. If you are lucky enough, and keep cool, then it’s done.

“This is why the smartphone is such a useful thing. You don’t need to prepare, just grab it out of a pocket and SHOOT!

“Use burst mode to capture the perfect moment in motion. To use burst, hold down the shutter button and it will capture 10 frames per second.” – Anastasia Terentyeva, 30 simple tips to take better travel photos with your smartphone, The Yonder Blog; Twitter: @yondertribe

36. A portable battery or power pack can be a lifesaver.

“If you know you won’t have a chance to recharge for long stretches (exploring the Great Wall of China, perhaps?), consider a portable battery or power pack. Test it out before you go.” – Tips for Traveling With Your Smartphone, Safeco Insurance; Twitter: @SafecoInsurance

37. Download an app or two that supports offline reading without burning through tons of data.

“If you’re like most people, you hardly have time to read all the interesting articles you come across on a daily basis. Maybe you could get through some of them, if you started reading during your commute. While doing nothing or reading novels can be very relaxing, it’s not always the best use of your time. Plenty of applications support offline reading and syncing between your desktop and your smartphone, it’s just a matter of finding what works best for you.” – Tina Sieber, 5 Productive Things You Can Do With Your Smartphone Without a Signal, Make Use Of; Twitter: @MakeUseOf

38. Use an app like TripIt to create, organize, and share your travel itinerary in one place.

“Traveling as you know it has changed for good. Who wants to sift through emails to figure out what flight they’re on, the hotel they’re staying at, and where to get their rental car? This app organizes everything into one place so that you can easily access everything you need. It also allows you to share your itineraries with friends and family, alerts you when other flights that might serve you better come up, and my favorite: helps you snag the best seat on the plane!” – Jennifer Cohen, Top 15 Apps To Make Your Life Easier Every Day, Forbes; Twitter: @therealjencohen, @Forbes

39. Turn your smartphone into your personal memory assistant.

“All smartphones have cameras, and with minimal work, that phone’s camera can become your photographic memory.

“See something important that you want to remember? Snap a picture of it.

“The trick comes in organizing all these pictures you’ve taken. That’s where Evernote (iOS, Android, WP, web) comes into play. Evernote is a cross-platform note service, meaning you can create and read your notes from any device or computer. The next time you see something you would like to remember, take a picture and upload it to Evernote with a few key words in the note. When you need to remember it, a quick search in the app will show you the picture.” – Taylor Wilson, Five ways your smartphone can make your life easier, KSL; Twitter: @KSLcom

Smartphone hacks just for fun

40. Clone yourself in a photo (without fancy editing tools like Photoshop).

How to do it: “Stand at one end of the frame and tell someone to click a panorama shot. When the photographer starts panning, run behind him and stand at the other end before the camera reaches there. The image will have multiple pictures of you. When to use: When there’s no one else in the background and you want a classic unforgettable picture.” – Sarjana Singh, 12 Clever Tricks To Make The Most Of Your Smartphone, StoryPick; Twitter: @Storypickers

41. Translate text on the fly quickly and easily with your smartphone’s camera.

“In the past, you’d look at foreign text and couldn’t read it. You’d have to ask for help, look up words in a book, or maybe even type it all into your smartphone for translation. Now you can just point your device’s camera at the text and see the translation happen before your eyes.

“Word Lens (Android and iOS, $5) is a mind-blowing app that translates any text the camera sees. You have to pay a bit more than the average mobile app for the service, as each language costs an additional $5, but it’s pretty amazing if you’re roaming around a foreign country and can’t read a thing. Point it at any reasonably large text and that text will be automatically (and almost instantaneously) replaced on your screen.” – Adam Dachis, Seven Clever Ways to Use Your Phone’s Camera for More Than Just Photos, Lifehacker; Twitter: @lifehacker

42. Use your smartphone’s selfie-taking functionality as a mirror.

“I realize that there are plenty of mirror apps, but the camera works just fine for me to do a quick make-up and teeth check. I use it to apply lipstick more than I should probably admit. But hey, it’s much more convenient than remembering to carry an actual mirror.” – Kristen Chase, Smartphone camera tips: 8 unexpected ways to use yours that make your life easier, Cool Mom Tech; Twitter: @coolmomtech

43. Check the temperature and humidity level.

“The Samsung Galaxy S4 is packed full of useful and not so useful features, but one that you might have missed is its temperature and humidity sensors.

“The data from these is buried in the S Health app, under the heading ‘Comfort Level’. The idea is that the sensors are used to judge whether you’re comfortable in your current environment.

“It’s an odd use for an unusual feature, but it can be interesting to see the temperature and humidity of your surroundings and whether you’re likely to be comfortable in them, particularly if you use it to judge a good time and location to start a workout.” – James Rogerson, 10 things you didn’t know your smartphone could do, TechRadar; Twitter: @techradar

44. Identify just about anything.

“Forgot the name of that thingamajig? Put on your Google Goggles and let the world’s biggest search engine remember it for you.

“Here’s how it works. Take a photo of the unknown object with the camera in your smartphone then upload it to the web via Google Goggles. The photo is then matched against the search engine’s database to make a quick ID. You don’t even have to type anything. It’s especially useful for translating foreign text.” – Mark Stachiew, 10 Unbelievably Cool Ways to Use Your Smartphone, Reader’s Digest; Twitter: @ReadersDigestCA

45. Use your smartphone camera’s ability to detect infrared light to determine if your remote control’s batteries are dead.

“Our eyes can’t see it, but digital cameras surely can. A smartphone’s camera is indeed sensitive to IR radiation, and if you want to try it for yourself, just use a common IR remote control. The infrared beam emitted when a button is pressed will show as white or purple light in the viewfinder of your camera app. You can use this trick to check if a remote control’s batteries are dead when it stops working.” – Nick T., 10 amazing things a smartphone can do (and you probably don’t know about), Phone Arena; Twitter: @PhoneArena

46. Use your smartphone as a universal remote control. 

“Spending huge sums of money on a universal remote control might not be a great idea, especially when you own a smartphone. There are plenty of applications available that can turn the smartphone into a universal remote. It involves buying a small, inexpensive accessory to pair with the app. Technically, most AV devices still use remote controls that work on infrared light. As smartphones don’t have IR emitters, one has to install an additional IR dongle. For instance, there is a special Tata Sky Mobile access app available for iOS and Android smartphones that turns the phone into a universal remote control for Tata Sky, DVD, TV and amplifier. Re app, RedEye and Peel Universal Remote are some of the other remote options. Search for universal remote apps in iOS App Store and Google Play Store.” – Nidhi Singal, 10 things your phone can replace, Business Today; Twitter: @BT_India

47. Monitor your state of mind with an Android app.

“Dartmouth University researchers built an Android app that knows the smartphone owner’s state of mind. The app automatically measures sleep duration, stress level, eating habits and more—24/7 and without user interaction. Computational method and machine learning algorithms then assess that data and make higher-level inferences about sleep, sociability, activity, and other behaviors.

When 48 students carried phones with the app during a 10-week term, the data correlated with their mental health and academic performance. The app potentially could be used to provide real-time feedback on campus safety and stress levels, identify students at risk, and assess the quality of teaching. It could also be used to monitor mental health, trigger intervention, and improve productivity in the workplace as well.” – Melissa Gaskill, 10 Crazy Things Your Smartphone Could Do, Mental Floss; Twitter: @mental_floss

48. Measure speed and distance to improve your golf or baseball skills.

“If you want to measure the distance on a golf shot, measure the speed of your sons baseball pitch and more, you can do that too. Smart Tools is a group of Android apps that can measure the distance between two objects, and they even have an app to measure the speed of moving objects. Smart Distance will measure the distance, then, once you know how far things are, the Speed Gun app will give you the speed of any moving object.” – Cory Gunther, 10 Things You Didn’t Know Your Android Smartphone Could Do, Gotta Be Mobile; Twitter: @GottaBeMobile

49. Use your smartphone and a selfie stick to peek around corners.

“You never know what could be lurking around the corner. Smartphones could come in handy for checking those blind spots if you’re too afraid to stick your head around there. Just take your phone, place it on a selfie stick, use Facetime, and watch what your smartphone sees from a tablet or laptop. Voila! You can now get unique views, such as looking up in an attic to find trapped birds or other creatures which shouldn’t be there.” – 7 Interesting Things You Can Do with your Smartphone, ZAGG Blog; Twitter: @ZAGGDaily

50. Turn your smartphone into a sci-fi thermal camera.

“Seek Thermal gives you the thermal technology that was once only available for the military and other professionals. It’s a tiny camera that attaches to your smartphone so you can get a thermal image of anything around you, showing you a temperature snapshot of your environment.” – Shray Chawla, 12 Unexpectedly Cool Things You Didn’t Know Your Smartphone Could Do, Scoop Whoop; Twitter: @ScoopWhoop

51. Create amazing time lapse videos without buying expensive, high-tech equipment.

“Time-lapse videos are amazing. You can watch natural phenomena unfold that would take too long with the unaided eye.

“Time-lapse pros use expensive, high-tech equipment to get their shots. If you want to try your hand at it, however, it only takes a few bucks.

“Your smartphone can make time-lapse movies no problem. Just grab TimeLapse for iPhone or Lapse It for Android.

“You can set how frequently the camera snaps a picture. Then the app will put the images together in a movie file. You just need to tap a button.

“Well, you also need to figure out a good way to keep your phone pointed where you want. There are plenty of low-cost tripod hacks people have come up with online.

“If you want a premade solution, you can grab a smartphone tripod. Look at the GripTight GorillaPod from Joby ($30) or the Sony SPA-MK11 ($30).” – Kim Komando, 7 clever uses for ordinary smartphone features, USA Today; Twitter:@kimkomando

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