There probably isn’t a person now who hasn’t got an absolutely indispensable smartphone in their pocket. However, despite this fact, there aren’t many people out there who know about all the incredible things these devices are actually capable of.
Android is stacked with so many tools and configuration options, we often overlook some of its most useful features. Sometimes they’re hiding in plain sight. Other times, they’re buried so deep, you’d never discover them without spelunking deep into submenus, groping blindly in the dark.
But don’t let that one killer feature get away. Even if you consider yourself an Android power user, you’d do well to make sure you’re familiar with every single menu, toggle and utility on this list. We’ve done our best to identify the precise locations of the features listed below, but you may have to hunt around menus a bit if your device manufacturer has excessive interface customization.
We at Abijita Foundation would like to end this vicious circle and tell you about 8 of the most fascinating features of Android.
The easiest way to save your battery power
If you choose a black or simple dark background for your screen, the automatic pixel highlighting will turn off, and you’ll notice that your device keeps its charge for much longer. This feature isn’t available for all Android devices yet, but it’s already implemented on most Samsung smartphones and tablets. Give it a try!
Text-to-speech
Not only can you read this article but you can also listen to it if you have an Android device. So if you prefer to hear incoming information rather than see it, go to Settings -> Accessibility and turn on the Text-to-Speech Output option.
Smartphone remote control
Just go to Settings -> Security -> Device administrators, and check the boxes next to Android Device Manager, Remotely locate this device, and Allow remote lock and erase. Now if you lose your smartphone, you can locate and block it without losing your data via this website.
Turning on Guest Mode
If you would like to temporarily give your phone to another person yet keep your personal data confidential, use Guest Mode. Swipe down from the top with two fingers, and touch the user icon on the upper right. The Add guest icon will appear, and you’ll be able to choose which actions the person handling your smartphone will be allowed to take.
People with poor eyesight often have no idea how much this feature can help them. Just go to Settings -> Accessibility -> Magnification gestures. Then you’ll be able to zoom in on any part of the display just by tapping it.
Hot-spot mode
You needn’t buy a separate 3G modem or a router to use the Internet on different devices because your smartphone can do this easily. Go to Settings -> Tethering and portable hotspot, and turn on Portable WLAN hotspot. That’s it!
Control your smartphone with head movements
There are situations when you just have to use your gadget but your hands are otherwise occupied or it’s just too cold outside to take your warm gloves off. However, there’s a solution for this! After installing a free app called EVA Facial Mouse you’ll be able to control your Android device with movements of your head!
A secret game
Starting with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, Google puts a small secret present for users into all their devices. However, finding it may prove to be quite difficult. Here are instructions on how to do it despite the odds. First, go to Settings and choose About phone or About tablet. Quickly tap Android version several times, and when a small marshmallow shows up on the screen, quickly tap it again, and a special mini-game will open. You haven’t found it yet? Well, what are you waiting for?
Screen Recording
A subset of Android users over the years have resorted to rooting their devices to get more advanced features. Android has slowly gained features over time that make root less of a necessity. As of Android 5.0 Lollipop, there’s less reason than ever to root now that Android supports screen recording. You just need an app to take proper advantage of it.A screen recording is simply an MP4 video file of what’s happening on your screen for the duration of the capture. There is no native tool to do this on most Android devices for some reason, but there are a ton of them in the Play Store. My personal favorite is the aptly named Rec. Whether you’re using Rec or another app with support for Lollipop screen recording, all you need to do is accept the screen capture request when it pops up. An icon in the status bar will appear to let you know the screen recording is ongoing. Some apps have support for different resolutions and bit rates for the recording as well, but the default will be the native screen resolution of your phone or tablet. The way you end a recording varies by app, but there’s usually a notification or you can simply put the device to sleep. One of the reasons I prefer the aforementioned Rec is that it has support for both of those options as well as shake to stop a recording.
Set your system animations to warp speed
Android devices are faster than they used to be, but you can make your experience feel even zippier with one simple tweak. Android contains a hidden developer options menu that you can enable by going into your main system settings, then navigating to About > Software Information > More > Build number. Now tap on the build number—literally, tap on it numerous times—until a small message at the bottom of the screen confirms that you’re a developer. Now, don’t worry: This doesn’t make any modifications to your system. It just turns on the Developer Options menu back in the main settings list—so head back there and open it up. Developer Options has a ton of interesting features to play around with, but you can also mess things up pretty badly, so it’s best not to change anything you haven’t thoroughly researched. You’ve been warned!Now back to animations. Inside Developer options, scroll down to Drawing and find Window animation scale, Transition animation scale, and Animator duration scale. These are all set to 1x by default. These animations are the eye candy you see when apps open and close, menus drop down, and more. They help cover up lag as the system catches up, but you don’t really need slow settings on a fast device. You can set all of these to 0.5x for a more snappy interface experience.
Get into your phone faster with Smart Lock
Keeping your phone secure is important, but if you’re the one holding it, there’s no reason you have to deal with a strong lock screen every single time you drag it from your pocket. Luckily, Android 5.0 devices now have support for Smart Lock. This feature can display the easy swipe lock screen when it’s safe to do so. How does it know? Well, there are a variety of options, some more secure than others.
Smart Lock is delivered to devices via Play Services, just like Android Device Manager. The locking options will vary by device, but Nexus phones and tablets have the most. There’s Trusted Face, Trusted Location, Trusted Devices, and on-body detection. At the bare minimum, all devices should have Trusted Devices and Trusted Location.So for example, you can have your phone set to swipe unlock at home, but take a stroll down the block or hop in the car and it will start asking for the pattern, PIN, or password lock again. The same goes for Trusted Devices—if you’re connected to a Bluetooth or NFC device you have previously marked as “trusted,” (like your car or Android Wear watch) you’ll see no secure lock screen. With Trusted Face, the device will switch seamlessly transition to swipe unlock mode if it spots you with the front camera. On-body detection is a little weird—this option keeps your phone set to swipe unlock as long as it detects it is still in your hand or pocket. Set it down, and it locks again.
Keep in mind, some OEMs really bury the Smart Lock menu a few levels deep in advanced security or privacy settings. You may also need to enable Google Play Services as a “trust agent” in the settings of some device to access Smart Lock.
Ref : greenbot.com / https://brightside.me
