*Android phone; a must have* Android phones are bringing a revolution in mobile devices. Mobile phones where initially used for talking but due to improvement in technology they have become more complex. Currently mobile phones support many features such as messaging both basic text and hypertext( multimedia), contacts, calculators, radio, music players Internet support only to mention a few. Android mobile operating system is a Google project based on a Linux kernel (core of the OS) and was released in 2007.the project was targeted to develop a mobile OS that would run in many touch phone devices from different brands. This would enable mobile assembling companies come up with phones that would support this OS instead of every brand to have run on its own OS. Different versions of android OS are available for different hardware capabilities. The faster devices run on higher android version (API). The following features have made the android powered phones a must have. 1. APPS There is more than 600K application available from the App store. Some are free while others need licenses to use. With such large number of apps that one can download and use in their devices makes the phone perform many tasks. To download these apps use your phone and visit the Google play store, search the application you want, download, install and test it. Bear in mind that there are applications that need high system requirements and can’t run on lower powered devices that’s why you sign in to Google play using your Gmail account, Google play checks your hardware specifications and android OS version and then displays the appropriate applications that can run smoothly with your phone. 2. Google maps You never need to get lost when you are using Google maps. When the application loads it shows where the location of the phone. You can then search for a place, town, building, town or city. You can then get driving directions from the place you are to another. I find it very useful especially locating buildings and places. 3. YouTube This application enables someone to search and play YouTube videos directly from your phone provided you have a fast internet and in a good network coverage. 4. Fast browsing Most of the android powered devices support 3G technology. This means that if you use an ISP that support 3G technology you will be able to browse internet very fast. Moreover ,an icon appears to the screen to show you the network technology the phone is very slow. G- GPRS, E-EDGE networks, 3G to HSPDA an article outlining about thee networking will be coming soon. When it comes to browsing speed two major factors come into mind one the HARDWARE CAPABILITY and secondly NETWORK TECHNOLOGY i.e. a phone with capability of EDGE technology will browse at the speed of EDGE even if you are using a 3G ISP SIM card. And a phone cable of 3G will browse at the speed of EDGE if you use an EDGE network and speed of 3G IF YOU USE a 3G network 5. WIFI SUPORT WIFI stands for Wireless Fidelity. This is a wireless network technology used to connect wireless devices. With your android phone you can use the WIFI in a cyber or in an office to access the internet without incurring charges from your SIMCARD Internet Service Provider. 6. Tethering and portable hotspot This is a very useful feature that enables your android phone to act as an Internet Access Point. You can connect wirelessly by turning on portable hotspot or use a cable (turn USB tethering); this means you can have more than one laptop connecting to the internet using the same phone via WIFI. The internet bandwidth is shared. I have often found people confusing between WIFI and Tethering & Portable Hotspot, here is a simple difference Under settings ,Wireless & Networks when you turn on WI-FI under WIFI settings the phone will scan for available WIFI networks and display them. When you click on your appropriate Wi-Fi network, the phone will attempt to connect to the network. Enter a password if prompted (passwords are used to authenticate user who join a protected network). If the WI-FI is not protected then the phone will connect automatically. Bear in mind the WIFI will help you connect to a Wi-Fi network Under settings Wireless & Networks> Tethering & Portable hotspot enables the phone to act as a modem where other devices can access internet via your phone. Your phone will be the one being charged. When you turn on portable hotspot the phone will start broadcasting WIFI signals and other Wi-Fi enabled devices will see and can connect to it. To be on the safe side configure your portable WIFI by changing the default factory name (name of the phone) and give it a new name. Change the password. And choose a strong password. The password that you set is the one that you will input in the devices that you want to use your WIFI. Bearing in mind that old models of laptops and Desktop computers don’t have in built WIFI another option existed. The use of a USB cable. Connect your android phone to the pc using a high speed data cable, on your phone navigate to settings> Wireless & Networks> Tethering & Portable hotspot and click USB tethering. Wait for the computer to install phone drivers and it will then connect to the internet. A little of networking here: when you using the phone as a modem your computer: 1. Should be set to: OPTAIN an IP ADDRESS automatically 2. Browser should be set to: AUTOMATIC DETECT SETTINGS Most of the office/college LAN are configured their host to use static IP address for network management, the computer browsers are set to use internet gateway IP(internet proxy ) and Port in order to connect to internet .if you use your computer both in the configured offices and home you will need to remove these settings in order for your computer to connect to the internet via your phone. And configure them when you want to use the office/college LAN 7. Contact synchronization This is a feature that backs up your phonebook contact to your email account. This comes very useful when you lose your phone since you can restore them to a new SIM card/phone. No need to experience the pain of losing your contacts. You can too import and exports your contacts from SIM card, phone memory and memory card. I usually back up the contacts in my SIM card and phone memory to an SD card and them back them up in my email and print them. I always carry one page printout of all my contacts and I can bear it is worth the idea. 8. EMAIL SUPPORT This Android application enables you to read, compose emails even attach files on the email. When you have enabled data connection you will receive instant email notifications as they arrive. 9. OFFICE SUITE How good it feels to read your word, excel, power point and pdf files at your convenience. I normally load my notes on the phone and read them at any time. I also save PowerPoint presentations and use the phone to make presentations .Thanks to o office suite app 10. NOTIFICATIONS When any event happens the phone notifies you. You can read the notifications and then switch on the previous activity. 11. Multitasking Android powered phones come with multitasking support. You can run many applications at the same time e.g. play music as you browse the internet. 12.SEARCH BUTTON The search button comes into hand when you want to search a contact or application at a go. 13. QWERTY KEYBOARD QWERTY keyboards are very easy to use especially when typing. The android keyboard has the QWERTY layout just like the normal computer keyboard which makes typing easier and faster. 14. ROUTING Routing is the process of removing the limitations put in place by a device’s manufacturer. Jail breaking removes the restrictions puts in place. Routing is similar to jail breaking only that jail breaking is done on Apple iOS devices, such as the iPhone or iPod. Routing is done by tech wizards who try to optimize the phone capabilities e.g. processing speed. With the myriad features of an android phone the phone becomes a must have for today’s generations. The big challenge of using the phone is the power consumption. The android phones consume lot of power especially when browsing, streaming videos, and when Wi-Fi is turn on. Which brand of android phone to go for Nokia, Alcatel, Samsung, and Techno? Do a market survey yourself based on the features and budget available. On a personal opinion I have found out that Ideos consumes lot of power- it has a very short battery life, fist versions of Samsung keeps on hanging up. Techno has a long battery. For those who like dual SIM there is Techno phone that goes at KES7, 500. Another good application for browsing that I have found very fast is DOLPIN browser. It support opening of many tabs concurrently. Opera mini browser is fast too. The writer is in the ICT industry. For more Computer Tips and Tricks visit computer shape up face group>https://facebook/ComputerShapeUp Pliz like the page and share to your friends. Information is power
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 18:39:26 +0000
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