If you own an Android Dev phone, at some point you'd probably want to create and try your own apps (or apps from your friends).
To ensure that you do not break your phone by installing malicious apps, Android has a couple of safety features built in. So you need to specifically instruct android to be able to install unsigned / non-market apps.
Menu > Settings > Applications > Unknown Sources
Check "Unknown Sources" to allow install of non-Market applications. While developing, you most likely also want to enable "Stay awake" in Menu > Settings > Applications > Developmentso that your screen does not go to sleep every often.
Now you can install any app (including malicious ones) the usual way either by browsing to the app using the browser or using adb install command.
Setting location based reminders is very simple in android. The app is integrated with Google Maps and you can just tap a location on the map to set a reminder when you are around that place. You can create one-time alerts or configure it to repeat on particular days
How do you locate your mobile phone if the ringer is off? Maybe you switched the phone to vibrate mode while you were in a meeting and now you dont find it . Wouldn’t it be nice if you could use other phone to turn on the ringer of your missing phone? Here is an app for it Agastya, a new Android app that lets you “remotely” perform various tasks on your phone from any other phone via simple SMS commands. The other phone, that is sending the commands, need not be running Android – even the basic Nokia phone would do
The workflow is very easy. You send an SMS command from a friend’s phone to your own phone in a given format and the app reacts accordingly. For example, a command like “ringer” would turn on the ringer while “silent” would put the phone to silent mode. The best feature of this app is it helps you retrieve your missed calls list or your incoming text messages via, you got it right, SMS. Here’s a complete list of SMS commands that you can try on your Android phone:
SILENT – Turn off the phone’s ringer
RINGER – Turn on the ringer
IMEI – Get the IMEI number* of your phone
LAST MESSAGES – Retrieve the last 5 text messages received on your phone
LAST CALLS – Know the last 5 missed/received/dialed numbers
<CONTACT> – Fetch the contact number of a person from the address book.
Agastay isn’t the first app that offers such features. The more popular Where’s My Droid app can not only turn on the ringer of your phone remotely but will also send you the phone’s current GPS location by SMS. There’s overlap but these apps are more inclined towards locating your lost phone while Agastay is like a command console – you can toggle between phone states or even fetch details of a contact remotely from the phone’s address book. The IMEI feature is also handy for blacklisting your misplaced phone
What will you see when you right click on the desktop? You will see a context menu which says arrange icons, refresh,..and so on. Are you angry at your friend for not wishing you for you B'day? Do you wanna play a trick on a newbie in your family who is new to computers? This is a cool trick to play. By this tweak, you will be able to disable the right click on the desktop or any icons/files/folders/applications... But right click will work on taskbar of the start button and registry. So, dont worry!!! Open your registry and you will see all unknown files like HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT....... and so on. Don't panic. Follow this path. HKEY_CURRENT_USER>SOFTWARE>MICROSOFT>WINDOWS>CURRENT VERSION>POLICIES>EXPLORER. On the right side of the registry, you will see two files(in general) named 'default' and 'NoDriveTypeAutoRun'. Right click on the empty space in the registry and goto New>DWORD VALUE and name it as "NoViewContextMenu". Remember, no spaces and N,V,C,M should be capitals. Right click on this and click modify. The default value will be 0. Change it to 1. Note: DONOT CHANGE THE HEXADECIMAL TO DECIMAL. Click OK. Close your registry and logout. Bingo!!! Once you login again, right click wont work. Your friend will be perplexed and the next thing he/she does is call the system administrator not knowing that not all system administrators will be knowing about registry. Now, to enable it again. follow the same path and set the value to 0. Logout and then login to see the effect.
2) Reverse the mouse buttons This is a cool trick to play on newbies. Actually, there are two ways to do this. One is changing the settings in the Control panel and the other is through editing registry. You can do it either way. But I prefer the second way, which is challenging. (i) Through Control Panel - goto Start> Control Panel> Printers and other hardware> Mouse. In Button configuration, enable the switch primary and secondary buttons option and click OK. But remember, you have just swapped the mouse buttons. So, for OK, you have to click the right mouse button. The newbie will be perplexed. Well, this trick is good for left handers. (ii) Editing the registry - By default the left mouse button is the primary and the right is secondary. Open your registry and follow this path: HLEY_CURRENT_USER>Control Panel>Mouse and on the right side of the registry, create this String value(REG_SZ): 'SwapMouseButtons' and set its value to 1. Bingo!!! You are done. Log out/Restart the computer.
You can try this: Combine tricks 1 and 2. That means, this will result in swapping of the mouse buttons and disabling the left click(once the buttons are swapped). User is ready to call system administrator cuz he feels that the system is behaving wildly.
Results : $ First line shows the IP address of the website...$ You'll be shown steps in which the website gets load ! $ More is the number of steps more is time taken to load the website.
The user can't burn any CDs by this trick. This restriction will disable the use of the inbuilt CD recording functions of Windows.
Open your registry and follow this path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Software>Microsoft>Windows>Current Version>Policies>Explorer and create this key: "NoCDBurning" and set its value to 1. Close you registry and logout/restart your system for the change to take the effect.
Create A Hidden User Account This tweak allows an account that is normally displayed on the Welcome screen to be hidden from view. To log on using the account it's necessary to use the Log On To Windows dialog box similar to the one in Windows 2000. #[Start] [Run] [Regedit]#Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList#Modify/Create the Value Data Type(s) and Value Name(s) as detailed below.#Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value] // Value Name: Type Name of Account to be Hidden#Setting for Value Data: [0 = Account is Hidden / 1 = Enabled]#Exit Registry and Reboot...
While the account is hidden on the Welcome screen, note that the account profile will be visible in C:\Documents and Settings or wherever user profiles are stored as well as in Local Users and Groups
My Exclusive... Again a contribution to Computer Tricks ! Play pranks on your friends...
**************************************************************************** Shutdown Trick Stimulate shutdown from command prompt ! # Start >> Run # Type shutdown -s -t 10 -c "Shutting Down..." # Hit Enter and enjoy ! **************************************************************************** Restart TrickStimulate Restart from command prompt ! # Start >> Run # Type shutdown -r -t 10 -c "Restarting..." # Hit Enter and enjoy ! **************************************************************************** Log Off TrickStimulate LogOff from command prompt ! # Start >> Run # Type shutdown -l # Hit Enter and enjoy ! **************************************************************************** Please Note -s :: This signify Shutdown Request. -r :: This signify Restart Request. -l :: This signify LogOff Request. -t :: This signify the timer before Restart. (Replace '10' with any number.) -c :: This signify comment.
How To Stop It ?# When the timer is Running... # Start >> Run # Type shutdown -a # That's It.
These days Broadband connections are very common...
As a result we are always connected... this annoys the ISP's !
Recently, I made some changes in my internet connection and faced the following problem and came out with a solution...
***** Problem ***** ISPs(Internet Service Providers) automatically disconnects the connection after some time in case of absolute inactivity. This reduces the load on their servers. But... This is irritating for the user, as he has to login every now and then...
Now, Imagine you are reading an article and after 10 mins.. as you turn to next page...? It asks you to Login..??? Now... that's crazy... isn't it ?
***** Solution ***** I coded an application that keeps the connection alive ! Basically it maintains little activity and prevents it from logging out. This is tested to be safe.. so no worries.
------------------------------------------------------------- Application : Keep_Alive Size : 40 KB It uses : 128 bytes every 5 min. (i.e. 36KB in 1 day) Link : Download Here -------------------------------------------------------------
***** How To Use ***** > Double-Click the application(Keep_Alive) > The Application runs in hidden mode, i.e. it will disappear and run in background > You are done.. Now your connection will remain alive, forget about it.
۩ On Restart the you again have to start the Application!!!
--------------------------------------------
So... Add it to your Start Up ------------------------------------------------------------- Adding to StartUp... ------------------------------------------------------------- ** Go to Start > All Programs ** Right Click on Startup > open ** In Startup paste the application (Keep_Alive) ** This will start the Application every time you start your computer
Mission Accomplished...! Now you will not get logged out automatically as the application will maintain some activity.
If you want to remove it... ** Just Delete it from the Startup Folder & Restart. ** To close it without Restart.. (ctrl + shift + esc) > Processes >Keep_Alive > End Process.
So you’ve got a great Android phone app on Google Play, your users love it, and you’re kicking back and watching the download numbers soar. Congrats! But like any enterprising developer, you may be thinking, “how do I take my app’s success even further?” The answer: an equally awesome experience on tablets. Users love their tablet apps! For example, Mint.com found that the larger screen real estate allowed tablet users to engage with their budget data 7x more than on phones. And TinyCo found that on average, paying users spent 35% more on tablets than on handsets. So now is the right time to think about how your app translates onto these larger screen devices that are designed to meet users’ more generic, everyday computing needs.
In this post, we’ll recap some of the resources available for crafting a great tablet experience for your users. These resources are useful for everyone in the app development pipeline—from product managers, to designers, to developers, and QA engineers.
Android Design Guidelines
No conversation about Android app design or development should go very far without first consulting the Android Designguidelines. While most of the sections are relevant to all Android devices, certain sections stand out as particularly relevant to design on tablets.
The Devices and Displays page introduces the concept of density-independence. For example, although the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and Motorola XOOM all have a similar pixel resolution (1280x768, 1280x800, and 1280x800 respectively), they have vastly different screens. Instead of thinking in pixels, think in dips (density-independent pixels)—that way, it’s much easier to conceptualize the difference between Nexus 4 (640x384 dp), Nexus 7 (960x600dp), and Nexus 10 or the Motorola XOOM (1280x800 dp).
Following the 48dp rhythm discussed in Metrics and Grids helps take some of the guesswork out of sizing elements, especially for tablets. When in doubt, use multiples of 48dp (or 16dp for a finer grid) for sizing elements horizontally and vertically. For example, when showing sparse content on larger screens, consider using generous side margins of 96dp or 144dp. Or when deciding how wide your master pane should be in a master/detail layout for 10” tablets, see how your master content looks and feels with a width of 240dp or 288dp.
The Multi-pane Layouts guide discusses use cases and examples for combining related views into a single screen to simultaneously improve app navigation and make optimal use of the available screen real estate. It also discusses strategies for laying out content across both portrait and landscape, all while maintaining functional parity across orientations. Since users enjoy using tablets in both portrait and landscape orientations, it’s even more important to react properly to orientation changes than with phones.
Lastly, the Downloadable Stencils offer designers a great starting point for high-fidelity mockups, complete with reference device outlines, correctly sized action bars, and more.
Android Training for Developers
The Training section of the developer site offers task-oriented technical training material, complete with flow diagrams, code snippets, sample projects and more. Several of these ‘classes’ are geared toward helping developers understand how to scale your apps across any screen size.
The Designing Effective Navigation class—aimed more at the initial design phase of the app creation process—offers a methodology for effectively planning and grouping screens on tablets, and even shows example wireframes for a simple news reader application following this methodology.
Lastly, while not precisely a training class, the Supporting Tablets and Handsets document offers even more information about some of these key best practices. And if you’re the type of developer that would prefer to skip the text and jump right into the code, you can even add a Master/Detail flow, complete with handset and tablet support, to your app with just a few clicks using the Android Developer Tools for Eclipse.
Android Design in Action Highlights
Each week, a few of us on the developer relations team get together on the Android Design in Action live show to discuss Android design best practices, as well as provide original ‘redesign’ mockups to help demonstrate our vision of how Android apps should look and feel.
A recent episode focused on the topic of responsive design, or designing flexible apps that can adapt to whatever screen size or form factor they’re run on:
In the episode, we celebrated successful examples of responsive design on Android, ranging from creating calendar events inGoogle Calendar, to browsing wallpapers and stories in Pattrn and Pocket, to playing video in TED, and finally to managing your conference schedule in the open-sourceGoogle I/O 2012 app.
We also regularly feature tablet design concepts on the show (some are shown below), so we highly recommend tuning in each week for design ideas.
Over in the “Distribute” section of developer.android.com, the recently published Tablet App Quality checklist is a great way to check if your app is tablet-ready along a variety of technical dimensions. You should make sure that everyone involved in your mobile products is aware of the standards defined in this checklist, as it is one of the ways in which the Google Play team selects apps to feature in the Staff Picks for Tablets collection.
So What are You Waiting For?
2013 is almost here, and it’s looking to be another exciting year for Android tablets. Make sure your app is positioned to succeed in the evolving device landscape by following some of the best practices and examples discussed here and on the rest of developer.android.com.
