As you know, Microsoft's digital assistant Cortana is available on several platforms, such as Android, iOS and company's own Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. Its functionality was on par on every platform for some time, but that doesn't mean there's no way to improve it. Yesterday Microsoft released another update for the Android version, bringing some performance improvements, tweaks to the app's UI and some more minor but welcomed changes. Continue reading "Cortana for Android update brings performance improvements and usability tweaks"
Tag: Android
Tips on how to save the capacity of your phone or tablet battery for a longer time
Modern lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries which are used in smartphones and tablets are longer lasting than their nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) counterparts, but still require some care. Everyone would want to prolong the battery life of their device as long as possible. In this article, I would like to share some lesser known tips to help you prolong the battery life of your mobile devices on a single recharge as well as extend the overall life of the batteries.
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How to enable Lock screen rotation in Android 4.3 and 4.4
If you own a phone or tablet with Android 4.3 or 4.4, you might be facing the issue that your lock screen does not support rotation. I noticed this when I upgraded my Nook HD+ to the latest CyanogenMod based on Android 4.4. The lock screen was always in portrait mode. While phone users might not consider this behavior problematic because phones are mostly used by holding them vertically, tablet owners might prefer landscape mode most of the time. If you have rooted your device, you can perform a simple trick described below to enable lock screen rotation.
Upd: according to our reader Tapatio, this trick also works on CyanogenMod 12.1 android version 5.1.1.
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Fix: Android ringtones are listed twice
Recently I played with my Android phone and added back some OEM ringtones which were removed from the custom firmware I use. After doing that, all my ringtones were listed twice in the sound profile. This was strange, because I had not added duplicates of existing files. Every file had a single copy on my Android phone. Thankfully, I found out the solution and would like to share it with you.
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How to download APK files of Android apps directly from Google Play without Google account
Google Play is a common way to install apps on Android devices. Almost all Android phones and tablets are shipping with Google Play preinstalled. The content in the Google Play store is not limited to software. It also includes books, music and other goodies which vary from country to country. If you own an Android phone, probably you have it preinstalled. One limitation of the Google Play store is that you cannot download APK files of the desired app directly. In this article I will show you how you can directly get the APK file which installs the app from Google Play.
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Access Android running (recent) apps list via notification area and home screen
If you have an Android device such as one from Samsung that requires you to press a hardware button to access recently opened apps, you might want to know if there is an alternative way to access this list. In this article, we will see how you can access Android's recent apps list in an alternative way so you can quickly close the background processes of these apps or switch between running apps faster.
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How to disable Google Now swipe gesture from the Home button in Android
Recently I bought a new Android tablet (it's a Lenovo A3000) with Android 4.2 installed. Right from the first day of its use, I was very annoyed by Google Now, which is accessible via the swipe gesture from the Home button. I launched it several times accidentally and decided to get rid of this feature from my tablet. Here is how I got it disabled.
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