Android Granny Mode

A lot of us got into Android handsets about 2 years ago. (Android became the best selling mobile phone platform in Q4 2010) For those of us on a 2 year contract that means it is almost time to upgrade. There are some great new handsets out there, but what to do with a 2 year old phone? 

You can't sell it online - you won't get much for it.

Your friends don't want it - they all have the iPhone 4S already.

Your wife doesn't want your hand-me-downs, she wants a new phone.

Can't give it to your parents or grandparents, it's way too complex for them; they wouldn't be able to use it.

Or would they?

A few problems to solve:

Keys too small.

Font too small.

Too complex.

Can't be easily used in an emergency.

Keys too small

Check out: Big Buttons for $2.77 on the app market.

Install this and you will make the best possible use of the screen space. Nice big keys and predictive text.

Font too Small

On most handsets you can manually change the font size to 'large'. Use this application and you will be able to change it to 'ridiculously large'.

Use this function with caution - if the font is too large it will mess up some functions, some buttons and boxes will only display the top half of the text.

Too Complex & Can't be easily used in an emergency

For $1.39, download Big Launcher.

This application replaces the interface that you usually use with an extremely simple interface with just six buttons: Call, text, camera, photos, SOS and 'more'.

Each button takes you either straight to a simplified version of that function, or to the usual application.

The 'more' button will take you to a second customisable screen where you can choose five applications that the user will need on a regular basis. The sixth button on that screen will take you to the applications drawer - so everything is still accessible, just nicely hidden away from the user to avoid confusion.

But what does that SOS button do?

It starts a customisable timer. Unless cancelled, the SOS function will count down to zero and then send a custom SOS text message to a number of your choice, and make a call to a number of your choice.

So don't leave your smart phone in the drawer collecting dust while granny uses a cranky old Nokia.

For $4.16 set your old phone to granny-mode. (Save $144.84 compared to purchasing the 'Dorro' phone.)

Cyanmod

Do you ever get a little bit frustrated at the way your phone manufacturer thinks you want to use your phone?

Some carriers charge a premium for tethering (using your phone as a modem for a PC) or have annoying built in programs that you have to use, or counter-intuitive menus.

And why is there no option to reboot?

Cyanogenmod is basically an alternative to the stock operating system that you received with your phone. It is based on the Android OS, but has been improved with the things that users have demanded.

Some of the coolest things:

Tethering - use your massive data plan to run your home internet.

Phone goggles - program self restraint into your phone! No messages can be sent to your ex after beer o'clock.

Gesture lock screen - instead of neatly drawing a shape onto the nine dots on the lock screen, you can unlock your phone with any shape you like, drawn onto a blank slate.

Status bar - completely customise how your status bar looks.

Reboot - You can choose to reboot your phone instead of having to turn it off, wait, turn it back on.

Your phone company and the manufacturers don't want you to use this.

If you do, you will have no warranty and get no support from your carrier with any software glitches. Please do your research before deciding whether this would be right for you.

http://www.cyanogenmod.com/

Moving Contacts from or to an Android Phone

On your Android phone, go to 'Contacts' or 'People' and choose settings.

Click 'Import/Export' and choose 'Export to SD Card' or 'Import from SD Card'.

Exporting will save a *.vcf file on your SD card - this is as close to a standard contact type as we will ever get.

Importing a *.vcf file will add all those contacts to your phone.

If you get double ups, a lot of programs (for example Go Contacts) can consolidate and look for near or complete matches.

Once you've got your *.vcf file you can connect your Android to a computer and copy the file onto another type of phone.

App2SD

Running out of space in your phone's memory?

All those applications I recommended for you have now clogged up your phone - and it's running slow.

Check out App2SD.

It helps you to quickly move your applications onto your SD (removable) memory card.

You can move your applications without the help of this app, but finding out which ones are moveable, which ones are already there is a frustrating process - all this app does is display a list of the applications you haven't yet moved, and provides a link to the system page where you can shift it over to the SD card.

Slide IT Keyboard

This application is very similar to Samsung 'Swype', where instead of tapping the screen to select each key, you just drag your finger over the screen, passing over the keys you want to select, and it outputs the right words in about half the time.

It makes entering text much quicker.

$6 - well worth it, a physical keyboard costs >$20.

Widgetsoid

This is probably the best application I have.

It was one of the first I downloaded on my first Android and has followed me ever since.

To turn off the data usage on the phone usually takes five clicks. To find the available memory or temperature of the battery or skip to the next song or find a bookmark or turn on the flashlight can all take a while too.

But if I'm doing one of these actions every day - I want to be able to do it from my desktop.

A widget sits on your desktop and is similar to a shortcut, but the difference is that a widget can execute an action in one touch

This application lets you customise widgets to do almost anything. You can have control over your data connection, Wi-Fi, music, portable hot-spot, screen-off timer or nearly anything else you can imagine.

(The widgets on this screen shot are the black and white ones at the bottom. You can customise colours and appearance.)

Root Uninstaller

Limited space on your phone? Never use the apps that came pre-loaded?

Want to get rid of them but can't?

This app can remove any application that is installed on your phone with no exception.

This should be used with extreme caution. You can quite easily destroy your phone using this application.

In fact, this application is the reason why rooting voids your warranty and no one (especially me) would ever recommend rooting your device.

Slightly safer is the 'Freeze' option. You can hide the application and block all of its processes. This won't free up any room, but if you change your mind you can always reverse the freeze. (Unless you've already destroyed the phone).