1. Send Your Ex Straight to Voicemail
We've
all got a few people we'd rather not talk to. Rather than manually
screening every call, set up your phone to do the dirty work for you.
Load up the culprit's contact card, select Edit, and then scroll down to
Additional Info. Select "Send straight to voicemail" from the list to
have every subsequent call from that person bypass your ringer entirely.
2. Screen Calls More Politely
Okay,
you're not always sending people to voicemail because you can't stand
them. Sometimes you're in a meeting and can't talk. Android has a way to
silence a call without giving your friend the cold shoulder; you can
send a custom text message to let him know you'll call back later. To
create your own note, go to Phone Settings, and then Quick Responses.
Next time you need to silence a call, swipe up to send your canned
response.
3. Map it Out
Just
because you're traveling somewhere without cell service doesn't mean
you can't have Google Maps to guide. Before you head out, pull up the
area where you're likely to go offline up in Maps, and then type "Ok
Maps" into the search window on the page. Maps will download that
particular portion of the map, making it available even in places where
cell and Wi-Fi service are MIA.
4. Add Words to Your Dictionary
Tired
of typing in every letter of your weird cousin's name or your group's
inside-joke slang terms every time you send a text? Teach your phone new
words by long pressing on a word to add it to your personal dictionary.
Next time you go to type it in, your phone will suggest the word after a
few letters, saving your fingers a little bit of time.
5. Watch Your Data
Avoid
overage fees on your data plan by monitoring how much you use
throughout the month. Go into Settings and then Data Usage to view not
only a breakdown of how much data you've used, but also what apps are
the biggest culprits. If you find yourself cutting it close month after
month, you can set an alert to tell you when you're getting close to
your limit—or program your phone to stop using cellular data altogether
when you've hit your monthly cap.
6. Prevent Premature Loading
We
love tabbed browsing. What we don't love is when we don't need the info
in all the tabs you have open but they preload anyway, which can do
some decidedly not awesome things to your data plan. Restrict Chrome so
it preloads websites only when it's connected to Wi-Fi: Go into its
Settings menu (accessible by pressing the three dots beside the address
bar of a loaded webpage) and selecting Bandwidth Management. From there,
uncheck the box beside preload webpages to prevent them from loading on
their own.
7. Put Your Name on It
One
day you leave your phone behind, but you get lucky—a good Samaritan
finds it and wants to return it to you. But how will they know whom it
belongs to? Android will let you put your name, email address, and an
alternate phone number on your lock screen so that someone who picks up
the device will know it's yours, but won't have access to any of the
other info on your phone. To add your details, go into the Settings menu
on your phone and then select Security, Screen Security, and then Owner
Info.
8. Simplify Calls
Sometimes
navigating through your contacts list to make a call is a bit more
effort than you're looking to give. So add a speed dial button to your
home screen to make it easy to call your mom, or, you know, that pizza
place down the street. To add a number, press and hold on your home
screen where you'd like to add it. A menu will pop up. From there,
select Shortcuts and then Contact. Scroll down to select the number you
want to add.
9. Become a Hard Drive
Need
to transport a few files? Your Android phone can double as a portable
hard drive. Connect your phone to your computer using your USB cable
(the same one you use to charge it every night). The phone will ask if
you want to enable it as a USB storage device. Say yes, and it will show
up on your desktop just like any other hard drive, ready to hold any
files you need to transport elsewhere.
10. Hide Your Kid's Mess
Tired
of your kid's games filling up the homepage on your Nexus 7? If you're
sharing your tablet with others, you can create an individual profile
for each person where they can store their favorite apps and content. To
create a profile on your device for someone new, go into the Settings
menu and then select "Users" followed by "Add user or profile."
On-screen instructions will guide you through adding a new account with
its own apps to your device, or granting restricted access to your
personal content for someone new.
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