10 Best Android Secret Tips and Tricks

  Android is the Linux based operating system designed primarily for touch screen mobile phones. Now a days android phones are so much popular that they covered almost 65% of total mobile phones market.They are rich in functionality as well as user friendly. Many android users don’t know much about the hidden features of android phones. Today we are sharing an article which will tell you the best secret android tricks and hidden features of android phones. Different versions of android versions support different set of android tricks, so try all the following android tricks. I am not sure which will going to work on your handset.

 1) Force reboot: Many times android users face a problem of freezing of mobile phone, In case your android phone is frozen, you can reboot it using an android trick.

Just press Power Button+ Home Key + Volume up button simultaneously.

2) Quick Google Access:
Android phones built primarily for internet, many of android users don’t know that android phones provide a way by which we can access Google search in just a single click. To use this android trick,

Press menu key and hold it for couple of seconds, it will launch the Google search.

3) Reboot Android in safe mode: 
As like computers, we can also reboot android phones in safe mode. The latest android jelly bean version provides an option to reboot in safe mode, if something goes wrong.
To reboot your android in safe mode, follow the below given instructions.

*Long press the power button
*Long press on the power off option.

Android phone will show a confirmation message about rebooting it in safe mode, if we reboot android phone in safe mode then all the 3rd party application will be disabled. These applications can again be enabled when we reboot our phone normally. This is a great android utility in case when, one of your 3rd party application is causing trouble for you and you want to hunt it.

4) Unlock android phones by face detection: This is a cool android trick by which you can unlock your phone by using face detection, In the jelly bean version, android provides a way by which android phone can be unlock using face detection, to make this feature more secure, jelly bean version added another layer of protection in which android phone can be unlocked only when the face is matched as well as we have to blink eyes in order to unlock phone. Blinking eyes tells the android security system that person is live and it’s not an illegal attempt of unlocking using a still image.
To activate this,

Go to Settings > Security > Screen lock > Face unlock.

5) Get detailed information about phone status:
We can get the detailed statistics like phone information, battery information, usage statistics and WiFi information by just dialing *#*#4636#*#*This is a handy USSD to get the details about battery usage, DNS check, Ping, Application time usage time and so on.

6) Move android apps to SD card: Its good idea to install android apps in SD card, but what if you installed apps on your phone memory. Don’t worry android phones provide a way by which we can move our apps to SD card. To move apps to SD card, follow these steps:

Go to settings > Application settings > Manage application > Select the application, You will see the option “Move to SD card”.

7) Hard Reset and Factory reset your android phone: 
This android trick comes handy at the time of selling an android phone. Android phone can be formatted in two ways

• Factory reset
• Hard reset

a) Factory reset: In factory reset, your phone is being formatted to factory level. Means all the settings will go by default and all the internal data will be deleted. To factory reset a phone dial *#*#7780#*#*.

b) Hard reset: To hard reset a phone dial *2767*3855#, this will delete all the data (including internal and External SD data) as well as settings of android phone. Don’t try this code for testing purpose, until you are not sure. It will not ask for a confirmation.

8) Context menu in android:long press on the screen, will show you additional options for customizing android phones. This context menu is somewhat similar to the right click menu of most operating systems.

9) Taking screen shots on android phone:
 Android phones offer a great feature by which we can take the screen shot without using any 3rd party application. However the screen shot android tricks vary from one android version to another version.

• Press the Home button + power button (This trick work on most android phones.)
• For Galaxy Nexus: Power button + volume down button.
• For Galaxy Note 2 and S3: Swipe your palm on the screen to take screen shot.

10) Android Version Animation: 
This is another cool android trick to play with your android phone.
To use this android trick, Go to settings > about phone > Tab repeatedly on ‘Android version’.
After sometime, the android version will be animated.

10 cool things you can do with your Android camera

 

1. Search for anything, anywhere

As much as you might hate Google for its never-ending bid for world domination, you've got to hand it to the search giant - it really knows how to come up with the goods. Take its latest application Google Goggles, for example.
Designed for Android 2.1 and newer iterations of the OS, it's basically a barcode or QR code reader if it were made by the Incredible Hulk. Instead of relying on scanning bits of information specifically created to be recognised by the app on the side of a packet, Google Goggles can be used to scan absolutely anything - and the beauty of it is that there's not a code in sight.
Simply point it at what you want and it will pull information relevant to it straight to your phone. If it's a famous landmark like Big Ben, it'll beam you a complete history of the building. It works for artwork, drinks, logos and much more.

2. Play augmented reality games
Augmented reality in phones has been around for some time now and tools like AR translation apps are great, but nobody ever seems to show you how to use the technology for fun. That shouldn't stop you using your phone's ability to play augmented reality games though - no matter where you are.
There are plenty of them about, like SpecTrek - the game where you search for virtual ghosts using a map and then shoot them down when you find them. Or there's Zombies, Run! where you have to get from A to B on a map, avoiding those pesky flesheaters en route.
A word of warning: be very careful about running around and shooting at things in a city filled with real people, as you might get some funny looks, especially if you're old enough to know better.

3. Catch criminals

Perish the thought of ever losing your phone or having it stolen, but it could very easily happen to you one day.
Gotya is an app that takes advantage of your Android handset's camera to catch a light-fingered fiend in the act by snapping a photo of them when they try to bypass your phone's security login screen. It then not only emails the picture to you instantly, but also tells you the thief's location, so you can tip off the police to their whereabouts.
Obviously, the only way this idea would ever actually work would be (a) if your phone comes with a front-facing camera, (b) there's mobile internet access available, and (c) you actually remembered to turn 3G on in the first place. Otherwise, it's absolutely fool-proof.

4. Look to the stars

While few of us can ever boast to be blessed with the same sort of abilities as Brian Cox or Sir Patrick Moore, we can still revel in all that the stars have to offer from the comfort of our own homes (or gardens, anyway) thanks to apps like Star Chart and Google SkyMap.
Using AR, they allow you to point your phone skywards at night and get a fascinating overview of all those little lights. SkyMap gives you the names of stars and tells you where to point your phone to see certain planets. You'll feel like a Greek god in no time.

5. Turn your phone into a webcam

Your smartphone's camera doubles up as a handy video camera - most newer phones can even record in high definition - which you can use to shoot videos on the move. But that wouldn't be very revolutionary, would it?
If you want to make more of your mobile hardware, why not stream your videos live to the world (or just a couple of close friends) using Bambuser instead?
Provided you have a decent internet connection where you are - and no, we didn't believe those promotional snowboarding videos either - you can broadcast videos as you record them, which would be great for parties or any kind of activity where someone couldn't be there. You can even geotag your live stream and share it with your entire social network, so everyone knows where you are!

6. Save photo notes

Probably one of the most underrated features of a phone is the ability to take notes at random whenever something happens to pop into your head.
You can go one step further than basic note taking and start using the power of your camera plus the Evernote app to take picture notes too.
The real beauty of this is that anything you snap that contains text will be recognised by Evernote, allowing you to categorise the picture and search the text later, so it effectively writes notes for you. It's great if you want to digitise your shop receipts or scan a great article in a magazine for later.

7. Get notifications via camera flash

The main use for your phone camera's flash is taking pictures in low light, naturally, but some people also use it as a torch to find their way at night. It can even be used as an extension of the ringer and vibrate function when you receive calls by installing the Flash Blink app, so if all else fails and you can't hear your phone, you'll certainly be able to see the flashing light emitting from it.
The app isn't available off-the-shelf, so don't go rooting around Google Play because you won't find it. Instead, find out how to use it in the tutorial below.




Get notifications via camera flash

Install Flash Blink-

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=imoblife.blink&hl=en


open the Flash Blink app like any other in your list of apps.
To get it to work, simply turn on the torch and tap the check box next to where it says Enable Flash Blink Notification - you can choose it to flash when you receive a call, a SMS or both, and you can even choose how fast the light flashes.

8. Translate text

Once again Google Goggles comes to the rescue - out of all the picture-to-text translator apps out there, it's hands-down the best of them.
Just hover your phone's camera over an image of some text, snap a photo and Google Goggles will automatically recognise if the text is in a foreign language and attempt to analyse and translate the image for you. Imagine being in a restaurant in Paris and you want to avoid eating frogs' legs - this could be very useful.

9. Find hidden stuff around you

Thanks to augmented reality technology, you can discover a world of pretty interesting things right outside your front door using apps like Junaio and Layar.
What they basically do is reveal things on your phone that you wouldn't be able to see using your eyes, like events that are going on or where to find discounts nearby. It will even point you in the direction of essential information, like the nearest cash machine or underground station.

10. Scan documents

Another great feature available to Android phones is the ability to convert documents into printable PDFs, simply by using an app like Handy Scanner, which snaps a photograph and then magically turns it into a PDF.
You then have the option of emailing the PDF or putting it in a Dropbox folder. Alternatively, Google Drive does much the same thing but instead of creating a PDF out of printed text, it converts it to a Google Docs file.