How to add Chrome for Android bookmarks to your home screen Chrome for Android recently updated, adding some new features. Yesterday we took a look at ditching the mobile version of a Web site and forcing the desktop version to load. Today we are going to take a look at the ability to add a bookmark shortcut to your home screen To place a shortcut on your home screen, you simply need to view your bookmarks in Chrome for Android. Pick the bookmark you want to add, and then long-press on the icon. You will then see a menu pop up, with the last option being add to home screen. Select that option and then go back to your home screen. That's it. For a better visual walkthrough of the process, watch the video above. This small, but important feature was something that Android has been able to do for a while with the default browser, but it's nice to see it being added to Chrome for Android.

How to add Chrome for Android bookmarks to your home screen

Chrome for Android recently updated, adding some new features. Yesterday we took a look at ditching the mobile version of a Web site and forcing the desktop version to load. Today we are going to take a look at the ability to add a bookmark shortcut to your home screen
To place a shortcut on your home screen, you simply need to view your bookmarks in Chrome for Android. Pick the bookmark you want to add, and then long-press on the icon. You will then see a menu pop up, with the last option being add to home screen. Select that option and then go back to your home screen. That's it.
For a better visual walkthrough of the process, watch the video above. This small, but important feature was something that Android has been able to do for a while with the default browser, but it's nice to see it being added to Chrome for Android.

The main attraction of Android for mobile phone manufacturers has been that it is free, but as phone makers like Samsung and HTC have found out, Android’s encumbrance is that it is constantly pursued in courts all over the globe by Apple and Microsoft. Samsung has already agreed to pay millions to Microsoft (MSFT) for licensing patents related to Android. Some investors may be surprised to know that the biggest blow landed on Android may not be coming from the fist of iPhone maker Apple, but instead from the samurai sword of Larry Ellison at Oracle. Jury selection begins today in San Francisco in a trial that pits Google against Oracle. Oracle is suing Google over intellectual property related to Java that was previously owned by Sun Microsystems. Oracle bought Sun Microsystems. Google’s defense is that Java was free and that Sun was a supporter of Android. Obviously Oracle disagrees. Oracle’s arguments may include an email from a Google engineer concluding that Google should seek a license from Oracle to use Java. Barring a settlement, we will know the results soon as the trial is expected to last only eight weeks. If Oracle wins, it will be in a position to seek an injunction against the sale of Android devices. In all likelihood, Oracle is not after an injunction, because it is not in the mobile device business. Oracle is angling for licensing payments. If Oracle wins, it may seek $5.00 to $7.00 in royalties per handset. Over a period of time, royalty payments may add up. Such royalty payments may cripple Android as it will take away its advantage of being free. Even if Google wins, Android is facing a big challenge from Apple. (Please see Apple To Make Billions On Google’s Android and Apple Could Rake In Billions From Android Licensing Instead Of Enriching Lawyers.)

Android May Be Big Loser In Oracle-Google Trial

The main attraction of Android for mobile phone manufacturers has been that it is free, but as phone makers like Samsung and HTC have found out, Android’s encumbrance is that it is constantly pursued in courts all over the globe by Apple and Microsoft.

Samsung has already agreed to pay millions to Microsoft (MSFT) for licensing patents related to Android.

Some investors may be surprised to know that the biggest blow landed on Android may not be coming from the fist of iPhone maker Apple, but instead from the samurai sword of Larry Ellison at Oracle.

Jury selection begins today in San Francisco in a trial that pits Google against Oracle.   Oracle is suing Google over intellectual property related to Java that was previously owned by Sun Microsystems.  Oracle bought Sun Microsystems. Google’s defense is that Java was free and that Sun was a supporter of Android.

Obviously Oracle disagrees.  Oracle’s arguments may include an email from a Google engineer concluding that Google should seek a license from Oracle to use Java.

Barring a settlement, we will know the results soon as the trial is expected to last only eight weeks.

If Oracle wins, it will be in a position to seek an injunction against the sale of Android devices.  In all likelihood, Oracle is not after an injunction, because it is not in the mobile device business.  Oracle is angling for licensing payments.  If Oracle wins, it may seek $5.00 to $7.00 in royalties per handset.

Over a period of time, royalty payments may add up.  Such royalty payments may cripple Android as it will take away its advantage of being free.

Even if Google wins, Android is facing a big challenge from Apple.  (Please see Apple To Make Billions On Google’s Android and Apple Could Rake In Billions From Android Licensing Instead Of Enriching Lawyers.)

Chrome for Android Doesn’t Need No Stinking Mobile Websites

Chrome for Android Doesn’t Need No Stinking Mobile Websites

Google has released an upgrade for its new Chrome for Android web browser. Chrome for Android — which was released earlier this year — is still a beta release, but the latest version adds several nice new features, including a way to circumvent websites that try to force a mobile version on you.

The latest version of Chrome for Android can be downloaded from the Google Play store. Note that Chrome for Android requires Android 4.0 or better.

This release fixes a number of bugs and adds some new features, like the ability to reload a site that has redirected you to a mobile page. Despite Jakob Nielsen’s recent pronouncement that users want to be auto-redirected to simplified mobile sites, Google’s Chrome for Android developers think otherwise.

Chrome for Android’s new feature subverts websites that automatically redirect you to a mobile version by spoofing Chrome for Android’s user agent string, in this case sending the string for the desktop version of Chrome instead of the mobile (which developers should note has been updated as well).

The new feature means that if a site offers a sub-par mobile experience by default, you can always reload the desktop version with the press of a button.

Also new in this release is the ability to add bookmarks to your home screen for fast access to your favorite sites and web apps.

In addition to the new features, Chrome for Android is now available in 31 more languages and in all countries where Google Play is supported. Chrome for Android is still a beta release and there are plenty of known issues, but the browser is getting closer to a finished product.

Android Tops 50% Market Share in the U.S.

Android's share of the U.S. smartphone market topped 50% for the first time in February, according to comScore's MobiLens.

The figures were a 17-point increase over February 2011. Apple's share for iOS for the month was 30.2%, which was up five points over the same time period. RIM's BlackBerry platform claimed 13.4% vs. 28.9% in February 2011 while Microsoft had 3.9% of the market compared to the previous 7.7%. (The report didn't specify which version or versions of Microsoft's mobile operating systems were being measured.)
[More from Mashable: Instagram for Android Downloaded More Than 1 Million Times in 24 Hours]
Overall, in February, 234 million Americans aged 13 and up used mobile devices. Some 69.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during that time.
Google's success with seeding the market with Android-based phones comes a day after Horace Dediu, an analyst with Asymco, ran the numbers and discovered that Google only makes $1.70 per Android device compared to the $576.30 that Apple makes per iPhone sale.
[More from Mashable: Instagram for Android: Advanced Camera, But No Tilt Shift [HANDS ON]]
Meanwhile, the U.S. market appears to lag the rest of the world for Android adoption. Global market share for the platform approached 50% last August.

Time Warner Cable Live TV Streaming Coming to Android in Next Few Weeks

Time Warner Cable will bring streaming television to Android devices running the most recent version of Google's mobile operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), before the end of May, the company announced on Thursday.
Time Warner Cable in December released a TWC TV app for Android phones and tablets, though it did not include live TV. At the time, the cable provider promised live TV access with the expanded rollout of Android 4.0 ICS.
"Well, that time is here," Jeff Simmermon, director of digital communication for Time Warner Cable, wrote in a blog post Thursday. "In a few weeks — definitely by Memorial Day — Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich will be able to stream our live video product in the home."
But, there's just one problem — only 3 percent of Android-based devices are now running ICS. Android 4.0 ICS made its debut in the U.S. on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus for Verizon in mid-December. Since then, only a handful of devices have debuted with the updated OS, while handset manufacturers have been hustling to upgrade existing smartphones to ICS.
ICS is the only version of the Android OS that provides the "security and stability necessary to distribute video over our private network," Simmermon wrote. In contrast, adding live video to its iOS app is much easier, since it only involves one operating system made by one company that also manufactures its own devices, he said.
"Developing our video product for Android is not unlike tweezing one's eyebrows while using a disco ball for a mirror," Simmermon wrote. "We're going to get there, but it's going to happen one facet at a time."
Meanwhile, TWC previously launched a live TV iPad app in March 2011. Its release, however, prompted concern from content holders, who argued that Time Warner wasn't licensed to stream their content. Time Warner argued that the iPad app was simply like having another TV in the house and, since the content did not stream over the Internet, it was not a violation of the companies' content deals. Viacom however, ended up taking Time Warner Cable to court over the issue, though that case was resolved in August.

How to install and use Launcher Pro on Android One of the best things about Android phones is being able to customise them. Manufacturers do this too so their touchscreen phones look a bit different to everyone else's touchscreen phones. The number of manufacturer customisations is rather bewildering. HTC has SenseUI, Samsung has TouchWiz, Dell has StageUI and Motorola may or may not still have Motorblur. No wonder the unique selling point of the Nexus range is that it offers a pure Android experience. If you want to get rid of the custom front-end on your Android phone there are alternative homescreens, the most popular of which is Launcher Pro, which you can download from the Android Market. We also recommend that you enable all of its features by picking up Launcher Pro Unlocker for a small fee. 1. Installation Once you have installed Launcher Pro, it registers itself with your phone's Home button. Your phone will need to ask you which launcher to use whenever you press Home. Before selecting Launcher Pro, tick the 'Use by default' box so that you won't be asked again. If you change your mind, select Applications from the settings menu, choose Launcher Pro and tap the 'Clear Defaults' button. 222 2. Finding preferences The menu button on most Android devices brings up a set of five icons. Launcher Pro adds a sixth for its own preferences. You'll need to be familiar with this and the menu it launches. Throughout the rest of the guide, menu paths will be shown as follows: for example, to direct you to the hidden apps option in the general settings of Launcher Pro's preferences, you'll see Preferences > General Settings > Hidden Apps 333 3. The app drawer Since Android has an application grid (the app drawer) and homescreens, it seems redundant to place shortcuts on the latter. If you disagree, then you'll love the dock, see below. Homescreens are best used for widgets that provide glancable information about your life and what's happening in your applications. However, if your phone has lots of applications that you never use, finding what you want in the app drawer might be a bit daunting. Fortunately, Launcher Pro lets you hide the ones that you don't want to see: Preferences > General Settings > Hidden Apps 444 You can further customise the app drawer by removing or showing a home button with Preferences > Appearance Settings > Home button on app drawer. You can also turn on the 3D scrolling effect that you'll find on some Android devices by going to Preferences > Advanced Settings > Use 3D drawer. 4. The Dock The last section suggested that application shortcuts shouldn't be put on the homescreen. There are inevitably some which you'll use more than others and want fast access to. This is where Launcher Pro's dock is useful, and it can be found on the bottom row of every homescreen. You can have up to three docks and each can have five shortcuts. You move from one dock to the next by swiping sideways. See Preferences > Dock Settings. You can change the background of the dock to match other Android styles or just leave it blank by going to Preferences > Appearance Settings > Dock Background. 555 To change shortcuts in the docks, just long press an icon. You can add anything that you could put on the homescreen, plus there are buttons for moving between homescreens and opening the app drawer. From the long press menu, you can also set an action for an upward swiping gesture; for example, a preview of all homescreens (see step six). 666 5. Widgets You can add all of the same widgets in Launcher Pro that you can add to the regular homescreens. Simply long press in an empty space to open the widget menu. When you do this, you'll see an added option for widgets that are built-in to Launcher Pro. These added widgets are as follows: • People; thumbnails of a contact group e.g. favourites or family • Bookmarks; thumbnails or a list of browser bookmarks • Calendar; month and agenda views, but doesn't support tasks • Messaging; half-screen preview of last SMS • Twitter; timeline, replies and direct messages (very slow to update) • Facebook; news feed and your wall • Friends; combined timeline of Twitter and Facebook updates • Gmail; preview of inbox messages (does not work after the 2.3.5 Gmail update) 777 Widgets can be removed from the homescreen in the same way as any other Android system by long pressing and dragging to the bin. The bin also acts as a quick way to uninstall applications. Long press a shortcut (from either the drawer or homescreen), and wait until the bin appears. Then drag it to the bin, but don't let go. After a couple of seconds, text will appear stating that the application can be uninstalled, then you can let go. Launcher Pro supports scrolling widgets and lets you resize them too. To resize something, give it a long press, and then let go. It will become highlighted in orange with a resize grip in the lower right corner. 888 6. Homescreens Launcher Pro allows you to have up to seven homescreens which can be accessed via Preferences > Homescreen Settings. Either the home button or dock gestures can be set to show a preview of them all. As usual, all homescreens can be traversed by swiping, and you can set how or whether they loop around when you get to the first or last. For those who enjoy graphics-accelerated eye candy, there is a set of transition effects. They are: scale, rotate (two variants), flip (two variants), and cube. Go to Preferences > Behaviour Settings > Home key action. 999 Going further This has been a brief outline of what Launcher Pro can do. There are far more settings, but after reading this guide you'll be ready to go exploring by yourself. Let us know in the comments how you'd configure your perfect set of homescreens!

How to install and use Launcher Pro on Android

One of the best things about Android phones is being able to customise them. Manufacturers do this too so their touchscreen phones look a bit different to everyone else's touchscreen phones. The number of manufacturer customisations is rather bewildering. HTC has SenseUI, Samsung has TouchWiz, Dell has StageUI and Motorola may or may not still have Motorblur. No wonder the unique selling point of the Nexus range is that it offers a pure Android experience.
If you want to get rid of the custom front-end on your Android phone there are alternative homescreens, the most popular of which is Launcher Pro, which you can download from the Android Market. We also recommend that you enable all of its features by picking up Launcher Pro Unlocker for a small fee.

1. Installation

Once you have installed Launcher Pro, it registers itself with your phone's Home button. Your phone will need to ask you which launcher to use whenever you press Home. Before selecting Launcher Pro, tick the 'Use by default' box so that you won't be asked again. If you change your mind, select Applications from the settings menu, choose Launcher Pro and tap the 'Clear Defaults' button. 

2. Finding preferences

The menu button on most Android devices brings up a set of five icons. Launcher Pro adds a sixth for its own preferences. You'll need to be familiar with this and the menu it launches. Throughout the rest of the guide, menu paths will be shown as follows: for example, to direct you to the hidden apps option in the general settings of Launcher Pro's preferences, you'll see Preferences > General Settings > Hidden Apps

3. The app drawer

Since Android has an application grid (the app drawer) and homescreens, it seems redundant to place shortcuts on the latter. If you disagree, then you'll love the dock, see below. Homescreens are best used for widgets that provide glancable information about your life and what's happening in your applications. However, if your phone has lots of applications that you never use, finding what you want in the app drawer might be a bit daunting. Fortunately, Launcher Pro lets you hide the ones that you don't want to see: Preferences > General Settings > Hidden Apps

 
You can further customise the app drawer by removing or showing a home button with Preferences > Appearance Settings > Home button on app drawer.
You can also turn on the 3D scrolling effect that you'll find on some Android devices by going to Preferences > Advanced Settings > Use 3D drawer.

4. The Dock

The last section suggested that application shortcuts shouldn't be put on the homescreen. There are inevitably some which you'll use more than others and want fast access to. This is where Launcher Pro's dock is useful, and it can be found on the bottom row of every homescreen. You can have up to three docks and each can have five shortcuts. You move from one dock to the next by swiping sideways. See Preferences > Dock Settings. You can change the background of the dock to match other Android styles or just leave it blank by going to Preferences > Appearance Settings > Dock Background.
 

To change shortcuts in the docks, just long press an icon. You can add anything that you could put on the homescreen, plus there are buttons for moving between homescreens and opening the app drawer. From the long press menu, you can also set an action for an upward swiping gesture; for example, a preview of all homescreens (see step six).

5. Widgets

You can add all of the same widgets in Launcher Pro that you can add to the regular homescreens. Simply long press in an empty space to open the widget menu. When you do this, you'll see an added option for widgets that are built-in to Launcher Pro.
These added widgets are as follows:

• People; thumbnails of a contact group e.g. favourites or family
• Bookmarks; thumbnails or a list of browser bookmarks
• Calendar; month and agenda views, but doesn't support tasks
• Messaging; half-screen preview of last SMS
• Twitter; timeline, replies and direct messages (very slow to update)
• Facebook; news feed and your wall
• Friends; combined timeline of Twitter and Facebook updates
• Gmail; preview of inbox messages (does not work after the 2.3.5 Gmail update)

Widgets can be removed from the homescreen in the same way as any other Android system by long pressing and dragging to the bin.
The bin also acts as a quick way to uninstall applications. Long press a shortcut (from either the drawer or homescreen), and wait until the bin appears. Then drag it to the bin, but don't let go. After a couple of seconds, text will appear stating that the application can be uninstalled, then you can let go.
Launcher Pro supports scrolling widgets and lets you resize them too. To resize something, give it a long press, and then let go. It will become highlighted in orange with a resize grip in the lower right corner. 

6. Homescreens

Launcher Pro allows you to have up to seven homescreens which can be accessed via Preferences > Homescreen Settings. Either the home button or dock gestures can be set to show a preview of them all. As usual, all homescreens can be traversed by swiping, and you can set how or whether they loop around when you get to the first or last. For those who enjoy graphics-accelerated eye candy, there is a set of transition effects. They are: scale, rotate (two variants), flip (two variants), and cube. Go to Preferences > Behaviour Settings > Home key action.

Going further

This has been a brief outline of what Launcher Pro can do. There are far more settings, but after reading this guide you'll be ready to go exploring by yourself. Let us know in the comments how you'd configure your perfect set of homescreens!

WARNING: Factory Resetting your Android may leave private data on your device

 A researcher has discovered that even if you hit Factory Reset on an Android phone, your personal data may not be permanently deleted. 

It’s never fun to have to issue a warning, but a new study by the LA Times indicates that the Factory Reset function on Android devices may not work as advertised. The site worked with a security expert to run a test on BlackBerry, Android, and iOS devices as well as PCs. It discovered that important, sensitive data could be retrieved on a large portion of Android devices even after the Factory Reset feature had been properly used. 
Robert Siciliano, an identity theft expert from McAfee performed the experiment, where he purchased 30 used devices (mostly smartphones and laptops) from random users on Craigslist. His goal was to see how smart people were about removing their personal information from phones, but as it turns out, even though a majority of owners did correctly Factory Reset their Android devices, he was still able to retrieve vital data like “Social Security numbers, child support documents, credit card account log-ins, and a host of other personal data.” This finding is all the more disturbing since he could find no problems with the way iPhones, iPads, or BlackBerry devices delete their data. The only other weak link was Windows XP, which is so old it’s almost expected. 
We’ve reached out to Google’s Android team to try and learn more about this potential vulnerability, but have not heard back as of publication. We’ll update this article if and when we get some answers. 
Until we learn more, we don’t recommend that you don’t sell your used Android devices to anyone that you don’t know or trust. It’s quite possible that personal information could be leaked from it. 

How to turn your Android phone into a metal detector

Can't find that sharp metal screw you just dropped onto the thick carpet below you? Maybe your Android phone can help.
If you've ever dropped a small screw or a paperclip onto thick carpet, you know how difficult it can be to find them.
With an Android app called Metal Detector (by Smart Tools), you can turn your Android phone into a metal detector. Using the app might just help you find those small metal objects before you accidentally step on them or before they get sucked up into your vacuum cleaner.
Metal Detector works by measuring the magnetic field around the location of your Android phone. It begins with a baseline measurement, then when it detects a metal, the measurement goes up and the color changes from green to red. Unfortunately, it doesn't make a cool, metal detector sound to let you know if you're close.
During our evaluation, it picked up items like paper clips, a Leatherman multitool, and a metal screw. However, it failed to recognize a platinum wedding band, a gold claddagh ring, and a dime -- all the valuable stuff.
You're not likely to find any buried treasure with the app, but it might help you avoid a nail in your foot or a broken vacuum cleaner. If you decide to try Metal Detector, let us know in the comments which items your phone detected and which it didn't.

Five Reasons Why Developers Need To Be Wary About Android

A recent survey by IDC on mobile application development has brought out an interesting trend with Android developers. They’re not as excited about Google’s mobile OS platform as they were last year. While a drop to 79% of developers remaining “very interested” in developing for Android Phones still leaves almost four in five developers looking at Mountain View’s code, there are a number of early signs in IDC’s follow up survey of issues that could impact the space in 2012 and 2013. Addressing these now makes a lot of sense for Google to prevent the Android ecosystem going stale; and of course indie developers living from app to app need to be conscious of all the pain points in their own business plan.

All The Lovely Fragments

A lot has been written about the multiple versions of Android that are in the public’s hand and how this can cause developers to aim for the lowest common denominator in their code (right now that’s probably 2.3). But it’s not just the OS. There’s no consistency in SDK tools, there are six main screen sizes to code for, with a mix of aspect ratios, different hardware buttons, physical keyboards, no buttons at all… yes you can code to address all of these in one code branch (unwieldy and tricky) or do multiple versions (which is as awkward as it sounds). That fragmenting of Android into many platforms would be fine if there was a good return, but that’s not the case.

The Return on Investment

It seems to be a rule of thumb that Android apps in general do not make as much money as an iOS application. That’s probably more a function of the people buying the handsets than the quality of the applications (Android powers a lot of budget monthly and pre-pay handsets, who are likely to spend less on apps), but it means that for all that extra work detailed above, there’s less return. When developers have limited time and resources and need to choose a platform, it’s not the installed base that’s important, it’s a simple phrase… “show me the money.”

The Volume of Clone Applications

Let’s assume you have an application that’s going to stand out thanks to doing something a little differently, be it a way to talk to social networks, to work with PIM data, or perhaps a new genre for gaming. Assuming you can lift yourself and the application out of the obscurity of hundreds of thousands of apps and actually make an impact with your app, expect countless developers to turn out clone versions that will undercut your price and dominate the listings for the basic search terms. It’s a rough, almost lawless life in the Android stores. How long until all these churnware publishers will make app promotion such an unfair fight that developers move on?

Where Will You Sell?

The Google Play store, the Amazon Android Store, Barnes and Noble’s Nook Apps, Fasmicro, MiKandi, etc. That’s a lot of destinations where you can place your application. This is fragmentation of the market, and while it can sometimes help with device fragmentation, it means yet more juggling of multiple builds, variants, agreements, and headaches to build up.Contrast that with both iOS and Windows Phone which have… one central store each.
It might be okay for companies like EA and Ubisoft to deal with all these variants, but the small developer houses and hobby developers can’t spend all their time setting up the store accounts and managing them. Sometimes being open and allowing a free-for-all is not the best option once the rapid growth phase is over.

The Dangers of Shiny Syndrome

Windows Phone is on the rise. Simple fact. AT&T are going to give the ecosystem a big kick with the US launch of the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan 2 in April, but when faced with all the problems above, and having been in the Android developer space, maybe some developers are looking at the alternatives. Moving over to a new platform such as Windows Phone appeals to the tinkering nature of many – what can this new platform do, what is the SDK environment like, can I get in and be one of the big names in the store and hold on as more handsets are sold? The grass may or may not be greener on the other side, but if it provides a similar return for less effort, and the promise of a better return in the long terms, then Windows Phone could lure away developers.
In fact the IDC survey points out that interest in Windows Phone is on the rise, and now 40% of contacted developers are “very interested” in coding for Microsoft’s mobile platform. That’s just over half those very interested in Android.
Android developers are not going to walk away overnight, or even over a quarter, but if the cry of mobile is “apps, apps, apps” then any ecosystem will want to take care of their developers. And that means addressing the issues above to keep Android’s third party scene as strong as the market share rises,

How To Speed Up, Clean Up And Revive Your Android Phone

Kick back on the couch, pull up your Android phone, and act like you’re still being productive by giving it some spring cleaning of its own.

Reclaim Drive And SD Card Space

Most Android devices have two different storage spaces: your internal space (where apps are stored) and your SD card (where your music, photos and many of your app settings are stored). The SD card is easy to clean up — just delete any music, photos and videos you don’t need. If you see any folders that look like settings for apps you’ve removed, you can delete those too. If you’re rooted, you can even use an app like previously mentioned SD Maid to clean up all that cruft for you.

Cleaning up your internal storage is also pretty simple: just uninstall unnecessary apps. Chances are you have a few apps you don’t use anymore, not to mention games you don’t play — they’ll take up the most space — and you can just uninstall them from the Play Store to free up that space and, hopefully, speed up your phone a little bit. If your phone is starved for internal storage and you can’t spare any of your hard-earned apps, you can try moving them to your SD card instead. This will free up that internal space and speed up your phone, but keep all your apps close at hand.

To do this, just head to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications. Select an app, and tap the “Move to SD Card” button to move it. Some apps won’t have this ability, but you should find that lots of your space-hogging apps have no problem living on your SD card. You can read more about this process here.

Give It A Battery Boost

Android phones in particular are notorious for sucking the life out of your battery. If you haven’t dug through your settings in a while, this is a good time to make sure you’re getting the most out of your battery as possible. This means turning the brightness down, the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off when not in use, and turning off any eye candy (not to mention uninstalling apps that constantly use up your data).

Tweak these settings yourself or automate them with a program like Tasker or JuiceDefender for an easy, hassle-free battery life boost. I’m always an advocate of getting a second battery, too — just keep it in your glove box or in your desk drawer for those emergencies where your phone is about to die.

Speed It Up With Some Settings Tweaks

If your phone is a bit older, or it’s just feeling sluggish, there are a number of things you can do to make it feel a little smoother. Trying a new home screen launcher is always good for a bit of speed, as is lowering your number of home screens and ditching all those widgets. If you’re rooted, you can even overclock or install a custom ROM for even more speed.

If you really want to get technical, there are some advanced settings you can play with to eke every bit of speed out of your phone possible. Just don’t use a Task Killer, whatever you do (unless you’re on a really, really old version of Android — like, 1.6 old). For more info on how to speed up your phone, check out our in-depth guide.

Remove And Clean Your Case (If You Use One)

Of course, the inside of your phone isn’t the only thing that needs cleaning. If your phone has gotten a bit dirty over the past year — which is even more likely if you have a dirt-trapping case on it — you might want to take it off and clean it up. The case shouldn’t be too hard to clean, but make sure you don’t clean your phone with anything that’ll harm the screen. We’ve gone through how to safely clean and disinfect your gadgets before, so check out that guide for more info.

Unfortunately, Android devices are finicky, and can take a lot of maintenance to work well — especially the older ones. Be sure to check out our more in-depth guides above, and you should be able to get your phone running as optimally as possible. Got any maintenance tips we left out? Share them with us in the comments below.

Report: Google Planning Online Store for Androi

Report: Google Planning Online Store for Android Tablets

Google is reportedly preparing to get back in the hardware retailing game with an online store to sell co-branded tablets running its Android mobile operating system that could launch this year.
The search giant had mixed results with a brief, earlier effort to sell its own Android smartphones, but the pressure is on to get the ball rolling for poorly selling Android tablets in a market dominated by Apple's iPad, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Google has not officially confirmed any of the rumored plans detailed in the newspaper's report.
The company's rumored online store would peddle future tablets built by Samsung, Asus, and other manufacturing partners that already make Android-based devices, the WSJ reported, citing unnamed sources "familiar with the matter."
Some of those tablets would be reportedly be co-branded with Google's name like the Nexus One smartphone made by HTC was a few years ago. A Google-Asus-branded tablet scheduled for a 2012 release could be sold through the rumored store, according to the newspaper.
Google sold the Nexus One through its own online portal in the first half of 2010, but had shut down that venture by the summer of that year as sales of other Android-based phones began to take off.
It's also possible that Google could manufacture its own Android tablets this year through Motorola Mobility, the consumer arm of Motorola that Google acquired for $12.5 billion in 2011, according to the WSJ. Those tablets would also be sold in the rumored online store, the launch date of which the paper's sources couldn't name.
Before being acquired by Google, Motorola developed and marketed the Xoom, the first Android-based tablet to hit the market last year.

Google could be timing its upcoming tablet plans around the release of the next version of Android, also known as Jelly Bean, which is expected to happen around mid-year, according to the Journal.
Apple, which could capture three-fourths of tablet sales in 2012 with its iPad, according to some forecasts, is the primary competition in Google's sights, the paper reported. But Google is also reported to be wary of Amazon's early success in the lower-priced segment of the market.
Plaza's Kindle Fire tablet runs a version of Android, but it's a heavily customized version and the online retail giant has built its own ecosystem for tablet apps and services that competes with Google's own Google Play (formerly the Android Market).
Google could have plans to subsidize tablets it would purportedly sell through the online store to better compete with the $199 Kindle Fire, which is itself believed to be sold at a slight loss by plaza.

d Tablets

Google is reportedly preparing to get back in the hardware retailing game with an online store to sell co-branded tablets running its Android mobile operating system that could launch this year.
The search giant had mixed results with a brief, earlier effort to sell its own Android smartphones, but the pressure is on to get the ball rolling for poorly selling Android tablets in a market dominated by Apple's iPad, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Google has not officially confirmed any of the rumored plans detailed in the newspaper's report.
The company's rumored online store would peddle future tablets built by Samsung, Asus, and other manufacturing partners that already make Android-based devices, the WSJ reported, citing unnamed sources "familiar with the matter."
Some of those tablets would be reportedly be co-branded with Google's name like the Nexus One smartphone made by HTC was a few years ago. A Google-Asus-branded tablet scheduled for a 2012 release could be sold through the rumored store, according to the newspaper.
Google sold the Nexus One through its own online portal in the first half of 2010, but had shut down that venture by the summer of that year as sales of other Android-based phones began to take off.
It's also possible that Google could manufacture its own Android tablets this year through Motorola Mobility, the consumer arm of Motorola that Google acquired for $12.5 billion in 2011, according to the WSJ. Those tablets would also be sold in the rumored online store, the launch date of which the paper's sources couldn't name.
Before being acquired by Google, Motorola developed and marketed the Xoom, the first Android-based tablet to hit the market last year.

Google could be timing its upcoming tablet plans around the release of the next version of Android, also known as Jelly Bean, which is expected to happen around mid-year, according to the Journal.
Apple, which could capture three-fourths of tablet sales in 2012 with its iPad, according to some forecasts, is the primary competition in Google's sights, the paper reported. But Google is also reported to be wary of Amazon's early success in the lower-priced segment of the market.
Plaza's Kindle Fire tablet runs a version of Android, but it's a heavily customized version and the online retail giant has built its own ecosystem for tablet apps and services that competes with Google's own Google Play (formerly the Android Market).
Google could have plans to subsidize tablets it would purportedly sell through the online store to better compete with the $199 Kindle Fire, which is itself believed to be sold at a slight loss by plaza.

Report: Google Planning Online Store for Android Tablets

Google is reportedly preparing to get back in the hardware retailing game with an online store to sell co-branded tablets running its Android mobile operating system that could launch this year.
The search giant had mixed results with a brief, earlier effort to sell its own Android smartphones, but the pressure is on to get the ball rolling for poorly selling Android tablets in a market dominated by Apple's iPad, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Google has not officially confirmed any of the rumored plans detailed in the newspaper's report.
The company's rumored online store would peddle future tablets built by Samsung, Asus, and other manufacturing partners that already make Android-based devices, the WSJ reported, citing unnamed sources "familiar with the matter."
Some of those tablets would be reportedly be co-branded with Google's name like the Nexus One smartphone made by HTC was a few years ago. A Google-Asus-branded tablet scheduled for a 2012 release could be sold through the rumored store, according to the newspaper.
Google sold the Nexus One through its own online portal in the first half of 2010, but had shut down that venture by the summer of that year as sales of other Android-based phones began to take off.
It's also possible that Google could manufacture its own Android tablets this year through Motorola Mobility, the consumer arm of Motorola that Google acquired for $12.5 billion in 2011, according to the WSJ. Those tablets would also be sold in the rumored online store, the launch date of which the paper's sources couldn't name.
Before being acquired by Google, Motorola developed and marketed the Xoom, the first Android-based tablet to hit the market last year.

Google could be timing its upcoming tablet plans around the release of the next version of Android, also known as Jelly Bean, which is expected to happen around mid-year, according to the Journal.
Apple, which could capture three-fourths of tablet sales in 2012 with its iPad, according to some forecasts, is the primary competition in Google's sights, the paper reported. But Google is also reported to be wary of Amazon's early success in the lower-priced segment of the market.
Plaza's Kindle Fire tablet runs a version of Android, but it's a heavily customized version and the online retail giant has built its own ecosystem for tablet apps and services that competes with Google's own Google Play (formerly the Android Market).
Google could have plans to subsidize tablets it would purportedly sell through the online store to better compete with the $199 Kindle Fire, which is itself believed to be sold at a slight loss by plaza. 

Google Android 2.2 Cell Phone

WARNING: Factory Resetting your Android may leave private data on your device

It’s never fun to have to issue a warning, but a new study by the LA Times indicates that the Factory Reset function on Android devices may not work as advertised. The site worked with a security expert to run a test on BlackBerry, Android, and iOS devices as well as PCs. It discovered that important, sensitive data could be retrieved on a large portion of Android devices even after the Factory Reset feature had been properly used. 

Robert Siciliano, an identity theft expert from McAfee performed the experiment, where he purchased 30 used devices (mostly smartphones and laptops) from random users on Craigslist. His goal was to see how smart people were about removing their personal information from phones, but as it turns out, even though a majority of owners did correctly Factory Reset their Android devices, he was still able to retrieve vital data like “Social Security numbers, child support documents, credit card account log-ins, and a host of other personal data.” This finding is all the more disturbing since he could find no problems with the way iPhones, iPads, or BlackBerry devices delete their data. The only other weak link was Windows XP, which is so old it’s almost expected. 

We’ve reached out to Google’s Android team to try and learn more about this potential vulnerability, but have not heard back as of publication. We’ll update this article if and when we get some answers. 

Until we learn more, we don’t recommend that you don’t sell your used Android devices to anyone that you don’t know or trust. It’s quite possible that personal information could be leaked from it. 

android 2.2 cell phone-----Android to Outpace Windows Devices by 2016

Android to Outpace Windows Devices by 2016

Sales of Android-based devices are on track to eclipse Windows-based gadgets by 2016, according to new data from IDC.
A separate report from Nielsen, meanwhile, finds that just about half of U.S. mobile subscribers now own smartphones, and the majority of those who purchased a mobile device in the last three months opted for a smartphone over a feature phone.
IDC examined global shipments of smart connected devices, which include tablets, PCs, and smartphones. The firm estimated a "relatively dramatic shift" in the next four years as Windows-based devices lose their lead to Google's Android platform.
"The once-dominant Windows on x86 platform, consisting of PCs running the Windows operating system on any x86-compatible CPU, [will slip] from a leading 35.9 percent share in 2011 down to 25.1 percent in 2016," IDC said. "The number of Android-based devices running on ARM CPUs, on the other hand, will grow modestly from 29.4 percent share in 2011 to a market-leading 31.1 percent share in 2016. Meanwhile, iOS-based devices will grow from 14.6 percent share in 2011 to 17.3 percent in 2016."
The growth of Android, IDC said, can be tied to lower prices. But that will make it difficult for hardware vendors to sustain profitability. Developers will likely focus more on iOS "despite the platform's smaller overall market share, because iOS end users have proven more willing to pay for high-quality apps," said Tom Mainelli, research director for IDC Mobile Connected Devices.
Those apps will be accessed on a variety of devices. "We are in a multi-device age," said Bob O'Donnell, vice president of Clients and Displays at IDC, "and we believe the number of people who use multiple devices will only continue to increase."
The challenge will be linking these devices via the cloud, O'Donnell said, something Apple is already exploring with iCloud.
IDC sees smartphone growth being driven by Asia/Pacific countries, especially China, since carriers are subsidizing 3G devices. "In many if not all instances, the smartphone will be the primary connection to the Internet," said Will Stofega, program director of Mobile Phone Technologies and Trends at IDC.
In the U.S., smartphones show no signs of slowing down, Nielsen found. Android is the top choice, with 48 percent of smartphones running the Google mobile OS. About 32 percent of U.S. smartphone users have iPhones. Of those who recently bought a smartphone, 48 percent opted for Android and 43 percent bought an iPhone.
Overall smartphone penetration is up from 36 percent in February 2011 to 49.7 percent last month, Nielsen said.

Google proposes Android revenue for Oracle: filing

(Reuters) - Google proposed to pay Oracle a percentage of Android revenue if Oracle could prove patent infringement of the mobile operating technology at an upcoming trial, but Oracle rebuffed the offer as too low, according to a court filing late on Tuesday.

Oracle Corp sued Google Inc in 2010, claiming the Internet search leader's Android technology infringed Oracle's Java patents. A trial is set for April 16 before District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco.
Oracle also sued for alleged copyright infringement. Oracle has contended that Google should pay hundreds of millions of dollars on that claim, which is separate from the patents.
Alsup asked both companies to come up with ways to streamline the trial, which is expected to last about 8 weeks. In response, Google proposed a deal: if Oracle succeeded in proving patent infringement, Google would not spend time fighting about damages if Oracle agreed to its figures.
Google offered to pay Oracle roughly $2.8 million in damages on the two patents remaining in the case, covering the period through 2011, according to a filing made jointly by the companies.
For future damages, Google proposed paying Oracle 0.5 percent of Android revenue on one patent until it expires this December and 0.015 percent on a second patent until it expires in April 2018.
According to Google, those damages figures matched what had been calculated by a court-appointed expert in the case.
Google makes Android available to handset manufacturers for free, but derives revenue from the ads it sells on the system.
In October, Google said that its mobile business was generating revenue at an annual run rate of $2.5 billion, though that business includes revenue from ads Google serves on Android devices as well as on Apple's iPhone.
Oracle said Google's offer was too low, and that Oracle would not give up the possibility of winning an injunction against Android.
"Oracle cannot agree to unilaterally give up its rights, on appeal and in this court, to seek full redress for Google's unlawful conduct," the company said in the filing.
Oracle acquired Java through its purchase of Sun Microsystems in 2010. Earlier this month, Oracle agreed to withdraw several claims after some of its patents were struck down by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
In a court hearing on Wednesday, Alsup told the companies that any settlement should be reached by noon on April 13 at the latest, so that potential jurors would not have to make the trip to court.
However, the judge said that he was looking forward to the intellectual property trial if the companies could not reach an agreement.
"This is the World Series of IP cases," Alsup said.
The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Oracle America, Inc v. Google Inc, 10-3561.