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.