[Giveaway] Win One of Three Android Holiday Cards Courtesy of Andy’s Vinyl

Kristian Bell has been involved with the Android community for many years; he’s a renaissance man of many talents and he’s done a little bit of everything. I had the pleasure of working with him in a team setting and he always produced top-notch work. His latest endeavor is Andy’s Vinyl, which is a decal, clothing print, and paper goods print shop.

The holidays are upon us and Andy’s Vinyl is selling boxes of Android-themed holiday greeting cards. Kristian has hooked us up with three of these cards to give away (he’s doing the same with Android Dissected simultaneously as well BTW, so enter there too if you want to double your chances). This is the easiest contest ever, to enter simply say what you’d like to see in the Andy’s Vinyl Store in the comments section below or on the AndroidSPIN G+ sharing of this giveaway post. We’ll randomly pick three winners by the end of day Saturday, December 14 (EST) and Kristian will send them out shortly thereafter. Easy. Simple. Happy. Holidays!

Only on Android: 6 Exclusive Features

For residents of upstate New York, you need a phone that you can take and use wherever you travel, whether you’re heading to the Finger Lakes for a vacation, traveling to the Big Apple on business, or spending the weekend in Philadelphia. When considering your next phone purchase, consider the following exclusive features only found on Android phones.

Replaceable Keyboards

When it comes to typing on your phone, it’s nice to have options. For example, with Android phones, you can choose from other keyboard layouts to get a keyboard that works best for you. One of the most common options is the Swype keyboard, which allows you to swipe over the letters to make a word without having to type each letter individually. This makes typing out text messages and email messages infinitely faster. Other options include Perfect Keyboard, SwiftKey, Thumb Keyboard and Kii Keyboard.

Near Field Communication (NFC)

A big part of the Android ecosystem is the use of NFC, or near field communication. This is a short-range wireless technology that makes it possible for two devices to interact through electromagnetic radio waves. With NFC, you can share things easily from one phone to another, such as pictures or documents. Not only that but you can buy NFC tags and program them to do simple tasks. LifeHacker details how this works if you want to learn more.

Dual User Profiles

With Android phones, you can create multiple user accounts. This allows you, as the owner, to restrict access when you give your phone to others to use. This is especially helpful for parents who want to let their children use their phones from time to time to play games, read books or watch video. This ensures they aren’t able to access adult apps or R-rated videos.

Customizable Features

With Android, there are tons of ways to customize the look and feel of your phone. With custom launchers, you can choose how you want the icons to appear on your screen so that your Android looks completely different than the Android user sitting next to you. You can also find custom icon packs that change the look and feel of your phone and how the icons look on your screen.

If you want to see what the weather will be like every time you open your phone, add a weather widget to your home screen. Many widgets are available including calendars, flashlights, Facebook, Twitter and stocks.

Access to Files

One of the major selling points of Android phones is easy access to the file systems. Where other phones might require you to connect the phone to your computer to see files (and may restrict access to certain file types), with Android you can open up the files and get to everything stored in the memory. Build your own structure with the files by adding folders and subfolders in a way that makes the most sense to you.

Remotely Access and Control Your PC

Though this is not technically an exclusive feature, having the ability to remotely access your personal computer is a great feature that should be mentioned. This is easily done with the Android app TeamViewer, which is free. For it to work well, you’ll need a fast and reliable connection. Buffalo residents have the option of connecting to FiOS, a great option because it provides speeds of up to 500 Mbps, over 16 times faster than the typical cable Internet connection.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to exclusive features to the Android phone. Features like these really make you wonder why everyone doesn’t own an Android.