How to get your Android phone ready to sell
You’ve just bought the latest Android superphone so there are two things you need to take care of: firstly, you need to liberate your content and data from your old Android handset and secondly, you need to sell it, to liberate some cash.
Android offers plenty of options when it comes to transferring data between devices and in many cases you won’t need to do very much at all. The experience, of course, depends a little on how old your phone is, but this method should work for most people.
Backup, backup, backup
Before you wipe your old phone, it needs to be backed-up. There are a lot of manufacturer options, but the easiest is to use Android’s own backup system. Head into the settings of your own phone and there should be a backup and reset option in the menu.
Make sure this is turned on, and your phone will be backed up to your Google account, meaning that many of your settings and apps can be restored on your new phone when you sign in for the first time.
Backup your photos and video
In many cases, it’s your photos and videos that you care about the most. Again, there are a wealth of options to ensure these don’t get lost. Using Google Photos gives you the option to backup to Google Drive, so when you sign-in on your new phone, all your photos are there. You have the option of full size, or reduced size backups.
Better still, you can choose the folder you want backing up – if you don’t want all those WhatsApp or Instagram photos, you don’t have to sync that folder.
You can also use services like Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive to back-up your photos, again letting you access them through the respective apps on your new phone.
Use device transfer tools
Android has a built-in content transfer tool, making it easy to move from an old phone to a new one. In this case, you’ll need to select the option on your new phone when you’re setting it up. This will let you pair with your old phone and transfer over a lot of the important stuff, like your account details.
Some manufacturers, such as Samsung, have their own content transfer tools – and often this can include things like SMS messages if you really want to keep a full history. Alternatively, you can try an app like SMS Backup if you want to move messages from your old phone to a new one.
Transfer your music
If you’ve been buying digital music and downloading to your phone, it’s often easy enough to download it again from the service you used before on your new device. However, if you transferred it to your device, you could sync it with Google Music, again meaning you can access it through your new handset.
Alternatively, you can upload music files to cloud storage services like Google Drive or Dropbox, and download on your new device. If you’re moving big music collections, then having it on a microSD card is the easiest option, assuming both devices support external storage cards.
Wipe your handset
Once you are happy you have all the content from your old phone (and be sure to setup your new phone fully to check) you need to make sure your old phone is wiped clean.
Firstly, remove the microSD card as you will want to keep this and remove the old SIM too. Secondly, use the full reset option on your phone. Some devices offer an option to reset the settings without wiping the content. You don’t want to do that, you want to fully erase the content of your phone. In the Android settings you’ll find the option to reset and you’ll often have to confirm that you’re wiping the content too.
Make sure it’s properly wiped
You might just stop there, but it’s often worth re-accessing your phone to ensure it is actually wiped. You could connect it to a PC or Mac via USB and examine the files and folders to check that things like photo folders are empty to make sure.
Or, you can setup your phone as a new device again and use a wiping app, like AndroShredder. This will write over the blank space on your phone again to make it more difficult to recover data from it.
If you’re really keen, you can setup a new Google Account just for wiping data. Log in with this account on your old device so that your normal data doesn’t all sync again from your main account.
Sell your phone to get the cash back
Just because you’ve finished with an Android phone, doesn’t mean it is without value. You can sell it quickly and easily to get some cash back into your pocket.
Using a service like musicMagpie, all you have to do is head to musicMagpie.co.uk, enter the device you’re selling and the condition it is in and you’ll be able to see how much it’s worth.
Sending the device is simple as there are a range of free sending or collection options. You’ll then be paid on the day that musicMagpie receives your device, if you’ve opted for bank transfer. It’s as simple as that.
Want to sell your old phone? Check out Pocket-lint’s preferred recycling partner musicMagpie.co.uk / decluttr.com to find out how much money you can get for it.
Android N could arrive on your phone sooner than you think
Google’s parent company Alphabet is reportedly stepping up its game to make sure operating system updates arrive faster across devices, which should start with Android N.
Currently the Android operating system can rollout quickly to gadgets running pure Android, like Nexus devices. Other handsets with their own user interfaces, like Samsung with TouchWiz, take longer to get the OS as an update. Sources of Bloomberg claim Alphabet is considering using a system to speed this process up.
Alphabet allegedly plans to publish a ranking system that promotes those who get the update rolled out quickest, but shames those who take too long.
Apple is the big competition here. Thanks to its more closed system, that only works on its own hardware, the latest iOS is on 84 per cent of handsets. Android, by comparison, only has its newest Marshmallow software on 7.5 per cent of Android handsets.
Since Google relies on getting its new software to users, via the updates, it’s important for the fragmentation of hardware to stop affecting software updates. This is also an issue for security which may put off some users entirely, especially after the Stagefright hack.
Google has reportedly already drawn up a list ranking phone makers by how up to date their security patches and operating systems are. That list may soon become public as a way to help speed up future updates. Even getting this threat in the media could be a move by Alphabet to prod manufacturers and networks.
Now we simply have to wait until the Android N update begins rolling out in the autumn to see if any of this takes effect.
READ: Android N preview: Everything you need to know
WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM ANDROID MARSHMALLOW?
It’s not quite an all-out overhaul yet the new Marshmallow update looks the part and is filled with some superb tweaks and improvements that will go a long way in boosting the overall quality of your current Android 6.0 smartphone. The latest version of Google’s software is filled with welcome enhancements that include an OS clean up, more internal storage and superior battery life.
It’s been nearly 6 months since version 6.0 was unleashed on the market, notably onto various Nexus devices, and then slowly but surely a whole host of other devices have been receiving the update. With the arrival of the previous update came plenty of excitement which unfortunately as users familiarised themselves with turned a little more into slight frustration and added disappointment. Thankfully, with the release of Android Marshmallow the majority of bugs and more undesirable elements of the previous update have been given a much needed facelift.
Marshmallow is set to polish up your smartphone in many ways boasting lots of brand new features and developments. First up Google Now has been significantly improved and is pretty much present at every corner on the new operating system. What makes it all the more better than previous efforts is its focus on understanding the actual context of your searches and requests.
There’s an all-round smoother app experience on the latest update which is great for gamers in particular and those who enjoy online gaming and playing online casino sites such as onlineroulette.org.uk. The smoother experience allows players to play slots without the interference of lag and jittering. For those app lovers who fill their phones to the brim with various games will be pleased to hear that managing storage on their smartphone will be easier than ever. The new OS will give users a chance to keep a closer eye on the space they’ve used especially thanks to a much more efficient interface. Coupled with its new Doze feature, which will automatically detect if your phone is inactive and not moving and adjust applicable settings in order to preserve battery life, Marshmallow looks set to be Google’s most impressive OS update to date.
Apple Pay has been a big highlight of recent Apple smartphone releases and now Marshmallow users will be able to utilise Android Pay. It allows you to pay for goods and services in-store wirelessly and more securely with the use of a virtual-based account number and also allows you to keep track of all your past transactions and purchases using the Android Pay app.
As already mentioned there are plenty of improvements on the Marshmallow update just as much as there are new and exciting features to enjoy. One of which is the addition of a new System UI Tuner which allows you to pick and choose which info you want included across the top status bar. And there’s even a nice little add-on text box below the lock screen that will allow users to create their own personal message.
Vine for Android updated in the Play Store with two great new features
Vine took delivery of a pretty nifty little update earlier today in the Play Store. As far as added functionality goes, this upgrade brings not one, but two much-requested features to the application, as well as a multitude of bug fixes, stability improvements and speed optimizations.
The first new facility the update transports is the ability to sort Vines in a layout that takes your fancy. Whilst browsing your favorite viner’s profile, you’ll have the option to view their 10-second videos in order of either Newest, Oldest or Popular.
The upgrade also bundles the resources for you to edit your Vine’s caption but only for a short period of time after you share it. This is rather useful if on the odd occasion you publish a post, and make a mistake while doing so, as you can go right back in and correct it.
To install the update on your smartphone or tablet, open up the Play Store, toggle the hamburger menu by swiping in from the left-hand side of your display, select ‘My Apps’, click on ’Vine’, then tap the ‘Update’ button.
Source: Vine
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How to manage your saved passwords in Chrome for Android
One of the many great things about using Chrome as your primary browser across devices is that all your saved passwords get synced. That takes away the hassle of having to enter long and complex passwords while using Chrome on your Android device, which can be a real pain sometimes. Not only that, many times you may have accidentally hit the save password button for a bank transaction credentials page or something else that you did not intend to save. Which brings us to this guide.
Chrome for Android, as it turns out, has a rudimentary password manager built-in, and we are going to show you how to access it and what you can do inside it from your Android smartphone or tablet. So why don’t you fire up the Chrome browser and we can get started right away!
Accessing Chrome for Android’s password manager
It’s hardly a challenge to find the password manager inside of Chrome. Check out this quick picture guide below:
Open the Chrome browser app on your device. Navigate to the top right corner and tap the options button, following which you have to select ‘Settings’ from the list of options. Select the ‘Save passwords’ option from the menu, flip the button and enable the feature if it isn’t enabled already.
Toggle ‘Save passwords’ feature in Chrome
At any given point, you can choose to toggle the ‘Save passwords’ feature off so that Chrome stops prompting you whenever you log in to a website with new credentials, or log in to a new website altogether. Seeing how cumbersome it can get to repeatedly enter passwords, not to mention having to remember all of them, it is almost a no-brainer to leave this feature enabled.
The fields that have been redacted in the screenshots aren’t actually the passwords, but only the usernames against which Chrome has saved passwords.
Viewing/managing saved passwords in Chrome for Android
Unfortunately, using the Chrome for Android app, it is not possible to actually view your saved passwords. You can however see the list of websites and the corresponding usernames for which Chrome has saved your passwords. As of yet, you can only view passwords using the Chrome desktop app.
Chrome for Android’s password manager is rudimentary at best, as described earlier. You can’t modify a saved password, or perform any other operations on it. The only option that the browser presents to you is the ability to delete a saved password. So in case you accidentally saved a password on a friend’s phone, or for a webpage that you didn’t intend to, you can always fire up the password manager and delete that last saved entry.
Read next: Are you using one of 2015’s worst passwords? Find out here12
Do you use a password manager app?
Chrome’s password manager feature is clearly not powerful or flexible, which means many people who require more flexibility would move to more accomplished and powerful apps such as LastPass, Dashlane, or Enpass.
Do you use a password manager app on your smartphone? Or, does Chrome’s barebones implementation satisfy your requirements entirely? Let us know in the comments below!
BlackBerry goes all in, says their future is with Android
BlackBerry’s Priv was a major change for the company, marking the first time they’d shipped a device running Android instead of any of their BlackBerry OS iterations. So far, it’s done pretty well for the company; well enough, in fact, that the company said they were planning on launching another Android device later this year, which will probably end up being the Vienna we’ve been hearing about.
Earlier this month, CEO John Chen said the company was doubling down on Android and only shipping Android-powered devices in 2016, but we might see that exclusivity go a little further than just this year. Damian Tay, head of BlackBerry’s Asian Pacific operations, made some comments about how the Priv was BlackBerry’s “transition” over to Android products. That doesn’t give much hope to anyone that’s holding out for another BlackBerry 10 device.
He also noted that the company considers Android the future, and there wouldn’t be much point in maintaining both operating systems simultaneously. Plus, BlackBerry’s enterprise efforts were cross-platform anyway, so moving that side of things over to Android is basically already finished.
This doesn’t 100% spell the end of BlackBerry 10, as sometimes these comments are mistranslated or misunderstood. But either way you look at it, if BlackBerry has success with Android this year, they probably won’t be keen on changing a winning formula. Sorry, BlackBerry enthusiasts.
source: Economic Times
via: Phone Arena
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Snapchat for Android updated with support for ‘Video Rewind’ filter
Snapchat has begun rolling out a much-requested maintenance update for its Android client through the Play Store. According to the short changelog, the upgrade introduces the sought-after Video Rewind filter, which previously was only available to users of the social networking platform who sent snaps using an iPhone, iPod or iPad.
The filter enables users to record a standard 10-second video using Snapchat, then play it in reverse by applying the Rewind overlay. Using the feature couldn’t be easier. Once you’ve recorded the video, just swipe right until you see three reverse arrows appear on the screen. Then you can watch the clip in reverse.
There are two ways to download the update. You can manually fetch it by grabbing your smartphone or tablet, opening up the Play Store, toggling the hamburger menu by swiping in from the left-hand side of your display, selecting ‘My Apps’, clicking on ‘Snapchat’, then tapping the ‘Update’ button. Alternatively, you can sideload it onto your handset by installing the APK below.
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Nexus 4 receives its first Marshmallow CyanogenMod 13 nightly
Nexus 4 owners may have been feeling a little left out as the younger Nexus models all began receiving their Android 6.0 Marshmallow updates, but the custom ROM community has come to the rescue once again. A number of Marshmallow ROMs have already appeared for the trusty old smartphone and there’s now the first CyanogenMod 13 nightly available for the Nexus 4 (mako) as well.
The built went live in the early hours of the morning and contains all your regular Android Marshmallow features, along with CyanogenMod’s additional tweaks. It’s a pretty standard sized download at 277.01MB. But before you run out to grab it, just be aware that as the first nightly build you are probably going to run into a few bugs and issues until the ROM becomes more stable. It might be best to wait a little longer or try a ROM that has had a few updates applied if you are looking to use Marshmallow as your daily driver.
What to expect: A tour of Android 6.0 Marshmallow
If you are still interested enough to hop into this early build, you can grab the download files from the source link below. Don’t forget to seek out your own copy of GAPPS too.
Screenshots on Android are now as straightforward as ever
Google is introducing a new way to take screenshots, one that will be accessible to anyone with an Android device that is running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and above. The contextual arm of Google Now, known as Google Now on Tap, now has a dedicated share button to take a screenshot of your display before choosing the app to send it to.
Screenshot using Now on Tap
Screenshot using physical buttons
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The Moto E will be updated to Android 6.0 Marshmallow after all, in select regions only
A month or two ago when Motorola first published its list of handsets that were eligible to be updated to Android 6.0 Marshmallow, you might have noticed that there was some distinct outrage that the Moto E 2015 wasn’t mentioned. Motorola has since updated the list, with the Moto E 2015 making an appearance. It is only good news, however, depending on which region you live in.
According to the newly updated list, the Moto E 2015 will be updated to Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but only in the following regions:
- Canada
- Latin America
- Europe
- Asia
If you own a Moto E 2015 that originated from China or the US, it would appear you are still out of luck. While it’s a nice surprise for the eligible regions, for the US and China, it’s still a bitter pill to swallow for a handset released only a few months ago, especially since Motorola had promised timely updates.
Do you think Motorola will update the list again to include US and China? And how does this color your view of Motorola? Let us know in the comments. Afterall
Source: Motorola
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