BBM – BlackBerry Messenger

The OFFICIAL version of BBM™ from BlackBerry is now here for Android. Get the free BBM app for the best way to stay connected with friends and family. Download it now.

Chat with friends on Android, BlackBerry and iPhone:

• BBM is always on and always connected – no app to open

• Know when messages have been delivered (D’s) and read (R’s)

• Share photos, files, documents, voice notes and more

• See when contacts are responding to your message

• Emoticons for every mood and emotion let you express yourself

BBM lets you protect your privacy. You control it:

• You chose how to share your information – BBM uses PINs instead of phone numbers or email addresses so that it’s more private, and you always control who can contact you

• You chose your contacts – 2-way opt-in means you have control over who is able to message you

Chat and Share with many at once:

• Groups – BBM groups help you share pictures, lists, and appointments with group members. You can even be in a group with people who aren’t part of your own BBM contact list.

• Multi-person chats – Invite multiple contacts to have a chat together.

• Broadcast messages – Send a message to multiple BBM contacts at one time.

Create your own BBM profile:

• Post a profile picture using images, pictures or even animated pictures (GIFs).

• Update your status to let people know what you’re up to or how you feel

Download BBM for free today.

Size : 13M

Current Version : 2.6.0.30

Requires Android : 4.0 and up

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Battery Percent Enabler

Just install this App and click on “Enable Battery Percent”. Then reboot. You can uninstall the App afterwards. The setting will remain.

No root needed!

You can only see the battery percent text, if the battery is empty enough. (White text on white battery!)

FAQ:

Do I need a rooted device?

No, should work on any 4.4+ device

Can you change the text-color?

Sorry, this is impossible with a simple app like this one, because the color is hard-coded in SystemUI.apk. You need to decompile that apk, edit one line of source code and then recompile it. Actually, I don’t plan to do this, because I don’t like to change system-apps. Also, the OTA-Updates from google would fail after that and it would require root.

After removing the app the percentage is still there.

That’s because the app changes a system setting. The app does NOT display the battery itself!

I uninstalled the App. Now I want to disable the percent display.

OK, just install the App again, uncheck the setting and uninstall it.

This is the original App from xda-developers. Don’t accept fakes!

You can get support here: forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2516913

Size : 85k

Current Version : 1.1

Requires Android : 4.4 and up

Offered By : kroegerama

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10 Effective Ways To Promote A Mobile App

Now that your mobile application has been developed and tested, it has a wonderful user interface and perfectly runs its features, it is almost ready for submittal to the corresponding application store. Here begins the stage of promotion - most likely you have already thought about promotion strategy. Now is the time to start implementing it. Your first-class software product has to reach the audience it's designed and made for. And if one thinks that it's easier to promote an app than develop it - that person may be wrong. A ready and great app is only a half of the way. Let's outline the most effective ways to make it successful.

1) The app must be ready for submittal. When is it ready? It must have a certain minimum of accompanying data. Here's the checklist that will increase chances for your app to be downloaded: 

- A thought-out laconic title of the application; 

- An icon with a simple and catchy design, that has to outshine its competitors; 

- Create an informative yet laconic description (better in several languages to cover a wider audience); 

- Choose the screenshots that might attract users to install and try the application; 

- You will also need relevant keywords to associate with the app.

Oh, and choose to launch the app at the weekend.

2) Leave space for feedback - encourage users to write reviews and rate the app. User reviews are considered one of the most unbiased sources of information about the application. High rating undoubtedly attracts users, and may become the ultimate incentive to download the application.

3) In case of a paid application, it should have a free lite-version. It allows users to get acquainted with the app; and if they become interested, they will have an incentive to get a full version.

4) Apart from rating, include social network sharing into the application. Those who liked your app, can provide an effective recommendation for their friends.

5) Social network pages are also good at promoting the app. Find relevant groups on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+, use hashtags on Twitter. Use cross-promotion (including internal cross-promotion from other apps you own). Share the news through your friends.

6) Create an app trailer. Create a demo video. Place them on YouTube.

7) What also matters is maintaining the interest - that makes the app go on. You should regularly offer something new to users. These are vital updates, fixes, new functions - provide the support. Also it's effective to offer bonuses, prizes, any kinds of rewards, conduct contests etc. We can also include price reductions (or free distribution) for a certain amount of time - that's a great way to attract users.

8) Build a supporting website for the application. Now the main information about your app is accessible via search engines and browsers. Include a link to the application store.

9) Advertising and promotion. There are a thousand and one good websites that can help you make the app known. Ad networks/PR websites, social bookmarking websites, app review websites, related forums, social media, thematic blogs, and more, and more. Write press releases and further about the app and submit them around the web, participate in discussions and react to the feedback.

10) At mutual will, you may have your application included in the developer's portfolio. That's a win-win - you both are additionally promoted. Developers gain a new work of art to exhibit, review and promote through their channels. That's a good way for your application to become open to more users.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7664050

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Why App Store Optimization Is Important?

The process of optimizing mobile apps to rank higher in an app store's search results is called app store optimization (ASO). When your mobile app ranks higher in the search results of an app store, it will be more noticeable to potential customers. This will then have a tendency to translate into more traffic to the page of your application in the store. On the other hand, ASO is a latent key to gaining attention in the busy market. Using an iTunes or Google Play search function, which is why ASO is so important, is the crucial way mobile users locate apps.

In spite of the platform, one of the main challenges for any application developer is discovery. Being able to be discovered and stand out among equal of applications is significant to success for application. As more and more apps are being developed everyday, this is getting more difficult. The app stores were launched to assist developers to discover their apps, but they are not able to aid all the apps in the same way they did when tablet and Smartphone apps were launched in 2008, even as application inventory continues to grow at a rapid pace.

Therefore, it has now become very necessary for application publishers and developers to take their destiny in their own hands and promote their apps in order to boost visibility to improve download of their app.

App store optimization is one of the ways by which application developers can improve the discovery of their app. Enhancing the major product page elements to increase chances of standing out in a list view, improve search discovery and better the salability of the page for the purpose of converting to purchase or download. ASO covers all elements of your app's product page such as screenshots, icon, product description, category, name and keywords you use to portray and sell your app.

Taking a look at these elements from the perspective of a user to make sure that they are working rigorously to market and sell your application is the key concept behind app store optimization. Therefore, ASO ensures that your product page elements are creative, convincing and clear. It endeavor to eliminate any vagueness in what your product provides and attempts to cut through the noise around you in order to make sure that your application can stand out whether a user views your app in a category list or finds it in search results. You need to look at your users, your competitors and make use of some key application tools if you want to carry out app store optimization.

Importance of App Store Optimization:

ASO is important for the following reasons:

ASO Improves search results as well as the instantaneous comprehension in the app store lists with an optimized name.

It capitalizes on the app ranking opportunities through sub-category and category recommendations.

Improves search discovery and increase salability with SEO focused Product Description.

It improves rapid comprehension and brand recall and also increases conversion with screenshots and icon suggestions.

The ecological unit of the app store is changing continuously everyday and the mobile app market is expected to go on with its marvelous growth. Companies are therefore expected to be vigorous in the ecosystem of the iTunes and Google Play by making use of Forbes.

App store optimization is necessary to make applications stand out from competition, like in websites. It would however be hard for an app to get reviews, ratings and downloads without attention from searches. So, you can also grab your user's attention from eye catching application icon. Create an awesome application icon from app icon maker tool.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8277709

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Flash Android Development

Mobile gamers must be excited to know about the tie up between Flash and Android. Yes, you heard it right. Adobe Flash player can be experienced on your Android. Adobe has recently declared that they are launching Flash 10.1 for Android 2.0 and above. With this technology evolved, the world of internet gaming will experience a vast change. There are a number of gaming platforms on the Internet, which required Flash, such as some Facebook games. These games could not be played on Android enabled devices until now. However, with Flash development for Android, definitely a faster and better gaming experience for the Android users will be delivered. The framework of Flash for the Android devices is known as AIR.

There are two ways that an Android developer may use Flash on a device:

The Android developers can utilize the existing Flash content into the old App development of Android powered devices.

The developers can imbibe the Adobe Flash content through Android.

Advantages of Flash Android Development:Even though, the development of Flash Android is still in its beta testing phase, the users of Android have already recognized some of its unique facilities that it seems to stay here and win. There are many advantages of the development, which is visible to the Android users as well as to the avid gamers. However, the main advantages, which need to be specially mentioned, are as follows:

Speed:With Flash, you can have a faster gaming experience. Any game, which is developed with Flash Technology, runs a significant time faster on the Android powered set, compared to 3G iPhone or an iPad.

Compatibility:One advantage of Flash development is its compatibility with almost all gaming platforms. There are many games, which were developed with Flash and which were created when Android had not even existed, however, today they run on Android platform as well.

Accessibility:There are thousands of games, which essentially require Flash tools to run. Since the Android powered mobile users have been deprived so far from the Flash gaming experience on their handsets, the Flash Android development has bought a relief for them. Now they will not miss any game, be it Facebook gaming application or any other platform.

Screen:A whole new mobile architecture is makings its way with Android and Flash. The newly arrived Android enabled mobile phones such as Nexus One has a wider screen of 800*480, compared to 480*320 of 3G iPhone. Therefore, the users can experience better and clearer view of the games on the handset, though Flash has to upgrade itself a bit more to support games with more pixels.

Flash and Android together is definitely a great news! However, there is a lot more to Android development with Flash. Have a look at http://www.evontech.com/android-development.html.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5995578A

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Best Free Android Apps to Help With Your Finances

This article focuses on the very best free Android finance apps. What can finance apps do and how will they help? Basically, for a short, all-encompassing answer: all these Android apps concentrate on money and if they are used, they will help you save some cash!

The debate of whether to pay for Android apps will continue forever. That's a decision that needs to be made by you, the individual, and whether you think the paid version is worth $X.XX to you. Will it give you that amount of enjoyment or will it save you more money than you paid for it? These are good questions to ask yourself before you jump in and pay for an Android app.

Since we're talking about finance apps that can save you money, it would be pretty ironic if I were pushing paid apps. Sure there are some amazing Android finance apps that cost money (many of which I would heavily endorse- but that's for another day), but if the goal of downloading them is to save money, there's no better way than to start off with nothing invested! Here they are: some of the best free Android apps that will help you with your finances!

Quote Pro

Get the latest stock quotes and news while being able to get very detailed information on the stocks you're interested in (or the ones you own). This helpful free Android app also allows you to create and track your portfolio(s). While this app isn't going to blow anyone away by the dozens of additional features that you may or may not want, its core functionality works extremely well.

Tip Calculator by TradeFields

This is another Android app that simply isn't going to go beyond what it's good at. This works perfectly as a tip calculator for anyone who wants (or needs) one. There are literally 100s of these tip calculator apps available and this one is the best. Why? For me, it has the best UI and is really foolproof. If you can dial a phone number, you can calculate everyone's share of the 17.5% tip for the $127.56 dinner bill!

PayPal

This is a very useful free Android app for all of the 10s of millions of PayPal users worldwide. With this app, you can do all the same things you normally do on PayPal. But now, by paying for an item as soon as it's allowable, you can help expedite the shipping process. You never know, this may not impact you at all for dozens of transactions and then the next time, you'll get that amazing skin cream on Friday instead of having to wait till Monday! Trust me, after you've had this app for a while, it's just nice to have access to PayPal 24/7.

Currency Converter

If you're travelling abroad and want to have some peace of mind about the money conversion, you should download a free currency app. Why download just a random currency app when you can download the best of the best- for free?!? This Android app, developed by Pocketools, can provide you an extremely simple currency calculator in a very basic user interface. However, if you desire more currency information, this app can do that too: you can view currency trends over a 5 year period, graph any currency against any other, convert any currency to another (all currencies of the world are available on this app) or do just about any other thing you can think of if it involves any of the world's currencies.

Mileage

This isn't what you would typically think of as a finance app, right? It's not, but it is. Most importantly, it can help you save money if you choose to dig deep into the information it provides you. It will track your vehicle's gas consumption in a number of different ways that can be helpful if you're trying to cut costs and your fuel usage. This app's UI is very sleek and the data is very easy to read and interpret. It's eerily fun and potentially a money-saving Android app!

Finance

This generic name represents the power of the developer of this Android app. It's Google and this app provides real-time stock quotes. The UI is very solid; like most things Google, it isn't flashy, but gets the job done nicely. If you're a Google Finance user and you've loaded up a portfolio, this app will be a "game changer" as it's fully synchronized and gives you access to everything as if you were on your home computer.

Personal Finance by PageOnce

This is a great Android app if you have many banking/credit card accounts and crave the ability to be able to stay on top of them from one easy-to-use source. This finance app is really well built and the UI is very pleasing to the eye. This is one of those apps that just keeps going. What do I mean? Well, the more you use it, the more features you'll find and the more ideas you'll have to utilize it! IMO, it's a must have.

Financisto

This is another personal finance manager app. Like the other apps of this type, there are functions galore! It allows you to add many different types of accounts (checking, credit, savings- and multiple ones of each kind) into the manager, schedule and monitor recurring payments, create a budget (short term, long term or even set up a "project" which would be great for vacations) and filter what types of information you want to view during normal viewing or when checking out one of the many reports available. Amazingly, there is much more that this free Android app is capable of!

I'm leaving out some great Android apps, right? What about the huge banks' and insurance companies' Android apps?

*Of course, every major bank, credit card company and insurance company out there today have created their own Android app. What do they do? Well, essentially they're all the same: these Android apps make it easier for their customers to manage their accounts and learn the latest about the company and its offerings. What's the best thing? There's a tie: they'll make your life easier and they're all free to download!

To list all these would really be beyond pointless as they're all very similar and are only worthwhile to download if you're a customer of the company. However, this doesn't mean I don't make use of them and you shouldn't use them! I would suggest that you download and take advantage of as many of these Android apps that make sense for you. Having an up-to-the-minute balance for your checking account may just prevent you from those dreaded, expensive overdraft fees. Not a terribly bad thing for a $0 investment!

I own the Android Apps Finder site where you can find every Android app.
If you enjoyed this article and want to read more "Top Ten" Android Apps articles like it, visit my Android Apps Blog [http://best-android-apps-and-games.com] which is a great place to find information on the "cream of the crop" Android apps!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5186163

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Top 5 Best Android Apps of All the Time

Android is an operating system for smartphones, tablets, and net books. But the actual meaning of the Android is a robot that is developed to look and act like humans. Presently Android Operating system is the most used mobile operating system with over 33% of its share in the smart phone market in 2010. These statistics explains us the entire story of how important role the Android phones are playing in human day-to-day life. With over 12 million lines code, android operating system is the integration of Java, XML, C, C++ languages. Being such an important and crazy product, Android's have crossed the Symbian, Blackberry OS in 2010 statistics, as a result the concentration was now shifted to Android phone and many official as well as private developers were deeply involved in developing the best Android apps for Android phone. Here are the must have best Android apps for your Android phone.

Top 5 Best Android Apps

Below is the list of top 5 best Android apps of all the time. There is no way that we can include all the apps in our best android apps post. This is mainly focused on utility and price they offer.

Phone Halo Protect:

Phone Halo Protect is our first choice in best Android apps section that keeps the track of mobile, protects it, and helps us to recover the lost data.

It consists of Bluetooth device as it works on it when Mobile is lost. It uses the GPS system to recover the stuff.

The 3 main basic works of this application is Protect, Locate and Recover.

This is a paid application, you can buy this application from official website

Titanium Backup

The Titanium Backup is ultimate backup tool, that can backup and restore all applications, data, market links, what not it just gives another life for your Android phone.

Titanium Backup is available in both Paid as well as Free version. Paid version will provide you faster experience and most reliable restore options.

It costs around 5.99$ which is really a cheaper option for your Mobile backup. You can view the official page for more information.

One of the best Android apps that you must download.

Nimbuzz for Android phone

Nimbuzz is a free IM client, that enables the Chat with our Online friends from Google Talk, Yahoo, Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Facebook, AIM, Myspace and many more.

Its helps us to view friends who is online, status messages, avatars, notifications and many more when your background is running.

Its a free application, that always gives you the feel that you are having mini computer in your hand. This is really a recommended tool for web freaks. You can download it here.

WordPress For Android phone

WordPress for Android phone is an Open Source Application that which lets you to experience the power of WordPress in your android mobile.

This enables you to write new posts, edit content, and manage comments with built-in notifications. What not, you can have maximum experience of your WordPress blogging platform on your Android mobile.

Its a free application and you can download it from official website.

It is a must have apps that comes in our top 5 best Android apps

Ultimate FavsPro Application

Ultimate FavsPro is a best Android apps under utility section lets you to organize many things in a graphical manner on your Android phone. With this application organizing becomes really easy and you will have a great experience.

This is the free Android apps, you can download it from the official site.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4811940

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How to Select the Best Android Tablet

In the age of smart phones and tablets, Android powered devices have successfully managed to carve a unique identity for them. All the Android powered devices are famous for their user- friendly interface as well as the cheap apps and games available with them. Though these apps were already a part of many smart phones that came before Android, these were expensive enough that not everyone was able to afford them. With the introduction of Android powered smart phones and tablets in the market, this entire range of high end games as well as apps became more accessible to the common masses.

Android tablets have an advantage over other tablets available in the market. These tablets are powered with one of the most powerful and portable operating systems available today i.e. Android itself. These are highly customizable as well. The reliability as well as powerful features provided by Android is the reason why some of the automobile manufacturers in the world are also interested in it, so that they can find something useful and engaging for their customers.

Specifically speaking of Android tablets, it is a known fact that a whole new range of tablets have exploded in the digital market. Apart from this, the new range of applications and games that accompany these tablets are also commendable. However, all these choices can put people in a huge dilemma. To make it easier for everyone to easily and wisely invest in an Android tablet, below are some factors which should be kept in mind before investing in an Android powered tablet. In order to make a wise decision, scroll down and take a look at some of the points to be kept in mind before buying an Android tablet.

1. Purpose/ Usage of tablet

Interestingly, a wide range of tablets are available under the Android platform. These range from utility tablets for grownups to the user friendly and educative tablets for kids. The Kid's Safe Tablet is especially designed for kids so as to assist them in various educative programs involved in their curriculum. It can be used for the purpose of playing games and solving puzzles as well. Also, there are the usual bigger and smarter tablets meant for grownups. These tablets are as efficient as a full- fledged laptop.

The perks of choosing separate tablets for you and your kids is that it will certainly reduce the wear and tear which kids often leave on their parent's tablets. So, the first step is to determine the purpose for which you are planning to invest in an Android tablet.

2. Size of the tablet

After determining the purpose of investing in an Android tablet, the next step is to decide the size of the tablet. Luckily, Android powered tablets are available in a variety of sizes. One of the most interesting as well as advantageous fact about a tablet is that it is compact in size. The sleek design and smart built of a tablet is what makes them easy to carry and look after. While it is impossible to carry a PC around and since laptops are huge in size, tablets are what come to everyone's rescue.

The 7 inch tablets from Android are way cheaper than many other tablets available in the market. But if you are interested in playing games and using apps on your tablet, those 10 inch tablets are simply perfect for you. While smaller tablets are easy to carry around, bigger ones have their share of advantages as well. For instance, watching movies and playing games is something that can be conveniently achieved on a big tablet. Since Android tablets can be highly customised, bigger tablets make the whole experience more enjoyable and mesmerising for the users. So, the second factor to be kept in mind while choosing the right Android powered tablet is the size of the tablet.

3. The right Android operating system

Like iOS, various versions of the Android operating system are also available. All these versions of Android have their own set of features. Starting from the very first version of Android i.e. Android 1.5 (Cup Cake), there are 8 more versions available. The most recently launched version of Android is the Android 4.4 (Kit Kat). It is entirely the buyer's decision that which version of Android he/ she wants in his/ her tablet. Accordingly, their tablet will be performing all the functions which are offered within the scope of that particular version of Android.

Moreover, there are certain applications as well as games which are unique to each version and they may/ may not be upgradable to the higher ones. Hence, every buyer should be cautious while buying a tablet with Android 2.3 or below. The reason behind this is that these versions do not support Flash. It is advised to choose the appropriate version of Android wisely. This can be done based on the user's preferences as well as the reasons behind buying a tablet.

4. The right manufacturer

Looking at the popularity and fan following of Android tablets in the market, there are few very potentially powerful tablet manufacturers in the digital world today. The dilemma arises because each of these tablets is worth putting your hands on. Manufacturers like Sony, Google, Samsung, etc have emerged as equally powerful suppliers of Android powered tablets in the world.

However, it may not be that difficult to choose between these tablets. The reason behind this is that each of these manufacturers has some additional features and may function differently as well. Hence, the only way to zero in on any Android tablet is by being sure about the features and specifications that you expect to be there in your tablet.

5. What's your budget?

The cost of an Android tablet depends on the version of the Android operating system installed as well as the features offered by it. The various factors which contribute in the final price of a tablet include the operating system, features, built, design, utility as well as the size. While smaller tablets are definitely cheaper than the bigger ones, it solely depends on the user's requirements and budget.

6. Does your tablet connect to the Android market?

Sadly, not every Android powered tablet can be connected to the online Android market. This is because Google does not have much control on Android. Once a new version of Android is released to the masses, there is nothing that Google can do. But Google certainly has the control over the entire Android market. Hence, older versions of Android such as Android 2.2 and below will never connect to the Android market. No doubt some apps will be available to you, but the majority of utility apps and games will be far out of your reach.

You must be wondering about the significance of buying an Android tablet if you cannot have access to all the apps and games in the Android market. Hence, this is another important factor to be kept in mind while buying any Android powered tablet.

7. Tablets may/ may not require a data plan

All Android tablets can be either sold with Wi-Fi connectivity or with 3G/ 4G wireless data access. Often it is seen that these tablets are sold at a discount price because of their collaboration with any cellular service provider. Before investing in any Android tablet, check if you are covered under the 2 years of payment over the price for which you are buying your tablet. Also, check the amount of data that you will be provided under this plan. It is always advised to go for a plan which is expandable in future.

8. Say no to Modified Androids

Similar to the modifications brought in Android user interfaces in different devices by their manufacturers, modifications can be brought in Android tablets as well. Often manufacturers state that it is a wonderful thing, but it also has some disadvantages.

The disadvantage is that these modified versions often act differently from their real versions. This may pose a difficult situation for people using the modified version of Android. Hence, you should always go for the real and original version of Android.

Investing in the right Android tablet is surely a difficult decision to make. But once you invest in the right tablet, there will be no looking back for you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8563652

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Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Features That Make Your Phone a Joy to Use

A complete and harmonious combination of two substances can create a complete and beautiful result. In like manner, the natural sweetness of Android 3.0 Honeycomb and the crispy layers of Android 2.3 Gingerbread have resulted in a new, tastier treat for Android smartphones and Android tablets--Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Google has been aiming to unite the multiple Android versions into just one version so that one and only one Android runs on whatever device--be it an Android smartphone, Android tablet, Android portable media player, Android TV, Android watch, or wherever else the little green robot can make waves.

What glad tidings does Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) bring to its users? What better experiences can we expect from it? Read on to know more about how Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is being true to Google's description of it: "the best Android we've ever made yet."

Multi-tasking Button

Android 4.0 includes a virtual button that allows you to browse and instantly switch to apps you recently used. The list displays thumbnail images of apps--instead of just icons--so you can see which part of the apps are currently working in the background.

And, if you want to throw away or discard an item on the list, simply flick the thumbnail in order to remove it from the list.

Instant Screenshots with Button Press

There are many instances in which you'd like to share to others what is currently displayed on your screen. There are also times when you just need to save a screenshot for later use. In previous versions of Android, you could take screenshots by installing apps for that purpose. In Android 4.0, it's a built-in feature.

By holding the Power and Volume Down buttons together, your Android smartphone lets you capture screen images instantly.

Improved Notification Bar

There are several improvements that Google has done to the Notification Bar in Android 4.0. For instance, it can now be pulled down from the Lock Screen. Another is that you can discard items from the list of notifications by simply flicking an item to the right. This means that you can remove items on the Notification Bar one by one.

In previous versions of Android, it's either you clear all notifications with one tap or you leave all of them untouched.

The Notification Bar no longer shows a grid layout of recently used apps. Instead, in Ice Cream Sandwich, those apps are shown as a vertical-scrolling strip of app thumbnails. You can also directly control music playback right on the Notification Bar.

Improved Text and Voice Input

The stock keyboard in Android 4.0 has been given more love. It is now faster and more responsive compared to previous versions of Android. The suggestion strip is more accurate now and also includes an in-line spell checker. With one tap, you can select suggested words or add new words to the dictionary.

Copy-and-paste functionality has also been made easier. Just tap and hold down on the selected word, and drag the handles to highlight the selected words. Then you can select "Copy and Paste" from the popup menu, or simply drag the highlighted chunk of text to wherever you wish to insert it.

Google has also incorporated voice-to-text input in Ice Cream Sandwich. Just speak, and the phone converts your spoken words into text. It's a great way to easily and effortlessly "type" text. With Ice Cream Sandwich, voice input is more accurate and can also translate expressions into symbols.

It also accounts for pauses, so you don't have to press anything while thinking of an appropriate response.

Face Unlock

Say goodbye to passwords, PIN codes, and patterns. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich has personalized phone unlocking much further. With the new Face Unlock feature, an Android smartphone or Android tablet can now recognize the face of its owner.

Just by focusing your face clearly on the secondary front-facing camera of your device, you can unlock your phone instantly. No typing needed. No need to remember passwords. Just look into the camera and let the device recognize you.

Data Usage Monitoring

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich also includes a new graphical display of the data your Android phone is using. You can set warnings for exceeding data usage limits, as well as set how much background data each app can use. Users can have more control over their Android device with this neat option in ICS.

Android 4.0 also comes with improved apps, which can be categorized into three: the core apps (i.e., Google mobile apps such as Android Browser, Gmail, and Calendar), Photos, and People.

Android Beam

Support for Near Field Communication (NFC) is baked into Android 4.0, and Google has made sure that Ice Cream Sandwich has a ready app to leverage the technology.

Called Android Beam, the app revolutionizes the way that people share files and data among one another. With NFC and Android Beam, one can send a file to another user simply by bringing two Android phones close to each other and tapping the phones against each other. Any file can be shared in this manner--photos, documents, maps, apps, bookmarks, and so on.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich surely packs a fresh new look and exciting new features that will truly make your device perform better as a smartphone. With Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich soon replacing the older versions of Android on recent Android smartphones, these new features will eventually start a new wave of more convenient and more efficient use of Android smartphones and Android tablets.

Eager to know more about Android smartphones and Android tablets? Or, perhaps, you already own one and want to know what else that intelligent device can do to make your life just a little bit short of paradise? Learn more about Android smartphones and read Android news at AndroidTidBits.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6720851

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Social Media, Hashtags on Twitter and Blogging for Business

So you want to market your business online through social media marketing? Don't know where to start? Well, here are some strategies to get you started, including the power of hashtags on Twitter. (A subject I will cover again later.) They are free and easy to apply and great for any small business or if you simply work from home to make money in your chosen industry, alongside using the best apps for iPhone.

Instagram account for business - One of the key actions to have come out of Instagram is that small businesses across the planet are embracing this relatively new phenomena to market their business. Visitors engage with platforms of colour and image (as well as short videos too) and see a different side to businesses. It shows a very human side of a company thus proving that it's not just sell, sell sell. Take action on Instagram if you haven't already. A cool little app for your iPhone, it allows you to engage with your customers even when you're not in the office or in fact, not even at work...

Facebook and Twitter - FB is still is the favourite or the world with Twitter hashtags coming up on the inside. The saying goes, your friends are who you talk to on FB, on Twitter, you talk to the world. Hashtags are a must o Twitter although they are still frowned upon on FB and Facebook marketing. Although people do use them, I am inclined not to as they hold no purpose in how people use FB for searching, and therefore, not the ideal way to make money for your business. There is a rule of three on Twitter, so if you want to use hashtags on Twitter, never use more than this. You don't want to be caught spamming on either site, or FB would shut your page down. Hashtag your keyword in the search box and see what people are saying about it. Join in the conversation if you can and answer questions if they have any. This is a free thing to do and it will get you noticed by the world.

Facebook Advertising - You don't have to sign up to FB's high advert charges either, although I would make use of their ads manager as you can use this to see the demographics of your audience. The tools on FB allow you to see exactly how many people you could address who are on FB already. FB will calculate the number of people who match your 'ideal customer' criteria (so if you haven't done this, do it! It's highly valuable!) I would also recommend getting your friends to share your business page and so on. Join groups on FB who already have an interest in the area or the product you are marketing, and watch the discussions on these pages, and join in. Once people will see you as an expert, they are more likely to trust you, and therefore buy from you. In the next paragraph, I highlight another useful tool - Google+ and the way to benefit for all these social media platforms is to be consistent with your content and link them all together for easy posting. The best Apps for iPhone and Android hardware for this are free and which make this process very easy. I recommend Hootsuite free account to get you started.

YouTube - not to be ruled out, and is growing steadily in social media marketing. It is used as a search engine by a growing number of people (you will also be able to link a Google+ account to this too, and has rocketed marketing success. Mainly for the bigger companies but small businesses are homing in on it too. All owned by Google of course, it is the big G word you need to impress on the net!) I would certainly consider making films about you, your team, product and give demonstrations on how to use your product or if it's a service, use the video to tell them how they will benefit from using your service. People need to know what the benefits are.

The Art of Has, Which So..

As a mantra, always remember this... 'Has, Which, So.' In other words... tell your customers what you have or what your product has, then tell them what that service/product will do. 'So'... tell them the benefit of them using the service/product. You will need to use this type of content on your website too. Have fun with your videos. Add music (free music of course - a number of sites will offer free music) and credits, also add a link to your website at the beginning and the end of the film. Don't make it longer than three minutes - people tend to get bored if it goes on longer than this. Bear this in mind with your podcasts too. AudioBoom for business is an excellent place to upload podcasts very easily. They do all the format with you and you can download the app so that you can podcast and upload on the move. Three minutes on this site will get you a free account. If you want to do podcasts an hour long, then you will need to pay. Around £60 for the year is still a sound investment, but first off, I am sure the free account will serve just as well.

Blogging - Can't stress this enough. Use WordPress (loved and adored by Google) - I also advice a plugin called Squirrly SEO. Along with the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, it will maximise your chances to hitting the fist page in Google results. It is a tool that sits alongside your posts in the editing stage and will help you make the most out of using keywords that Google looks for. Use the Google Keyword Tool to find the keywords that your customers are likely to use to find you. You tap in a keyword and the plugin will tell you who is searching that word, talking about it from news items sourced instantly and from social media feeds. It will even give you a range of copyright free images to use, so the hard word is being done for you. It will also tell you as you write if your post is Google friendly and how to maximise it. You get the first 40 keywords free, then you need to pay after that and it's about £6-9 per month. An excellent investment and not breaking the bank. Of course with your blog, you can share it all over the place including here (!) and other sites like Empire Avenue and Tumblr.

REMEMBER! Google loves links and you will score highly with G if you have a lot of incoming links to your site from other sites. The best way to do this is share your content as stated above. Always make sure that the links are from sites who are reputable and loved by Google. Don't simply ask people to link your site from any old where. Google will spot you and you will lose credit with them. Post your articles on places like E-zine - another favoured site by Google. If you are not sure of anything, best tip? Google it first, Google your keywords and see who comes up - the first page is your competition. There is also a plugin for WordPress for E-zine which allows you to post your article the minute you publish it on your blog. I would use WP's plugins to the hilt. They are brilliant and useful, especially the All In One SEO plugin, which I highly recommend and who will do all the SEO for your site.

Michelle is the editor and writer at The Vintage Business Digital Magazine and is also festival co-organiser of The Vintage Belles Annual Festival in Warwick. Owner of TVG Productions and promotional film maker, she guest speaks all over the UK at events and fairs on better marketing for small businesses in the craft and vintage field. Also writes The Vintage Girl Newsletter which is the longest running publication in the field, and has personally seen the development of several businesses in the UK and the U.S reaching success in their industries.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8891735

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