From typing with a swipe to creating your own custom keyboard shortcuts, here’s 10 ways to make life with your Android phone a bit easier—and faster.
1. Type with a swipe
Taking forever to tap out messages on your Android phone’s touchscreen keypad? If you’re using an Android phone and you’re feeling a little daring, there’s a clever—and surprisingly elegant—alternative: swiping. Read more…
You can unlock your phone with a glance once Android’s Face Unlock feature scans your face.
2. Unlock your Android phone with your face
Can’t be bothered to tap in a passcode to unlock your sleeping smartphone? Well, the latest Android phones have a faster way of verifying that you’re you: by scanning your face. Read more…
3. Decline a call with a text message
Don’t have time to take an incoming call, but don’t want to just send your caller to voicemail? If you’ve got a newer Android phone, there’s another option: you can also send a quick, pre-written text message while you’re declining the call. Read more…
4. Create custom keyboard shortcuts
Tired of repeatedly tapping your street address, your job title, or common phrases like “on my way” or “you there?” on your smartphone’s virtual keypad? If so, good news. Read more…
With the latest version of Gmail, you can reply to or archive messages from your Android phone’s notifications pane.
5. Archive Gmail messages without opening Gmail
Want to clean up your Gmail inbox in a flash? If you’ve got the latest version of Gmail for Android, you can now scan the first few lines of your email or even archive a message without actually opening Gmail. Read more…
6. Add a widget to your lock screen
Wish you could browse the latest scores, glance at your inbox, check the weather, or even identify a song directly from your Android phone’s lock screen, no passcode required? Well, you can. Read more…
7. Take a screenshot
Ever wish you could snap a quick photo of whatever’s on the screen of your Android phone—say, a “screenshot” of an interesting app, or of an eyebrow-raising message thread? No problem. Read more…
Just add your favorite contacts to your Android phone’s home screen for easy access.
8. Add a contact to your home screen
Who needs phone favorites when you can just add a one-touch shortcut for your most important contacts, friends, and loved ones to your Android phone’s home screen? Read more…
9. Swipe from one Gmail message to the next
There’s a super-easy way to jump directly from one message thread (or “conversation,” as they’re called in Gmail) to the next. Read more…
10. Print directly from your Android phone
Got a photo, a web page, or a PDF form on your Android phone that you’d like to print? Nope, there’s no need to send the document to your PC or Mac—and no, you don’t need a newfangled, web-connected printer, either. Read more…
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