How-To #16: How to Close Android Apps

One of the functionality that makes the Android stand out is its multitasking ability, meaning you can run many different apps at the same time. With many apps running in the background, you'll start to notice the decrease in performance. You could always restart your phone to close down all your unused apps, or download Advance Task Manager application for the Android. By closing apps, not only do you get an increase in speed but also save a lot of battery.

Try it today by scanning the below image.

List of All Current Android Smartphone Rooting Guides/Instructions

Here is a list of all available Android phone and rooting guide/instructions. Let me know if you have a new Android phone you want to add to the list.

Android Smart Phones

Acer:

Rooting Acer beTouch E110
Rooting Acer Liquid A1(S100)

Rooting Acer Liquid E

Rooting Acer Stream

Cherry Mobile:

Rooting Cherry Nova

Rooting Cherry Magnum HD

Rooting Cherry Cosmo - NA

Rooting Cherry Orbit - NA

Dell:

Rooting Dell Venue

Google:

Rooting Google Nexus One
Rooting Google Nexus S

HTC:

Rooting HTC Aria
Rooting HTC Desire
Rooting HTC Desire HD

Rooting HTC Desire Z / T-Mobile G2

Rooting HTC Dream / T-Mobile G1 | UnRoot HTC Dream
Rooting HTC Droid Incredible
Rooting HTC Droid Eris

Rooting HTC Docomo HT-03A
Rooting HTC EVO 4G
Rooting HTC EVO Shift 4G

Rooting HTC G-Infinity - N/A
Rooting HTC Hero

Rooting HTC Incredible S
Rooting HTC Inspire 4G
Rooting HTC Legend
Rooting HTC Magic/Sapphire

Rooting HTC Merge - NA, Temp Root Only

Rooting HTC myTouch 3G Slide

Rooting HTC myTouch 4G

Rooting HTC myTouch 4G Slide/DoubleShot - N/A
Rooting HTC Sensation 4G

Rooting HTC TattooRooting HTC Telus

Rooting HTC Thunderbolt
Rooting HTC Wildfire

Rooting HTC Wildfire - N/A

Leveno:

Rooting Leveno LePhone

LG:

Rooting LG Ally

Rooting LG KH5200 Andro-1

Rooting LG Eve GW620
Rooting LG T-Mobile G2X
Rooting LG Optimus 2X
Rooting LG Optimus One
Rooting LG Optimus GT540
Rooting LG Optimus T
Rooting LG Optimus V

Motorola:

Rooting Motorola Atrix 4G
Rooting Motorola Backflip
Rooting Motorola Bravo
Rooting Motorola Charm

Rooting Motorola Cliq-XT

Rooting Motorola Defy
Rooting Motorola Devour
Rooting Motorola Droid
Rooting Motorola Droid 2

Rooting Motorola Droid 2 Global
Rooting Motorola Droid X
Rooting Motorola Flipout
Rooting Motorola i1
Rooting Motorola Milestone
Rooting Motorola Milestone XT720

Rooting Motorola Quench

Samsung:

Rooting Samsung Captivate
Rooting Samsung Continuum
Rooting Samsung Droid Charge
Rooting Samsung Epic 4G
Rooting Samsung Fascinate (Telus)
Rooting Samsung Galaxy 3

Rooting Samsung Galaxy Ace
Rooting Samsung Galaxy S 4G
Rooting Samsung Galaxy S I9000 

Rooting Samsung Galaxy S II I9100
Rooting Samsung Galaxy Spica i5700
Rooting Samsung Intercept

Rooting Samsung Mini

Rooting Samsung Moment
Rooting Samsung Sidekick 4G
Rooting Samsung Vibrant

Sony Ericsson:

Rooting Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc
Rooting Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo
Rooting Sony Ericsson Xperia Play
Rooting Sony Ericsson Xperia X8
Rooting Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
Rooting Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini / Pro

ZTE:

Rooting ZTE Racer

Rooting ZTE Blade

Speed Up Your Android Browser

If you have root, Masqed Crusader will be able to help your Android browser to load up a little faster. What this application does is that it will cache the server name cache so that there is no reloading of the same website, if you have already visited the website before. Masqed Crusader will only work with the stock browser found on the device and must be activated on startup. 

For non-rooted users & rooted users: 

It is well known that the stock browser is slower then many of the browser applications available on the market. Pcworld has done a great review on android browsers, to conclude that SkyFire is the fastest of them all.

Emulators removed from Android Market

When it comes down to it, emulators are legal as long as the bios is not provided with the package. Roms on the other head, are illegal to download unless you have a legal copy and/or ripped the rom out yourself. Now, why would google start to remove those emulators? The main reason would probably be legal pressure from the gaming companies. 

Sony, Nintendo, Sega and many others have recently began to reintroduce older titles into the smartphone application markets. As a consumer, no one would want to pay for what is readily available on the market. Thankfully, developers like yongzh have posted his app for free. 

How-To #13: How to Create Custom Ringtones

Stop listening to the stock ringtones found on your Android. With the help of Ringdroid app, you will now be able to make custom ringtones for your phone!

Ringtones are created from mp3 files. Usually, you will have the whole song but would prefer to trim the song to only the catchy portion. Customization is a simple process with the Ringdroid app.

Instructions:

1) Connect the android device to your computer.

Note: If you do not have the usb driver go install it.

2) On the device, drag the notification bar (at the top of the screen) down and select USB connected. 

3) Mount the sdcard. Proceed when the device appears on your computer as a "Removable device"

4) Open the "Removal device" drive. This is the android device storage space.

5) Right click and create a new folder on the android device. 

5) Name the folder "Ringtones".

6) Copy over the mp3 file to the Ringtones folder.

7) Download Ringdroid and begin customization. (Scan the above(left) picture for the app)

Ringtones will now be under Settings >  Sound & Display > Phone Ringtone.

Upcoming App of 2011: AppBrain

Tired of endless amounts of trash apps on the android google market? AppBrain now makes the android market usable with these features:

- Apps of the day 

- App recommendations

- Discounted top Android apps

- Share your best apps

- Keep your list of installed apps as a backup on AppBrain.com

- Browse "my apps" on www.appbrain.com and install apps with a sync instead of barcode scanner

There is also a manage apps functionality that helps you install/uninstall, sync, and apps2sd apps.

Now if you are looking for something like installous on the Android, do some research on AppPlanet. Note: this website does not promote illegal activities.   

Cheap Prices for EA Android Games during Memorial Day

Memorial day offers deep discount for EA game lovers on the Android, with up to 50% on many games. Unfortunately, the games on sale are at a smaller variety and discount compared to the iOS.

The whole sale and catalog of games can be seen here

How-To #15: How to UnRoot!

Want to sell or restore your phone back to its original condition? This can be done using the same method as rooting except now the original files is used.

Steps for G1/MyTouch

1. Download original SPL for your phone. 

Note: Download the original here(SPL) G1 / myTouch only. 

2. Rename the file to update.zip and copy it to your sd card

3. Download the DREAIMG.nbh.

4. Place DREAIMG.nbh on your SD card. 

5. Go into your phones recovery. [Hold the home & power button]

6. Push Alt+S on your G1 to flash it with update.zip

7. After it does its thing, gettig back to your home screen.

4. Start phone in bootloader. [Hold camera+power button]

5. Hit power to start the update DO NOT INTERRUPT!! i can not stress this enough.

6. Click on the action button(track ball) and your phone will reboot.

7. YOU NOW HAVE STOCK FIRMWARE, it will update on it's own in a little bit, or *Settings>About phone>System Updates*

How-To #14: Re-engineer APK files

Want to see how some of the applications work? Now you can with android-apktool. You can now view all the codes and files of the apk files.


Description of the program:
"It is a tool for reengineering 3rd party, closed, binary Android apps. It can decode resources to nearly original form and rebuild them after making some modifications; it makes possible to debug smali code step by step. Also it makes working with app easier because of project-like files structure and automation of some repetitive tasks like building apk, etc."


Download Windows Installer:

Google Code

or

Here

128gb MicroSD for your Android

Look for these 128gb monsters in stores soon as SanDisk and others announced their production. Sadly, most phones these days are not capable of reading this capacity.


64 GB MicroSDs are out and is the next best alternative while you are waiting for 128gbs to come one, just make sure your device can use it.