Tag Archives: android

Automatically upload photos and videos to Dropbox

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

One of the great features I like about Dropbox is the ability to automatically upload photos and videos taken from your Android device into Dropbox. This capability, called Camera Upload, will ensure you don’t lose an important photo or video if something happens to your phone or other device.

You can turn on this capability when you first install the app or by going to the Dropbox apps settings. When setup a folder called camera uploads will appear in your Dropbox folders.

camera uploads for dropboxDepending on your device, you can also do this manually. For instructions on how to do this, please refer to Dropbox’s website and select the instructions for the device you have.

drop box instructions

 

Silence for Android

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

silence_android1.jpg
Silence is a free utility for Android that will change your ringer, notification and other alert sounds automatically based on a schedule you provide. Once installed, just add as many actions as you choose, select the days of the week and the times of day you want to use as triggers, and what actions you want the app to take. Silence can toggle Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode, and ringer settings. Just set your schedule, tell the app whether you want the settings changed back to default at the end of the time period you set, and enable it. If you want a simple, free and easy to use app to control these settings, give it a try at the link below.

 

How to Speed up your Android Phone

By Ryan Johnson

Is your Android Phone running a little slow? Try these steps to increase your speed:

Clean up your Storage Spaces: Most Android devices have two different storage spaces: your internal space (where apps are stored) and your SD card (where your music, photos, and many of your apps’ settings are stored). The SD card is easy to clean up–just delete any music, photos, and videos you don’t need. I have setup Dropbox to automatically upload my photos and videos to the cloud so they don’t take up space on my phone. Also, If you see any folders that look like settings for apps you’ve removed, you can delete those too.

The easiest thing to do to clean up your internal storage is to uninstall unnecessary apps that you don’t use anymore or games you no longer play. If this is not an option, you can try moving them to your SD card instead. This will free up that internal space and speed up your phone, but still keep all your apps close at hand. To do this, just head to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications. Select an app, and tap the “Move to SD Card” button to move it. Some apps won’t have this ability, but you should find that lots of your space-hogging apps have no problem living on your SD card.

move to sd card screenshot on phone
Give Your Battery a Boost: Another thing you can do to help your battery life is to go through your settings and make some adjustments. Make sure to keep the brightness down on your screen and make sure Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are off when not in use. I personally use the Power Control Widget to monitor all of this.