Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills. Submit your best shot to our weekly competition for a chance to win an awes ...more
At Google I/O this morning, Google finally announced the launch of its much awaited Google Music service. It's currently in invite-only beta mode, but they claim it will open up to the masses soon enough. To start syncing your music library with Google's Cloud now, you need ma ...more
Want to know how to set a custom wallpaper or ringtone on a Droid 2? Whether you're a proud owner of the Moto Droid 2 Google Android smartphone or are merely considering picking one up, you're sure to benefit from this video tutorial, which also takes a look at the Swype typin ...more
Google's sociable equivalent to the Facebook Like button is finally here, and it works very similar to your favorite social network's recommendation system, except it shows up directly in Google search results. Whenever your Google friend gives a website or webpage the +1, you ...more
Trim your favorite song into the perfect custom ringtone with the Desire HD's built-in editing tools! Learn how with this quick, official guide from HTC. Whether you're entirely new to the HTC Desire HD Google Android cell phone, interested in picking one up, or just out to l ...more
Personalize your Desire HD's home screen with custom widgets! See how with this quick, official guide from HTC. Whether you're the proud owner of an HTC Desire HD Google Android cell phone, or merely interested in picking one up, you're certain to find much to take away. Lear ...more
Finally, summer is just around the corner! And while there are delicious fruits and vegetables available nearly every season, summer yields some of the very best picks. Equip yourself with one or more of the tools below before your next trip to the farmers market. 1. Seasons ...more
In this instructional video series learn from Stephanie Haworth, computer technician with Clayton Computer, as she demonstrates how to build a custom PC from how to choose and install components such as the motherboard, DVD ROM Drive, to applying thermal compound to the comput ...more
If you're as bad at locking your Nexus up as I am, you have the "slide" option set for your screen lock. It may not be the most secure option, but it's definitely the easiest way to unlock your device while being able to utilize lock screen widgets. Now look at your lock scre ...more
Hi , Today i will show you how to do HID Keyboard Attacks With Android BUT without using Kali NetHunter BUT You will need to install custom kernel to your Android device, that will add keyboard+mouse functions to it's USB port,So Lets Get Started Step 1: Prerequisites For Th ...more
Flashing ROMs can be a tricky process, and sometimes you can end up leaving yourself without a ROM at all, often referred to as a soft brick. If you accidentally wiped your internal memory before a flash or forgot to download the ROM before wiping your system partition, don't ...more
HTC introduced their version of gesture controls to the masses when they launched the HTC One M8, and while the feature includes gestures to open the camera, start voice dialing, and unlock the device, it does not include one to lock it. Sure, you can "knock" your screen off, ...more
Hate answering the door, but don't trust your friends with a set of keys? This RFID front door lock made by Steve Pomeroy will solve all your party-hosting problems. It reads the RFID tags in his friends' public transit cards and decides who's allowed in based on "groups" that ...more
"What's the point of having a Nexus 7 for drawing if all of the drawing apps suck?" That's what my girlfriend said after buying her new Nexus 7 tablet. She draws a lot and was hoping to hone her doodling skills on it, but she's right—most of the drawing apps available on Googl ...more
Deep down at the core of Android lies the system kernel, which serves as a bridge between software and hardware. Custom kernels can be installed in place of the stock offering, and these are generally optimized for better performance or increased battery efficiency. If you've ...more
Samsung's Galaxy S9 was recently announced with features like AR Emoji and Dual Aperture, but great functionality lives underneath them — such as the ability to have your home screen auto-rotate to landscape mode. It's a nice feature, but with a little work, you can already do ...more
Android Nougat has a new API that lets apps create their own custom Quick Settings tiles. A similar feature was buried in Android Marshmallow, but that required a hacky workaround, and most manufacturers disabled it in their custom versions of Android 6.0. But since this is an ...more
As if you needed another example of Android's open-source awesomeness, before the Pixel phones were even released, a flashable ZIP that will give you almost all of Google's Pixel-exclusive features on other devices appeared. Well, this ZIP is still very much relevant now, and ...more
Finding the right mix of custom ROM, kernel, and tweaks for my OnePlus One has left me flashing every new release I come across. This has led to many hours going through thread after thread trying to find the latest and best software out there for my phone. While I do enjoy th ...more
Considering that nearly half a million brand new apps were published to the Google Play Store in 2015, you can definitely call it a banner year for Android development. In fact, it's getting to the point where we're a bit spoiled as end users, since we've grown to expect somet ...more
Though they share the same name, the HTC One and OnePlus One have completely different sound quality. HTC had put a lot of time and effort into fine-tuning their BoomSound technology, while OnePlus is still fairly new to the game, with brand recognition being a much greater ob ...more
There are a lot of mods for your Nexus 7 when it comes to improving and streamlining its overall functionality. You could add custom swipe gestures, conserve battery power, and even run multiple apps at the same time. However, efficiency and performance aren't the only reason ...more
If you want to root your phone, it's a huge plus. If you want to install a custom ROM like LineageOS, it's an absolute must-have. Custom kernels like ElementalX, custom recoveries like TWRP — none of this happens unless you buy a phone with an unlockable bootloader. While we ...more
If you have personal information stored on a Kindle Fire tablet, be warned that Amazon has removed encryption support for Fire OS 5. So if you have stuff on these devices...maybe a risque book, or private notes, or pictures you'd rather not let out to the world, now would be t ...more
If you have a custom recovery installed on your Android device, the first thing you should have done as soon as you finished installing it was to create a Nandroid backup. But if you didn't, I'm not here to judge—I'm here to show you a much easier way. What Exactly Is a Nandr ...more
In my quest to find the perfect OS for my HTC One, I try any and every ROM I can get my hands on. This leads to countless repetitions of the wipe, install, and boot routine when I flash a ROM in recovery, especially when the newest ROM I try is a buggy piece of junk. But late ...more
One of the best features on the new Moto X is Touchless Control, which lets you verbally ask the device questions or perform tasks without ever touching or turning on the display, a feature that would do quite nicely on the Nexus 7, if it could handle it. Video: . Touchless Co ...more
Samsung catches a lot of flak for all of the "bloatware" it preinstalls on its Galaxy line of devices. Many users complain that "TouchWiz," Samsung's custom Android skin, causes lag with its overabundance of features. But some of these features can actually be pretty handy, li ...more
The advantages of rooting have been covered before, and with rooting comes flashing ROMs and mods to your device. The easiest method for flashing anything is to do it through recovery. Recovery is the bootable portion of the phone's system that allows data wipes and system up ...more
One of the biggest gripes I initially had with the LG G3 was the lack of options for the Shortcut keys, which are the volume keys that allow you to launch the camera or the QuickMemo+ app directly from the lock screen. I never use QuickMemo+, so having it as a shortcut was a c ...more
Just about every softMod requires some kind of reboot. Whether it's because something in the System UI was changed, or because a ZIP needs to be flashed in custom recovery. Booting into your custom recovery is not an enjoyable experience, to say the least. You have to go thro ...more
The advent of the Google Nexus 4 seemed too good to be true—high-end hardware, unlocked and contract-free at a low price. As time went on, however, we began to see the compromises. The camera was "meh" at best, and most egregiously, it shipped without LTE functionality. Yup, ...more
It may not seem like it, but the Status bar at the top of your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is one of the most important and heavily utilized features. From checking the time, to finding out your battery percentage, to viewing Wi-Fi and cellular connections, the Status bar is critica ...more
Despite packing some really nice camera specs, the OnePlus 3 and 3T don't take the best pictures. That's because, these days, great software is just as important as great hardware when it comes to image quality. Qualcomm, who made the processors for the OnePlus 3 and 3T, has ...more
Let's face it, finding your remote, let alone finding something to watch, can take more time out of our days than we'd care to admit. There are remote locators and channel guides out there, but why use those when you have a perfectly good remote always on you—your HTC One. HTC ...more
Okay, you're Nexus 7 is awesome, but ever wish you could explore those nifty TouchWiz features that make the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Samsung Galaxy Note 2 so interesting? Most of us can't buy another tablet, especially the more expensive ones, but that doesn't mean we can't en ...more
Emojis are a huge part of communication these days. In fact, I'm beginning to think that in a thousand years, historians will come across our then-ancient texts and speculate that we used a writing system that evolved from hieroglyphics. As prevalent as emojis have become, it ...more
The front-facing stereo speakers on the Nexus 6 certainly pump out some awesome sound—but it could always be better, right? Audiophiles will be happy to know that the team at Viper Audio has recently released a Nexus 6 Lollipop-compatible version of their popular sound qualit ...more
Carriers really suck, don't they? We constantly have to monitor our data usage, even though many of us are on "unlimited" plans, which, in reality, will just be throttled to a slower 2G or 3G connection when we hit a certain download threshold. Even when we're not actively us ...more
With over 8 million active users, CyanogenMod is definitely the most popular ROM for Android devices, which explains why venture capitalists invested $7 million last month for future development. Still, not everyone is willing to root their smartphone or tablet to install Cya ...more
Unless you're in law enforcement, you won't usually have a flashlight on hand for those rare moments when you need to sift through the dark. However, it is very likely that you will have your phone on you, so you'll have fast access to a bright light with just a few easy taps. ...more
When the Chromecast first came out about a year ago, developers were quick to find a way to root the streaming device. Google was almost as fast, however, in updating the Chromecast's firmware to close the loophole that this method used. Recently, the developers at Team Eurek ...more
Android's stock appearance is easy on the eyes, but after a while, it's outright boring to look at. Unlike other tablets from some manufacturers, the Nexus 7 runs stock Android and is free from any special UI tweaks or customizations. Sure, you can download themes for a third ...more
Apple just sent out a new update to their iPhones, and while that normally wouldn't have any impact on Android users, the fact that they included 184 new emojis means that the text messages you receive from friends and family members with iOS devices might come across with bla ...more
Android Lollipop's new Material Design interface does its best to strike a delicate balance between intuitiveness, usability, and aesthetics. For some folks, though, the use of a lighter color palette throughout the interface disrupts this balance. If Lollipop's white backgro ...more
Performance boosters generally get a bad rap, but that doesn't mean they should all be dismissed—particularly when they're as well thought out as the latest work from developer Danijel Markov. After recognizing a few inefficiencies in the way Android handles memory management ...more
While many of the U.S. carriers have updated their Samsung Galaxy S3 devices to Android 4.1.2 already, one major absence from the upgrade is Samsung's Premium Suite. One of the coolest features from the Premium Suite is Multi-View, a function that lets you truly multitask by r ...more
When you think of high quality music, your phone isn't the first thing to pop into your mind, even though 68% of US smartphone owners stream music on a daily basis. Most of us tolerate the audio quality from our devices simply because music is something we can't live without — ...more
Some manufacturers, like Samsung and LG, have had split-screen multitasking on their custom versions of Android for years. But starting with Android Nougat, Google added this functionality to AOSP, which means that all phones and tablets running Android 7.0 or higher will now ...more
The new Google phones, which are rumored to ditch the Nexus moniker for Pixel, will most likely come with an Android feature that 7.0 Nougat doesn't currently have—a new set of navigation keys. Don't Miss: Get Android Nougat Features on Your Marshmallow Device The new phone ...more
Oftentimes, seemingly insignificant, nondescript features have the most impact on enhancing our Android's usability. A great example is Nougat's inclusion of customizable Quick Settings tiles, which adds greatly to the user experience by letting individuals tailor their expand ...more
Starting a few months back, you might have noticed that some text messages you received from certain friends or family members had blank or missing characters. This was because Apple included all of the new Unicode 8.0 emojis in an update to their iPhones, but Android devices ...more
Fresh off the heels of their latest agreement, Google and Samsung may soon be further aligned in their mobile technology outlook. The two tech giants signed a cross-licensing patent agreement, but that doesn't mean that Samsung was just going to start putting out stock Android ...more
In the iPhone modding scene, the Checkm8 bootrom exploit, by developer axi0mX, led to a powerful jailbreaking tool known as Checkra1n. With it, you can jailbreak a variety of iPhone models without worrying about it getting patched later on. But in the past, it required you to ...more
Are you trigger happy with a specific emoji with a particular friend? Do you like flinging emoji poo at a buddy who keeps acting sh*tty? We have good news. In the Facebook Lite Chat app, you can now set a specific quick access emoji for easy emoji spamming. When talking to fr ...more
Much like the Chromecast, Android TV devices such as the Nexus Player and Nvidia Shield TV have always had those beautiful background images as their default screensaver. However, unlike the Chromecast, these "Backdrop" images, as they're called, weren't always customizable on ...more
With Safestrap bringing custom recovery functionality to the AT&T and Verizon Wireless variants of the Samsung Galaxy S5, it's high time we covered this process for all other versions of the GS5. If you're not familiar with the term "custom recovery", it's a piece of software ...more
By default, any app that requests a certain permission can run automatically as soon as you start your device. Since Android doesn't offer a granular permission control system like iOS, this gets lumped in with all of the other permissions that you have to accept when you're i ...more
When someone asks me why they should root their phone, one of the top reasons I always give is that it enables you to install the Xposed Framework. Created by developer Rovo89, Xposed basically hooks into the Android system, then allows users to simply install mini-apps called ...more
Google I/O is right around the corner, and everyone's expecting new virtual and augmented reality news. Here's what to expect from this week's announcements. Google Cardboard Will Evolve into Android VR Given the power of upcoming virtual reality headsets like Facebook's Ocu ...more