How to Build a Phone

For new Android users, rooting an Android phone can often be an intimidating process, especially since there are so many different ways to gain root access, depending on your model and firmware version. I've previously covered a way of doing it for the AT&T version of the Sam ...more

Despite years of user complaints, OEMs are still preinstalling third-party apps on brand new devices. Even in 2019, you'll still find plenty of phones with Facebook preinstalled. What's worse, it's installed as a system app, so it can't normally be uninstalled without root acc ...more

Samsung has a cool security feature built into One UI that has an interesting side effect, one that lets you have two separate copies of any Android app on your Galaxy phone. And that's not the only integrated Samsung tool for cloning apps. Some mobile apps have built-in acco ...more

Back in the earlier days of Android, you were able to connect your phone to a computer, and it would mount automatically. This meant once the USB connection was made, your internal storage would pop up on the computer and you could go about your business. But recent versions o ...more

Whether you're calling the unemployment office, a popular radio contest, or any other phone line that gets super busy, having to recall the number manually is a pain. Whatever you do, however, don't punch in the same digits over again and again — our smartphones can help do it ...more

Only scumbags hide their call and message history, right? Wrong. While it may seem like a tactic for the unfaithful, it's still a good thing to do for certain contacts on your phone that you don't want to block outright. Blocking someone on your phone seems cruel, because you ...more

Google just released Android 9.0 Pie, but the Android community is already working its magic. Developer Quinny899 quickly ported the updated Pixel Launcher from the new build, so you can try it out on other phones right now. The only requirements here are that you're running ...more

Keeping your online data and identity private is an uphill battle, but with the anonymity network Tor, you have a pretty decent line of defense from prying eyes. But while Tor is great for desktop users, since they can simply install a Tor browser or plugin, it's a bit more c ...more

When it comes to augmented reality (AR) on Android, you might be wondering how you can get those cool new games and apps on your unsupported phone. Google has an officially supported device list for its ARCore platform, which usually consists of the more modern devices. You wo ...more

If you haven't heard yet, Google made it possible a couple months ago for every Android user running 2.2 or higher to track his or her smartphone or tablet using their Android Device Manager service. It's a super easy way to track, lock, and secure erase your Android device fr ...more

Apple's highly anticipated iOS 11 is ready for the public, and besides the obvious array of new features and improvements, the mobile OS also comes with stunning new wallpapers which would look amazing on any iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch — even on Android devices. You can get ...more

Your Nexus 7 may be a tablet, but it can also be used as a phone, thanks to the continued upswing of VoIP applications, which send voice and media messages over the Internet—not over a cellular network. There are many VoIP apps on Google Play that let you make free phone call ...more

One of the most useful new features in iOS 7 is the ability to block phone calls, FaceTime calls, and text messages by blocking any phone number. Whether you've got a stalker, a crazy ex, a harassing bill collector, or just too many telemarketers, this new feature makes it ea ...more

There are plenty of legitimate reasons that you might want to record a phone conversation. Let's say you operate a business and take orders over the phone, and you don't want to miss an item. Or perhaps you need to jot down some notes from a recent conference call, and things ...more

Samsung included an "SOS" feature for its phones since the Galaxy S6 that could literally be a lifesaver should you ever find yourself in an emergency situation. It's one of those things that we hope to never have to use but will be very thankful for if a need ever arises. Th ...more

Some phone lines make it nearly impossible to get past the busy tone, whether it's a viral call-in giveaway, your state's unemployment office, your local post office during the holidays, or the repair office for a broken warrantied product you have. Thankfully, there are apps ...more

Long-exposure photography gives us the ability the capture some pretty amazing shots by delicately capturing moving elements in an image while keeping the shutter open at a slow speed. While that's great for things like traffic, scenery, and carnival rides, it can come in espe ...more

Whenever you make FaceTime audio or video calls from your iPhone, Apple automatically uses your phone number or Apple ID email address as the caller identification. So when someone that you're calling sees the incoming call, they'll see it's from your phone number or email add ...more

We might not be able to hang out with friends in-person during a mandatory lockdown or self-quarantine, but we sure can in "Animal Crossing: New Horizons." Snapping pictures with the new NookPhone feels almost as personal as taking selfies in real life, so, naturally, we want ...more

Mobile gaming has exploded in recent years, with experts predicting 2.4 billion global mobile players by the end of 2019. It already accounts for 47% of the worldwide gaming market, besting console and PC. No wonder we've seen the rise of gaming smartphones, a class of phones ...more

If you really want to play Gran Turismo or Castlevania on the go, Sony's PlayStation Portable is a great way to do it. But it gets harder and harder to justify carrying around a PSP handheld gaming console when you've got an equally powerful Android phone in your pocket alread ...more

Vibrate is not as inconspicuous as one might think, which means silent mode is usually the option that many stick to when in class, at work, or anywhere that forbids loud noise. However, when silent mode is on, it can lead to missed calls that could potentially be important o ...more

Switching from one popular music streaming service to another shouldn't have to be a hassle, but it is if you want to transfer all your favorite music over. No popular service offers a built-in feature to export or import playlists, so if you want to move your favorite Apple M ...more

There are at least 24,000 different Android devices, and they all have varying hardware components. This is why many developers publish several unique variants of their apps, which, among other things, helps accommodate all of the different display sizes and resolutions on And ...more

As much as you try to safeguard your personal information, you may have made a small mistake by giving your phone number to the wrong entity, and now you're being bombarded with dozens of spam calls every day. To help parse your call log and reject the proper numbers without a ...more

There's been a lot of fanfare as iOS 12 rolls out, and as an Android owner, you might be feeling left out. There's no need to feel that way, though. You don't have to choose between running out to get a new iPhone or being stuck with only your Android's features — at least whe ...more

There are a surprising number of hidden features in your iPhone's Phone app, from secret dialer codes that provide info or perform actions to special characters that dial extensions automatically. However, there's one little-known trick every iPhone owner should know when usin ...more

Your Galaxy uses information from your SIM card to communicate with nearby towers and facilitate a connection. Which LTE bands you are assigned depends on a number of factors, including available bandwidth and your device's supported signals. But if speeds aren't great on your ...more

Compared to Apple's products like the iPhone and iPad, Android phones and tablets are very flexible devices. For instance, you can set a new home screen, replace the lock screen, or even beam files using NFC — but that's just the software side of things, and the flexibility go ...more

Thanks to a newly discovered iOS exploit, a text message can now ruin your day. It will literally cripple your iPhone, and the worst thing is that anyone with a phone that supports double-byte unicode can do it to you. While it initially sounded like bullshit, we tried it out ...more

Did you know that you can use Gmail to make free phone calls to anywhere in North America? We're not talking computer to computer, but actual free phone calls to cell phones and home phones. All you need is a Gmail account, a microphone, and speakers plugged into your compute ...more

Cell phone jammers, a DIY endeavor for the darker crowd. I'm pretty sure we've all considered having one at some point: whether the obnoxiously loud woman next to you is announcing private bedroom stories to a crowd on the subway, or your kids are grounded from using the phone ...more

RouterSploit is a powerful exploit framework similar to Metasploit, working to quickly identify and exploit common vulnerabilities in routers. And guess what. It can be run on most Android devices. I initially covered RouterSploit on Kali Linux and macOS (OS X), but this tuto ...more

WhatsApp is a very popular messaging app on the Play Store, but unfortunately, tablet users have been left out of all the fun because WhatsApp only works on smartphones—until now. Tech wiz James Nakata wrote up a short guide over in our forum for porting WhatsApp onto a Nexus ...more

Facebook's mobile app lacks many features from the desktop site. Even if you open Facebook in your phone's browser and request the desktop version, all that does is basically resize the mobile app. But there's a simple workaround that will force Facebook to appear in all its d ...more

There are three tiers to Android customization: things you can do by default, things you can do with ADB, and things you can do with root. While root is still pretty tricky to get, ADB mods just got a lot easier. Back in Android 9, Google added a feature that allowed you to w ...more

After Apple's recent fiasco, it's now common knowledge that smartphone batteries degrade over time. But aside from causing terrible battery life, a degraded battery can also trick your phone's software into thinking the device has more juice left than it actually does. I'll e ...more

| Updated February 11, 2019 with new phones. When will my phone get Android Oreo? That's a question still being asked by many, even this late in 2018. Most OEMs have answered this question in one way or another, either releasing a stable OTA or confirming their device won't b ...more

When shopping for a new smartphone, you'll encounter comparisons and spec sheets that are filled to the brim with values like mAh, GB, and GHz. To the average consumer, however, these values are meaningless, so we end up looking at which device has the specs with the highest a ...more

MAC addresses (not to be confused with Macs) are unique identifiers assigned to network devices in order to access the internet. Hotels use these Mac addresses in order to check if a registered patron has agreed to their terms and conditions, how much bandwidth is being consum ...more

I was in college, and my 15-inch Sony Vaio laptop was my prized possession. It was my first PC and probably the most important thing I brought with me to my dorm — it was both how I completed my assignments and my primary source of entertainment. How could it turn its back on ...more

When Google released Android 4.2, a new feature was introduced for tablets that allowed for multiple accounts to be used on a single device. In order to create a unique experience for each user, apps and personal data were kept separate, and switching between users became as s ...more

If you need to hack an Android device, try a remote administration tool. Known more familiarly as a RAT, there are open-source RATs that are barebones and exorbitantly priced RATs that are more polished. There are also low-cost and polished RATs that aren't intended to be RATs ...more

By now, a mobile phone that isn't "smart" is about as hard to come by as a TV that isn't high definition. As a result, members of older generations who were previously reluctant to purchase a newfangled smartphone have no other choice but to cave into the more recent trends wh ...more

Wouldn't it be cool to know exactly who is calling or messaging you without ever looking at your phone? It'd be a great way to keep you from reaching into your pocket or purse every time you get a message, and an efficient method to ignore people you'd rather not deal with. C ...more

Apple's Siri is well-versed in the spells of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but it's not like Android users are Muggles. Google Assistant, Android's virtual concierge, can cast a few spells out of the box, and it can learn the spells it doesn't know quicker than a year o ...more

Let me paint a picture for you. You're on a long flight home, and while listening to music on your Samsung Galaxy S10, a great song comes on. You want your friend to hear it too, who's also listening to music using a pair of Bluetooth headphones. Thanks to Dual Audio, you can ...more

In photography, creating a double or multiple exposure photo involves combining two different images to make one single image. This technique has been used in film photography by exposing a piece of film twice to two different images. The second image becomes superimposed onto ...more

Twitter is a science. The smarter you post and engage with others, the better chance you have at building a bigger audience. Scheduling your tweets is one way to get there. Most engagement occurs at specific hours, but you may not be around then to post your tweet manually. Wh ...more

Depending on your region, you may not be offered the same call recording option other OnePlus users have. But, as with most things Android, where there's a developer with a will, there's a way regardless. And the method we are about to describe is one of the easiest, most stab ...more

Paper clips and any kind of power adapter that gives 5 volts will do the job for charging your phone battery. Video: . Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel for more awesome videos from the macobt projects!

Threats to your privacy and security are everywhere, so protecting your data should be the highest priority for anyone with a smartphone. However, one threat many people overlook is the company who supplies the operating system your Android phone runs — Google. Google offers ...more

Smartphones have so much sensitive information attached to them. If you share your home with others, then you know the pains of trying to keep anything private. Photos are surely among the things you'd prefer to keep to yourself, so OnePlus has you covered. Step 1: Update the ...more

Wordle has been popping up all over in the app stores, but none of them are the real Wordle. The popular word game app has amassed two million users since its launch in November 2021 but has no plans to hit the iOS App Store or Play Store any time soon — but you can still inst ...more