Smart Phone Tips Archives - Page 57 of 65

Q&A: Is it possible to buy an Android app without owning an Android device?

Posted on April 21, 2014

Question from Sheila T.: I have an iPhone right now but in three months I can get a new phone for free on my Sprint plan. I plan to get an Android phone and there’s a specific app that I really want to get for it.

That app is on sale right now at a great price, but when I go to the app’s page in the Play Store it tells me that I can’t buy the app because I didn’t log in with an Android device.

I’d really like to buy the app now and save over 70%, but Google won’t let me because I don’t have my Android phone yet. Is there any way around this?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Change your most-used settings right from your Android phone’s Pull-Down Menu with ‘Notification Toggle’

Posted on April 21, 2014

By default, the typical Android phone will let you change 4 or 5 settings from the handy Pull-Down Menu. But if you’re like me you probably have several settings that you change on a regular basis that aren’t accessible from the Pull-Down Menu.

For example, I put my phone in Airplane mode and adjust the screen brightness several times on a typical day, and on my Samsung phone I have to open up the expanded settings menu every time to perform either of those tasks. [Read more…]

How to immediately contact all of your family and friends at once in an emergency

Posted on April 3, 2014

When disaster strikes, one of the first things we all try to do is contact our family and friends to let them know we’re ok – and make sure they are too.

What typically happens in situations like this is the cell towers get clogged up with all those frantic voice calls and text messages, making it difficult for many folks to get through to their loved ones. Not a good thing!

Well, now there’s an easier way to reach out to others in an emergency. A wonderful free service from Microsoft called HelpBridge makes it easy to contact all of your family members and friends immediately – and all at the same time – when you’re caught up in a disaster. Here’s how it works: [Read more…]

Apple releases iOS 7.1 for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch

Posted on March 11, 2014

ios-7-1 If you own an Apple mobile device, there’s a good chance that you can now update it to iOS 7.1. And even though the version number of the operating system only went from 7 to 7.1, this is no minor upgrade!

In addition to squashing a host of irritating and dangerous bugs, iOS 7.1 also enhanced several existing features while adding one big new one that’s sure to draw a lot of attention: native support for CarPlay. [Read more…]

Q&A: Why can’t I update my iPhone 4 to iOS 7?

Posted on March 3, 2014

Question from Craig H.: I’ve finally decided to update my iPhone 4 to iOS 7 but it won’t let me. The phone freezes up at the “Checking for updates” screen, and it remains frozen no matter how long I let it try.

Should I try updating it some other way? Am I doing something wrong? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Rick’s answer: Craig, I’m guessing that your iPhone has been jailbroken. If that’s the case, you won’t be able to install the update for iOS 7 until you un-jailbreak it.

Luckily, that’s real easy to do by simply restoring your phone to the factory default settings. Here’s how: [Read more…]