Android devices are popular given the extreme customization the platform has to offer, which basically means we can get our devices to do many things we do not even know they can. However, getting to work these short cuts, one has to do a little bit of prodding around. We have collected some of these shortcuts and listed them here for you which you can use to take pictures, text or even call without the hassle. I hope these shortcuts will be helpful for you given below.
Launching the Camera
We bet you have this happened to you when you can not have your smartphone’s camera launched in time to capture an interesting moment. Well, this shortcut will make sure nothing like that happens again to you. You might know that you can access you camera by tapping on power or home button twice in many Android devices. This will surely work for new Nexus, Samsung devices. You might use this on LG V10 by pressing the volume down your wrist if you have the gestures turned on.
Launching Camera
In case you use Android Marshmallow, you may even click a photograph without unlocking your phone. On your lockscreen, click and swipe on the camera icon and voila, you can use it without unlocking. This also works for camera only and everything else stays safe on your phone. Exiting the camera leads you back to home screen meaning no compromises on security and privacy.
Unlocking the Device
Constantly having to unlock your phone while you are working or relaxing can seem to be troublesome if not time consuming. We have the perfect solution for you – the Smart Lock by Google. You can use it to make sure your phone is unlocked once you enter a trusted space. You can pair the phone with something like a watch (or you can even use your own voice) to make sure the phone stays unlocked when you are at a safe and secure place.
Time Savers and Gestures
As you might know Android offers many ways to operate the phone using gestures depending on the device and version used. All Nexus phones, and some Motorola phones like Moto X and Moto G, will let you see the notifications when you use only one finger to swipe down but quick settings like Mobile Data, Bluetooth etc, whenever you use two fingers to swipe down. For devices with Marshmallow and higher Androids, the app drawer has a search box to search for the desired app. You can also search for an app by tapping on the app drawer icon (it sits on the bottom above the home button) two times in other Android devices.
Gestures On Android
If you have struggled with refreshing Chrome pages, we have got you. Simply pull down on the page and it will be loaded again. You can also choose to go the conventional way about it which is click on the refresh button found under the three dots icon at the upper right corner, but we find the pulling down method quite easy and hassle free.
We all have googled how to take screenshot on whatever device we have as soon as we get a new phone. Given that the buttons to press together are different for different phones, it can become a bit confusing. Now with Marshmallow, you can use Now on Tap, which is an advanced assistant Google offers to make your life easy. To access Now on Tap, press and hold the home button on the bottom of your device screen. Now click on the share button, which will have a pop up menu. You can use it to take a screenshot.
You obviously would be using the conventional way to check the data of any app – the storage space it occupies, cache and other things – by going to Settings, then clicking on Applications, and going through the list to find the required application and clicking on it. Here is a shortcut to do it. Now you need to go to your app drawer and then click and then press on your chosen app’s icon. Draw it over to the App Info button which will lead you to the Settings page for every app. You can now directly check out everything you want to know about the application. You may even use the edit button to change its label and group.
Calling and Messaging
We love widgets given their functionality and utility. You can create widgets for applications, yes, but you can also do that for your favorite people – using contact widgets. Press and hold the home screen, click on widgets and locate contacts. Add any widget for calling/messaging your chosen people from your Android.
Everyone has experienced the inconvenience of ill timed phone calls. You can now set up quick responses like ‘can not talk now’ or ‘in a meeting’ which you can use for such moments. For devices with Android Lollipop, you can access this feature by going to settings in your phone dialer and clicking on quick responses. If you want you can even edit and also you can create a new response. However, maximum four messages can be set only.
Calling and Messaging
If you use Android Marshmallow, the same feature is available under the title ‘call reject messages’. You will find it in the settings of your phone dialer again. You would be given five default texts which can be edited and/or added new to.
Simply choose to respond by text next time you get an incoming call, and choose the custom ready text and tap on send.
What’s more – you can use the power button of your phone to end the calls. Also you can use the home button to answer the phone calls. Just proceed to the settings of your phone’s dialer and set them up.
Google and Voice Commands
OK, Google is one of the better ways to perform so many functions on your phone. Turn the command on by going to the settings of Google Search app. Once there, tap on voice and click on OK Google Detection and further From Any Screen. This will set up your OK Google which you may use to then search for anything which you would normally search by typing in on Google. Don’t believe us?Try it out right now, and see for yourself.
Google Voice Command
You can also have simple things like calling or texting or setting reminders done by using voice commands. It is great for times you are behind the wheel or are too stuck (or lazy as we are) to type in.
We hope you enjoyed knowing more about these short cuts.
