If you’re new to Android, Chrome, or anything related to Google, it can sometimes be a little difficult getting yourself familiar with the platforms. That’s why we created Basics!
Whether you’re looking for help changing your wallpaper, adding apps to your home screen, removing apps from your home screen, or just want to know how to set an alarm, we’ve got you covered.
All of our Basics guides can be found below, in the order they were published.
Google has worked hard to create both the Cardboard and Daydream platforms to make it easy for all users to access VR. Just slip your smartphone into one of the compatible headsets and escape into a virtual world. But by doing this, you’re isolating yourself. Thankfully Google now allows you to share what you see with those around you by merely Casting the display to Chromecast devices…
Several days ago we did a teardown of version 7.12 of the Google app and were able to activate a second voice for Google Assistant. This voice was male, but it was not yet live for users to select. Sometime since then, Google pushed out an update enabling users to switch between the female voice (Voice I) and the male voice (Voice II). Here’s how to do it…
Have you ever used your Google Home at the dead of night and have it scream back at you because you forgot to lower its volume? Well, this should be a thing of the past as Google is now rolling out a feature called Night Mode allowing users to dim the Home’s lights and volume during set days and times. Here’s how it works…
Google Assistant finally started its rollout to Android TV last week, but so far, it’s only come to one device — the Nvidia Shield TV. The Assistant will eventually expand to the rest of the market, but in the meantime, here’s how you can sideload it.
Before officially rolling out Android O, Google allowed Pixel and Nexus users to beta test the updated firmware. Now, while the company prepares Oreo for Android Wear, Google is allowing LG Watch Sport users to sign up to beta test the upgrade before it’s officially available. Here’s how to install it…
Back in June, the Dev release track of Chrome for Android was updated and moved the address bar to the bottom of the display by default. This change hasn’t made its way to the stable build of the Chrome browser, but there is a way to manually make this change. Here’s how…
Unlike most flagship Android smartphones on the market, LG doubles its fingerprint sensor as a power/sleep button on the V30. Because of this, taking a screenshot can be daunting. Thankfully, if you don’t want to use the hardware buttons to capture an image, the V30 offers several software options that makes it incredibly easy. Here’s how…
When the Galaxy Note 8 came out, many criticized the handset for being too similar to Samsung’s larger Galaxy S8+. But the Note 8 had one big differentiator: its S Pen. This specialized stylus allows users to take notes, capture screenshots, and more. New this year is the ability to create and send animated messages in the form of GIFs. Here’s how to make them…
In the past, LG’s V line has been known for its iconic second display that allowed users to see notifications and launch shortcuts without the need to turn on the entire display. With the V30, LG removed the ticker display and added a virtual floating bar which features most of the shortcuts previously found on the V10 and V20. Here’s how to customize it…
Theming an Android smartphone or tablet is just one of the ways that users can truly make a device their own. While there are now ways to completely theme devices running Android Oreo, it is still not the most user-friendly option. Thankfully, companies like Samsung make theming as easy as tapping on an ‘Apply’ button…
Since its launch, users have been asking Samsung for a way to either disable to remap the physical Bixby button. Although the company has gone out of its way to block third-party applications that did remap the button, Samsung did recently push out an update that allows users to disable the physical Bixby button (to an extent)…
One of the headlining new features Apple is touting with the announcement of the iPhone X is the facial recognition tech used to unlock the handset. If you’re an Android user and you’re jealous of this feature, you shouldn’t be. While it’s not nearly as advanced (or secure) as the Face ID feature built-in to the iPhone X, Android has had facial recognition technology for some time now…
Last month it was discovered that with the release of Android 8.0 Oreo, users would be able to theme the operating system’s UI without the need to root their handsets. With the use of the Substratum theming engine, users can use Android’s Overlay Manager Service (OMS) to change up the look of almost every aspect of the OS. Here’s a quick look at how to do this…
So you just got your brand new Galaxy Note 8 from Samsung, but you’re finding that 64GB of built-in storage is just not enough. Thankfully, Samsung still allows you to expand the amount of storage with a microSD card. Follow along for how to properly install a microSD card into your Galaxy Note 8.
Before the release of the Galaxy S8, Samsung used a physical Home button and capacitive buttons for Back and Recents. Now that Samsung uses on-screen buttons for the S8 and Note 8, you can customize the background color of the bar and also reorganize the navigation buttons. Here’s how…
One of the most annoying “features” in Android Oreo is the new persistent notifications that constantly tell you of any apps that are running in the background. It’s a great idea in theory, but in practice, it’s just unwanted clutter. Unfortunately, the final version of Oreo provides no solution for this, but a clever developer has created a workaround.
Every Android device owner should know how to take a screenshot, and if you have a Galaxy Note 8, there are multiple ways to do so. Plus, with the built-in S Pen, there are more ways than ever to edit and draw on your screenshots. Here’s how…
Although most of Android 8.0 Oreo’s upgrades are behind-the-scenes, there are several new user facing tools and features. One of which is the ability to have a phone or tablet automatically turn the Wi-Fi connection back on when the device is near a high-quality saved network…
Almost every store and restaurant offers free Wi-Fi to its customers so that they can stay connected while out and about. Unfortunately, those connected to open networks are also vulnerable to attackers. Thankfully, Google not only allows users to automatically connect to open networks but also encrypts the data and transmits everything through its own VPN…
One of the little nuisances within Android is all of the random notifications that pop up constantly. One of which is when your phone lets you know that there are open Wi-Fi networks around that you can connect to. Thankfully, Android O allows you to disable these notifications…
Following the addition of Netflix earlier this year, Google Home now has the ability to cast shows from CBS All Access to nearby Chromecast devices. To make this new feature work, follow the walkthrough below to connect Google Assistant to your CBS account…
If you’ve followed us (or our friends at a couple of Android blogs), you’re probably aware of a little thing we do called APK Teardowns. Basically, we reverse engineer Google’s apps — like Allo, Duo, the Google Phone app, and others — and show you bits and pieces of code (in most cases, strings from a file called strings.xml) from within that might hint at features that are coming in the future. Lately, we’ve also found methods for enabling unreleased features in a select few apps.
But how exactly these things are done hasn’t been well publicized up to this point, and you might be surprised to learn that it’s actually a fairly straightforward process…
With the official unveiling of the Android Oreo statue, Google has begun pushing out OTA updates to some of its Pixel and Nexus devices. Initial reports show the updates either failing or taking hours to install, but thankfully Google has released Android 8.0 system images. Here’s how to manually install Android Oreo…
Chrome OS is constantly being updated with new features, but it can take weeks if not months for these to reach the stable channel. The below instructions will walk you through changing the build being used on your Chromebook…
