Android Fully Loaded (Paperback)

The Motorola Droid has quickly become the fastest-selling smartphone, giving the iPhone a run for its money. This little book is packed with big tips for getting more into, and out of, an Andropid OS phone than ever thought possible. You’ll learn to take full advantage of features such as  the high-resolution digital camera, GPS, e-mail, Web browsing, location-based mapping, Google Calendar and Google Docs, hundreds of readily available apps, and tricks such as scanning a barcode to get product reviews or translating foreign signs.  

• Motorola Droid sales are booming, fueled by the Android OS’s amazing versatility and open access to apps
• This book shows how to put anything on an Android phone: old movies, TV shows, music, spreadsheets, presentations, Word documents, and much more
• Covers all the basic features such as Web browsing, using Facebook and Twitter, taking photos, playing music, and using e-mail
• Offers dozens of high-level tips and tricks for maximizing turn-by-turn navigation, using an Android as a broadband modem, scanning a barcode to access product reviews and comparing prices, syncing with Google services, and photographing objects for Google to identify

Android Fully Loaded enables you to take maximum advantage of your Android OS smartphone.

Check Out Tips and Tricks from the Author

App: Turn Your Phone into a Powerful Flashlight

I don’t know about you, but I am not the type who always carries a flashlight with me. Like everyone else, though, I have had plenty of times when I wished I carried one. Now, I do, thanks to my phone.

You may have seen apps before that attempt to make a phone into a flashlight by filling the screen with a blank white box, but that provides faint light at best. Many newer phones, however, include a powerful light: the flash on the camera. Because you can also take videos on the camera, you can turn the flash on and keep it on, providing a very bright light. You can of course do this without an app: open the camera app, switch it to video mode, and then select the option to turn on the light. That is kind of a pain, though. So instead, search the Market for one of the many apps that turn on the light by themselves.

One great app is DroidLight, although as its name implies, it may only work on Droid phones such as the DroidX and Droid 2. The app is fantastically simple to use: open it, and it automatically turns on the flash; tap the lightbulb to turn it back off. Note that few things on your phone will drain your battery faster than leaving that light on. So, you should only plan to use this in short intervals. Still, it provides a great alternative to carrying some bulky flashlight with you.

Addictive Game: Air Control Lite

Angry Birds is without question the most addictive game out there, but I recently came across another that is great for killing time waiting in line: Air Control Lite. As with more addictive games, the concept is simple. You are an air traffic controller at an airport. A variety of aircraft, including helicopters, small personal planes, cargo planes and jets, fly in and it is your job to land them all safely. Each type has a specific place to land, and they all travel at different speeds, so you have to keep them out of each other’s way.

What is great about the game is that it is simple to play: you use your finger to draw a path from the airplane to the runway. Air Control Lite is free; a commercial version adds additional maps, including an aircraft carrier.

App: Turn Your Phone into a Level

Bubble is one of those apps that makes it hard believe you are still using your phone. Thanks to the phone’s accelerometer, Bubble turns your phone into a level. Simply turn the app on and you will see a bubble level, exactly as you would see on a real physical level from the hardware store.

You can either place the phone on its side or lay it down flat. Pressing the menu button on the phone and selecting Settings allows you to turn on extra features such as showing the angle and enabling a beep to let you know when you are level.

Find Apps with StumbleUpon
You may already be familiar with StumbleUpon, the Web-based service that allows you to discover cool new things on the Web by randomly directing you to Web sites based on preferences you set. StumbleUpon is now available on your Android phone, allowing you to randomly find pages on your phone just as you would on your computer.

The app, however, goes one step further, by also providing a way to randomly find apps. It begins by looking at the apps you already have on your phone, and then based on what types you have installed, it will show you random apps from the market. So far, it has worked very well for me: it is actually how I found out about Air Control Lite, mentioned above. Best of all, just like the Web site, the app is free.

充分發揮您的Android智慧手機所具備的強大功能！

Motorola Droid迅速成為最暢銷的智慧手機，與iPhone展開競爭。這本小書充滿了讓您對Andropid OS手機發揮更多潛力的重要提示。您將學會充分利用高解析度數位相機、GPS、電子郵件、網頁瀏覽、基於位置的地圖、Google日曆和Google文件、數百種可隨時使用的應用程式，以及一些技巧，例如掃描條碼以獲取產品評論或翻譯外國標誌。

• Motorola Droid的銷售量飆升，得益於Android OS的驚人多功能性和開放的應用程式訪問權限。
  


• 本書展示了如何將任何東西放入Android手機中：舊電影、電視節目、音樂、試算表、簡報、Word文件等等。
  


• 涵蓋了所有基本功能，如網頁瀏覽、使用Facebook和Twitter、拍照、播放音樂和使用電子郵件。
  


• 提供了數十個高級提示和技巧，以最大程度地發揮逐步導航、將Android用作寬頻調制解調器、掃描條碼以獲取產品評論和比較價格、與Google服務同步，以及拍攝物體供Google識別等功能。
  

《Android Fully Loaded》讓您充分利用Android OS智慧手機的最大優勢。

從作者那裡獲得提示和技巧

應用程式：將手機變成強大的手電筒

我不知道您是否和我一樣，總是隨身攜帶手電筒。但像其他人一樣，我也有很多次希望攜帶手電筒的時候。現在，我可以，多虧了我的手機。

您可能以前見過一些試圖通過在屏幕上填充空白白色方塊來將手機變成手電筒的應用程式，但最多只能提供微弱的光線。然而，許多新款手機都配備了強大的燈光：相機的閃光燈。由於您還可以在相機上拍攝視頻，因此可以打開閃光燈並保持開啟，提供非常明亮的光線。當然，您也可以不使用應用程式進行此操作：打開相機應用程式，切換到視頻模式，然後選擇打開燈光的選項。但這有點麻煩。因此，請在應用程式市場上搜索其中一個可以自動打開燈光的應用程式。

一個很棒的應用程式是DroidLight，儘管如其名，它可能只適用於Droid手機，如DroidX和Droid 2。這個應用程式非常簡單易用：打開它，它會自動打開閃光燈；點擊燈泡即可關閉。請注意，您手機上很少有東西會比保持燈光開啟更快地耗盡電池。因此，您應該只計劃在短時間內使用它。儘管如此，它提供了一個很好的替代方案，不需要攜帶笨重的手電筒。

令人上癮的遊戲：Air Control Lite

毫無疑問，Angry Birds是最令人上癮的遊戲，但我最近發現了另一款在排隊等候時消磨時間的好遊戲：Air Control Lite。就像其他更令人上癮的遊戲一樣，這個遊戲的概念很簡單。您是一名機場的航空交通管制員。各種飛機，包括直升機、小型私人飛機、貨機和噴射機，都會飛來，您的任務是將它們全部安全降落。每種飛機都有特定的降落位置，並且它們的速度各不相同，因此您必須使它們互不干擾。

這款遊戲的好處在於它很容易上手：您用手指從飛機到跑道之間畫一條路徑。Air Control Lite是免費的；商業版本則增加了其他地圖，包括飛機場。