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Verizon dials up ‘Just Kids’ smartphone plan

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In 2019 it’s no longer unusual for kids to have phones – even smartphones with Android or iOS. We’re well beyond the discussion of whether or not they should have them; now, it’s a matter of which models to buy.

Many parents can attest that having a child or two on your family plan can be risky. Will they run away with the allotted data, chewing through Snapchat, YouTube, and endless re-watching of The Office on Netflix? How much data is enough? Sure, unlimited sounds great on paper, but it gets slowed down to a crawl if you’re not careful.

Verizon’s got the answer to this dilemma, or so it appears. The carrier this week introduced a new “Just Kids” option which is designed with the young user in mind.

The Just Kids plan gives users unlimited calls and texts to up to 20 parent-defined contacts as well as 5GB worth of 4G LTE data. In reality the data is unlimited but speeds are throttled at the 5G mark.

Video streams are limited to 480p, or “DVD quality” and similar to what T-Mobile offers in its plans. Moreover, users cannot tether another device or use the phone as a mobile hotspot. Both details are likely trivial to a typical child but are worth noting in the event you were thinking of adding it for yourself.

Additionally, the plan gives parents peace of mind in the ability to track the respective device’s location, limit online time, and filter content. These are what you’d find in Verizon Smart Family Premium’s parental controls, which is normally $10 per month.

To sign up for the Just Kids plan one must add it to an existing family plan with unlimited data. Adding it to a single line plan costs $55 for the Just Kids line; it’s $45 on a three-line account; add it to family plans of four or more for $35.

Feature Image via Verizon

Motorola slashes hundreds off phone prices in limited time deal

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Today marks a monumental day in the history of communication. Indeed, this marks the 46th anniversary of the first mobile phone call. Made on the Motorola DynaTAC back in 1973, it’s a date that’s often overlooked by most.

Motorola, though, doesn’t want you to forget. In fact, it’s here to celebrate the momentous occasion with discounts on its phones.

READ: Motorola G6 Review

Whether you’re looking for a high-end handset like the Z series or something on the opposite end of the spectrum there’s something on sale. For those of you already own a Motorola Z model of phone, you can save 25% on select Moto Mods. Check out the sales below.

The deals are for a limited time only and are different for each line. Here’s what you can find on sale from Motorola right now.

April 3-6

  • moto g6
    • 32GB – $90 off; on sale for $199.99
    • 64GB – $120 off; on sale for $199.99
  • moto g6 play – $50 off; on sale for $149.99
  • moto mods – 25% off

April 3-20

  • moto z3 play
    • $150 off low cost speaker mod bundle; on sale for $349.99
    • $200 off Alexa mod bundle; on sale for $349.99
  • moto x4
    • 32GB – $200 off; on sale for $149.99
    • 64GB – $220 off; on sale for $199.99

Verizon kicks off 5G network one week early; Chicago and Minneapolis go live

AndroidGuys
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Verizon on Wednesday launched its mobile 5G network in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis, a shade over one week earlier than anticipated.

As to why the carrier moved things up unexpectedly and without warning, there’s a very obvious reason. By doing so it is able to claim that it’s “first commercial 5G network in the world that works with a 5G smartphone”. A feather in its proverbial cap, if you will.

Earlier in the day Korea’s SK Telecom announced it intended to launch its commercial 5G network on April 5. Coinciding with the debut of the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, it was originally going to be the world’s first network to do so.

Should you wish to be pedantic, you can still give SK Telecom the credit for launching the first 5G network with a phone that has 5G built into it. Verizon’s only option right now is the Motorola Moto Z3 and its 5G MotoMod accessory.

Verizon’s 5G service costs and extra $10 per month and the Ultra Wideband speeds are available only in parts of select markets. Theoretically, customers can expect download speeds of up to 450 Mbps with peak speeds of nearly 1 Gbps.

In Chicago, 5G coverage is concentrated in areas of the West Loop and the South Loop, around landmarks like Union Station, Willis Tower, The Art Institute of Chicago, Millennium Park and The Chicago Theatre. Customers also have 5G Ultra Wideband service in the Verizon store on The Magnificent Mile and throughout The Gold Coast, Old Town and River North.

In Minneapolis, service is concentrated in the Downtown area, including Downtown West and Downtown East, as well as inside and around U.S. Bank Stadium, the site of this weekend’s NCAA men’s basketball Final Four. Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband service is also available around landmarks like the Minneapolis Convention Center, the Minneapolis Central Library, the Mill City Museum, Target Center and First Avenue venues, The Commons, areas of Elliot Park and in the Verizon store in The Mall of America.

Looking ahead, Verizon will offer additional phones with 5G support; the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G and LG V50 5G are the next two in line.

The 5G network is expected to expand to more than 30 cities over the span of 2019.

HP Chromebook X2 review

Jason England
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If you’re anything like me, the sad state of Android tablets over the years has left you downright depressed. Watching Apple excel with its line of iPad and iPad Pros has only made things worse for an Android fan like myself.

Then came this blessing from HP, the Chromebook X2, a detachable Chromebook that runs both Android and Linux apps. To say I was excited was a bit of an understatement. However, I’d soon learn there was only one half of this 2-in-1 that I should be excited about.

Design

The HP Chromebook X2 is the world’s first detachable Chromebook. It has since gotten some competition from the Pixel Slate, but the Chromebook X2 is the only one with a rigid keyboard base. In my opinion, that’s a huge plus because it is the only Chromebook detachable that can be used in your lap comfortably.

Since the Chromebook X2 uses a detachable keyboard base it can be attached with the display facing the keyboard or facing away; this provides you with several ways to use it. Whether you want to use it as a laptop, use the base as a stand, reverse position, fold it over on itself, and more, the X2 gives you plenty of options.

The Chromebook and all of the main components are housed in the half with the display. Which includes a 12.3-inch high resolution 2400 x 1600 display, Intel m3-7Y30 CPU, 4GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, a microSD card slot, headphone jack, two USB-C ports, and a 48Wh battery.

Display

The display is so sharp it is practically crispy and gets extremely bright. My only complaints would be the color temperature was a little warm and I wish it had been in a wider aspect ratio for watching videos. Movies looked fantastic on this screen but would have been even better with smaller black bars.

Speakers

The Chromebook X2 features two front-facing speakers tuned by Bang & Olufsen. I love front-facing speakers because the sound is actually being projected at you. The speakers were a little lacking on the X2 though.

They were loud, and they were clear, but they were also tinny. There was a lack of any sort of low end while watching movies. While I know you can’t expect much from such tiny speakers, I found other tablets I tested it against offered a fuller sound.

Keyboard

The keyboard dock uses a metal base with a strip of rubber so it won’t slide around on your desk. While the top has a faux leather texture with a loop on the side to hold the pen. There are three things I love about this keyboard dock. The first is that it is rigid making it easy to use in your lap which is how I generally use my laptop.

The second is that the keys are springy and offer enough travel to make typing satisfying. As someone who writes for a living, this is very important and I loved typing up articles on the Chromebook X2.

The third reason I love this keyboard dock is that it comes bundled in at the $599 price. I can’t believe HP was able to do this when everyone else gouges you for what is usually a subpar keyboard dock with 2-in-1s.

The one drawback of the keyboard dock is also another one of its benefits, the weight. In order to prevent it from tipping over the keyboard needed to be nearly as heavy as the Chromebook X2 itself. That adds up to a little over 3lbs overall for both together while the X2 itself is only 1.62lbs.

The added weight is completely understandable, but just be forewarned it is going to have some extra heft compared to some other Chromebooks. It is unfortunate HP didn’t find a way to better utilize adding weight by adding more battery capacity in the dock. However, that surely would have increased the price and the Chromebook X2 doesn’t suffer from short battery life.

Pen

The included pen uses one AAAA battery and is stored conveniently in the fabric loop on the keyboard dock. It wrote with minimal lag and worked perfectly for me when taking notes, painting, or drawing.

As a Chromebook

The Chromebook experience is where the X2 excels, and it should. It is a Chromebook first and foremost. I was able to open dozens of tabs, wrote several articles, checked my email, browsed social media, and streamed videos.

It handles all the basic computing tasks with ease. I only found myself frustrated when I ventured outside of the Chrome browser and Chrome apps. While Chrome OS is now capable of running Android and Linux apps, it is not without hiccups.

The biggest issues I ran into were with Android and Linux apps freezing, broken features, or just plain refusing to work. Linux apps were more stable than Android apps in my experience but there were still some complications.

For example, Linux apps cannot access files unless they are moved to the Linux partition, which can be problematic when you only have 32GB of storage. Audio is also not supported in Linux apps at the time of writing but is in the works.

Basically, if you want the smoothest Chromebook experience it is best to stick to Chrome and Chrome apps. Otherwise, it can be a bit of a mixed bag of what you’ll get.

As a tablet

If you were hoping the Chromebook X2 would be able to double as an Android tablet since it can run Android apps, you would be mistaken. As I’ve mentioned previously, Android app support is hit or miss.

From my experience there were apps that just plain refused to work while some occasionally locked up, and others worked fine. For example, my favorite Reddit app refused to work forcing me to switch to a different one.

Another example would be watching videos through apps. The Google Play Movies app would only show a black screen when trying to load a movie for the first two days I had the Chromebook X2. Yet, trying to play the same movie via the YouTube app worked fine. Somewhere around the third day, Google Play Movies decided to magically start working.

I also had issues with the Xfinity Stream app where after working perfectly for days until an update came for the Chromebook which caused videos to freeze. Luckily most streaming apps also feature a website portal, but it’s not exactly as touchscreen friendly as an app.

For the most part, games seemed to be the apps that worked the most consistently. Although that doesn’t mean they were perfect. For example, in Mortal Kombat X the taskbar refused to disappear and it shifted the touch area for buttons on the screen lower than the graphic on the screen. I would have to press underneath the actual button on the screen in order to get it to register.

However, some games such as Asphalt 8 worked perfectly with all of the gyros, sensors, and buttons responding just as they would on any other tablet.

Bottom line, if you’re wanting Android app support for a better touchscreen experience, it’s going to be hit or miss. Android app support on Chromebooks is buggy at best.

Performance

During my daily usage, I had no real complaints using the Chromebook X2. It handled everything I threw at it performance wise. I regularly have a dozen or so tabs open at once and besides having to disable the purging of background tabs it kept up without issue. The games I played outside of some bugs also handled and performed just fine.

I was slightly worried about how it would handle editing photos but that went as smooth as expected. There are surely faster Chromebooks out on the market but the X2 has hit a sweet spot with performance, price, and battery life.

Camera

Cameras on most tablets are utilitarian at best and the Chromebook X2 is no exception. The 13MP f/2 camera on the back is capable of decent photos but is wildly unpredictable. Sometimes the exposure is way off, other times the white balance is incorrect, and on some occasions the photo looks rather pleasing.

There is also at least a one-to-two second wait from when you press the shutter button until it actually takes the photo. Overall, this is not a camera I would rely on but in a pinch, it’ll do.

The front-facing 5MP f/2 camera is not any better but will work fine for video calls and offers a nice wide viewing angle.

Battery Life

Battery life on a mobile device is always of great importance and the Chromebook X2 is rated for 10-12 hours of usage. That should be enough to get almost everyone through one full day of work or school. In my experience, the X2 lives up to this and then some.

I never once had to worry that I wouldn’t make it through a full day. Even during days where I had a heavy workload, I never had any battery anxiety. The X2 just kept chugging along until I was able to get back to the charger.

Something that made me even happier is the charging brick is quite compact and light. Plus, it has a long stretch of cable meaning I didn’t have to be right on top of an outlet when I wanted to use it while it’s charging up.

Final Thoughts

The HP Chromebook X2 offers up just about everything you could want in a Chromebook. It has a high-resolution screen, good performance, front-facing speakers, great battery life, a responsive keyboard and touchpad, and an included pen. However, I had higher aspirations hoping for a great Chromebook and an Android tablet all in one.

My dreams were dashed for a great Android tablet due to the support for apps; however, I still came away loving the X2 for the Chromebook experience it provides. And the price.

To find a Chromebook with keyboard and pen, and of this quality, included for $599 or under is very rare. What’s more, you can regularly find it on sale for even cheaper making this the best bargain for a detachable Chromebook.

As long as you are content staying within the confines of Chrome while docked or undocked, you’ll be glad you picked up the Chromebook X2. Just know, once you venture out of that bubble things can get buggy.

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Nine tips and tricks for the Samsung Galaxy S10

Jason England
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The Samsung Galaxy S10 is a phone with an abundance of features. The deeper you dig the more you find lurking in the menus. We’ve already shown you the first 10 things you should do after getting your new S10. Now, let’s dive in and take a look at a few more tips and tricks.

Wireless Powershare

The Samsung Galaxy S10 has added a new charging feature this year. It doesn’t actually help your phone charge, but instead helps charge other devices. With Wireless Powershare enabled your phone becomes the charger, which can be helpful for charging accessories such as the Galaxy Watch or new Galaxy Buds.

It can also charge other phones that feature wireless charging, but due to the slow charging speed, it works best for smaller accessories. It won’t stay active when it is not in use and times out rather quickly. Make sure you have the device you’re looking to charge within reach and ready.

  • Swipe down twice to find the Wireless Powershare quick toggle
  • Tap on the Wireless Powershare toggle

Read More: Check out these hilarious wallpapers made for the cutout display on the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus

App Pairing

The addition of native multitasking in Android is a wonderful thing. Having the ability to have two apps opened at once can save you a lot of time and frustration. It is even better on a phone with a display as large as the Galaxy S10.

You might wonder, what could make it even better? How about a way to launch two apps you use often in split-screen mode with a handy shortcut. The Galaxy S10 gives you this very option from the Edge Panel.

  • Swipe open the Edge Panel
  • Tap Edit
  • Create App pair

Enable Navigation Gestures

If you’re looking for a new way to get around your phone you might want to give gestures a try. Samsung’s approach is a little different from most others out there, as every phone maker seems to have its own style. Thankfully, Samsung’s gestures are pretty easy to learn. All you have to do is swipe up over where the button used to appear. Follow the steps below to enable them on your phone.

  • Open Settings
  • Display
  • Navigation bar
  • Full screen gestures

Customize the Always-On Display

The Always-On Display is a convenient feature that allows you to get a quick look at the time and your notifications without even pressing a button. Not only is it convenient, but did you know you can customize it? Within the Samsung Themes store, there are tons of themes for the AOD. Some are free but many require a nominal fee.

  • Open Settings
  • Wallpapers and themes
  • AODs

Even if you want to stick with one of the default themes you can customize the color to make it your own.

  • Open Settings
  • Lock screen
  • Clock style
  • Always on display

Customize Edge Lighting

Edge lighting is another one of those eye-candy features that the Galaxy S10 offers. Usually, you only see the edges light up when receiving a call or text. However, if you dig into the settings a bit you can enable it for any app you choose. You can also select what color to use, the width, and whether it should show with the screen on, off, or both. If you don’t like it, you could even toggle it off.

  • Open Settings
  • Display
  • Edge screen
  • Edge lighting

Add More Edge Panels

Speaking of the edge features on the S10, there are a whole plethora of edge panels you can add. They range from panels for weather, a calculator, news, sports feeds, and more. Just follow these steps and soon you’ll open up a whole new world of what the Edge Panel is capable of.

  • Swipe open the edge panel
  • Tap the settings cog in the bottom left
  • Tap the 3 dot menu in the top right corner
  • Tap Galaxy Store

Secure Folder

These days our phones have taken on the role of our most used devices. As such, we often keep a great deal of sensitive information on them. With Secure Folder, you can keep prying eyes away from some of your most private information. It allows you to protect pictures, notes, and apps on your phone. Requiring a PIN, password, pattern, or a form of biometric security in order to access them.

  • Open Settings
  • Biometrics and security
  • Secure Folder

Split Screen

If you enjoy using split screen on your previous phones, you might have found the shortcut doesn’t work on the Galaxy S10. Now if you’re looking to use two apps in split screen view you’ll have to trigger this from the overview menu.

All you have to do is tap the big app icon at the top of the preview and if it supports split screen you can choose it from there. As a bonus, you can also access multi window from this same menu. This is especially helpful if you’re using gestures over the navigation keys.

Pop-up View

Pop-up view is similar to the chat heads you might have seen from Facebook Messenger. Once enabled any app that has multi window support will be able to pop up a little icon on your screen when a new notification comes. Tapping on that icon will open up a mini window for that app.

What makes this even more convenient to use is the ability to relocate the pop up lower on the screen. Afterward, all additional pop ups will appear there making it easier to reach.

  • Open Settings
  • Advance features
  • Smart pop-up view

Devices used in this article were provided by Verizon

Logitech Harmony Companion review: One remote to rule them all?

Jason England
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As a home theater enthusiast I often run into a problem that’s probably plagued you all: too many remote controls. Fed up with juggling several remotes, I decided to find a solution and search for the ultimate universal remote.

When you’re on the search for the ultimate universal remote two choices always come at the top, the Logitech Harmony Companion and Logitech Harmony Elite. Considering the Harmony Elite is more than twice the price of the Companion, I thought I’d give the Harmony Companion a try first.

Harmony Companion Remote

The Harmony Companion comes with one remote, one hub, and one IR blaster; its support is limited to eight total devices. The remote itself left me a little underwhelmed. While it has a nice soft texture grip in the hand it feels too wide to wield efficiently. The texture on the top also picks up oils from your fingers and starts to look dirty after some usage.

Reaching all the buttons is a chore and while they feel good to press I wish they were easier to distinguish by feel alone. I’d like to see them raised up higher, use a more distinctive shape, rounded edges, or a combination of all of the above.

All of this, combined with the lack of a backlight, make it difficult to learn and use at night in the dark — which is typically when I use a remote. That being said, the buttons have a nice texture and felt good to press.

The Harmony Companion comes with a CR2032 battery preinstalled and is said to last up to a year with normal usage. Even if it doesn’t quite make it an entire year, that’s still pretty good battery life. Remember it is doing the work of all the remotes in your house, not just one.

The Hub

The Harmony Companion includes a hub which it communicates with by using RF signals. The hub, in turn, relays what the remote says sending out infrared or Bluetooth commands to your devices.

This means you don’t have to aim the remote at the devices you’re trying to control. You don’t even have to aim it at the hub because it is using radio signals to communicate with it. This feels so freeing to not have to worry about where you point your remote.

However, you must place the hub in an area where it can send signals to all of your devices. If you choose it is even possible to hide all of your devices in a cabinet along with the hub giving your living space an uncluttered clean appearance.

The included IR blaster is used when the hub is unable to send signals to one of your devices due to its location. With the setup I used, I was able to position the hub in an area to reach all devices. Regardless, it is excellent to have the option for an IR blaster for those times when the signal could be blocked by a piece of furniture.

Set up and usage

Setting up your remote is simple through the Harmony app. It will scan your Wi-Fi network and automatically add devices if they are turned on and connected. If your device isn’t connected via Wi-Fi or it simply fails to detect it, then no worries. It is as simple as doing a search in the app and adding the device from Logitech’s vast database.

During the set up, Logitech really encourages you to create activities where you can assign one button on the remote to accomplish several actions and control multiple devices. For example, one button could turn on your TV, Roku box, and A/V receiver. In this particular scenario, it works fantastic. All of the buttons are assigned properly and it works flawlessly.

However, it doesn’t always work so seamlessly. When I tried assigning my Android TV and cable box to the same activity button, it caused issues where the cable box tried to take over certain buttons such as the menu and OK button. When I wanted those assigned to the TV.

This left me with two options, either create custom buttons on the remote using the app or assign the TV and cable box to separate device buttons like on most traditional universal remotes. In the end, I decided to do the latter as having them separated made the most sense to me.

Another issue I ran into was input switching on the TV. Ideally, each time you choose an activity your TV automatically switches inputs. Unfortunately, that was not the case for me and I had to manually switch inputs each time.

In this situation, I’m unsure who the blame falls on. I have a LeEco TV and have issues with it in the past. It would not surprise me if the fault was with LeEco and not Logitech.

Controlling the PS4 also became an issue but this is completely Sony’s fault. As some readers may know, Sony will not allow any third party remote turn on the console. Instead, you first have to power up the console and then the Harmony Companion can take control.

One feature I found myself not using very often, but which you might enjoy, is smart home integration. With the Harmony Companion, you can control certain smart home devices.

In my case, this meant lights I have paired to my SmartThings hub. While it was neat I rarely used as I prefer commands through my smart speakers. Nevertheless, you can work in some cool integrations, such as turning off lights while turning on the TV and starting up Netflix on the Roku.

Harmony App

The Harmony App allows you to control your home theater devices using your phone or tablet. This is a great option for when you don’t have the remote nearby or you’re in another room.

Besides controlling all of your devices it also allows you to customize your remote. I found this very useful when buttons were either not assigned to the remote after adding it or were assigned to a button I didn’t find convenient to reach.

Another way this is even more useful is each button can have two actions assigned to it with a short and a long press. Just another way this is a most useful remote you’ll ever own.

As convenient as it is to remap your remote I found the process tedious and overly complex. It requires digging through menus and several clicks each time. Surely, there must be a better way of doing this. All I know is that once I set it up I never wanted to dig through the menus again.

Smart speaker support

One of my favorite features of these remotes is the ability to use voice commands to control my devices. I use both Alexa and Google Assistant smart speakers so I was able to try both out. In my experience, the Google Assistant speaker was able to handle more commands than Alexa.

Using your smart speaker you’ll be able to power the TV on or off, change the channel, control volume, pause/play, open Roku apps, and more. I found myself using the voice commands more than I did the remote on most days. It just became too convenient to say what I wanted without having to know where the remote was.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Harmony Companion wasn’t exactly the perfect ultimate universal remote I had been wishing for. Despite its minor faults though, it does essentially do what I need it to do and has consolidated my remote count from four to one.

Even if it doesn’t do it as conveniently as I had hoped, I still found it to be worth a $100 investment. Besides the voice controls more than made up for any of the minor grips I’ve had.

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Android Go: Is it right for you? [PODCAST]

AndroidGuys
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We use our smartphones for games, social media, photography, and myriad other things. Some are practical, others are required for work, and others might be just for wasting time. It’s not a stretch to say that many of us may take for granted what can be done with a phone.

In parts of the world there are people who are just getting their first taste of mobile connectivity. In some areas there are those whose first interaction with the internet will come via smartphone.

Android dominates the phone space. But phones aren’t everywhere. Google recognizes this and has created a stripped down version of its platform called Android Go.

Designed for people in emerging markets, or those with poor economic conditions, Android Go is a lightweight software build for affordable, entry-level handsets. It even has its own specialized apps.

While we might expect to see those phones offered in select countries, you might encounter one along your way — even in the US. Does it mean you should consider picking one up for yourself?

Our most recent podcast explores the topic of Android Go and what it means to the mobile landscape. We discuss its benefits and drawbacks and help to shed light on whether it’s something you should consider for own needs.

How to change the theme on Samsung’s One UI

Andrew Allen
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Samsung has recently unveiled its latest rendition of software for the Galaxy lines. Much like it’s hardware, the OS is an iteration of the company’s vision of Android. One UI is a much cleaner experience than previous versions of Samsung’s offerings.

One thing that has remained in One UI is Samsung really wants you to customize your phone’s interface. Theming is offered by default at the OS level on the latest Galaxy phones and we are here to show you how to set up a new theme to alter the feel of your device.

What’s it do?

Changing the theme will change your default colors and sometimes icons of things like the wallpaper, settings page, and notification panel. This allows users to really customize their phones how they see fit. From dark themes to flowers, Samsung has a vast store of themes available.

How to get there.

Now, let’s make it happen! Unlock your phone and follow along.

  • Open the Settings app
  • Find and select Wallpapers and themes
  • This will take you to the Samsung Store
  • Tap the Themes tab at the bottom of the screen
  • Find a new theme that suits your personality
  • Download and Apply
  • Confirm you want to apply the theme one more time

Theme all the things!

As you can see from the last two screenshots above, you now have a brand new theme applied. The dark theme has taken over my Settings menus and the notification shade. Icons have adapted to the new theme as well with new light blue colors.

Most Android OEMs tend to shy away from themes. They leave that kind of stuff up to independent developers and custom launchers. I think it’s a big step for the leading manufacturer of Android phones to embrace theming and offer this kind of customization on the Galaxy lineup. Enjoy your new themes!

Five really cool things you can do with your Android phone

AndroidGuys
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Android phones are some of the most technologically advanced and powerful devices that almost everyone owns these days. We tend to take for granted just how much we can do with them.

Sadly not everyone uses these devices to their full potential; can you believe that some just use their phones to make calls, take a few pictures, and scroll through social media?

Android phones are capable of performing much more useful tasks and cool things if you know how to use them effectively. To help you use your Android phone to its fullest potential and do cool things read on!

Remotely shutdown your PC or Laptop from anywhere

If you travel often or frequently forget to shutdown your PC or laptop after you have left your home or office, then you might find this trick interesting. Using this method, you can actually remotely shutdown your PC or laptop from anywhere in the world using your Android phone, even if the devices are not connected to the same network.

Step 1:

First, download and install the Airytec software on your Windows PC or Laptop.

android phoneStep 2:

Once you have installed the Airytec software on your PC, click on the Schedule task icon on the Windows Taskbar, and make sure the Force shutdown option to enabled.

Step 3:

Now, right click on the schedule task icon and then select options from the pop-up menu.

Switch to the remote tab in the options dialog box and then Enable the web interface option.

android phoneStep 4:

Make sure you uncheck the Enable authentication basic option and then click on Apply.

Step 5:

Before clicking on ok, click on the view/update static address button. This will open a new tab on your browser where you will the shutdown URL for your PC. Note down the URL on your mobile as you will need this to visit the remote shutdown interface from your Android phone.

android phoneStep 6:

Now double click on the schedule task icon on the taskbar and then enable the task. Paste the shutdown URL on your Android phone browser to visit the remote shutdown interface page for your PC.

Step 7:

You can now use the options in the remote interface page to either shutdown or restart your PC remotely from anywhere or even perform other actions hibernating it on entering into sleep mode.

android phone

Turn your Android phone into a security camera

If you have an old Android phone just lying around, you can get some use from it by turning it into a fully functional security camera for your house or your office or simply even use it as a baby monitor. Even if you don’t have an old smartphone, you can always buy a new or a refurbished one for this method as most of these are cheaper than buying and setting up a security camera.

Step 1:

Download and install the DroidCam Wireless Webcam app from the Google Play Store on your Android phone.

Step 2:

Open the app and click on next and got it to skip through the initial screen. Now in the home page of the app you will be presented with the IP address details which you need to view the live camera recording of your Android phone from a browser on your PC or a supported device.

Note down IP address in the Browser IP Cam Access field.

android phoneStep 3:

Open the browser on your PC and then enter the IP address you noted in the previous step to watch the live video recording from the camera on your Android phone.

You can now monitor the video, zoom in or out, toggle the LED and even take a snapshot of the recording whenever you want.

android phone

Use it as a secret voice recorder

If you ever get caught in a situation where you cannot prove what happened between you and someone or what the other person in a conversation said to you or you simply just want to keep a track of all your meetings and conversations just in case, without letting others know that you are recording the conversation, then you might be interested to know that you can use your Android phone as a secret voice recorder. Here is how.

Step 1:

Download and install the Secret voice recorder (SVR) app for Android on your device from the Google Play Store.

Step 2:

Open the app and then enter into the app settings page.

You can now customize the settings to enable the app to automatically start recording either when you press the volume up button or the power button thrice.

However, it is recommended to use the volume button for the trigger action as the power button might already be set to either launch the camera or call an emergency number in some devices.

You can also modify other settings according to your preference like controlling the level of noise while recording, password protecting the recorded files and even upload all the recorded files automatically to Google Drive. The app also comes with an option to record all your calls.

Step 3:

Once you have set up the app you can now start the recording by pressing the volume up button three times. The recording will now start and once you have finished the recording you can either press the volume down button 3 times or just open the app to stop the recording.

You can now play the recorded files from the saved recordings tab and also upload them to your Google Drive, share them and rename the file from this tab.

Detect hidden cameras using your Android phone

You can use your Android smartphone to detect any hidden surveillance cameras with the help of the magnetic sensor in your phone and a hidden camera detector app. Just install the Hidden Camera Detector app on your Android phone from the Google Play Store and then open the app.

The app has options to either use the magnetic sensor on your Android phone to perform magnetometer scanning to detect the hidden cameras by scanning for the presence of a strong electromagnetic field or to use the Detect infrared camera mode to detect the presence of any infrared cameras in the suspected location.

If your device does not have a magnetic sensor, then the first method might not work accurately.

Just select the Magnetometer scanning method and move your Android phone closer to the place where you suspect the presence of a hidden camera, and if the app detects the presence of electromagnetic radiation, it will warn you by making a beeping noise and a huge fluctuation in the magnetometer reading.

Unlock your Windows PC with your Android phone fingerprint sensor

Since most people carry their Android phone with them at all times, it makes sense to take advantage of the level of security it offers. So, using the fingerprint sensor on your Android phone to unlock and login to your Windows PC is not only a quicker way compared to entering pins or passwords, but it is also more secure. So, here is how to do it.

Step 1:

Download and install the Remote Fingerprint Unlock app on your Android phone from the Google Play Store.

Step 2:

Now download and install the Windows Fingerprint Unlock Module software on your Windows PC.

Make sure to download the compatible version for your PC as both 32 and 64-bit versions are available for download.

Step 3:

Once you have installed Windows Fingerprint Unlock Module on your PC, open the Remote Fingerprint Unlock app on your Android phone and then register your fingerprint by selecting the scan option.

Step 4:

Now lock your computer by using the shortcut combination Windows+L Keys and then select the scan option from the app to detect and add your PC to the list.

Step 5:

After the app has recognized your PC, proceed to create a new account from the My accounts page and then make sure to scan your fingerprint for authentication and add the user name and the password of your PC you want to unlock.

Step 6:

Once you save the new account to the app, you can now unlock your Windows PC by using the fingerprint scanner on your Android phone by just navigating to the Unlock page of the Remote Fingerprint unlock app and then scanning your fingerprint.

android phone

What is Microsoft Your Phone and how do you use it?

Jason England
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With the death of Windows Phone behind it, Microsoft has put an added focus on integrating Android and iPhones with Windows. The Your Phone app is one of the best examples of this integration. Unfortunately, Your Phone does not fully mirror your Android phone on your computer — if that’s what you were hoping for.

Your Phone is, for all intents and purposes, a way to sync photos and text messages from your phone with your Windows computer. For many of us who bounce back and forth between computer and phone this is a very exciting prospect.

However, it comes with some major limitations, such as only providing access to the last 25 photos and 15 messages on your phone. Most likely being limited to your last 15 conversations won’t be much of a hindrance, but only having the last 25 photos accessible is a big drawback. It is also not possible to connect to multiple PCs simultaneously.

How to set up Your Phone

In order to set up Your Phone it requires a Windows PC running Windows 10 April 2018 Update (Version 1803) or later. You must also have an Android phone running Android 7.0 (Nougat) or later.

Next, you’ll need to download the Your Phone app to both your Windows PC and your Android phone. If you download the app to your computer first, it will provide you with an option to text a link to the app on your phone. You can also use the links I’ve provided below to each respective app.

Your Phone PC Your Phone Android

Once both of these apps are installed you will be prompted to sign in to your Microsoft account on your phone that is associated with your PC. Then, you’ll have to give access to the app permissions. After that, you’ll be asked to give permission to ignore battery optimizations. You should now be synced with the Your Phone app on your PC and ready to go.

Both Your Phone apps are extremely simple and mostly devoid of options. The Android app does try its best to advertise other Microsoft owned apps though.

How well does it work?

If all you want to do is view the last 25 photos or screenshots on your phone, reply to SMS messages, or compose text messages it works rather well. Syncing is fairly fast with both photos and SMS messages.

When composing a new text message, it allows you to search the contacts stored on your phone. However, it does not provide contact photos or identify which number is the person’s cellphone number.

That can be a little confusing if you’re trying to text someone with multiple numbers and you never memorized which is their cellphone. Another downside is the lack of picture messaging. You will not be able to send or receive pictures or gifs with the Your Phone app.

Viewing and editing photos is quick and easy. Photos will open in the Photos app on your Windows computer with options to share, print, or edit. The option to delete is grayed out ensuring you will never accidentally trash any photos on your phone.

Editing works just as it would with any other photo stored on your PC, but it will require you to save a copy to your computer after editing and does not sync a copy to your phone.

Final Thoughts

If you do a lot of texting during the day, this is a real time saver as you do not have to swap back and forth between computer and phone. If you’re also looking for quick wireless access to your most recent photos the Your Phone app is also very useful.

However, if you’re like me and wanted full mirroring, access to all of your messengers, and the ability to access all of your photos, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

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