SIX THINGS TO DO WITH NEW ANDROID TABLETS
Before you begin to use your
Android tablet device, do the following six things:Optimize your tablet for longer battery life
Tablets battery life is determined
by a number of factors, most of which are out of your control, including
battery size, OS optimization, and so on, but there are few settings you can
control that have a huge impact on how long your battery lasts.
The
biggest drain on your tablet’s battery is its scree and the best way to control
its drain on your battery is to keep it dim. Not so much that you can’t easily
see your screen or appreciate its brightness, but it’s best to think in term of
balance.
In
a completely dark room – say, right before bedtime – turning the brightness to
zero will give you more than enough light to use the tablet effectively.
Next
on the chopping block are unused services, all of which can be found in
settings. You’ll probably be using Wi-Fi a lot so; I don’t recommend switching
on Airplane mode, unless, of course, you’re on an airplane.
However,
the next few options can easily be turned off, depending on your needs at the
time: Bluetooth, location access, NFC and cellular will drain your battery,
even if you’re not using them. So, turning one or all of these services off
will save your tablet’s battery life, allowing you to use it more and charge it
less.
Install a file manager
One of the great perks of Android
when compared with iOS is the ease in which you can directly access your file
system, and one of the best apps that allow you to do that is the ES File
Explorer. The apps gives you access to every file, folder and everything
in-between stored not only on your tablet’s built-in-internal storage, but any
SD card you may have installed as well.
Explorer
file manager keeps your file organised and more importantly, accessible.
This
comes in handy when storing more than just apps on your tablet, like movies, TV
shows, documents, and so on. You can also use it to e-mail files directly and
search for any file you may have misplaced.
Get your streaming app choice
Tablets
are kind of made for playing videos. Sure, in actuality they’re made for a lot
of things, but they do video pretty well. Now, the great thing about streaming
video is that you can watch a bunch of movies and TV shows without them taking
up valuable storage space. Also, there’s no waiting for them to download. So,
as long as you have an internet connection, you’re good.
Netflix
and Hulu are the obvious first choices, but there are also channel-specific
apps for the ABC, CBS, and the CW. When all you want to do on a rainy Saturday
is stay in bed and catch up on your favourite TV shows, that’s when you really
start to appreciate the benefits of having a portable thin device.
Unfortunately,
Amazon Prime members will need to purchase either a Kindle Fire table or an
iPad to stream Amazon’s vast video library.
Install HD Widgets
It’s
no secret that the Android OS is highly customisable, and one of the reasons it
has so much flexibility in its interface is its support for widgets. Widgets
are a way to further enhance and tailor your Android interface, and HD Widgets
in particular allow you to add widgets that take advantage of a tablet’s larger
and likely high-resolution display.
With
HD Widgets, you can add a digital clock and a current weather tracker to the
home screen. You can also add a shortcut bar for easy access to Wi-Fi settings,
brightness, and screen time-out, tilt and battery life, among others. Place
them on the lock screen for even quicker access to options and info.
Widgets
are a great way to personalise and distinguish your interface from others, so
do not sleep on them.
Secure your tablets
The
disadvantage in having a more open OS, like Android is that it opens the door
to nogoodniks. To be honest, I’d say you’re less likely to acquire malware on
your tablet than your smartphone, but if you’re the cautious type, it can’t
hurt to add a bit protection to, at the very least, give you peace of mind.
AVG
Antivirus is free (with ads at the bottom of the screen), includes a manual
scanner, and uses real-time protection when visiting web sites it deems
suspicious. There’s also useful anti-theft features that locates your device on
Google Map if it’s ever lost or stolen.
You
can also use the app to remotely lock the tablet or wipe personal data from it.
However, one of my favourite features is the task killer, which allows you to
shut down any task or process running in the background. Background apps can
adversely affect performance, so this feature can be quite useful.
Run 3D Mark
Mobile
games have continuously improved by leaps and bounds over the last few years,
and unless you own a dedicated portable console, gaming on a tablet, as opposed
to smartphone, is the preferred way to get some gaming in.
If
you’re only planning on a few occasional Angry Birds or Candy Crush Saga
sessions, you’ll be fine with pretty much any device. However, for hard-core 3D
gaming, it’s helpful to know which apps will overwhelm its graphical bandwidth.
That’s where 3DMark comes in.
3D
Mark is a graphics benchmark focused on delivering a real-world assessment of
your tablet’s graphical prowess. It delivers its results in frames per second
as well as an overall algorithmically generated score.
For
best results, experts suggest running the 3D Mark Unlimited test, since it
ruins in your tablet’s native resolution as opposed to 720p(the default test)
or 1080p(the extreme test). Once you have your scores, visit 3DMark’s list of
results for mobile devices to see where your tablet’s scores ranks. The higher
the number, the better its potential 3D gaming performance.
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