Hints and tips for Android smartphones

Chrome to Phone

The Chrome to Phone app, available in Android Play Store, lets you send phone numbers, maps, links and much more wirelessly to your Android with a tap. It's free and well worth experimenting with.

Thicker Buttons, Quicker Typing

The ThickButtons Keyboard app cleverly increases the size of buttons as you type a word and decreases the size of those you are less likely to use. It takes some getting used to, but for those who struggle, it could be the perfect solution.

The same bookmarks everywhere

My Bookmarks from Android Google Play, lets you quickly and easily import all of your bookmarks from Safari, Firefox, IE and Chrome to your Android phone with a couple of taps. You will be much more efficient as a result.

Question received on one of my social networking accounts: How do I search my calendar?

I have a Samsung Galaxy Mini GT -S5570. It does most of what I need as a phone and also replaces my ageing Psion 3A, except the calendar does not seem to have a keyword search feature. It has a go-to for actual dates, if you know it! Am I missing the feature on the Mini?

It is a bizarre omission from Google that on older versions of Android, searching the calendar was not possible. There are some ways around this, but most involve some form of tinkering and unless the Mini receives an update, native searching is unlikely to come your way any time soon. We would suggest that you instead look for an alternative by way of an app and Quick Calendar is an example among many that will provide this facility for you. It isn't particularly well presented, but it is free and very efficient. Simply tap the menu button and then ~search' to find the entries you need. There are other options as well which should give you the solution you are looking for.

Question received on one of my social networking accounts: Online or offline, Spotrfy?

I have a premium account with Spotify, which works well on my other devices. However, I recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy S3 Wi-Fi for playing music as my HTC Sensation only lasts a day. Spotify shows as being constantly offline or flips between online and offline mode very quickly, so I cannot even play music when in range of my network, let alone download for offline playing. Could this be because of Gingerbread compatibility?

This is not an unusual problem as you stated in your full email and it seems as though many people are experiencing this issue with an offline state when they have full network coverage. There are some things you could try, however, before you push Spotify for a reasonable explanation or a fix for the problem. Firstly, make sure you have the latest version of Spotify installed - the latest update claims to fix many problems and so we would advise deleting your current app and doing a clean install with the latest version. Also ensure that your operating system is bang up to date by going to Settings and selecting the relevant option. Once you have done this, it could be worth trying a new SIM card from a different provider. It sounds as though you have adequate coverage, but it will not hurt to try every possibility. It sadly also seems as though Spotify needs to resolve this problem because it is affecting too many people to be a simple device problem.

Partial source of information: wikipedia.org