Category Archives: Android tips

Download the Amazon App Store for Android [instructions]

Leave a comment

After returning my Kindle Fire, I still wanted to used the Amazon App Store for Android… So I had to install the app on my Acer A100 tablet. The Amazon website seemed to be having issues tonight so it took me forever to get the email from Amazon containing the download instructions. To save you the same potential hassle, here’s a verbatim copy of that installation instructions email: Download the Amazon Appstore app immediately by clicking https://www.amazon.com/app-email from your Android

Read more Android tips, Misc Links

Android phone battery – How to save

Leave a comment

One of the biggest troubles with Android smartphones is, the battery will often run flat quickly. A lot of this has to do with the amount of things you do with your phone. The rest is not knowing what functions are eating at the battery in the first place. Where is it going? What can you do to preserve your battery life for longer than 24 hours? You might be able to ask your service provider, like Virgin Mobile or

Read more Android tips, Ask J.D., tech tips

LG Optimus V external antenna connector [BEWARE!]

Leave a comment

Today my buddy’s LG Optimus V failed to boot up so he asked me to take a look at it. Unfortunately, I was not able to get it to work 🙁 However, I did see something interesting: the Optimus V has an external antenna connector. This is becoming rather uncommon with today’s super-smartphones that do not even have user-replaceable batteries 🙁 So I was excited to see that LG included an antenna connector. For people that live way out or go

Read more Android tips, Misc Links

Walkie talkie Android apps for your phone/tablet

2 comments

Lately I have been looking for Android apps that can enable walkie talkie (intercom) functionality over LAN/wifi/bluetooth. Normal internet based options are not ideal as we live in a very remote area with no powerlines, phonelines or wired anything. We also don’t generally get reliable cell phone reception. So satellite internet (WildBlue) is our primary internet connection. Latency is too high and bandwidth too precious, to really support reliable voice communications when it has to be routed out over the internet

Read more Android tips, Off the Grid

How to sideload Android apps onto the Kindle Fire & Nook Tablet

Leave a comment

Thank goodness both of the hottest new 7″ tablets support side loading Android apps onto the devices! There are a LOT of tutorials out there, some of them pretty complicated, so here are the TWO best sideloading tutorials I have found… Sideloading for the B&N Nook Tablet:   How to sideload apps on the NOOK Tablet (Amazon Appstore, GO Launcher EX) – Liliputinghttp://liliputing.com/2011/11/how-to-sideload-apps-on-the-nook-tablet-amazon-appstore-go-launcher-ex.htmlFortunately it’s pretty easy to install third party apps on the NOOK Tablet. You don’t even need to

Read more Android tips, computer tips, Entertainment, Gadgets and Tech, tech tips

Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V wifi hotspot tethering [2.2.2]

Leave a comment

When the LG Optimus V was released by Virgin Mobile it was very easy to enable the wifi hotspot feature. However, recent version of the phone featuring  2.2.2 have disabled this feature! 🙁 Thankfully, there are still some options out there (PDAnet probably being the best one). Klink and “wifi tether” are a couple more I am researching. Rooting your phone is always an option too. I want to write a more detailed entry on the topic, but here are

Read more Android tips, Gadgets and Tech

1080p HD movies onto your Android SD card [fat32] [solutions]

8 comments

UPDATE 2013.04.16 Commenter Brain Fox recommends formatting your SD card or USB device as exFat to allow for greater than 4GB files on your Android device. 🙂 Q. Hi. I read your 1080p phone/tablet MKV playback list and tested my SGS2 and you are right it works with 1080p MKVs amazing!  Really enjoy it. However, I only have a few 1080p things that fit under the 4GB limit of FAT32 🙁 How can I get full 1080p HD movies onto

Read more Android tips, Gadgets and Tech

Can Android video player play 1080p MKV files? [YES!]

23 comments

UPDATE: 2011.06.19 thanks to commenter juami I added Galaxy Tab to list of Android devices capable of 1080p MKV, woot! Scroll down to the green box to see the COMPLETE list… Background info on MKV/Android Tek3D has a nice post on playing MKV Files on Android devices: Play MKV Files on Android Deviceshttp://tek3d.org/play-mkv-video-androidI often rip my DVD and Blu-ray disks to MKV files so that they have the highest video quality. Of course, the video format is not supported by the default

Read more Android tips, Ask J.D., computer tips, Gadgets and Tech