By Matt Powell
If you’ve been lucky enough to bag a Google Nexus 7 tablet in the last few weeks there’s a chance this is either your first tablet or your very first Android device and you’re still learning the system. But even if you're an old hand at Android there are a few changes in Jelly Bean that you might miss.
To assist fellow Nexus 7 owners we’ve put together a list of hints and tips for newbies and veterans alike.
Take a screenshot
Grab a screenshot at any time by pressing power and volume together until you hear the confirmation tone.
A notification will appear so you can share the image and it can be viewed later through the Gallery app.
Quickly access settings
This is an easy time saver. To get to your settings without going into the app draw, pull down the notification bar and click the settings icon at the very top of the screen.
How to install Flash on the Nexus 7
The Nexus 7 and other Jelly Bean devices do not include support for Flash but you can set it up yourself by ‘sideloading’ the Flash installer. Sideloading means copying or downloading an Android APK software package and installing it on a device without using Google Play.
1. Go to Settings > Security and enable the ‘Unknown Sources’ option.
2. Download the Flash player APK (Google it for further links if this download is not working).
3. Copy the APK file to your Nexus 7.
4. Use a file manager such as Astro to locate and install Flash player.
Enable screen auto-rotation
Load an app and turn the N7 sideways...nothing will happen because auto-rotate is disabled by default, but it’s very easy to switch this feature on (and off if it's annoying you).
Just pull down the notification menu and click the rotation lock icon, it’s at the top between the time/date and settings icon.
Note that this will only work on apps, the home screen will be unaffected.
Maximise battery life
The Nexus 7 is good for 8-9 hours playing a HD video and will go for longer than that if you’re just browsing the web, but there are a few things you can do to increase battery life:
- Bright screens use more power. Go to Settings > Display and switch off auto-brightness, then use the slider to set the brightness as low as you can tolerate. You should also lower the screen timeout limit.
- Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS use a lot of battery power so if you don’t require them at the time make sure they’re disabled.
- Google will, by default, keep the Nexus 7 synced up with your Google services. However the more it does this the more battery life is consumed. Go to Settings > Accounts > Google > [account name] to disable this, and just manually update as required.
Take advantage of Google Music
US Nexus 7 users get full access to Google Music, an online service which allows you to upload 20,000 music files and stream them through a web browser or the Google Music app on any smartphone or tablet running Android 4.0 or above. This is especially helpful on the N7 where local memory is at a premium.
Unfortunately they’ve not opened it up to the rest of the world yet, but you can start using it now by sneakily registering through an American proxy server or VPN connection. Check out our how-to article for the full guide.
Access the camera app
Because the N7 does not have a rear-facing camera the standard photo app for Android is hidden away and not accessible in the app draw. If you’d like to use the front-facing cam to take pictures you can restore access by installing Camera Launcher for Nexus 7 from Google Play.
Unlock the Nexus 7 with your face
Face Unlock is a cool feature introduced in Android 4.0 - instead of patterns, passwords or PINs it uses the front camera to ID your face. To enable it head over to Settings > Security > Screen Lock and follow the steps to configure this quirky function.
It’s a good idea to enable the blinking option too as this will help prevent the Nexus being fooled by a photograph.
Instant access to Google Now
Google Now is Jelly Bean’s awesome new search and personal assistant utility. As well as offering voice control with impressive natural speech synthesis it’ll also give you relevant, up to date information.
But Google Now isn’t particularly obvious. It can be found by opening the ‘Google’ app but a much quicker way is to simply swipe up from the bottom of the screen. It’ll load instantly, providing a quick way to search and lots of useful info.
Another thing that’s easy to miss are Google Now’s settings which provide a large amount of control over what’s displayed on the main page. To get to there scroll to the bottom of Google Now and open up the menu in the lower right corner.
Take Google Maps offline
Google Maps normally relies on an internet connection to stream mapping and navigation data but you can take some of it offline to use Gmaps as a free satnav tool.
To do this open the main menu from the top right corner and select ‘Make available offline’. Move and zoom the screen to select the area of the map you wish to save. The maximum size is 85MB but Maps will warn you when it’s too large - zoom in to reduce file size.
Free music, apps, movies and books for the Nexus 7
Early N7 adopters all get a £15 credit into their Google Play account. Once you receive an email confirmation make your way to Google Play and you can use these funds to purchase and download music, movies, books and apps from the Google Play store.
As well as this free credit everyone gets a copy of obscure arthouse hit Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Open the Google Movies app and it should be listed under ‘My Movies’. Click the pin icon to download, or save storage space by streaming it in HD.
A faster way to install apps
Google Play has a remote install feature which is helpful for all Android users - not just Nexus 7 owners - as it allows you to 'push' apps to your device via any web browser.
Go to Google Play on your computer, sign in and view an app. Click the Install button and select your device, and it'll be automatically downloaded. This is enormously helpful if you're setting up a new Android device, or just want a more comfortable way to browse the Google app store.
Source: Broadbandgenie
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