Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Feb 06, 2012
What is USB? USB stands for Universal Serial Bus, and is a standard for connectors, cables and protocols used for data transfer and power between a computer and another electronic device. &nbs...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Feb 03, 2012
What is tethering? Besides the grounds for a giant debate about ethics (the kind that you can only find on the Internet) tethering, in this case, means to share the Internet connection from yo...
Article
by Phil Nickinson
Feb 03, 2012
With the news today that Motorola accidentally shipped out 100 refurbished Xoom tablets without properly wiping the previous owners' information, it's worth a reminder of what you need to do...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Feb 02, 2012
What is sideloading? It's a term you see a lot thrown around while talking about Android applications, and it's simple to explain. It means installing applications without using ...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Feb 01, 2012
What is recovery? In Android, recovery refers to the dedicated, bootable partition that has the recovery console installed. A combination of key presses (or instructions from a command l...
Article
by Jared DiPane
Jan 31, 2012
So you got a shiny new Samsung Galaxy Nexus in your hands and you are left wondering exactly just what it can do, and how to do it. It's the first device to launch with the newest Android operat...
Article
by Phil Nickinson
Jan 31, 2012
What is a QR code? These things are everywhere nowadays. Little square barcode-looking things. They're on website, they're on pictures, they're on advertisements -- they're everywher...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Jan 30, 2012
What is a PRL? PRL stands for Preferred Roaming List and is a database used in CDMA (think Sprint and Verizon here) phones. It's built and provided by your carrier, and used when you...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Jan 27, 2012
What is open source? Open-source software is software that makes the source code freely available, for anyone to see and use. There are different open-source licenses that have different use conditi...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Jan 26, 2012
What is NFC? NFC stands for Near-Field Communication and is a set of standards (established in 2004) for small, portable devices to establish radio communications with each other. Devices need...
Article
by Phil Nickinson
Jan 25, 2012
What is Mobile World Congress? The next big mobile trade show on our Android schedule is Mobile World Congress -- or MWC, for those in the know. It's in Barcelona, Spain, and has been since 2006...
Article
by Phil Nickinson
Jan 24, 2012
What is an Android launcher? Probably the most powerful feature of Android is its ability to be customized. And that starts with what's typically called the "launcher." The launcher us...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Jan 23, 2012
What is a kernel? If you spend any time reading Android forums, blogs, how-to posts or online discussion you'll soon hear people talking about the kernel. A kernel isn't somethin...
Article
by Phil Nickinson
Jan 19, 2012
What is an IPS display? IPS stands for In-Plane Switching. It's commonly found in high-end monitors -- gaining mainstream notoriety in Apple's displays -- and has also found its way into tab...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Jan 18, 2012
Hacking. It means a lot of different things to different people, and to the public at large it conjures up imagery of evil people in exotic places. When we talk about hacking here at And...
Article
by Phil Nickinson
Jan 17, 2012
What is GSM? When it comes to Android devices, especially for us here in the U.S., there are two major differentiators that really have nothing to do with Android and everything to do with the carri...
Article
by Phil Nickinson
Jan 06, 2012
What's an ETF? An early termination fee is something you agree to, albeit grudgingly, when you sign a contract with a carrier. In return for, say, Verizon, selling you a phone for $199 instead o...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Jan 05, 2012
What is Dalvik? We hear that word getting thrown around a lot on the Internet when talking about Android and its inner workings. While there's no easy explanation we can give in just...
Article
by Alex Dobie
Jan 04, 2012
The official BBC iPlayer app for Android is great, assuming your phone or tablet is on the list of approved devices. If it's not, you won't even be able to see the app in the Android Market,...
Article
by Phil Nickinson
Jan 04, 2012
What is CES? In just a few short days we'll be back yet again in Las Vegas for the 2012 International CES. That's Consumer Electronics Show, if you don't know, and it's the larg...
Article
by Phil Nickinson
Jan 03, 2012
Android Central reader @mjroberts22 this morning alerted us to an evil developer in the Android Market. A number of apps from Quarter MiLL look legit. We've featured Super Why Adventures -- a ch...
Article
by Phil Nickinson
Jan 02, 2012
Welcome to our our latest feature here at Android Central. This one's geared more for you folks who are just getting started with Android, but it's a great refresher for you veterans as well...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Dec 21, 2011
Google TV might not have taken off like some folks expected it to, but those of us who use it (especially with the Honeycomb/Google TV 2.0 update) know that it can be a great way to get the web into...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Dec 18, 2011
I know most of you guys and gals aren't used to sitting down and reading stack traces or debugging logs (you're better off, trust me), but sometimes during Android hacking and debugging read...
Article
by Phil Nickinson
Dec 17, 2011
So Android 4.0.2's starting to roll out to the GSM version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. But maybe you don't want to wait? (We sure don't.) Here's how to easily flash the update to yo...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Dec 12, 2011
Make no mistake -- Android is multimedia-centric, and it does a darn fine job of it. Whether you want to copy media to your device's storage, or want to stream from the cloud, Android, esp...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Dec 08, 2011
'Tis the season for getting cool electronic gifts, and there's a good chance that some of us will be getting another Android device for a holiday present. While for many it will be a n...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Dec 01, 2011
Around here we don't judge people for their choice of smartphone OS. We might point and snicker, but it's all in fun. Having said that, there are more than a few people making th...
Article
by Phil Nickinson
Nov 26, 2011
The first step you need to take if you're going to use a custom ROM on a Nexus device is to unlock the bootloader. All bootloaders -- even on a Nexus phone -- come locked. The big difference is ...
Article
by Jerry Hildenbrand
Nov 25, 2011
MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) first showed up as default on Android devices with Honeycomb. It's a bit of a change from the normal USB Mass Storage (UMS) file transfer that we're used ...
