One of the best aspects about Android is its integration with the cloud. When setting up a new Android device, all you need is a Gmail address and your Contacts, Gmail, texts (if you use Google Voice), Calendar and Docs will automatically be available to you without having to plug the device in first. It also comes in handy if for some reason your phone fails as your data will be safe and secure on Google’s servers. No matter what happens with your device, you will always be able to access, manage and move your contacts at Google.com/Contacts.

If you’re using a pure Android device like the Nexus One or Nexus S, this tip won’t apply because all of the contacts that you save automatically sync to Google. However, many of the skinned phones save contacts to the device by default, which means that they’re not syncing up with Google’s servers. We’ll go through the three main skins: Sense, Touchwiz and Motoblur and point out how to save contacts to Google rather than on the device.

What’s the benefit of saving to your Google account rather than your device? Your device will show you all of your Google Contacts as long as your Google account is synced. But if your contacts are saved to your device, they will not show up in Google.com/Contacts. As mentioned above, it really saves a lot of time and effort when you eventually get a new device or are forced to if something happened to your old one.

Samsung’s Touchwiz (pictured above): Samsung’s contact application is simply called Contacts and has an orange icon. When you go into the application and click the plus sign to add a new contact, normally by default you will receive a pop up asking you if you would like to save to the phone or to your Google account. Touchwiz also allows you to remember this choice so you don’t need to do it everytime. If you ever want to change the settings, you can go into the Contacts -> Menu -> More -> Settings, which will allow you to change the Contact settings.

HTC Sense: Unlike Touchwiz, Motoblur or stock Android, HTC’s contact application is called People. When you go into the application and select new contact, the default is set to save to the phone. You’ll have to click on the Contact Type and switch to save to your Google account. I have yet to find a way to change the default to save to Google, so unfortunately you’ll have to do this everytime.

Motoblur: On Motorola’s phones, like Samsung’s, there’s an easy way to ensure that new contacts are always saved to Google. When you go into the Contacts application, go to Menu -> Settings and it'll provide you with your various options to save the contacts to, Google being one of them. 

If you have questions or tips related to saving and managing contacts, come to our General Help Forum.

If you're on Sprint or Verizon, or another CDMA-based network, you might have heard the term PRL thrown around once or twice. It stands for Preferred Roaming List, and it's basically a way of telling your phone phone where to look for a signal so that you get faster, better connections. Technically, it tells your phone which frequencies to scan and in which order.

Do you need to keep it updated? Sure. Sometimes it's an option in your settings; or you can do it via a phone call. Is it something to lose sleep over? Nah. But knowing is half the battle.

Learn more in the Android Dictionary!

So you've got apps. You love your apps. And you want to keep them updated. Maybe there were bugs that needed to be fixed. Maybe there were features added. Regardless of the reason, you want to keep your apps up to date. And there are a couple of ways to go about doing so.

Your apps may update automatically. That's something you have set for each app. After that, they'll update in the background, and you're good to go. But if an app's permissions have changed, you'll need to approve the update. It's a security thing.

You can also choose whether you want your phone to notify you that updates are available. Open the Android Market app, tap the menu button, choose settings, and the flip the switch.

There comes a time in every Android user's life where you want to install an app not found in the Android Market. If it's your first time, you're greeted with, "For security, your phone is set to block installation of applications not obtained from the Android Market" message as you try to install. But how do we get there?

To allow app installs from non-Market apps, tap the menu button on your home screen, then choose Settings >> Applications >> Unknown sources.

Who are these "Unknown sources," and what do they want? Simply put, it's anything other than the Android Market. Could be an app sent by e-mail. Or downloaded from a website.

If you're worried about the security implications of allowing unknown sources, there's an easy fix -- install the app from outside the Android Market, and then hit the checkbox again to turn them back off.

If you're on an AT&T phone, you won't have this option, but Android Central's got you covered. Head on over to our very own Sideload Wonder Machine on the forums to get your non-Market install on.

Now that smartphones have evolved largely into touchscreen-centric multimedia devices, screen resolution and size have become some of the most important features. If the screen is too small or the resolution is too low, it can make the phone itself a hassle to use. Having a big screen is great, but it will look terrible if the resolution isn't high enough.

Various resolutions have been created to help distinguish between each other, and here is a list of the most common ones you will find on Android powered devices:

• QVGA (320x240) Used in small phones like the Motorola Charm
• HVGA (480x320) Common in older devices like the HTC Hero
• WVGA (800x480) The most common these days for phones like the Evo 4G
• qHD (960x540) Used on high-end phones like the Atrix 4G
• WSVGA (1024x600) Common for tablets like the OG Samsung Galaxy Tab 
• WXGA (1280x800) Used for the high-end tablets of today like the Motorola Xoom