Android 3.1 Ice Cream Sandwich

Google announced the launch of Android 3.1 Ice Cream Sandwich (weird name, huh?). Here are some of the new features for the 3.1 version of Android:
USB host mode – This new neat feature enables applications to access all your input, output or storage devices via USB.
Resizeable widgets – You will now be able to resize your widgets in any way you want. Let it be horizontal, vertical or whatever you can think of.
Input device support – The new version is tweaked to support a variety of input devices, such as joysticks, keyboards, mices etc.
The new version also comes with a set of packed apps, such as Movies app, Books app, a video editing application and much, much more.
The full list of new features, along with the new SDK, can be found on the Android Developers Blog.

Android Tips and Tricks for Gingerbread

With the release of Android 2.3 it is time to talk about some cool tips and tricks for phones loaded with Gingerbread version.

Tips

• In Scrollable list when you reach the end of the list, you get an Orange hue which indicates that you have hit the end of the list.
• Notification bar icons (Wi-Fi, network coverage bars, etc.): Turn green when you have an uninhibited connection to Google, white when you don’t. Hint: if you’re in a hotel or airport using Wi-Fi, the bars won’t turn green until you launch the browser and get past the captive portal.
• Voice actions: Tell your phone what to do by pressing the microphone icon next to the search box on the home screen, or long press the magnifying glass. You can tell it to send an email or text message , call someone , navigate somewhere, or listen to music .
• Downloads are now neatly collected in a Downloads manager, which you can find in the apps drawer.
• Turn a Gallery stack into a slideshow: In Gallery, when you are looking at a stack of photos, put two fingers on the stack and spread them. The stack spreads out and the pictures flow from one finger to the other, a moving slideshow that lets you see all of the photos.
• Walk, don’t drive: Once you’ve gotten directions within Google Maps, click on the walking person icon to get walking directions.
• Easy text copy/paste from a webpage: To copy/paste from a webpage, long press some text, drag the handles around to select the text you want to copy, and press somewhere in the highlighted region. To paste, simply long press a text entry box and select paste. Gmail is a bit different: you need to go to Menu > More > Select Text.
• Turn your phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot: Go to Settings > Wireless & Networks > Tethering & Portable Hotspot
• Look at Maps in 3D: With the latest Google Maps release, you can now look at 3D maps. Tilt the map by sliding two fingers vertically up/down the screen, and rotate it by placing two fingers on the map and sliding in a circular motion, e.g., from 12 and 6 o’clock to 3 and 9.
• Cool shutdown effect: When you put the phone to sleep, you’ll see an animation that resembles an old cathode tube TV turning off.

Keyboard tricks

• Shift+Key to capitalize a word: In Gingerbread (and supported hardware), you can Shift+Key to capitalize a letter instead of going to a separate all caps keyboard.
• Auto-complete: The space bar lights up when auto-complete can finish a word.
• Quick replace: Tap on any previously typed word, then tap on a suggestion to automatically replace it with the suggested word.
• Easy access to special characters (like numbers, punctuation): Press and hold any key to go to the special character keyboard. You can also press and hold the “,” key for an extensive punctuation keyboard.

If you own a gingerbread version phone try these tips and tricks and let us know your feedback.