Exciting tips

PC games are built to run on different settings. There are systems with varying capabilities and hardware so games, particularly big titles, will include settings that allow people to play even if their hardware isn’t the best in the market. With mobile games, this is a bit harder to manage; not all of them have powerful processors, not all of them have good screens, some might catch fire, and others might be running an older version of the OS. With Player Unknowns’ Battlegrounds’ mobile version, the same constraints apply. If you’r playing on an iPhone, you have to stick to the default FPS and graphics settings. On Android though, you can install Graphics Tool for PUBG and control graphics settings on PUGB. You do not need a rooted device for this.

FPS And Graphics Settings On PUBG

Download Graphics Tool for PUBG and open it. It’s a good idea to check what your device’s screen resolution is before you set about changing the graphics settings on PUBG with this app.

The app lets you set the screen resolution under ‘Graphics’, the FPS, the HD style, and enable or disable shadows. Those are all the controls the app has to offer. Select a setting from those that are available and click the Accept button to apply them.

That’s about it. Quit and start the game and play it like you normally do. You may or may not see some improvement. The app may force the game to look better but remember that your processor will still play a part in how good any game will look. What we’re saying is, if you’re playing this game on a Nokia 3, don’t compare it with your friend who’s playing it on a Samsung S9+.

In-Game Graphics

PUBG has in-game graphics settings too. They’re not the same as the ones Graphics Tool for PUBG gives you but you might want to check them out nevertheless. Open the game on your phone, and tap the cog wheel button at the top right.

On the Settings screen, go to Graphics. Customize whatever graphics settings are available to you. If your device is a mid-range phone, or a budget phone, the Ultra HD option may not appear in the game settings. If you change any of these settings, you will have to quit the game, and start it all over again for the new settings to be applied.

If the settings don’t look good, you can reset them by tapping the Reset Screen button at the bottom of this screen.

Facebook Messenger has two different inboxes for every user; your main inbox, and the filtered messages inbox. The main inbox is where messages from your contacts appear, and where message requests from people in your circle go. Filtered messages are just that; people trying to connect with you and you can ignore them if you want. So long as you never accept the request, and reply, you won’t get alerts for it. You can move a conversation from your inbox to filtered inbox if you want. It’s better than muting a conversation because you still get alerts for a muted conversation.

If the sender isn’t a friend, they won’t be able to see your active status and regardless if they are a friend or not, they will not know if the message has been delivered or read until you accept it.

Inbox To Filtered Inbox

You can move a conversation from the inbox to filtered inbox from both  the Facebook Messenger web interface, and the mobile apps.

Facebook Messenger Web

Visit Facebook Messenger and select the conversation thread that you want to move from the inbox to filtered inbox. On the right side, you will see a set of controls, and the contact/profile’s name. Next to it is a cog wheel button. Click it and select ‘Ignore messages’ from the menu that opens.

You will see a confirmation message telling you you’re about to move the conversation thread. Accept it, and the thread will be moved.

To undo this, click the cog wheel icon at the top left of Facebook Messenger, and select Message Requests. Look for the Filtered Messages option in the list of filtered messages and click it. Find the conversation thread that you sent to the filtered inbox, select it, and click Reply. You don’t need to actually reply to the message. Clicking the button is enough to return it to your inbox.

Facebook Messenger Apps

The process for moving a conversation from your inbox to filtered inbox is more or less the same on both Android and iOS apps. Open the Messenger app on your device and tap the conversation you want to move. Tap the contact name at the very top and on the contact’s details page, scroll down. You will see an Ignore Messages option. Tap it, and accept the confirmation message.

To undo this change, go to the People tab, and tap the Requests button at the top. Scroll down to the Filtered Messages section and tap the message you want to move back to your main inbox. Tap Reply, and it will return to main inbox.

A phone’s video recording capabilities are usually measured in FPS (frames per second) that it can record. The higher the FPS, the better the quality of the video. It goes without saying that a phone that can record HD videos is going to be priced on the higher end. That said, and as good as a camera a phone may have, videos may not turn out as great as advertised because the device isn’t stable when you’re recording a video. Not everyone carries a tripod with them everywhere and if you’re recording in a moving vehicle, the video will shake even more. The good news is, you can stabilize a video on Android with the Google Photos app.

Stabilize A Video

If you use the default Google Camera app, you should enable video stabilization. To enable video stabilization, open the Camera app and tap the hamburger icon at the top left. From the navigation drawer, tap Settings. Look for ‘Video stabilization’ under the Video section and enable it. When you record a video, it should automatically try to stabilize it.

Record a video like you normally do. Try and keep your phone as stable as possible without dropping it or losing focus of the subject you’re recording. When you’re done, play the video and if it’s still choppy, you can give it another go with the Google Photos stabilization feature.

Open the Google Photos app. Select your video and tap the adjustments button at the bottom. On the Adjustments screen, tap Stabilize. Do not exit the app until stabilization is complete. The stabilization process does not run in the background like the HDR processing process in the Camera app.

Once stabilization is complete, you can preview the video. If you think it looks better, tap the Save button. The stabilized video will not override the original video. It will save as a copy.

Stabilization Results

Google Photos does a reasonably good job at stabilizing a video but it’s important that you manage your expectations. The app can make a video you recorded from a moving vehicle appear smoother but if you record a video while running or jogging, the stabilization results will not be the same.

There are other video editing apps available that can stabilize a video on Android so you can try them if Google Photos doesn’t do the trick for you. You can also try a different camera app to record a more stable video although, the Google Camera app is pretty impressive and hard to compete with.

Android OS is developed by Google and a good chunk of features and services that run on Android are powered by Google apps. The Google Play Store is where most Android users download apps from and it has its own set of problems with fake and counterfeit apps. For years, Android has had to struggle with a reputation of being prone to spam and security problems. To combat this, Google has outlined certain requirements that devices must meet in order to run Android. If a device doesn’t meet these requirements, the Android that runs on them comes with restrictions. If you’re in the market for a new Android device, you might want to check if  your Android Phone is Google certified or not.

Google Certified Android Phone

It’s ridiculously easy to check if your Android phone is Google Certified. Google has published an exhaustive list of devices that are certified and you can download it. The file can be downloaded in both PDF and CSV format. Google provides instructions on how to use the file.

The devices are listed first by manufacturer name, and the manufacturer’s are listed in alphabetical order. Each device is listed under its manufacturer’s name. If you’re not sure what your device name is, you can use the search feature in your browser, or in Google Sheets, or your preferred PDF viewer to search for the manufacturer name.

If you know what your device’s name is, you can search for it instead of the manufacturer name. If the device is listed, you have a Google certified Android phone.

Uncertified Devices

A while back, we did a post on fixing the ‘Device is not certified by Google’ error on Android device. This error is just one example of the restrictions that come with owning and using an uncertified Android device. You might run into other problems particularly with other Google services.

An uncertified device won’t suffer in terms of hardware. If the device is running the hardware it claims it, it ought to work fine. Problems only arise when it comes to using Google powered services like the Google Play Store or Google Assistant. If you plan on using services like Google Pay, you should get a device that is certified by Google. A certified device is the best way to go. It will be more secure, and in the long run, you’ll be able to avoid unforeseen problems that might arise when using a service that requires a certified device.

We’ve talked about smart lock on Android quite a bit. It’s an unlocking mechanism on Android that will keep your device unlocked if it’s in your pocket, if you’re in a particular location, or if a trusted paired device is connected to your phone. Smart lock on Android has quite a few options and leaves iOS with its support for just the Apple Watch as s trusted device way behind. Of course, there are also risks that come with using smart lock e.g., if you lose your device you may remotely disable Smart lock. If you have your device on hand but still need to disable smart lock quickly, you can disable it from the lock screen.

Android supports a lot of options under smart lock and any one of them can prove to be a problem even if you have your device in your hand. Fortunately, there’s a quick way to disable smart lock from the lock screen.

Disable Smart Lock

When you have smart lock, or even just a PIN set up on your device, a pad lock icon appears at the bottom of the lock screen. It indicates the lock state of your device. If the pad lock icon is open, it means the device is unlocked. This pad lock also doubles as a switch for turning Smart lock off. All you need to do is press and hold on it.

This will disable smart lock and the only way to enable it is to unlock your device manually i.e., by entering the PIN or password for your device, or by using fingerprint unlock if supported and configured on your device.

That’s basically where this feature falls short; the fingerprint unlock isn’t disabled. On iOS, you can quickly disable Touch ID and Face ID by pressing the power button/side button five times in quick succession.

This feature to disable smart lock appears to be one that keeps your device out of nosy people’s hands but disabling fingerprint unlock keeps law enforcement from forcing you to unlock your device that way. There are ways to get something similar on Android but it involves using third-party apps or using Tasker.

There are rumors that a quick way to disable fingerprint unlocking may be added in Android P but those are just rumors. This feature is available on Android Marshmallow and above though, on some devices, it may have been removed by your device manufacturer.

One of the major shortcomings that Pokèmon Go had when the game was first released was that you had to have it open all the time in order to track any distance you had walked. This was a huge drain on your phone’s battery. Android users were able to work around it with rooted devices but the fix didn’t always work. That limitation has been removed though. Not only can the app read the number of steps you’ve taken from your device’s various sensors, you can also sync steps from an activity tracker to Pokèmon Go.

Requirements

This will work for any activity tracker that;

• Supports Apple Healthkit or Google Fit
• Can sync steps data directly or indirectly to your phone via its health app

An activity tracker must meet all of the above requirements in order for this to work.

Connect activity tracker

Some activity trackers can sync steps data directly to Apple Health or Google Fit. Others require their own proprietary app to be installed on your phone and you must sync the data to the app. The app then connects to either Apple Health or Google Fit and adds the steps data.

Since there are a lot of activity trackers out there, we can’t go into detail on how to connect each one however, all manufacturers have directions for syncing the data to your phone, whether it’s an iPhone or an Android phone, on their website. The activity tracker’s own app will also walk you through the steps in some cases.

Adventure Sync on Pokèmon Go

One you have your activity tracker connected to your phone, and sending data to its health app you need to enable Adventure Sync on Pokèmon Go. This feature allows the app to connect to the stock health app on your phone, and read steps data from it.

Open Pokèmon Go and tap the Pokèball at the bottom of the screen. On the next screen that opens, tap Settings. Scroll down the Settings screen, and enable Adventure Sync. You will then need to grant Pokèmon Go permission to read data from the stock health app. Once that’s done, the game will be able to ready steps that are synced from your activity tracker to the stock health app as well as steps recorded by your phone’s sensors, and add the distance traveled accordingly.

If you want to know what good this is since it won’t let you catch any new Pokèmon, the answer is: eggs. You can hatch eggs with the app closed, and just your phone or activity tracker counting your steps.

Chrome for iOS and Android features suggested content on the new tab page. It appears below the speed dial and offers articles that might be of interest to you. It goes without saying that browsers that try to wade into the field of suggested content this way aren’t exactly well received. The good news is, you can turn off suggestions on the Chrome new tab page.

Turn Off Suggestions – iOS

Open the Chrome app on your iPhone or iPad. Tap the more options button i.e. the three dots at the top right and select Settings from the menu.

Go to Privacy and turn off the “Search and site suggestions’ switch, and the suggested content from the new tab page will be gone.

Turn Off Suggestions – Android

Chrome on Android has suggested content on the new tab page as well. Turning it off isn’t as obviously simple as it is on iOS.

To turn off suggestions on the new tab page in Chrome, enter the following in the UL bar. Tap the dropdown under it. Select the ‘Disable’ option from the menu that opens, and relaunch Chrome using the Relaunch Now button that appears after you’ve modified the flag.

chrome://#enable-ntp-remote-suggestions

That’s all you need to do. After you disable this flag in Chrome for Android, the suggested news content will no longer appear on the new tab page in Chrome. It will however be replaced with your recent bookmarks.

This new feature was added in Chrome 54 which means it’s been around for a few months now. The ability to disable it has always been there. iOS might have received this feature later than Android users since Google usually pushes new features to the iOS version of its apps after they’ve already been on Android for a significant amount of time.

The suggested content isn’t useless in that it does correctly identify what topics you’re interested in and show you relevant content. The only downside is if you’re interested in a particular niche e.g. technology, you probably follow the websites that Chrome suggests. The suggestions are hardly ones where you will discover new websites to read. It’s the same, popular ones that people who aren’t interested in technology have probably heard of. This is why it makes little sense for Chrome to add a feature like this.

It doesn’t even offer users a better reading experience. It’s essentially directing you to a particular website that you probably already follow.

Instagram is rolling out video calls to all its users. The new call feature is integrated with your inbox where you also receive replies to your story. The feature appears to have been added in one of the recent updates to the app and has now gone live for most, if not all users. Here’s how you can make a video call on Instagram.

Video Call On Instagram

Open Instagram and tap the paper plane button at the top right that takes you to your inbox. Tap the friend you want to call or tap the plus button at the top right, and select a contact.

At the top of the chat thread, you will see a new camera icon. Tap it to start the call. Your recipient must also have this feature enabled and that might include having the latest version of the Instagram app. Though you initiate a call as a video call, you do have the option to make it a simple voice call by turning off your camera and leaving the mic on. You can also switch between the front and back end camera. By default, Instagram uses the front camera.

The video call can be minimized to a little floating window by tapping the square button at the top left of the call interface. You can then continue to browse the app while still in the middle of the call. Any time you want to return to the full screen call interface, just tap the floating window and it will maximize.

So far, you can only call one person at a time but we going to go out on a limb and predict that this feature will expand to allow group calls. Group video calls are quickly becoming a thing; Snapchat has them, and iOS 12 will allow you to FaceTime multiple people at once.

Video calls aren’t a new feature for social media apps or messaging apps. There are plenty of apps that offer it but they’re mostly productivity based. Given how terrible Skype has become over the past few years though, it’s a market that could do with a new, better alternative. A lot of people favor Discord, some use Slack but there isn’t anything quite like what Skype was back when it was good. You never really know what feature an app will develop well enough for it to replace an app like Skype. Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp already seem to be a preferred mode of messaging for anyone that doesn’t have iMessages. Instagram has as good a chance as any other app to replace Skype.

Nokia was once the most popular phone manufacturer in the world. It had some of the best hardware, reasonably good design, and a fairly intelligent OS running on its sturdy phones. This was of course the feature phone era and Nokia didn’t really make it big once smart phones became popular. That said, it did try to compete and while it was still in the race, it released a series of phones called Lumia which boasted an excellent camera, and an ever better camera app. With its recent resurgence in the smart phone market with new handsets running Android, the Nokia Camera app has made a come back. The app is officially only meant for Nokia’s own phones but you can install the Nokia Camera app on any Android phone via its ported version.

Requirements

• Your need an Android phone. Root is not required and there isn’t a restriction as to which version of Android you ought to be running.
• Your phone camera must support the Camera2 API level 3.

Nokia Camera App

Download the Nokia Camera App from XDA Forums. Sideload the app on your device by copying the APK file to your device’s internal or external storage. Use a file manager app, or the storage viewer in the Settings app to open, and install the app. Once installed, open your app drawer and run the app.

You’ll be given a brief tutorial. The highlight feature of the Nokia Camera app is its Pro mode. This Pro mode lets users manually adjust white balance, shutter speed, exposure, etc. Tap, hold, and swipe up on the shutter button to enable Pro mode. Swipe down on the shutter to disable it. Pro mode works with both the back and front camera.

The app doesn’t have any features that you won’t find in other feature rich camera apps however, the Nokia Camera app was popular because it worked well and the results were great. The photos are the true test of this app. You might have an app with similar settings available and that’s what you want to compare results with.

From our brief test, the app is taking fairly good pictures but we had a very capable device i.e. the Nexus 6P which has a great camera. The Nokia Camera app may run well for the most part but you might still experience crashes.

For example, we weren’t able to access the app’s settings because each time we tried, the app would crash. You might experience other crashes and that’s to be expected since this is a ported app in its early stages of development. It ought to fix itself soon.

Snapchat has a popular and unique image format. It’s been copied by Instagram but it’s still a Snapchat trademark. Snapchat is now changing things up; you can add multiple captions to snaps in the latest update. There’s also the recently added caption styles that you can choose from and they’re available for every caption you add to an image.

Update Snapchat to the latest version. It’s available worldwide for both iOS and Android devices.

Multiple Captions To Snaps

Open Snapchat and snap a photo like you normally do. Next, tap the T button at the top right to insert a caption.

Go ahead and add your first caption like you normally do. Select a style if you want and tap Done. Once you’ve added the first caption, tap the T button again. Previously this opened the caption for editing but with the new update, it will open a new caption to add. Again, the same controls, color and styles, will be available.

This makes it a little tricky to manage multiple captions. You can move them around easily enough by tapping, holding and dragging them. To edit a caption, you need to double-tap it. Tapping the T icon after this update will insert a new caption.

Once you’re done adding captions, tap the send button like you normally do to add the snap to your story or send it to one of your friends.

If Snapchat didn’t have multiple caption styles, this feature would have been a bad idea. It might be a bad idea right now but it’s too soon to say. The classic caption style suited all types of images and you never had to worry about the text being legible or not. The newly introduced styles aren’t all easy to read on all types of images and they’re likely to create clutter.

That said, making the new styles work and using multiple captions on a snap is something Snapchat users are going to have to figure out. Snapchat doesn’t come with instructions and despite that users make captions, stickers, and doodles all work on a single image.

Add GIFs

This new update also brings GIFs from Giphy which has become the go-to service for any app that wants to add support for GIFs. Instagram recently added support for GIFs via Giphy as well. The GIFs can be accessed from the Stickers button. You don’t need the Giphy app installed on your phone for it to work. Giphy’s entire library of GIFs is available inside Snapchat.