How do you take good pictures, on an Android?

My Android gallery is full of moments I'm so glad to have commemorated -- the only problem is that action shots blur, and pictures of landscapes properly display the sky or the mountains. Recently, however, I realized I was missing simple solutions.

Without HDR activated

With HDR activated

In any setting that includes both dark areas and light areas, the typical camera will focus on either the light or the dark, depending on where you point, how you hold, or where you manually set. The result is excellent colors in some areas, with indistinguishable dark areas (like the mountain underneath a sunset); or else darker areas illuminated, and a bright white spot in place of lighter areas (like a window out to a sunny day, from inside a room). HDR, which stands for High Dynamic Range, is a camera mode that essentially eliminates this problem. Don't you love easy and effective solutions?


HDR works by taking multiple shots, with focus highlighting different lighting in your frame, and then automatically combining them into one optimal picture. Some Androids include this feature out of the box, but if yours doesn't, there are plenty of HDR camera apps in the Play Store. Some are fully-automated, so touching a button results in the picture. Others are more manual, if you'd like control over where the focus is set and how the pictures are combined.




In these beautiful snowy day pictures, the difference HDR mode makes is easy to spot on the furniture and railings (the wood color and the grain are distinguishable) and in the screened porch (the interior of the porch is visible). Additionally, the mountain, though hazy behind the falling snow, is far more visible with HDR.

Now we're getting clear shots in multi-lighting scenes; clear action shots are our next goal. Again, the solution is easy: an app. There are paid or free options, but I've found free sufficient. Apps like Burst Mode Camera take from 10 to 30 shots per second, compiling a collection of photos from which you can choose your favorites. Blur is significantly decreased, because there is limited movement during the actual shot, taken in a fraction of a second.

There you have it! Check your stock camera for HDR mode and burst mode, or select a few options from the Play Store to try, if these modes aren't native on your Android. You'll be much happier with the content of your gallery.

How do you get pictures to look right as wallpapers, on an Android?

There's something about spring, don't you think? Everyone has their particular perception of the season, but spring makes me think sun and bright, long skirts and daisies. Of course that means it's time to update my Android's wallpaper, from the Dr. Seuss quotes page (Dr. Seuss' birthday was March 2nd) to fresh and beautiful daisies.

A few Androids allow you to set your wallpaper as locked, so that the image is repeated as you swipe between your homescreens; but most spread the image across all the screens, so you see just a portion on each, as demonstrated by my lovely daisies (Is there a more cheerful flower? I think daises are widely undervalued.). That means that the size of the photo you set as your wallpaper is important. You don't have to be precise, but you'll want the shape of your picture to be approximately right, because when you set it as the wallpaper it has to fit a fixed shape. You can determine the correct resolution yourself, by taking the display size of your screen (which can be found in any specs list), and doubling the second number. For example, the Nexus 4 screen size is 768 x 1280, so the wallpaper size is 1536 x 1280; the Samsung Galaxy S III screen size is 720 x 1280, making the wallpaper size 1440 x 1280. Googling "Nexus 4 wallpaper size" is also a viable option. While optimal images will be exactly that size, the issue is really just shape, so keep the ratio approximately right and your images should fit nicely.

If you are setting a picture already on your phone as the wallpaper, crop it to the approximately-correct shape, then either touch and hold or hit menu to bring up the Set picture as option. Choose Wallpaper, and then adjust the crop to your preference. Depending on the phone, you will see options like setting the picture as your lockscreen also, and scrolling or keeping the picture static. Hit OK and enjoy.

If you need to first get the picture from your computer to your phone, start by plugging your phone into your computer via micro USB. In the AutoPlay that comes up on your computer, click "Open device to view files." Right-click the folder DCIM, and create a new folder called Wallpapers. Next, locate the picture in your computer's Pictures folder (if it's not there yet, well then you'd best put it there), and then drag and drop it from its original location to the Wallpapers folder on your phone. Now proceed to set the picture as your wallpaper, from your phone.

If you found a picture in your phone's browser, or if perhaps the picture was sent to you in an email that you are viewing on your phone, you need to save it to your phone first. This will be done by either touching and holding, then hitting Save or Download, or else by opening the menu and hitting Save attachments. Now the picture will be in a Downloads folder, in your gallery, from which you can again set it as your wallpaper.

How do you find and redeem coupons on an Android?

There is no shortage of coupon apps for Android, but the majority of them are rather simplistic; they list a selection of coupons and discounts, with links to open the details in your browser. What we really want is an app that displays coupons in the app itself, and allows users to search for coupons while they're out and about. Yesterday, (March 18, 2013), SnipSnap released its Android app, doing just that.

Pawing through purse or wallet, trying to find the slip of paper you definitely stuck in there on Monday, is becoming a thing of the past. Let's face it: your Android is within arm's reach the majority of the time -- that means it's easy to snap a picture of any coupon you come across, for SnipSnap to store. These pictures are scanned for text, imagery, and barcodes, which are optimized for mobile, and sorted by store (or your customized bundles). While most major retailers accept mobile coupons, SnipSnap is working on getting this majority even higher, particularly with supermarkets.  Notifications are a very cool feature in this app, which can remind you to use your coupon when you walk into a store for which you have coupons, and can also notify you when coupons are close to expiration.

In addition to organizing and storing physical coupons, SnipSnap has an extensive database of searchable coupons, so next time you buy hazelnut coffee creamer you can get $.75 off, even if you forgot to clip the coupon from the Sunday paper.

SnipSnap has won quite an impressive array of awards, including Startup Battlefield finalist, from Disrupt 2012; 2013 Readers' Choice Award finalist, from About.com; 1st place in Mobile Monday's demo event; 1st place in Switch 3; and Best Finance App, from Appy Awards 2013.

Get more information about SnipSnap from the official website, or check out SnipSnap from the Google Play Store.

How do you discover the world around you, using your Android?

According to the revised edition of Bethy Mac's Rules of the Universe, use of a smartphone while hiking is only permissible if 1) the user is looking up information which will then be read aloud to the group, or 2) the user is experiencing an emergency. With that in mind, it is interesting to note that cell phone service is available through a surprising amount of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Google Maps' Android app can display Wikipedia articles about points of interest in your locale. To activate this feature, open Google Maps, touch Menu > Layers, then check Wikipedia. W icons point to Wikipedia articles pertaining to points on the currently-displayed screen. Touching an icon displays the name of the article, linking to a short version of the article within the Google Maps app, with the option to open the full article in your browser.

To avoid confusion, we will review acceptable as well as unacceptable incorporation of Androids into group activities.

The Mount LeConte trailhead, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where seven inquisitive hikers are reading information signs and debating the pursuance of this trail. 
Acceptable
HIKER 1: Weren't they talking about this one at the visitors' center?
HIKER 2: Yeah, I heard it's popular. Must be pretty easy, if lots of people like this one.
HIKER 3: Let's check, just to be sure we know what we're getting ourselves into.
HIKER 2: I guess if you want to kill the mystery of it all.
HIKER 3: I do.
(HIKER 3 opens Google Maps, which shows their current location. The Wikipedia article "Mount Le Conte" is located immediately, and HIKER 3 begins to read.)
HIKER 3: "Third highest peak in the national park, behind Clingmans Dome and Mount Guyot... from its immediate base to its highest peak, Mount Le Conte is the tallest mount in Tennessee, rising 5,301 feet..." 
HIKER 4: Well, that sounds like an all-day hike, and I plan to be hungry within a few hours.
HIKER 1: Let's go to Clingmans Dome, where that thing is.
HIKERS 2-7: Sounds good!
Unacceptable
HIKER 1: Weren't they talking about this one at the visitors' center?
HIKER 2: Yeah, I heard it's popular. Must be pretty easy, if lots of people like this one.
HIKER 3: I'll look it up.
HIKER 2: I guess if you want to kill the mystery of it all.
(HIKER 3 is already in Phoneland, opening Google Maps, which shows their current location. The Wikipedia article "Mount Le Conte" is located immediately, and HIKER 3 stares at phone in silence.)
HIKER 3: Looks intense.
HIKER 4: Ok, let's save that for another day. What else should we try?
(HIKER 3, staring at phone, snorts.)
HIKER 5: Did you find something?
HIKER 3: (Sniggering) I just followed some links to other articles, and it turns out some people actually think pigs can fly!
(HIKERS 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, & 7 wish HIKER 3 would stay on-topic.)

Wrapping up our life-application session, keep in mind Google Maps' Wikipedia feature for use as you tour new areas. For example, if you were vacationing by bouncing around the Big Apple, you might pass the Radio City Music Hall, where the Samsung Galaxy S IV was unveiled last evening (as speculated, it is too similar to the Samsung Galaxy S III to be exciting). Perusal of the Google Maps' Wikipedia information reveals that Showplace of the Nation is this famous landmark's nickname. Obviously information like this will enhance the excitement of your vacation incalculably.

How do you control your Android just by looking at it?

Some new features for Androids are just cool and convenient; the major advances, that are an indication of where technology across the board is headed, are more rare. This software, showcased by The Eye Tribe at CES 2013, might just be the latter.

The software is a new way to control your smartphone, using your eyes instead of your fingers. Imagery provided by the phone's front-facing camera is analyzed using computer-vision algorithms, which identify where you are looking with enough accuracy to, for example, open the app you just looked at. The software is already sophisticated enough to activate the screen when you look at your phone, scroll websites based on how fast and how far down the page your eye has moved, control games, etc.

The Eye Tribe was founded by four PhD students from the IT University of Copenhagen, whose brilliant business plans and previous experience in eye tracking research and applications have kept this start-up funded and highly awarded. A particular strength of The Eye Tribe over similar developers in recent years is The Eye Tribe's focus on low cost and previously-integrated components to operate the software. This is contributing to the smooth organization of partnerships with mobile manufacturers and carriers that is currently taking place. Devices operating this software are expected to hit the market this year.

Learn more about The Eye Tribe's work from the official website, TheEyeTribe.com.

How do you remotely control battery-operated devices with an Android?

I found it: it's called a harvesting strategy. I had to look that up. Asking Google the name I'd forgotten for market penetration in the decline phase didn't turn out to be as simple as I'd hoped, but eventually Joe Schmo came through for me. The disposable battery industry seems to be riding out the waves of its maturity phase, and even entering the decline phase, meaning Tethercell, entering at this phase, is engaging in a harvesting strategy. Since this scenario sounds like an example in a college marketing textbook, I had to remember the name; and since I "remembered" the name, I decided to share it, despite only vague connections with Android.

The second of three CES products that we'll be discussing is called Tethercell; like Parrot's Flower Power, it simplifies life.

Tethercell includes an app as well as a physical device. The device is this super cool thingy of which I do not understand a circuit, but whose designers (Trey Madhyastha and Kellan O'Connor) I hold in high regard -- I mean, look at it. (Which reminds me: if you sell the motherboard and screen from your old laptop, you just might practically pay for the new.) To use Tethercell, replace one AA battery, from the device you'd like to monitor, with a Tethercell (which is powered by a AAA battery). Then the app end of the program can turn the device on and off remotely, alert you when the battery level is low, set schedules and timers to run the device, and even locate the device if it has proximity function.

TIME Magazine, cnet, The Verge, TechCrunch, Mashable, and others have given Tethercell the thumbs up. Looks like a nice little harvesting strategy, don't you think? You can pre-order Tethercell, with delivery scheduled for June, from indiegogo.

How do you garden with Parrot's Flower Power Android app?

The 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show (better known as CES) revealed some remarkable (and some alarming) advances in the Android realm, a few of which will be getting articles of their very own, here on How Do You Android.

We all know we need to be aware of giving our smartphones too much of our attention, which is why I appreciate a few of the products demonstrated at CES that show how Androids can enhance real life, instead of creating a virtual life. One of my favorite products from this year's CES is a device from Parrot, called Flower Power.

Flower Power includes a physical device as well as an app. The device, which is subtle and attractive, is a wireless sensor, measuring levels of temperature, moisture, sunlight, and fertilizer. The two color choices are Wood and Emerald. (I am profoundly disappointed in my discovery that I visualize the color "emerald" quite incorrectly. It is not the deep, Celtic green it ought to be. Research reveals it to be, in fact, almost a minty green, reminiscent of retro kitchen tiles or pool walls.)  You can use your phone to monitor the plant's conditions, and take advantage of push notifications to remind you of your plant's needs. There are a few questions -- such as how many plants or how broad an area of yard the device can monitor, what powers it, and what sort of price we're looking at -- that have not yet been answered, but I like this little thing; it's cool. I also think it would make a unique (in the good way, not the, "Oh, how... unique!" way) gift for the gardeners you know... though I recommend verifying that the recipient owns a smartphone.

Flower Power won two awards from CES: the Popular Science's Products of the Future Award, and the Hot Stuff Award. The release date is not yet announced more specifically than sometime in 2013, so keep an eye on the Parrot website to find out when you can get this very cool product.