How to close the maximum number of windows on your phone. Save energy correctly

You no longer need new smartphones. Of course, some of them are getting larger screens in more compact bodies. Cameras keep getting better if you look very closely. It's hard not to know how popular last year's Galaxy models S8 and iPhone X. Many were confident that such luxurious devices would generate a wave of purchases to replace the smartphones people already owned.

The reality is that more and more people in developed countries decide not to change smartphones every year. Or even every two years. In the US and some other countries, two-year contracts are no longer popular and you have to pay the entire price at once. The devices have become more durable and no longer cause such a stir even among geeks, the biggest fans of technology.

Taking care of your smartphones is good for your wallet and also for your health. environment. This means that users and manufacturers are beginning to regard mobile devices like cars.

The popularity of smartphones may have reached its peak. Global shipments decreased by 0.1% in 2017. A decline in smartphone production was recorded for the first time in history, according to research company IDC. In the US, shipments increased by 1.6%, but this is the minimum increase in history.

In 2015, Americans replaced their smartphones an average of 23.6 months after purchase, says Kantar WorldPanel. By the end of 2017, this period had increased to 25.3 months.

A Gartner analyst believes that smartphones have become more cherished than ever. Modern models in most cases are able to take care of the daily needs of their users.

In February, Apple reported its first-ever decline. iPhone sales in the fourth quarter of the year. During the pre-New Year holidays, sales and profits are always the highest; this time 77.3 million smartphones were produced compared to 78.3 million in 2016. Perhaps the reason is that this year smartphones were sold one week less than a year earlier, but we can still conclude that new cycle purchases have not arrived.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said during the financial report that the company is not focusing too much on a lot of attention how often users buy smartphones. According to him, Apple is very pleased with the reception.

One of the main reasons for changing user behavior is that smartphones are similar to each other. IDC believes that consumers are expecting something unusual both in appearance and in the capabilities of new devices. Some of the latest big innovations, like augmented reality, have come through software. The iPhone X uses cameras to recognize smartphone owners and their surroundings, but it will be some time before more interesting uses for these cameras emerge.

The increase in the lifespan of smartphones can be considered a compliment for Apple, Samsung and other manufacturers. This is a sign of quality, thanks to which the devices are less subject to wear. The addition of protection against water and dust also improves durability.

A slower update cycle won't necessarily lead to financial problems for Apple and Samsung. Their smartphones are becoming more expensive every year and the price has already exceeded $1000 for the iPhone X and . It is for this reason that Apple's profits continue to grow. Additionally, they sell accessories like Samsung Gear VR and Apple HomePod, services like Apple Music.

And yet, the owners are more durable smartphones may have new needs. In December, Apple created demand for replacement iPhone batteries when it admitted that its software was slowing down devices with worn-out batteries. She offered to replace the batteries at a discount, resulting in orders lining up months in advance.

This shows how many people want to renovate existing smartphone instead of buying a new one. One analyst estimates that replacing batteries at discounted prices will cost Apple $10 billion in unsold smartphones.

In addition, in Apple stores not only battery replacement is offered, but also full customization smartphone. It sounds like a car service. Software and hardware require maintenance, especially after long work. Samsung is also starting to offer similar services.

Smartphone manufacturers should consider software updates, which will take longer to reach older smartphones. iOS 12 will appear in the fall, but it will not be available on the iPhone 5S. Apple and Google want to develop features that will turn smartphones into... full-fledged computers, but for this, new models need fast processors.

So there is a limit to how long you can hang on to old devices. One analyst believes that the update cycle will not exceed three years. Even then, the smartphone market will become similar to the computer and laptop market. On the other hand, people upgrade their smartphones as a reflection of their personality since they always have them with them, unlike computers.

Additionally, the fear of missing out on new innovations and new business models from manufacturers and carriers can drive the upgrade cycle. Statistics showed that in 2017 middle age smartphone retirements increased by 78 days to 2.59 years.

We can only hope that the future development of smartphones will not disappoint. A major leap in battery development is the most welcome innovation to change your smartphone for. Unfortunately, there are many technological obstacles along the way. It's more likely that the next major update will be network proliferation cellular communication 5G, thanks to which the speed mobile internet will increase significantly.

Smartphones will remain with us for many years, as happened with computers and laptops. Perhaps someday it will appear completely new technology, which we decide to fork out for.

In four years, Android has transformed from a small but ambitious project into perhaps the most complex and feature-packed mobile OS of our time. Android supports a huge number of technologies and functions, many of which are hidden from the user or hidden in places you wouldn't even think to look at. This article is a collection of tips and tricks that can be applied to any Android device without the need to root it.

01. DISABLE THE AUTOMATIC CREATION OF ICONS ON THE DESKTOP

I think I'm not the only one who is annoyed by the way the market behaves when installing an application. For some reason he thinks that for any more or less software or the next game I definitely need an icon on the desktop, and he successfully creates it. And I have to delete it. And then another one. And so every time.

Fortunately, this behavior is easy to disable - just open Google settings Play (in the left panel) and uncheck the “Add icons” option. There you can also disable the forced password request every 30 minutes when purchasing applications, as well as the hated auto-update of applications.

02. DISABLE GOOGLE SEARCH AND OTHER USELESS SOFTWARE

Standard firmware for Android smartphones includes huge amount useless software, starting from a heap Google applications(do you know that Google requires manufacturing companies to include almost all the software it develops in the firmware of their devices?) and ending with all sorts of junk from the smartphone manufacturer. All of this (or at least most) can be disabled.

Go to “Settings → Applications → All”, tap on the desired software and click “Disable” (of course, you will be warned how “dangerous” this is). By the way, when disconnecting Google search will disappear and Google Now, as well as the search bar from the desktop (after a reboot), which will be replaced by an empty area.

03. RESET TO SAFE MODE

Few people know, but Android, like many other operating systems, has a so-called Safe mode. This is a mode in which the operating system boots with disabled third party applications. Not very skillfully written malware (one that is not registered in system partition) in this case falls off, like any software that interferes normal operation systems. Safe mode can be used to bypass screen blockers, applications that cause your smartphone to freeze, or, alternatively, to identify who is actually eating up the battery - next update firmware or software.

The mode is turned on in a rather simple, but not at all obvious way: by holding down the power button and then holding your finger on the “Turn off power” item. After rebooting, the culprit of the problem can be removed through “Settings → Applications”.

04. GET RID OF INSTRUCTIVE NOTIFICATIONS

“The construction of the castle is finished!” - how did you get these notifications? Everyone who is not too lazy is trying to notify me about all possible and impossible events: “Vasya Dzhubga replied to you on Twitter,” “You have 100,500 new messages,” “You won surgery to enlarge your right leg.” You swipe away one notification, and three new ones appear in its place.

How to get rid of all this slag: hold your finger on the notification for a long time and uncheck the “Stop” button. This is the recipe for KitKat. In Lollipop, everything is a little different, but the essence is the same: hold down, then the i button, in the window that opens, put a checkmark on “Block”. There you can also force the notification to be a priority so that it is always at the very top.

05. DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE SERVICE MENU

Another not at all obvious function is service menu. It can be opened by dialing *#*#4636#*#*. Basically there are different technical information like IMEI numbers, signal strength, current location, or network type. But there is also a very useful function for some situations to force the smartphone to switch to desired type networks (2G, 3G, LTE).

In conditions of poor 3G/LTE signal levels, the device tends to reset to 2G in order to save battery power and ensure subscriber availability. This behavior can be disabled. Open the service menu and in the “Set up preferred network type” item, select WCDMA only or LTE only. In the same way, you can switch your smartphone to 2G - GSM only. It will help if you need to save battery power and the Internet is rarely used. By the way, you can also disable the radio module there altogether (until the next reboot, of course).

In smartphones based on Chinese MTK chips has its own and much more sophisticated service menu. His number is *#*#3646633#*#*. There are different system information and a huge number of tests, among which you can find several useful settings, such as adjusting the call volume or, for example, changing GPS/AGPS settings. The menu itself is terribly illogical and contains so much varied information that I don’t even dare to describe it, but will simply send the reader to three letters - XDA.

06. USE A STANDARD BROWSER

I don't know why users don't like Android's built-in browser so much. In my opinion, he is wonderful. Lightweight, fast, based on the Chromium engine, can synchronize with Google account(that is, it immediately includes all bookmarks and passwords from Chrome), but most importantly, it has a very convenient and almost ingenious navigation method. This is the so-called radial menu, which can be activated in the settings (only in Android 4.0–4.4).

07. MANAGE YOUR CONTACTS FROM YOUR COMPUTER

Google has web services not only for remotely installing software, blocking and searching for a smartphone, but also for managing contacts. All people's contacts ever saved and synchronized when connecting a new smartphone can always be found on the page google.com/contacts. They can be viewed, edited, added and deleted. Moreover, oddly enough, it is essentially part of Gmail.

08. MONITOR YOUR PROCESSOR LOAD

Android has a built-in function to show the current CPU load and active at the moment processes on top of the screen. In theory, it is intended for application and firmware developers and is hidden from ordinary users, but no one is stopping us from activating it. But first you will have to reach the “For Developers” settings section, which by default does not exist at all.

Go to settings, then “About phone”, find the line “Build number” and tap on it seven times in a row. The message “You have become a developer!” should appear on the screen. This means that the “For Developers” item is now open, and we go to it. We rewind almost to the very bottom of the screen and in the “Monitoring” section we find the “Show CPU load” switch.

Turn it on and see a list in the upper right part of the screen. The first line is the so-called loadavg, which shows the number of processes that had to run or wait their turn to run in the last minute, five and ten minutes. To put it very roughly: if these values, divided by the number of processor cores, are above one, this means 100% processor load in the last minute, five or ten minutes, respectively. Below is a list of the most power-hungry processes (essentially, an analogue of the top command from Linux).

09. USE ADB TO BACKUP SOFTWARE ON YOUR COMPUTER

We have already written more than once about a wonderful tool called ADB, which can significantly simplify managing a device from a computer for a person who is familiar with the console (here we are mainly talking about Linux, of course). In addition to the ability to install software, transfer files to a smartphone, view logs and other useful things, ADB has recently made it possible to backup all smartphone settings and applications.

To use this functionality, install universal ADB driver(goo.gl/AzZrjR), then download ADB itself (goo.gl/3P7klM), install the driver, then expand the archive with ADB, connect the smartphone to the computer with a USB cable, launch command line and execute the command

A message will appear on the smartphone screen asking you to specify the encryption password for the backup - you can safely press “Next”. The application backup process will begin, which will affect both the APK packages themselves (the -apk flag in the command) and their settings. All applications from the memory card will also be included in the backup. You can restore a backup using the following command:

10. DISABLE BACKGROUND DATA TRANSFER IN APPLICATIONS

Working in the background, applications can actively use the Internet for a variety of purposes, from updating their content to leaking information about your location. In addition, such activity in any case leads to increased battery consumption.

Android has the ability to selectively restrict applications from transferring data in the background, but it is located in a place where most users would hardly ever look. To prevent any application from using the Internet in the background, you need to go to settings, then “Data transfer”, scroll down the screen to the list of applications actively using the network (for some it will be a surprise that it is there at all) and tap on the desired software. At the bottom there will be an option to “Limit background activity”. It is worth keeping in mind that the option will disable data transfer only via mobile network, so by Wi-Fi data will continue to flow.

11. USE THE SEARCH BAR

Often, smartphone owners Android based neglected search bar at the top of the main screen. This is really logical, given the ability to search by typing a query into address bar any mobile browser.

Meanwhile, the desktop search bar does much more than just redirect your request to google.com. It allows you to search contacts, applications, calendar events, bookmarks and web browser history in automatic mode. At normal use smartphone, it may not be so useful, but when connected external keyboard This indispensable tool. Just click and enter the name of the application, contact or anything else, and it immediately appears on the screen.

12. USE SMART LOCK

Smart Lock- one of those functions that you don’t think about, but once you try it, you can’t live without it. This is one of the most notable new products Android Lollipop and one of the most useful functions added to Android in lately. The idea of ​​Smart Lock is extremely simple - it disables the PIN code or other lock screen protection if there is a specific Bluetooth device or map location nearby.

By default, Smart Lock is “sort of” disabled. That is, it does not light up anywhere, but after pairing with a new Bluetooth device (of any type), it will definitely offer to add it to your whitelist. After this you will forget about her again. But only until you enable lock screen protection in the “Security” section of the settings. Now it will work as it should.

Sami Smart settings Lock are in the same section, and in addition to adding new Bluetooth buildings, there you can specify “ safe places”, and immediately with a list of options based on Google Now “observations”. By the way, if you disable it, as described in the first tip, then this functionality will also be lost.

13. SAVE ENERGY RIGHT

Another notable innovation from Lollipop is its power saving mode. IN standard Android it migrated from the firmware of smartphone manufacturers, who previously sold it independently. Now the function is in pure Android- you use your smartphone to the fullest, and when the battery charge reaches 15%, the system suggests turning on the power saving mode, which turns off background transmission data, reduces brightness to a minimum, disables some sensors and reduces screen rendering FPS to a couple of tens of frames per second. For clarity, the status bar and on-screen buttons at the bottom of the screen turn red - so you don’t forget.

To save battery life on a smartphone with an AMOLED screen, you can set black wallpapers and use apps with black backgrounds.

The energy saving mode is customizable. Go to “Settings → Battery → menu → Power saving mode.” Here you can specify a condition automatic switching on mode (though the choice is meager: 5%, 15% or never) and, most importantly, turn on the mode right now. Very convenient if you have a long trip ahead without the possibility of recharging.

14. MONITOR TRAFFIC

Most likely, smartphone manufacturers, as usual, will shovel the standard Android interface 5.0 and everything will change (hello Samsung - the biggest fan of breaking interfaces), but in the standard Lollipop curtain, or rather, in the “second curtain” with
flasks quick settings There is one highlight. The data transfer button in the center does not switch data transfer at all, but expands into an interface that allows you not only to view the current traffic consumption, but also to disable data transfer using the switch on top.

15. SHARE NOT YOUR PHONE, BUT THE APPLICATION

Especially for those who like to give their phone to other people, Lollipop has a Screen pinning feature that allows you to lock your smartphone on one application without the ability to close it or switch to another. Like many other useful features, it is completely invisible and hidden quite deep in the settings. To activate, go to “Settings → Security”, scroll almost to the very end and turn on the “Block in application” option.

Now if you click the view button running applications(“Review”), at the bottom of the thumbnail current application A pushpin will appear. Once you tap the icon, the screen will be locked on the selected app and you will need to hold the Back and Overview buttons simultaneously to go back. In this case, you will have to enter a PIN code if it is set for the lock screen.

XX. USE ACITIVITY LAUNCHER

Any graphic Android application includes one or more so-called “activities”. Each of them is an application window (screen), for example home screen or a settings screen, maybe even a file selection window. By default, you can open directly (from the desktop) only those activities that the application developer marks as main; the rest are accessible only through the application itself and only if the developer himself allows this.

However, having the right tool at hand, you can reach any other activity of any application and even create a shortcut for it on the desktop. Activity Launcher does just that. Just install the application, select “All actions” in the menu at the top and find the software you need. All of her activities will appear on the screen, and any of them can be opened with a simple tap or placed on the desktop by holding your finger for a long time.

An example of useful “internal” activities is the Chrome bookmarks window (Chrome →Bookmark), access to the hidden AppOps mechanism in Android< 4.4.2 (Настройки → AppOps), запуск поиска в TuneIn Radio (tunein.ui.activities.TuneInSearchActivity). Очень много активностей имеет в себе ES Проводник, включая редактор, music player, image viewer and much more. Any of them can be launched directly from the desktop. In the same way, you can open any section of the settings and gain access to some OS functions that are difficult to reach. This is completely legal functionality and does not require root.

Android has a large set of hotkeys for connected keyboards. To navigate the desktop and various menus you can use arrows, Tab and Enter. In addition, the following key combinations are available:

Esc - “Back” button;
Win + Esc - Home button;
Ctrl + Esc - “Menu” button;
Alt + Tab - switch between applications;
Ctrl + Space - switch layout;
Ctrl + P - open settings;
Ctrl + M - manage installed applications;
Ctrl + W - change wallpaper;
Win + E - write a letter;
Win + P - music player;
Win + A - calculator;
Win + S - write SMS;
Win + L - calendar;
Win + C - contacts;
Win + B - browser;
Win + M - google maps;
Win + Space - search;

To find out your MAC and IP address, go to “Settings → Wi-Fi → menu → Advanced
new functions". MAC and IP will be at the very bottom.

Lollipop has a built-in Flappy Bird style game. Go to “Settings → About phone”,
tap several times on the item “ Android version“, then hold your finger on the “lollipop” that appears. Let's play.

Google Now supports a large number of Russian-language voice commands. All of them can be divided into two groups: voice search and the voice commands themselves. Voice search allows you to perform smart search in Google, when the system, instead of a list of links, displays a specific answer on the screen, and voice commands allow you to perform certain actions, for example, send an SMS or set an alarm. The list of commands is shown in the image " Voice commands Google Now." Voice search includes more than a dozen various types questions:
Weather. What will the weather be like tomorrow morning?
Addresses. Where is the nearest pharmacy?
Flight information. When does Aeroflot flight number 2336 depart?
Time. What time is it in London?
Events. When is sunset today?
Computing. What is equal to square root from 2209?
Translation. How do you say "cucumber" in Spanish?
Sport. When does Spartak play?
Finance. What is the S&P 500 index today?
Facts. What is the height of the tallest building in the world?
Exchange rates. Convert 2600 rupees to US dollars.
Images. Show photos of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Interestingly, Google Now understands a large number of much less obvious questions in English. As an example we can give:
Should I wear a jacket today?
How much tip for 420 rubles?
Where is my package?

This, of course, is not all that could be talked about, but it will not be possible to lengthen the article, and many of the other possibilities are already known. Don't forget about these tricks, and your smartphone will become
a little more convenient. at January 26, 2017.

Users whose devices are working Android control Marshmallow and Nougat have started complaining about a curious error that sometimes appears when trying to set app permissions. The message “ Overlaps detected", as a result run the desired program it fails, or it succeeds, but with significantly reduced functionality. Until recently, the cause of the error was unknown, and the problem itself was dealt with by resetting the device to factory settings or one by one deleting (or blocking) all installed applications. Fortunately, it turned out that fixing the situation is quite simple.

As experts have found out, the reason for the error lies in the appearance in the OS versions and new feature, which allows some programs to "appear" on top of other applications. For example, at Facebook Messenger Chat headers remain in the foreground - that is, the messenger uses the "on top of other applications" function. As you understand, this is where the overlaps appear. And this is far from the only program endowed with such functionality. But this is not the problem, but the fact that some newly launched applications, when the overlay is actively running, request a new permission for themselves, and the Android OS does not allow changing the parameters, which leads to the “Overlays detected” error.

So, if you install a new app and launch it for the first time while having a conversation in Facebook chat, you will receive an error message as soon as a new application tries to request to set permissions. The screenshot below uses the application " whatsapp", which uses the function of overlaying the screen on top of other applications for its work. Operation this application also causes the "Overlaps Detected" error to appear.

In the picture you see a list showing all applications that have permission to appear on top of others. But if you manage to figure out which one is involved when you get this error, you can simply disable that application and move on.

Tabs not closed in a timely manner on smartphones, tablets and other gadgets with an installed operating system Android system can heavily load the system. This is especially obvious on devices that do not have very large RAM. You will notice that the battery begins to discharge faster. What to do? In fact, the operating algorithm is extremely simple, and there are several completely different complicated ways fix the problem.

Mistakes of novice users

At the beginning of your acquaintance with smartphones running on Android, have you ever had to stop working with an application and simply return to the “desktop”? Many people do this, but subsequently they become very depressed by the fact that the gadget is “slowing down” more and more.

Inexperienced users may be completely unaware that even if they see a blank “desktop” on the screen, in fact, applications that a person was working with this week (and perhaps even several months ago!) often continue work in background. This negatively affects the performance of the device, especially if you do not reboot it for a long time. Therefore, today we will tell you in detail about how to free up the memory of your device.

The easiest way is to select “Exit” or “Close” after finishing the application. However, this is not always possible (the inscription is missing, the application remains in pause mode, etc.).

The traditional way to close tabs

Android Ice Cream Sahdwich (which is Android 4.0) allows you to do this without any problems. Having activated the gadget screen, you need to click on the icon in the form of two rectangles at the bottom. Some models require you to hold the Home button for a long time. All the tabs that you forgot to close (or deliberately left, hoping to return to them) will appear in front of you in the form of a list. Each image can be removed from the list by simply dragging it to the side or down with your finger.

On some phones (eg HTC, Samsung) this list may have a slightly different appearance, but the principle will remain the same.

If you tap on the icon and hold your finger on the screen for a while, the message “Removing from list” will appear. This is another one possible way exit the application (not applicable on all models).

Don't forget that some apps will continue to run in the background (even if you've already removed the icon). Abort background processes you can do this as follows: first follow the same steps as described in the paragraph above, then select “About the application” and “Stop”.

Working with a list on Android is very convenient if you want to keep some tabs “in close access” (for example, you are going to use them today, but it will take a long time to find them in the menu).

Using the Application Manager

You can also open Settings (gear icon), then Apps and select Running. If you want to close the application, select “Stop”. Pay attention to the system warning nearby!

Programmatic way to close tabs on Android

If you are too lazy to close all tabs sequentially, and they appear in large quantities and regularly, you can install a program on your phone that will help you do this at the same time. For example, Advanced Task Killer.

After downloading the program, run it and check the boxes for those applications that you want to close, or select “Stop all”.