Amazon Instant Video on Chromecast

One of the problems I had with Amazon Instant Video on Android was casting to video to a Google Chromecast Device. 

You need to download the Instant Video app which now working officially on Tablets finally ! You can download it from the Amazon App Store.

If you don't have the Amazon App store not to worry , just follow these instructions to install it:

• On your device, check the option that allows downloads from “Unknown sources.” It’s usually found under Settings > Security.
• Go to this URL: http://www.amazon.com/getappstore
• Download and Install the Amazon Appstore.
• Open the Amazon Appstore, search for the Prime Instant Video app and install it.

Once the Instant Video app is running and you are logged into your Amazon account you can then cast your screen to the Google Chromecast to watch the videos on the big screen.

The casting of your tablet screen is dependent on your Android version, usually it is Android 4.4.2 and higher. Hope this helps !

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Rooting Acer Liquid E2 and Increasing 1GB Internal Memory

Hello this is a little post with links to information about rooting your Acer Liquid E2 and possibly increasing the internal memory limit.

Firstly though BACKUP everything. Seriously do it!

For Liquid E2 running Android 4.2.2 and above you can use Kingo Android Root . See this thread  for full information about it and how to use it. I used this method on my phone and it worked just fine.

For Liquid E2 running Android 4.2.1 and below there are a number of different methods - see this thread for instructions.

As you may have noticed the Liquid E2 has a 1gb internal memory limit which is quite low and easily filled up. You can use a cache cleaner and move as many apps to sd as possible but it still fills up . 
There are a couple of other methods that could be used and I am going to try out to gain some more space on my phone. 

Firstly is this method here which is a fairly technical method. The advantage is it uses space from the second internal memory of the phone and not off the sd card. 
The disadvantage is you basically will have to start from scratch setting up the phone again.

The second method is using Link2SD where you create a partition on your sd card and download the Link2SD app which symbolically links the apps from sdcard back to internal memory . Instructions to this are here . 

I mentioned at start and I'll mention again make sure you have everything backed up off the phone!

Hope this helps.

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Ok Google Voice Search on Android Jellybean

I thought I would quickly write up how I got the OK Google Voice search to do the voice detection from the homescreen on Android Jellybean ( v 4.2.2) . 

Firstly is to make sure the Google Search app is fully up to date and the Ok Google Detection is enabled in the app. You need to set the language to English US as well.

For those on older non KitKat phones and tablets the way I made OK Google hotword detection was to download the Nova Launcher. 

In the Nova Settings you can enable hotword detection . This should work from the main homescreen but not from within other apps that you may be in.

There is also the Open Mic +  app but I haven't tried this method out as yet as I am still playing with the Nova Launcher .

I hope this helps out and if you need any help do leave a comment below.

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Useful Android Apps

This a post about some useful android apps that I use on my phone. 
My phone is a not particularly powerful , has that much storage space or even has a large screen so the apps I mention below are chosen with that in consideration. 
So if you have an older android phone that is what these apps are geared towards. 
Given the ridiculous length of contracts in the UK I imagine many are in the same situation as me with an older phone so I hope these help !

Kii Keyboard

An excellent multi-language keyboard combining features such as swyping , split layouts, multiple keyboard layouts and next word prediction with support for multiple themes.

It supports Android 2.1 and above so very much backward compatible.

Kik Messenger

Kik is a messenger service that operates over your data or wifi connection. It is a simple , quick easy to use messenger app. It featured typing, sent and read notifications. It integrates with your media apps so you can share photos and other media. 

Kik does not integrate with your phone book so it is more private than other apps.

It supports Android 2.2 and up.

Opera Mini Browser

Opera mini is part of the Opera range of browsers for Android platform. Opera Mini is the lightweight version of the browser but definitely not lacking in useful features.

Like the desktop version it has the speed dial start page where you can save your favourite sites.The layout is also clear with large buttons and tabbed browsing for ease of use.

The browser also compresses the data to speed up loading times and web pages can be saved offline for later reading.

Power Toggles

Power Toggles is an app that allows you to add toggles to the top notification bar. 

You can add toggles for WiFi  sound, screen brightness , Bluetooth and GPS to name a few.There over 40 toggles to choose from.

The toggles can also be added to the screen as widgets if you prefer for even easier control. The app allows for creation of custom application shortcuts as well.

Twicca

Twicca is a lightweight twitter client app. It has all the standard twitter functions you expect such as posting, re-tweeting, searching, trends. It can also set colour labeling for specific users. 

Images are automatically previewed within client itself. It features automatic URL shortening and ability to share media in tweets.

The app has its own widget as well . There are notifications for mentions and direct messages built in.

Shuttle Music Player

Shuttle Music app is a lightweight but fully featured music player.

Its has an optimised and simple beautiful layout based around the Google Holo theme.

Amongst its many features include playlist creation, gapless playback of songs, album artwork automatic downloading, lockscreen controls , gesture support , last.fm connectivity and a selection of different widgets for desktop screen.

Hopefully some of these will be of use in the never ending battle with Android!

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