Pocket Reviews and Tips™

Most people describe Tasker as a task control and automation app. I see an Android programming app for the masses. Instead of scaring you with code lines, Tasker lets you use a friendly interface to create mini Android apps that do your bidding. Learning how to use Tasker exhaustively is beyond the scope of this post. Instead, we’ll go over the basics of using Tasker to program your Android device to do what want according to rules you specify. Let’s get started. Figuring out Tasker’s UI Tabs Tasker has been optimized for simple navigation and the UI is very clean. There are four tabs at the top of the interface: Profiles, Tasks, Scenes, and Vars (short for variables). Profile — Some sort of container or package for contexts and linked tasks. You can define several contexts for a single profile, and all those conditions must be true for the linked tasks to run. Task — A group of actions. Usually linked to a trigger or context, but can also be a free-floatin...

With a brilliant display, powerful processor and plenty of software features, you may find yourself draining down the relatively small batteries on the Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 edge a bit faster than other phones, but that doesn't mean the phone's battery life is completely out of your control. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of it. Some gadgets to help you out Battery pack: Anker PowerCore 10000 (From $32 at Amazon) A must-have: PowerBear Battery Case ($30 at Amazon) Wireless life: Yootech Wireless Charger ($17 at Amazon) Keep an eye out for rogue or often-refreshing apps We're often quick to jump on a phone when the battery life isn't up to our personal standards, but sometimes you can't point the finger at the phone itself. It's far less likely each day as apps are designed to behave on our phones properly, but every once and a while you can still come across an app that uses up more than its fair share of your power. If you'...

Amazon's growing ad business may have produced some unintended casualties. CNBC has learned that Amazon staffers were mistakenly removing ads with religious content, explaining to sellers that a "policy update" reportedly banned promos for products "related to a specific religion." A company spokesperson said that the policies hadn't changed, however, and that it was implementing "corrective training" to make clear that religious material was acceptable. It's not clear how workers would have received the impression that there was a policy change. Amazon's ad policies bar ads that "advocates or demeans" a religion, but that doesn't preclude selling religious material in the first place. Whatever the explanation, the takedowns have apparently done significant damage to sales for at least some sellers. And that's a significant problem when ads are vital on Amazon's store -- they're the best chance at...

Let’s test out just how familiar you really are with Samsung phones — both old and new models. Your job is simple: look at each of the 10 images in this quiz and figure out which handset it shows. There are four choices available for every question, only one of which is correct. If you’re up for the challenge, press the Start button below and test out your knowledge. And when you’re done, make sure to share your score on social media and challenge your friends to try and beat it. Note: There is a widget embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's widget. Note: If you don’t see a Start button, click here. This is the 38th quiz in our regular weekly series. You can take a few of the most popular ones via the links below or check out all of them by clicking here . Was it Samsung or Apple? How much do you really know about Android? Which Android skin is this? Let us know which questions you thought were the hardest and share your result wi...

Every year at Mobile World Congress , the Android Garden is where Google presents its best products and services, from Android (obviously) to Google Assistant, Maps, and Photos. However, Google and its partners also provide one of the biggest challenges for all attendees who want to participate in something super fun: the Android Partner Walk. Specifically, the challenge to collect two exclusive pins per company, which are only available on certain days. These pins have become the unofficial trade of MWC, with everyone from attendees to Googlers themselves vying to complete their collection of pins unique to that year's show. I've witnessed trading so intense it resembles a bazaar, and have been forced trade several duplicate pins to secure one pin that's been eluding me. That brings us to this year's contest. For one lucky Android Central reader, we've got a full collection from this year's MWC to give away! That's not all — with Google I/O kicki...

With flexible screens being all the rage nowadays, more and more companies are building products touting the technology. But there's an unexpected one joining the craze: Louis Vuitton. The luxury brand has introduced a set of handbags that feature built-in flexible displays, which Louis Vuitton tells Engadget are AMOLED and have a 1,920 x 1,440 resolution. There were two prototype handbags shown off during LV's Cruise 2020 runway show in New York City this week: One with a single screen and another with two, and both displayed videos of random city views and what appeared to be a demo of an internet browser. Louis Vuitton says these are "the basis for reconsidering the digital Canvas of the Future," adding that it is "always in search of the fusion of savoir-faire and innovation." The company didn't say if it made the screens in-house or if they were outsourced, and there's no word on whether these high fashion-meets-emerging tech handbags ...

WhatsApp is certainly the most popular instant messaging app on smartphones, having come a long way since its 2009 debut. Fortunately, the Facebook-owned developer has decided to bring the app to the fledgling KaiOS platform too. This combination means we’ve got a significantly reduced barrier of entry for the app. I spent a week with a $17 KaiOS phone – here’s what I learned Just how much Android DNA is still present in the WhatsApp for KaiOS version? What’s been removed completely? We’ve got you covered with our quick-fire guide to the differences between the Android version and WhatsApp for KaiOS. Messaging and sharing in WhatsApp for KaiOS Thankfully, the KaiOS WhatsApp flavor delivers most of the core functionality, so that means chatting, group chats, media sharing, and voice notes. There are quite a few big casualties here though, such as audio/video calls, quoting, WhatsApp Web, and GIF/emoji menus. But the other missing features might not be a massive...

Google is changing the way you use your phone in the car... again. We've seen "car mode" on Android change almost as often as messaging apps on Android over the last couple of years, but it seems fairly confident about this new iteration. Briefly announced during the I/O keynote as Google Assistant Driving Mode, this new UI for how you handle things in the car is pretty different from the Android Audio app mode we currently have. Which is on purpose, because eventually that app-only mode for Android Auto is going to go away and this will be the dominant UI available in the car. Here's a quick look at how it works. As the name suggests, everything here starts in Google Assistant. You can either say "Hey Google, let's drive" or connect to your car Bluetooth or even just turn on GPS awareness and start driving. Through any of these launch methods, the visually pleasing launch pictured above will fire up and you'll be in Driving Mode. And yes, w...

Ubisoft revealed the latest entry in its long-running Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon franchise at a world premiere event Thursday. Set on a remote Pacific island called Auroa, home to a mysterious tech company called Skell Technology, Ghost Recon Breakpoint places you behind enemy lines. You'll be hunted by a group called the Wolves, a group of special ops soldiers who went rogue. They've reprogrammed Skell's autonomous drones to become powerful killing machines. As with Ghost Recon Wildlands, Breakpoint is an open-world game. You'll get to explore 11 biomes on Auroa including mountains, fjords, the jungle and futuristic cities, while you can engage in battle via land, sea and air. You might slip and fall down slopes, or be slowed down by water or snow, so you'll have to be mindful of your stamina levels. Ubisoft says it'll be a co-op game that'll allow your friends to jump in and out at any point and fight alongside you. There'll also be com...

Android Beam was one of the most prominent features when Google released Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich back in 2011. The feature allowed for peer-to-peer file sharing via NFC, but it looks like it won’t be around when Android Q is launched. The feature isn’t available in the Android Q developer betas, and TechRadar has confirmed with Google representatives that it won’t be coming back. In other words, Android Pie will be the last Android version to offer the sharing feature. Google does however have a local sharing option in its Files by Google app, using a combination of Bluetooth and local Wi-Fi to enable sharing. This feature, which can reportedly hit speeds of 480Mbps, requires both users to have the app though. Editor's Pick 10 best Android file explorer apps, file browser apps, and file manager apps File manager apps are among the most important apps on your device. With them, you can browse your files, find your downloads, manage your storage space, ...

We got the dirt on Project Mainline, and it's going to change Android forever. The Android portion of the two-hour Google I/O keynote was brief compared to previous years, but it included a massive change to the way Google is going to push updated to our favorite OS when Android Q arrives. It's called Project Mainline , and the goal is to update core components of Android through the Play Store entirely in the background without needing to reboot the phone or forcing the user to think about a security patch. This system is separate from the monthly security patch or a system version update, and exists so Google can keep critical parts of the OS safe and updated no matter what phone you are using. To gain a little better understanding of how Mainline works, we sat down with Google's Ilyan Malchev to learn as much as we could. Android Q beta 3 review: Dark theme, gesture navigation and more notification changes Everything Mainline touches, and how it works Pro...