Hot Nexus 7 Posts

How To: The Definitive Guide to Backing Up Your Nexus 7 Tablet

So, you've flashed a bad ROM or ZIP file, and now your Nexus 7 won't boot up. Maybe it just went haywire for no reason. Whatever happened, the bad news only keeps coming—you didn't make a backup of your system, contacts, or apps.

How To: Reset Your Nexus Lock Screen Password

It happens to everyone: you set a lock screen password in a hurry and cannot remember it the next day. To unlock your device again, you need to reset the password (or PIN, pattern, etc). There are two official methods of doing this.

How To: Root Your Nexus 7 in Less Than Two Minutes—Without a Computer

Rooting your Nexus 7 tablet is now easier than ever. Previous rooting methods required connecting your tablet to a computer and using any one of a number of programs and/or ADB commands. Now, it's as easy as downloading an app on your phone and tapping one button.

How To: No LED Flash on Your Android Device? Use Your Screen as a Flashlight Instead

Using my Nexus 7 tablet as a flashlight to light my path on the way to my room late at night is difficult, and honestly, useless. It doesn't have an LED flash for pictures, so using it as a flashlight is essentially just me brightening the display as high as it can go.

How To: Get Google's Latest Play Store Redesign on Your Nexus 7 Tablet Right Now

What's the most installed Android app in the world? Facebook? Gmail? Maps? While those all have well over 100 million installs, the one that takes the cake—and always will—is Google Play.

Mario Live Wallpaper: Classic Side-Scrolling Action for Your Home or Lock Screen

Nothing else quite sums up my childhood like Super Mario, the Italian plumber who constantly had to defeat Bowser to save Princess Peach (aka Princess Toadstool) from danger. While it's easy to relive the classic gameplay on your Android with Nintendo emulators, not everyone has time for lengthy quests. Instead, you can get your Mario nostalgia fix with a live wallpaper for your home and/or lock screen.

How To: Enable Kids Mode on Any Android

Whether if it's to play games or watch Netflix or YouTube, children love using our smartphones and tablets. As an uncle of many, I don't mind my nieces and nephews using my gear, but I do mind them opening apps they have no business being in, like my photo gallery or messaging app.

How To: Install & Multi-Boot Bodhi Linux on Your Nexus 7 (& Why You Should)

When people first learn that their Android device is capable of dual-booting different operating systems, e.g. Linux, they almost universally respond with, "That's so cool." And for those of us ambitious enough to actually try one out, we are typically filled with glee as we see Ubuntu, or something similar, boot up for the first time on our tablet or phone.

How To: The Definitive Guide on How to Restore Your Nexus 7 Tablet (Even if You've Bricked It)

Something went wrong and your Nexus 7 is freaking out on you. Maybe you flashed a bad ROM or ZIP file, or maybe it's just bugging, and it's time to restore your tablet back to a working condition. Thankfully, you've already made a backup of your Nexus 7!

How To: Hack Your Nexus 7 into a Hybrid Android Tablet That Looks & Feels Like Both iOS & TouchWiz

Do you like Samsung's TouchWiz and the iPhone's user interface, but wish you could bring the best of both worlds together onto your device? You can! MIUI (pronounced me-you-eye) is a heavily modded custom ROM that brings a different UI experience never before seen on stock Android devices. Over in the Nexus 7 SoftModder forum, Shashou Jian mentioned MIUI as a ROM every user should try out. The interface is a fresh mix of Apple’s iOS and Samsung’s TouchWiz elements—with a large dose of customi...

How To: The Definitive Nexus 7 Guide to Bootloader Unlocking, Rooting, & Installing Custom Recoveries

Rooting, bootloaders, custom ROMs, CyanogenMod, ClockworkMod... it's all pretty confusing, isn't it? You're not the only one having trouble with this. Many users in the Nexus 7 SoftModder forum have been scratching their heads at these many terms.

How To: Turn Your Nexus 7 Tablet into a Phone for Free Calls & Text Messages

Your Nexus 7 may be a tablet, but it can also be used as a phone, thanks to the continued upswing of VoIP applications, which send voice and media messages over the Internet—not over a cellular network.

Warning: Your Nexus 7 Tablet Is Not Actually a "Tablet" (But Here's How You Make It One)

If the Nexus 7 wasn't your first Android tablet, you may have noticed something different with the user interface when compared to other Jelly Bean tablets. You may not know exactly what it is off the top of your head, but it's there.

How To: Customize Your TWRP Custom Recovery on Your Nexus 7 Tablet with Free Themes

If MacGyver had a Nexus 7, he'd most definitely have TWRP installed. It's the softModder's Swiss Army knife for all things modding. You can flash custom ROMs, install add-ons, recover from a disaster, and much more.

How To: Tired of the Stock ROM on Your Nexus 7? Install CyanogenMod Instead

You've gotten used to your brand spankin' new Nexus 7 and finally have a feel for Android, but now you want more features. Well, user Juan Mercator was in that predicament, and asked how to install the ever popular CyanogenMod ROM on his Nexus 7 over on our Nexus 7 SoftModder forum.

How To: Enable Developer Options on Your Nexus

Unlocking "Developer options" on an Android device is useful for many things. You can limit or stop transition animations for a snappier device, enable USB debugging to run fastboot commands, and more. But of course, the first step to making these tweaks is to unlock the hidden settings menu.

News: The One Deadly Command That You Should NEVER Run on a Nexus

There are two types of bricks ("brick" as in "bricking your phone")—soft and hard. Soft bricks are recoverable—something has probably gone wrong with some critical system partition, causing a bootloop or inability to boot in some way. Fine. Re-flashing everything should fix that instantly. Hard bricks are not recoverable—if you manage to hard-brick your Nexus, you are in trouble.

How To: Add Menu & Search Soft Keys to the Navigation Bar on Your Nexus 7

Many of our everyday apps include a menu tab or search bar, like Chrome and Twitter. In fact, a lot of times those are the first things we go for, as search is universal in most apps, and app settings are just about always accessible through the menu.

How To: Selectively Enable Immersive Mode for Certain Apps on Your Nexus 7

If you've followed our guide on unlocking KitKat's real full screen capability using the immersive mode mod, then your status and navigation bars will be hidden when not in use, giving you a more expansive full screen experience.

How To: Add a Power Menu to Your Nexus 7 to Reboot into Fastboot or Recovery Mode More Easily

Getting into fastboot or recovery mode on your Android device is nothing new, especially if you're a softModder. Accessing the bootloader menu is the genesis to a lot of mods, and if you're like me and constantly tweak your device, you probably get irritated every time you have to shutdown, then use the power button and volume rockers to access the special menus.

Immerse Yourself: How to Unlock KitKat's REAL Full Screen Mode on Your Nexus 7 Tablet

Full screen mode, also called immersive mode, is one of the most popular features on CyanogenMod, but it's almost exclusive to CM and other custom ROMs. What this feature does essentially is remove the Status bar and soft keys from your screen, creating a more mesmeric feel.

How To: Record Your Nexus 7 Screen Using ADB & KitKat's Hidden Screen Capture Tool

Whether it's because you want to make a quick tutorial video or want to show off your gameplay skills, recording the screen your Nexus 7 tablet isn't an easy feat. At least, until now. Hidden inside Android 4.4 KitKat is a built-in screen capturing feature, but it takes a little effort to dig it out.

How To: Turn Your Nexus 7's Screen Off & On Faster Using Gravity

Sometimes... no, most of the time, I don't want to do anything, so I was excited to find a developer teaming up with Sir Isaac Newton to create an application that encouraged my slothfulness.

How To: Set Up WhatsApp on Your Nexus 7 Tablet—Without Rooting

WhatsApp is one of the most well-known and most utilized cross-platform chat applications available today. It's free for one year, and only $0.99 a year after, which is chump change when you realize there are no hidden costs like international charges. Basically, it creates an easy to use forum for you and your friends to chat, regardless if they're an Android or iPhone user.

How To: 5 Ways to Reduce Android Lag, Increase Speed, & Enhance Your Nexus 7's Overall Performance

No matter what device you have, Android lag will get you down. It's our little green robot's only major downside, and you've probably noticed it quite a bit on your Nexus 7 tablet. Apps open slowly, actions stutter or pause, and loading files takes forever.

How To: Get Back Lock Screen Widgets in Android Lollipop

Being fixated on all of the great additions to Android 5.0 Lollipop, it can be a little difficult to take notice in the features that went missing. For instance, lock screen widgets. It's speculated that the lack of practical use for lock screen widgets and the implementation of the revamped Lollipop lock screen may have lead to their departure, but some of us want them back!

How To: Enable the Hidden Number Row in Google Keyboard on Your Android

If you utilize strong passwords—which you absolutely should be—you've probably had to go back and forth between keyboard screens multiple times to input various letters, numbers, and symbols.

How To: Get Fast Access to Your Most Used Apps, Shortcuts, & Toggles from Any Screen

We all have apps that we use most frequently, or system preferences that we're regularly adjusting. Whether it's Netflix or a new game that you're hooked on, there are times when you want quick and easy access versus searching for them, even if they're on your home screen.

How To: Get a Windows-Inspired Start Menu on Your Android

Windows 8 may have introduced a new, intuitive touch-based interface, but plenty of Microsoft loyalists were unhappy with the absence of the classic start menu that they were so accustomed to.

How To: Boost the Stock Volume Levels on Your Nexus 7 for Louder Sounds All Around

The volume is maxed out, but that doesn't stop me from hitting the volume key on my Nexus 7 in hopes that it will magically get louder. This happens to me everyday as I watch videos or play music. The simple fact is that a Nexus 7 tablet just doesn't get very loud. At least, not loud enough for me.

Quick Tip: Access App Info Pages from Lollipop's Recent Apps Menu

On earlier Android versions, you were able to hold down on an app's icon in the recent apps menu (aka app switcher) and jump straight to the app's info page. From there, you could easily uninstall the app, force-stop its activity, or clear its cache and data.

How To: Create & Share Your Own GIFs for Messages in Google Hangouts

While chatting in Hangouts on Android, inserting an emoji or animated sticker can instantly make the conversation more fun, but they'll eventually lose their charm, as most things do. Even if you add GIFs to your texting arsenal, things could get stale. That is, unless they're personalize GIFs you actually make yourself (the process is really simple).

How To: Create Your Own Custom, Polygon-Shaped Wallpapers for Android

While the new Lollipop wallpapers are great, they'll eventually get stale like all of the others. I've covered a bunch of cool Android wallpaper apps previously, including ones that give you psychedelic and shake-to-change options, but this time I was on the hunt for some geometrical-based ones.

How To: Get Android 5.0 Lollipop on Your Nexus Today

Google has already started to roll out the over-the-air update of Android 5.0 Lollipop to older Nexus series phones and tablets, but chances are it will take a long time for the OTA to hit your device.

How To: The Easiest Way to Record Your Screen in Android Lollipop

Native screen recording was initially introduced on Android 4.4 KitKat and, although useful, was primarily utilized by developers to showcase their apps. It required either a rooted device and an app or a non-rooted device with some ADB commands, which, while totally doable, wasn't necessarily ideal.

How To: Use the Much-Improved Face Unlock Feature in Android Lollipop

I think it's safe to assume that most of us appreciate a little privacy and security when it comes to our mobile devices, which is exactly why we have lock screens that require unique passwords, patterns, or PINs. Although someone can discretely peer over your shoulder to see what your password is, it's much more difficult for them to duplicate your face to unlock the device.

How To: The Fastest Way to Change an App's Notification Settings in Android Lollipop

Notifications sometimes come in bulk on Android—especially after booting up. While some of them are helpful or informative, most can be immediately dismissed as soon as they come in.

How To: Access Widgets from Anywhere on Android

Placing widgets on your device's home screen is a quick way to gain instant access to shortcuts or to specific aspects of an app, like music controls or weather forecasts. As more and more developers create various types of app drawers and shortcuts, many overlook widgets and what they have to offer.

How To: Get Full-Screen "Immersive Mode" on Android Without Rooting

Rooting is a great way to unleash your device's full potential, but not everyone's comfortable with it. Rooting can void a warranty, cause issues with certain apps, and the process itself can be tricky for older devices. Alas, most of the great apps or mods out there require root access, like the ability to utilize a built-in KitKat feature known as Immersive Mode.

How To: Get Quick Access to Media Apps When You Plug in Headphones

As soon as you plug a set of headphones into a Samsung Galaxy series device, a bar pops up in the notification tray that lets you select from a list of "recommended apps" for earphones. It's a convenient little feature that shows the apps you're most likely to use based on previous activity.