Here are three more ways you can customize your Android smart phone to your preferences.
4. Secure Your Phone
This covers a wide area, from the Screen Unlock Pattern to finding your misplaced/lost phone to remotely wiping (deleting) the contents of your lost phone.
You can set the unlock pattern under Location and Security in the main Systems Settings menu. There are free and paid apps on the Android Marketplace (and other marketplaces and web sites) that make the process easier.
For finding your phone, some apps and services use the built-in GPS. Others make it ring and vibrate — even when it is turned off or the volume is turned down.
The most advanced protection is remotely wiping the contents – all contacts, files and so on. Name’s Bond, James Bond, Universal Exports. Who knows, maybe Q inspired (maybe he designed) Verizon’s recently launched Mobile Recovery service for Android and other smart phones (for Total Equipment Coverage subscribers). It locates your phone using the built-in GPS, sounds alarms, remotely locks it and remotely wipes it. HTC has a similar service. Q-inspired apps include Norton Security for Android Devices. One of its features is Remote Lock and Wipe.
5. Set Email Alerts
Sound or no sound? Which is your preference?
My email notification sound is soft Intel tones. (I had a duck quacking but it didn’t blend well into serious meetings and discussions.) Zedge and others in the Android Marketplace offer many free ringtones. You can also set notification to Silent or Vibrate. Notifications can be set for many alert-generating apps using built-in, app-specific and add-on apps.
6. Consolidate Your Ringtones
Collected from many sources, recorded on your own phone, created from your MP3 files — whatever the source, you can save time accessing ringtones by consolidating them in one location.
On your memory card, make a new folder named Ringtones. Copy your MP3 and other audio files there. They will automatically show up in your selection list. For alarms and notifications, use the same technique – create folders named Alarms and Notifications and copy files to them.
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