Have you noticed there’s a few things lacking in the native Android OS which really should be there? Or are you plagued by those little Android annoyances that just shouldn’t be this much of a pain to fix? You’re not alone!
Luckily there’s not too many of these little annoyances and most of them have a free application to help us out with a quick fix. Here’s a selection of things that bug many people about Andoid, but which have a simple, easy fix you can use today.
1. Need Phone Silence At Night
There are a great many apps to make your phone silent at night. Some allow certain people’s calls to get through. Others just block out all calls, SMS and notifications. Silent Sleep is a basic, free answer to this problem. I personally think an application like this is the first thing any Android phone needs.
2. Stop Accidental Phone Calls
All it takes is one little application called Call Confirm to prevent your phone ringing people quite so easily. This is handy if you’ve got favourite people on your homepage or if you keep your phone in a bag often. All it does is pop up a “Do you really want to call? Call/Cancel” box whenever you try to make a call. Simple, yet very effective.
3. Need To Free Up Space Regularly – Clean Cache & Data
ACCleaner is an application cache and data cleaner which allows you to remove unwanted caches and data in one click or piece by piece. This can free up lots of space in an instant by using the “Clear all cached files” button.
4. Need To Organise Applications – App 2 SD
Froyo supports the moving of applications to your SD card, however it doesn’t do a great job of helping you to plan which applications to move. Using the Android interface, you could easily miss a large application on your phone simply because you didn’t realise it could be moved to the SD card. If you use a dedicated App2SD application, you’ll see clearly which apps can be moved and which apps you’ve already moved.
5. Clean Up Your Contacts
When you start using Android your contacts are imported from Gmail and they could be a complete mess. Simon explains in this article how easy it is to organise and merge contacts in Gmail so that your Android contacts are exactly what you need.
6. Need To Monitor Your Space
DiskUsage is a free application which allows you to visualise how the space on your phone is being used. It will certainly let you find those oversized files you forgot about!
7. Get Root Access (Hopefully) Without Voiding Your Warranty
Ryan may have hit upon the answer to get root access without voiding your warranty. The application SuperOneClick enables you to give root access to certain applications without having to unlock the bootloader. According to Nexus One, that won’t void your warranty. Obviously, you might want to check the case with your phone dealer before you attempt this.
More Android Apps & Tricks
If you’re looking for more great Android apps and tricks, see also:
- 5 Awesome Android Applications That Could Make Life Easier
- 10 Free Android Apps For Your New Android Mobile (Part 1)
- The 7 Best Android Forums To Learn More About Apps & Features
- 10+ Tricks To Try With The Google Android Operating System
- 10 Free Android Apps A Busy Mom Will Love
- 4 Cool Android Phone Solutions To Everyday Problems
What other annoyances have you found with your Android? Did you find a great app to fix it? Let us know in the comments!
MakeUseOf Recommends
More articles about:
Hide 22 Comments
This scrolling ‘like’ sidebar is the most annoying thing in my life. Most people click the page to focus right there so they can scroll. Please remove it.
I’m closer to blocking this site every day.
Sorry, the theme is new and Aibek and co. are still ironing out the bumps. I’ll pass on the feedback, for sure.
We hear you loud and clear CV. We plan to remove it tomorrow, please hold on until then, I promise it will be gone and replaced with something altogether less annoying!
Hey, thanks for listening about the sidebar. It WAS annoying, and I like the bottom “taskbar” better, especially since we can hide it if we want to.
Wow. That thing is annoying. Who would think that was a good idea?
Having Google Voice prompt you if you want to use it each time you dial is a good alternative to Call Confirm, for avoiding accidental dials. I enable it, because on Sprint, mobile-to-mobile calls are free (any mobile, not just Sprint), so I use Google Voice to call land lines.
I believe the new Sprint Google Voice merger deal remedies this. All calls in US are done via Sprints network (to use the mobile to mobile) and international calls GV. Might be worth a few questions to a Sprint rep in the know (not all will be).
People outside the US can’t use Google Voice yet, but that does sound like a good plan for those who can. :)
@CV – totally agree. I’m on the verge on no longer visiting! What we’re they thinking!
It’s going to be removed shortly – Thanks for the feedback!
The ‘confirm call’ thing, isn’t that similar to Windows Vista/7 UAC that everyone hates? Amusing.
My biggest gripe is the often lengthy delay of the launcher icons appearing after exiting an app like Facebook, Kindle, or Gmail. I’d love to keep the home screen locked in memory so it doesn’t have to reload from scratch so often.
Wow. I don’t have lengthy delays like that. How annoying!
You mentioned sleep app that “allow certain people’s calls to get through” but I cannot seem to find any like that. can anyone please help?
There are several options, but they’re all paid which is why I didn’t mention them by name. You can do a free trial for some of them, though.
Here’s some to check out:
Good Night https://market.android.com/details?id=com.noname.goodnight
Bedside https://market.android.com/details?id=net.geekherd.bedsidepro2
Easy Profiles https://market.android.com/details?id=de.SmartDyne.Trial.EasyProfiles
And here’s Tasker, which can do this as well as many other cool automation tricks: https://market.android.com/details?id=net.dinglisch.android.taskerm
Thanks a lot!
Its worth noting that while moving apps to the SD card is good for saving space, often you will find that widgets no longer work once the app has been moved. Apps with widgets often won’t work unless the app is installed into the phone memory.
This is true. But when you’re dealing with as little room as I have, sacrifices have to be made. :)
I too have the annoying problem of frequent “low on memory space”. But I am not able to find accleaner… says its not there in the market anymore. Any other alternative suggestions?
Accleaner seems to have changed names very recently. Here’s the link to the new version:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.a0soft.gphone.acc.free