How to Add a Reminder in Google Now

May 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

One of the many announcements made at the Goolge I/O conference was an update to the Google Now app that allows reminders to be added.

This is a short post in our quick tips area of the blog.

How to add reminders to Google Now:

Go to the setting menu in the app, and hit “new reminder”:

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Enter in the details:

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You can see a list of upcoming reminders under settings:

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If you enter events into the calender app you’ll also get a reminder card popping up in Google Now, so this is just another way to set them up.

Filed Under: Quick Tips Tagged With:

Google I/O 2013 Round Up

May 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The 2013 Google I/O conference is under way and the keynote speech has revealed some tasty innovations heading our way.

However, the Internet discussions on the news are as much about what was absent as the announcements! No Nexus 7 refresh, no LTE Nexus 4, no X phone, no Android update. A little disappointing if you have been holding off for news on these devices.

Of course that doesn’t mean we won’t be seeing these new releases soon, but we’ll just have to keep waiting for news!  Want the latest? Subscribe to out RSS feed for updates.

The 2013 Keynote on YouTube

You can watch it for yourself here:

Here’s a quick round up of what has been announced along with some helpful links:

  • Hangouts App: The replacement for Talk, all your chat and messaging in one place. Download it here.
  • New Google Now Cards: Google’s spooky app will continue to prove that it knows us better than we know ourselves.  Now with movie, book and music recommendations.  You can now add reminders.
  • Google Maps:  Gets an overhaul.  You can request an invite to use the new version here and you can see it in action here.
  • Google+ redesigned:  Time to give it another go?  Must admit I haven’t really been able to get into G+ to date but it’s becoming more appealing. Add me to your circles!
  • Google Education: New area of the app stored organised around education.  Looks to be based on US system right now but will we see a store front centred around GCSEs and A-Levels one day?
  • Play Store Update: I got the new Play Store app on my Nexus  4 yesterday!  And apparently on the Nexus 7 the new store front will bring tablet apps to the forefront, hope it arrives soon.
  • Android Studio: A new developer environment for Android.  Get it here.  I’ve struggled with eclipse so I hope this is better!
  • Samsung Galaxy S4: A “pure Android” Google edition is heading to the US.  No news on whether a UK version will follow.  If I were going to splash out on an S4, this is the version I’d want (I’m happy with my Nexus 4).
  • Android surging forward:  900 million activations!  It won’t be long before we have a billion Android devices out there in the world.   How soon before Apple is widely recognised as the niche option?
  • Google Play Games: A cross platform game service that will allow us to track game progress and link up with friends no matter what we are playing on.

Exciting times over at Google, what did you make of the keynote?

Filed Under: News Tagged With:

How to Replace Nexus 7 Screen

May 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Smash! Photo

The Nexus 7 tablet has come under some user criticism for its build quality, particularly and unsurprisingly from people who have dropped theirs!

In this post we take a look at your options should the worst happen.

We’ll take a look at where you can get a Nexus 7 replacement screen in the UK, how to get a screen fixed, and where you can take your tablet to get it repaired.

I’m not sure what our expectations should be regarding dropped tablets, my own view is that these gadgets are precision technological items that should be treated with great care. If I dropped mine, and it broke, I would blame no one else but myself for being clumsy.

That said, I have heard stories of tablets breaking a little too easily, and that’s when owners are going to get frustrated. If you are worried about damage, then buying a case might help add some extra protection. But the only way to be sure is to take very good care of your N7!

Warning: Any repairs should be attempted at own risk. These devices are not designed for user disassembly and repairing them can be tricky. I have not done this repair and so can’t help with any problems.

Where to Buy a Replacement Screen

First up, the general advice on this one seems to be to buy a digitizer/LCD/bezel combo, they can be bought on ebay or through specialist sites. I have not done this repair myself, but those who have done it point out that just trying to replace the LCD screen in isolation can be a difficult job. You really want to be looking at replacing the whole screen unit.

ebay
As usual, eBay is a great place to get spare parts. The online market place has by far the widest range of buying options that Ive seen and realistic prices too. There’s little point spending £100 on a replacement LCD screen if you can just buy a second hand tablet for that price!

Try the UK store here. And US buyers can try this link.

Amazon
Amazon also offers a couple of replacement screens. At the time of writing I don’t see any sold direct but there are some sellers in the market place stocking them.

If in the US, or are comfortable importing from Amazon.com, then there are more purchasing options available there.

How to fix Nexus 7 Cracked Screen

YouTube is a great place for finding guides, and there are some good videos which talk through the difficulties of this repair. I would recommend watching carefully before thinking about a replacement.

More information from Android Authority.

A further resource that will add to your knowledge: iFixit.

Note: Neither the authors of these videos, nxtab, Google, or ASUS are going to help if things go wrong, attempt at your own risk, etc!

Where to get your Nexus 7 Repaired?

If your tablet is still in warranty then one option is to send it back to ASUS. You can find information about this on their site.

Unfortunately ASUS may decide that you are responsible for the damage, if that is the case you will be charged a fee, and it sounds like the prices are fairly steep when compared to the original cost of the tablet.

Remember, in the UK, retailers are legally responsible for the items they sell so you have every right to take it back to where you bought it – you don’t have to deal with the manufacturer. For more information on consumer law check here. So if your tablet’s screen is starting to detach, or feels loose, then it could be worth getting in touch with your retailer as goods should last a reasonable amount of time.

I would love to hear from anyone who has got their Nexus repaired, how much did it cost, where did you take it? If you have done the repair yourself, how did it go? What spares did you get?

If you have got some photos to share then please get in touch or post up the details in our forum.

Filed Under: Hacks and Mods Tagged With: ,