How To

Tidy up your Android phone before putting it on the block

There are a lot of tempting reasons to upgrade your phone these days. In fact, here are five of them. But what do you do with your old phone?

Well, you could turn it into a dedicated media player, or perhaps recycle it. But why not try to sell it?

Selling your old Android phone can be an easy way to make a little money. But before you let it go, you'll want to make sure you've backed up any important information and deleted any trace of your personal data. So let's walk through the process.

The … Read more

Pocket Filmmaker: Lenses that turn your phone into a pocket camera

Welcome to CNET Australia's guide to pocket filmmaking. The Pocket Filmmaker will show you how to turn the smartphone in your pocket into a camera capable of shooting video projects that are worthy of sharing with family and friends, online, and even with the judges of some of Australia's biggest short-film festivals.

Your host on this creative journey is Jason Van Genderen, winner of several short filmmaking awards, including at Tropfest NY, Tropfest Sydney, Aspen Shortsfest, and even an IF Award. Jason's projects have been shot on the Nokia N95, Nokia N8, and Apple's iPhone. He … Read more

How to put 1Password in 'Demo mode'

1Password does a superb job at keeping your private information organized, and your online accounts safe with completely random passwords. Using Dropbox or iCloud, you're able to keep your payment information, private notes, and passwords in sync across multiple devices.

Late last year the 1Password iOS app was updated with a completely revamped look and new features, such as URL schemes and a feature called "Demo mode."

Demo mode is a convenient way to show someone how the app works without revealing any of your personal information during an impromptu tutorial. Once it's activated, you only … Read more

Move, clone, and remove objects with Handy Photo

There is a seemingly endless parade of photo-editing apps for iOS and for Android. Helping Handy Photo stand out from the crowd is a handful of tools that lets you remove, clone, and move objects in your photos, along with a reverse cropping feature that lets you extend the edges of your photos. For all of its tricks, Handy Photo costs a reasonable $1.99 and is available for iOS and for Android.

For iOS, Handy Photo is a universal app designed for the iPhone and iPad. Because of the variety of tools it affords, I tried it out on … Read more

Use Google Translate offline by downloading language packs

Google updated its Google Translate app for Android today to version 2.6. The new version, available for Android 2.3 and up, supports the translation of vertical text in Korean, Japanese, and Chinese with your camera. The big news, however, is that it finally supports offline use with downloadable language packs.

To download one or more of the 50 available language packs, go to Menu > Offline languages, then tap on the pin icon next to the languages you want to download. You'll then be prompted to choose whether to download the files over your mobile data network … Read more

Home networking explained, part 5: Setting up a home router

Editors' note: This post is part of an ongoing series. For the other parts, check out the related stories section below.

It might seem like a daunting task to set up a new home router. But it doesn't have to be if you understand the most common way routers are managed: through the Web interface. The hardest part of using the Web interface is getting to it. Once you have gotten there, the rest, at least most of it, is self-explanatory.

Note: Almost all home routers on the market come with an Web interface, which is a Web page … Read more

Quickly view Google Play purchase history on Android

When setting up a new device, it's nice to go back and make sure you've downloaded all of your purchased apps (or any purchased content for that matter), but Google's Play store app doesn't make it easy for this to happen at the moment. Currently your download history contains both free and paid apps, with no way to separate the two.

My Purchases is a free Android app that allows users to view their entire Google Play purchase history with just a few taps, as first reported by Droid Life.

After you install the free or … Read more

How to use an AT&T; iPhone on T-Mobile's no-contract network

T-Mobile has finally done away with contracts, offering single-line monthly plans with unlimited talk for as little as $50 per month.

The shakeup is good for everyone, but if you own an AT&T iPhone and are ready to switch carriers, T-Mo's new bargain plans are looking you straight in the eye.

A $50 no-contract plan sounds too good to be true, but the company's formula is simple: instead of subsidizing a phone upfront and shifting the cost to the monthly fee, new customers will pay the full -- or in some cases, slightly discounted -- price … Read more

Hide posts from your Facebook feed on iOS, Android

"Name a movie that starts with R. It's harder than you think" seems to be a popular fad when looking at my Facebook feed. For the record, it's not that hard, there's plenty of movies that start with R -- or any other letter of the alphabet -- so just stop. Instead of scrolling through similar posts, be it e-cards or square counting contests, I've started hiding posts from my Facebook feed. You can do this on the Web or using either the iOS or Android app while on the go.

Using the latest … Read more