How to Delete Data from an iPhone

MANDY CHENG, AFP/Getty Images

Wiping data from an old iPhone before buying a new phone is crucial to personal security.

Question: I'm going to sell my old iPhone in anticipation of buying a new one. How can I wipe my data from it for good?

Answer: Wiping your data from a smartphone is important for security, and it couldn't be easier. To wipe an iOS gadget, go to Settings>>General>>Reset. Tap Erase All Content and Settings and then push the ominous red Erase button. If you have a newer iOS gadget, this process should take only a few minutes to complete. If you have an earlier model, it might take an hour or more. Make sure the gadget is plugged in or has a full battery before you begin. Otherwise, you might have to start all over.

Source: USAtoday

Smartphone as Doctor

Just one of 13,000 mobile health apps out there. Photo courtesy of iHealth

If there’s any doubt that mobile apps are taking health care in directions unimaginable a few years ago, consider a few tidbits from just the past few weeks.

First, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just gave the green light to something called an “ingestible sensor.” It’s a tiny computer chip embedded inside a pill. You swallow that pill when you take your other meds and the ingested chip goes to work, recording when the dose went down and transmitting that data to a stick-on patch on your body. The patch then sends it to your smartphone. And to your doctor’s office, if you wish.

A few days later, yet another mobile health startup jumped into the market, this one called Mango Health, in San Francisco. Nothing so unusual about that, except the people running the small company come from a mobile games background and they’ve made it clear that they’ll be looking for ways to bring social gaming principles into the health business.

The first app they plan to roll out will be designed to help people stay on schedule with taking their meds, but also will let them know about potential interactions with other drugs and food. In the the spirit of gaming, it will reward, with discounts, those who stick to their schedules.

Game on.

Your smartphone will see you now

Hard to believe, but there are more than 13,000 different mobile health apps available for download. Most are designed to help people stick to diets or exercise routines, and, in truth, they range widely in quality and commitment to real science. Which probably explains why, according to research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, only 10 percent of Americans with smartphones have downloaded a health app.

Expect that, though, to change dramatically over the rest of this decade as the population ages and developers focus more on helping people with serious health problems. Already, there’s been a rise in the type of apps that work with other devices to monitor your blood sugar or your blood pressure or how you slept last night.

But research suggests that data alone do not a great app make. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association not long ago found that apps that provide coaching tips and small financial incentives could be truly effective in getting people to change behavior, in this case, to eat a lot more fruit and be a lot less sedentary.

Boosters like to say that as they become more and more personalized, mobile apps will become the ATMs of health care, and that they’ll transform our relationship with doctors. Visits to their offices will be less frequent, but they’ll actually know more about how we’re doing thanks to what our smartphones are telling them.

Some, such as cardiolgist and author Eric Topol, go so far as to suggest that in terms of disrupting social hierarchy, this will rank right up there with Gutenberg inventing the printing press. Here’s a snippet from a recent interview on NPR’s “Science Friday”:

When individuals have access to their relevant data, sure there’s opportunities and concerns regarding it being used in a negative or promiscuous way, but when it’s used appropriately, that individual has new insight. And just like in the Middle Ages learning how to read, this is about consumers, the public, the individual having new insights and now a parity and getting out of this era of information asymmetry, where the doctors had the domain of the information.

Trust, but verify

What makes doctors skittish about the health apps boom is that the science still lags behind the market, that a lot of what’s out there has never been vetted by health professionals. But that’s changing, too. For instance, researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have taken on the challenge of evaluating health apps, with the purpose of determining which ones can help doctors, health workers and patients at least as much as the methods they’ve always followed.

If apps are going to be the future of medicine, it’s time to get serious about making sure they can do what they say they can do. Says Dr. Alain Labrique, who’s heading up the Johns Hopkins project: “A lot of the apps you see out now have a disclaimer, or should have a disclaimer, that they have not been validated through rigorous research. It comes down to the individuals’ perceptions that the app works for them.”

Like I said, game on.

The smart in smartphones

Here’s a sampling of what health apps can do:

• Good for what ails you: Created by two Denver ER doctors, but purchased last year by Aetna, the insurance giant, iTriage not only helps you evaluate symptoms that are making your nervous, but also suggests the best, closest hospital.
• Doctors in the house: ZocDoc has been around a little while, but has taken off as a business. Now covering 20 American cities, it helps you find doctors in your health plan and lets you make appointments online.
• Every cake you bake, I’ll be watching you: The iBGStar Diabetes Manager includes a $75 iPhone-enabled meter and a free app that tracks your blood glucose and insulin levels and shares that info with your doctor’s office.
• My heart belongs to data: Sure, you can buy a blood pressure cuff and meter at any drug store, but the iHealth Blood Pressure Dock both measures your blood pressure and heart rate and produces interactive graphs of your vitals.
• Can you hear me now?: It’s not on the market yet, but a San Francisco startup named CellScope is developing a device that attaches to a smartphone and takes photos of the inside of your son’s or daughter’s ear. It then will transmit the images to CellScope, where a physician will determine if your kid has an ear infection.
• Run for the money: You only respond to cash motivations? An app called GymPact allows you to make a little cash if you go to the gym as often as you said you would. But you lose money–it’s charged to your credit card–if you don’t show up to work out–the GPS on your smartphone tracks if you’ve checked in.
• If zombies can catch you, you are out of shape: This was probably inevitable, an app that motivates you to run through the fear of zombies. Zombies, Run is an audio game that you listen to when you’re on your run. But it’s not just any game. Zombies are chasing you. You can hear them breathing and groaning in your headphones. You can even mix in music from your personal playlist. Are these great times or what?

Source: blog.smithsonianmag

Tips to Security and Privacy with Mobile Devices

Have you ever thought of security and privacy with mobile devices? Smartphones and tablet computers are now slowly erasing the desktop world. As a matter of fact, everyone with these mobile devices is doing their business tasks and personal stuffs just like a computer can do. But the growth of mobile devices means that they are more prone to vulnerabilities and security threats, they can also be lost easily from your hands because they are small in sizes.

One of the main concerns nowadays is privacy. There are a lot of apps available for your mobile devices that use GPS for geolocation to know your current location, just like a photo embedded with your location that will be uploaded in social networking sites. Anyone around the world will know where you are or where you live once you upload it on the internet. Usually, the apps will ask if you allow your location to be displayed the first time you open. You should not allow it if you are concerned for privacy.

Enabling the Passcode of your device and locking the screen will help you from other people to explore your contents. Different methods for every smartphones and tablets will vary in the procedures on how to enable passcode. For Android devices, connect-the-dots pattern is available while Apple devices possess slide to unlock and entering your Passcode. This is the primary security measure that everyone should activate when having a new device.

Backing up your data to your HOME computer will provide you security from your contents once you lose your mobile device. After making a back up, make sure to activate remote locate, lock and wipe so you can find your device in case you’ll lose it and can delete your personal contents remotely. Apple devices and Windows phone have this service by default and should be activated as soon as possible. Android and Blackberry have some apps that enable this service.

Avoiding WiFi hotspots is also a good step in protecting your mobile device from people who can harm by using the unsecured connection. You can use VPN (Virtual Private Network) to connect with internet but maintaining a secured status. Details of VPN connection from your company’s IT department is required to activate your VPN.

Source: Thedroidguy

National Hurricane App and Tracking Tropical Storm Isaac 2012 on Your Smartphone

By Nicole Rojas 

Those who want to use their smartphones to track Tropical Storm Isaac and keep safe during the storm have a variety of websites and apps available to them.

The National Hurricane Center, a leading authority in hurricanes and tropical storms, published a mobile site last year that allows users to get the latest advisories issued by the center. The site, which is available here, tracks storms and hurricanes in the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic and the Pacific. Updates are issued regularly.

Apps are also available for iOS, Android and Windows 7 users, many of which use information provided by the National Hurricane Center. Most apps will run you less than $5 and will give you the opportunity to track storms as well as receive information concerning your area.

Here's a selection of apps to look for smartphone devices.

HurricaneSoftware.com's iHurricane HD

Free for iOS users, iHurricane provides maps, satellite images, warnings and alerts for those tracking Isaac on their phones. The app is also available on Android phones under the name Hurricane Software and on Windows 7 phones under the name Tracking the Eye. Users can submit their email to receive storm alerts as well.

NOAA Radio Free

Available for iOS devices, NOAA Radio Free gives users radio broadcast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The app, which allows users to upgrade to a paid version for additional forecast cities, is not available to Android or Windows 7 users.

Hurricane by American Red Cross

Less meteorological data and more safety tips can be found on this Android/iOS app by the American Red Cross. The app allows users to find nearby Red Cross shelters, know what to do in case cell phone towers are down and provides flashlight and strobe light functions in case of a blackout.

AccuWeather

Another app for storm tracking, AccuWeather allows iPhone and Android users to get the latest weather information in case of storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, rain and high winds. The app lets users see videos, animated satellite and radar photos and interactive maps. AccuWeather is free on both iOS and Android devices.

Before using these apps, those tracking major storms and hurricanes should heed local warnings about evacuations and safety precautions to stay safe.

Source: Latinospost

Six Tips for Excellent Smartphone Food Photography

By Adam Schwartz

Why do photos of food taken from smartphones never really capture how delicious it was? Oftentimes, a smartphone photographer will fail to capture a photo depicting how appetizing their food truly is. To counteract this trend, Dreamstime offers some tips on making your food photos more appealing: 

•  Choose Wisely   Always try to order a dish that will both taste and look delicious. The more appetizing the ingredients, the more enticing your photo will be.
•  Prepping your Subject  When photographing  food, think of a focus point, a spot where you want to draw the attention. “I want the food to be the main subject and not the plate.” says Catalina Zaharescu, a Dreamstime contributor.
•  Background  The background is also very important: you can make a whole set of different images just by changing the viewing angle.
•  Lighting  As with any type of photography, having a good source of light is a critical element to consider. Also move the plate (if the source of light is fixed and coming from above, perpendicularly) until you find an angle that will provide a game of lights and shadows. Lighting will make the dish, otherwise, the food looks flat and unappealing.
•  Props  Another suggestion is to incorporate a human presence by including knives, spoons or napkins. These elements add some interest to the shot composition and also make the food more appealing by implying that it will soon be enjoyed.
•  Be creative!  More than anything, use your imagination and get creative while dining.

Remember – food photographs are eaten by the eyes. A good food photograph should whet the appetite, appeal to the senses, and make everyone else jealous!

Source: Foodanddrinkdigital

5 Tips For Using The HotelTonight Mobile Booking App

By juliana

We've talked so much about HotelTonight, the mobile booking app that gives you discounted rates on that night's stay, so much that we've just assumed everyone and their smartphone-holding mother knows how to work it.

Yet time and time again, we keep running into friends who booked rooms last-minute for far higher prices than necessary. When we ask them, "Did you use HotelTonight?" They tell us, "No, what's that?" D'oh.

Since we've recapped what HotelTonight is and how it works here (and here), we'll spare you regular readers the how-to. But what we will share today is 5 Tips for Booking on HotelTonight.

1. If you can wait, hold out on booking until absolutely necessary: Since we're the type that likes to check out the hotel rates on HotelTonight just for fun, we've spent a lot of time looking at the hotel options in different cities and how much they were going for. The other month in New York we noticed that room rates kept dropping throughout the day at a couple of hotels. The hotel options kept changing throughout the day too.

Just yesterday when we scoped out the NYC hotel offerings on the app, we found the following options at 12:45pm for the downtown neighborhood:
Standard Hotel: $260
Smyth: $199
Flatiron: $189
Later at 4pm, these were the options for downtown:
Dream Downtown: $199
Smyth: $199
Ace Hotel: $169

Imagine booking the cheaper Flatiron hotel at $189 when if you had waited a few more hours you could have had the way hipper Ace hotel for even less?

While HotelTonight's CEO Sam Shank told us that "real-time pricing" is at play on HotelTonight (and that's why hotels like working with HT so much), he insisted that HotelTonight works really hard to make the best deals available that day at noon.

"We don't want to create a situation where they [users] have to check the app throughout the day. The whole point is get out of the app and get on with your life," he said.
Still, we say if your bottom line is a big concern you may want to hold off for at least a few hours after 12pm just to see what shakes out.

2. If you see a hotel you want, book it right away: Shank told us that just as prices can go down on HotelTonight, they can also go up. And availability is limited. For instance, using the hotels listed above, The Standard was available at 12:45pm but gone by 4pm. So if you see something you like, jump on it as it may not pop back up. And then you might be forced to stay at the Wyndham when you could have had a cooler Thompson hotel.

3. Start checking the app a few days before your stay: If you're like us and you know you will be needing a hotel room in a certain city but can't commit until the last-minute, start checking HotelTonight a few days before your stay. That way you'll have a good idea of the types of hotels they have available in the city you're visiting. Of course, as we've already showed you, availability changes on an hourly basis. Plus, some hotels are eager to offer deals during the week but not on the weekends, so the day of your stay will affect what hotel options are up for grabs as well. But no matter what hotel you end up at...

4. If you hate your room, let HotelTonight know: The app is diligent about monitoring customer satisfaction both internally and on social media. Like any new app, service, website or product born in these heady days of social media, HotelTonight is well aware of how public complaints on Facebook or Twitter can do major harm.

Earlier in the summer, there were a few instances where guests were walked from the hotel they booked using HotelTonight which Shank said was "very rare." These were publicly tweeted to @HotelTonight who worked with the users to get the situation sorted out. Shank said HotelTonight has been working hard since then to make sure that doesn't happen again. (Although, invariably it probably will.)

Another reason to take your complaints straight to HotelTonight is because essentially you've made the reservation through them and not the hotel. Your money at this point in the exchange has gone to HotelTonight and not the hotel you end up at. Of course, we'd hope that the hotel staff handles your problems with the attention and respect you deserve but just know that it's not like they can make a refund happen.

5. Load up on HotelTonight credits whenever you can: HotelTonight gives a $25 credit for first-times users as well as $25 credits for folks who invite their friends to use HotelTonight. Each time one of your friends uses the app, you get a $25 credit. The app also awards credits through various social media promotions on Twitter and Facebook. And those little credits can add up, especially when you're already booking rooms for $150 or less.

Source: Hotelchatter

Making Sure BYOD Doesn’t Mean "Bring Your Own Disaster"

By David Lavenda

Almost half of today’s information workers bring at least one device to work. If you are one of them, use these tips to make sure you're covered in case something goes wrong.

The bring your own device (BYOD) to work movement has gone mainstream.

Once relegated to a handful of technology wonks, the desire to use personal smartphones and tablet computers at work is now a business megatrend. In fact, a recent Forrester survey of 10,000 workers found that 43% of today’s information workers have used their own personal technology devices to help them do their jobs, with over half of the workers paying for the devices themselves. Truth is, almost everything written about BYOD looks at the benefits and risks for businesses to support this trend. And with good reason. With all the upside, companies put a lot on the line when they allow employees to use the own devices at work.

But what about you, the individual? Certainly you’d be the coolest person in the room if you were to project your latest presentation using an iPad instead of a PC. And you may actually be reducing ‘separation anxiety’ from work by viewing mail while at the mall, the ball game, or your children’s recital. But what are your risks? Here are some questions to ask your employer if BYOD is standard practice in your workplace:

Data privacy

You may be at risk when you walk around with corporate information on your device. If your device is lost or stolen, what liability do you assume? If you quit your job or get fired, what policies and procedures does your employer have in place to recover their data while removing any potential liability from yourself?

Costs

While it might make your life easier now, do you really want to continue paying for your employer’s technology? What might be cool today could get pretty annoying tomorrow. Once businesses get used to the convenience of having employees ‘ponying up’ for tools, it might be hard to wean them off this in the future. Also, if you buy mobile apps for business use and your employer reimburses you, what happens to them when you quit or leave your job?

Data ownership 

When you leave your place of employment, who owns the intellectual property stored on your phone or tablet? If you have stored corporate data like documents or databases, the answer is straightforward. But what about information like phone numbers and contact information of people who reside in your personal contact application? If you are a sales or support person and your phone number is published as a work number for people to reach you, does the employer expect to use that number when you leave the company?

Also, some companies employ technology to wipe a smartphone or tablet clean if it gets stolen or is lost. In most cases, there is no way to differentiate between personal and professional data. If your company uses such technology, you take the risk of losing all your personal data they decide to wipe your device clean.

Liability

The list of potential gotchas here is quite long, but here are some things that immediately come to mind:

• Data can be stolen from your device at insecure Internet hotspots
• Information you store ‘in the cloud’ can be hacked
• You share applications for both work and personal use
• Information stored for backup gets compromised
• Email or other programs you are using are not considered secure by corporate standards

Furthermore, if you get sued for some action you carried out on behalf of your employer on your personal device, are you covered and will your employer take responsibility for your actions? In each of these cases, who takes responsibility for damages that transpire?

BYOD is still largely unchartered water, so here are some concrete steps to take before bringing that new iPad to work:

1. Clearly delineate where personal and professional data is stored on your device. Make it easy to delete applications and files (via online storage repositories like Dropbox, Box, SkyDrive, or Google Drive) you are using for business.

2. Make sure that any ‘wipe clean’ technology does not remove your personal data without your permission. Make sure your personal data is current and backed up in a safe place that is not related to your phone or tablet.

3. Verify that your company has clear policies and procedures for dealing with data privacy issues, and that you are OK with them, upfront.

4. Obtain an alias phone number for professional use. Many services provide call-forwarding for voice over IP (VOIP) numbers. Order one of these numbers for work purposes. That way, when you leave your place of employment, all you have to do is cancel your forwarded number. Any sane employer should gladly pay for this service.

5. If the idea of BYOD is new to your company, draft a letter of understanding the clarifies issues related to the use of your personal device. The list above provides a good starting point, but it makes sense to consult a professional if you really want to be covered.

And like anything else you buy, caveat emptor.

Author David Lavenda is a high tech marketing and product strategy executive who also does academic research on information overload in organizations. He is an international scholar for the Society for the History of Technology.

[Image: Flickr user Anthony Munoz]

Source: Fastcompany

Mobile Tips for Reaching Travelers

By Millie Park 

The proliferation of smartphones and tablet devices has un-tethered consumers from their computers and allowed them to stay connected wherever they are -- including when they're on vacation. That said, retailers need to invest in platforms that allow them to stay in touch with consumers even when they're taking time off. One way to enhance the experience for the consumer is to deliver targeted product recommendations across all on-the-go devices. More and more, I've seen retail clients ask for help personalizing their customer experience across all touch points, with the priority being smartphones and tablets.

Retailers should take advantage of the fact that consumers are frequently in a new location while on their vacation. For instance, a consumer might check out a favorite ticketing retailer and, through a recommendation, find that his or her favorite rock band is playing right around the corner from the summer beach house rental. Since the ticketing retailer was able to use the consumer's current location data and understand that person's preferences, it is more likely to draw in the consumer.

Another scenario plays out like this. Unbeknownst to the yogi who makes his students take a strict vow to give up all technology to find inner peace, a consumer far away from home logs on to the web via his or her iPad or smartphone while at a mountaintop yoga retreat. The consumer goes back to a favorite online store that sold the yoga gear taken to the retreat, logs in using his or her user name and password, and finds recommendations for a cushioned yoga mat, some high-density yoga blocks, and a few DVDs. That person readily adds them to the shopping cart and order so he or she can keep practicing when the trip to the retreat in the mountains is but a distant memory.

When it comes to product recommendations on-the-go, retailers need to understand that providing recommendations on smartphones or tablets is hard enough -- but delivering a more personalized, engaging experience to consumers is even harder. To do this, retailers need to keep in mind some preventative measures to assure recommendations presented to consumers on-the-go make sense and get noticed.

Make personalized recommendations readily available

Similar to online, try to make recommendations prevalent -- but don't go overboard given the small screen size, or your mobile e-commerce platform will suffer.

Make use of mobile data

It would also behoove companies to use the data collected to provide accurate recommendations for other purposes. For example, data from retargeting on-the-go consumers can be used to launch new targeting campaigns. Data gained from mobile recommendations could potentially influence future mobile display ads. The goal behind this process is to make your efforts more targeted with each on-the-go interaction -- from pre-purchase to mobile shopping cart transaction. If both targeting and retargeting work together, then both efforts become more effective over time.

Smaller screen = bigger effort

Companies must recognize that smartphones and tablets have characteristically small screens. That means you need to maximize value of what is shown (by providing recommendations that deliver relevance) and make navigation easier.

Support virtual window shopping

This can be done by showing recommendations that provide value to your consumers. By making it easy to see and navigate to something that they'll be interested in, they'll be more likely to stay on your mobile site. This is vital on the small screen where session lengths and real estate are both compressed.

Understand that every touch point is different

It's important to recognize differences in behavior by touch point. People might buy different things depending on where they're browsing (e.g., mobile shoppers might purchase DVDs or clothes, but they most likely will not purchase furniture or appliances unless they know exactly what they are looking for and are doing price comparison).

Make it as easy as possible

Help customers complete their purchases. Personalized recommendations can only go so far to engage customers and lead them to purchase. But if the check-out process is overly complicated or time-consuming (especially while on-the-go), you'll get a lot of potential buyers jumping ship. Invest in making it easy to check-out and assure that recommendations are pervasive throughout the checkout process, including highlighting cross-sell items and complementary goods.

It's all about location

Take into account location. Based on your business, location-based recommendations might actually elicit increased action. It's vital to understand how location can impact your business and how you can push recommendations that are sensitive to the location of each individual consumer.

Millie Park is vice president and general manager of ChoiceStream CONNECT, ChoiceStream's suite of recommendation solutions. 

Source: Imediaconnection

Sheriffs Offer Tips For Smartphone Safety

There has been an increase in cell phone thefts throughout Los Angeles County and the nation. Because cell phones are now an everyday part of life for most people, criminals have stepped up their thefts of your favorite communication device.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's detectives and other police agencies have found several common denominators with cell phone thefts.

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Please read these on your smart phone (while you still have it) or Internet and help us to help you to reduce the cost, risks and hassle of having your phone stolen:

Cell Phone Safety Tips:

1. Password Protect Phone: Use the security lock code, or PIN feature, to lock your phone. Make it more difficult for others to access your personal information in your stolen phone.

2. Save Serial Number: Save your cell phone's serial number model and make, and keep it in a place where you can find it. Your serial number proves its yours.

3. Don't Store Secrets: Consider carefully what information you store in your phone. If it's stolen, it's not that difficult for bad guys to pull out your private information before clearing the memory and reselling the device. If it would create too big of a disaster if your information fell into someone else's hands, don't store it. You may not guarantee your phone won't be stolen, but if the information isn't in the phone, the thief can't use it for Identity Theft.

4. Activate Tracking Device: Activate the Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking system on your phone or other electronic device. If the device does not have a GPS tracking system, there is after-market software you can buy. Tracking devices often lead to your stolen device and lots of other stolen property.

5. Distracted Walking and Talking - Stay aware of your surroundings. Don't walk down the street talking on your phone or texting unaware of your environment or of people nearby. Thieves it when you do that, and while you talk, they grab. Also, falling into a fountain or getting hit by a train is far worse than having your cell phone stolen.

6. Hide and Go Eat - When eating in a restaurant (or relaxing in a public place), don't leave your phone on the table. It's too easy for crooks to grab it and run. Put it away and enjoy your meal.

7. Don't Delay: If your phone gets stolen, find another phone to use and call your local sheriff's or police station as soon as possible. Call now, don't wait until you arrive at your next destination.

8. Be a Good Witness: If you see the suspect, don't try to get it back from the suspect. Use caution but try to get a good description of the suspect and vehicle (license number, color, and model) and the last known direction of travel. Write it down if you can and call the cops so we can get it back for you. That's why we're here.

Partner to prevent or report crime by calling your local Sheriff’s station. Or if you wish to remain Anonymous, call “LA Crime Stoppers” by dialing 800-222-TIPS (8477), or text the letters TIPLA plus your tip to CRIMES (274637,) or using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org/

Source: hometownstation

Samsung Galaxy S III: 15 power user tips

By Liane Cassavoy

Own this summer's hottest Android phone? Try these cool power tricks. Own another Android phone? Check our recommendations on apps that may give your phone the same boosts.

image: pcworld.com

It's no secret that the Samsung Galaxy S III is the must-have phone this summer. After all, this high-end Android phone has won over reviewers and consumers alike, selling more than 10 million units in less than two months on the market. PCWorld gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Much of the hype surrounding the Galaxy S III is well deserved—the phone comes packed with cool features, including its voice controls, gesture controls, and multimedia-sharing tools.

However, your Galaxy S III has some lesser-known features that could be more useful than its headline-grabbing capabilities. And, despite what Samsung's marketing campaign may have you believe, not all of these features are specific to the Galaxy S III—some are available, often via downloadable apps, on many high-end Android devices. Read on to learn 15 ways you can get the most out of your slick new smartphone.

Calls made easier

The Samsung Galaxy S III supports smart gestures.

The Samsung Galaxy S III supports smart gestures.Dialing phone numbers or even tapping a contact's name to place a call? That's so 2011. The Galaxy S III's motion controls allow you to place a call simply by moving your phone to your ear when you're viewing a contact or a text message.

The phone's voice controls also allow you to answer and reject calls by voice. And if you really feel the need to touch the screen, you'll be happy to know that the Galaxy S III speeds up this process, too: When you're viewing a contact, you swipe left to send a text and swipe right to initiate a call.

If you're not a Galaxy S III user, but you're still hankering to try out motion controls, you're not out of luck: Super Missed Call is a free (ad-supported) Android app that lets you place and reject calls by moving your phone.

Steady that snapshot

Apple has made a big deal about the Siri voice-control features included in the iPhone 4S.

But one thing Siri can't do is control the iPhone's camera—unlike the Galaxy S III's voice controls. When you enable the voice controls for the S III's camera settings (settings > language and input > voice command for apps > camera), you'll be able to say "Shoot," and the camera will automatically capture a snapshot.

Anyone who's captured an off-kilter shot caused by tapping and accidentally moving a touchscreen will appreciate this voice control as a way to steady a shot, and it can be used to snap self-portraits, too.

Anxious to try voice controls on your Android device's camera? Download Voice Remote Control Camera from Google Play.

Know who's calling, silently

Customized ringtones make it easy to know who's calling without a glance at your phone, but they work only when you're able to keep your phone's ringer on.

If you're in a location where a ringing phone is unacceptable, you could be out of luck—unless you've set up custom vibration patterns for certain contacts. Go to sounds > device vibration > create, and scroll to the bottom.

Looking to get this capability on your own Android phone? Head to Google Play and download Contact Vibrate or ViBe.

Wake up in style

Let's face it: We all have to get out of bed sometime. And what better way to face your day than to be prepared for all it has to offer.

Using the "Briefing" setting on your Galaxy S III's alarm clock, you can have your phone wake you by reading the time, weather and weather forecast, news headlines, and any appointments you may have lined up. To turn this feature on, go to alarm type in the settings menu and change it to briefing.

Not a Galaxy S III owner? Download WakeVoice ($2.99) from Google Play to get some of these features on your Android phone.

Hear your calls, crystal clear

No cell phone is going to offer perfect sound quality, but you can improve the Galaxy S III's call quality by customizing it to your needs.

The phone offers a personalized call-equalization setting, which tests each of your ears with a range of tones and frequencies to see how well you hear them. It then creates a customized EQ curve for each ear, allowing you to hear calls as clearly as possible. You can access this feature via settings > call sound EQ settings > personalized EQ.

Get the whole picture

The Galaxy S III's panoramic mode.

Don't miss out on those big, scenic shots: Capture the entire thing using the Galaxy S III's panoramic mode.

The Galaxy S III's panoramic mode.When you're in the camera, just switch your shooting mode to panorama, and you can pan across some gorgeous scenery as the Galaxy S III goes to work, snapping the photos you need and stitching them together to make a panoramic image.

Want to get this functionality on your Android phone? Try out Photaf Panorama (free) or Pano ($3.06), both available in Google Play.

Keep that video playing

If you've ever tried to keep a toddler entertained by playing a video on your phone, you know how handy it can be. Until said toddler presses a few buttons, minimizing or stopping the video—then all bets are off.

If you want to keep that child's attention where it should be—on the video, of course—lock the phone's touchscreen by simply pressing the power button once when a video is playing.

Looking to add this feature to your phone? Head over to Google Play and download Screen Lock / disable touch or the $0.99 Toddler Video Player Lock.

Send your own personal video

The All Share Play log-in screen on the Samsung Galaxy S III.

The All Share Play log-in screen on the Samsung Galaxy S III.Samsung's AllShare Play feature has gained a lot of attention, and deservedly so: It sends the content that you see on your phone over to your big-screen TV (provided that your TV is compatible with Samsung's sharing technology).

This is a great way to watch a movie or see photos on a big screen, but it also offers a unique way to send a video message. Simply record a video of yourself on your phone, and then play it back on your TV with friends and family watching.

If you'd like to try this with another Android phone, you'll have to purchase a cable to connect your phone to your TV or have a DLNA-compatible phone and TV or set-top box.

Unlock the lock screen's potential

Feel like your lock screen doesn't serve much purpose? Unlock its potential by adding shortcuts to your favorite apps and widgets.

Head to settings > security > lock screen options, and you can choose which items you want to see on your lock screen. Keep in mind that you will have to disable the screen lock in order to add most of them.

And speaking of lock-screen options, don't forget to enable the camera shortcut while you're in that settings menu. Once you do, you'll be able to launch the camera simply by placing your finger on the lock screen and turning the phone sideways, into a landscape orientation.

If your Android phone doesn't offer these features, download WidgetLocker Lockscreen from Google Play; this $2.99 app offers many of the same tools.

Browse the web, privately

Don't want to leave tracks as you surf the Web on your Galaxy S III? Turn on Incognito browsing.

To do so, open the phone's on-board browser, and go to the Tabs window in the upper right. Once you're there, click the cloak-and-dagger man. Presto, you're browsing privately. When you close the browser, your history isn't saved.

If you want to get this feature on your Android device, it's in Google's Chrome for Android browser and in apps like InBrowser.

See two videos at once

I remember seeing picture-in-picture video at a friend's house back in the 1980s and being absolutely awed by the technology.

Samsung Galaxy SIII's Pop-up Play feature.If only my 10-year-old self could get a look at the Samsung Galaxy S III's Pop-up Play feature, which allows you view picture-in-picture video when using the phone's video player. You can even use it to create a small video window that can sit on top of other apps, so you can, for example, watch a movie while checking email.

Stick It! is a $1.79 app available in Google Play that will bring some of these features to other Android phones.

Share your location, directly

Samsung Galaxy SIII's Pop-up Play feature.

Whether you're on your way to meet someone, or waiting for someone to meet you, let them know where you are—exactly.

Open up the S III's texting interface, then press menu and select add text. When the next menu pops up, select location > Google Maps. From there, you can opt to send your exact whereabouts to a friend via SMS.

Want to try this on your Android device? Download WhatsApp Messenger from Google Play.

Save that screen

Take a screenshot. And another. And another. Taking screenshots with the S III is a snap—all you have to do is swipe the screen with your palm. So go ahead, take some more. And some more. And, well, you get the idea.

Other Android phones don't make it quite as easy. If you're using a phone running Android version 4.0 or later, you have to press and hold the Volume Down and Power buttons at the same time.

Give that volume a boost

If you're struggling to hear a caller, but you've already maxed out the phone's volume, you're out of luck, right? Not so fast: Samsung's phone offers a way to add a little bit more volume.

When you're on a call, an extra-volume button appears on your screen, next to the contact phone. You can use the button to turn up the volume when your call isn't coming through as loudly and clearly as you might like.

If you don't yet have a Galaxy S III, you will likely have to root your device to get this kind of volume boost. If you're daring, you can find instructions for doing so online.

Make the phone a flashlight

Stop digging around your bag in the dark, hunting for your keys.

If you have your S III in hand, you've already got a flashlight. The Assistive Light widget—which you can add to your home screen by going to Apps, selecting the Widgets tab, and choosing Assistive Light—turns the camera's flash into a flashlight when you need it most. Some other Android phones have this widget as well.

Want to add the flashlight feature to your Android phone? Check out Tiny Flashlight + LED, available as a free download in Google Play. 

Source: Pcworld 1 and Pcworld 2