lockscreen

Disable certain features of the lock screen on your smartphone with Lockscreen Policy.

When putting your phone into your pocket, you can accidentally activate the camera on the lock screen. This will run down your battery and can heat up the phone, especially if the flash happens to be on. For any Jelly Bean user with these reoccurring issues, Lockscreen Policy comes to the rescue.

Since Lockscreen Policy is a simple and light program, it downloads instantly. The user interface is virtually nonexistent, as the program runs in the background. The application simply adds an extra option in the settings menu to disable the camera application and widgets from the lock screen. This … Read more

Disable lock screen widgets, camera access on Android 4.2

At first glance, the lock screen widgets in Android 4.2 may seem like a convenient feature. But you may soon realize having all of your personal information plastered on what was once a secure screen, isn't ideal. Removing the widgets is simple, but you're still left with the box outlines every time you wake your device, which can get annoying. And there's no way to disable widgets, or camera access for that matter, on the lock screen built into Android 4.2.

Thankfully, an Android developer has released a free app titled Lockscreen Policy, enabling you … Read more

Add appointments to your Android's lock screen

The calendar widget is fairly useful, but it takes up a considerable amount of screen real estate. For this reason, it often lands on the screens to the left or right of the main home screen. And then comes the out of sight, out of mind practice. The only way to keep tabs on the events if you don't remember to look at them is to set reminders. But how good is a reminder if it reminds you at an inconvenient time? Here's how to avoid a mess like this:

Note: This app may not work on some … Read more

Ice Cream Sandwich makes tough security taste better

There's more to Ice Cream Sandwich than just better camera controls, near-field communication support, and the redesigned interface. Google has also been working on making the latest version of Android the safest yet, and several of the features are mighty sharp for a melty brick of ice cream.

The biggest of them all is that you'll be able to fully encrypt your ICS device. This means that all your data will be on lockdown, inaccessible even to you until you enter in the passcode or personal identification number.

The benefit of this obvious: if lose your phone, you … Read more