Install MIUI 4 on Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830

The Samsung Galaxy Ace is one of Samsung’s popular mid-range and budget-friendly Android phones. Sporting mid-range specs and good performance, the phone lets you enjoy the Android experience without burning a hole in your pocket. The Samsung Galaxy Ace, however, only offers Android 2.2 Froyo, which is not as sweet as the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
XDA Developers member Rushabh25 has developed an alternative way to load up Android 4.0 ICS on your Galaxy Ace via the MIUI 4 ROM. The ROM is called MIUY4 and has a pretty long list of features, the most notable of which are the following:

• MIUI launcher and icons
• MIUI boot animation
• MIUI default wallpapers
• MIUI user interface
• MIUI apps such as Gallery, Music Player, and Camera
• MIUI clock widgets
• Enabled CRT Animation
• Lagfree v3 and Turboboost v8.5
• Speed and stability
• Android Market 3.4.4
• CF-Root
• Full deodex
• Screenshot capture

If you want to give the ROM a try, read our guide on how to install the MIUY4 ROM to your Galaxy Ace.

Requirements

Take note that you will be held responsible for whatever happens to your device. You will also be needing the following before you can proceed with installing the ROM:

• Grab the MIUY4 ROM (version 2) here (“MIUY4 v2.zip”, 89.59 MB).
• You will need to root your Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 and flash ClockworkMod Recovery on your device. Check out our rooting guide for your device.
• Pump up your phone’s battery to at least 60% or more.
• To prevent losing your phone data, create a backup before flashing the ROM.
• Disable system tools that will interfere in the installation process (e.g., firewall programs, antivirus software, and Samsung KIES).

Instructions

1. Hook up your mobile phone to the PC.
2. Copy the MIUY4 ROM to your Samsung Galaxy Ace’s SD card.
3. Switch your device off and leave it untouched for about 10 seconds.
4. Press and hold the Home button (middle key) and Power button simultaneously to boot the phone into ClockworkMod Recovery.
5. Using the Volume keys, highlight “Wipe Data/Factory reset” and tap the Power button to select.
6. Select “Wipe Cache Partition” and confirm the action on the next screen.
7. From the main menu, go to “Advanced” and select “Wipe Dalvik Cache,” then confirm the action on the next screen.
8. Go back to the main menu and select “Install zip from sdcard.”
9. Select “choose zip from sdcard” and scroll down and locate the “MIUY4 v2.zip” file.
10. Confirm your action by selecting “Yes” to begin flashing the ROM to your mobile phone.
11. Reboot your phone.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich via the MIUY4 ROM on your Samsung Galaxy Ace. Tell us what you think of the newest Android experience on your mobile device.

Upgrade the Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830 to Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread via CyanogenMod 7

The CyanogenMod team has revealed the official CyanogenMod 7 (CM7) ROM for the Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830, bringing the customized and improved features of Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread to the said phone.
Although there are existing custom ROMs (e.g., CyanogenMod 9) based on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for this phone, CM7 offers a more stable build on your mobile phone.
The rest of this post will guide you on how to install the official CM7 ROM on your Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830. The ROM is a Release Candidate (RC) build which is more stable compared to earlier builds of CM7.  Though, expect a few bugs here and there.
If you want to experience a customized and enhanced Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread, follow our step-by-step guide and learn how to install CyanogenMod 7 on your Samsung Galaxy Ace.

Requirements

• A rooted Samsung Galaxy Ace running on stock Android 2.3.x Gingerbread and with ClockworkMod Recovery installed (ClockworkMod 5 recommended). See this rooting guide on how to root your Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830 running on Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread DDKQ5 or DDKQ6.
• Backup your data before flashing the ROM.
• Charge the phone’s battery to 60% or more (full charge recommended).

Warnings

• This flashing guide is compatible with the Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830. Using this guide on another device may cause damage.  Use this guide at your own risk.
• The CM 7 ROM is still being developed. You may experience some minor bugs.

Instructions

1. Download the RC build of CyanogenMod 7 ROM from here (update-cm-7.2.0-RC1-cooper-signed.zip, 88.16 MB).  Or, you can download the nightly build, if you like.  Save the file to your computer.
2. Download the GApps (Google Apps) package here (gapps-gb-20120116-237-signed.zip, 8.66 MB).  Save the file to your computer.
3. Hook up your Samsung Galaxy Ace to the computer using a USB cable.
4. Copy the CyanogenMod 7 ROM and GApps packages directly to the phone’s SD card. Do not place it under a subfolder.
5. Disconnect your phone from the computer.
6. Switch off your phone and wait for it to vibrate to make sure your phone is completely turned off.
7. Reboot your Samsung Galaxy Ace into ClockworkMod Recovery. You can do that by pressing the Home button (middle key) and Power key simultaneously until the phone boots.
8. Once in Recovery, select “Wipe data/factory reset” and confirm the action on the next screen.
9. Navigate to “Wipe Cache” and confirm the action to wipe all the data in the cache.
10. Go back to the main menu and select “Advanced.” From there, select “Wipe Dalvik Cache” and confirm the action on the next screen.
11. Go back to the main menu and select “install zip from sd card.”
12. Select “choose zip from sd card” and locate the CyanogenMod 7 ROM file. Confirm the action to begin flashing the ROM on your phone.
13. Once installation is complete, return to the main menu and reselect “install zip from sd card” and flash the GApps package.
14. Go back to the main menu and select “reboot system now” to restart your phone.

Congratulations! You have successfully flashed Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread via CyanogenMod 7 on your Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-S5830.

How to Root Your Samsung Galaxy Ace

If you own a Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 running on Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread DDKQ5 or DDKQ6 version, you can now easily root your device. If you are unsure what version your phone is running, you can verify by heading to Settings > About Phone > Firmware Version, in which you can find valuable information on what type of firmware version your device has.

What is Rooting?

For those of you who are not familiar with rooting, it is like jailbreaking your phone to support neat new features normally not found on a smartphone. There are many benefits you can have once you gain root access on your device. For example, you can make your phone run faster, install custom ROMs, and install (sideload) applications from third-party sources.
Along with great functionalities and features rooting has to offer, it also has some downsides. Once you root your device, you are also (possibly) voiding its warranty. Although, there is usually the option of unrooting your device by updating it with a stock ROM. Overall, rooting can be a win-win situation.

Prerequisites

• Just in case your phone data, call log, text messages, and media files get erased in the process, you need to backup those files as a precautionary measure.
• In order for the rooting process to begin, it is highly suggested that you need to at least charge your phone to 60%.
• You also need to enable USB Debugging on your phone. This can be enabled by heading to Settings > Applications > Development > USB Debugging.
• Lastly, close all potentially conflicting applications on your computer such as antivirus software, Samsung Kies PC Suite, and firewall software as they tend to disrupt or block the rooting process. If you do have other unnecessary applications that cause your phone delays, you should uninstall them or remove them as well.

Once the necessary preparations have been done, you are now ready to proceed to the rooting instructions.

Rooting Instructions

1. Download the latest Galaxy ACE Rooting Package to your computer. Get the file here (about 925 KB).
2. Connect your phone to your computer via USB cable.
3. Copy the downloaded ZIP file to your phone’s SD card without renaming or modifying the file.
4. Reboot into recovery mode. Turn off your phone. Then, simultaneously press and hold the Volume Up + OK button, and press the Power button.
5. Your phone will boot to the recovery mode screen. From here, choose “Install zip from SD Card” and select “Choose Zip from SD”.
6. Using the Volume Up and Volume Down keys, locate the ZIP file that you just copied to your SD card (the one named “upd_1.zip”). Press the Power button to select it.
7. Wait for about 5 – 10 minutes for the rooting process to finish.
8. Once the rooting process is done, your phone will automatically reboot. If it fails to do so, head back to the main menu by selecting “++++ Go Back ++++” and select “Reboot System Now” to manually reboot your phone.

Congratulations! You have successfully rooted your Samsung Galaxy Ace. You can now enjoy the benefits of having a rooted device.

How To Root Galaxy Ace On Android 2.3.5 & 2.3.6

1. Copy "upd_ 1.zip" file on  your phone's SD card (don't extract it copy as itis)


2. Switch off your phone


3. Hold down Middle key
and press power on key


4. Now your phone will boot in recovery In recovery mode touch screen will not work so use volume UP/DOWN to toggle through options and middle key to confirm.


5. Now choose "update from SD card" option


6. Browse the file "upd_1 .zip" from memory card, press ok


7. Wait until the confirmation screen , confirm it


8. It will take few seconds to install,


9. Once done choose "reboot in normal mode" to restart the phone


Download the file from here
http://adf.ly/9lz2e

10 sweetest features of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

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Home screen; Widgets

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With Ice Cream Sandwich, Google is hoping to make its Android operating system more polished and approachable without sacrificing the power or versatility that gave the OS its geek cred. Yes, the new Roboto font is slick, but there are some pretty major upgrades under the hood. Multitasking has improved; there’s a new-and-improved People app; and you can even unlock your phone with your face. To give you a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich’s most important new features, we took the software for a test drive on the brand new Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
1. Front buttons go bye-byeIce Cream Sandwich forgoes the need for physical Back, Home, Menu and Search buttons by integrating a new System Bar at the bottom of the screen. There’s three persistent virtual buttons here (Back, Home and Recent Apps), while ICS exposes more menu options within a separate Action Bar. Its location varies on the app and includes a search button. We appreciate that the OS provides increased real estate for content, but miss being able to press and hold the search button from any screen to launch Google Voice Actions.
2. Multitasking better than iOSThat Recent Apps button really comes in handy, displaying thumbnails of open apps in a vertical stack that you can easily scroll through. Even better, you can just swipe an app off the screen to close it. This approach is more straightforward than the iPhone, which forces you to double tap the home button and then press and hold an app icon before closing it.

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Multitasking; Face unlock

3. Face unlock There’s probably no easier way to unlock a phone than staring at it, and that’s exactly what Ice Cream Sandwich lets you do. Setting up Face Unlock under settings was a cinch, and it worked well most of the time. Just make sure you have enough ambient light for the front-facing camera; we had to enter a pin as a backup a few times when our Galaxy Nexus couldn’t recognize our mug. Also keep in mind that you can fool the OS by holding up a picture of yourself. Face Unlock is more of a convenience feature than a security feature.
4. Resizable widgetsIce Cream Sandwich wants to put widgets more front and center, which is why you see a Widgets tab when you open the Apps menu. And just like on Honeycomb tablets, you can use widgets scroll through content — like your calendar or inbox. Plus, you can resize widgets just by pressing and holding on them and then dragging any one of the corners.

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Camera/photo app

5. Killer camera appOther Android phones offer this feature, but we’re glad to see that Ice Cream Sandwich makes a Panorama mode standard with its camera app. You just swivel your phone to left to right and the software takes care of the rest. The OS also includes robust editing capabilities, from auto-fix and cropping to a wide range of special effects.
6. Notifications clean up their actWhile we like that Android phones let you see notifications with a swipe down from the screen — Apple copied it for a reason — Ice Cream Sandwich makes it easier to manage them. You can dismiss individual notifications by just swiping them off the screen, as opposed to needing to clear them all at once. You can also dive into settings from this menu with a tap.

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Notifications; People

7. People app gives contacts a makeoverA new People app in Ice Cream Sandwich is more inviting than your typical address book, providing a large profile along with social networking integration. We liked being able to swipe to the right while viewing a contact to see Google+ updates and Twitter updates from that person in a single stream. Too bad Google hasn’t added Facebook yet.
8. Respond to calls with a textAndroid Ice Cream Sandwich makes it easy to ignore incoming calls without being rude. If you’re too busy to answer, just swipe up and you’ll see a list of canned text messages you can tap. Choices include “Can’t talk right now. What’s up?” and “I’ll call you right back.” You can also create a custom message on the fly. Pretty convenient.

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Call response; Android Beam

9. Just beam itThis feature will take a while to take off, but we love the idea. Provided your Ice Cream Sandwich phone has an NFC (near field communications) chip inside, you can transmit info to other phones running the latest Android OS just by touching the two together. With Android Beam you can share anything from contacts and Web pages to apps and YouTube videos. Beam will get even better once developers get their hands on Google’s code.

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Browser

10. Better Web browsing
The new browser in Ice Cream Sandwich is not only faster than its predecessor, it lets you open up to 16 browser tabs at once. You can also sync bookmarks from your Google Chrome account. Tired of getting served mobile versions of your favorite sites? Just check the Request desktop site option. Offline reading lets users save specific Web pages for reading without a connection. Unfortunately, Flash support isn’t coming until later this year.

Introducing Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

Introducing Android 4.0

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) is the latest version of the Android platform for phones, tablets, and more. It builds on the things people love most about Android — easy multitasking, rich notifications, customizable home screens, resizable widgets, and deep interactivity — and adds powerful new ways of communicating and sharing.

Simple, Beautiful, Useful

Refined, evolved UI

Focused on bringing the power of Android to the surface, Android 4.0 makes common actions more visible and lets you navigate with simple, intuitive gestures. Refined animations and feedback throughout the system make interactions engaging and interesting. An entirely new typeface optimized for high-resolution screens improves readability and brings a polished, modern feel to the user interface.
Virtual buttons in the System Bar let you navigate instantly to Back, Home, and Recent Apps. The System Bar and virtual buttons are present across all apps, but can be dimmed by applications for full-screen viewing. You can access each application's contextual options in the Action Bar, displayed at the top (and sometimes also at the bottom) of the screen.
Multitasking is a key strength of Android and it's made even easier and more visual on Android 4.0. The Recent Apps button lets you jump instantly from one task to another using the list in the System Bar. The list pops up to show thumbnail images of apps used recently — tapping a thumbnail switches to the app.

The Recent Apps list makes multitasking simple.

Jump to the camera or see notifications without unlocking.

For incoming calls, you can respond instantly by text.

Rich and interactive notifications let you keep in constant touch with incoming messages, play music tracks, see real-time updates from apps, and much more. On smaller-screen devices, notifications appear at the top of the screen, while on larger-screen devices they appear in the System Bar.

Home screen folders and favorites tray

New home screen folders offer a new way for you to group your apps and shortcuts logically, just by dragging one onto another. Also, in All Apps launcher, you can now simply drag an app to get information about it or immediately uninstall it, or disable a pre-installed app.

The All Apps launcher (left) and resizable widgets (right) give you apps and rich content from the home screen.

On smaller-screen devices, the home screen now includes a customizable favorites tray visible from all home screens. You can drag apps, shortcuts, folders, and other priority items in or out of the favorites tray for instant access from any home screen.

Resizable widgets

Home screens in Android 4.0 are designed to be content-rich and customizable. You can do much more than add shortcuts — you can embed live application content directly through interactive widgets. Widgets let you check email, flip through a calendar, play music, check social streams, and more — right from the home screen, without having to launch apps. Widgets are resizable, so you can expand them to show more content or shrink them to save space.

New lock screen actions

The lock screens now let you do more without unlocking. From the slide lock screen, you can jump directly to the camera for a picture or pull down the notifications window to check for messages. When listening to music, you can even manage music tracks and see album art.

Quick responses for incoming calls

When an incoming call arrives, you can now quickly respond by text message, without needing to pick up the call or unlock the device. On the incoming call screen, you simply slide a control to see a list of text responses and then tap to send and end the call. You can add your own responses and manage the list from the Settings app.

Swipe to dismiss notifications, tasks, and browser tabs

Android 4.0 makes managing notifications, recent apps, and browser tabs even easier. You can now dismiss individual notifications, apps from the Recent Apps list, and browser tabs with a simple swipe of a finger.

A spell-checker lets you find errors and fix them faster.

A powerful voice input engine lets you dictate continuously.

Improved text input and spell-checking

The soft keyboard in Android 4.0 makes text input even faster and more accurate. Error correction and word suggestion are improved through a new set of default dictionaries and more accurate heuristics for handling cases such as double-typed characters, skipped letters, and omitted spaces. Word suggestion is also improved and the suggestion strip is simplified to show only three words at a time.
To fix misspelled words more easily, Android 4.0 adds a spell-checker that locates and underlines errors and suggests replacement words. With one tap, you can choose from multiple spelling suggestions, delete a word, or add it to the dictionary. You can even tap to see replacement suggestions for words that are spelled correctly. For specialized features or additional languages, you can now download and install third-party dictionaries, spell-checkers, and other text services.

Powerful voice input engine

Android 4.0 introduces a powerful new voice input engine that offers a continuous "open microphone" experience and streaming voice recognition. The new voice input engine lets you dictate the text you want, for as long as you want, using the language you want. You can speak continously for a prolonged time, even pausing for intervals if needed, and dictate punctuation to create correct sentences. As the voice input engine enters text, it underlines possible dictation errors in gray. After dictating, you can tap the underlined words to quickly replace them from a list of suggestions.

Data usage controls let you monitor total usage by network type and application and then set limits if needed.

Control over network data

Mobile devices can make extensive use of network data for streaming content, synchronizing data, downloading apps, and more. To meet the needs of you with tiered or metered data plans, Android 4.0 adds new controls for managing network data usage.
In the Settings app, colorful charts show the total data usage on each network type (mobile or Wi-Fi), as well as amount of data used by each running application. Based on your data plan, you can optionally set warning levels or hard limits on data usage or disable mobile data altogether. You can also manage the background data used by individual applications as needed.

Designed for accessibility

A variety of new features greatly enhance the accessibility of Android 4.0 for blind or visually impaired users. Most important is a new explore-by-touch mode that lets you navigate without having to see the screen. Touching the screen once triggers audible feedback that identifies the UI component below; a second touch in the same component activates it with a full touch event. The new mode is especially important to support users on new devices that use virtual buttons in the System Bar, rather than dedicated hardware buttons or trackballs. Also, standard apps are updated to offer an improved accessibility experience. The Browser supports a script-based screen reader for reading favorite web content and navigating sites. For improved readability, you can also increase the default font size used across the system.
The accessibility experience begins at first setup — a simple touch gesture during setup (clockwise square from upper left) activates all accessibility features and loads a setup tutorial. Once accessibility features are active, everything visible on the screen can be spoken aloud by the standard screen reader.

Contacts and profiles are integrated across apps and social networks, for a consistent, personal experience everywhere — from incoming calls to emails.

Communication and sharing

People and profiles

Throughout the system, your social groups, profiles, and contacts are linked together and integrated for easy accessibility. At the center is a new People app that offers richer profile information, including a large profile picture, phone numbers, addresses and accounts, status updates, events, and a new button for connecting on integrated social networks.
Your contact information is stored in a new "Me" profile, allowing easier sharing with apps and people. All of your integrated contacts are displayed in an easy to manage list, including controls over which contacts are shown from any integrated account or social network. Wherever you navigate across the system, tapping a profile photo displays Quick Contacts, with large profile pictures, shortcuts to phone numbers, text messaging, and more.

Unified calendar, visual voicemail

To help organize appointments and events, an updated Calendar app brings together personal, work, school, and social agendas. With user permission, other applications can contribute events to the calendar and manage reminders, for an integrated view across multiple calendar providers. The app is redesigned to let you manage events more easily. Calendars are color-coded and you can swipe left or right to change dates and pinch to zoom in or out agendas.
In the phone app, a new visual voicemail features integrates incoming messages, voice transcriptions, and audio files from one or more providers. Third-party applications can integrate with the Phone app to add your own voice messages, transcriptions, and more to the visual voicemail inbox.

Capture the picture you want, edit, and share instantly.

Rich and versatile camera capabilities

The Camera app includes many new features that let you capture special moments with great photos and videos. After capturing images, you can edit and share them easily with friends.
When taking pictures, continuous focus, zero shutter lag exposure, and decreased shot-to-shot speed help capture clear, precise images. Stabilized image zoom lets you compose photos and video in the way you want, including while video is recording. For new flexibility and convenience while shooting video, you can now take snapshots at full video resolution just by tapping the screen as video continues to record.
To make it easier to take great pictures of people, built-in face detection locates faces in the frame and automatically sets focus. For more control, you can tap to focus anywhere in the preview image.
For capturing larger scenes, the Camera introduces a single-motion panorama mode. In this mode, you start an exposure and then slowly turn the Camera to encompass as wide a perspective as needed. The Camera assembles the full range of continuous imagery into a single panoramic photo.
After taking a picture or video, you can quickly share it by email, text message, bluetooth, social networks, and more, just by tapping the thumbnail in the camera controls.

A Photo Gallery widget on the home screen.

Redesigned Gallery app with photo editor

The Gallery app now makes it easier to manage, show, and share photos and videos. For managing collections, a redesigned album layout shows many more albums and offers larger thumbnails. There are many ways to sort albums, including by time, location, people, and tags. To help pictures look their best, the Gallery now includes a powerful photo editor. You can crop and rotate pictures, set levels, remove red eyes, add effects, and much more. After retouching, you can select one or multiple pictures or videos to share instantly over email, text messaging, bluetooth, social networks, or other apps.
An improved Picture Gallery widget lets you look at pictures directly on the home screen. The widget can display pictures from a selected album, shuffle pictures from all albums, or show a single image. After adding the widget to the home screen, you can flick through the photo stacks to locate the image you want, then tap to load it in Gallery.

Live Effects let you change backgrounds and use Silly Faces during video.

Live Effects for transforming video

Live Effects is a collection of graphical transformations that add interest and fun to videos captured in the Camera app. For example, you can change the background behind them to any stock or custom image, for just the right setting when shooting video. Also available for video is Silly Faces, a set of morphing effects that use state-of-the-art face recognition and GPU filters to transform facial features. For example, you can use effects such as small eyes, big mouth, big nose, face squeeze, and more. Outside of the Camera app, Live Effects is available during video chat in the Google Talk app.

Snapping a screenshot.

Sharing with screenshots

You can now share what's on your screens more easily by taking screenshots. Hardware buttons let them snap a screenshot and store it locally. Afterward, you can view, edit, and share the screen shot in Gallery or a similar app.

Cloud-connected experience

Android has always been cloud-connected, letting you browse the web and sync photos, apps, games, email, and contacts — wherever you are and across all of your devices. Android 4.0 adds new browsing and email capabilities to let you take even more with them and keep communication organized.

The Browser tabs menu (left) lets you quickly switch browser tabs. The options menu (right) gives you new ways to manage your browsing experience.

Benchmark comparisons of Android Browser.

Powerful web browsing

The Android Browser offers an experience that’s as rich and convenient as a desktop browser. It lets you instantly sync and manage Google Chrome bookmarks from all of your accounts, jump to your favorite content faster, and even save it for reading later in case there's no network available.
To get the most out of web content, you can now request full desktop versions of web sites, rather than their mobile versions. You can set your preference for web sites separately for each browser tab. For longer content, you can save a copy for offline reading. To find and open saved pages, you can browse a visual list that’s included with browser bookmarks and history. For better readability and accessibility, you can increase the browser’s zoom levels and override the system default text sizes.
Across all types of content, the Android Browser offers dramatically improved page rendering performance through updated versions of the WebKit core and the V8 Crankshaft compilation engine for JavaScript. In benchmarks run on a Nexus S device, the Android 4.0 browser showed an improvement of nearly 220% over the Android 2.3 browser in the V8 Benchmark Suite and more than 35% in the SunSpider 9.1 JavaScript Benchmark. When run on a Galaxy Nexus device, the Android 4.0 browser showed improvement of nearly 550% in the V8 benchmark and nearly 70% in the SunSpider benchmark.

Improved email

In Android 4.0, email is easier to send, read, and manage. For composing email, improved auto-completion of recipients helps with finding and adding frequent contacts more quickly. For easier input of frequent text, you can now create quick responses and store them in the app, then enter them from a convenient menu when composing. When replying to a message, you can now toggle the message to Reply All and Forward without changing screens.
For easier browsing across accounts and labels, the app adds an integrated menu of accounts and recent labels. To help you locate and organize IMAP and Exchange email, the Email app now supports nested mail subfolders, each with synchronization rules. You can also search across folders on the server, for faster results.
For enterprises, the Email app supports EAS v14. It supports EAS certificate authentication, provides ABQ strings for device type and mode, and allows automatic sync to be disabled while roaming. Administrators can also limit attachment size or disable attachments.
For keeping track of incoming email more easily, a resizable Email widget lets you flick through recent email right from the home screen, then jump into the Email app to compose or reply.

Android Beam lets you share what you are using with a single tap.

Innovation

Android is continuously driving innovation forward, pushing the boundaries of communication and sharing with new capabilities and interactions.

Android Beam for NFC-based sharing

Android Beam is an innovative, convenient feature for sharing across two NFC-enabled devices, It lets people instantly exchange favorite apps, contacts, music, videos — almost anything. It’s incredibly simple and convenient to use — there’s no menu to open, application to launch, or pairing needed. Just touch one Android-powered phone to another, then tap to send.
For sharing apps, Android Beam pushes a link to the app's details page on Google Play. On the other device, the Google Play app launches and loads the details page, for easy downloading of the app. Individual apps can build on Android Beam to add other types of interactions, such as passing game scores, initiating a multiplayer game or chat, and more.

Face recognition lets you unlock your phone with your face.

Face Unlock

Android 4.0 introduces a completely new approach to securing a device, making each person's device even more personal — Face Unlock is a new screen-lock option that lets you unlock your device with your face. It takes advantage of the device front-facing camera and state-of-the-art facial recognition technology to register a face during setup and then to recognize it again when unlocking the device. Just hold your device in front of your face to unlock, or use a backup PIN or pattern.

Wi-Fi Direct and Bluetooth HDP

Support for Wi-Fi Direct lets you connect directly to nearby peer devices over Wi-Fi, for more reliable, higher-speed communication. No internet connection or tethering is needed. Through third-party apps, you can connect to compatible devices to take advantage of new features such as instant sharing of files, photos, or other media; streaming video or audio from another device; or connecting to compatible printers or other devices.
Android 4.0 also introduces built-in support for connecting to Bluetooth Health Device Profile (HDP) devices. With support from third-party apps, you can connect to wireless medical devices and sensors in hospitals, fitness centers, homes, and elsewhere.

7 Best Siri Alternative Apps, Now Android Users Can Use All Siri Functions

We all know about Siri, it has an amazing array of features for everyone and the possibilities are endless. Yes yes apple we know. Whether wanting to suggest calling a friend, dictating a message or changing your samsung galaxy s2 wallpaper, this assistant will do it all. When Siri was released for the iPhone 4S, there were, shortly afterwards a whole slew of alternatives released. Prior to this,   many people searched hard reset galaxy s2 in a frantic panic. Trying there utmost to find alternatives. Well…
Never fear Android users!  Below is an awesome list brimming with free android apps available as alternatives to iPhones Siri app. Android developers are catching up speedily and we want to share the best alternatives below to prove that.

Vlingo Virtual Assistant

iris. (alpha)

Speaktoit Assistant

Jeannie

Skyvi (Siri for Android)

Jessica

Andy – Siri for Android

25+ Photographers Must-Have Android Apps For Improve Their Skills

Now days most of the mobile phones have best camera, in this rivalry Android applications that augment the photographers experience using creative tools for get overwhelming results. We have some must-have apps collections for beginners and professional photographers using your android phones.
Android market offers some exceptional and first-rate apps for everyone as we arrange some of photography related apps, apart from photo editing, photo manipulation, high-definition photos, photo enhancement apps and some ultimate useful filters and photo plugins for make different effects. These are also helping you in experimenting with the tricky rules of photography.

PicSay Pro – Photo Editor

Award winning photo editor with all the tools you need to spice up your pictures, Spice up the pictures on your phone with this award winning photo editor! New, initial Xoom Honeycomb Tablet support, Gritty and Redscale filter, and new mouth stickers!
Sharpen, remove red eye, crop & straighten, distort, insert cutouts of other pictures, paint, make color splash out of black-and-white pictures, add text, word balloons, apply effects like Cross Process, Lomo, Vignette, faux HDR, Tilt-shift, Pencil Sketch, and much more.
Includes Summer stickers!

Camera360 Ultimate

Turn your phone into professional camera. Provides LOMO, HDR, axis shift, draft, ghost, etc. and multiple styles.
#Top 1% apps
#Powerful photo apps
1.For 480.etc high – resolution mobile phones optimized display interface is more delicate.
2.The application will turn “save image” on default.
3.The app runs against to sleep when the program runs.
4.On the part of the interface has been fine-tuned.

Pro HDR Camera

HDR comes to Android!
Introducing Pro HDR Camera, the world’s first real HDR app for Android! From the team that created Pro HDR for iOS, now you can automatically create stunning full-resolution HDR images with just a single tap on your Android phone. Please note that this app has been tested to work properly on Motorola, HTC and most Samsung phones. However, if you have a LG, Sony, or other device, the HDR capability may not function properly.

Magic Hour – Camera

Magic Hour Camera – You can download unlimited filters for free!! Magic Hour is an app that can transform your ordinary photos to extraordinary ones. It will give you a fun experience you’ve never had.
✱ Magic Hour means… ✱
The magic hour is the first and the last hour of sunlight during the day,  when a specific photographic effect is achieved due to the quality of the light.

Vignette

Vignette: Add film and camera effects to your photos.(If you already purchased Vignette and you’re wondering why we’ve re-published it as a new app, please go to goo.gl/rdmuyfor an explanation).Add film and camera effects to your photos.• 84 effects & 59 frames
• Retro/vintage styles
• LOMO/Diana/Holga toy camera styles
• Polaroid/instant camera styles
• Cross-process, tilt-shift, photobooth, double exposure and more.• Supports the full resolution of your camera (3.1MP, 5MP or 8MP)
• Flash (if your phone has one) (not working on Dell Streak)
• Front-facing camera support (on some phones)
• Self-timer and time-lapse
• Digital zoom
• GeotaggingThere is a free demo version of Vignette to allow you to try it out before you buy it. Search the Market for “Vignette Demo”.

Camera Fun Pro

Awesome point & shoot Photo effects lens for Android camera! Point & shoot Photo effects lens for Android camera. The most entertaining photography app – guaranteed!
Just point your Android camera and see LIVE Photo effects on the screen BEFORE you click a picture – no fuss, no muss and no guessing how your pictures will turn out!

Photaf 3D Panorama Pro

Easily create a 3D panorama
by utilizing the camera and the orientation sensor.
Photaf – The best Android App for creating panoramas
Top 10 Android Photography apps
With Photaf you can create amazing 3D panoramas easily by utilizing the camera and the orientation sensor to know the exact angle each picture was taken. When done, you can move your phone around to see the complete panoramic view by using the phone’s compass or the touch screen.View Photaf’s online panoramas gallery and get tips for taking better panoramas at www.photaf.com website.
Features:
● Facebook Share – Share panoramas with your friends!
● Upload to Photaf.com website and view it from your computer!
● Automatic Image Stitching
● Pinch to Zoom
● Move to SD
● Set as Live wallpaper (Pro version)
● HD Mode (Pro Version)
● Use Camera in portrait mode (Pro Version)
● Export to gallery folder
● Optimized for Honeycomb – Works on the Motorola Xoom, Asus Transformer, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and all other Honeycomb tablets
* Photaf is available exclusively for Android – No iPhone version available
For any problem you may have, whether the app is not working well or you want a refund, you can email me and I’ll do my best to help. Commenting on the market won’t help since I cannot get back to you. Also read the troubleshooting section bellow as it may help with common problems.

TouchRetouch

Remove unwanted content from your photos easily!
TouchRetouch is an award-winning photo editor that allows you to remove unwanted content or objects from any photo, using just your finger and your phone. Mark the items you want taken out of the snapshot and hit ‘Go’. That’s all there is to it. Photo editing has never been so quick, easy and convenient.
You recently got married on a beautiful Caribbean beach. Everything was so perfect. Luckily, you have a lot of memorable snapshots of the crystalline water and white sand backdrop of the ceremony, you and your new spouse silhouetted in the sunset, your guests under a palm tree, that nude sunbather that somehow got included in a shot taken during the exchanging of vows. Yikes! Before showing your mom those photos, take a minute to remove that accidental guest from an otherwise great picture. Open your TouchRetouch app. Using your finger, select the Brush or Lasso tool to mark what you don’t want in the shot, then hit the ‘Go’ button. Okay, you’re done and it’s now safe to share your picture-perfect memories with everybody.
TouchRetouch isn’t just for exotic or wedding photo touch-ups, of course. Use this easy yet ingenious application on any photo, newly snapped on your phone or taken from your gallery. Remove those wires that are in the way of an otherwise wonderful view, take banners off of buildings, get rid of people, eliminate spots and other imperfections. All without distorting the final image.
You can even have a little fun with TouchRetouch. Take away the bicycle from under your brother and it looks like he’s cycling in mid-air. You can make it look like people are flying, jumping or posed oddly, by removing whatever was supporting them.
Do everything mentioned here and more, in mere seconds without any special equipment.
Features:
* In-app video tutorials
* Unlimited Undo/Redo actions
* Smart image background recovery techniques
* No distortions in final image
* Easy to use interface
* 1:1 view
* Finger move hint
Download TouchRetouch now and start creating amazing or funny photos. It’s easy, fun and always ready to edit your images in a tap or two – no matter when, no matter where.
Enjoy your new snapshots!

HDR Camera+

Capture high quality HDR images in full resolution
Capture high quality High Dynamic Range images:
- Full resolution
- Take HDR image in one tap
- HDR image fused and tone-mapped on device within seconds
- Don’t have to be rock-solid while shooting
- Correct handling of moving objects and de-ghosting
- You can control tone-mapping parameters: contrast, micro-contrast, color vividness, exposure
- Save original exposure bracketed images
- Location tagging
- Shutter sound can be muted
- Support for Flash on/off/auto

Camera Advance

Full featured photo camera app.
Try free version Camera Advance Lite first.
Camera features:
- Timer
- Burst photo capture
- Reduced noise by capturing multiple photos (a.k.a tripod mode)
- Panorama mode produces a wide angle shot from 3 photos (different than 360 panoramas, only on supported devices)
- Zoom (only on supported devices)
- Exposure Compensation (only on supported devices)
- Live camera histogram (best on Android 2.2 and up)
- On screen camera aids to capture best photos: grid and Fibonacci spiral
- Built-in photo gallery with multi-touch
- Easy UI with swipe to hide
- Configure volume buttons for zoom or photo capture
- On screen estimate of photos left (accuracy depends on phone used)
- Uses orientation sensor to embed camera orientation info in photos
If you’re having problems please specify phone model, Android version and when problem occurs instead of just giving a negative comment.

PRO Zoom Camera 5X

Replace default camera app with 5x ZOOM, 5 whitebals, 27 filters & crazy effects
Want to take better pictures?
READY for: Droid/Moment/Nexus/Hero/Eris/Galaxy S + more!
Recent Updates: We are working hard to get this app working perfectly. Please keep emailing your feedback to us!
5x ZOOM, 5 whitebalances, 8 filters & sharing
Full editor:
+draw or paint on your photo
+53 cliparts included
+21 great fonts
+23 hipstamatic effects
+brightness & contrast control
+time delay camera
+flash control (flash is req)
+no sound mode
+Geotags you photos
+EXIF data recorded in Jpeg
+Load existing photos to edit

Retro Camera Plus

Take delicious old-school pics on your Android.
Instant Nostalgia now free.
The paid, ad-free version of the free Retro Camera app. Take delicious old-school pics your friends will drool over. 5 cameras, 5 sets of vintage vignetting, film scratch, black and white & cross processing effects for that off-the-hip analog look. Inspired by the Lomo, Holga, Polaroid, Diana, the toy cameras & Hipstamatic.

Little Photo Plugin

Little Photo: Add film and retouch effects to your photos.
This is the official plugin for Little Photo.
If you are looking for more advanced photo tuning
This is for you !
——–
Added tools:
* Brightness
* Contrast
* Exposure
* Saturation
* Merge photo (combine multiple photos into one, with rotation)
* Smooth skin (Touch the skin to smooth and blur it)
* Lighten / Darken spot
* Crop tool
More functions will be added in future updates.

BeFunky Photo Editor Pro

Edit photos, apply effects, add frames, save back to your phone
BeFunky, the popular online photo editing application is now on your Android. Edit your photos, apply special effects, add frames, save back to your phone with more than 50 high quality photo effects, powerful editing tools and 40 marvelous photo frames.
Features:
More than 50 Effects: LomoArt, Cross Process, Instant, Gritty HDR, Retro, Viewfinder, Pop Art, Vintage, Sepia, Pinhole, B&W, Old Photo, Warming Filter, Cooling Filter, Orton, Vibrance, Tilt Shift, Grunge, Cyanotype, Violet, Sketch, Line Artopia, Stencil…
Editing: Crop, Rotate, Adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, hue and sharpness.
Marvelous Photo Frames: Vignette, Filmstrip, Basic Border, Rounded Corners, Polaroid, Halftone, Grunge, Postage…
Saving: Save to your albums, Save to Facebook, Flickr, BeFunky…

ColorUp

Pep up your pics by turning selected regions to color and rest to black & white
Pep up your pictures by turning selected regions to color and rest to black and white.
* On screen toolbar for ease of use
* Minimum price
TIP: Zoom picture to edit small regions instead of reducing brush size

SECuRET SpyCam

Turn your phone into the ultimate motion triggered SpyCam!
* SUMMER SALE – 50% OFF FOR 2 WEEKS ONLY!! *
* Try FREE DEMO on the Android Market first! *
Turn your Android phone camera or webcam into a visual motion triggered SpyCam. Your phone or webcam will auto-capture (still photo or video) any motion within its field of vision, and then save or email the photo/video. Can be used as a serious surveillance solution, as this application has already caught several criminals in the act of stealing cars and breaking into houses. Can also be used to take candid snaps of your friends when they don’t know they are on camera – now that is some good fun!

lgCameraPro

Before buy try free version!
Additional camera for Android phones with Android 2.1 and higher. It can handle recording quality and file formats.
Features:
-Zoom control by Volume control buttons.
-Autoshutter can be activated by long press onScreenShutter button.
-Camera parameters control (white balance, color effects, flash modes, focus modes, ISO and etc.)
-Video quality control ( resolution, encoder, format mp4 or 3gp, bitrate, framerate).
-Audio quality control (encoder, sampling eate, bitrate).
Warning! Not all features may work on some devices.

Camera WiFi LiveStream

Stream video and audio directly from your Android camera across a WiFi network!
* Try FREE DEMO on the Android Market first! *
Stream video and audio from your Android device’s camera directly across your Wi-Fi network in real-time, to be viewed and remotely controlled in a web browser. Can be used to spy on people, a serious surveillance device or just for fun!
What will you LiveStream?
* If you want to use this application as a baby monitor, then you should download “BabyCam Monitor” which is also from dooblou – it does everything this app does but has more features specific to monitoring babies safely. *
* BEST LiveStream application available on the Android Market! *
“The UI is well constructed: simple and intuitive … easy to use, even for those who don’t have any previous experience … the sound quality is good – not even a lot of real network cameras can deliver that much!” – AndroidPIT review – “Very Good”

Paper Camera

See the world through a novel,original,stylish and captivating lens!…The award winning “Paper Camera” App hits the Android Market!!
Real time cartoon and painting effects painted on your camera video feed!! See the world through a new, original, stylish and captivating lens, have a wonder in your own home and discover how cool is now your world in cartoon!
This is the ultimate collection of cartoon/sketch/comic book/half tone/noir/neon and many other effects painted directly in your camera, no more boring post-effects, it’s all real time, you simply won’t stop wandering, wherever you are, having a look at things and cartoon-ize them!
We’ve packed this App with many stylish cartoon-style filters, so you would never get bored!

ToonPAINT

ToonPAINT allows you to easily create awesome cartoon-paintings of your photos.
NOTE: New version 1.0.7 fixes images displaying in gallery.
ToonPAINT sets you up for quick success by providing a “MagiSketch” that you can color-in using your own personal images. ToonPAINT is a smart-painting app that enables you to express your creativity and obtain compelling results without requiring you to take Art classes.

Pho.to Lab Pro

Photo Fun Generator – create awesome effects and caricatures from your photos!
Pho.to Lab – full-featured Photo Fun Generator in your pocket!
Welcome the PRO version of Pho.to Lab app with almost unlimited abilities to create awesome effects from your photos! With Pho.to Lab PRO you can easily create fun photomontages, cool contact icons, animated photo caricatures, e-cards and phone wallpapers! You will love the user friendly interface and the ease of use the app provides.
Pho.to Lab PRO does not contain any ads and does not watermark your resulting images. Besides, it comes with extra groups of photo effects for which you would have to pay in the standard version.
What you will especially like about Pho.to Lab PRO is “Photo to Caricature” effects that will turn your face photos into fun animated caricatures in one click!
Also, you will be the first to use the newest effects and templates! With the standard version, new effects become available to you in two weeks after they are released. But that’s not the case with Pho.to Lab PRO! Get all the brand new effects immediately after they are released!
Pho.to Lab PRO features and effects:
• photo to caricature effects: animate faces and turn your portrait photos into amusing caricatures.
• photorealistic effects: put your face onto museum walls, a soccer fans banner, in a hot off the press newspaper; airbrush yourself on exclusive cars or leave your face as a sand imprint on the beach.
• photomontages with automatic face detection: turn yourself or your friend into Darth Vader, Rambo, a Na’vi from Avatar, an astronaut or a pirate of the Caribbean!
• photo filters: Neon Glow, Fire, Jigsaw Puzzle, HDR, Pencil Drawing, Oil & Impressionist Painting, Chalk & Charcoal, and more.
• photo effects for the stylish and trendy folks: put yourself on the Forbes, Vogue or Playboy cover next to Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lady Gaga and Dr. House!
• collages: put yourself and your sweetheart or even all your friends into one photo collage.
• new effects: get all the brand new effects immediately after they are released. Be the first to use them and surprise your friends!
If you couldn’t find the photo effect you wanted, you can submit your own effect idea. We will be happy to make new effects available!
What’s more, you can add text of your own and set the resulting image as a contact icon or wallpaper. You can also save it to the phone memory, send it as an MMS or post it on Facebook and Twitter to surprise your friends!

FlickFolio for Flickr

FlickFolio is a fast viewer and batch uploader for Flickr that auto downloads your photos for fast offline viewing. This is the top rated Flickr app with over 130 5-star reviews.
.: Take Your Photos With You :.
FlickFolio auto downloads your photos for fast offline viewing. The auto downloads are small and sync while your phone charges.
.: Explore :.
Explore the day’s interestingness, your contacts, your groups, or your favorites. Search Flickr, your own photos, or your contact’s photos. Find and add new favorites and add comments.
.: Show Off :.
The presentation is very clean for showing clients or family. FlickFolio optimizes photo size for your device and downloads extra large photos for tablets.
.: Easily Upload Your Shots :.
Share photos and videos with FlickFolio to upload them to Flickr. Batch upload multiple photos at a time in the background while you do other things.
.: Additional Features :.
∙ WIFI only setting to only download when you’re at home
∙ Enhancements for tablets running Honeycomb (Android 3.0)
∙ View and add photo comments
∙ View photo EXIF information
∙ Set pictures as wallpaper
∙ Share using email, Facebook, and Twitter
∙ Auto rotate photos for accurate orientation, or turn off so images are always full screen

Color Pop! – Selectively Color

Selectively remove color from images.
NEW: Fixed crash on open error.
Allows you to turn an image into grayscale, then pull the original color back into selected areas, like Color Splash. Supports zoom, color correction, saturation control, trackball support, large images for wallpaper, preview, and left-handed mode.

Pocketbooth

Pocketbooth turns your Android device into a vintage photobooth.
Meticulously designed to emulate the experience of a 1950s-era Model 11 Photobooth, Pocketbooth is as beautiful to look at as it is fun to use. Pocketbooth perfectly replicates the intimacy, spontaneity, and hilarity of a traditional photobooth. Take it to your next party and watch as your friends strike a pose.
Version 1.2 enhances front-facing camera support for phones running Gingerbread (Android 2.3) and select phones running pre-Gingerbread versions of Android including HTC EVO 4G, Samsung Epic 4G, Samsung Galaxy S (GT I9000M), Motorola Atrix, and the Xoom.

PhotoShake! Pro

Shake it, New things happen!
With PhotoShake, you can easily combine one or more photos to make exciting and fun new images. PhotoShake is a photo editing program that you can use to share photos with family and friends on social networking sites.
You can easily create a collage photo as follow;
1. Select a theme.
2. Import photos for your collage and select paper type.
3. Simply shake your phone to get random collage images. (click “Edit” for manual select)
4. Also editing tool is available to create special effects on the final collage.
KEY FEATURES:
★ 6 photo theme support (MultiPhoto, SinglePhoto, InstantPhoto, GridPhoto, WidePhoto, WallPaper)
★ Easy photo creation by shake action.
★ High quality frame pinking
★ Various frame patterns
★ Place photo using translation, rotation, and scaling
★ Image filter for photos
★ Storytelling with various balloon item.
★ Funny sticker support.
★ Social media support (Twitter, Facebook, Flicker, Picasa, Blogger, Tumblr)
★ Save & Export.
★ Wallpaper support
PhotoShake allows user to create images from various occasions like everyday life, memorable moments, social gatherings, photo that has a story.
Make a precious memory with family, friends, or others.
Share your beautiful memories and fun episodes with your friends.
Joy and happiness start from your touch.
This app requires Android 2.1+

Photography Trainer

Master Your D-SLR: Step-by-step guide on setting your camera for amazing photos.
“Learn Photography and Master Your D-SLR”
This app guides you step-by-step how to set your D-SLR to take the perfect shot. Capture amazing photos by truly understanding shutter speed, aperture & ISO. Dozens of sample photos with camera settings, photography tips and tutorials. Night photography, sports, landscapes, portraits, architecture, HDR & more. Best of all, the app doesn’t require an internet connection, so it’s perfect for vacations and holidays too – learn photography no matter where you are in the world. You’ll always have an expert with you in your pocket, there to help you take spectacular photos.