Monday, March 3, 2014

10 Things To Do With Your New Moto G


I got my Moto G recently and after using it for few days I thought of sharing my experience and few of the things that I did with my new device to boost the overall experience.


Below is a list of 10 things you can do with your brand new Moto G. Although this is not an exhaustive list but it will help you get started with getting the most out of it.


1. Data Migration: You must have done this already but just in case if you haven't, then migrate data from your old phone to your new Moto G using Motorola Migrate. Simply open Motorola Migrate in your Moto G and it will guide you further. The data transfer happens in a very smooth and seamless manner. You can also check out the "Assist" and "Care" apps, again these are the inbuilt apps provided by Motorola.

2. KitKat Upgrade: Upgrade your phone's OS to the latest version KitKat 4.4.x. Read more about KitKat on Android's developer portal later. But till then rest assured that you will be getting the best of the Android experience after using KitKat.

3. Hidden Goodies: You must have seen the KitKat logo appearing on Moto G or Nexus 5. And if you are wondering how to get it then simply follow these steps

Open Settings > About Phone > Android Version. The magic begins here. Tap rapidly on Android Version option for 4-5 times. You will see a Big K on the screen.

Now, again tap rapidly on the screen for 4-5 times and voila! You have your Android KitKat screen.

And now, press and hold the screen, you will get a screen with lots of colorful Android icons. You can play around for some time by tapping on them. I will keep that screen a surprise for you :)

4. Improve Battery Performance: Motorola boasts of the fact that the battery of Moto G can last upto 24 hours but for that to happen you will have to set few configuration settings right.
  • Brightness: Set brightness to AUTO and let the device take care of altering the brightness of your screen. And trust me, Moto G does a great job here.
  • Sleep Time: You can set the timer for sleep mode when your phone is inactive. It is advisable to keep it as low as possible.
  • Location Settings: If the location settings are ON on your device then drag down the notification bar, click on the "Location" icon and select the BATTERY SAVING mode. 
  • Live Wallpapers: It is a known fact that live wallpapers consume a lot power than regular wallpapers. So be wise while setting your wallpaper.

5. Activate Developer Options: This is for the geeks and Android enthusiasts who like adventure in their lives, to activate developer options on your device follow these steps
Go to Settings > About Phone > Rapidly tap on the Build Number few times and it will activate the developer options for you.

6. Setup your Motorola Device ID: Setting up Motorola Device ID helps you in tracking your device in case it gets lost. You can also use this ID to get help from Motorola using their Moto Care app. To set it up go to Settings > Motorola Device ID > Select your existing Google account from the drop down.

7. Get Lock Screen Widgets: KitKat provides this feature of setting widgets on your lock screen. You will already see a camera icon on the bottom right of your lock screen. Simply swipe right to left to open your camera. But apart from this you can add new widgets on your lock screen. Enable it by going to Settings > Security > Check enable widgets option. Once you have done that on your lock screen swipe left to right. You will see a new screen where you can add widgets. You can add such screens as many as you want. Remove them by pressing and holding for couple of seconds.

8. Install few useful utility apps: Although Moto G has great exteriors in terms of the build quality and ergonomics I am a little skeptical about the power button. It remains slightly loose in its socket which feels a little flimsy. So the very first app that I installed on my device was "Screen Off and Lock" app. There are a lot of other similar apps in the store but I personally found this useful since it provides a shortcut to turn off the screen and lock the phone in the notifications bar itself. So you can practically lock your phone from anywhere. The reason I am suggesting such apps is that it will reduce the use of the power button significantly. The little you use it, the longer it will last.

For cache cleanup and memory boosting you can try "Clean Master" app. Pretty good!

9. Redeem Free Drive space: Google is providing 50GB of free drive space for 2 years with your Moto G. To redeem that just open the Drive app and you will see a button to Redeem your free space. Click on it and that's it! I checked with a Motorola customer care executive regarding the strategy of Google after 2 years. How much that 50GB will cost us? But he didnt have any answer to it as of now. As per him, Google will intimate everyone about their plans later.

10. Google Now: Lastly, one of my most favorite apps from Google. I would suggest you to get the most out of this fabulous app. Store your home location, your work location, your favorite team. Google will keep giving you updates and share news articles in the form of cards. Unfortunately the command "OK Google" doesnt work on Moto G but you can still go ahead and try the voice search and ask random questions to Google. You will find few useful commands over here - Google Voice commands. I think they have not mentioned this but you can use "Navigate to destination" command to open Google Navigate and set destination in one go. Saves a lot of time and effort. Big THUMBS UP!!

So like I said in the beginning this is not just about it. You guys can explore yourself some of the cool stuff about Moto G as well as Android KitKat and let me also know about it by posting them here. Cheers!

15 comments:

  1. Ahaan! I am eager to see the "Hidden Goodies: Surprise Screen".

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    Replies
    1. Sure! Go ahead.. KitKat is really good. Only problem I found is that it has disabled USB OTG(On The Go) access in the latest KitKat upgrade! Need to install paid apps or free apps(on rooted device) to access USB via OTG.

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    2. @Nirav: Those are actually hidden Daydream screensavers which are available since ICS. They are all invoked by the same method, i.e. tapping 3 times rapidly on the Android version.

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    3. Aaha I never knew this! Frankly not an Android geek. I ll try it on my Nexus S. Zaib by the way have you tried Mozilla's B2G?

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  2. Nice. Thanks for sharing. Haven't go in details about Moto G features now I feel I must have to see Moto G features in details :)

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  3. 'OK Google' will work only If u choose English(UK)

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    Replies
    1. If you want to open Google Now using the "Ok Google" command you will need a third party app like "Open Mic+".

      It has to be always running in the background.

      Ref: https://forums.motorola.com/comment/772222

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    2. Special thanks to @nirav .. for sharing the info regarding Open Mic+.

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  4. Can you please elaborate your comment. Because as far as I knew Moto G doesnt have the required hardware support the "OK Google" command. But as you mentioned I changed the language in my phone to English(UK) (Settings > Language & Input > Language) but nothing happened.

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  5. Google command works yar, say it OK google n it does responds you, in a very efficient manner, n it is the most wonderful feature of the phone, simply love it..

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  6. Hidden goodies not working in my moto g...
    What I have to do?

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  7. Hidden goodies is not working in my moto g...
    I want to see ,what I have to do?

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  8. Which one of them is not working for you? It is quite straight forward, should work!

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  9. hello everybody !!
    thanks for sharing tricks and tips
    on thing i want to share with u people ... that "ok google" command is working in my moto g

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  10. This post is really nice and informative. The explanation given is really comprehensive and informative..


    Motorola Service Chennai, Tamil Nadu

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