How to share android apps over your social networks

 So you've managed to find yourself a fantastic app and now you want to share it with your friends and family over facebook, twitter or Google+, this guide will show you exactly how to do this.

Firstly you need to open the app drawer, it will look something like the image to the left hand side with all your apps (though you may have a different view, such as a list view) on this screen you need to press on your phones "Menu" button and then choose "Share app".

After you click on "Share app" you should see a list of the apps on your phone with a tick box next to them and a search box (much like the screen shot on the right hand side). From this screen you need to select the app (or apps) you wish to share. For the sake of this example I'll be sharing the excellent game "The King Of OX", so tick the box next to the game (as I have done in this picture.
After selecting the app (or apps) you want to share click "Done" on the bottom of the screen and then you'll see a screen like the one on the left, the "Share via" screen. This screen will have all your social apps (facebook, plume, twitter etc) so select the one you want to share the app with. For the rest of this example I'll be using Facebook but the other apps are all similar

After clicking on the app you want to share with you will open that app (as you can see in this screen shot I'm sharing it over facebook) and you'll be able to add your own comment. When you are happy with the message and the app your sharing you need to just click "Share" and you'll be sorted.

After clicking "Share" (or send, post etc depending on the app) it will be added to your feed or status and your friends will be able to click on the status to be taken to the app market and download it themselves with out needing to search for it.

How to use the "Places" Android app

When it comes to the under-rated Android apps maybe "Places" is the most under-rated and most often forgotten app. It's icon is a small innocuous looking red marker (see the screen shot to the right) and it looks, kinda dull and boring to be frankly honest though it's one of the most useful applications on Android handsets.

After clicking on the icon you will see a screen like the screen capture on the left hand side with a a search icon and a number of preset icons. If you are wanting to find for example a "Pub" or an "ATM" you can simply click on one of the icons on display; alternatively if your looking for something not given an icon you can type what you want in to the search bar.

For this example we are going to be searching for "Shopping centres" which I've typed into the search bar and done a search for. As you can see on the screen shot to the right a list of all the local shopping centres is provided. The list includes the destination, the name of the place and the distance from where you've been located (your location is picked up from GPS or the Wireless networks).

Where the app really comes into it's own is the fact you can get a list of local hotels or whatever is it, but that the app can quickly gather other useful information for you.
The screen shot here shows just some of the details you can find using the "Places" app and includes a contact number, and similar places. What is more useful however is that you can then get directions to the place.

In a practical sense this app could help your book a restaurant whilst on holiday or find a campsite at the last minute. However maybe at it's best it'll help you locate a specific building, for example an office block where you have an interview or a local ATM when you've run out of cash.

As with many of the "locational" applications (including "Maps" and "Navigation") this will use mobile internet and may run down the battery of your device slightly quicker than normal so just be aware of this.

Tunein Radio

 One of the most useful apps for smartphones today is "Tunein radio" which allows your phone access to many, many more radio stations than you'd have ever thought possible. After recently looking at the inbuilt FM Radio application for the android operated Samsung Galaxy S2 some have asked "What about AM radio?"...well this is why Tunein is brilliant. Let me explain.

At the moment android phones AREN'T built with an in built AM radio receiver (or an MW one if you prefer MW radio). Using the radio technology of phones will generally only allow you to pick up FM frequencies. However using the internet you can pick up almost any radio station and that's where Tunein comes in and turns your phone into a mobile radio capable of receiving the full range of services including DAB (Digital radio) stations.

To use the application you can either navigate using the vast number of menu's (as shown above right) or click on the little search icon (in the top right corner) and type in the radio station name. For the example on the right we're using BBC Radio 5 Live (as you can see by the channels name). The channel in question cannot be listened to during normal hours via the FM frequencies (though it does take over the night shifts of some local stations) though thanks to Tunein radio you can listen to it in digital quality anywhere with the phone.

Th app, although fantastic, does have 1 major drawback which isn't actually the apps fault. It does require internet access so if your on a mobile data allowance you may want to be somewhat reserved when using the application. If you have a wi-fi connection however you will find the app to be wonderful and open up a host of new options to you.

Tunein claim that they offer over 50,000 stations and have now started offering more search modes searching for things such as songs. If your a fan of music, sport, news or debate this is really the app for you!