Tips to Unfreeze Your Frozen Phone

Your Android or iOS phone is just like a computer. Evidently, given the fact that it runs with an operating system; only as mobile version one. Mobile phones run like a computer now since you can pretty much do things with it that you normally do with your desktop or laptop.

On a lighter note, have you experienced while you are using your desktop, it crashes because a lot of software applications are being used simultaneously? What do you do then, force shutdown? And since smartphones are like computers, these nifty handsets are not exempted from the wrath of screen crashes. I bet you have already experienced that. If your phone crashes more often than not, then might as well try these tips to unfreeze your phone’s screen:

Unfreezing a Stuck Android Phone

Force an app to stop:

If the app you are using hung up, then you need to force-close the app. To do so, go to the Settings, and then tap “Applications.” From there, toggle the “Managing Applications” then swipe the “Running” tab. Once you’re there, look for the app you intend to close, and then force-close the app by tapping “Stop.”

 

Restart your phone:

If you just can’t stop swiping your phone’s LCD screen protector rendering its screen frozen, then try restarting your phone by holding down the sleep/power button for a few seconds till it asks for confirmation if you want to turn your phone off. Have you turned it off? Now, turn it on once more, and I bet it will run back to normal again.

Force your phone to restart:

What’s the difference with restarting your phone and a force-restart? Well, you don’t have to wait for confirmation. It will restart itself immediately as you press the right keys simultaneously: power button and volume-up button. If the volume-up button doesn’t work, try the volume-down button. If it still doesn’t work, you can refer to your phone’s manual.

Remove the battery:

If the tips above don’t do too much, then your last resort would likely be removing your Android phone’s battery. Not that you’ll have to buy replacement parts already, but perhaps your phone already needs to restart by removing your battery if the previous methods fail.

Well, that’s for Android phones. But you must also consider that Android phones are different from iPhones. So, here are the tricks to unfreeze the screen of your iPhone:

Unfreezing a Stuck iPhone

Force-close an app:

Like that of Android phones, iPhones can also force an app to close. To do so, tap the Home button twice to display the Multitask bar—the app switcher. From there, scroll left or right to find the frozen app. When you found it, just toss it up to close it.

Restart your phone:

If it’s not just the app that’s acting wonky but the entire system of your phone, then you should restart your phone already. Just hold the sleep button until the “slide to power off” appears, and slide your finger from left to right to turn off your phone. To turn back your phone on, press the Sleep button once again and wait for the logo to appear. Give it a minute, and then your phone will function back to normal.

Force-restart your phone:

Now, if your phone has totally frozen in which it doesn’t respond with every tap and press of buttons, then you may now need to restart your phone forcefully. Since removing the battery is not applicable for iPhone, the best way to force-restart it is to hold the Sleep button and the Home button simultaneously for a few seconds until the Apple logo shows. Your phone then will automatically restart.

There you go. Next time you experience your phone’s screen getting stuck, try these tips to get your phones functioning again.




This post entry is from Camille Young. Camille is a BSIT degree holder and a Tech Blogger who loves blogging about latest technology and gadgets that are more than meets the eye. She is currently working as an SEO writer/content marketer at Ecell Global.

Hello, Siri. Is That You?

 Who haven’t heard of Apple iPhone’s voice-activated invisible assistant named Siri since the release of iPhone 4S? Who is she? Well, Siri grants your commands as long as she can. She lets you basically use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and the list goes on.

Siri is the one you talk to underneath the LCD screen protector of your phone—specifically on iPhone 4S and up to the latest generation of iPhone. You just have to ask Siri to do things just by talking to her as she understands what you say, knows what you mean, and talks back even; talk about interactive assistant, eh? She talks to you as if she is a real person. As what was Apple had set for examples, if you asked Siri “Any good burger joints around here?” Siri knows that you are looking for burger restaurants. And she’ll reply, “I found a number of burger restaurants near you.” Since you and Siri are talking about restaurants, when you ask “Hmm. How about tacos?” she’ll remember and look for Mexican restaurants nearby. See how smart she is? Just press the button and you’re going to have someone to talk to over your smartphone in a jiffy!

She seems like a good companion, isn’t she? She could help you in almost anything you ask her as if she’s a genie saying “your wish is my command.” Of course, a genie in a smartphone would be far-fetched from reality, but can she be a real human? Apparently, Apple didn’t identify her, and people didn’t know who voices Siri. Well, not until she introduces herself alone. Introducing, the voice behind Siri: voice actor, Susan Bennett from Atlanta.

Though Apple still doesn’t confirm it, Bennett claims and confesses that she is Siri. CNN identified Bennett as the one who participated in the original recording sessions for the iPhone’s assistant, and audio-forensics experts say that her voice and Siri’s are “100%” alike. Back when she was still recording in the year 2005, Bennett didn’t have any idea that she’d be talking to over a hundred million people. She just snatched four hours out of her every day for a month just to record a heap of phrases. And that she didn’t know that it would be on iPhone until one of her friends asked if she is the one voicing Siri.

Clearly, Apple wasn’t the one who hired her to voice Siri. Bennett was recruited by a company called ScanSoft, and then she became a part of the voice-technology conglomerate called Nuance—the leader in the fields of voice recognition and text-to-speech. Then, Nuance was the one who provided the technology for Apple to make Siri possible—and there goes Bennett.

There was even video posted by The Verge that mislead viewers to believe that the voice behind Siri is Allison Dufty. Bennett just laughed at it and just answered: “I really had to weigh the importance of it for me personally. I wasn't sure that I wanted that notoriety, and I also wasn't sure where I stood legally. And so, consequently, I was very conservative about it for a long time," she said. "And then this Verge video came out ... And it seemed like everyone was clamoring to find out who the real voice behind Siri is, and so I thought, well, you know, what the heck? This is the time."

And so, she revealed herself after years of living with the secret. Hello, Siri. Is that you? Yes, it’s Susan Bennett.

Have a Break, Have an Android 4.4, KitKat

Android platform is widely known as one of the big boys in the mobile industry since it has been running literally on hundreds of devices. Android 4.3, Jelly Bean was just released recently this 2013’s late July; it got the Jelly Bean even sweeter. Who would’ve thought that the next version of Android OS is going to pop freshly this September in just less than two months’ time?

Excitement starts to circulate in the rumor mills, and some even tried to guess what would be the next platform to be released by Google that will be running on smartphones and other devices. Since Android platforms are in chronological order of alphabets, people tried to guess all the sweet treats that started with “K” including Kale, Key Lime Pie, and the list goes on. But even before 2013 started, Manu Cornet, Google employee, even confirmed that the next Android (5.0) version would be named Key Lime Pie. There was even a drawn comic of Android mascots that shows the evolution of Android in which the last one holds Key Lime Pie.

But, sorry, Key Lime Pie; it looks like the day’s limelight won’t be yours now. It turns out that the next version of Android 4.4 is going to be called “KitKat” instead of seeing “Key Lime Pie” displaying its glory under the LCD screen protector, which has already been expected. Google just knows how to surprise, eh? The idea of the Android’s version name originated with Google itself, and that John Lagerling, the director of Android global partnership, claimed that there is no money-changing-hands deal happening. Patrice Bula, Nestle executive vice president of marketing, said that the partnership was finalized at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February of 2013. Even the employees of Google have had no idea of the new name of the next Android version. All they knew all along is that it would be named as Key Lime Pie—as what Manu Cornet confirmed before the year 2012 ended.

However, a branding expert has pinpointed the potential pitfalls of this partnership.  Simon Myers, a partner at the consultancy Prophet, said that, “If your brand is hooked up with another, you inevitably become associated with that other brand, for good or ill.” And “if that brand or business has some reputational issues that emerge, it would be naive to think as a brand owner that your good name, your brand equity, would not be affected."

True enough, it will be completely impossible for Nestle and Google to not be associated to each other whenever one of which will have a reputational issue since the latest operating system of Android has now been named as a licensed name of chocolate bars. Nevertheless, Google wants us to be prepared for a sweet new treat with their latest mobile operating system, Android 4.4, KitKat. If Android Jelly Bean boasts that it has a fast and smooth buttery graphics, then Android 4.4, KitKat says that it’s their goal to make an amazing Android experience available for everybody. There are no words yet about the official release of Android 4.4, KitKat, but a lot of Android users are expecting a great deal with Android KitKat.

Drowned Phone Alert!!!

How many of you had the near life-and-death experience… of your smartphone? You nearly have a heart-attack, didn’t you? Talk about the worst nightmares one can have over their nifty gadgets. The sudden hard bumps, the dreadful scuffs, the heart-shattering shattered screen, and drenching of your phone to water—like the toilet? Yikes! I’ll shudder forever! Worse comes to worst, these cell phone nightmares have damaged your phone permanently, and the only way out is to say goodbye to your pristine, and not to mention, hard-earned phone.

Smartphones, each and every kind, have astounding features, and swimming is definitely not one of them. But nowadays, innovative minds have invented waterproof cell phone covers that could salvage your phone from being drenched to water. So, now you have a reason to ditch your cheap cell phone cover that is good only on dry places. Nevertheless, what could we really do if this impending, dreadful incident happens? Are you just going to watch your phone fall off your grasp and meet its watery fate with a splash? Let me give you some tips to once again salvage your phone after its swim:

·         Keep the phone turned off. Do not—I repeat—do not turn on your device when it just had been soaked wet. Although it’s tempting to turn on the device just to check if it’s okay, resist your urges. Trust me, turning it on will just make matters worse since a current being passed through a wet circuitry will render your device’s circuits fried and totally useless.

·         Disassemble every bit and piece of your device. Evidently, you must disassemble every piece of your gizmo to shake out the excess water dripping. You can place each part on a dry towel to sip the drips or place it in a bag of uncooked dry rice. Leave it at least 12 hours or longer. When drying the parts, do not place them near heat sources since this can cause damage to the internal parts of the waterlogged phone.

·         Check the phone if there is still condensation. Do you still see a liquid form on the LCD screen protector and/or the camera? If so, then, better put your phone and all its disassembled parts right back at the bag of rice and leave it for a few more days.

·         Turn on the device. No dripping parts? Check! No sign of condensation? Check! Are you a hundred percent sure that you have given the bag of rice enough amount of time to do its job on drying your waterlogged phone? Then I guess it’s time to piece together your device, and hope for the best as you power it on. Now, maybe the battery will be zonked for it swam its way through the water. The best solution would be buying a replacement battery to get your phone alive and kicking once again.

If you have heeded these advices and your device did turn on, then there’s not much to say than a job well done! Bear these tips all in mind and you’ll most likely would be the lifesaver of smartphones—now that you know CPR: Cell Phone Restoration.