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How to make the most out of your Nexus 10 tablet

Simon Hill
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nexus 10 problems 2012

The next Nexus 10 is coming in late 2013, but it may not be made by Samsung. Asus is rumored to be producing the upcoming tablet. We made it pretty clear in our Nexus 10 review that we like Google’s larger tablet, but there are a few issues. In this roundup of handy Nexus 10 tips we look to address pain points like the lack of a MicroSD card, how to find tablet apps, and how to save battery life. We’ve already shown you how to take a screenshot on the Nexus 10, but there is plenty more to uncover. 

How to quickly access your photos

You can swipe to the right from your camera app to quickly review the photo that you just took on your Nexus 10. Swipe to the left to go back to the camera.

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How to customize your LED and notifications

The Nexus 10 has a colored LED that can notify you about different things. This LED can also be customized with the right app. You can find the option to turn the LED off under Settings > Display > Pulse notification light. Try out Light Flow Lite to set custom notifications and, if you like it, the full version is $2.50. It allows you to set specific notifications for email, Twitter, texts, and a lot of other things.

How to find tablet apps

Android has been criticized in the past for not having enough tablet optimized apps, but that’s changing. There is more choice now for Nexus 10 owners than there has ever been, and it’s easier to find good apps, but you might still be interested in a couple of extra sources. We have our own best Android tablet apps roundup to start you off, but we also recommend Tablified Market and Apps & Updates for Nexus 10, two free apps worth downloading and using to find the best apps for the Nexus 10.

How to get more storage space

The Nexus 10 comes in 16GB or 32GB varieties and that storage can fill up surprisingly fast. The lack of a MicroSD card slot means there’s no room for expansion, but there are a couple of fairly easy ways to get extra space.

The cloud is your first obvious option. Use Google Play Music to store up to 20,000 songs for free and stream them to your Nexus 10. You can also use Google Drive, Dropbox, SkyDrive, or choose from a host of other services like Box and Bitcasa. They all have Android apps and they all offer a certain amount of free storage space when you sign up.

You can also consider using a Flash drive, SD card, or an external hard drive. You’ll need an USB OTG (On-The-Go) cable, which you can pick up very cheaply. You’ll also need your external hard drive with USB, your USB Flash drive, or a USB card reader and your SD card. The final piece of the puzzle is an app called Nexus Media Importer which costs $4. If you have a rooted Nexus 10, then you can use an app like StickMount instead.

How to save battery life

The Nexus 10 doesn’t have the best battery life in the world, and that’s unavoidable when you have a big screen with a resolution like this. You can always check in Settings > Battery to see what is drinking most of your battery juice. Try to turn syncing for apps off, or reduce its frequency, turn features like Wi-Fi and GPS off when you aren’t using them, and turn the screen brightness down.

You could also turn haptic feedback and unnecessary keyboard sounds off. Go to Settings > Sound and uncheck Vibrate on touch. Them go to Settings > Language & input and choose the Settings for the Android keyboard and uncheck both Sound on keypress and Vibrate on keypress.

How to add other users

If you have to share your Nexus 10 with others then you should set up individual profiles. You’ll find the Users option underneath Device in the Settings. This means you can have different apps, wallpapers, and files set up for each user – especially handy if you let your kids play on your Nexus 10. Any users you add will appear on the lock screen. If you want more control over what your kids can and can’t access then try out an app like Kid Mode, which enables you to block click-through ads and in-app purchases, and restrict content and features.

How to install Flash

It may be on the way out, but Flash is still being used by a number of websites and so you might want to have it on your Nexus 10. You’ll need to find an APK file to download; you can get one from this XDA Developers thread. You’ll have to allow Unknown sources under Settings > Security and then you need to get the APK file onto your Nexus 10. (You could email the APK file or transfer it via Dropbox.) Tap on the APK file to install it. Remember that it won’t work with the Chrome browser, so the final requirement is to install a browser like Dolphin, Firefox, or Boat.

How to stream content to your TV

You can get a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable for your Nexus 10 and then use it to hook up the tablet to your HDTV. This is an easy way to mirror your screen on the big TV, but it does mean wires.

You can do it wirelessly, as the Nexus 10 is compatible with Wi-Fi Certified Miracast devices. You can also use a DLNA app like Skifta to stream content to your TV or your PS3 via Wi-Fi.

Another option is to buy a Chromecast device for $35 and plug it into any HDMI port on your TV. Grab the Chromecast app for your Nexus 10 and you can use the tablet as a remote to choose Netflix or YouTube content. The real beauty of this solution is that the content doesn’t have to play on the Nexus 10, so you can do other things while it plays via Chromecast on the TV.

How to use your Nexus 10 as a phone

The obvious choice is Skype, but you can use various VoIP apps to make calls from your Nexus 10. If you’ve set up Google Voice then GrooVe IP Lite is a good free option. Bear in mind that the sound through the built-in microphones might not be great, it would be wise to get a Bluetooth headset with a microphone if you intend to use your Nexus 10 for calls.

If you invest $3 in an app like Tablet Talk you can actually link your tablet to your existing Android smartphone and have text messages and calls going through your phone to your tablet.

That’s all the Nexus 10 tips we have for now, but you can find more information in the official Nexus 10 Guidebook from Google.

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