More Great Tips & Tricks for the Nexus 10

Last update: October 17, 2013

This article has had over 110,000 views! Although it was written for the Nexus 10, many of these tips apply to other Android tablets as well. Enjoy!

Because my original Nexus 10 tips and tricks article was so incredibly popular, I’ve decided to write a follow-up. This time I’m including a few outside sources, however I assure you these tips will be every bit as good as the original ones and there will be no duplicates.

  1. Improve lag and choppiness – Some other Nexus users have found a simple fix to lag, choppiness, and stuttering performance that occurs when swiping across the home screens, opening the app drawer, typing on the keyboard, scrolling in the browser or even simply unlocking the device. I haven’t experienced too many problems like this, but still recommend you make the following change to see if it improves things. First, locate Google Currents in All Apps and open it. Tap “Settings” (the three dots) and uncheck “Enable Background Sync.” Reboot your Nexus 10. Source: TalkAndroid
  2. Ad-blockers can be useful utilities

  3. Unblock ads – There are several good Android ad blockers, but most require a rooted device. Adblock Plus is free and removes ads on a stock Nexus 10. Important note: One of my readers reported some serious problems after installing this app (see the comments section of my original tips article if you want details). For this reason, I’m recommending everyone hold off on installing this app until the company releases an update which addresses this issue. Source: Phandroid
  4. Maximize your battery life – To increase the battery life of your Nexus 10, try these suggestions:
    – Turn off your tablet when you go to sleep and charge it all night.
    – Set your screen brightness at 50% or lower. To do this go to Settings > Display > Brightness
    – Uninstall power hungry apps – Go to Settings > Battery and look at the top battery users . On my Nexus 10, Yahoo Weather consumes as much power then the screen and the OS combined! To uninstall go to the All Apps folder and drag the problem app on top of the Uninstall label at the top of the screen
    – Turn off your GPS when you don’t need it. To do this go to Settings > Location Access and set ‘Access to my location’ OFF. If you do this, any app which requires the GOS including Google Now will not function correctly.
    – If you rarely use Bluetooth or NFC, make sure both are off. To turn off NFC, go to Settings > More…
    – Check the Sleep setting (under Display) and make sure it is set to 1 minute or less.
  5. Tether your tablet to your phone for free – As long as you have an Android smartphone, there’s no need to purchase a tablet with cellular support, or pay extra to use your phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot. Just download and install FoxFi on your phone and check ‘Activate WiFi Hotspot.’ Then go to Settings > Wi-Fi on your tablet, and connect to ‘FoxFi14.’ Now you’ll sharing data with your mobile phone. Make sure to keep tabs on the data usage shown in the upper right hand corner of the FoxFi app, and do not use this app if you sometimes come close to using all of your available mobile data. I cannot be held responsible for any extra data charges you incur because of the use of this app. Other caveats: The free version of FoxFi now has a usage limit that requires you to restart FoxFi at some point. You can purchase the full version key to unlock this. Currently WiFi mode does not work on most phones with Jelly Bean and most HTC phones (except for HTC One). However, Bluetooth mode works for all phones.
  6. Import contacts from other sources – If you have contacts stored in Outlook, Yahoo or another source, export them as a comma-separated value or CSV file. For contacts from Apple’s Address Book, expert as vCard. It’s not essential, but is a good idea if you open this file using a spreadsheet and make some edits on your computer to clean up things. Now you’re ready to import your contacts. Open Google Contacts on your computer and click on ‘More.’ Select ‘Import’ and select the file you exported. After your contacts have been imported, you should go to ‘More’ again and select ‘Find and merge duplicates.’
  7. Scrubly cleans your contacts for free

  8. Clean up your contacts and add photos to them – If you have problems with duplicate contacts or contacts with missing info, you should go to Scrubly.com. Scrubly is a free service for people with less than 250 contacts. In addition to cleaning your contacts, Scrubly will import photos, birthdays, company, job title and more. Make sure to link Scrubly with your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, so it can pull from those sources as well. I’ve used this service and was very impressed, but if you don’t like it, you can revert back to the way things were.
  9. Send SMS texts directly from your tablet – There are several different ways to send SMS texts from your Nexus 10, but one of the better ones is an app called Tablet Talk. This app uses Bluetooth to talk to your Android smartphone. This app is nice because the person you’re texting does not need to install any special software and all texts are sent using your mobile number. With Tablet Talk you can have a text conversation on your tablet just like you would on your phone. This is a paid app ($3) but I think it’s worth it. Install it on your tablet first and then connect to your Android phone via Bluetooth. Once you do that, you can download Tablet Talk on your Android phone for free. Tip: If you’re having problems connecting your Nexus 10 with your phone using Tablet Talk, make sure the Tablet Talk app is open on your phone first and then press the orange button in the lower-left hand corner of the Tablet Talk app on your Nexus 10. If you live in the U.S. and don’t want to mess around with Bluetooth, Google Voice allows you to easily send SMS texts as well and it’s free. The only negative is the fact that your texts will come from your Google number, and not your normal mobile number. Update: Mysms is now my favorite app for this purpose because it’s available in a tablet-optimized version for Android and can send texts to iOS devices, Windows phones, Macs, Chrome devices and Windows PCs. The tablet-optimized Android version is $2, while most other versions are free.
  10. Kingsoft Office is one of the best free office apps

  11. Install an office app – At some point you’re going to need to open a file which was created with Microsoft Office. There are many apps that do this. Consider Kingsoft Office (free), Quickoffice Pro HD, OfficeSuite Pro, Documents To Go or Google Drive (which replaced Google Docs). Most of these apps also create Word or Excel-style docs as well.
  12. Try another web browser – Chrome is good, but there are other good third-party browsers as well. Check out Firefox Browser for Android, Dolphin Browser, Opera (Mobile or Mini web browser), Puffin Web browser Free and xScore. Each have advantages over the others. You can read more about them in Google Play.
  13. Speed up animations to make your tablet feel snappier – There’s another quick way to make your Nexus 10 feel snappier. By speeding up (or disabling) the animated fade-in effects you see when switching between tasks, you’ll see a boost in performance and faster screen transitions. Start by unhiding “Developer options” as described in Tip #11 here. Once in “Developer options,” scroll down to the “Window animation scale” and “Transition animation scale” options and set both to .5x. You can even turn each of these off and transitioning between apps and pages will be almost instant. If you ever want to go back, remember the defaults for both of these settings are 1x. Source: Cult of Android
  14. Learn how to use your camera – Because there is no information about using the camera in the Nexus Guidebook, I’m adding some info here. You’ll find the ‘Camera’ app in the All Apps folder. Long press its icon and drag it to one of your home screens. To take a picture using the rear camera, press the big blue button. You’ll hear a sound which indicates you’ve taken a photo. To view the photo you’ve just taken, swipe to the left. Swipe back to the right to return to the camera. To switch to the front camera, press the circle to the right of the blue button. Then click on the camera icon with the arrows under it. In a few seconds you should see yourself on the view finder. The +/- controls are for exposure. To make a photo less bright press -1, -2 or -3. Next to that is the Settings button. From here you can access presets for things like action shots, night photos and sunset photos under ‘Scene mode.’ ‘Store location’ tags your photo with GPS info. Next to that are the white balance settings for different types of light. Next are the flash settings, To turn off the flash, touch the lightning bolt with an ‘x’ next to it. Press the Back button when you’re finished. To switch to the video camera, press the camera button to the left. From top to bottom, the buttons are ‘Photo Sphere,’ Panorama, Video, and Still Camera. Here is the most comprehensive guide to using the Android 4.2 camera that I’ve seen so far.
  15. Get a stylus for more control – Although the Nexus 10 doesn’t have the same level of sensitivity of a Galaxy Note II, a stylus will give you more control and make it easier to take shorthand notes. Make sure to check out the reviews before you buy any stylus and never buy the cheapest one available, because you probably won’t be happy if you do.
  16. You can quickly send photos or videos to another device using Wi-Fi Direct

  17. Transfer files quickly using Wi-Fi Direct – Wi-Fi Direct lets you send any type of file from your Nexus 10 to another Wi-Fi Direct device like a Samsung Galaxy S III. To send a photo or movie over Wi-Fi direct from your tablet to your phone, go to the ‘Photo Gallery’ app and select the file you wish to send. Then touch the item so the Share button appears. Next, select an app from the list which you know has Wi-Fi Direct support. I use the ‘OfficeSuite Wi-Fi Direct’ app. If you don’t have that, try Wi-Fi Shoot. Now, select the device you want to send your file to from the list of available devices. Photos only take a few seconds to transfer. Sending a 200MB movie took less than 5 minutes. Note: The receiving device may be sluggish while a file is being sent to it. On the sending end, you can swipe down on the Notification bar to see the transfer progress of the file. After the file transfer is complete, select the app on the receiving end that you want to view the file with. The file sent/received notifications cannot be cleared manually. They will go away after you restart your devices.
  18. Long press a notification for app info – If you long press a notification, an “App info” button will appear and you will be able to find out more about the application that sent it. You can clear its cache, data, stop it, uninstall it or disable sending notifications. Source: Android Geeks
  19. You can speak into your Nexus 10 and it will translate just like the Droid commercial shown here

  20. Speak and translate – You may have seen the new Droid RAZR M commercial where the girl speaks into her phone and it speaks the words back in a different language. You can do that with your Nexus 10 as well. Just launch Google Translate. Touch the microphone icon, and speak the words you want translated. Touch the speaker next to the translated words to hear them back.
  21. Fix problems with some apps – If you find an app that is giving you trouble, try wiping its cached data. To do this, go to Settings > Apps, then pick the problem app from the list which appears and tap the ‘Clear cache’ button. If that doesn’t fix the problem, you want to try the ‘Clear data’ button as a last resort. But keep in mind if you do this you could lose stored data like photos. Source: Android Geeks
  22. Scribble and your tablet translates for you

  23. Scribble and translate – You can scribble on your tablet’s screen and Google Translate will translate the words into to any language.
  24. Try these tablet charging tips – For best results, power off your Nexus 10 and let it charge all night. If you do this, you should be able to get through an entire day of normal use without running out of power. On peak usage days, charge your tablet for an hour during lunch or early afternoon.
  25. Turn your tablet into a media server – Although the Nexus 10 is not pre-loaded with a DLNA media server like Samsung’s AllShare Play, there are free alternatives this work even better. Download and install Twonky Beam. It will let you access media on your tablet from your Xbox 360, Sony PS3, Roku box, connected TV — or any of the 13,000 other DLNA-certified devices. [Disclosure: I used to work for the company who makes this software]
  26. Enable auto-fill on third-party browsers – Although Chrome has an ‘Autofill forms’ setting, there are other apps which give you more control over this. Install Dolphin Browser and the Autofill Form add-on for it.
  27. Lower your screen brightness even more – If you sometimes like to use the Nexus 10 in a room with all lights off, you may find that the screen is still too bright even when brightness is turned all of the way down. Apps like Screen Filter allow you to adjust the brightness of the screen as dark as you like.
  28. Yopu can beam media from your phone to tablet

    You can beam media from your phone to tablet (or vice versa)

  29. Beam something from your phone to tablet – If you have another Android device with NFC support like a Samsung Galaxy S III you can beam browser pages, YouTube videos, contacts and more from your phone to your tablet (or vice versa). Start by finding the media you want to beam and make sure both devices are unlocked. Next place your phone on the Nexus 10 as shown in the photo. In a few seconds you should feel each vibrate and hear a sound. Touch the screen after you see the image get smaller and the words ‘Touch to beam’ appear on the screen. If you’ve done it successfully, the image will continue to get smaller on the screen until it disappears. More info. In case you’re wondering where the two NFC sensors are on your Nexus 10. One is on the back to the right side of the camera near the top. The other one is by the front camera.
  30. Transfer files from your Mac to your tablet – If you’ve got a Mac, you’ll want to download and install the Android File Transfer app. Then plug your tablet into your Mac and the transfer app should automatically launch. Now can copy or move files by simply dragging and dropping them into the folders on the Nexus 10.
  31. Control your computer's mouse

    Control your computer’s mouse with your tablet

  32. Control your Mac or PC using your tablet – When I first read about this tip, I didn’t think I would like it, but I was wrong. This may sound like a gimmick, but it’s really useful. First install WiFi Mouse on your tablet. Next, download mouse server software and install it on your computer. Launch the WiFi Mouse app on your tablet and touch ‘Auto Connect.’ You should now be able to control your mouse using your tablet. You can even right-click, but in order to type using your tablet and have that text appear on your computer you’ll need to upgrade to the full version. Source: Redmond Pie
  33. Disable notifications on a single individual application – If you want to turn off notifications for a single app, follow these steps: First swipe down the notification bar. Then long press the notification until a box appears that says, “App Info.” Touch that and then uncheck the “Show Notifications” checkbox. Then touch OK to approve the change. Source: Droid Life
  34. Boot into Safe-mode to troubleshoot problems – If you are experiencing a problem with your Nexus 10 and you want to determine whether they are being caused by a third-party app, press the power button for seven seconds until your tablet reboots. Then press and hold both the volume up and down keys until you see the words ‘Safe mode’ appear in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. If the problem goes away when you’re in safe mode, you should reboot your tablet and start removing recently installed apps until the problem goes away. Source: How-To Geek
  35. Upload your music to the cloud – Since the Nexus 10 has a limited amount of internal storage and is not expandable, you should upload all of the music on your computer to the cloud. Google Music allows you to store up to 20,000 songs for free. Using the Google Music app, you’ll be able to access all of them as long as you have a Wi-Fi connection. To upload your music, download Google’s free Music Manager software to your computer.
  36. Canon users can preview photos and change camera settings using their Nexus 10

    Canon DSLR users can preview photos and change camera settings using their Nexus 10

  37. Control a DSLR with your tablet DSLR Controller is a popular app that allows you to fully control your Canon EOS DSLR from your Nexus 10 with only a USB cable. Use your tablet to control, Live View, Image review, Auto Focus, Manual focus, Zoom control, HDR, Timelapse, Wi-Fi Passthrough, Shutter speed, Aperture, ISO speed, White balance and much more. It’s $8, so make sure your camera is on its supported device list before you buy. If you have a Canon camera like the 6D with Wi-Fi support, check out Canon CameraWindow and EOS Remote. Both of these apps are free.
  38. Download USA-restricted apps & media anywhere – If you have rooted your Nexus 10 and want to free access territory-restricted apps and media, download and install Droid VPN and follow these instructions. I do not recommend that you root your tablet for this reason alone, because it may prevent you for getting OS updates directly from Google. Also, as one of my readers points out in the comments section below, this tip may only be helpful on content that does not require a credit card, because Google Play restricts purchases by country. Source: One Click Root
  39. Sync your tablet with iTunes – It’s easy to copy music or videos from your iTunes library to your tablet. However, I recommend that you don’t move everything – unless you have a 32GB Nexus 10 with lots of free space. You can find detailed instructions how to do this here. Source: CNET
  40. Here are just a few of the free wallpapers available on Google Images

    Here are just a few of the free wallpapers available on Google Images

  41. Upgrade your screen background and save battery life – Upgrade your screen background and save battery life – Most of the stock Wallpapers that come with your Nexus 10 tablet are not great. They use bright colors and do not take advantage of the full resolution of your display. Although you can download wallpaper apps, your best bet is to find some images you’ve taken with your DSLR camera or do an advanced search on Google Images. Enter a description in the first box, if you’re not sure what your looking for try “HD wallpapers”, “high resolution images” or ‘2560×1600 wallpaper’ in the first box. Select ‘Larger than 4 MP’ as the image size. If you want the best quality available, search for images above 12 MP. You’ll see a wide range of images to choose from. Click on a few that you like, and make sure to click ‘Full-size image’ on the right-hand side of the screen.

    You’ll find there are a lot of decoy images, which are smaller than they are supposed to be. If it doesn’t say 2560×1600 or larger under ‘Full-size image’ you should go back and select another image. If can’t find anything good on Google Images, try Google+ Communities or Picasa Web Albums. There are some good dark Nexus 10 backgrounds on this Google+ page. Now right-click on the large image and select ‘Save image as…’ Move all of your saved images into a folder called ‘New wallpapers’ and copy that into the ‘Pictures’ folder on your Nexus 10 using a USB cable. You could select your images from the Gallery, but you’d be asked to crop them and that would lower their resolution. Although the Nexus screen is 2560×1600, I’ve been told that the size of the wallpapers that Google includes with the Nexus 10 are 3966×2560. That’s because they pan when you change home screens. I use an app called ‘Simple Image Wallpaper Free’ which displays your wallpaper at its full resolution, doesn’t require cropping and doesn’t pan when you move to another home screen.

    If all this seems too hard, try a wallpaper app from Google Play like Wallbase, Interfacelift or Wallpaper Wizardii. Just make sure to select images which are 2560×1600 or higher, (3966×2560 is even better if possible).

  42. Transfer files wirelessly from an iPad to your Nexus 10 – You can send or receive, photos, videos, music, contacts or notes over Bluetooth from any iOS device to any Android device. In order to do this, you need a jailbroken iOS device, and the AirBlue Sharing app which you can purchase for $5 from Cydia. See it in action here. Source: Redmond Pie
  43. Here are some nice Live Wallpapers (Lonely Tree, Mystic Halo, Ocean HD)

    Here are some nice Live Wallpapers (Lonely Tree, Mystic Halo, Ocean HD)

  44. Install a better Live Wallpaper – All of the Live Wallpapers that come with the Nexus 10 are poor quality. You should install a good Live Wallpaper like Light Grid, Mystic Halo LW, Blue Skies Free, PanoPlanet, or Ocean HD ($1.99). My current favorite Live Wallpaper is Lonely Tree. It really shows off the Nexus 10’s screen with its 60fps motion and extreme detail. If you watch carefully, you’ll notice the clouds, tree branches, snow all move independently. Avoid most wallpapers in Google Play which claim to be HD. Most do not look good on the Nexus 10’s display. Once you’ve installed your new Wallpaper, go to Settings > Display > Wallpaper > Live Wallpapers and select the one you wish to use. Then touch Set Wallpaper and press the Back button to return to the Home screen.
  45. Stop Google from reading your email – Google Now is able to do some cool things by scanning your Gmail. If this bothers you and you want to turn it off, open the Google Search app, go to Settings > Google Now and uncheck “Show cards based on Gmail.”
  46. A tablet-optimized website

    A tablet-optimized website

  47. Bookmark some tablet-optimized websites – More websites are starting to update their layouts so they look great on the Nexus 10. Checkout sites like Engadget, Google News, TNW (The Next Web) and BGR to see great examples of this.
  48. Maximize your screen’s contrast – Because the Nexus 10 uses a different screen technology than the Samsung Galaxy S III or iPad, you can’t set the brightness as high if you want the best contrast between black and white. I recommend that you set your screen brightness at 50% to 60% — unless you’re outside.
  49. Quickly review your photos and delete the bad ones – Within the Gallery app, touch where it says ‘Grid view’ to change to ‘Filmstrip view’. In this view, you can swipe right to move from photo to photo, or swipe down to delete any photo you don’t like. If you accidentally delete a photo, touch ‘Undo’ in the lower-right hand corner, but do this quickly because this option goes away after you go to the next photo.
  50. Expand your storage with an external Wi-Fi drive – Companies like Kingston have solid-state drives that add 32GB, 64GB or 128GB of additional storage to your tablet. These drives are small and communicate over Wi-Fi.
  51. Transfer files, photos or contact info using Bump Bump is a free app which lets you transfer files wirelessly between any two devices (Android or iOS) — even if they don’t support NFC. To use, open the ‘Bump’ app on both devices and select the file (or files you wish to transfer). Then tap the two devices together and press the blue Connect button on both of the devices. You can bump photos to your computer by going to http://bu.mp and bumping your spacebar with your device. Bump works with videos, docs, spreadsheets, presentations are more.
  52. Stream full high-definition movies directly to your tablet using VUDU

    Stream full high-definition movies directly to your tablet using VUDU

  53. Stream a high-definition movie directly to your tablet from VUDU – You can now stream or download an HD movie or TV show from VUDU . The Nexus 10 is one of only four devices that support VUDU currently. All you need is the free VUDU app and a VUDU account. Vudu has a number of advantages over Google Play including on-the-go access to your UltraViolet Digital Collection of Blu-ray movies. [May not be available to Nexus users outside the U.S.]

  54. Fix auto-brightness problems – Android 4.2 has an auto-brightness setting, but it doesn’t work very well. You should download Lux Auto Brightness to fix this problem. Lux automatically adjusts the brightness of your display based on your environment. When you go into a dark room, Lux will automatically lower the brightness of your display after you unlock your screen to make reading more enjoyable.

    To setup Lux you need to go through their setup wizard. I suggest you leave the factory default settings as is. After you do that, you’ll need to go back and launch the app again and touch ‘Press to enable Lux.’ Lux will adjust every time you unlock your screen. Although there is a dynamic setting, it doesn’t work as well, because it’s possible for your finger to occasionally block the light sensor when you hold the tablet in Portrait mode. If you sometimes use your tablet in a totally dark room, I suggest you go to the settings page and set ‘Night Mode’ alpha to 10.

  55. A Bluetooth keyboard allows you to type much faster

    A Bluetooth keyboard allows you to type much faster

  56. Get a Bluetooth keyboard – You can hook up a wired keyboard to the USB port on the Nexus 10, but a Bluetooth keyboard is much more convenient because its wireless. One of the best keyboards for the Nexus 10 is the Logitech keyboard for Android devices. It’s only $51 and is easy to setup. Just turn it on and press the Connect button on the button of the keyboard. Then go to Settings > Bluetooth on your tablet, touch Search for Devices, and select the Logitech keyboard. Next, type the number which appears on your tablet and press the Enter key to pair it. Now anytime the Bluetooth keyboard is on, you can type on it instead of your tablet. This keyboard comes with a carrying case which doubles as a tablet stand.
  57. It's easy to increase your Wi-Fi signal strength

    It’s easy to increase your Wi-Fi signal strength

  58. Improve your Wi-Fi signal strength – If you have a few spots in your residence where you’re not getting a strong Wi-Fi signal, you should consider purchasing a $40 Wi-Fi booster like this one. It’s easy to setup and designed for use with tablets. Just plug it in and wait for its LED to turn green. Then press the WPS button on the extender and your router and you should be ready to go. The new Wi-Fi network will be called the same as the old one, but end with “_EXT”. Make sure to select that network when you’re having signal strength issues. After connecting to a Wi-Fi Extender, I’m getting speeds that are almost 4 times faster than I was before.
  59. Create your own photo albums – You can use a file explorer app like ES File Explorer to make new photo albums inside of the Pictures folder. This is done by going to the Menu and selecting New and Folder. If you do this, your newly created albums will appear when you open the photo Gallery app. You can also delete any albums you don’t want by pressing Select and then touching the items you wish to delete. When you are finished touch the trash can.
  60. Get cut and paste to work every time – Several people have written to tell me they are having problems with cut and paste, so I thought I would try to help with this. To select a word, touch and hold on a word until the highlight and arrows pop up. When you do this on a text document, you’ll be presented with the following choices at the top of the screen: Select All, Copy, Cut and Paste. Drag the two blue region selection handles around the desired text and select Copy (or another one of the available commands). Then touch where you want to insert the copied text and hold until the word Paste appears. Press Done when you’re finished.

    If you do this on a Web page or most other screens, you’ll be presented with the following choices: Select All, Copy, Share, Search Web or Find. If the handles are orange and you don’t see Select All, Copy, Cut and Paste at the top of the screen, you should long-press the selection and Copy, Select All and Share will appear in a pop-up menu. Once you cut or copy the desired text, you’ll be able to paste it — after you long press where you want to insert it. If the paste option goes away, just touch one of the region selection handles again and it will reappear.

  61. Left your wallet at home? No problem. Use your tablet to buy lunch.

    Left your wallet at home? No problem. Use your tablet to buy lunch.

  62. Use your tablet to buy things without a wallet – Since most U.S. carriers block Google Wallet on their smartphones, Nexus devices are the only way for most of us to use NFC to purchase things. Before you go to the store you need to run the Google Wallet app once to link it to your credit card and enter a PIN for security. You do not need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network in order to Tap and Pay. Just tap the back of your tablet near the camera on the cash register. You do need to be connected to setup a card or switch between default payment cards however. You can use Google Wallet in-store anywhere contactless payments are accepted, at over 300,000 merchants across the United States. Learn more about Google Wallet here.
  63. Use NFC to change settings – Another nice application for NFC is automatically changing settings when you move your tablet from one location to another. You can purchase low-cost sensor tags like these that can be placed anywhere and programmed to do many different things using an app like NFC Task Launcher. For example, when I set my tablet on my desk, it turns Bluetooth on so my keyboard works, changes Wi-Fi to a nearby 5GHz access point and turns up the system volume. When I go into to my bedroom, and touch my phone on the night stand it changes to my Wi-Fi extender network, and turns Bluetooth and system volume off.
  64. Simply tap your Nexus 10 to enjoy your music playlist through your home stereo speakers

    Simply tap your Nexus 10 to enjoy your music playlist through your home stereo speakers

  65. Stream music directly to your stereo speakers – Even though the speakers in the Nexus 10 are much better than other tablets, they are not as good as the ones that come with your stereo. By purchasing Belkin’s low-cost HD Bluetooth Music Receiver you can stream music wirelessly from your Nexus 10 (or the cloud) directly to your stereo up to 30 feet away. This works with Google’s Play Music app as well as other great free music services like Spotify, Songza and Pandora’s Internet radio app. Setup is made easier because it uses the Nexus 10’s NFC chip for “tap-and-play” pairing. I want this.
  66. Get 50GB of free cloud storage – You can never have too much storage. That’s why I use SkyDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive and MediaFire. MediaFire isn’t as flexible as the other storage lockers I mentioned above, but it’s the only one that gives you 50GB of FREE storage. You’ll need to first go to their website and create an account, then you can download the MediaFire app from Google Play.
  67. Changing your download directory – Several people have asked how they can change the default Download directory. You can do this with Dolphin Browser by going to Menu> More> Settings> Privacy & Personal Data> Download Directory.

– Rick

Copyright 2013 Rick E. Schwartz. All rights reserved. Linking to this article is encouraged

Follow me on Twitter @mostlytech1

About Rick E. Schwartz
Rick Schwartz is blogger from San Diego. You can learn more about Rick by clicking on the "About" tab at the top of mostly-tech.com.

76 Responses to More Great Tips & Tricks for the Nexus 10

  1. don says:

    You have some great tips, maybe for your next article you could mention both tethering and VPN. I spend a bit of time in south America and would lime to use both.

    • Good ideas Don. I’ll consider both. Thanks for the suggestions.

      – Rick

      • eric says:

        I can’t find out how to have my display stop or off switch (right edge of gnexus) turn off the app that was running. Phone calls remain open even though screen goes blank and appears off. It used to turn phone off also but no longer does this. How reestablish this function?

      • I owned a Galaxy Nexus, but don’t remember it doing some of these things. Maybe I’m just not understanding you.

        You might want to repost this question in a forum with a lot of GNex experts like XDA-developers.com. As a last resort you might want to do a Factory Reset, but only after making sure everything is backed up.

        – Rick

  2. Your wish is my command. Tip #3 now talks about tethering.

    – Rick

  3. See Tip #27 for suggestion about a good VPN app.

    – Rick

  4. Serena says:

    Hi there. Question for a tablet newbie whose Nexus 10 is en route. I have an HTC incredible 2 for a few months longer. I’ve never used Bluetooth anything so I’m not familiar with the ins and outs. Can I use tablet talk through my phone without any additional equipment? If so, how? As far as tethering goes, until I get my new Samsung, I’m out of luck? Thanks for writing these articles – I’m looking forward to diving in!

    • You are correct Serena. Tablet Talk is a software-only solution, which works over Bluetooth, so nothing else is required.

      Lately, I’ve been using Google Talk to send texts however, because no Bluetooth setup is required and it seems to work well.

      You should be able to tether using your old Android phone as well.

      Best regards,

      – Rick

      • Dennis says:

        I am using Tablet Talk over Wi-fi with my Nexus 10 and a Samsung S2 and it works fine and I was able to sync all my texts from the phone to the tablet.

  5. bruce shoupe says:

    Love the screen and feel. But, why is it such a memory hog. 2 gigs of ram. I loaded most of programs suggested and ony 250 megs of memory left. What am I doing wrong or is it the machine.

    • I only have 0.93GB free as well, so it’s probably because the OS is caching a bunch of apps and processes. I wouldn’t worry too much about it, because it can flush memory extremely quickly when needed. If this really bothers you, you can download an app which allows you to do this manually.

      Thanks for the comment Bruce. If you come across any tips or apps that you love, let us know. Thanks.

      – Rick

  6. So the question is have you joined the phantom reboot crew yet? Started doing it once a day with me just on web browsing and YouTube. Now got to the point this evening with over 15 reboots (no intensive use either)
    Having horrible flashbacks to the useless heap,that was the mk1 Desire.
    Google better sort themselves out :/

    Thanks for the super useful tips n tricks. Been following since day 1 🙂

  7. As a matter of fact I have been seeing more reboots lately. All of mine have been while I was doing multitasking (e.g. Spotify, etc) while using the Chrome browser. I think the root cause is related to Chrome. I’ve never seen more than two in a day and still go several days without seeing them, so it hasn’t become a problem for me yet. I think you must have something else running which is a problem. If you have an Ad Blocker installed, I’d remove that for now.

    Thanks for mentioning you’ve been following me since day 1. There aren’t many who can claim that. 🙂

    – Rick

  8. bomber21 says:

    Excellent info here.keep it coming, thanks

  9. Patrik says:

    im from sweden and when i try to access google play magazines it says my country is not available yet..so you can buy magazines with this Droid VPN then?..if so thats great

    • That should work. If not, Google Play magazines just hit the U.K. two days ago. I would hope they have plans to expand to other countries soon.

      I’ve always wanted to visit Sweden. Greetings from Southern California. 🙂

      – Rick

      • Patrik says:

        ok have tested it with droidVPN
        sure you get all magazines books and movies at the playstore but you still cant buy them.
        your credit card is locked to your country so this tip i useless.

      • Thanks for letting me know. If I cannot find a solution, I’ll remove this tip.

        – Rick

  10. Patrik says:

    as for the best contras i think there is an app where you can change the backlight instead of just change the brightness..dont know if it works but it should make you use a brighter display with great blacklevel..that is if you can increase the backlight even more from original

    • One of the apps I already mentioned is supposed to do this. It’s called Screen Filter. Other apps which claim to do this are: Lux Auto Brightness and Custom Auto Brightness. If you get a chance to compare those three, please let me know, so I can recommend the best one. Thanks. I’ll eventually get around to doing it, but right now I’m working on three other articles that I want to finish first.

      There is also a custom ROM. More info:
      http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1117626

      – Rick

  11. andrey says:

    Great info. thanks!
    I have a question about tethering. I’m trying to Bluetooth tether my nexus 10 to my HTC incredible (from Verizon). I’m using FoxFi on the phone and PdaNet on the tablet and it seems to work’ but only partially. I have internet connection for my web browser but other apps are not connected to the internet. Do you have any idea what can be the problem and how can I fix it. Thanks in advance.

    • I cannot get Bluetooth to work either. I suggest you visit the Foxfi.com website and ask a question there. If you get it work work, please post the solution here.

      Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.

      – Rick

  12. chris wright says:

    Hi,
    I can access Quickoffice (for viewing only) only when I want to open a file, Quickoffice Support said it should be in the app menu, but its not even listed in my google apps. Any ideas, I want to be able to edit docs & ppts.
    Cheers

    • If was having this same problem yesterday and when I went to try it now, I was able to edit a files with an .rtf, .doc or .docx extension. I’m using QuickofficePro HD.

      I didn’t see any kind of an Edit icon. I just made the keyboard appear and inserted the cursor and started editing.

      – Rick

      • chris wright says:

        Well that cant be right? For example. How would you create a new one?
        Quickoffice support in their first reply thought that it should be accessible through an app icon.
        \by the way the QO rel on my N10 is 5.7.2 Tablet OEMV
        Chris

      • When I launch Quickoffice Pro HD and touch the icon to the right of the magnifying glass. After you do that, you’ll have to choose what document type you wish to create. To save you enter some text and touch the document icon (to the left of the megaphone).

        Does this solve your problem?

        – Rick

      • chris wright says:

        The problem is I cannot even see the icon! The only way I can access my docs (or whatever) is by clicking on the file through a file explorer (ES is best) and then I get the option to open through a list of options. Selecting QO (once only or always) allows it to open in QO.

        QO support have just told me this:
        _____________
        I’ve been looking into this further with my colleagues, and since the Nexus 10 comes with Android v4.2, your pre-installed version of Quickoffice will not have an icon, as it is a viewer only and not an editor.

        We understand this may frustrating, so we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

        Have a nice day!

        Julia
        ____________

        So what do you think Rick, A cop out!? As we say here in the UK; Its a load of Bollocks! (it didn’t come with v4.2. it was 4.1, I had to upgrade!)
        Personally I think that the Nexus 10 was rushed out for Christmas, when I got mine there where no, I mean NO accessories, added to minimal tablet apps. If Google was Apple, Steve Jobs would be turning in his grave!!

      • Sorry you are getting the runaround on this. It sounds like you may need to buy that app or try one of the other free apps like Kingsoft Office which do the same thing.

        – Rick

  13. whit says:

    I was so excited by Tablet Talk that I immediately downloaded it. Unfortunately, iPhone does NOT have this app!

    • Sorry about that. I rewrote that paragraph to make it more clear that Tablet Talk is currently Android only.

      I did notice they are talking about making a Whatsapp Tablet Talk plugin, so hopefully it will work in the future. You might want to try Mysms in the meantime. That should work on iOS.

      – Rick

  14. Evan says:

    Question about doubletwist for the Nexus 10. The Nexus 10 does not support USB Mass Storage (MSC), only MTP and PTP correct? For this reason it will not display my device in doubletwist. Any tips? Thanks

  15. Russ says:

    Hi Rick,
    I’m having problems getting sound to play out of my TV when I connect my N10 with either HDMI or USB cables. Sound works great on musin and video on the N10 but I can only get video when I connect to the TV. Any ideas?
    Russ

    • Let me try this again this weekend and get back to you. If you can’t wait, call the Nexus support number I list. They are normally pretty helpful.

      – Rick

    • Looks like someone borrowed my HDMI cable and didn’t give it back, so I cannot test this now. Sorry.

      Sound is normally transmitted via HDMI, so you might want to check your TV settings as well.

      – Rick

      • Russ says:

        Hi Rick,
        Thanks for trying 🙂
        One of my colleagues said he uses a “gadget” to enable sound to be played through his Galaxy tab on his TV, so I’ve asked him to lend it to me to see if this works. I haven’t a clue what the gadget is, but if successful I will let you know.
        PS I have tried amending the TV settings but to no avail. My laptop plays music and video through the TV via USB without any problems, it’s just the N10 which doesn’t want to play…literally.
        Russ

      • Let me know if the ‘gadget’ helps. I’m surprised that you can plan video over USB, but not HDMI. It seems like it should be the other way around.

        – Rick

  16. Susan Kaplan says:

    How large a .jpg file photo can the N10 handle? Also how do you download bulk photos off the tablet onto a PC?

    • Hi Susan,

      I don’t know what the maximum is. I do know it can display 20.2MP photos without a problem. The easiest way to download multiple photos to a computer is to mount your tablet as a drive by plugging in a USB cable.

      – Rick

      • Susan Kaplan says:

        So you can download off the N10 onto a thumb drive? I wasn’t sure it worked that way, that it would only upload to the tablet not download to a USB device.

      • You are supposed to be able to connect a camera or memory stick to the Nexus 10 in PTP mode if you do what I say in Tip 14, but I couldn’t get it to work.

        Tip 26 tells you another way to mount a memory stick, but that is more involved, so I prefer to copy my photos from my camera to my PC, and then from my PC to my tablet (or vice versa).

        Both of the tips I refer to can be found here: https://mostly-tech.com/2012/11/17/nexus-10-tips-and-tricks/

        – Rick

  17. imfubared says:

    Note: The Google Manager will as the tip says upload your music to the cloud for storage and save room on the Nexus 10. One problemo. Only if that music is in a folder and only if the music shows the track ‘title’s’.
    I found out when you load a CD you want to upload via Manager, it will not work directly because the track titles are shown as track 1, 2, etc.
    I used Windows Media Player, selected RIP, waiting for songs to rip, and they they are placed in a folder with the Titles. Then use Google Manager to open the ripped folder – took a while to find that folder by the way, an it will download your music.
    Takes a while but it does work.
    Last, once your done ripping one disk, you can upload that music and rip another at the same time.

    • Thanks for the tip.

      For best results with all media players, you should check your music metadata before uploading to make sure all of the fields are present and accurate. I use an app called Tag&Rename to do this.

      – Rick

  18. Peggie says:

    When I do voice search, the tablet doesn’t respond back verbally – I could swear it did it the first day, but now it doesn’t speak. ANy ideas ?

    • Hi Peggie,

      First swipe up so Google Now appears. Then touch the three dots in the lower right and select “Settings”. Now touch “Voice in theleft and make sure that “Speech output” says “Always speak. ” Let me know if that doesn’t solve this problem. Thanks.

      – Rick

  19. Lisa says:

    New to N10. Love it! Your info very helpful. Trying to use Bluetooth headset to listen to music, movies, audio books, etc. Device paired and connected fine but sound not coming through headset. Any ideas?

    • I just confirmed it works for me. Here are the steps I followed:

      1. First turn on your bluetooth device
      2. Next, go to Settings Bluetooth and touch SEARCH FOR DEVICES
      3. Then wait until your device appears and select it. If you get a pairing error, try again. It took me 3x before it worked
      4. Next, touch the Settings for your Bluetooth device and confirm that ‘Phone audio’ and ‘Media audio’ are both checked
      5. Now make sure the volume is up on your device and your Nexus Media Player and try playing something.

      It sounds like you’ve already done all of this, but I wanted to make sure. In the next few days you should get a new Android OS. That is supposed to fix some audio-related Bluetooth issues, so I would try that as well.

      – Rick

      • Lisa says:

        OK. I only see phone audio option and it is checked. I have Motorola H730. Does this mean my device just won’t work for music, etc?? Is it for phone only? If so, what should I look for in device specs to make sure I get the right Bluetooth device? (Sorry, I’m new to all this tech stuff) Thanks for your help!!!!

      • Hi Lisa,

        I appears your Motorola earpiece is mono and intended for phone applications. I would expect every stereo Bluetooth headset would work for music applications.

        – Rick

      • Lisa says:

        Darn! Thank you so very much!!

      • You’re welcome!

        – Rick

  20. Devlyn16 says:

    when I look at Twonky Mobile you linked to in the play store it says incompatible with the N10. Did you mean their other product twonky beam?

  21. Masson says:

    Love the article.

    Been having some issues with the HDMI output though. The video/audio works great and displays just fine on my TV, but the Nexus 10 will not go to sleep, so it just mirrors what it seen on the TV and burns the battery.

    There has to be a way to have the tablet put to sleep, while watching on the TV? I’ve done this with my laptops in the past.

    Please help!

    • I’m unaware of a way to do this. Hopefully one of my readers will have a suggestion however.

      – Rick

      • Dennis says:

        I’ve noticed this but if you turn it off then the whole streaming stops etc. I just keep it plugged in if using the Nexus 10 to stream and even after the film had finished, the battery showed 0% but the Nexus was still being powered from the mains. But if there is a way to still stream but shut the screen off then great, but I don’t know how to do it.

  22. Chris says:

    I often use my tablet and phone to control my computer remotely (great for watching movies). The most fully featured one I have found is Unified Remote. The free version has mouse and keyboards in several languages, as well as a media remote and (most importantly) a file browser so you can add start a new video or whatever without squinting at the screen from across the room.

    • datbloke says:

      Teamviewer is great for this … For non commercial use it’s free and fully featured, can view multiple screens, keyboard, mouse. The PC client can be set up with a highly secure password and set to run at boot … I’ve used it for everything from creating complex documents whilst away from home to controlling windows media player from another room.

  23. Its really a nice post ! Thanks for sharing with us keep it up. The nexus 10 is really enough to edge out the i pad. The nexus 10 has a gorgeous 10 inch display.

  24. terrie says:

    Hi rick. I am UK based with my Nexus 10. I don’t know how to get wireless or how can I use my navigation from my nexus 10 in my car?

    Also when I send an email to my twin in Ireland from my gmail account. For example. Geraldine@yahoo.ie. when I press the send button it switches to com and the mail is undeievered.

    I hope you can help me

    Terrie UK

  25. mike downing says:

    I am shocked by the bad press over the low sales of the nexus 10, I have one and think its the greatest, to me the low sales are due to it being isolated to one source for buying it, not everyone wants to buy it from Google and have to setup a gmail account and the Google wallet for payment, also a lot of people who are looking to buy a new tablet want to see it and feel it etc. If this tablet was being sold everywhere like any other tablet I believe there sales would be much higher. I have seen it at amazon but not the cheaper 16 GB. But the 32 GB. Google needs to get it out to other stores if they want it to survive.
    Mike d.

  26. Andrew Pilgrim says:

    First off, great list of tips for the nexus 10. Regarding tip #7 sending text through tablet: I have been using a great app call mighty text for several years. It in my mind is the best I can find for sending and receiving Texts. As well as being able to send texts through your tablet you are also able to install an extension to your Google Chrome Web browser on your pc and have full functionality from there as well. It syncs all your contacts through your Google account. You can even tell your phone to call a number from the app; however, you must use your phone to talk. It let’s you know when you are receiving a text or call with the contacts info. I am in no way associated with mighty text other then being a loyal user for close to 2 years and it just keeps getting better. The chrome version is obviously available through chrome app network the tablet and phone version is available through Google play market with a slightly different name then the tablet version (can’t remember what it is but it’s pretty obvious it’s for the tablet…. Might have the word tablet in the name?) Just search for Mighty text on all three sources and get started. I want to see them get the recognition they deserve for making an awesome app. Did I mention it’s free! If you don’t like it delete it.

  27. Locke says:

    Just thought I would mention in regards to #31 that in the case of LED screens brighter wallpapers use less energy than darker ones. The LED screen’s back light is always and additional electric current are used to control the amount of light that penetrates the screen. Thus a pure white screen is actually the best for battery life.

  28. bobby ray says:

    I downloaded itunes not realizing it won’t work on my Nexus 10. How can I delete this download? When I click on the download I get the message “cannot open file.”

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  30. maco says:

    Great tips bro, I am having issues clearing my received Bluetooth files on my nexus 5. I transferred some pictures from my old phone via Bluetooth then I decided I don’t want the pictures no more I deleted the pictures but when I check my Bluetooth received files I still find those pictures though they can’t be viewed because they are no more, but I will really love to clear any leftover, any help will be appreciated
    Thanks

  31. roxanne says:

    Hi! Would just like to ask if there is a way to recover deleted photos without rooting. I accidentally deleted a photo and was not able to undo it.

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