Tips & Tricks

Tips & Tricks

Learn to take photos that rival the best of the pros with your new DROID RAZR M. Here are some tips that might inspire you to study at the International Center of Photography or at very least earn you some bragging rights.

Tip #1 – Keep the camera app handy
It may sound basic but having the Camera app ready to go at a moment’s notice lets you capture the shot as it happens so keep your camera app on your home screen. With DROID RAZR M, it’s already there, ready to be launched at the lockscreen.

Tip #2 – Shadow and light
Generally, natural even lighting helps ensure a good shot.  With DROID RAZR M, you can set your camera to different “Scene” settings such as Landscape or Sunset to take advantage of available light. The sunset setting is especially useful in low light as it creates richer colors.

For a photo of a brightly scene that also includes deep shadows, use HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode. HDC captures multiple exposure levels (low, medium, high) and combines them into a single photo for vibrant colors and more detail in both light and dark areas. It is usually best for:

-Landscapes with bright sky and shaded hills or foliage.
-Sunny-day portraits with lots of contrast.
-Backlit scenes with dark shadows and streams of sunlight.

Just remember, you don’t want to use HDR in every situation. Action shots, low-light indoor photos or using flash won’t give you a high-quality photo in HDR.

Tip #3 – A steady shot is a great shot
Shaky hands can spoil the shot but DROID RAZR M features image stabilization to help improve your photo. Nonetheless you want to be as still as possible. Here are a few ways to get more stability: hold the phone with both hands and stabilize your elbows against your body; lean against a sturdy object such as wall or tree; or  place the phone on a solid, non moving surface. A great way to make sure your shot is clear is to tap the area of the screen to focus.

Tip #4 – Timing  & position
Most smartphone cameras have a delay between the time you press the shutter button and when your photo is actually captured but DROID RAZR M’s near zero shutter lag helps negate that problem. Multiple angle shots of the same scene or subject is easy  with the DROID RAZR M’s multi-shot mode. Shoot up to six photos in a burst to help improve the odds of capturing that memorable moment.

Tip #5 – DROID RAZR M’s special effects
Photography through the DROID RAZR M camera lets you take a wide variety of photos with different tools including Effects. Shoot outside the box with “Aqua,” “Whiteboard,” “Negative” and other filters that create a distinctly different and rather artistic photo.

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Tips & Tricks

You’ve just unboxed your new DROID RAZR M by MOTOROLA, charged it, activated it and you’re ready to go.

It’s so intuitive, you’ll have no problem getting up and running.

But here are twelve things you might want to know about your new smartphone:

1: Go beyond the left-to-right swipe when unlocking your phone. With the lock screen, you can go straight to the phone & make a call, send a text message or snap a photo. Oh, and did we mention Face Unlock? That’s right, personalized security that responds to your face.

2: The built-in SMARTACTIONS™ software is freaky smart and automates dozens of everyday tasks so you do less fumbling with your phone, and avoid embarrassing rings when it’s quiet time.

3: Want to capture that picture-perfect moment? Check out all the features the camera offers: from multi-shot mode to photo capture while recording in HD to Panorama mode, you won’t miss a minute.

4: Taking a screenshot is not only easy, it’s a great way to share those hilarious texts from late last night.

5: The Google Chrome browser is gold and lets you open incognito tabs, request desktop sites and bookmark sites with one touch in the settings menu.

6. Circles Widget provide an easy and aesthetically pleasing way to get your day on track. Set the alarm clock, add cities to your weather watch list when traveling, and set up notifications with the all-in-one weather, clock, and battery widgets.

7. Google Mobile, the best of Google on the go, pre-loaded, including Google™ Search: Find what you need, when you need it. Google Maps™: Navigate your world and never get lost. Google+™: Connect and share with friends and family. Google Drive™: Create and collaborate

8. Voice typing comes in handy for those times when your digits are otherwise occupied or restricted by law.

9. Enabling NFC functionality allows you to send contacts, links, maps and more, directly to other phones.
Easily pair your phone with NFC-compatible headsets and other accessories and enjoy multiple levels of security, to keep your data safe

10. The time saving Notification Window organizes your incoming texts, emails, voicemails and other notices, all in one convenient place, so you can prioritize your time the way you see fit..

11. Get “Help” right on your phone. With Motorola’s exclusive Help app, you get tutorials right on your phone. Need to know more about the Mobile data setting & how to control data usage? The Help app tells you how to set a usage warning and a usage limit. With Tutorials and Help Topics, you won’t even need to pull the instruction manual out of the box.

12:. Preload YouTube videos.The best addition to the YouTube for Android app is the ability to preload videos. While your phone is charging and connected to Wi-Fi, the feature temporarily stores subscribed videos and videos in your Watch Later playlist letting you watch on the DROID RAZR M without any interruptions for your viewing pleasure.

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Tips & Tricks

Tip #1: Get Down!

“Too many people shoot photos of their dog or cat looking up at them. The poor thing usually looks trapped. The key is to get down at their level. Lie on the ground if you have to.”

That’s some down and dirty advice from Chicago pet photographer Rhonda Holcomb. That’s her dog Gracie above, posing oh so gracefully.

Tip #2: Holcomb says don’t waste your time and money with a big fancy camera.

“The best pet shots I’ve ever seen were taken with smartphones. The cameras are so good now – they’re going to put me out of business.”

Looking for a new phone with a camera worthy of your best friend? You might want to focus in on the DROID RAZR MAXX by Motorola.

In addition to its all-day battery, eye-popping display, and dog slobber-proof KEVLAR® coating, the RAZR MAXX sports an excellent camera.

The camera features an 8 MP sensor, 8x digital zoom, image stabilizer, auto focus, in-camera editing tools, and 720p HD video.

Tip #3: Be ready for action.

“The best shots of pets are when they’re caught doing something,” says Holcomb.

Fortunately, the RAZR MAXX has a tool for capturing pet action: multi-shot mode. When it’s activated, press the “take photo” button and RAZR MAXX takes a series of six quick shots all in a row. That way you’re sure to get the absolute perfect shot of Buddy with his head in the garbage can.

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Tips & Tricks

Wondering what Voice Actions for Android is? This tool, available on several Motorola devices including DROID RAZR by Motorola, DROID 4 by Motorola and the Motorola PHOTON™ 4G. Voice Actions is an intuitive way to control your Motorola phone simply by using your voice. You can use Voice Actions in Voice Search to call your contacts, get directions, send messages, and to perform a number of other common tasks, in addition to searching the web.

Here’s some instructions for getting started:

Use Voice Actions to search the web or perform other tasks

  1. Tap the Search key Image at the bottom of the phone . Or touch the Microphone icon in the Google search box or in the Browser’s URL box.The first few times you open Voice Search, it offers hints about how to use it and offers to play an introductory video. You can touch Speak now to use Voice Search at any time.Subsequently, a dialog opens, prompting you to speak Voice Actions or search the web. You can touch Help to open the hints screen again.Image
  2. Speak the voice action you want to use, or the words you want to search for. The complete set of Voice Actions is detailed in Voice Action commands.When you’re finished speaking, Voice Search analyzes your speech and initiates the action.If you have the Use My Locationsetting checked in the Google Search settings, local results are featured in your search results.If Google Search didn’t understand what you said, it presents a list of similar-sounding search terms and actions, which you can touch to continue with that action.

Some Voice Actions open a panel where you’re prompted to complete the action, by speaking or typing.

Complete a Voice Action

Some Voice Actions, such as “send email” and “note to self,” open a panel that prompts you to complete the action by speaking or typing more information.

  • Touch any text already entered in the panel to add or edit the text by speaking or typing.
  • Touch blue words or phrases or drag across multiple words to view a list of other possible transcriptions or to edit by speaking or typing.Voice Search displays words that it is confident it has transcribed accurately in black. Words or phrases with alternate transcriptions available are displayed in blue.
  • Touch a button at the bottom of the window to add any optional fields (you can also speak the name and content of any of these fields in your original voice action).
  • When you’re done, touch the button appropriate to completing the action, such as Send or Set.

Need further proof of how effective Voice Actions is? Check out the battle royale with Voice Actions on a MOTOROLA ATRIX 2 in one corner and Siri in another. So, which one knocks out your commands the fastest? Well, we don’t want to toot our own horn so we’ll just sound the bell.

See the showdown.

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How To, Tips & Tricks

Watch and learn your way around DROID RAZR

November 21, 2011 : BY Motorola

DROID RAZR by Motorola is packed with features – like the SMARTACTIONS app we posted about last week.  Make sure you get the most out of them by watching our series of DROID RAZR how-to videos.

Kick things off with a back-to-basics tour around the phone. See how to power on and off, change the volume, launch the camera, voice search and more.

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Tips & Tricks

MOTOROLA XOOM™ Family Edition is ready for fun

November 1, 2011 : BY Motorola

Here’s something your family – and budget – will love.  The MOTOROLA XOOM™ Family Edition.  It’s an affordable, full-size tablet with nearly $40 worth of pre-loaded content like Kid Mode by Zoodles, Juno Jr., Asphalt 6 and much more.

Movies, e-books, music, games – see all the fun in action in this how-to video:

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Tips & Tricks

You want to stay connected to your friends via email and social media at any time, from anywhere.

See how easy it is with MOTOROLA ATRIX 2 in this “Setting Up Social Networking and Email Accounts” video.

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Tips & Tricks

Get organized with app groups

October 11, 2011 : BY Motorola

Keep all the apps on your DROID BIONIC organized, by putting them into groups that are meaningful to you — such as Work, Games, Traveling, etc.

Creating app groups is easy. Watch the video to learn how:

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Tips & Tricks

Multi-tasking with the MOTOROLA XOOM™

October 4, 2011 : BY Motorola

Life is one big to-do list, and what better way to conquer all your tasks, than with the MOTOROLA XOOM. This video from Paul Hochman of the New Simple, shows you how to get things done in a flash.

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How To, Tips & Tricks

How to make the DROID BIONIC a mobile hot spot

September 27, 2011 : BY Motorola

Did you know you can share your phone’s data connection with up to five other devices? It’s easy. Here’s how:
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