Google’s latest Nougat 7.1.1 is known for its customizability and here are a few tips you may want to explore for yourself.
Adjust icon/screen size: In Settings>Display there’s a new option to adjust the size of onscreen content and icons. Simply select the Display size option and move the slider until the icons are the size you want them to be.
Enable developer settings: To turn on the developer settings, head into Settings > About phone. Scroll to the bottom and repeatedly tap on the Build number. After a number of taps, you’ll unlock the developer options.
Unlock System Tuner UI: This is a cleverly hidden setting that offers a range of options you can’t otherwise get to. You have to first enable the developer settings (as above). Then you swipe down the Quick Settings and press and hold the settings cog at the top next to the battery. After a long press, the System Tuner UI will be unlocked, and a new option will appear in the settings menu.
Show the battery percentage: Once you’ve unlocked the System Tuner UI (as above), you have the option to show the battery percentage in the battery icon at all times. (Most third-party skins have this as a default option.)
Turn on ambient display: A feature of Android Wear and Motorola devices, it’s now on Android 7.0. Head into Settings > Display and you’ll be able to glance at monochrome notifications.
Quick launch the camera: Head into Settings > Display and there’s the option to quick launch the camera with a double press of the standby button. It’s much faster than unlocking your phone and hitting the icon.
Play Android Nougat easter egg: Nougat’s Easter Egg is a little different to previous Flappy Bird style games. Instead, you’ve got to try and catch cats by selecting a tasty treat. Head into Settings > About phone/tablet > Android version. Then tap the Android version repeatedly until it changes to the Nougat screen.
Once you have the full Android ‘N’ logo visible, tap repeatedly, then press and hold, then you should see a little cat icon appear on the screen. Watch the video below to see an overview on how to play the game.
Search settings: Rather than rooting through everything, you can search the settings. Just open up the Settings menu and hit the magnifying glass and type what you’re looking for.
Use Now on Tap: Just press and hold the home button. If you’re looking for the settings, go into Google Now > Settings > Now cards and you can enable or disable Now on Tap.
Find the Google Settings: There was previously an app to handle Google settings, in Nougat this is now in the main Settings menu. This is where you’ll find settings for accounts and services, backup, and transferring content to a nearby device.
Use adoptable storage: If you have Nougat and a microSD card slot, you can turn that external storage into integrated internal storage. Head to Setting > Storage & USB. At the bottom you’ll see the SD card details, with the option to format and use as internal storage. You then get to manage and move content to this partition once done.
Use the native file explorer: There’s now a file explorer in Android. Head to Settings > Storage & USB (or just Storage on some phones) and scroll to the bottom of the list. Tap Explore and you can view folders, open files, delete and share.
App shortcuts: With Android 7.1 certain apps have shortcuts to actions that you can access by tapping and holding their icons on the home screen. This can be taking a video or photo with a camera, navigating home with Maps, or adding contacts, plus much more.
Create shortcut icons: Once you have your list of app shortcuts pop up on the screen, you can drag and place them on the screen as their own individual icons.
Split-screen multitasking: Android Nougat is the first version of the OS to feature built-in split-screen multitasking. You can activate it a number of ways (as detailed in the video below), but the easiest is just to press and hold the recent apps button. You can also reposition where the split appears onscreen.
Stop adding new app icons to home screen: If you don’t want new apps you install cluttering up your home screen, head into Play Store > Settings and uncheck the box.
Clear all apps from your recent memory: Tap the recent apps button to see all the apps running, scroll to the top of the screen and choose ‘clear all’.
Add Yahoo! Mail or Exchange to Gmail: You can add Yahoo!, Exchange or other mail services to Gmail. Tap the icon to open the sidebar, scroll all the way to the bottom and hit Settings > Add account. You have the option for Google, IMAP/POP3 services (like Yahoo, Outlook.com) and Exchange.
Attach anything to Gmail: Tap the attachment button and you can attach local files, things in Drive, Photos, Dropbox files, OneDrive box and so on. It’s really flexible.
Customise Google Now: Go to your Google Now screen and access the sidebar menu. Find settings and use it to customise which cards appear, what language you use as well as privacy settings.
Turn off backgrounds in Calendar: Don’t like the seasonal backdrop in your new calendar? Head into Settings and tap the slider to turn it off.
Change the default app: Android lets you decide which is the default app if you have more than one that will do the same thing. Under Apps, select the app, and hit “open by default”. Here you can clear defaults so you can change to another app for those tasks.
Control app permissions: Nougat, like Marshmallow, did, lets you manage all the permissions for each app on an individual basis. Go to Apps and select the app and hit Permissions. This will let you toggle permissions on and off, so you can disable location access, for example.
