THE BASICS - WALLPAPER FOR DROID 2 (PART 3)

BEST PLACES TO GET WALLPAPER FOR DROID 2

Wallpaper is everywhere. You can select the wallpaper for your computer, phone, blu-ray player, car display, etc. It's an extension of you, your style, your desires, your likes. It can show that you're a die-hard Phillies fan or let you escape to that Caribbean island where you want to retire. Besides, it's just plain fun! I've done some digging and have come up with the best places to get wallpaper for your Droid 2 - cause you surely don't want to be caught with the default wallpaper that came with the phone.

WALLPAPER APPS

Wallpaper apps are probably the easiest way to get wallpaper for your phone. Just go to the Android Market or AppBrain (my favorite place to get apps) and download one of the many wallpaper apps available. You can find apps that have all types of wallpaper available, separated by category, or you can find wallpaper related to just one theme, such as your favorite sports team. This is also one of the better ways to find live wallpapers.

Some of the best wallpaper apps are:

• Backgrounds 10,000 Wallpapers by Stylem Media
• Zedge Ringtones & Wallpapers by Zedge
• HD Wallpapers by srsdev

WALLPAPER FROM WEBSITES

Google the term "wallpaper" and you end up with over 262,000,000 results. Narrow it down a little by googling "wallpaper Droid 2" and that number drops to 4,960,000. Now throw in the word "gallery" and you still end up with an unsurmountable 323,000 results. Since I'm such a nice person with nothing better to do, I'm going to save you some time and share with you some of the best online sources for wallpaper I have found.

• DroidForums offers a small but nice collection that is categorized and already sized for the Droid 2.
• Mobile9 has over 2000 wallpapers. I like this site because it has a keyword search.
• Droid Wallpapers is sorted by categories and has ratings, but is hard to navigate.
• Deviantart has one of the most extensive wallpaper galleries.  However, most likely you will have to resize the background because most of the wallpaper here is for computers.
• Google Images has images pulled from across the internet. Just enter a term, select "exactly" from the list in the left column under "size", and input 960 for the width and 854 for the height.
  

Be sure to check out Wallpaper Wednesdays coming - you guessed it - next Wednesday. I'll post the cool Droid 2 wallpaper I've found for that week.

THE BASICS - WALLPAPER FOR DROID 2 (PART 2)

HOW TO CHANGE WALLPAPER ON THE DROID 2

So now you know the technical details about wallpaper which was covered in the Part 1 post. Today's post covers how to get rid of that default Droid wallpaper that Verizon gave you and add something with a little more pizzazz. 
There are a couple of different ways to change the wallpaper:

FROM ANY OF THE HOME SCREENS

1. Touch and hold any empty area of the screen where there aren't any widgets or icons.
2. When the "Add to Home Screen" menu appears, tap the "Wallpaper" option.
3. A "Select wallpaper from" menu appears. Your options will be "Live wallpapers", "Media gallery", "Wallpaper gallery", and "Wallpapers". Tap one of these options.

       a.) Live Wallpapers Option - This gives you access to all of your Live 
            Wallpapers.
            1.) Scroll through the list of Live Wallpapers available.
            2.) Tap the one you want and a new screen will open to let you 
                 preview your selection.
            3.) Tap "Set wallpaper" if you want to use it or tap the Back key to 
                 return to the list of available Live Wallpapers.


       b.) Media Gallery Option - This gives you access to all of photos you
            have taken and the images you have downloaded.
            1.) Folders with all of the pictures you have on your phone will be
                 shown.
            2.) Tap the folder with the picture you want to use. The folder will
                 open and display all the pictures in that folder.
            3.) Tap the picture you want to use.
            4.) A new screen will open that will let you preview the picture 
                 along with a cropping box that lets you select the portion 
                 of the picture you want to use.
            5.) Touch and drag any of the cropping boxes sides or to adjust
                 the portion of the picture to used.
            6.) Tap "Save" to set the picture as your wallpaper or tap "Discard"
                 to return to the list of pictures in the folder.


        c.) Wallpaper Gallery Option - This gives you access to the
            wallpapers that came with your launcher app.
            1.) Small depictions of the available wallpapers will appear at the
                 bottom of the screen with a larger preview version at the
                 top of the screen. As you scroll through the list, the preview
                 screen automatically updates itself.
            2.) Scroll through the list of Wallpapers available.
            3.) Tap "Set wallpaper" if you want to use it.

       d.) Wallpaper Option - This gives you access to default wallpapers 

            that came with your phone.

            1.) Small depictions of the available wallpapers will appear at the 

                 bottom of the screen with a larger preview version at the

                 top of the screen. As you scroll through the list, the preview

                 screen automatically updates itself.

            2.) Scroll through the list of Wallpapers available. 

            3.) Tap "Set wallpaper" if you want to use it.                 

FROM THE SETTINGS MENU

1. Tap the Menu button.
2. Tap the "Settings" option.
3. Tap the "Display" option.
4. Tap the "Wallpaper setting" option.
5. Continue from Step 3 of the "FROM ANY OF THE HOME SCREENS" section above.

AFTER TAKING A PHOTO

1. While the photo is still on the screen, tap the Menu button.
2. Tap the "More" option.
3. Tap the "Set as" option
4. Tap the "Wallpaper" option.

NEXT TIME:  BEST PLACES TO GET WALLPAPER FOR YOUR DROID 2

THE BASICS - WALLPAPER FOR DROID 2 (PART 1)

So what do you think of when someone mentions the word "wallpaper" to you? I immediately return to my childhood, and the memories of watching my Dad trying to wallpaper several rooms in our house. It was quite entertaining really. I would find a spot in a corner or behind a chair where I would be out of sight and watch his face turn multiple shades of red while he tried not to blow a gasket as he battled the wallpaper. He fought valiantly and seemed to win most of the times - at least until my Mom would come by and point out the places where the wallpaper pattern didn't match up. Needless to say, I've never had wallpaper in any of my homes as an adult.

THE TECHNICAL STUFF

Obviously, it's a lot different for your Droid 2 phone. Luckily, it's easier too. Wallpaper for your phone is very similar to the wallpaper on your computer. It's an image that serves as the background for your phone's display and gives you a chance to add a bit of your personality to your phone. 

Wallpaper for the Droid 2 comes in two flavors - images and live wallpaper. Images are pictures, graphics, etc, that must be in the jpg or png format. Live wallpaper is wallpaper that moves or is animated, a fish swimming around your screen for example. **BEWARE - Using live wallpaper drains your battery quicker.**

Wallpaper comes in different sizes, usually given in increments of pixels. The wallpaper size for the Droid 2 is 960 x 854 pixels. ALERT - Here comes the only tricky part....So if the wallpaper is 960 x 854 pixels, then the phone's display should be 960 x 854 pixels too, right? WRONG! 

Each screen on your phone is 480 x 854 pixels. Therefore, if you had your phone set up for only two screens, the first screen would show the left half of the image and the second screen would show the right half of the image. Let's do the math.....

1st screen at 480 pixels wide + 2nd screen at 480 pixels wide = wallpaper width of 960 pixels

But who has just two screens on their phone?! The Android operating system handles more than two screens by shifting the background slightly (less than 480 pixels) to the left or right depending on how many screens you have. This is why when you move between screens, part of the image that was on the previous screen still shows up in the new screen.

So what does this mean for you? Well, when you are trying to find images to use as wallpaper for your phone, if the image size is 960 x 854 pixels, you won't have to trim or shrink the image which will result in a better background.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW IN A NUTSHELL

• The two types of wallpaper are images and live wallpaper.
• An image must be a jpg or png file.
• Droid 2 wallpaper size is 960 x 854 pixels.

NEXT TIME:  How To Change Your Wallpaper On The Droid 2

COLLECTION OF ANDROID GUIDES AND BEST APP LISTS

I don’t believe in reinventing the wheel, so I’ve put together a collection of links to various articles on the internet about getting the most out of your Android phone. Some of these links list the “must have” apps for your phone, while others give instructions on how to get the most out of your phone. Just click on the links below to check them out. There should be something useful for everyone!

GUIDES

Jumping Ship From Iphone To Android: A Switcher's Guide via Lifehacker

You Got An Android For Christmas: Five Next Steps via Pocketnow

The Beginner Guide To Android via Make Tech Easier

10 Tips For First Time Android Owners via Lifehacker

Just Got An Android Phone? The Best Apps, Accessories, And Tips via Endgadget

APPS, APPS, AND MORE APPS

5 Essential Android Apps via Cnet

New Android Device For Christmas? Download These Apps First via Android Apps

The 12 Best Apps For Your New Android Device Via Download Squad

Best Android Apps via Lifehacker

Top 10 Android Apps via Lifehacker

The Basics - What is a QR Code?

So what is that mess of black and white dots that looks like your printer just threw up? Well, it’s called a QR code, which is short for quick response code. Developed in 1994 by Toyota, it is a new version of a two dimensional barcode. The UPC symbols that you see on most products these days is a one dimensional barcode. QR codes contain more data than UPC symbols. QR codes have been appearing everywhere lately- from webpages to magazines to business cards to billboards.

So now you’re thinking that’s real nice and all, but what does that mean to me and my Droid 2? The Android operating system that your phone uses is able to read these QR codes.  Just open any barcode app (like the highly popular Barcode Scanner app), and scan the QR code. The phone will open the appropriate app and take you to the info the QR contains - usually a web page. The QR code at the top of this blog post will take you to the main webpage of the How 2 Droid 2 blog. If you scan a QR code for a cell phone app, it will open the Android App Market so you can download the app with a couple of touches.