Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S tips and tricks

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S is onother great smart phone which become very popular. Sony has issued a software update for Xperia Arc S, and now you can run it on Ice Cream Sandwich.

Here are some tips and tricks for Xperia Arc S:

Enable auto App updates

Android has a feature allowing you to update Applications automatically. This is turned off by default, but you can turn it on.

Open the Android market, then Menu - My Apps.

Then you need to open up each installed App and tick Allow Automatic Updating at the bottom. Unfortunately you do need to do this for each App.

Turn off App update notifications

If you would prefer not to be told every time an Application has been updated, open the Android Market - Menu - My Apps. Then Menu again. Then Settings. Under General settings, untick the Notifications option.

Increase security with a custom unlock pattern

Instead of the simple swipe gesture to unlock your phone, you can set a custom unlock pattern which can be extremely difficult for a thief to guess.

From your homescreen, go to Menu - Settings - Location and security - Change screen lock. Then chose Pattern to set one up.

It is also a good idea to untick Use visible pattern. Then if someone is watching over your shoulder while you entering your pattern, it will be harder for them to remember the pattern.

If you have forgotten your unlock pattern, then after 5 unsuccessful tries a button will appear saying 'Forgot pattern'. Press this and you will be asked to enter your Gmail username/password. The phone will then ask for a new unlock pattern. If you don't have a Gmail account, then you will have to either call your carrier or factory reset your phone.

Make Xperia Arc S run faster

By turning off the animations, your phone will run faster and smoother. Press Menu -> Settings -> Sounds & Display -> Animation. Turn this to Off. The Off option works best for quickest performance.

Quickly see date

Simply press the top-left corner of the screen.

Remove a whole text message conversation

If you want to remove an entire text message thread, go into Messages and look for the thread. Then long press on it and select Delete thread.

Accents and special characters

If you want to type non-English letters (eg those with an accent), long-press on the relevant letter. A list of options will appear for you to select.

Adding pauses when dialling

To add pauses when dialing numbers, or storing numbers in your contacts, then insert a comma ( , ) when entering the number.

This will pause the dialling for about 2 seconds.

Bookmark a web page on your homescreen

To bookmark a website on your homescreen, go into your browser and find the bookmark of the page you want to create a shortcut for.

Then long press on the bookmark and select Add Shortcut to Home.

If you regularly visit certain websites, this can be handy as you will have a shortcut to the site on your homescreen.

Divert certain contacts to voicemail

Open your Contact list. Find the contact you want to divert. Press to open the contact. Towards the bottom of the page, you will see 'Send to voicemail'. Press this and choose OK to enable the feature.