Tuesday, March 10, 2015

How to get Android 5.1 Lollipop on Nexus 5

The Android 5.1 Lollipop update is here, and the factory image is up for the Nexus 5. If you've got a Nexus 5 and a few minutes to spare, you can flash the latest version of Lollipop on on your Nexus 5 in a jiffy. Here's how to get Android 5.1 Lollipop on the Nexus 5.
Note: Factory images are just what they sound like: a picture of the system as it comes out of the factory. That means no Candy Crush, none of your cute kitten pics, no music, no files, no accounts. So before you flash a factory image, make sure you have a full backup of your data or are OK with wiping it all.

Prerequisites

How to get Android 5.1 Lollipop on Nexus 5

  • Turn your Nexus 5 off.
  • Press and hold Power and Volume Down to restart your Nexus 5 in Fastboot mode.
  • Connect your Nexus 5 to your computer with a USB cable.
  • Open a Windows Explorer window and find the unpacked firmware you downloaded to the ADB Tools folder.
  • Double click the flash-all.bat file and let it do its thing.
  • Your Nexus 5 will reboot and be running Android 5.1 Lollipop.

Troubleshooting

If you have a problem before installation, make sure you have USB Debugging enabled and an unlocked bootloader as described in the linked guide above.
If you get stuck in a bootloop (your Nexus 5 sticks on the loading screen at startup), you can try to clear the cache partition first by going back to Fastboot and using the volume keys to enter Recovery Mode (use the Power button to confirm your selection). Once you've wiped the cache partition you can try to reboot.
If you still don't get past the boot screen, go back to Fastboot and select wipe data/factory reset and press the Power button to confirm. This should clear things right up.
Once your Nexus 5 reboots it should be running Android 5.1. You can then restore your apps and data from your backup.

How are you enjoying Android 5.1? What have you noticed so far?

3 Best Manga Reader Apps for Android

As the phone screen sizes get bigger and bigger, more and more people prefer reading on their smartphones. Just like books, comics have also gone digital, resulting in a proliferation of apps that allow users to read their favorite comics or manga while on the go.
If you are a manga fan and if you own an Android phone, the apps below are just for you. With these apps, you can find and read any manga you want, and the best thing is they are all for FREE!

1. Manga Rock

Manga Rock is one of the best apps to read manga on your Android device. It features the best manga viewer with many customization to ensure the optimal reading experience on your mobile devices.
This app supports up to 7 languages – English, Chinese, Italian, French, Spanish, German, and Vietnamese. There are more than 20 popular manga sources in these languages. You can search any manga by title or author, from its top search bar.
You can get manga in portrait and landscape reading mode, as well as left to right and right to left reading directions. You can also pinch for zooming in/out, adjust brightness, lock-orientation and “favorite” manga to access them quickly.

2. ComicRack

Comic Rack is one of the best comic readers out there, providing plenty of features like Automatic page cropping, Full library management, USB synchronization, Auto scrolling, as well as an awesome live wallpaper that randomly displays cover art of any comics in your library.
It also supports pinch-to-zoom which makes navigating individual panels on small devices fairly easy. You can set bookmarks anywhere in any comic for future reference.
For the hardcore readers, ComicRack also includes color and brightness adjustments so you can tailor your device’s display to your preferred reading experience. The app also includes search functions to track down whatever you’re looking for in your huge library.

3. Perfect Viewer

Perfect Viewer is another great app that allows you to view comics or manga in various formats, including CBR/RAR, CBZ/ZIP, CB7/7Z, as well as PDF and JPG.
The app comes with five comic viewing modes that let you see the comic’s original size, the screen-adjusted size, the size that has been exclusively height or width adjusted, and the customized size. It also supports reading from left to right or vice versa, and many more.
 Another interesting thing about Perfect Viewer is that it isn’t only a comic viewer, but it also as a library and file organizer. So, you can easily manage all of your comics by creating favorites, markers, folders, etc. Perfect Viewer is a very complete comic viewer that is full of functions and features which enables readers to enjoy what their seeing and reading.

So, these are some of the best Android apps for reading comics or manga. If you are using any other comic reader apps, please let us know in the comments below.