Nicole Cozma/CNET Google Play will provide a pop-up error message when there is an issue installing or updating your apps. Unfortunately, the error message text is very brief and doesn’t explain how you can fix it. For example, error 921: “Unknown error code during application install (921).” Thanks to XDA member mohamedrashad, there’s a thread …

If you’re not a fan of Google+, then the ability to call people with your Google Voice number via the Hangouts app was probably not something you cared about. However, Google has now added calling privileges to the Web version of Google Voice. This means that users don’t need a Google+ account, just their original Google email log-in, to place …

Have you ever pasted a link from Amazon to a friend on IM or social media? Chances are, the link took up lots of space, and if you made any comments before or after it, they may be lost among the chunk of text. Using a URL shortening service keeps links tidy, and makes them easy to be reshared with …

The new “OK, Google” hotword detection will let you start a Google Now search from any screen on your device, even the lockscreen. This change rolled out last week, but despite a couple of updates to the app from the Google Play store, many people are still reporting that they aren’t seeing this set of options in the Google Now …

Nicole Cozma/CNET Moving files from your physical drives to cloud storage is what usually comes to mind when you think about data backup. However, if you’ve created your data in the cloud, it’s not a bad idea to back it up on physical storage. Google Takeout is a great tool that lets you export data from services like Gmail, YouTube, …

Copy Bubble’s floating clipboard bubble. Nicole Cozma/CNET Switching between apps in Android isn’t too difficult, but it’s still not the smoothest feature on the platform. When trying to copy text from one window and add it to another, you can only do one section of text at a time. And going back and forth between the two can start to …

Photo by Nicole Cozma/CNET If you lose your Android device somewhere, the easiest way to find it would be the Android Device Manager. From your Web browser or another Android device, you can ring your lost Android, lock it down with a new password, or completely erase it. But what if you don’t have access to your computer, or even …

Nicole Cozma/CNET If you live in a busy city, or you’re meeting a friend in one, using a specific location on Google Maps can help avoid confusion so you both end up at same place. For instance, there might be five Starbuck’s in a six-block radius, so it’s best to know exactly which one is the meeting spot. With the …

Photo by Nicole Cozma/CNET Files you’ve downloaded, photos you’ve taken, as well as data stored by apps, are major contributors to unnecessary clutter on your Android device. By cleaning out a few things, you gain space for new apps, system updates, or maybe a larger portion of your music collection. Here are a few suggestions for taking back your internal …

Last year, I shared how to use the Whitepages Current Caller ID app to easily track blocked calls and texts. Now, Whitepages has added the ability to spot many of today’s spam/scam numbers, along with some other convenient features. If you don’t have the app already, there’s no time like the present to get a copy. Current Caller ID is …