My Samsung Camera Phone photos are too awesome for Twitter!

I am so in love with the camera on my Samsung Galaxy S7 edge! The picture quality is so awesome with just using the default settings I can't imagine how much more I'll be able to do when I really learn the settings. Recently I took some photos to share on my social media, but when I attempted to upload my picture for Twitter it would not load! I was shocked and appalled! After I settled down, I realized that the picture size was too large.

SIDE NOTE: Sprout Social has created an awesome guide to social media image sizes. Check out the Always Up-To-Date Social Media Image Sizes Cheat Sheet. If you need guidelines on what all that stuff means, check out their article that explains it all.

I assumed that the largest picture size was always the best, but no, this isn't true. Bigger in this case, was not better. Thanks to the Galaxy S7 guides I now have a great reference on all things Galaxy S7 picture and video size.

Another great resource is the Twitter Brand Guidelines.

Make sure to consult guidelines for all your image needs to save you time and frustration!

What to do BEFORE you lose your Android phone!

What had happened was...

A few weeks ago, nearly 2 weeks ago to be exact, my mother-in-law lost her phone. Luck having it she didn't share until the night before the hubby and I were to leave for a quick road trip. Thankfully I still had my trusty Galaxy S4 and I was able to switch her number over in the wee hours before we left. Now my mind was racing to think how to avoid this situation in the future. Well, in the past I had used Where's My Droid and thought, why not go back to the old faithful! Once we received her replacement phone, I installed it from the Google Play store immediately. It was a very easy install and didn't take more than a couple of minutes. In addition to the base install I enabled the passcode feature so that no one would be able to modify the app settings without the code.

I also installed the app on my phone as well so that I would be able to find my own phone if needed and help locate hers if I was not near a computer. Some of the key features I enable include:

Ring Set Up - This allows you to indicate how the phone will ring when remotely activated. I personally prefer vibrate and the white noise siren over a normal ring.

Attention Words - This allows you to customize what words to use when remotely activating features

GPS Setup - THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE!!! Allows you to enable GPS to locate your phone. You can even set an alert for the app to email you when your battery gets to a certain level.

Passcode - Allows you to set a custom passcode to keep unauthorized people from changing the settings.

Camera - This feature allows you to take a picture from the phone's front or rear camera. Currently it is in beta mode

If you like these options you can get the pro version forever! It includes:

Thank goodness I did because lightening struck twice and her phone went AWOL again. I logged into the web-based Commander from my computer and selected to find her phone. I selected the Accurate Location option and in about 5 or 6 minutes it provided me with a location with the latitude and longitude and a visual with Google Maps. I was able to zoom in and see a near by business and select that address. Next, I went to Google maps and put in that nearby address. I was able to scroll and zoom to get the actual address provided by the Commander. She recognized the address and is going to check first thing this morning to see if her phone is still there. Check me out on Twitter to find out if she was able to retrieve her phone!

Top 5 reasons you should be using Google Keep

Who needs sticky notes for your everyday life? I know that I do and Google Keep is the app that fills the need perfectly. Keep can help you document all the randomness in your life without a lot of fuss or hassle. Need to make a grocery list? Need to remember a phone number on a sign? Want to remind yourself of a thought to explore later? Love the design setup in a store display? Keep puts it all at the tip of your fingers.

Reason #1 - Ease of use.

There is practically no learning curve to start using it right away. Five simple options to create a note are available:

Keep Options

1. Start typing a note - great way to quickly type a short note
2. Create a list with check boxes - the only way to make a grocery list and stick to it for me
3. Write/draw your note - for the doodler or person that likes that pen and paper feel
4. Record a note - hands free (as in no typing). Keep will record the audio and provide a talk-to-text version of what you say
5. Take a picture note - allows you have the visual and notes together in one place

Reason #2 - Consistent across platforms.

The look, feel and functionality is the same on a variety of devices and operating systems. You can access you notes on Android and Apple mobile devices as well as desktop devices with ease.

Reason #3 - Great search function.

Google's OCR is fast and allows for search of text even within images. No need to add extra tags and keywords to your notes.

Reason #4 - Color coding.

This allows you to quickly and easily visually organize your notes. I like to use orange for food and green for gardening.

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Reason #5 - Easy to share.

Sharing via email, social media platforms and cloud storage accounts takes a few simple clicks. That great recipe or pic of the awesome tea you had today can be shared in moments.

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Bonus reason!!!

Daily reminders. Decided to do that 30 day ab or yoga challenge, but can't figure how you are going to remember what to do on what day? Save that screenshot to Keep and set a daily reminder to keep you on track. This is one of my favorite features. I no longer have an excuse not to complete the challenge and I can easily share it with friends.

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Now that you are ready to use this great app get it from the iTunes App Store or from the Google Play Store.

Having trouble getting started? Tweet me! @BytesAndBuds #keep How do I...