Android Phones For Dummies

This book documents all the features of the Android phones, approaching them from the point of view of a smart person who is intimidated by the technology and baffled by the scant documentation and online support. All topics for the Android phone will be covered, from setup and configuration, to use of the phone features: texting, e-mailing, accessing the Internet, maps, navigation, camera and video, synching with a PC, and expanding the phone's potential with new software. As usual, humor is generously sprinkled throughout the text. The accessible and fun writing style provides relief but never gets in the way of the book's important content. The reader will end up keeping this book close, referring to it often as they explore the features of their Android phone. It covers all the updates to the OS through the latest version release.

INTRODUCTION 1About This Book 1How to Use This Book 2Foolish Assumptions 3Icons Used in This Book 4Beyond the Book 4Where to Go from Here 5PART 1: GETTING STARTED WITH YOUR ANDROID PHONE 7CHAPTER 1: Hello, Phone! 9Liberation and Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Phone Assembly 11Removing the plastic sheeting 11Installing the SIM card 12Installing a microSD card 12Removing the microSD card 14Charge the Battery 14Android Phone Orientation 15Finding things on your phone 16Using earphones 18Adding accessories 19A Home for Your Phone 20Toting your Android phone 20Storing the phone 20CHAPTER 2: The On/Off Chapter 21Hello, Phone 21Turning on your phone for the first time 22Turning on the phone 23Unlocking the phone 24Working the screen lock 24Unlocking and running an app 25Add More Accounts 26Goodbye, Phone 29Locking the phone 29Turning off the phone 29CHAPTER 3: The Android Tour 31Basic Operations 31Manipulating the touchscreen 32Selecting a group of items 33Using the navigation icons 33Setting the volume 34"Silence your phone!" 35Changing the orientation 36Home Screen Chores 36Exploring the Home screen 37Switching Home screen pages 39Reviewing notifications 39Accessing quick settings 41The World of Apps 42Starting an app 42Quitting an app 42Finding an app in the Apps drawer 43Switching between running apps 44Common Android Icons 45CHAPTER 4: Text to Type, Text to Edit 47Onscreen Keyboard Mania. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47The Ol' Hunt-and-Peck 49Typing one character at a time 49Accessing special characters 50Using predictive text to type quickly 52Typing without lifting a finger 52Google Voice Typing 53Dictating text 53Uttering s**** words 55Text Editing 55Moving the cursor 55Selecting text 56Cutting, copying, and pasting text 57Dealing with speling errors 57PART 2: REACH OUT AND TOUCH SOMEONE 59CHAPTER 5: It's a Telephone 61Reach Out and Touch Someone 61Placing a phone call 62Dialing a contact 65Using speed dial 66Adding pauses when dialing a number 67Table of Contents vIt's for You! 67Receiving a call 68Rejecting a call 70Rejecting a call with a text message 70Multiple Call Mania 72Putting someone on hold 72Receiving a new call when you're on the phone 72Making a conference call 73Forward Calls Elsewhere 74Forwarding phone calls 74Sending a contact directly to voicemail 76Blocking calls 76CHAPTER 6: Missed Calls and Voicemail 77Who Called Who When? 77Dealing with a missed call 78Reviewing the call log 79Boring carrier voicemail 79Setting up carrier voicemail 80Retrieving your messages 81The Wonders of Google Voice 81Configuring Google Voice 82Using the Google Voice app 82CHAPTER 7: The Address Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85The People You Know 85Accessing the address book 86Sorting the address book 88Searching contacts 89Make New Friends 89Creating a new contact from scratch 89Adding a contact from the call log 90Creating a contact from an email message 91Importing contacts from a computer 92Address Book Management 93Making basic changes 93Adding a contact picture 94Making a favorite 96Joining identical contacts 96Separating contacts 97Removing a contact 98CHAPTER 8: Text Messaging Mania 99Msg 4U 99Opening the texting app 100Texting a contact 100Composing a new text message 102Sending a text to multiple contacts 103Continuing a text message conversation 103Receiving a text message 103Forwarding a text message 105Multimedia Messages 105Creating a multimedia text message 106Receiving a multimedia message 106Text Message Management 107Removing messages 107Setting the text message ringtone 107CHAPTER 9: Email This-and-That 109Email on Your Android Phone 109Setting up the first email account 110Adding more email accounts 111Adding an account manually 112Adding a corporate email account 113You've Got Mail 113Getting a new message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114Checking the inbox 114Reading email 115Make Your Own Email 117Writing a new electronic message 117Sending email to a contact 118Message Attachments 119Dealing with an attachment 119Sharing an attachment 120Email Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121Creating a signature 122Configuring the server delete option. 123Setting the primary email account 124CHAPTER 10: Out On the Web 125The Phone's Web Browser App 126Behold the Web 126Surfing the web on your phone 126Visiting a web page 128Browsing back and forth 128Working with favorites (bookmarks). 129Going incognito 131Managing multiple web pages in tabs 131Searching the web 131Finding text on a web page 132Sharing a web page 132The Joy of Downloading 133Grabbing an image from a web page 134Downloading a file 134Reviewing your downloads 134Web Controls and Settings 135Clearing your web browser history 135Changing the way the web looks 135Setting privacy and security options 136CHAPTER 11: Digitally Social 137Share Your Life on Facebook 137Using Facebook on your phone 138Setting your status 138Uploading a picture to Facebook 140Changing the Facebook ringtone 142A Virtual Hangout 143Using Hangouts 143Typing at your friends 145Talking and video chat 146Let's All Tweet 147Skype the World 149PART 3: AMAZING PHONE FEATS 151CHAPTER 12: There's a Map for That 153Basic Map 154Using the Maps app 154Adding layers 156Saving an offline map 156It Knows Where You Are 158Finding a location 158Helping others find your location 159Find Things 160Looking for a specific address 160Finding a business, restaurant, or point of interest 161Searching for favorite or recent places 162Your Phone Is Your Copilot 163Setting your Home and Work locations 163Navigating to your destination 164CHAPTER 13: Pics and Vids 167The Phone's Camera 167Using basic camera controls 168Snapping a still image 169Recording video 170Deleting immediately after you shoot 170Setting the flash 171Setting the resolution 172Shooting yourself 173Your Digital Photo Album 173Viewing your photos and videos 174Starting a slideshow 175Finding a picture's location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175Sharing your images 177Posting a video to YouTube 177Image Management 178Backing up images and videos 178Editing an image 179Un-editing an image 179Cropping an image 180Rotating pictures 181Deleting photos and videos 182CHAPTER 14: O Sweet Music! 183The Hits Just Keep On Comin' 183Browsing the music library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .184Playing a tune 185Controlling the music 187Queuing up the next song 188Being the life of the party 188More Music for Your Phone 190Organize Your Tunes 192Reviewing your playlists 192Creating a playlist 192Adding songs to a playlist 194Creating a playlist from a song queue 195Deleting music 195Music from the Stream 195CHAPTER 15: Apps Various and Sundry 197The Alarm Clock 197The Calculator 199The Calendar 200Browsing dates and appointments 200Reviewing appointments 201Creating an event 202The eBook Reader 204The Game Machine 207Google Now 207The Video Player 209Watching YouTube 209Buying and renting movies 210CHAPTER 16: Shop at Google Play 211Welcome to the Store 211Browsing Google Play 212Obtaining an item 214Purchasing something from Google Play 217Renting or purchasing videos 219Google Play Tricks 220Using the wish list 220Sharing an item from Google Play 220Keeping stuff on the device 221Buying something remotely 222PART 4: NUTS AND BOLTS 223CHAPTER 17: No Wires, Ever! 225Wireless Networking Wizardry 225Using the mobile data network 226Understanding Wi-Fi 227Activating Wi-Fi 227Connecting to a Wi-Fi network 227Connecting to a hidden Wi-Fi network 229Connecting to a WPS router 230Setting a metered Wi-Fi connection 230Share the Connection 231Creating a mobile hotspot 231Tethering the Internet connection 233The Bluetooth Connection 233Understanding Bluetooth 234Activating Bluetooth on the phone 234Pairing with a Bluetooth peripheral 235CHAPTER 18: Share and Store 237From Here to There 237Sharing files on the cloud 238Using the USB cable to transfer files 239Adding a print service 242Printing 243Streaming your own media 244Phone Storage Mysteries 245Reviewing storage stats 246Managing files 247Unmounting the microSD card 248Formatting microSD storage 248CHAPTER 19: The Apps-and-Widgets Chapter 249Apps and Widgets on the Home Screen 249Adding launchers to the Home screen 250Putting a launcher on the favorites tray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .251Slapping down widgets 252Resizing a widget 253Moving launchers and widgets 254Evicting items from the Home screen 255Building folders 255Manage Those Apps 256Reviewing your apps 256Updating apps 258Uninstalling apps 258Choosing a default app 259Clearing default apps 260CHAPTER 20: Customize and Configure 261It's Your Home Screen 261Finding the Home screen menu 262Changing wallpaper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .263Managing Home screen pages 264Lock Screen Settings 265Setting the Lock screen wallpaper 265Display Settings 266Adjusting display brightness 266Controlling the screen lock timeout 267Configuring the always-on touchscreen 267Keyboard Settings 267Generating keyboard feedback 268Activating predictive text 268Turning on gesture typing 269Activating dictation 269Audio Adjustments 270Setting the volume 270Selecting the phone's ringtone 271Setting a contact's ringtone 271Table of Contents xiCHAPTER 21: Android Phone Security 273Lock Your Phone 273Finding the screen locks 274Removing a screen lock 275Setting a PIN 275Applying a password 276Creating an unlock pattern 276Using a fingerprint lock 277Setting unusual screen locks 278Other Phone Security 279Controlling lock screen notifications 279Adding owner info text 280Finding a lost phone 280Encrypting the phone 281Performing a factory data reset 282CHAPTER 22: On the Road Again 283Where the Phone Roams 283International Calling 285You Can Take It with You 286Preparing to leave 286Arriving at the airport 287Flying with your phone 287Getting to your destination 288The Android Phone Goes Abroad 289Using your Android phone overseas 289Charging the phone in another country 290Accessing Wi-Fi in foreign lands 290CHAPTER 23: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Help 291Regular Phone Maintenance 292Keeping it clean 292Backing up your phone 292Updating the system 293Battery Care and Feeding 294Monitoring the battery 294Determining what is drawing power 295Extending battery life 295Help and Troubleshooting 297Fixing random and annoying problems 297Getting help and support 298Android Phone Q&A 301"The touchscreen doesn't work!" 301"The screen is too dark!" 301"The battery doesn't charge!" 301"The phone gets so hot that it turns itself off!" 302"The phone won't do Landscape mode!" 302PART 5: THE PART OF TENS 303CHAPTER 24: Ten Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts 305Quickly Switch Apps 306Instant Flashlight 306The Camera App's Panorama Mode 307Avoid Data Surcharges 308Make the Phone Dream 309Charge the Battery Without Wires 310Add Spice to Dictation 310Add a Word to the Dictionary 311Employ Some Useful Widgets 312Take a Screen Shot 313CHAPTER 25: Ten Things to Remember . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .315Lock the Phone on a Call 316Switch to Landscape Orientation 316Dictate Text 316Enjoy Predictive Text 317Avoid Battery Hogs 317Beware of Roaming 318Use the Plus (+) Symbol When Dialing Internationally 318Check Your Schedule 318Snap a Pic of That Contact 319Use the Search Icon 319INDEX 321

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