Table of Contents
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 1
Icons Used in This Book 2
Beyond the Book 2
Where to Go from Here 2
Part 1 The Unboxing 3
Chapter 1 Introducing All Things Android 5
What Are Android Devices? 5
Samsung 6
Google Pixel 7
Other hot brands 7
Looking at the Different Flavors of Android 7
Samsung's version of Android 8
Google Pixel's 'pure Android' 9
Transitioning from an iPhone to an Android: It's Possible! 10
Chapter 2 Checking Out and Charging What's in the Box 11
Your Contents May Vary 12
Hello, handset! 12
You're not doing anything without the power cord 14
Accessories may be included, but maybe not 15
What Should You Keep (and What You Can Discard) 15
Installing the SIM Card 16
A Quick Tour of Your Device's Hardware 18
Not all Android smartphones look the same 18
Sometimes the differences are in the inside 19
Keeping Your Device Charged and Current 21
Caring for Your Smartphone 23
Cleaning your device 23
Storing your device 23
Chapter 3 Deciding on Carrier Service 25
What Are Locked and Unlocked Smartphones? 25
Big Box Carriers: No, They Aren't Used for Moving 26
Checking Out Alternative Carriers 27
What Can You Do Without Service? 28
Chapter 4 Setting Up Your Device 31
Activating Your Phone 31
Parlez-Vous Français? Android Is Multilingual 32
Customizing Your Vision Settings 33
Accessing Wi-Fi 34
Adding a Gmail Account 36
Setting Up Security 38
How About a Couple of Extras? 39
Setting Up Multiple Users 41
Chapter 5 Tapping and Swiping Your Way around the Phone 43
Starting with Standard Navigation 43
The touch interface 44
The tap 44
The double tap 45
The hold 46
Swiping 46
Searching 48
Moving on to Advanced Navigation 50
Using gestures 50
Pinch to zoom 51
Waving 51
Part 2 The Grand Tour 53
Chapter 6 Unlocking the Secrets of the Screens 55
The Lock Screen versus the Home Screen(s) 55
What you can do on the lock screen 56
What you can do on the home screen(s) 59
Securing Access to the Phone with the Lock Screen 62
Changing your password 63
Setting up facial recognition 64
Chapter 7 G-Whiz: The Google Experience 67
Keeping Tabs on Your Life 67
Calendar 68
Clock/Alarm 70
Emailing and Sending Messages 71
Gmail 71
Messages 75
Capturing Special Moments 77
Camera 78
Photos 79
Figuring Out the Functional Side of Google 81
Maps 82
Chrome 84
Drive 85
GPay 86
Chapter 8 Investigating Apps for Everything 89
Exploring the Preinstalled Apps 89
The apps on every new Android phone 90
Carrier-installed apps and why you can't remove them 94
Installing New Apps 95
Finding the perfect app for what you need 95
Interpreting Google Play listings 96
Choosing an install location 99
Viewing App Information 99
Moving and Organizing Apps 100
Moving apps to your home screen(s) 100
Creating app folders 101
Adding more home screens 102
Sideloading Apps 102
The dangers of sideloading 103
How to find legitimate apps outside of the Play Store 103
Chapter 9 Finding Widgets for Your Gadget 105
What Is a Widget? 105
Selecting, Placing, and Sizing Widgets 106
Removing Widgets 110
Chapter 10 Enjoying Quick Access Features 113
Settings That Help You Use Your Device 114
Adjusting the backlight 115
Setting the auto-rotation 116
Accessing the flashlight 116
Settings That Help You Use Other Devices 116
Turning Wi-Fi on or off 117
Using Bluetooth 118
Setting up a mobile hotspot 118
Sharing content with ScreenCast 120
Settings That Help Apps Help You 121
Paying with GPay 121
Turning on Location Services 122
Putting your phone into airplane mode 122
Editing the Quick Access Screen 123
Chapter 11 Staying in the Know with Notifications 125
Receiving Notifications 125
Using the Notification Drawer 127
Swiping for More Information 129
Configuring Notifications 131
Setting Do Not Disturb 133
Chapter 12 Customizing Your Settings 135
Resting Your Eyes with Night Light 136
Where Did My Memory Go? 138
The Storage setting 139
Clear Storage and Clear Cache buttons 140
Free Up Space button 141
Developer options 142
Keeping Your Life in Balance with Digital Wellbeing 144
App timer 145
Focus mode 147
Bedtime 147
Understanding the Volume Controls 148
Locating the volume buttons 149
It's all about context 149
Sometimes you need to be quiet 150
Part 3 Communicating Anytime, Anywhere 153
Chapter 13 Texting to Keep in Touch 155
Exploring Messages 156
Tap, Tap, Typing and Other Ways to Enter Your Message 157
Using the keyboard 157
Swipe typing 162
Voice-to-text 163
Copying, Pasting, and Deleting Texts 164
Group Texting 165
Using Third-Party Texting Apps 167
Chapter 14 Using the Phone as a … Phone 169
Seeing Who's Who in Your Life 169
Entering contacts 170
Viewing contacts 172
Setting up favorites 173
Making Contact with Your Contacts 174
Calling a contact 174
Calling without a contact 175
Being Prepared for an Emergency 177
Setting emergency contacts 177
Activating the panic button 178
Calling 911 180
Chapter 15 Browsing the Internet and Maintaining Your Privacy 181
Feeling at Home with Chrome 182
Opening Chrome 182
Searching with Chrome 183
Navigating to a site 185
Working with tabs 187
Installing Third-Party Browsers 189
Chapter 16 Keeping It Social 191
Installing Social Media Apps 191
Using Social Media 192
Facebook 193
Reddit 196
TikTok 196
Instagram 196
Chapter 17 Smile! Using the Camera 199
Opening the Camera App 199
Navigating the Camera Interface 201
Settings 201
Save location/last image taken/sharing 204
Image view finder/grid lines 206
Zoom 207
Camera selector 208
Shutter 208
Camera modes 209
Holding Your Phone for the Best Shot 214
Editing Your Images 214
Crop 215
Blur 215
Brightness and contrast 216
Warmth and tint 216
Markup 217
Snapseed 218
Part 4 Personalizing Just the Way You Like It 221
Chapter 18 Customizing Your Device 223
Setting Custom Ring Tones and Notification Sounds 223
Change your ringtone 224
Assign different ringtones to different people 225
Change text notification sounds 226
Adding a Splash of Color 227
Setting Wallpaper Images 229
Changing the Font Size 231
Chapter 19 Saying 'Hey' to Google 233
Getting the Most from Your Smartphone with Google Assistant 233
Setting Up Google Assistant 234
Google Assistant settings 237
'Hey, Google' and other magic commands 241
Creating Google Assistant Routines 242
Part 5 The Part of Tens 245
Chapter 20 Ten Cool Tips and Tricks 247
Send Someone Your Current Location 247
Double-Tap to Wake Up 248
Turn Your Smartphone into a Ruler 249
Take a Screenshot 249
Access App Context Menus 249
Switch to One-Handed Mode 250
Screencast 251
Tap and Zoom 251
Disable App Notifications 252
Use the Two-Finger Swipe 253
Chapter 21 Ten Settings to Enable 255
Skip Lock Screen 255
Wireless Emergency Alerts 256
Battery Percentage 256
Dial Pad (DTMF) Tones 256
Screen Timeout 256
Night Light 257
Auto-Rotate Screen 257
Screen Lock 257
Emergency Location Service 258
Find My Device 258
Chapter 22 Ten Settings to Disable 259
Turn On Wi-Fi Automatically 260
Sensitive Notifications 260
Show Media Recommendations 260
Identify Songs Playing Nearby 261
Adaptive Brightness 261
Add Users from Lock Screen 261
Show Wallet 262
Personalize Using App Data 262
Developer Options 262
Back Up Using Mobile Data 262
Index 263
