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