Android Phones For Dummies

Android Phones For Dummies

by Dan Gookin
Android Phones For Dummies

Android Phones For Dummies

by Dan Gookin

Paperback

$26.99 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Temporarily Out of Stock Online
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

Your full-color guide to putting your Android to work for you

Your smartphone is essentially your lifeline—so it's no wonder you chose a simple-to-use, fun-to-customize, and easy-to-operate Android. Cutting through intimidating jargon and covering all the features you need to know about your Android phone, this down-to-earth guide arms you with the knowledge to set up and configure your device, get up and running with texting and emailing, access the Internet, navigate with GPS, synch with a PC, and so much more.

Whether you're new to Android phones or have just upgraded to a new model, Android Phones For Dummies makes it fast and easy to make your new smartphone your minion. Written by bestselling author Dan Gookin, it walks you through the basics in a language you can understand before moving on to more advanced topics, like dialing tricks to forward calls, working with predictive text, accessing special characters, manipulating the touch screen, and using a USB connection to synchronize your stuff.

  • Set up your phone and configure its settings
  • Play games, listen to music, and start shooting photos and videos
  • Join the conversation and have fun with social media
  • Make your life easier with Google Voice typing

No matter how you slice it, life with an Android phone is more organized and fun—and this book shows you how to make the most of it.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781119310686
Publisher: Wiley
Publication date: 10/17/2016
Series: For Dummies Books
Pages: 352
Product dimensions: 7.40(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Dan Gookin is the gizmo geek and technology author who wrote the first For Dummies book in 1991. His skill at making technology understandable (and even fun) launched a phenomenon. Dan has written more than 130 books, with 12 million copies in print and translations into more than 30 languages. He also maintains a useful website, www.wambooli.com.

Read an Excerpt

Click to read or download

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

Table of Contents v

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

Table of Contents xi

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

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews