CuuDuongThanCong.com A Guide to Android for Seniors: Introduction to Android Phones and Tablets Copyright © 2014 Conceptual Kings All are rights reserved This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review Introduction Android is a mobile operating system which can be used on different mobile devices such as phones and tablets The android system was made by Google It has many features and makes having a phone or a tablet easy to use The screen is sensitive and can be used to gain access to various Apps This guide will show you how to navigate through the various controls and how to protect your device You will also learn how to effectively use it to maximize the settings of each function Charge the Battery The first time you acquire an android device ensure you charge it until the battery indicates that it is full by displaying 100%.You can charge the battery using the new charger or you can use a USB cable to connect the device to a power source then charge it Power on After charging the device you can then turn it on To power on the device press the power button that is located on either the side or the top of the device Unlocking the Screen If the screen shows that it is locked after powering on, slide the lock icon to the right of the screen Getting Started The first time you switch on your android you will be presented with a variety of options to customize certain settings First a dialog box will appear asking you to select your language A long list of languages will be displayed and you can pick the language of your choice CuuDuongThanCong.com Wi-Fi Then you will be directed to a page that requires you connect to a Wi-Fi network Select Connect to Wi-Fi The available networks Pick your network and enter the key if needed Getting an Account You will need to have an account to access content from Gmail, Play store, Google Apps and any other Google Apps You can either create a new account by selecting Create option Then you will be taken on a page that requires you to enter your First name, Second name and your User name for your Google account Then you will Type a password and confirm it so you can be able to access your account Type in your security question and answer Then you will choose your second account After that you will be asked for your preferred language The terms will be shown on the screen Then click on I Agree to continue After this you will be taken to a security page to type in the letters shown Then click on Next to be taken to terms whether you allow Google to determine your location and then go to the Sync page if you want all your contacts on Gmail If you sync then all the contacts on the device will be synched into your account Then select Finish Set up Signing In In the set up for the Google Account options click on Sign in Then enter your details on the Username and Password Then click on Sign in at the bottom of the page Date and Time To set the date and time can be done manually or using the network values To set the date and time manually, select Set date then adjust to the current day Select your Time Zone from the list provided Then Set the Time Then choose the Time Format which can be AM and PM or 24 hour format Then select the date format Home Button On the screen is a home icon and you can tap it to take you back to the original home screen 10 Back The arrow that is on the bottom of the android device is used when you want to CuuDuongThanCong.com access a previous page 11 Recent Apps This is indicated by third icon on the bottom of the screen that looks like open tabs Tap on the icon to show the apps you were using recently 12 Volume Use the buttons on the side to increase the ring tone volume 13 Accessing Apps The android devices come with their own Apps and Widgets You can access the full icon list by tapping on the All Apps icon to view the Apps 14 Commands Android devices have a sensitive touch screen and this makes them easy to use To use the devices you for anywhere you will need to type information touch the space for the keyboard to appear then type To see the options for items on the screen touch and hold the icon Then there is the drag option which you will use most frequently when deleting shortcuts from the home screen To drag touch and hold then move the item to where you would like Swipe or slide is an option which you use when unlocking the screen Pinching where you can pinch and move the fingers further apart to zoom in and returning the fingers to a pinching position to zoom out 15 Securing your screen To protect your phone or tablet from unwanted access you can change the lock to form a password of your choice To secure your screen touch the All Apps icon to display all the icons and go to Settings Open the Settings menu and scroll to Security and tap it to display actions One of the actions is Setup screen lock There are three lock options to choose from you can either select a pattern, PIN or Password After you set it up it will appear on the screen each time you lock it To remove the lock follow the same steps then tap on none to remove the lock screen 16 Customizing the screen with Wallpaper Sometimes you may feel that the phone or tablet is a strange device but by changing the wallpaper you can begin to own it and make it part of you Touch and hold the home screen and in the options that are displayed you will find Wallpaper You can select from the three types of wallpaper, Super-HD player, Live Wallpapers and CuuDuongThanCong.com Wallpapers then select Set Wallpaper to apply the wallpaper of your choice Alternatively go to Settings->Device->Display->Wallpaper 17 Placing an App on the Homescreen Touch and hold any part of the Home screen where you would like the App placed A list of Apps will be shown, select the App you want by tapping on it The App will appear on the Homescreen 18 Deleting an App from the Home screen Touch and hold the App A trash icon will appear at the bottom of the screen Drag the App to the trash icon to delete it from the Homescreen 19 Changing the Favourites Tray The favorites tray is found at the bottom of the screen just above the home icon You can touch and hold the Apps on the sides of the All Apps icon and drag them into the trash icon to delete them from the Favourites tray Touch and Hold the icon of your choice to the Favourites Tray 20 Adding Widgets to the Homescreen You can also add widgets to the homescreen of your choice Begin by touching the All Apps icon Touch the widgets on top of the screen Touch and hold a widget to the screen of choice and then release your finger to set it in place 21 Camera The camera can be used to take photos and record videos To begin touch the camera icon on the home screen or go to the All Apps icon and select the Camera icon To take a picture, click on the blue icon on the screen Then the photo will be automatically saved to Gallery 22 Switching the Camera You can switch the camera to take photos from the front of the device This is particularly desirable when you want to take self-portraits 23 Zooming in and out You can view the photos you have taken in the Gallery To view more features on CuuDuongThanCong.com the photos touch the zoom icon to enlarge the photo You can also enlarge the view when taking photos 24 Taking a Video To take a video, drag the button near the camera icon to the video icon Then the screen will show a video icon to indicate that the settings are now in Video format Touch the centre icon to start recording Tap it again to stop the recording and the video will be saved in the Gallery 25 Sharing Photos and Videos Sharing photos and videos with your loved ones is a touch away once you have recorded your files Go to Gallery, then select share and select from the options listed whether to share through Messaging, Bluetooth, WhatsApp, Gmail, Google+, Messenger and the other list of options indicated 26 Downloads You may need to download items from your Email or other Apps To access the stored items go to Downloads App and there you can decide which items to delete view or reopen Some files that you delete may be large and to download them without being corrupted for not having a large data plan you should be connected to Wi-Fi 27 Marking the Calendar The Calendar App acts like a diary where you can mark your events Unlike a paper diary in which you might store important events and still forget about them, the Calendar App sets reminders for you so you don’t forget Touch the calendar app then touch the recent Apps icon From there you can select a New Event then set the date for the Event and how frequent you would like the reminders to be 28 Gmail App On the Home screen you will see the Gmail icon that indicates the App Touch the icon Sign in or create an account Then you can use the App to read your emails, to download content from the emails, to send emails and to use the Gmail features 29 Saving Battery There are some applications and widgets that when left running can deplete the battery charge even faster To save the battery charge there are some things you CuuDuongThanCong.com might have to turn off if you aren’t using them Go to Settings->Wireless Networks then turn off the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS if you are not using them Reduce the timeout especially if you aren’t using the phone Switch off the Data if you are not using Internet 30 Using the Keyboard The keyboard is in the QWERTY format which is similar to a computer’s keyboard When you need to type something some Apps will automatically bring up the Keyboard and for others you may need to touch the area where you need to type before the keyboard can appear 31 Mobile Network Settings To change the mobile network settings go to Settings->Wireless & networks>Mobile Networks Then you can use these settings to choose whether to enable the data, select and use data roaming and to select network mode 32 Adding a Wi-Fi Network Adding a Wi-Fi network will allow your device to detect the network any time you are close to it Ensure the Wi-Fi is turned on Then go to Settings then select the Wireless and Network Settings Select the Wi-Fi settings, tap on the Add network Option Enter the name of the network then Save Then the device will connect automatically to the network when you are in range 33 Removing an Added Network First turn on the Wi-Fi and then go to the Wi-Fi settings select the network you wish to remove from the added networks Touch the Forget option in the dialog box that appears on the screen 34 Wi-Fi Network Proxy Settings You can connect to some networks using the proxy server To configure the proxy settings for a particular network touch and hold the set network from the list of networks Then touch the Modify Network in the dialog box Then select the Show Advanced options to select the proxy settings If the list shows there are None advanced options then select Manual Enter the proxy settings from the network Touch Save 35 Language Input CuuDuongThanCong.com You can select the language input of your text To select a language go to settings, select Language and Keyboard Settings Then you can select the language and the keyboard For the keyboard you can choose to download from the many different Keyboard Apps found on the Play Store 36 Typing Special Characters You can type the special characters by pressing the particular keys on the keyboard so the character that appear in the corner are entered Alternatively you can touch and hold the Shift Key and hold the key with the special character at the same time to enter the character 37 Setting your Ringtone The device comes with its set ringtone which may not sound pleasant to you There is a list of other options to select from To change the ringtone for the incoming calls go to the home screen, touch the All Apps icon then go to Settings In the Settings touch device->Sound->Device ringtone To select from the different ringtones select and listen for to each before you make your selection by pressing OK You can select a ringtone per person calling you Go to the People App then select a contact Use the Menu for the contact and Set ringtone to pick a particular ringtone 38 Ringtone From Music You can select a ringtone from the music you have saved Go to music and touch and hold the song of your choice Then touch Use as ringtone 39 Calling Touch the phone icon on the Home screen Touch the number keys to select a number or swipe left to access the list of number Enter the number from the keypad or pick a number from the list Touch the phone icon below the keypad to complete the call 40 Multitasking while on Call When you are on a phone call or you are making a call you can touch the back arrow on the bottom of the phone to return to the Home screen and to access other Apps When you wish to resume the phone call swipe the notifications and click on current call 41 Call log CuuDuongThanCong.com The Call log will display all the calls made to and from the phone It includes the received calls, missed calls and outgoing calls When on the call log touch a number to make a call 42 Voice Dialler The Voice dialler App will let you make phone calls faster To use the App select it from a list of Apps then you should speak out the name of the contact you wish to call and the command to call For example you can say, “Call John” The App will find the contact John and place the call 43 Power Control Widget The Power Control Widget allows you to access the features that you would need faster The Widget has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, Sync and Display Brightness This widget can be found in one of the home screens on the left hand side You can touch any of the features when you are not using them to turn them off and extend the battery life 44 Searching the Web You can search for anything using the Google Search In the home screen is the Google Search bar Touch the box to type your search item and then touch the search icon You can also touch the microphone icon then speak your search item Then Google will use the Internet to search for results You will have to be connected to the Internet either through Wi-Fi or mobile network 45 Calendar The Calendar application is used to organize and keep your schedule recorded at all times Users are enabled to properly manage their time with notes and reminders conveniently on a monthly view You can conveniently store alerts for important events These alerts will remind you at the particular time that was set for the event reminder The calendar app is accessed from the home screen 46 Beam Screen Content Beaming is a form of sharing by bringing the devices together Start by unlocking Near Field Communication, (NFC) and that the NFC and Beam have been turned on Open the screen with the things you want to share it could be a web page, YouTube video or a Map Bring the devices together back to back When they touch a sound confirms the option to Beam and touch any place on the screen to begin the Beam The image on your screen will reduce in size and the other device will CuuDuongThanCong.com display the content 47 Browsing the Web To browse the Internet for content you can use the available Apps such as Browser You can use other Apps such as Opera Mini by downloading from the online store, Play Store 48 Play Store Play Store is an online store made available by Google It contains Apps that can include Games, Entertainment Apps and Messaging Apps In the store you will be able to see if the content is Free or if you have to Purchase it To enter the play store you will have to login with a Google Account You can also search for a specific name of the App at the top of the screen 49 Type text through Speech This feature is available through Google so you have to be connected to the Internet This can be used in all text fields Touch the text field that you need to use Touch the microphone on the keyboard and then speak what you want to type The punctuation can be spoken or you can enter it manually 50 Connecting to Bluetooth Bluetooth is a wireless system used to exchange data between devices It is free and available on all android devices To turn the Bluetooth on you can use different methods, you can use the Power Control widget to turn the Bluetooth on by touching the icon for Bluetooth Alternatively go to Settings->Wireless & Networks>Bluetooth and check the box to turn Bluetooth on CuuDuongThanCong.com ... select from the three types of wallpaper, Super-HD player, Live Wallpapers and CuuDuongThanCong.com Wallpapers then select Set Wallpaper to apply the wallpaper of your choice Alternatively go to Settings->Device->Display->Wallpaper... language of your choice CuuDuongThanCong.com Wi-Fi Then you will be directed to a page that requires you connect to a Wi-Fi network Select Connect to Wi-Fi The available networks Pick your network and enter the... First turn on the Wi-Fi and then go to the Wi-Fi settings select the network you wish to remove from the added networks Touch the Forget option in the dialog box that appears on the screen 34 Wi-Fi Network Proxy Settings