Dan Gookin - Android Phones & Tablets For Dummies

Android Phones & Tablets For Dummies

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2017959978

ISBN: 978-1-119-45385-7; 978-1-119-45392-5 (ebk); 978-1-119-45390-1 (ebk)

You know its intimidating when they call it a smartphone. Worse, the supersize smartphone, the tablet, supposedly does everything your computer does but without a keyboard or very many knobs or switches. Still, if you own one of these devices, dont you want to get all the features you paid for?

This book makes the complex subject of Android phones and tablets understandable. Its done with avuncular care and gentle handholding. The information is friendly and informative, without being intimidating. And yes, ample humor is sprinkled throughout the text to keep the mood light. New technology can be frustrating enough without a touch of levity.

Please dont read this book from cover to cover. This book is a reference. Its designed to be used as you need it. Look up a topic in the table of contents or the index. Find something about your Android mobile gizmo that vexes you or something youre curious about. Look up the answer, and get on with your life.

Every chapter is written as its own, self-contained unit, covering a specific Android topic. The chapters are further divided into sections representing tasks you perform with the device or explaining how to get something done. Sample sections in this book include

• Typing without lifting your finger
• Making a conference call
• Dealing with a missed call
• Adding more email accounts
• Uploading a picture or video to Facebook
• Helping others find your location
• Recording video
• Creating a mobile hotspot
• Flying with an Android
• Extending battery life

You have nothing to memorize, no sacred utterances or animal sacrifices, and definitely no PowerPoint presentations. Instead, every section explains a topic as though its the first thing youve read in this book. Nothing is assumed, and everything is cross-referenced. Technical terms and topics, when they come up, are neatly shoved to the side, where theyre easily avoided. The idea here isnt to learn anything. This books philosophy is to help you look it up, figure it out, and move on.

This book follows a few conventions for using your Android phone or tablet, so pay attention!

First of all, no matter what name your phone or tablet has, whether it's a manufacturers name or a pet name youve devised on your own, this book refers to it as an Android phone or Android tablet. Sometimes the terms phone or tablet are used, and also device or, rarely, gizmo.

Because Samsung modifies the Android operating system, and the companys gizmos sell more than other phones and tablets, its devices are often called out in the text specifically when a Samsung galactic gizmo does something different than a typical Android gizmo.

The main way to interact with an Android mobile device is to use its touchscreen, which is the glassy part of the device as its facing you. The physical buttons on the device are called keys. These items are discussed and explained in of this book.

The various ways to touch the screen are explained and named in .

.

This book directs you to do things by following numbered steps. Each step involves a specific activity, such as touching something on the screen; for example:

1. Tap the Apps icon.

This step directs you to tap or touch the graphical Apps icon on the screen. When a button is shown as text, the command reads:

1. Tap the DOWNLOAD button.

You might also be directed to choose an item, which means to tap it on the screen.

Various settings can be turned off or on, as indicated by a master control, which looks like the onoff toggle. Tap the master control to enable or disable the feature, or slide its button to the right or left. When the feature is enabled, the Master Control icon appears in color, as shown in the margin.