This is R Chapter

This chapter comes from the 34th edition of the "Secret Guide to Computers & Tricky Living," copyright by Russ Walter. To read the rest of the book, look at www.SecretFun.com.

Pure Android

In 2003, a California company called Android began to invent a smart operating system for cell phones. In 2005, Google bought that company, called the operating system “Android”, and began improving it.

Versions

Each version of Android has a code name. The code names are in alphabetical order. The first experimental version was called “Astro Boy”; the next was called “Bender”. Those versions were unappetizing; later versions were named after desserts:

Android version When invented Code name

Android alpha Astro Boy

Android alpha 2 Bender

Android beta 2007 November Bender improved

Android 1 2008 September Bender improved

Android 1.1 2009 February Bender improved & Petit Four

Android 1.5 2009 April Cupcake

Android 1.6 2009 September Donut

Android 2 2009 October Eclair

Android 2.1 2010 January Éclair improved

Android 2.2 2010 May Froyo (frozen yogurt)

Android 2.3 2010 December Gingerbread

Android 3 2011 February Honeycomb

Android 3.1 2011 May Honeycomb improved

Android 3.2 2011 July Honeycomb improved

Android 4 2011 October Ice Cream Sandwich

Android 4.1 2012 July Jelly Bean

Android 4.2 2012 November Jelly Bean improved

Android 4.3 2013 July Jelly Bean improved further

Android 4.4 2013 October KitKat

Android 5 2014 November Lollipop

Android 5.1 2015 March Lollipop improved

Android 6 2015 October Marshmallow

Android 7 2016 August Nougat

Android 7.1 2016 October Nougat improved

Android 8 2017 August Oreo

Android 8.1 2017 December Oreo improved

Android 9 2018 August Pie

Android 10 2019 September Q

Android 11 2020 September R

Android 12 2021 October S

At Google’s headquarters (called the Googleplex), Building 44’s front lawn has colorful statues of all those desserts, to make Google a mouth-watering place to work!

What’s popular?

Android keeps evolving:

Android 1, 1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 2, and 2.1 are obsolete and no longer distributed.

Android 2.2 and 2.3 still come on cell phones that are small and cheap.

Android 3, 3.1, and 3.2 were for tablets, but most tablets have gone further.

Android 4 and beyond are for modern tablets & modern big-screen cell phones.

Android 9, 10, and 11 are used by most tablets & cell phones sold now.

Manufacturers

The most fascinating manufacturers of Android tablets & phones are:

Samsung, which is based in Korea and means “3 stars” in Korean

Lenovo, which is based in Beijing and bought Motorola (nicknamed “Moto”)

Walmart, whose “Onn” division makes Android tablets

This chapter

This chapter explains how to use the best low-cost Android devices:

Tablet Walmart’s 10.1-inch Onn Tablet Pro

Phone Lenovo’s Moto E6

Those devices both contain standard, pure Android plus extra features contributed by Walmart & Lenovo. (Devices made by Samsung cost more, act differently, and are explained in the next chapter.)

Starting

In the rest of this chapter, when I say “device,” I mean “tablet or phone”.

Unpack

The device comes in a box.

Tablet The box is yellow.

Phone The box is blue.

Open the box and put the contents on your desk (or table).

Tablet The box contains 3 electronic devices:

the tablet itself (9½ inches wide, 6⅝ inches tall, and ¼ inch thick)

a charger (black box, 1¾"´1⅜"´⅞", to convert AC power to DC)

a USB cable (for connecting your tablet to the charger or a computer)

The box also contains a quick-setup guide (titled “PRODUCT GUIDE”) and 3 discount coupons ($10 off Walmart groceries, $10 off Walmart eBooks, and $5 off Vudu movies).

Phone The box contains 4 electronic devices:

the phone itself (5⅞ inches tall, 2⅞ inches wide, and ¼ inch thick)

a charger (black box, 1⅝"´1½"´⅞", to convert AC power to DC)

a USB cable (for connecting your phone to the power adapter or a computer)

a battery

The box also contains 2 pamphlets:

a quick-setup guide (titled “read me”)

a safety guide (titled “legal, safety, and regulatory information”)

Have a store technician do this for you (free):

The phone comes in a white wrapper. Remove that wrapper.

Open the phone.

If you bought them, put in a carrier’s SIM card and a bigger memory card.

Put in the battery.

Close the phone.

Store everything in the blue box.

Position the device

Here’s how to position the device.

Tablet The tablet’s backside says just “onn” on it. The backside has a circle in its corner.

The tablet’s front side is a black screen, surrounded by a black border, and temporarily covered by a screen protector (thin clear plastic sheet) that has instructions written on it (in white letters). Remove the screen protector (by peeling it off the tablet).

Lay the tablet on your desk so the tablet lies on its backside and its front side is facing up at you.

On the front side’s border, you see a tiny circle, which is the selfie camera. (The backside’s border has a circle also.) Position the tablet so the selfie camera is far from your tummy.

The tablet’s top edge is the edge near the selfie camera. The opposite edge (near your tummy) is called the bottom edge.

Phone The phone’s backside has a fancy “M”. The phone’s
front side is a black screen, surrounded by a black border.

Lay the phone on your desk so the phone lies on its backside and its front side is facing up at you.

On the front side’s border, you see “motorola”. Position the phone so the “motorola” is close to your tummy.

The phone’s bottom edge is the edge that’s says “motorola”. The opposite edge is called the top edge.

Charge the battery

Before using the device, charge its battery. Here’s how.

Tablet Plug the USB cable’s small end into the tablet’s right edge, near the tablet’s bottom-right corner. Plug the cable’s other end into the charger.

Phone Remove the USB cable’s clear plastic wrapper. Plug the USB cable’s small end into the phone’s bottom edge. Plug the cable’s other end into the charger (after removing the charger’s clear plastic wrapper).

Plug the charger into your home’s electrical outlet.

The screen will briefly show a lightning bolt (yellow on the tablet, white on the phone) then a percentage, showing what percent of the battery has been charged so far. Then the screen will turn black again.

If the percentage is less than 100%, the device isn’t fully charged yet. The device will work better if it’s fully charged. Unfortunately, charging can take up to 3 hours. To check whether the device is fully charged yet, try this experiment:

Unplug the device, then plug it back in. You see the lightning bolt again, then a percentage. If the percentage is 100%, the battery is fully charged; hooray!

Then unplug:

Unplug the device from the USB cable (because the device works better when unplugged). Unplug the charger from your home’s electrical outlet (because the charger consumes electricity and gets hotter when plugged in).

Turn on the device

Sticking out of the device’s right-hand edge, you see 2 buttons. The button closest to the top edge is the Volume button; it’s very long. The other button, which is shorter, is the Power button.

Press the Power button until the screen lights up. Then release the Power button.

Tablet The screen says “onn powered by Android”.

Phone The screen says “POWERED BY android”. About 17 seconds later, you hear a woman with an Indian accent say “Hello, Moto!”

During the following procedures, if you pause (act too slowly), the screen turns black until you tap the Power button.

If this is the first time the device is being used, it does the following setup procedure.

Tablet:

The screen says “Hi there”. Tap “START”.

The screen says “Connect to Wi-Fi.” You see a list of your neighborhood’s Wi-Fi networks. Tap the name of the Wi-Fi network you want to use (such as the Wi-Fi router in your home). If the screen says “Password” (because that network’s router has a password), type the password (which is probably on a sticker under the router). Tap “Connect”.

The screen says “Checking for updates”.

The screen says “Copy apps & data”. Tap “Don’t copy” for now.

The screen says “Sign in”. Tap “Skip” for now, then “Skip” again.

The screen says “Google Services”. Tap “More” then “More” again then “Accept”.

The screen says “For security, set PIN”. Tap “Skip” for now then “Skip anyway”.

Phone:

The screen says “Hi there”. Tap “START”.

If the screen says “Connect to mobile network,” tap “Skip” for now.

The screen says “Checking for updates”.

If the screen says “Copy apps & data”, choose “Don’t copy” for now.

The screen says “Sign in”. Tap “Skip” for now, then “Skip” again.

The screen says “Google Services”. Tap “More” then “More” again then “Accept”.

The screen says “Set screen lock”. Tap “Skip” for now then “SKIP ANYWAY”.

The screen says “Review additional apps”. Tap “OK”.

The screen says “About your privacy”. Tap “Accept and continue”.

The screen says “Let’s stay in touch”. Tap “More” then “Next”.

The screen says the time & date.

If the device is a phone, it might ask you to install updates, like this:

If the screen says “Install security update”, tap that twice then “Install now”.

If the screen says “Updates available”, tap that twice then tap “Update all” then wait for the phone to finish updating and say “No updates available”.

Unlock

Near the screen’s bottom edge, the screen shows a picture of a lock, which means the screen is locked and you’re seeing the Lock screen. The next step is to unlock the screen. Here’s how:

Tablet Put your finger on the screen’s bottom edge and swipe (slide) your finger toward the screen’s top edge.

Phone Put your finger on the lock and swipe (slide) your finger toward the screen’s top edge.

(If you don’t do that soon enough, the screen will turn black and you must try again to press the Power button and swipe.)

Then the screen shows you whatever you saw before the device turned off, so you can resume your work where you’d left off.

When the device is turned on and acting normally (unlocked), the screen’s bottom part shows these buttons:

Near the screen’s bottom-left corner, you see a triangle pointing toward the left. That’s the Back button.

At the screen’s bottom-right corner, you see the Recent Apps button (a square).

Between those buttons, you see the Home button (a circle).

Just on the tablet: at the screen’s bottom-left corner, you see Walmart’s logo, which is a starburst. That one-screen logo is called the Walmart button.

That row of buttons is called the Navigation Bar (or System Bar).

See the Home screen

Tap the Home button (which is at the screen’s bottom, in the System Bar, and is a circle).

That makes sure the device shows you the Home screen, which shows icons (little pictures) for many choices.

Tablet You typically see these 7 icons:

Camera

YT Music

Photos

Google folder Google Play Store Chrome

Phone You typically see these 10 icons:

Google Duo Moto Photos Play Store

Phone Messages Chrome G Search Camera

See the Apps screen

Your device can run many application programs (apps).Here’s how to see a list of all the apps.

While you’re looking at the Home screen, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe up.

Tablet That makes the computer show you the Apps screen, which shows these 23 apps in alphabetical order:

Calculator Calendar Camera Chrome Clock

Contacts Drive Duo Files Gmail

Google Grocery Maps Photos Play Movies & TV

Play Store Sam’s Club Settings Sound Recorder Vudu

Walmart YouTube YT Music

If you want to return to the Home screen, tap the Home button (the circle in the Navigation Bar).

Phone That makes the computer show you the Apps screen, which shows these 30 apps in alphabetical order:

Calculator Calendar Camera Chrome Clock

Contacts Docs Drive Duo Facebook

Files FM Radio Gmail Google Maps

Messages Moto Moto Help MotorolaNotific’n News

Phone Photos Play Movies&TV Play Music Play Store

Settings Sheets Slides Wallpapers YouTube

(To see that bottom line, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe up.) Above them, you see 5 extra icons, showing 5 apps you used recently. (If you haven’t used any apps yet, you see these 5 icons: G Search, Files, Settings, Moto, and Phone.) If you want to return to the Home screen, tap the Home button (the circle on the System Bar).

Blackout

If you don’t touch the device awhile, the screen will go black, to save electricity and prevent your enemies from peeking at what you were doing.

Tablet The screen will go black after 1 minute.

Phone The screen will go black after 30 seconds.

If the screen’s gone black, here’s how to make it return to normal:

Tablet Press the Power button. Then put your finger on the screen’s bottom edge and swipe up (slide your finger toward the screen’s top edge).

Phone Press the Power button. Then put your finger on the lock and
swipe up (slide your finger toward the screen’s top edge).

If the screen is on and you want the screen to go black, you can use 3 methods:

Wait method Wait awhile, without touching the screen, until the screen goes automatically black.

Tap method Tap the Power button. That makes the screen go black immediately.

Hold method Hold down the Power button until you see a menu that includes “Power off”. Tap “Power off”.

The hold method is the only one that turns the device off completely, so it uses no electricity. The other methods just put the device into sleep mode, which means the device is consuming a little electricity while waiting for you to press the Power button again to reactivate the screen and resume your work where you left off.

You might get angry when the device automatically blackens so fast. Here’s how to pick a longer time before blackening:

Tablet Go to the Apps screen. Tap “Settings” then “Display” (which you see after you swipe up) then “Screen timeout”. You see these choices: 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, never sleep. Tap how long you want instead of “1 minute”. For example, tap “5 minutes” (which is the time I prefer).

Phone Go to the Apps screen. Tap “Settings” then “Display” then “Advanced” then “Sleep”. You see these choices: never, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes. Tap how long you want instead of “30 seconds”. For example, tap “5 minutes” (which is the time I prefer).

Calculator basics

To use the device’s built-in calculator, tap “Calculator” (which is on the Apps screen).

Tablet You see these 32 keys:

INV RAD %

7 8 9 ¸ Õ

sin cos tan

4 5 6 x

ln log Ö

1 2 3 -

p e ^

0 . + =

( ) !

To compute 42+5, tap the calculator’s 4 key, then tap 2, then +, then 5. The screen shows what you’ve typed (42+5).

If you make a mistake, tap the Backspace key (Õ), which deletes your last tap.

Tap =. Then you see the answer (47), and the Backspace key temporarily becomes a Clear key (C). Tapping the Clear key erases the answer, so you can start fresh on the next calculation.

Phone You see these 17 keys:

7 8 9

4 5 6

1 2 3

0 . =

To compute 42+5, tap the calculator’s 4 key, then tap 2, then +, then 5. The screen shows what you’ve typed (42+5).

If you make a mistake, tap the Backspace key (Õ), which deletes your last tap.

Below your typing, you immediately see the answer (47). To hide your typing and see just the answer, tap =.

If you tapped =, the Backspace key temporarily becomes a Clear key (C). Tapping the Clear key erases the answer, so you can start fresh on the next calculation. You must tap the CLR key if the next calculation begins with a minus sign.

Calculator details

The calculator does operations in the order used by mathematicians & scientists. For example, if you type “2+3´4”, the calculator will assume you mean “2 plus three fours”, which is “2+12”, which is 14, so the calculator will say the answer is 14 (not 20). Here’s the rule: the calculator does multiplication & division before doing addition & subtraction.

Tablet The rightmost 3 columns of keys let you do advanced math.

To compute 2³ (which means “2 times 2 times 2”), tap 2 then ^ then 3 then =. The screen will show the answer, 8.

Here’s how to compute “4!” (which is pronounced “4 factorial” and means “1 times 2 times 3 times 4”). Tap 4 then the “!” key so you’ve typed “4!”. When you tap =, the screen will show the answer, 24.

Phone To do advanced math, tap “<” (which is at the screen’s right edge). Then you see these 15 advanced keys:

INV RAD %

sin cos tan

ln log Ö

p e ^

( ) !

To make those advanced keys disappear (so you can see the basic keys again), tap “>” (which is near the screen’s left edge).

Here’s how to compute 2³ (which means “2 times 2 times 2”). Tap 2 then the ^ key (which appears after you tap “<”) then 3 (which appears after you tap “>”), so you’ve typed “2^3”. The screen will show the answer, 8.

Here’s how to compute “4!” (which is pronounced “4 factorial” and means “1 times 2 times 3 times 4”). Tap 4 then the “!” key (which appears after you tap “<”), so you’ve typed “4!”. The screen will show the answer, 24.

Be careful When doing advanced math, be careful:

The log key assumes the base is 10, not e. (If you want the base to be e, tap the ln key instead.)

The trigonometry keys (sin, cos, and tan) normally assume angles are measured in degrees (not radians). To remind you of that, the screen’s top-left corner says DEG. If you want angles to be measured in radians, tap the RAD key; that makes the screen’s top-left corner say RAD. To switch back to degrees, tap the DEG key (which the RAD key became).

If you tap the INV key, 6 keys change to their inverses:

sin becomes sin^-1

cos becomes cos^-1

tan becomes tan^-1

ln becomes e^x

log becomes 10^x

Ö becomes x²

If you tap the INV key again, those 6 keys return to normal.

Return to Home When you finish doing your calculations, tap the Home button, so you see the Home screen again.

Calendar

To use the device’s built-in calendar, do this:

Tablet Tap the word “Calendar” (which is on the Apps screen and has an icon saying “31”). If the screen says “Google Calendar” (because you haven’t used the calendar before), put your finger in the screen’s middle, swipe let twice, then tap “Got it”.

Phone Tap the word “Calendar” (which is on the Apps screen and has an icon saying the current date).

To make sure the calendar is normal, do this:

If you don’t see a calendar for a whole month yet (because you were previously using the calendar for something else), tap “º” (which is in the screen’s top-left corner) then “Month”.

If you see a calendar for a different month (because you were looking at a different month before), tap the Today icon. (It’s a box near the screen’s
top-right corner and contains a blue dot.)

You see a calendar of the current month. Today’s date is in a blue circle.

To see the next month, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe left.

To see the previous month, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe right.

To return to the current month, tap the Today icon. (It’s a box near the screen’s top-right corner and contains a blue dot.)

When you finish using the calendar, tap the Home button, so you see the Home screen again.

Using the Navigation Bar

Here are more details about using the Navigation Bar.

Home The Home button is a circle. If you tap it, you see a Home screen again.

Back Locate the Back button. It’s near the screen’s bottom-left corner and shows a triangle pointing back toward the left.

Tapping the Back button makes the device try to go back to the previous screen or menu. So if you regret your last tap, try tapping the Back button.

The Back button doesn’t work while you’re already seeing the Home screen.

Recent Apps The Navigation Bar’s rightmost button is the Recent Apps button (which looks like a square).

If you tap that button, the screen starts showing a list of apps you ran recently. (To see the rest of the list, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe to the right, repeatedly.) To run one of those apps again, tap its tile (miniature picture of itself).

You should shorten that list of recent apps. Shortening the list will consume less electricity & RAM and make the device run faster & more reliably.

To shorten that list of recent apps, do this:

Look at that list. Put your finger on a tile you want to remove from that list and swipe up. To remove all tiles from that list (and make the device run much better), keep swiping to the right until you see “CLEAR ALL”; tap “CLEAR ALL”.

Walmart Just on the tablet (not the phone), the Navigation Bar’s leftmost button is the Walmart button, which looks like a starburst (because that’s Walmart’s logo). If you tap it, you see these 4 apps about Walmart’s divisions:

Sam’s Club Walmart Grocery Vudu

Quick Settings Bar

Put your finger at the screen’s top edge and swipe down. Then you see the Quick Settings Bar.

Tablet The Quick Settings Bar is a row of 6 squares, whose names are:

Wi-Fi Bluetooth Do Not Disturb Auto-rotate Battery Saver Airplane mode

Each square contains an icon. Each square is green (which means “on”) or gray (which means “off”).

When you first start using the tablet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are green (“on”) and the other 4 are off. But you can change that, by tapping the square.

Bluetooth is a way to communicate wirelessly with a nearby device (such as a headphone or keyboard). Your tablet probably isn’t using Bluetooth, so you should turn off Bluetooth (to save electricity), by making its circle gray.

You normally won’t use Do Not Disturb, Battery Saver, and Airplane mode, so keep them off (gray).

Auto-rotate is fun and useful: try it! Turn it on! That makes the tablet notice whether you rotate the tablet. I recommend you keep Auto-rotate always on. To see how Auto-rotate is useful, try the following experiment.

Make the Auto-rotate square be green (by tapping it). If the Quick Settings Bar is still on the screen, make it disappear (by tapping the Back button).

Run the Calculator app (by tapping “Calculator”, which is on the App screen).

Rotate the tablet by doing this: Lift the tablet’s top edge off the desk, until the tablet is vertical instead of horizontal; then rotate the tablet clockwise, 90 degrees, so the tablet looks taller and not as wide. Then all writing on the screen rotates 90 degrees counterclockwise to compensate, so you can still read what’s on the screen without turning your head.

When the tablet is taller than its width, you’re in portrait mode; the orientation is portrait (and good for viewing a portrait of a person). In portrait mode, when you type a math expression (such as 2+3), the screen shows the answer (5) even before you tap the = key!

To return to normal (which is called landscape mode), lift the tablet’s top edge off the desk again then rotate the tablet counterclockwise, 90 degrees. Then the tablet is wider than it is tall; you’re in landscape mode; the orientation is landscape (and good for viewing a landscape painting or a typical video).

Phone The Quick Settings Bar is a row of 6 circles, whose names are:

Wi-Fi Bluetooth Do Not Disturb Flashlight Auto-rotate Battery Saver

Each circle contains an icon. Each circle is green (which means “on”) or gray (which means “off”).

When you first start using the phone, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are green (“on”) and the other 4 are off. But you can change that, by tapping the circle.

For example, if you turn on the Flashlight (by tapping the Flashlight circle), the phone acts as a flashlight: it shines a bright light from the phone’s backside, so you can walk through the woods at night. Try it: tap the Flashlight circle now! When you finish using the Flashlight, turn it off (by tapping that circle again), to save electricity.

Bluetooth is a way to communicate wirelessly with a nearby device (such as a headphone or keyboard). Your phone probably isn’t using Bluetooth, so you should turn off Bluetooth (to save electricity), by making its circle gray.

You normally won’t use Do Not Disturb and Battery Saver, so keep them off (gray).

Auto-rotate is fun and useful: try it! Turn it on! That makes the phone notice whether you rotate the phone. I recommend you keep Auto-rotate always on. To see how Auto-rotate is useful, try the following experiment.

Make the Auto-rotate circle be green (by tapping it). If the Quick Settings Bar is still on the screen, make it disappear (by tapping the Back button).

Run the Calculator app (by tapping “Calculator”, which is on the App screen).

Rotate the phone by doing this: lift the phone’s top edge off the desk, until the phone is vertical instead of horizontal; then rotate the phone clockwise, 90 degrees, so the phone looks wider and not as tall. Then the home button (the tiny circle on the screen) is at the left instead of the bottom. All writing on the screen rotates 90 degrees counterclockwise to compensate, so you can still read what’s on the screen without turning your head.

When the phone is wider than its height, you’re in landscape mode; the orientation is landscape (and good for viewing a landscape painting or a typical video). In landscape mode, the screen shows more calculator keys: you see the basic keys but also the advanced keys, all simultaneously!

To return to normal (which is called portrait mode), lift the phone’s top edge off the desk again then rotate the phone counterclockwise, 90 degrees. Then the phone is taller than it is wide; you’re in portrait mode; the orientation is portrait (and good for viewing a portrait of a person).

If you turn the feature off, the screen stays in portrait mode.

Finish When you finish playing with the Quick Settings Bar, make it disappear, by tapping the Back button (the triangle at the screen’s bottom).

Quick Setting Panel

If you put your finger in the middle of the Quick Settings Bar and swipe down, here’s what happens.

Tablet You see the full Quick Settings Panel, which includes these 7 squares instead:

Wi-Fi Bluetooth Do Not Disturb

Auto-rotate Battery Saver Airplane mode

Screen Cast

Each square is gray or green. If the square is gray, the feature is OFF; if the square is green, the feature is ON. For normal use, I recommend you make Wi-Fi and Auto-rotate on (green) and the other 5 off (gray).

Phone You see the full Quick Settings Panel, which includes these 9 circles instead:

Wi-Fi Bluetooth Do Not Disturb

Flashlight Auto-rotate Battery Saver

Mobile data Airplane mode Night Light

Each circle is gray or green. If the circle is gray, the feature is OFF; if the circle is green, the feature is ON. For normal use, I recommend you make Wi-Fi and Auto-rotate on (green) and the other 5 off (gray).

If you put your finger in the middle of that group of circles and swipe left, you temporarily see these 3 circles instead:

System update Cast Data Saver

Normally, “System update” is turned on; “Cast” and “Data Saver” are turned off. To return to seeing the normal 9, swipe right.

Slider Above the Quick Settings Panel, you see a slider with a green circle. If you drag that green circle toward the right, the screen gets brighter; if you drag toward the left, the screen gets dimmer. Normal is somewhere in the middle.

Finish When you finish playing with the Quick Settings panel, make it disappear by tapping the Back button once or twice.

Phone calls (just on phone)

(If you have a tablet, skip to the next topic, “Cameras”.)

If this is the first time the phone is being used to make phone calls, make sure the phone was set up properly by the salesperson — or get help from me.

Make a phone call

To make a phone call, start the Phone app by using one of these methods:

Home-screen method Go to the Home screen (by tapping the Home button), then tap the Phone icon (which is at the screen’s bottom-left corner).

Apps-screen method While you’re looking at the Apps screen, tap “Phone”.

You should see this keypad:

1 2 3

Voicemail ABC DEF

4 5 6

GHI JKL MNO

7 8 9

PQRS TUV WXYZ

* 0 #

(If you don’t see that keypad yet, make it appear by tapping the Show Keypad button, which is a blue circle near the screen’s bottom-right corner.)

On the keypad, tap the phone number you want to call. To experiment, call another number in your home, or call a friend’s number, or call me at 603-666-6644.

If you’ve never used a cell phone before, surprise! All U.S. cell phones let you take these shortcuts:

You don’t have to tap 1 first.

If the number you’re calling has the same area code as your phone, you don’t have to tap the area code.

If you make a mistake, erase it by tapping the Backspace key (which is at the screen’s right edge and shows Õ).

When you finish tapping the number, tap the Phone key (which is at the screen’s bottom, above the Home button, green, and shows Å).

Put the phone near your cheek, so the phone’s top is near your ear and the phone’s bottom is near your mouth.

The earpiece (speaker) is a slit in the phone’s front, in the top edge. Put it next to your ear.

The main microphone is tiny hole in the phone’s bottom edge, to the right of the USB cable. Put it next to your mouth.

When the phone realizes it’s next to your cheek, the screen goes black, so your cheek can’t accidentally tap an icon.

Then chat!

To finish chatting, move the phone away from your cheek. The screen lights up again. Tap the End Call button (the red circle, which shows Å). The call ends.

Recent calls

To see a list of recent phone calls, tap “Recents” (which is near the screen’s bottom). You see the phone numbers of recent calls.

Calls you made show a gray arrow pointing up.

Calls you received show a gray arrow pointing down.

Calls you missed show a red arrow bouncing (pointing down then up).

If several similar calls came in a row, you see just the last one.

If you want to call one of the list’s numbers again, tap the phone icon (Å) that’s to the right of that number.

When you finish looking at the recent calls, make the screen return to normal by tapping the Show Keypad button (the blue circle at the screen’s bottom-right corner).

While you’re tapping a number on the keypad, the computer shows a phone number (from the recent calls) that begins with what you’ve tapped. If that’s the phone number you want, tap the phone icon (Å) that’s to the right of that number.

Answer a phone call

If somebody calls you, here’s what happens.

If the phone’s been on (and normal) or sleeping, the phone suddenly plays music and shows the phone number. If you see the word “ANSWER”, tap it; if you don’t see that word, accept the call by swiping the green Phone icon (Å). Put the phone next to your cheek. Chat. Then tap the End Call button (the red circle, which shows Å). The call ends.

If the phone’s been totally off (so the screen is entirely black and the phone is using no electricity) or you reject the call (by tapping “DECLINE” or swiping the red Phone icon) or your phone is busy trying to connect to a different phone number, Verizon sends the caller to the voicemail system.

If you’re in the middle of a previous phone call, the phone does this
call-waiting procedure: the phone beeps twice and shows the phone number. Tell the previous person, “Excuse me a moment”. Swipe the green Phone icon and chat with the second person briefly (while the previous person is on hold). The phone shows both callers; you can swap back and forth between the 2 calls by tapping them; you can combine them into a
3-way call (so everybody hears everybody) by tapping “Merge”. To end a call completely, tap the End Call button (the red circle, which shows Å); then finish chatting with the other caller and tap the End Call button again.

Voicemail system

If Verizon sends the caller to the voicemail system, here’s what happens.

If you haven’t set up the voicemail system yet, Verizon’s female robot tells the caller:

“I’m sorry. The person you are trying to reach has a voice mailbox that has not been set up yet. Please try your call again later. Good-bye.”

I’ll explain how to set up the normal voicemail system, but first read this warning:

Verizon will repeatedly offer to set up Visual Voice Mail, which is fancier than normal voicemail (because it lets you read instead of hear voicemails). If you’re a typical person, decline those offers; otherwise, you’ll be charged an extra $2.99 per month, or more! Verizon often neglects to mention that surcharge and will screw you.

Here’s how to set up normal voicemail:

Rest your finger on the keypad’s “1” key awhile. (Resting your finger on a key is called touch & hold.) Then the screen says “Voicemail”. Take your finger off the “1” key. Verizon’s female robot will talk to you. Tap “Keypad” (so you see the numeric keypad again), then follow her instructions: tap the numbers and say the phrases she asks for.

After you’ve set up the voicemail system, Verizon’s female robot tells any unanswered caller your message and lets the caller leave a voicemail message for you.

To hear the voicemails that callers sent you, choose one of these methods:

Rest method Rest your finger in the keypad’s “1” key awhile.

Music method If your phone’s been completely off, here’s what happens when you turn the phone back on and unlock it. The phone plays music briefly. (The music means you have a “notification”.) The screen’s top-left corner shows a picture of a cassette tape (which means you have a voicemail). Put your finger on the tape and swipe down. Tap “Voice Mail Activities Received”.

Then the screen says “Voicemail”. Verizon’s female robot will say “Please enter your password, then press pound”.

Type the passcode you invented (but you do not need to tap the “#” key afterwards). Then follow the rest of her instructions.

Name your callers

Try this experiment.

In your list of recent calls, if one of the calls involves a person you plan to call again, teach the phone that person’s name. Here’s how.

Tap that person’s phone number. Tap “Add contact”.

Tap “First name”. You see a typewriter keyboard. On that keyboard, type the person’s first name.

The typewriter keyboard uses tricks:

The phone automatically capitalizes the first letter of each word or name.

If you make a mistake, tap the Backspace key (which is Õ).

To type an accented letter (such as é), press down on the letter’s key awhile, until you see accents nearby; then drag (slide your finger) to the accent you want.

Tap “Last name”. Type the person’s last name.

When you finish typing, tap “Save” (which near the screen’s top-right corner). Then tap the Home button.

In the future, to call that number, you can use 2 methods. Here’s the contact-list method:

Tap the Phone icon (which is on the Home screen) then “Contacts”.

You see the contacts list, which is an alphabetical list of people (and Verizon services, which begin with “#”). To see the whole list, scroll down (by putting your finger in the screen’s middle and flicking up).

Tap the person you wish to call. Tap “Call”.

Here’s the type-name method:

While looking at the phone keypad (as if you were going to tap a phone number), start typing the person’s name instead. (For example, to type the letter A, tap the key having the letter A; that key also has the letters B and C and the number 2.)

The screen will show a person that matches what you’ve typed so far. If that’s not the person you want, type more of the person’s name.

When the screen finally shows the correct name of the person you want to call, tap that name then the Phone key (which is at the screen’s bottom, above the Home button, and shows Å).

Here’s the voice method:

While looking at the phone keypad (as if you were going to tap a phone number), tap the screen’s bottom-left corner.

Across the screen’s bottom, you should see a blue bar. (If instead the screen says “Complete action”, tap “S Voice” then “OK” then “ALLOW” then NEXT” then “I agree” then “NEXT” then “LATER” then tap the screen’s bottom-left corner again.)

Using your voice, immediately say the word “call” then the name of the person you want to call. (If you’re too late, you see a picture of a microphone; tap the microphone to continue.)

The phone’s female robot voice will say she’ll make the phone call for you (if she understands your voice).

After a 3-second delay, she’ll make the phone call (unless you tap “CANCEL”).

Speakerphone

While you’re chatting on the phone, try this experiment:

Instead of putting the phone next to your cheek, put the phone on your desk then tap “Speaker”, so you see a gray circle.

That makes the volume very loud, so you can hear the other person clearly — and so can any friends sitting next to you. It also makes the microphone very sensitive, so the person you’re calling can hear what your friends say.

Volume button

Find the Volume button. It’s the long button that sticks out of the phone’s right edge.

If you press the Volume button’s top part (the part closest to the phone’s top edge), you increase the volume.

If you press the Volume button’s bottom part (the part farthest from the phone’s top edge), you decrease the volume.

If you press the Volume button when you’re in the middle of a phone call, you affect how you hear the other person’s voice.

If you press the Volume button when you’re not in the middle of a phone call, you affect the volume of the ringtone (the music that alerts you a call is coming in). If you decrease the volume all the way, the ringtone will be mute; if you decrease the volume almost all the way, the phone will vibrate instead of play music.

If you tap the Volume button while the ringtone is playing, the phone assumes you don’t like the ringtone, so the phone mutes the ringtone temporarily (just for this particular call).

For most purposes, I recommend leaving all volumes on the highest setting.

3-way call

Here’s how to phone 2 friends at the same time, so all 3 of you can hear each other and have a group conference:

Phone the first friend. Say “Wait a moment while I set up a 3-way call.” Tap “ADD CALL”. Phone the second friend. When the second friend answers, tap “Merge”. Enjoy your 3-way call! When you finish chatting, tap the End Call button (the red circle, which shows Å).

Speed dial

Here’s how to give a person a special digit, so you can phone that person by pressing just that digit:

Tap “MORE” (which is near the screen’s top-right corner) then “Speed dial”.

Which digit do you want to give that person? Tap a digit from 2 to 9. (Don’t tap 1, which is assigned to voicemail. Don’t tap a number bigger than 9, since big numbers are awkward to use.)

You see the contacts list. Find the person you want to give the digit to. Tap that person.

Then to phone that person, do this: using the Phone app’s keypad, put your finger on that digit awhile, until that person’s name appears at the screen’s top.

Send a text message

To send a text message, start the Messages app by using one of these methods:

Home-screen method While you’re looking at the Home screen, tap the Messages icon. It’s a blue circle at the screen’s bottom, next to the Phone icon.

Apps-screen method While you’re looking at the Apps screen, tap “Messages”.

If the screen says to finish setting up “chat”, do so (by typing your phone number then tapping “Done”).

Make sure the screen’s top says “Messages”. If you don’t see that yet, make it appear by tapping the “ß” at the screen’s top-left corner.

The person who’ll get your message is called the recipient. Say who the recipient is, by using one of these methods:

Type-the-number method Tap “Start chat”. Tap the dots that are to the right of “Type a name, phone number, or email”. You see a numeric keypad. Type the recipient’s phone number. At the end of your typing, press the Enter key (which is greenish blue and has a check mark in it).

Choose-the-person method Tap “Start chat”. Put your finger in the screen’s middle, above the keyboard, and swipe up. You see a list of people (or phone numbers) you previously communicated with (by text messaging or phone calls). To see the whole list, scroll down (by swiping up). If you want one of those people to be the recipient of your new message, tap that person.

Type-the-name method Tap “Start chat”. Start typing the recipient’s name. You’ll see a list of names (from your contact list) that match what you’ve typed so far. When you see the name you want, tap it

Phone-app method Start the Phone app (instead of the Messages app). Tap “Recents” (which shows a list of recent phone calls) or “Contacts” (which shows a list of people you named). Scroll down until you find the person (or phone number) you want to send the message to. Tap that person then “Message”.

Then type the text message you want to send.

For best results, keep the message short (no longer than 160 characters), so your phone will send the message by the
Short Message Service (SMS). If the message is longer, your phone will send the message by concatenated SMS or the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS); those methods are slower and less reliable than SMS.

Send Tap the Send button (which is at the screen’s right edge, to the right of the last word you typed, and looks like a paper airplane pointing to the right).

If all goes well, the screen will show your message in a blue box and show the time it was sent (such as “9:14 PM”).

If you want to send another message to the same person, type it then tap the Send button again.

Receive a text message

If somebody sends you a text message, here’s what happens.

While the phone is turned on (or sleeping), it occasionally asks Verizon Wireless whether anybody has tried to send the phone any messages. If it detects a message, here’s what happens.

The phone suddenly gives you 2 quick whistles and vibrates. The screen’s top edge briefly flashes the sender’s name (or phone number) and the message’s first few words.

Run the Messages app. You see a list of messages that came in. Tap the message that interests you. Then you see more details about messages from that person.

Messages received are at the left, in gray boxes.

Messages you sent are at the right, in blue boxes.

(The boxes have rounded corners, so they almost look like ovals.)

If you want to reply, do this:

Tap “Text message”. Type your reply. Tap the Send button (the paper airplane pointing to the right).

Fancy texting

When sending a text message, you can include the following goodies, but be aware that these goodies will make your message ineligible for SMS and force your phone to use MMS (which is slower and less reliable than SMS).

Many emoji Here’s how to type an emoji (emotional symbol, such as a smiley face).

Tap “J” (which is to the right of your typing). You start seeing some emoji. You typically see 40 at a time.

To see more emoji, put your finger in the middle of the 40 and swipe up.

To see again the emoji you saw before, do the opposite (swipe down).

The emoji are organized into 9 categories:

smileys (& emotions), people, animals (& nature), food (& beverage), travel (& places), activities (& events), objects, symbols, flags

When you see an emoji you like, tap it. That copies the emoji into your text. To put several emoji into your document, tap them.

When you finish typing emoji, tap in the box where your typing appears. Then you see the keyboard again, so you can type words and numbers again.

Suggested word If you start typing a word, the screen will show, below your typing, 3 words you might be trying to type. If you like one of the suggestions, tap it, and the phone will type that word for you.

Dictation

Instead of typing on the keyboard, you can dictate the message by speaking into the microphone. Here’s how.

Tap the microphone icon (picture of a microphone), which is above the keyboard’s “0”.

The microphone icon turns blue-green, and you see “Speak now”. Speak the English words you want the phone to type. You see “Listening”.

Speak clearly, like a newscaster on American TV. (Foreign accents confuse it.)

The phone will analyze your speech and figure out how to type it in English. The phone will type the words soon after you say them.

Don’t make a long pause. If you pause for more than 10 seconds, the microphone icon stops being blue-green.

Punctuation At the end of each sentence, you should probably say “period” (or “question mark”, “exclamation point”, or “exclamation mark”). The phone also understands “comma”, “colon”, “semicolon”, “dash”, and “quotation mark”. Say them immediately after the preceding word, without pause. If you prefer, do this instead: tap the period key, comma key, or Enter key (which are near the screen’s bottom), but then you must tap the blue microphone icon again.

Short paragraphs Keep your paragraphs short. Long paragraphs confuse it.

Finish When you finish talking, tap the microphone icon, so it stops being blue-green.

If the dictation system made a typing mistake, edit it.

Cameras

Near the device’s top edge are some holes. 2 of them are the device’s cameras. They work best when you lift the device off your desk and hold it in front of your face, so the screen faces you, like a mirror.

The front camera (which is also called the front-facing camera and the selfie camera) is a small hole between the screen and the device’s top edge. It can take pictures of you while you face the screen, so it acts like a “mirror with a memory”. Its resolution is 5 megapixels.

The back camera (which is also called the rear-facing camera and the main camera) is a big hole on the device’s backside, near the top edge and the Volume button. Instead of taking pictures of you, it takes pictures of what your eye sees, when the device is off your desk and near your eye. Its resolution is 5 megapixels on the tablet, 13 megapixels on the phone, so the phone’s back camera can take better pictures.

Start

Here’s how to start using the Camera app.

Tablet Choose one of these methods:

Apps-screen method On the Apps screen, tap “Camera”.

Home-screen method On the Home screen, tap the Camera icon (which is yellow and near the top-right corner).

The first time you use the Camera app, it asks questions. Tap “ALLOW”, like this:

For “Allow Camera to take pictures and record video?”

tap “ALLOW”.

For “Allow Camera to access this device’s location?”

tap “ALLOW ONLY WHILE USING THE APP”.

For “Allow Camera to access photos an media on your device?”

tap “ALLOW”.

For “Allow Camera to record audio?”

tap “ALLOW”.

Pick up the tablet and put it in front of your face, as if the tablet were a mirror. For your first experiment, keep the tablet upright, not tilted (so it’s in landscape mode, wider than tall).

Phone Choose one of these methods:

Apps-screen method On the Apps screen, tap “Camera”.

Home-screen method On the Home screen, tap the Camera icon (which is near the bottom-right corner).

Lock-screen method Put your finger on the Lock screen’s bottom-right corner (which shows a picture of a camera) and swipe up.

If the phone asks “Allow Camera to access this device’s location?” tap “ALLOW”. If the phone says “Swipe right,” tap “OK” then the Camera icon.

Pick up the phone and put it in front of your face, as if the phone were a mirror. For your first experiment, keep the phone upright, not tilted (so it’s in portrait mode, taller than wide).

Unblock

If the screen is dark, it’s probably because your hand or desk is blocking the camera’s lens.

Switch cameras

The device assumes you want to use the back camera.

If you want to use the front camera instead, tap the
Switch Camera button, which shows 2 arrows on a picture of a camera.

Tablet That button is near the screen’s top-right corner.

Phone That button is near the screen’s bottom-left corner.

Tap that button again if you want to switch back (to the back camera).

Zoom

You can zoom in by doing this:

Put 2 fingers on the screen then stretch (slide your fingers apart).

Zooming in makes the camera act as a magnifying glass!

To zoom back out, put 2 fingers in the screen’s middle then pinch (slide your fingers together).

Create a photo

To create a simple photo, do this:

Tablet At the screen’s right edge, make sure you see the Photo Shot button (a BIG white circle that looks like a camera lens). If you see the Movie Shot button instead, tape “Picture” (which makes the Photo Shot button appear). When you’re ready to take your shot, tap the Photo Shot button. That tap makes the camera snap the photo. If you want to take another shot, tap the Photo Shot button again.

Phone When you’re ready to take your shot, tap the Capture button (the BIG white circle near the screen’s bottom). That tap makes the camera snap the photo. If you want to take another shot, tap the Capture button again.

View photos

To see the most recent shot you made, do this:

Tablet Tap the small circle at the screen’s right edge.

Phone Tap the BIG square near the screen’s bottom-right corner.

To see earlier shots, put your finger in the screen’s middle and keep flicking toward the left. To return to newer shots, flick to the right.

To enlarge a photo slightly, double-tap it. To enlarge it even more, put 2 fingers where you want to zoom in, then stretch (slide your fingers apart). To return to normal size, put 2 fingers near the photo’s middle then pinch your fingers together.

To delete the shot you’re looking at, do this:

Tablet Tap the trash can (which is at the screen’s bottom-right corner) then “Move to trash”.

Phone Tap the trash can (which is near the screen’s bottom-right corner).

To return to making new photos, tap the Back button (which is at the screen’s bottom and shows a triangle pointing back toward the left).

Create a movie

To create a movie, do this:

Tablet Tap “Video” (which is near the screen’s right edge). That makes you see the Movie Shot button (which looks like a white movie camera). When you’re ready to record your movie, tap the Movie Shot button. That tap makes the camera start recording the movie (with sound), and the white movie camera becomes a white square. To stop recording (end the movie), tap the white square.

Phone Tap the Movie Camera icon (which is near the big white circle’s top right). That makes the Capture button (the big white circle) turn red. When you’re ready to record your movie, tap that big red circle. That tap makes the camera start recording the movie (with sound), and the red circle becomes a red square. To stop recording (end the movie), tap the red square.

View movies

To watch the movie you just made, do this:

Tablet Tap the small circle at the screen’s right edge. You see the movie’s first frame.

Phone Tap the big square (near the screen’s bottom-right corner), which has a triangle in it.

You see the movie’s first frame. In the frame’s middle, you see a white triangle. To watch the whole movie, tap the triangle.

The movie will play. When it finishes, it will automatically repeat, again and again, forever, or until you do this:

Tap the screen’s middle. Then tap the II (which is in the frame’s middle, where the triangle was).

To raise a movie’s volume (so you can hear the movie’s sounds better), press the Volume button (which sticks out of the device’s right side) at the end closest to the device’s top edge.

While you’re watching a movie, you can delete it by doing this:

Tablet Tap near the screen’s middle (but not a triangle) then tap the trash can (which is at the screen’s bottom-right corner) then “Move to trash”.

Phone Tap near the screen’s middle (but not a triangle) then tap the trash can (which is near the screen’s bottom-right corner).

To see earlier movies (and photos), keep flicking to the left. To return to newer movies, flick to the right.

To return to recording new movies or photos, keep flicking to the right until you see the photo-or-video making screen again.

Tablet If you want to make another movie, tap the Movie Shot button again. If you want to make a photo, tap “Picture” then the Photo Shot button.

Phone If you want to make another movie, tap the Movie Camera icon again. If you want to make a photo, tap the Photo icon instead (which is left of the Movie Camera icon).

Return to Home

When you finish playing with cameras and your shots, tap the Home button, so you see the Home screen again.

Photos app

To see a list of all the photos & movies you created, do this:

Tablet Tap “Photos” (which is on the Apps screen) or the Photos icon (which is on the Home screen’s right edge and looks like a 4-color fan). Tap the photo or movie you want to see. When you finish viewing it, swipe to the left (to see older photos & movies) or swipe to the right (to see newer photos & movies) or tap the screen’s middle (to make the Navigation Bar reappear at the screen’s bottom).

Phone Tap “Photos” (which is on the Home screen and Apps screen). Tap the photo or movie you want to see.

Tilt

If you tilt the device, you can create a tilted photo or video.

Tablet For example, you can record a portrait (tall) instead of a landscape (wide). That works even if Auto-rotate is turned off.

Phone For example, you can record a landscape (wide) instead of a portrait (tall). That works even if Auto-rotate is turned off.

While the device is tilted, the icon positions are tilted also, of course. For example, the Home button is at the phone’s side instead of at the bottom.

Screenshot

Here’s how to make & save a photo (take a shot) of whatever’s on the screen at the moment.

Hold down the Power button until you see a menu that includes “Screenshot”. Tap “Screenshot”.

The device will take a photo of your screen’s appearance.

Tablet Doing that makes you hear a musical tone and see a smaller picture of your screen. The tablet will put the photo into your Photos list. To view the Photos list, tap “Photos” (on the Apps screen) or the Photos icon (on the Home screen’s right edge and looks like a 4-color fan).

Phone Doing that makes you hear a click and see a smaller picture of your screen. Tap “Save” (which is in the screen’s top-right corner). The phone will put the photo into your Photos list. To view the Photos list, tap “Photos” (which is on the Home screen and the Apps screen).

Internet

Your device can access the Internet.

Web

To access the Web, run Chrome (the Web browser invented by Google), by using one of these methods:

Apps-screen method On the Apps screen, tap “Chrome”.

Home-screen method On the Home screen, tap the Chrome icon (the multicolored circle near the screen’s bottom).

If the screen says “Welcome to Chrome”, tap “Accept & continue” and then, for the moment, tap “No thanks”.

Go to a Web page Under the word “Google” you see a wide gray box that contains some text (such as “Search or type web address”). Tap that text. A keyboard appears.

Using the keyboard, type the Web address you want to visit. For example, if you want to visit www.yahoo.com, type:

www.yahoo.com

The “www.” is optional. Just on the tablet, you can type the “.com” quickly by tapping the “.com” key.

At the end of your typing, tap the Enter key, which is also called the Go key.

Tablet That key is blue, at the keyboard’s right edge, and shows a right-arrow.

Phone That key is greenish blue, at the keyboard’s bottom-right corner, and shows a right-arrow.

To switch to a different Web page, repeat that procedure: tap in the gray box (which has now moved to the screen’s top and shows what you typed), then type the new Web address you want to visit, such as:

www.cnn.com

If you want to type a number, you can use 2 methods:

Tap method Tap the “?123” button (at the keyboard’s bottom-left corner). You see numbers. Type the number you want. To return to typing letters, tap the “ABC” button (at the keyboard’s bottom-left corner).

Hold method On the keyboard’s top row, you see tiny numbers. Put your finger on the number you want. Keep your finger there awhile (that’s called “press and hold”), until the number appears bigger (and in a blue box). Then remove your finger from the device.

Flick up If a Web page is too tall to fit on the screen, here’s how to see the page’s bottom. Put your finger in the screen’s middle, then slide up (or, to move faster, flick your finger up, as if you were flicking an insect off your screen). To return to the Web page’s top, slide down or flick your finger down.

Magnify To magnify the Web page (so you can read it more easily), you can try this technique:

Zoom in (by putting 2 fingers in the screen’s middle, then spreading them apart). To make the writing return to its normal size, zoom out (by putting 2 fingers in the screen’s middle, then pinching them together).

Just on the phone, you can also try this technique:

Switch to landscape mode. (But in landscape mode, you see just the Web page’s top part, until you swipe to see the rest; so you’ll probably prefer portrait mode.)

Those techniques work on some Web pages but not others. They work usually. For example, they usually work on cnn.com but not yahoo.com.

Back After viewing several Web pages, you can go back to the previous Web page by tapping the Back button (the triangle at the screen’s bottom).

Return to Home When you finish using the Web, tap the Home button (at the screen’s bottom), so you see the Home screen again.

YouTube

To get a version of YouTube, customized for display on the Android screen, do this:

Tablet Tap “You Tube”, which is on the Apps screen’s bottom line.

Phone Tap “YouTube”. (It’s on the Apps screen’s bottom line. To see that line, put your finger in the Apps screen’s middle and swipe up.)

Go to YouTube’s home Stop any video in progress:

If a video in progress consumes the whole screen (because you’re in landscape mode), rotate the screen 90 degrees (with auto-rotate turned on), so the video consumes just the screen’s top part.

Next, if the screen’s top part shows a video in progress, tap the Back button (the triangle near the screen’s bottom-left corner), so the video consumes just the screen’s bottom part.

Next, if the screen’s bottom part shows a video in progress, make it disappear by tapping the video’s X (which is at the screen’s right edge, near the bottom edge).

At the screen’s bottom-left corner, you see “Home” and a house. Make sure they’re red. (If they’re black, make them turn red by tapping there.)

Discover a video Tap the magnifying glass (at the screen’s top).

A keyboard appears. Using the keyboard, type what you want to search for. You can type a light-hearted topic or a heavy topic (such as an advanced math topic). At the end of your typing, tap the Enter key.

Tablet That key is blue, at the keyboard’s right edge, and shows a magnifying glass.

Phone That key is greenish blue, at the keyboard’s bottom-right corner, and shows a magnifying glass.

You start seeing a list of videos that resemble your request. (To see the rest of the list, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe up.) Tap the video you want.

To return to the previous screenful, tap a Back button (the left-pointing triangle at the screen’s bottom or the left-arrow at the screen’s top-left corner).

Play a video When you find a video you like, tap it. Then the video starts playing, usually preceded by an ad. (If you see “Skip ads”, tap that.)

Enjoy the show!

Adjust the volume Find the Volume button. It’s the longest black button sticking out of the phone’s right edge, near the Power button.

While the video plays, increase the volume by pressing the Volume button’s top; decrease the volume by pressing the Volume button’s bottom.

Enlarge the video To make the video look bigger, switch to landscape mode.

Ending If you want to switch back to the previous screen (because the video has ended or you’re tired of watching it), tap the System Bar’s Back button. To return to the Home screen, tap the Home button. (To make those buttons appear, go to portrait mode.)

If the video continues playing afterwards (at the screen’s bottom), stop it by tapping the X (near the screen’s bottom-right corner).

Gmail

To send and receive email messages on your device, use Google’s email system (called Gmail). To use Gmail, tap “Gmail” (which is on the Apps screen).

Phone If the screen says “Google Meet, now in Gmail”, tap “Got it”.

Setup If your device hasn’t been set up properly for email yet, here’s what happens.

The device says “New in Gmail”. Tap “GOT IT”.

Tap “Add an email address”. The device says “Set up email”.

What email address have you been using on your other devices?

If it ends in “@gmail”, do this:

Tap “Google” then “Email”.

Type the email address you’ve been using on your other computers (such as “TrickyLiving”). At the end of typing the address, tap “Next”.

Type your Gmail password. At the end of typing the password, tap “Next”.

Tablet Tap “I agree” then “More” then “Accept” then “TAKE ME TO GMAIL”.

Phone For now, tap “Skip” (which you see on the bottom line after you swipe up). Tap “I agree” then “Accept” then “TAKE ME TO GMAIL”.

If it doesn’t end in “@gmail”, do this:

Tap “Personal” then “NEXT”.

Type the email address you’ve been using on your other computers (such as “SecretGuide@comcast.net”). At the end of typing the address, tap the Enter key (which has a white checkmark in a green circle).

Type the password that you registered with your email provider. (To type a number, tap the “?123” then the number then the “ABC” key.) At the end of typing the password, tap “NEXT”, 3 times.

Tap “TAKE ME TO GMAIL”.

If you want to invent a new “@gmail” account, do this:

Tap “Google” then “NEXT” then “create a new account”.

Type your first name. (The phone will automatically capitalize the first letter.) At the end of typing the first name, tap the Enter key (which has “8 ” in a green circle).

Type your last name. (The first letter is capitalized automatically.) Tap the Enter key (green circle).

Tap the bottom “Phone number”. Type your cellphone number (just the digits, including area code). Tap the Enter key (green circle) then “VERIFY”.

On your cellphone, read the text message from “22000”, which says your Google verification code. On your phone, tap “Enter code” then type your Google verification code then tap the Enter key.

When were you born? Tap “Month” then your birth month (such as “May”). Tap “Day” then type your birthday (such as “24”). Tap “Year” then type your birth year (such as “1947”).

Tap “Gender” then your gender (such as “Male”). Tap “NEXT”.

What email address do you want for yourself? Invent it. The phone has already typed “@gmail”; to the left of “@gmail”, type what you want. (For example, I typed “TrickyLiving”.) Your typing can include small letters, capital letters, and numbers, but not blank spaces. (If you want to type a number, tap the “?123” key then then number then the “ABC” key.) At the end of your typing, tap the Enter key (the green circle). If the phone says “That username is taken”, type a different username instead then tap the Enter key again.

Invent a password (at least 8 characters). Type it then tap the Enter key. Type the password again; at the end of your typing, tap “NEXT” twice then “VERIFY”. On your cellphone, read the text message from “22000”, which says your Google verification code. On your phone, tap “Enter code” then type your Google verification code then tap the Enter key.

Tap the “I AGREE” that’s at the screen’s bottom-right corner then “NEXT” then “NEXT” again.

If the screen says “Try Gmailify”, for now tap “NO THANKS”.

Read Look at the screen’s top-left corner. Make sure it says “PRIMARY”.

Tablet If that corner doesn’t say “PRIMARY” yet, put your finger in the screen’s left half and swipe down, until you see “PRIMARY”.

Phone If that corner has a left arrow instead, tap it or the Navigation Bar’s Back button, then put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe down, until you see “PRIMARY”.

Then you see a list of messages that came in.

Tablet That list is under the word “PRIMARY” and it the screen’s left half.

To read a message, tap the message’s name. Then you see the message’s details.

Tablet The message’s details are near the screen’s right edge.

Phone Above the message’s details, you might also see previous messages with that person. When you finish reading the message, tap the Navigation Bar’s Back button. Then you see the list of messages again.

In the list of messages, each message you’ve read has a headline that’s gray; each message you haven’t read has a headline that’s black & bold.

To double-check whether any new messages came in during the last few minutes, do this:

While you look at the list of messages that came in, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe down.

Write Here’s how to write an email message to a friend.

Tablet Tap the “+” (which is near the screen’s bottom).

Phone Tap “Compose” (which is at the screen’s bottom-right corner). If the screen says “Smart Compose”, tap “Got it”.

A keyboard appears. The screen says “To”. Using the keyboard, type your friend’s email address (or, to experiment, send a message to yourself by typing your own email address). At the end of your typing, tap the Enter key.

Tablet That key is blue, at the keyboard’s right edge, and shows a checkmark.

Phone That key is greenish blue, at the keyboard’s bottom-right corner, and shows a checkmark.

Tap “Subject”. Invent a subject for your message. Type it.

Tap “Compose email”.

Type the message. (If you want to type a symbol instead of a letter, tap the “?123” key then the symbol then the “ABC” key.) At the end of each paragraph, twice tap the Enter key.

Tablet That key is the blue box containing “8 ”.

Phone That key is the greenish-blue containing “8 ”.

When you’ve finished typing the whole message, tap the
Send button (which is near the screen’s top-right corner and looks like a blue paper airplane). The device will send the message to your friend.

Dictate (If you have a tablet, skip to the next topic, “Maps”, because the tablet’s circuitry is too slow to handle dictation well.)

Instead of typing on the keyboard, you can dictate the document by speaking into the microphone. Here’s how.

Look at the screen’s right edge, above the keyboard. You see a picture of a microphone; tap it.

The microphone gets surrounded by a greenish-blue box. If you tap that box, it disappears, so you see just the microphone. If you tap there again, you see the greenish-blue box again.

While you see the greenish-blue box, speak the English words you want the device to type. Speak clearly, like a newscaster on American TV. (Foreign accents confuse it.) Your phone will analyze your speech and figure out how to type it in English. The phone will type the words after you say them (and after a delay).

At the end of each sentence, say “period” or “question mark” or “exclamation mark” or “exclamation point”. The phone also understands “comma”, “colon”, “semicolon”, and “quotation mark”. The phone doesn’t understand “colon” or “semicolon” or “quotation mark” or “quote”.

The actual microphone, which hears you, is a tiny pinhole in the phone’s bottom edge, to the right of where the USB power-cable plugs in.

If you tap the greenish-blue microphone box (or pause awhile), the greenish blue disappears and the computer stops listening to you. To resume, tap the microphone icon so it gets surrounded by a greenish-blue box again, then start speaking again.

If your speech is long, divide it into paragraphs by doing this:

At the end of each paragraph, say a punctuation mark then press the Enter key twice then tap the microphone icon again.

If the voice system made a typing mistake, edit it.

Manipulate While you’re reading an email message you received, you can manipulate it. Here’s how.

If you want to reply to the message, do this:

Tap “Reply” (not “Reply all”). Type your reply. When you’ve finished typing the whole message, tap the Send button (which is near the screen’s top-right corner and looks like a blue paper airplane). The device will send your reply to your friend.

If you want to forward the message to another friend, do this:

Tap “Forward”. Type the friend’s email address.

Tap “Compose email”. Type a comment, such as “Here’s the joke Mary sent me.” Below your typing, you temporarily see “***”.

Tap the Send button (which is near the screen’s top-right corner and looks like a blue paper airplane). The device will send your comment and change the “***” to the actual message you want to forward.

If you want to delete the message, tap the trash can (which is at the screen’s top). That moves the message to the trash folder for 30 days, after which the message will vanish.

Here’s another way to delete a message:

While looking at the list of messages, put your finger on the message’s headline and swipe to the right. The screen’s bottom will say “archived”.

Finish When you finish dealing with Gmail, tap the Home button.

Maps

To see maps, tap “Maps” (which is on the Apps screen).

Zoom in You see a map of part of the world. If you want to zoom in (so you see more details), use one of these methods:

Double-tap method Double-tap where you want to zoom in.

Stretch method Put 2 fingers where you want to zoom in, then stretch (slide your fingers apart).

Zoom out If you want to zoom out (so you see fewer details but see a bigger part of the world), shrink the map by using one of these methods:

2-finger-tap method Tap the screen by using 2 fingers simultaneously (at the same time) instead of just 1 finger.

Pinch method Pinch your fingers (by putting 2 fingers on the screen then sliding the fingers toward each other).

If you do that several times, you’ll see many countries on your screen.

Search To search for a particular place in the world,
tap “Search here”, which should be at the screen’s top-left corner.

Tablet If you don’t see “Search here” yet, make it appear by tapping the magnifying glass that’s near the center of the screen’s top.

Phone If you don’t see “Search here” yet, make it appear by tapping the
left-arrow near the screen’s top-left corner.

Type a location (such as “196 Tiffany Lane, Manchester NH” or “Los Angeles airport” or “White House”). At the end of your typing, tap the keyboard’s Search key.

Tablet That key is blue, has a magnifying glass, and is at the screen’s right edge.

Phone That key is greenish blue, has a magnifying glass, and is at the screen’s bottom-right corner.

Current location To see your current location, tap the Current Location button (which is at the screen’s right edge and shows a black dot in a black circle in a white circle).

Directions Here’s how to get directions about how to drive (or walk) to a destination.

Type the destination’s address into the “Search here” box (and at the end of your typing tap the keyboard’s Search key).

Tablet Then tap “DIRECTIONS” (which is at the screen’s left edge).

Phone Then tap “Directions” (which is at the screen’s bottom-left corner). If the screen says “Welcome to Google Maps Navigation”, tap “GOT IT”.

You see a map. On the map is a blue route, showing how to get to the destination.

Above the map you can see icons for 5 ways to travel: car, bus, walk, Lyft, or bicycle. Next to each icon, you see how long it will take. Tap the icon you wish. (The most popular icon is the car.)

Tablet If you put your finger on “Traffic” and swipe up, you see step-by-step instructions about each turn to make.

Phone If you tap “Steps & more” (which is at the screen’s bottom), you start seeing step-by-step instructions about each turn to make. (Swipe up to see all the instructions.)

If you tap “Start” (at the screen’s bottom), a woman’s voice will start talking to you. She’ll tell you how to start. When you get near the next turn, she’ll warn you and tell you what to do. If you have trouble understanding her voice, don’t worry: her main words & map appear on the screen. The screen’s bottom shows when you’ll probably arrive at your final destination (such as “2:37 PM”). If you want her to shut up and forget about the rest of the trip, tap the X near the screen’s bottom-left corner.

Ending When you finish using Maps, tap the Home button (at the screen’s bottom), to return to the Home screen again.

Alarm clock

Here’s how to make the device imitate an alarm clock, to warn you when it’s time to get out of bed or go to a meeting or end a meeting.

Tap the time (on the Home screen) or “Clock” (on the Apps screen). Then tap the “Alarm” at the screen’s bottom-left corner.

Set the alarm

For what time do you want to set the alarm?

You see a list of suggested alarm times. (If you haven’t used the alarm clock before, the list has two suggestions: “8:30 AM every Monday through Friday” and “9:00 AM every Saturday & Sunday”.)

If you want to use one of those alarm times, tap its slider (white circle). That sets the alarm (and makes the time and its circle both become blue). If you change your mind and want to cancel the alarm, you can use 2 methods. Quick method: tap the blue circle (or slightly left of it but not slightly right of it); that makes the circle & time both become white again. Thorough method: tap that time’s “V” then “Delete”; that erases all mention of that time.

If you want a totally different alarm time instead, tap the “+” (which is at the screen’s bottom). You see a clock (with hours 1 through 12 in a circle); tap the hour you want. Then you see minutes (00 through 55, in a circle); tap the one you want (or drag the blue circle to an in-between number). Then tap “AM” or “PM”, whichever you want. Tap “OK”.

If you want to edit a time on that list, tap it then edit it then tap “OK”.

Then tap the Home button and run any other apps you wish.

Hear the ring

At the time you requested, the alarm will suddenly ring (if the device is turned on or in sleep mode but not totally turned off). The alarm will keep ringing until you turn it off (or 10 minutes have elapsed).

To turn it off, tap “DISMISS” (to turn it off completely) or “SNOOZE” (which postpones the alarm for another 10 minutes). If you see a ringing-alarm icon instead (because the device was sleeping), put your finger on that icon and swipe right (to dismiss) or left (to snooze).

Play Store

To copy programs and data from the Internet to your phone, tap “Play Store” (which is on the Home screen).

Tablet If the tablet says “Introducing Google Play Points”, tap “Not now”.

Phone If the phone asks “Want to stay in the loop?” tap “YES, I’M IN”.

Google Account

If the screen says “Add your account”, you must establish a Google Account. Here’s how.

If you established a Google Account on another device, remind the computer by doing this:

Tap “Enter your email”. Type just the part of your Gmail address that should come left of “@gmail”. (For example, if you Gmail address is “JoanSmith@gmail.com”, type just “JoanSmith”.)

Tap “NEXT”.

Type your Gmail password. Tap “NEXT” then “ACCEPT”.

If you did NOT establish a Google Account on another device, invent a new Google Account by doing this:

Tap “create a new account”.

Type your first name. (The device will automatically capitalize the first letter.)

Tap “Last name”. Type your last name. (The first letter is capitalized automatically.) Tap “NEXT”.

When were you born? Tap “Month” then your birth month (such as “May”). Tap “Day” then type your birthday (such as “24”). Tap “Year” then type your birth year (such as “1947”).

Tap “Gender” then your gender (such as “Male”). Tap “NEXT”.

What email address do you want for yourself? Invent it. The device has already typed “@gmail”; to the left of “@gmail”, type what you want. (For example, I typed “TrickyLiving”.) Your typing can include small letters, capital letters, and numbers, but not blank spaces. At the end of your typing, tap “NEXT”. If the device says “That username is taken”, type a different username instead then tap “NEXT” again.

Invent a password (at least 8 characters). Type it then tap the Enter key (which says “Go”). Type the password again; at the end of your typing, tap “NEXT”.

For now, tap “Skip”.

Tap “MORE” twice for the tablet, thrice for the phone.

Tap “I AGREE” then “NEXT” then “NEXT. Tap “No thanks” for now then “CONTINUE”.

Tap the Home button. Then try again to tap “Play Store”.