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.

 

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

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:

Manufacturers

The most fascinating manufacturers of Android tablets & phones are:

This chapter

Asus manufactures a tablet called the Nexus 7. It includes a 7-inch screen (measured diagonally) and a version of Android that meets Google’s exact specifications, so its version of Android is pure, simple, unadulterated.

This chapter explains two versions of the Nexus 7.

Later chapters explain Android devices made by Samsung and E-Fun.

Here’s how to use Android on the Nexus 2012 and Nexus 2013.…

The tablet comes in a cardboard box. Open the box and put the contents on your desk (or table).

The box contains 3 electronic devices. The Nexus 2013 devices are:

The Nexus 2012 devices are:

Each device is enclosed in its own protective sheath, made of clear plastic. Remove the sheaths and throw them away. The box also contains instructions.

Position the tablet

The tablet’s backside says “nexus” and “ASUS”. The tablet’s front side is a black screen, surrounded by a black border.

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 actually a camera. (The backside of the Nexus 1013 includes a camera also.) Position the tablet so the front side’s camera (circle) is far from your tummy.

The tablet’s top edge is the edge that’s near the circle. The opposite edge is called the bottom edge.

Charge the battery

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

Plug the USB cable’s small end into the tablet’s bottom edge. Plug the cable’s other end into the power adapter. Plug the power adapter into your home’s electrical outlet.

If the tablet hasn’t been used before, wait 4 hours to make sure the battery gets fully charged before first using the tablet.

Then unplug the tablet (because it works better while unplugged).

Try this experiment:

Turn on the tablet

Sticking out of the tablet’s right-hand edge, you see two long buttons. The button closest to the top edge is the Power button.

Press the Power button until you see something light up. Then release the Power button.

If this is the first time the tablet is being used, it does this setup procedure:

If the tablet was set up before, it does this procedure instead:

When the tablet is turned on and acting normally (unlocked), here’s what you see:

That row of 3 buttons is called the System Bar.

See the Home screen

Press the Home button (which is at the screen’s bottom, in the System Bar, and is a pentagon looking like a house).

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

Nexus 2013 You typically see these icons:

Nexus 2012 You typically see these icons:

See the Apps screen

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

Tap the Apps icon. (It’s at the screen’s bottom, just above the Home button. It shows a circle containing 6 tiny squares.)

Then tap “APPS” at the screen’s top-left corner.

That makes the computer show you the Apps screen, which shows apps in alphabetical order.

Nexus 2013 shows these apps:

Nexus 2012 shows these apps:

Later, if you acquire more apps than can fit on the screen, you can switch between pages by doing this: put your finger on the screen’s middle and swipe to the left (to see the next page) or right (to see the previous page).

If you want to return to the Home screen, press the Home button (the house icon on the System Bar).

Blackout

If you don’t touch the Nexus 2013 for 30 seconds (or the Nexus 2012 for 2 minutes), the screen will go black, to save electricity and prevent your enemies from peeking at what you were doing.

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

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

The hold method is the only one that turns the tablet off completely, so it uses no electricity. The other methods just put the tablet into sleep mode, which means the tablet 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 tablet automatically blackens after 2 minutes. Here’s how to pick a longer time than “2 minutes”:

Updates

Android and its devices often improve. Make sure you have the newest updated software available for your tablet. Here’s how:

The rest of this chapter assumes your software’s been updated.

 

Calendar

To use the tablet’s built-in calendar, tap “Calendar” (which is on the Apps screen). If the computer says “Make it Google”, tap “Not now”.

To make sure the calendar is normal, do this:

Tap “TODAY”. You see a calendar of the current month. Today’s date is in boldface, with a white background.

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

Tricks

The tablet can do tricks.

Back Locate the Back button. It’s usually at the screen’s bottom-left corner and shows an arrow bending toward the left.

Tapping the Back button makes the tablet 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 normal Home screen.

Recent Apps The System Bar’s third button (which is to the right of the Home button) is the Recent Apps button (which shows overlapping boxes).

If you press that button, the screen’s left edge shows a list of apps you ran recently. To run one of those apps again, tap its tile (miniature picture of itself).

Landscape mode The tablet can do a trick called rotate.

When you buy the tablet, you must prepare it to rotate by doing this setup procedure:

If your tablet is prepared to rotate, try this experiment. While using the Calendar app, lift the tablet’s top edge off the desk, until the tablet is vertical instead of horizontal. Then rotate the tablet counterclockwise, 90 degrees, so the tablet looks wider and not as tall. Then the tiny circle (which is the camera) is at the left instead of the top.

When you do that, all writing on the screen rotates 90 degrees clockwise to compensate, so you can still read what’s on the screen without turning your head.

When 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). In landscape mode, the keyboard’s keys are wider, so you can type on them more easily (but less space remains on the screen to show what you’ve typed).

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

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

The calculator includes 29 keys. In portrait mode, they’re arranged like this:

(In landscape mode, you see the same keys, but rearranged.)

To compute 42+5, tap the calculator’s 4 key, then tap 2, then +, then 5, then =. The screen will show the answer, 47.

To backspace (erase your last tap), tap Õ.

CLR key

When a calculation finishes, the Õ key temporarily turns into a CLR key. Pressing the CLR key erases the answer immediately, so you can start fresh on the next calculation. You must press the CLR key if the next calculation begins with a minus sign.

Advanced math

Here’s how to compute 2³ (which means “2 times 2 times 2”). Tap 2 then the ^ key then 3 then =. The screen will show the answer, 8.

To compute “3 times 10⁵” (which can be written “3e5”), tap 3 then e then 5 then =. The screen will show the answer, 300000.

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 then =. The screen will show the answer, 24.

When doing advanced math, be careful:

Return to Home

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

Here’s how to make the tablet 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.

On the Apps screen, tap “Clock”.

You see the current time, in a big font. You also see the current date.

Tap the Set-alarm button (which is at the screen’s bottom-left corner and looks like a ringing alarm clock).

For what time do you want to set the alarm?

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

At the time you requested, the alarm will suddenly ring (if the tablet 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, put your finger on the Set-alarm button (which looks like a ringing alarm clock) then swipe it towards either the open eye (which tells the computer you opened your eye so please turn off the alarm) or the _ZZ^Z (which tells the computer you want to sleep longer and snooze so please postpone the alarm for another 10 minutes).

 

This section explains how to use the Nexus 2013’s Camera app. (The Nexus 2012 lacks a Camera app. If you have a Nexus 2012, skip to the next topic, “Web”.)

Near the Nexus 2013’s top edge are some holes. Two of them are the device’s cameras. They work best when you lift the tablet off your desk and hold it in front of your face, so the screen faces you, like a mirror.

Starting

Tap the Camera app’s icon (which is at the Home screen’s bottom-right corner). Then go to landscape mode properly (by lifting the tablet’s top edge off the desk then rotating the device counterclockwise, 90 degrees).

Pick up the tablet and put it in front of your face, as if the device were a mirror.

At the screen’s right edge, you see a big dot (circle), which is blue or red.

To switch between using the front camera and the back camera, do this:

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

To zoom in, put two fingers on the screen then stretch (slide your fingers apart).

Below the big dot, near the screen’s bottom-right corner, you see the mode button.

Simple photo

Here’s how to create a simple photo.

Make sure the mode button looks like a photo camera. If the mode button looks otherwise, do this:

When you’re ready to take your shot, tap the big dot, which is blue. That tap makes the camera snap the photo.

If you want to take another shot, tap the blue dot again.

View To see the most recent shot you made, put your finger in the screen’s middle and flick toward the left.

To see earlier shots, 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 more, put two fingers where you want to zoom in, then stretch (slide your fingers apart). To return to normal size, double-tap the screen’s middle again.

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

To see a slide show of your photos, do this:

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

Movie

Here’s how to create a movie.

Make the mode button look like a movie camera. If the mode button looks otherwise, do this:

When you’re ready to record your movie, tap the big dot, which is red. That tap makes the camera start recording the movie (with sound), and the red dot contains a white square. To stop recording (end the movie), tap the red dot again.

View To watch the movie you just made, put your finger in the screen’s middle and flick to the left. 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 once or twice.

To raise a movie’s volume (so you can hear the movie’s sounds better), press the Volume button (which is next to the Power button) at the end closest to the Power button.

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, keep flicking to the right until you see the movie-making screen again.

Panorama

Here’s how to create a panorama (many landscape shots stitched together, to imitate an even wider shot).

Make the mode button look like a wide landscape (with a crushed middle). If the mode button looks otherwise, do this:

The tablet automatically switches to the back camera. When you’re ready to create your panorama, point your camera at the leftmost (or rightmost) part of the scene, then tap the big dot, which is blue.

That tap makes the camera start recording, as if you were making a movie. The screen says “Capturing panorama”, and the blue dot contains a white square.

Rotate your camera very slowly, to make it pan across the whole scene you want to photograph. (If the screen says “too fast”, go slower. The farthest you’re allowed to rotate is 135°.)

When you’ve rotated enough to capture the whole scene, tap the blue dot again.

The screen says “Rendering panorama”. When that message disappears, the panorama photo is completely made.

View To see the panorama photo you made, put your finger in the screen’s middle and flick to the left. Flick back to the right to create more panoramas.

System Bar shrunk

The System Bar is a row of 3 buttons at the screen’s bottom:

Usually those buttons have cute icons on them; but while you’re using the Camera app, those buttons often shrink, so each button becomes just a white dot, and the System Bar becomes just 3 white dots.

In the System Bar, the middle button (the Home button) either looks like a house or is the middle dot. Tap it whenever you tire of the Camera app and want to return to the Home screen.

 

Your tablet can access the Web.

Go to the Web

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

If the screen says “Sign in”, tap “No thanks”.

Go to a Web page

Near the screen’s top, you should see a star. (If you don’t see the star yet, make it appear by doing this: put your finger in the screen’s middle and flick your finger down toward the screen’s bottom.)

Left of the star, you see some text. (For example, you might see “Search or type URL” or “www”.) 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:

To type the “.com” part, tap the “.com” key (which is near the keyboard’s bottom-right corner).

At the end of your typing, tap the keyboard’s “Go” button.

To switch to a different Web page, repeat that procedure: make sure you see a star, tap the Web address that’s left of the star, then type the new Web address you want to visit, such as:

While typing, here’s how to type a number:

Magnify

To magnify the Web page (so you can read it more easily), you can try these techniques:

Those techniques work on some Web pages but not others. They work usually.

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.

Back

After viewing several Web pages, you can go back to the previous Web page by pressing a Back button.

Forward

After going back to the previous Web page, here’s how to go forward (undo the “back”): tap the Forward button (the right-arrow near the screen’s top-left corner).

Bookmarks

If you find a Web page you like a lot, do this while you’re viewing it: tap the star then “Save”. That makes the star turn gray.

In the future, whenever you’re using the Internet and want to return to that Web page, tap the Menu button (which is at the screen’s right edge and looks like a column of 3 squares) then tap “Bookmarks”. You see a list of Web pages you bookmarked. (To see instead a list of Web pages you visited most often, tap “MOST VISITED”, which is at the screen’s bottom.)

Tap the Web page you want.

To delete a bad Web page from a list (of bookmarks or pages visited), get the list on the screen then hold your finger down on the bad Web page’s icon awhile, until you see a menu.

Return to Home

When you finish using the Internet, 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:

If the screen says “Make it Google”, tap “Not now”.

Choose a video If the screen says “Discover and add more channels”, tap “OK”.

Near the screen’s top-left corner, you see “YouTube” (or its icon, which is a white triangle on a red background). Tap that repeatedly, until you see this list of categories at the screen’s left edge:

(To see all those categories, flick your finger up.) Tap your favorite category.

You start seeing a list of videos. To see more choices, flick your finger up.

Which of those videos would you like to watch?

Tap the video you want — or get a more specialized list of videos by doing this:

The video will start to play. Enjoy the show!

Volume Find the Volume button. It’s the longest black button sticking out of the tablet’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.

Alter the play While the video plays, try these experiments:

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 or tap the video’s middle.)

 

To send or receive e-mail messages on your tablet, you can tap “Email” (which is on the Apps screen).

Setup

If your tablet hasn’t been set up properly for e-mail yet, here’s what happens.

The tablet says “Account setup”. You see a keyboard.

Type the email address that you’ve been using on your other computers and that your e-mail provider assigned you (such as “SecretGuide@comcast.net”). At the end of typing the address, tap the Next key (which is at the keyboard’s right edge).

Type the password that you registered with your e-mail provider. At the end of typing the password, tap “Next”..

If you did that correctly, the computer will say “Account options”.

How often do you want the tablet to automatically check for new e-mail messages? The tablet assumes you want it to check “Every 15 minutes”. If you want different timing, do this:

Tap “Next” twice.

Read

Here’s how to read any emails that were sent to you.

Near the screen’s top-left corner, you see “Inbox”. Tap “Inbox” (to make sure you’re seeing what’s in the Inbox). Then the screen’s right column shows a list of messages that came in.

To read a message, do this:

To double-check whether any new messages came in during the last few minutes, tap the circling arrows (at the screen’s top) or “Load more messages”. You’ll see the list of messages that are currently on your e-mail provider’s computer. (But any messages that recently vanished from that computer will vanish from your tablet.)

Write

To write an e-mail message to a friend, do this: tap the envelope-with-a-plus (which is near the screen’s top-right corner).

A keyboard appears. The computer says “To:”. Using the keyboard, type your friend’s e-mail address (or, to experiment, send a message to yourself by typing your own e-mail address).

Tap “Subject:” (which is at the screen’s left edge). Invent a subject for your message. Type it, then tap “Compose email”.

Type the message. (To do that, tap the alphabetic & numeric keys, or dictate the message by using the microphone button. If you tap the microphone button, then do this: say your message, tap the microphone button again, then tap the keyboard button, which is left of the microphone button.)

At the end of each paragraph, twice tap the Enter key (which shows “¿”).

When you’ve finished typing the whole message, tap “SEND” (which is at the screen’s top). The computer will send the message to your friend.

Manipulate

While you’re reading an e-mail message you received, you can manipulate it. Here’s how.

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

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

If you want to delete the message from your device, tap the trash can (near the screen’s top). That moves the message to the trash folder. But the message is still in your e-mail provider’s computer, so your other computers can still access it. If there was another e-mail message below it, this happens:

While you’re looking at the list of messages in your Inbox, here’s how to delete all those messages:

That moves all the Inbox messages to the trash folder.

Later, when you want to empty the trash folder, do this:

Finish

When you finish dealing with e-mail, tap the Home button.

 

To send or receive e-mail messages on your tablet, you can use Google’s e-mail system (called Gmail) instead of traditional e-mail systems.

To use Gmail, do this:

Try it!

Google setup

If your tablet says “Add a Google Account”, you haven’t told your tablet your Gmail address yet. Here’s how to invent a Gmail address for yourself, so you’ll have a Google account (which is free):

Read

Make sure the screen’s top-left corner says “M All mail”. If it doesn’t say that yet, make it appear by doing this:

You see a list of messages that came in.

To read a message, do this:

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

Write

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

Tap the envelope-with-a-plus-sign (which is at the screen’s top).

A keyboard appears. The computer says “To”. Using the keyboard, type your friend’s e-mail address (or, to experiment, send a message to yourself by typing your own e-mail address).

Tap “Subject” (which is at the screen’s left edge and might show just “Su”). Invent a subject for your message. Type it.

Tap “Compose email”.

Type the message. (To do that, tap the alphabetic & numeric keys, or dictate the message by using the microphone button). At the end of each paragraph, twice tap the Enter key (which shows “¿”).

When you’ve finished typing the whole message, tap “SEND” (at the screen’s top). The computer will send the message to your friend.

Manipulate

While you’re reading an e-mail message you received, you can manipulate it. Here’s how.

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

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

If you want to delete the message, do this:

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:

Finish

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

To read books provided by Google, do this:

Next, make sure the screen’s top-left corner shows these 4 words:

If you don’t see those 4 words yet, make them appear by doing this:

Open a book

You see all the books in your tablet’s library, in alphabetical order. That library includes these 3 free books —

plus any other books that you acquired.

Tap the book you want to read. (I recommend you start with “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” because it’s the easiest.)

Turn the pages

If you’ve read the book before, you see the page where you left off. If you haven’t read the book before, you see its first main page (which is mainly a chapter title).

Do tricks

While you’re reading the book, try tapping the screen’s middle (or top or bottom). Across the page’s top, you see a gray bar. Then you can perform the following tricks.

Page To skip to a different page, drag the circle (near the screen’s bottom) until you see the page number you want.

Chapter To skip to a different chapter, tap the “≡” at the screen’s bottom-left corner. You see a list of chapters. Tap the chapter you want.

Voice To make the tablet’s voice read the book to you out loud, tap the Menu button (column of 3 squares near the screen’s top-right corner). Then tap “Read aloud”.

The tablet will try to read the book aloud, using its robot voice, which makes occasional mistakes but is fun to listen to. To adjust the volume, press the Volume button (the long black button sticking out of the tablet’s right edge, near the Power button).

When you finish using the voice, stop it by doing this:

To switch to a higher quality voice (which requires communication with Google’s computer), try this:

Finish tricks When you finish experimenting with those tricks, tap the screen’s middle again, to return to normal reading.

Stop

To stop reading that book, tap the screen’s middle then the System Bar’s Back button.

Again you see a list of books you can read. Tap one of those other books — or tap again the book you were reading (to continue on the page where you left off) — or tap the Home button (to return to the Home screen) — or get more books to read by doing the following procedure.…

How to get more books

While you see —

tap “My Library” then “Shop”.

(If the Nexus 2012 says “Android Market is upgrading to Google play”, tap “Continue” then “Accept”.)

See choices Near the screen’s top, you can see these choices:

(To see all those choices, put your finger in the screen’s middle and flick to the left, so you’re scrolling to the right.)

Scroll down to see more books.

Tap the book that interests you. You see the book’s description, reviews, and price (which might be “free”).

Acquire Here’s how you’re supposed to finally get the book (but the process is unreliable, so expect interruptions and exceptions).

Then you can start reading the book.

The book should also appear in your tablet’s book library. If it doesn’t appear there yet, tap the book library’s Menu button (the column of 3 squares at the top-right corner) then “Refresh”; if it still doesn’t appear there yet, tap the book library’s Menu button and “Refresh” again.

To copy programs and data from the Internet to your computer, do this:

The screen’s top-left corner should say “Google Play”. (If that corner doesn’t say “Google Play” yet, make “Google Play” appear by tapping the “<” there several times.)

You see 6 choices:

Tap any of those 6 choices. Here’s what happens.

Books

If you choose “BOOKS” from the Play Store menu, you start seeing these choices near the screen’s top:

What happens next? I explained that in the section called “How to get more books”.

Music

If you choose “MUSIC” from the Play Store menu, you start seeing these choices near the screen’s top:

(To see all those choices, put your finger in the screen’s middle and flick to the left, so you’re scrolling to the right.)

Scroll down to see more music.

Tap the music that interests you. If it’s an album, you see a numbered list of the songs (tracks, compositions) on that album.

To hear part of a song, free, tap the song’s name. Then listen. (If you hate the song and want to interrupt it, tap the song’s name again or a different song’s number or the System Bar’s Back button.)

To buy a whole album, tap the album’s price (which is typically $5.99). To buy just one song, tap the song’s price (which is typically $1.29 or “FREE” and to the right of the song’s name), unless you’re blocked by a message saying “Album only”, which means you can’t buy just that song.

To confirm your purchase, tap “BUY” then answer any questions about your password or how you’ll pay. Then the song is copied from the Internet to your tablet. The price switches to “LISTEN”.

If you tap “LISTEN”, you’ll hear the whole song. If you want to interrupt it, tap the Pause button (║).

The song will also be copied to your tablet’s music library, part of which appears on your Home screen.

To see everything in your music library, do this:

If the screen’s top-left corner doesn’t say “My Library” yet, do this:

Then tap the song you want to hear.

Movies & TV

If you choose “MOVIES & TV” from the Play Store menu, you start seeing these choices near the screen’s top:

(To see all those choices, put your finger in the screen’s middle and flick to the left, so you’re scrolling to the right.)

Scroll down to see more movies.

Tap the movie that interests you. If you see “„”, tap it to see the YouTube version of the movie’s trailer (ad with scenes from the movie).

To get the whole movie, tap “FREE” (if you see that choice) or “RENT” (if you see that choice) or “BUY” (if you see that choice). Prices are usually:

Confirm your purchase (by again tapping “RENT” or “BUY”) and answer any questions about how you’ll pay.

Then tap “PLAY” then “OK”. Your tablet will automatically go to landscape mode, and you’ll see the whole movie.

While watching the movie, use these techniques:

If you want to see the movie again (before the rental period expires), do this:

Tap the “º” at the screen’s top-left corner, then tap “My Movies” or “My TV Shows”, then tap the movie or TV show you want to see again.

Games

If you choose “GAMES” from the Play Store menu, you start seeing these choices near the screen’s top:

(To see all those choices, put your finger in the screen’s middle and flick to the left, so you’re scrolling to the right.)

 

Scroll down to see more games.

Tap the game that interests you.

Tap “OPEN”. You start playing the game, which automatically switches your tablet to portrait or landscape mode (whichever the game prefers).

The game inserts its own icon on the Apps screen, so the Apps screen is still alphabetized. The game also puts its own icon on the Home screen’s main page (if that page has room for the icon).

Apps

If you choose “APPS” from the Play Store menu, you start seeing these choices near the screen’s top:

(To see all those choices, put your finger in the screen’s middle and flick to the left, so you’re scrolling to the right.)

Scroll down to see more apps.

The rest of the procedure is the same as for “Games”.

Update your apps

When programmers invent updates to the apps you had, here’s what happens.

At the screen’s top-left corner, you see a tiny shopping bag. Put your finger on it, then swipe down.

If you see “update” or “updates”, do this:

If you see “updated”, do this:

 

Here’s how to customize your tablet easily, so it fits your personal needs. (If you share the tablet with your friends, get their permission before you customize.)

Mute

If you want to mute the volume (so the tablet is silent), do this:

To return to normal volume, hold down the Power button again until you see “Sound is OFF”. Tap that. That switches the sound back on.

Screen rotation

Try this experiment. Put your finger on the time (at the screen’s top-right corner) and swipe down. You see the
Quick Settings panel, which has 8 icons.

One of the icons is labeled “AUTO ROTATE” or “ROTATION LOCKED”.

If you want to change “AUTO ROTATE” to “ROTATION LOCKED” (or back to “AUTO ROTATE”), tap it.

When you finish playing with the Quick Settings panel, make it disappear by pressing the Back button.

5 Home pages

The Home screen has 5 pages. To see the Home screen’s main page, press the Home button.

The main page usually says “MY LIBRARY”. If you put your finger in that page’s middle and swipe to the left, you see the next page, which usually says “RECOMMENDED FOR YOU”. If you swipe to the left again, you see the next page, which is usually blank. If you swipe to the right several times, you see the other 2 pages, which are usually blank.

Onto a page that’s “rather blank” (blank or nearly blank), you can copy your favorite app, so you can access that app more easily. Here’s how:

Uninstall

To erase an app completely from your tablet (so the app no longer clutters your tablet’s screen, memory, and attention), do this:

Bypass the Lock screen

Here’s how to change the tablet, so when you turn it on you can use it immediately, without have to see the Lock screen first.

Tap “Settings”.

Tap “Security” then “Screen lock” then “None”.

If you change your mind and want to have a Lock screen again, repeat that procedure but instead of “None” choose “Slide”.

 

For free help using your tablet, you can phone me at
603-666-6644 (day or night, I’m usually in).

To see Asus’s free 77-page manual about the Nexus 2013, go to:

To see Asus’s free 100-page manual about the Nexus 2012, go to: