The most popular manufacturer of Android devices is Samsung. This chapter explains how to use Android on these popular Samsung devices:

Those devices use Android, modified to include Samsung’s extra commands, which Samsung calls TouchWiz.

Here are more details about those devices:

The tablet doesn’t make phone calls and doesn’t need a phone contract; but to access the Internet, it needs to be near a hotspot (Internet Wi-Fi router, which you probably have already, if you’re using a laptop in your home or office).

 

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

Electronic devices

The box contains electronic devices.

Tablet The box contains 3 electronic devices:

Phone The box contains 5 electronic devices for you to handle:

The box also contains 2 extra devices (a battery and a SIM card), which the salesperson will probably put into the phone for you (by popping off the phone’s back cover).

Extra goodies

Each device is enclosed in its own protective sheath, made of see-through plastic. Remove the sheaths and throw them away.

The box also contains these 3 instruction pamphlets:

The phone’s box also contains a silver prong to help insert the SIM card.

Position the device

Here’s how to position the tablet or phone.

Tablet The tablet’s backside is white (or very dark gray, depending on which color you bought). The tablet’s front side is a black screen, surrounded by a white (or very dark gray) 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 “SAMSUNG”. Position the tablet so “SAMSUNG” is far from your tummy.

The tablet’s top edge is the edge that’s near “SAMSUNG”. The opposite edge is called the bottom edge.

Phone The phone’s backside is gold (or very dark gray, depending on which color you bought). The phone’s front side is a black screen, surrounded by a gold (or very dark gray) 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 “SAMSUNG”. Position the phone so “SAMSUNG” is far from your tummy.

The phone’s top edge is the edge that’s near “SAMSUNG”. The opposite edge is called the bottom edge.

Charge the battery

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

Tablet Plug the USB cable’s thin end into the tablet’s top edge. Plug the USB cable’s wide end into the charger. Plug the charger into your home’s electrical outlet.

If the tablet hasn’t been used before, wait 3 hours to make sure the battery gets fully charged before first using the tablet.

Then unplug the tablet (because it works better while unplugged). If the battery is fully charged, the tablet’s screen will say “100%”. (If it doesn’t say “100%” yet, plug the tablet back in, wait for it to recharge, and try again.)

Phone Plus the USB cable’s thin end into the phone’s bottom edge. Plug the USB cable’s other end into the charger. Plug the charger into your home’s electrical outlet.

Near the phone’s top edge, a red light will glow. Wait until the light turns green. (That can take up to 1½ hours.)

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

Turn on the device

The device has a Power button.

Finish booting up the device

Here’s what happens next.

Tablet 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:

If the screen says “INSTALL NOW”, tap that, which makes the tablet get free improvements (copied from Samsung’s Website).

Phone If the phone had been turned off completely, the screen says “SAMSUNG Galaxy S7” awhile. Eventually, the screen says the time & date and the percentage of battery power remaining.

If the screen doesn’t say “Swipe screen to unlock” yet, make those words appear by pressing the Home button (the wide button near the phone’s bottom edge).

When the screen finally says “Swipe screen to unlock”, the screen is locked and you’re seeing the Lock screen.

If the screen says “Wi-Fi networks available”, tap that.

The next step is to unlock the screen. Here’s how:

If you had tapped “Wi-Fi networks available”, you see a list of your neighborhood’s Wi-Fi networks. To reply, do this:

If this is the first time the phone is being used, it runs the
Setup wizard — but the salesperson probably handled most the setup for you already. To finish the setup, answer any questions on the screen. If you need help doing that setup procedure, phone me at 603-666-6644.

If the phone was set up properly, the screen shows you whatever you saw before the phone turned off, so you can resume your work where you’d left off.

See the System Bar

At the device’s bottom, you can see the System Bar.

Tablet The screen is surrounded by a border (which is white or dark gray, depending on which color you bought). The screen’s top border says “SAMSUNG”. The screen’s bottom border (which is close to your tummy) is the System Bar. The System Bar includes 3 buttons:

Phone The Home button is the wide button near the phone’s bottom edge, close to the USB cable. Press it whenever you want to see the main screen (the Home screen) again.

Next to the Home button are two secret buttons that are usually invisible but sometimes light up (to remind you they’re there).

Those secret buttons work even when they’re not lit up. That row of 3 buttons (the Home button and the two secret buttons) is called the System Bar.

See the Home screen

Your next step is to get to the Home screen.

Press the Home button (the wide button near the device’s bottom edge). That encourages the device to show you the
Home screen, whose top shows the time and battery percentage, and whose bottom typically shows these choices on the tablet —

but these choices on the phone:

Home screen 2 While you’re looking at the Home screen, try this experiment: put your finger on the screen’s middle and swipe to the left. Then you see Home screen 2, which resembles the Home screen but has a different first line. The first line typically becomes this on the tablet —

but this on the phone:

Exception: Samsung recently discontinued “Samsung Milk Music” and “go90”.

When you finish admiring Home screen 2, return to the main Home screen by doing this: press the Home button again.

 

See the Apps screen

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

Tablet Tap “Apps” (which is at the Home screen’s bottom-right corner). Then you see the Apps screen, which typically shows these 19 apps:

(Exception: Samsung recently discontinued “Samsung Milk Music”.) If you want to return to the Home screen, press the Home button (the wide button near the screen’s bottom edge).

Phone Tap the Apps icon (the 9 dots above the word “Apps”). Then you see the Apps screen, which typically shows these 20 apps:

(Exception: Samsung recently discontinued go90.) While you’re looking at the Apps screen, try this experiment: put your finger on the screen’s middle and swipe to the left. Then you see
Apps screen 2, which typically shows these 6 apps:

When you finish admiring Apps screen 2, return to the main Apps screen by doing this: put your finger on the screen’s middle and swipe to the right. If you want to return to the Home screen, press the Home button (the wide button near the screen’s bottom edge).

Blackout

If you don’t touch the device for 30 seconds, 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 device off completely, so it uses no electricity. The other 2 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 (or a phone’s Home button) to reactivate the screen and resume your work where you left off.

You might get angry when the device automatically blackens after 30 seconds. Here’s how to pick a longer time than
“30 seconds”.

Tablet Go to the Home screen (by pressing the Home button). Tap “Apps” then “Settings”.

At the screen’s left edge, you should see the word “Display”. (If you don’t see it yet, make it appear by doing this: put your finger in the screen’s left column, then swipe down.)

Tap “Display” then “Screen timeout”.

You see these choices: 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 “2 minutes” or
“5 minutes”.

Phone Go to the Home screen (by pressing the Home button). Tap the Apps icon.

You should see “Settings”, which is on the Apps screen’s first page. (If you don’t see “Settings” yet, make the Apps screen’s first page appear by putting your finger in the screen’s middle and swiping to the right.)

Tap “Settings”. Then the screen’s top-left corner should say “Settings”. (If that corner shows a left-arrow instead, tap the left-arrow until “Settings” appears.)

You should see “Display and wallpaper”. (If you don’t see that yet, make it appear by doing this: put your finger in the screen’s middle, then try swiping up or down.)

Tap “Display and wallpaper” then “Screen timeout”.

You see these choices: 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute,
2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes. Tap how long you want instead of “30 seconds”. For example, tap “2 minutes” or “5 minutes”.

Updates

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

Tablet On the Apps screen, tap “Settings”.

You start seeing the Settings menu. Put your finger halfway down the screen’s left column and flick up. Then you see menu’s bottom entry, which is “About device”. Tap that.

Tap “Software update” then “Download updates manually”.

Phone On the Apps screen’s first page, tap “Settings”.

Then the screen’s top-left corner should say “Settings”. The screen’s top-left corner should say “Settings”. (If that corner shows a left-arrow instead, tap the left-arrow until “Settings” appears.)

You see part of the Settings menu. Put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe up, until you see the menu’s bottom choice, which is “System updates”. Tap that. Then tap “Check for system updates”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This section explains how a phone makes phone calls. (A plain tablet can’t make phone calls. If you have a tablet, skip to the next topic, “Memo”.)

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

You should see this keypad:

(If you don’t see that keypad yet, make it appear by tapping the Show Keypad button, which is a green circle at 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:

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.

 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-call list

To see a list of recent calls, tap “RECENT” (which is near the screen’s top-left corner). You see the recent-call list, which lists phone numbers of recent calls.

If several similar calls came in a row, you see just the last one. For each call shown, you see the time the call began.

If you want to call one of the list’s numbers again, drag that number towards the screen’s right edge. (To do that, put your finger on the number and then, without pausing, move your finger toward the screen’s right edge.)

When you finish looking at the recent-call list, make the screen return to normal by tapping the Show Keypad button (the green 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-call list) that begins with what you’ve tapped. If that’s the phone number you want, tap that phone number then the Phone key (Å).

Answer a phone call

If somebody calls you, here’s what happens.

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

Here’s how to set up normal voicemail:

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:

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 “CREATE CONTACT”.

You see a typewriter keyboard. On that keyboard, type the person’s name.

The typewriter keyboard uses tricks:

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 3 methods. Here’s the contact-list method:

Here’s the beginner method:

Here’s the voice method:

Favorites

If you tap “FAVORITES” (instead of “CONTACTS”), you see an abridged contacts list, showing just the people you’ve called often. To call someone on that list, tap that person.

Here’s how to force somebody to be at the top of the favorites list, even if you didn’t call that person often:

Speakerphone

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

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 buttons. They stick out of the phone’s left edge.

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:

Speed dial

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

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.

Samsung’s built-in word processor is called Memo. Using it is a good way to practice typing, so try it! To run that app, go to the Apps screen (by tapping the Home button then the Apps icon) then tap “Memo”.

Start a new memo by doing this: tap the “+” (which is at the screen’s bottom-right corner). If the screen says “Attention”, tap “OK”.

You see a keyboard at the screen’s bottom. To type a memo, type on the keyboard, using just 1 or 2 fingers.

Phone At the end of a sentence, instead of tapping the period key then the Space bar, do this shortcut, which is faster:
double-tap the Space bar (by tapping it twice rapidly, without a long pause between taps). That makes the phone type the period and space.

Predictive text

Here’s the fast way to type the word “business”.

Type just the “busi”. The device will try to predict what word you’re trying to type. Above the keyboard, it will show 2 suggestions, in white and blue letters. One of the suggestions will be “business”. Tap that suggestion. Then the device will type the word “business” for you.

Here are extra tricks:

Touch & hold

Try this experiment: when you’re in the middle of typing a word, rest your finger on the “e” key awhile. (Resting your finger on a key is called touch & hold.) Then you see these extra symbols:

(The tablet is missing the “¸”.)

To type one of those symbols, slide your finger from the “e” to the symbol you want.

Similarly, to type the symbol “ñ”, rest your finger on the “n” key awhile then slide to the “ñ”.

These letters offer accents:

In a key’s top-right corner, you might see a tiny symbol.

To type that symbol, touch & hold that key (by resting your finger on the key for at least half a second) then lift your finger.

Alternate keyboards

To type a symbol, tap the Sym key. Then you see a keyboard full of symbols. Type any symbol you want.

You’re seeing the first set of symbols out of 2 sets, so the keyboard says “1/2”. If you tap the “1/2”, it becomes “2/2” and you see the 2^nd set of symbols.

To return to the usual keyboard, which includes the alphabet, tap the ABC key.

Emoji

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

Look at the keyboard’s bottom row, left of the Space bar. If you see a “J” key, tap it; if you see a different shape instead (a gear, microphone, or sheet of paper), touch & hold that key then tap the “J” that appears.

At the screen’s bottom edge, tap one of these symbols:

Then you see lots of emoji related to that symbol.

To see even more emoji, put your finger in the middle of the group of emoji then do this:

When you’ve finished using emoji, return to a normal keyboard by tapping the “ABC” button (which is at the screen’s bottom-left corner).

 

Dictation

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

Look at the keyboard’s bottom row, left of the Space bar. If you see a picture of a microphone, tap it; if you see a different shape instead (a gear, smiling face, or sheet of paper), touch & hold that shape then tap the microphone that appears.

You see a green circle (containing a picture of a microphone). If you tap the green circle, it turns white. If you tap it again, it turns green again.

While the circle is green, speak the English words you want the device to type. Speak clearly, like a newscaster on American TV. (Foreign accents confuse it.) Your device will analyze your speech and figure out how to type it in English. The device will type the words after you say them. (The phone types the words soon after you say them; the tablet is slower and types the words after a longer delay.)

At the end of each sentence, say “period” or “question mark” or “exclamation mark”. The device also understands “comma” and “colon” but just if you say them immediately after the preceding word, without pause.

The device understands “exclamation mark” but not “exclamation point”. The device doesn’t understand “quotation mark”.

The microphone is a tiny pinhole.

If you tap the green circle (or pause awhile on the phone), the circle turns white and the computer stops listening to you. To resume, tap the circle so it turns green again, then start speaking again.

When you finish speaking, do this:

Then you see the keyboard again.

If your speech is long, do this:

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

Selections

To select a word to edit, press your finger on it until it “turns blue” (gets a blue highlight). Then you’ll also see fat blue pointers before and after the word. To make the selection include more words, slide (drag) the fat blue pointers until the blue highlight includes all the words you want to select.

Then say what to do to the selected words. If you want to delete the words, tap the Backspace key. If you want to move the words, do this:

Hide the keyboard

To hide the keyboard, tap the Back button.

To make the keyboard reappear, tap the screen’s middle.

Scroll

If you type more lines than can fit on the screen, the screen will show just part of your memo (document). To see the rest of the memo, put your finger in the screen’s middle and slide down (to drag the memo down, so you can see the memo’s top) or slide up (to drag the memo up, so you can see the memo’s bottom). Sliding the memo is called scrolling.

Done

When you finish typing the memo, tap “SAVE” (which is at the screen’s top-right corner).

Then you see all the memos you’ve created. (The newest is at the top.)

Return to Home

When you finish writing and reading your memos, tap the Home button, so you see the Home screen again.

 

This section explains how a phone handles text messages. (A plain tablet can’t handle text messages. If you have a tablet, skip to the next topic, “Tricks”.)

Send a text message

To send a text message, tap the “Message+” icon (which is at the Home screen’s bottom and is Verizon Wireless’s fancy version of “Messages”).

In the screen’s top-left corner, make sure you see
“º Conversations”. If you don’t see that yet, make it appear by choosing one of these methods:

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

Then tap “Type a message” (or “Type a Group Message”). 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 briefly say “Sending” then “Sent” then “Delivered”.

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 whistles at you. The screen’s top-left corner shows an envelope. The screen’s top edge flashes the message briefly.

(If the phone goes back to sleep, its blue light flashes to warn you a message came in; wake the phone up by tapping the Power button.)

If you’re not in the middle of running the Message+ app, do this:

While the Message+ app is running, the messages you’ve received are at the left and have a red line; messages you’ve sent are at the right and have a blue line.

If you want to reply, do this:

Fancy sending

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 the “J” (which is near the screen’s right edge).

At the screen’s bottom edge, tap one of these symbols:

Then you see lots of emoji related to that symbol.

To see even more emoji, put your finger in the middle of the group of emoji then swipe to the left.

When you’ve finished using emoji, return to a normal keyboard by tapping the white area where your words appear.

Word emoji If a word (such as “girl” or “love”) turns dark, tap it to see its emoji. If you tap one of its emoji, the message will include the emoji instead of the typed word.

Dictation Instead of typing a message, you can transmit your voice. Here’s how.

For the message, make sure you haven’t typed any words or emoji yet, so the typing area still says “Type a message”.

At that area’s right edge, you see a picture of a microphone. Put your finger on it awhile. (If the phone says “Message+ will now request permission”, tap “OK” then “ALLOW” then “ALLOW” again then put your finger on the microphone picture awhile.)

While you keep your finger on the microphone picture, talk (or sing a song). When you lift your finger, your voice will be sent to the recipient, who’ll hear it.

 

Your device can do tricks.

Calendar

Your device has a built-in calendar.

Tablet On the Home screen, tap “Calendar”. You see a calendar. To make sure the calendar is normal, tap “MONTH” then “TODAY”.

You see a calendar of the current month. Today’s date is green.

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

Phone On the Apps screen, you see “Calendar”. Above “Calendar”, you see the 3-letter day (such as “TUE”) and date (such as “27”).

To see a bigger calendar, tap “Calendar”. If the screen says “What’s New in Calendar”, tap “Continue”.

To make sure the calendar is normal, tap the green triangle then “Month” then “TODAY”.

You see a calendar of the current month. Today’s date is green.

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

Back

Locate the Back button.

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 normal Home screen.

Recent Apps

Locate the Recent Apps button.

To see a list of apps you ran recently, tap the Recent Apps button. Then 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 device can do a trick called rotate.

Try this experiment. While using the Calendar app, lift the device’s top edge off the desk, until the device is vertical instead of horizontal. Then rotate the device counterclockwise, 90 degrees, so the device looks wider and not as tall. Then you see “SAMSUNG” 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 device 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 device’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).

Here’s when landscape mode is available:

Calculator

The device has a built-in calculator.

To use the calculator, tap “Calculator” (which is on the Apps screen). Then you see a full-screen calculator (with big keys and consuming most of the screen).

Simple keys The calculator includes 21 simple keys:

                                                                   Õ

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 Õ, which backspaces and erase your last tap.

Below your typing, you immediately see the answer (47).

If you then tap the =, here’s what happens:

After the computer does a calculation, it’s a good habit to tap the C key, to clear (erase) that calculation and start fresh on a new calculation. (But you don’t have to bother pressing the C key if you pressed the = and the new calculation begins with a digit or decimal point.)

To type negative 3, you can tap 3 then the +/- key. (Tapping the +/- key makes the previous number become negative and also makes the calculator type parentheses.)

Order of operations 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.

Advanced keys To the left of those 21 simple keys, you can see 15 advanced keys.

On the tablet you see:

On the phone in landscape mode, you see —

but if you tap “2^nd” you see this 2^nd set of keys instead:

Here’s how to compute 3² (which means “3 times 3”). Tap 3 then the x² key. That makes the screen type “3^2” (and a parenthesis) and also show the answer: 9.

Here’s how to compute 3⁴ (which means “3 times 3 times 3 times 3”). Tap 3 then the phone’s x^y key (or tablet’s y^x key) then 4. That makes the screen type “3^4” (and a parenthesis) and show the answer: 81.

To type “3 times 10⁵” (which is written “3×10⁵”), type “3×10” then tap the x^y or y^x key then 5. That makes the screen type “3×10^5” (and a parenthesis) and show the answer: 300,000.

Here’s how to compute “4!” (which is pronounced “4 factorial” and means
“1 times 2 times 3 times 4”). Tap 4 then the “x!” key (which on the phone appears just if you tap “2^nd”.) That makes the screen type “4!” and show the answer: 24.

Advanced keys assume you’re a beginner, not an advanced mathematician:

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

On the Apps screen, tap “Clock” then “Alarm” (at the screen’s top-left corner).

In big digits, you can see 6:00AM, because the alarm clock guesses you should get up then. (If you don’t see 6:00AM yet, make it appear by putting your finger in the screen’s middle and swiping down.) Adjust that time by swiping its parts up or down, until it becomes the alarm time you want. Tap “SAVE”.

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

At the time you requested, the alarm will suddenly play music (if the tablet or phone is turned on or in sleep mode but not totally turned off). Then you have 2 choices:

Weather

The Home screen normally shows you the weather.

Setup If the Home screen shows “+” in front of a cloud & sun, the weather’s not set up yet, so do this:

Normal operation The Home screen’s main part shows the city, temperature outside, and a symbolic picture of the weather now, such as a cloud. (The tablet also shows today’s highest & lowest temperature.)

The Home screen tells you when that weather report was last updated. After that info, you see a circling arrow. Tap it. You get a new update.

Tap the city. You see info about the next few hours.

To get more details about a particular hour or day, tap it. (If the screen says “Welcome to Chrome”, tap “ACCEPT & CONTINUE” and then, for the moment, tap “NO THANKS”. If the tablet’s bottom-right corner says “ALLOW”, tap it.)

To return to the previous screen, tap the Back button. (On the phone, the Back button is the secret button to the right of the Home button.)

To return to the Home screen, press the Home button.

 

Near the device’s top edge are some holes. Two 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 takes pictures of your face and acts like a “mirror with a memory”. Its quality is low:

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 Power button. Its quality is higher:

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.

Starting

To start the Camera app, choose one of these methods:

If the device says “Location tags will be turned on”, tap “OK”.

Go to landscape mode properly (by lifting the device’s top edge off the desk then rotating the device counterclockwise, 90 degrees). Then you see “SAMSUNG” at the left instead of the top.

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

Simple photo

Here’s how to create a simple photo.

When you’re ready to take your shot, choose one of these methods:

That makes the camera snap the photo. If you want to take another shot, do it again.

View To see the most recent shot you made, choose one of these methods:

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 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, tap the shot then “Delete” then “DELETE”.

To return to making new photos, choose one of these methods:

If you hesitate a long time before taking a shot, the device stops using the camera and returns to the Home screen, to use less electricity.

Movie

Here’s how to create a movie.

When you’re ready to record your movie, choose one of these methods:

That makes the camera start recording the movie (with sound), and the red dot becomes a black square. To stop recording (end the movie), tap the black square.

View To watch the movie you just made, choose one of these methods:

You see the movie’s first frame. In the frame’s middle, you see a triangle in a white circle. To watch the whole movie, tap the triangle. If the screen says “Open with”, tap “Video” then “ALWAYS” then “OK”.

The movie will play. To raise a movie’s volume (so you can hear the movie’s sounds better), do this:

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, choose one of these methods:

Fancy features

Immediately before you take a photo or record a movie, the screen shows these words (or their icons) on the tablet —

but these on the phone:

I already explained the top 4 icons on the right:

These others are the most interesting:

Return to Home

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

 

Your tablet can access the Web.

Go to the Web

To access the Web, run Chrome (the Web browser invented by Google), by doing this:

If the screen says “Welcome to Chrome”, tap “ACCEPT & CONTINUE” and then, for the moment, tap “NO THANKS”.

Go to a Web page

Look at the screen’s top-left corner, you see a symbol for a house. (If you don’t see that house symbol 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.)

To the right of that symbol, 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:

Here’s how to type that:

At the end of your typing, tap the Go key (which says “Go” on it).

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

 

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”):

Bookmarks

If you find a Web page you like a lot, do this while you’re viewing it:

That makes the star turn blue.

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, near the top, and looks like a vertical column of 3 dots) then tap “Bookmarks”. (If the screen says “Sync your bookmarks”, for now tap “NO, THANKS”.) You see a list of Web pages you bookmarked. Tap the Web page you want.

To delete a bad Web page from the list of bookmarks, get the list on the screen then hold your finger down on the bad Web page’s name awhile, until you see a blue bar. Tap the trash can (which is at the blue bar’s right edge.)

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.

To send or receive e-mail messages on your device, you can do this: on the Home screen, tap “Email”.

Setup

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

Tablet The tablet says “Register email accounts”. 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 the Done key (which is at the keyboard’s right edge) then the screen top-right corner (which says “Next”).

Phone The phone says “Set up account”. Tap “ADD OTHER ACCOUNT”. 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 bottom-right corner).

Type the password that you registered with your email provider. At the end of typing the password, tap “SIGN IN”.

Read

Make sure the screen’s top-left corner says “Inbox”.

Then you see the list of emails that were sent to you. To see them best, do this:

You see copies of every message that’s on your e-mail provider’s computer for you. Seeing those copies does not erase them from your e-mail provider’s computer: your e-mail provider’s computer still contains the originals, so your device and all your other computers can still access them. Your device shows just those copies; any e-mails that vanished from your e-mail provider’s computer have vanished from your device, even if your device showed them to you recently.

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 white pencil in an orange circle (which is at the screen’s bottom-right corner).

A keyboard appears. The computer 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).

Tap “Subject”. Invent a subject for your message. Type it. At the end of your typing, tap the “Next” key.

Type the message. (While typing, you can use the same tricks as for the Memo app. For example, you can use predictive text, accents, the Sym key, emoji, and dictation.) 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, tap “Reply” (which is at the screen’s bottom-left corner) then type your reply.

When you finish typing, tap “SEND” (which is at the screen’s top).

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

Type the friend’s e-mail address then do this:

Tap “SEND” (which is at the screen’s top).

If you want to delete the message from your device, tap “Delete”.

Then tap “DELETE”. 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. You see the Inbox again.

While you’re looking at the list of messages in your Inbox, here’s how to delete many messages, tap “MORE” (which is at the screen’s top-right corner) then “Edit”. Left of each message, you see a box. For each message you want to delete, tap its box. (If you want to delete all the Inbox messages, tap the All box, which is at the screen’s top-left corner.). Tap “DELETE” then the other “DELETE”. That moves the 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 copy programs and data from the Internet to your computer, tap “Play Store” (which is on the Home screen).

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:

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

Choices

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 any left-arrow there (or the System Bar’s Back button) repeatedly.

Use landscape mode.

You can see 2 choices. Tablet:

Phone:

(If you don’t see those 2 choices yet, try making them appear by doing this: put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe down.)

Tap either of those 2 choices. If you tap “APPS & GAMES”, you see 6 choices:

If you tap “ENTERTAINMENT” or “MOVIES, MUSIC, BOOKS”, you see 4 choices:

Go explore! To see more choices, swipe up. If you see an interesting choice, swipe to the left to see similar choices. If you see an interesting category, tap its name to see more choices in that category.

For example, if you tap “APPS & GAMES” then “CATEGORIES”, you can see these 36 subcategories:

(To see them all, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe up.) Similarly, if you tap “MOVIES & TV” then “GENRES”, you can see these 20 genres:

If you tap “MUSIC” then “GENRES”, you can see these 22 genres:

If you tap “BOOKS” then “GENRES”, you can see these 27 genres:

If you tap “NEWSSTAND” then “CATEGORIES”, you see these 10 categories:

When you find a particular item you like, notice its price. (Some items are free.) Then tap it.

Explore it. (If you change your mind, press the System Bar’s Back button.)

What happens next depends on which of the 5 categories you’re in: apps (including games), movies (including TV), music, books, or newsstand.

Apps (including games)

Try to download the app that interests you (copy it from the Internet), by doing this:

Google will check whether you have a valid credit card (even if the book is free). If the screen says “needs access”, tap “ACCEPT”.

The app will be copied to your tablet. Use landscape mode. Tap “OPEN”. Then you’re running the app!

When you tire of the app, press the Home button.

A copy of the app’s icon is on the Home screen.

To use the app again, tap its icon.

Books

After you’ve tapped “BOOKS”, you can see these choices:

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

If you tap one of those choices, you see a list of books — except that if you tap “GENRES”, you see the list of 27 book genres instead, and you can tap your favorite genre.

If you want to find a particular kind of book instead, tap the magnifying glass (at the screen’s top-right corner) then type what interests you (such as a particular title or author or subject) then tap the Enter key (which is at the screen’s bottom-right corner and contains a magnifying glass).

To see more books, scroll down (by swiping up) or scroll to the right (by swiping left).

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

Here’s how to finally get the book:

Google will check whether you have a valid credit card (even if the book is free).

Finally, to read the book, go to portrait mode then tap “READ”.

If the screen says “you need the latest Play Books app”, do this:

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). That makes the page shrink. Then you can perform these tricks:

Stop To stop reading the book, press the Home button. You see the Home screen.

Return To return to reading the book, do this:

Movies (including TV)

Find a likeable movie (or TV show) in the Play Store and tap it.

Trailer If you see a white triangle (in a black circle in the screen’s upper half), that’s the movie’s trailer (free ad). Go watch it, by tapping the triangle. (The trailer will automatically switch to landscape mode.)

If you tap a movie in the Play Store, you typically see this menu:

A few movies cost more or less than that. To find movies and TV shows that are free, do this:

Exact price If you tap “RENT FROM $2.99”, you see this menu:

If you tap “BUY FROM $9.99”, you see this menu instead:

If you tap a TV show instead, you typically can buy 1 episode for $1.99 or a whole season (a year of episodes) for $14.99.

Finalize your decision Choose one of these actions:

Confirm your purchase and answer any questions about how you’ll pay.

Your screen will automatically go to landscape mode, and you’ll see the whole movie.

While watching the movie (or TV show), use these techniques:

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

Music

Before dealing with music, try apps, books, and movies, which are simpler to buy (or get free) and manage.

In the Play Store, tap the music you want to acquire. No song is free, though some radio stations are. You’ll be asked to buy whole albums and monthly subscriptions.

To hear again the music you bought, run the “Play Music” app, by choosing one of these methods:

Newsstand

Before installing any newspapers or magazines, you must install the “Google Play Newsstand” app (which is the first item in the “NEWSSTAND” category), by tapping it (then tap “INSTALL” then, on the tablet “ACCEPT”). That makes “Play Newsstand” app appear on the tablet’s Apps screen, the phone’s Apps 2 screen. A copy also appears on the Home screen.

Then to use newspapers & magazines easily, do this:
tap “Play Newsstand”. Then tap “Library” (which is at the screen’s bottom).

If the screen says “Welcome to your Library”, tap “GOT IT”.

The library includes these 6 topics:

It also includes these 3 publications:

(The phone lists those 9 items in that order. The tablet lists them in reverse order but is missing CNN.)

To add more publications to your library, tap “Add more”.

 

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

Go to YouTube’s home

Stop any videos in progress:

At the screen’s top-left corner, you should see “Home” and a white house. (If you see a black house instead, tap it to make it white and make “Home” appear.)

Near the screen’s top-left corner, make sure you see YouTube’s Home button (a house). If you don’t see it yet, put your finger on the screen’s middle and swipe down.

Tap that house. (That makes sure the house is white, not black, and the screen’s top-left corner says “Home”.)

Discover a video

Here’s how to discover a video.

Tablet At the screen’s left edge, you see this topic:

At the phone’s left edge, you see a video.

To see more choices, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe up, so you see topics below. The topics you see depend on what you previously chose.

Below each topic, you see 3 videos about that topic. To see more videos about that topic, tap the topic’s name (such as “Trending”), then put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe up.

Phone You see 2 videos. To see more choices put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe up, so you see videos below. The videos you see depend on what you previously chose.

 

Specialized choices

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:

To return to the previous screenful, tap the Back button (which is next to the Home button — and on the phone is a secret button).

Play a video

When you find a video you like, tap it. Then the video starts playing (usually preceded by an ad). Enjoy the show!

To adjust the volume, press a volume button (which sticks out of the device’s edge.)

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), press the Back button (which is next to the Home button). To return to the Home screen, press the Home button.

 

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

Quick Settings

Put your finger at the screen’s top edge and swipe down. You see the Quick Settings panel.

Tablet You see a row of 6 circles, whose names are:

If you put your finger in the middle of that row and swipe left, you see these 5 extra circles:

Each circle contains an icon, which is yellow or gray. To switch the icon’s color, tap it. If the icon is yellow, the feature is ON; if the icon is gray, the feature is OFF.

These icons are the most interesting:

Below those circles, you see a slider with a yellow circle. If you drag the yellow circle toward the right, the screen gets brighter; if you drag toward the left, the screen gets dimmer. Normal is somewhere in the middle. Normal is to have the “Outdoors” box unchecked.

Phone You see a row of 5 white circles, whose names are:

If you put your finger in the middle of that row and swipe left, you see these 5 extra white circles:

Each white circle contains an icon, which is blue or gray. To switch the icon’s color, tap it. If the icon is blue, the feature is ON; if the icon is gray, the feature is OFF.

These icons are the most interesting:

Below those circles, at the screen’s right edge, you see an Auto box. Normally that box is checked, which means the screen will automatically adjust its brightness to match the room’s. If you prefer, remove the checkmark (by tapping it) then slide the blue circle toward the right (to make the screen brighter) or left (to make the screen dimmer).

At the screen’s top-right corner, you see “v”. If you tap it, you see these extra white circles:

These are the most interesting:

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

Close all apps

When you tap an app, the tablet starts running that app. Pressing the Home button does not make the tablet stop running the app; it just makes the tablet hide the app.

To make the tablet act better, stop (“close”) all the apps you’re not using at the moment. Here’s how:

Copy to the Home screen

You can copy your favorite app to the Home screen, so you can access that app more easily. Here’s how:

If you change your mind, do this:

Uninstall

The device’s fundamental apps can’t be erased. Here’s how to erase a non-fundamental app completely, so it no longer clutters your device’s screen, memory, and attention:

Afterwards, lift your finger from the screen. Tap “OK”.

Bypass the Lock screen

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

Tap “Settings” (which is on the Apps screen).

Make sure the screen’s top-left corner says “Settings”. (If that corner has a left-arrow instead, tap the left-arrow.)

Then do this:

Tap “Screen lock type” then “None”.

If you change your mind and want to have a Lock screen again, repeat that procedure but instead of “None” choose “Swipe”. (“Swipe” is marked “Swipe: No security” because it’s less secure than “Pattern”, “PIN”, or “Password” but easier.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Tablet To see the 85-page manual about the tablet I described (Samsung’s model SM-T210RZWYXAR), go to:

Scroll down until you see “Manuals & Downloads”. Click the “View all” that’s to the right of “Manuals”. Click the “Manuals” that’s under “View all”.

You see “User Manual ver. Lollipop 5.1”. Click the first “DOWNLOAD (PDF)” under that. (Don’t click the “DOWNLOAD (PDF)” that’s under “User Manual ver. Marshmallow 6.0”, because that describes a weird tablet sold just by Barnes & Noble’s Nook.)

Click “CONTINUE”.

Phone To get free help from Verizon Wireless about the phone, choose one of these methods: