The most popular manufacturer of Android devices is Samsung. Most of Samsung’s Android devices are called Samsung Galaxy. They use Android (invented by Google) but modified by Samsung.

This chapter explains how to use the Samsung Galaxy Tab A (a tablet) and A51 (a phone).

Tablet the Tab A is Samsung’s inexpensive tablet. It comes in several versions. This chapter describes the modest version, which Walmart sells for just $219.

Phone The A51 is Samsung’s best inexpensive phone:

This chapter describes its Verizon Wireless version:

 

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

Unpack

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

Tablet The box contains 3 electronic items:

The tablet and USB cable are each enclosed in their own protective sheaths. Remove the sheaths. The box also contains 2 pamphlets:

The box also contains a silver prong to help insert a SIM card.

Phone The box contains 3 electronic items:

Each item is enclosed in its own protective sheath, made of see-through plastic. Remove the sheaths and throw them away. Peel off the clear plastic stuck to the phone’s edges. The box also contains 3 pamphlets:

The box also contains a silver prong to help insert a SIM card.

Position the device

The device’s backside says “SAMSUNG”.

The device’s front side is a black screen. In the screen, you see a circle near the screen’s edge. That circle is the selfie camera.

Lay the device on your desk so the device lies on its backside and its front side is facing up at you. Then position the device so the selfie camera is far from your tummy.

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

Charge the battery

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

Plus the USB cable’s thin end into the device’s bottom edge. Plug the USB cable’s wide end into the charger. Plug the charger into your home’s electrical outlet.

The screen will briefly show a white lightning bolt 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.

To check whether the device is fully charged yet, try this experiment:

Then unplug:

Turn on the device

Sticking out of the device’s right-hand edge, you see two buttons. The long button is the Volume button; the short button is the Power button.

(Samsung sometimes calls the Volume button the “Volume key” and calls the Power button the “Side key”.)

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

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:

Phone:

The screen says the time & date.

Unlock

Near the screen’s bottom edge, you see “Swipe to unlock”. That means the screen is locked and you’re seeing the
Lock screen. The next step is to unlock the screen. Here’s how. Put your finger on the screen’s middle and swipe (slide) your finger toward the screen’s top edge. (If you don’t do that within 10 seconds on the tablet, 4 seconds on the phone, 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), here’s what you see:

That row of 3 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 Navigation 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 12 icons:

Phone You typically see these 8 icons:

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 tablet’s first line typically becomes this:

The phone’s first line typically becomes this:

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

While looking at the Home screen, put your finger on the screen’s middle and swipe up. Then you see the Apps screen.

Tablet The Apps screen typically shows these 16 apps:

Phone The Apps screen typically shows these 20 apps:

They’re in alphabetical order, except for the top line (which shows the 4 main companies). 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 20 apps:

The top 2 lines are in alphabetical order. So are the bottom 3 lines.

If you swipe to the left again, you see Apps screen 3, which typically shows these 5 apps:

When you finish admiring Apps screen 2 or 3, return to the main Apps screen by doing this: put your finger on the screen’s middle and swipe to the right once or twice.

Return to Home If you want to return to the Home screen, tap the Home button (the circle on the Navigation Bar). Then tap that Home button again (to make sure you see the main Home screen, not Home screen 2).

Blackout

If you don’t touch the device awhile for 4 seconds while viewing the phone’s Lock screen (or 10 seconds while viewing the tablet’s Lock screen or 30 seconds while viewing the device’s other screens), 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 methods just put the phone into sleep mode, which means the phone 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 after 30 seconds. Here’s how to pick a longer time than “30 seconds”:

Tap how long you want instead of “30 seconds”. For example, tap “5 minutes” (which is the time I prefer).

That change affects most screens but not the Lock screen. The Lock screen still blackens after just 10 seconds on the tablet, 4 seconds on the phone.

Update

Software improves often. Make sure your device has the newest updated software available. Here’s how.

Tablet Go to the Apps screen. Tap “Settings” then “Software update” (which you see after you swipe up) then “Download and install”.

If the screen says “Your software is up to date”, you don’t need to do anything. If instead you see “System Update Available”, do this:

Phone Go to Apps screen 2. Tap “Settings” then “System updates” (which you see after you swipe up) then “Check for system updates”.

If the screen says “You’re all set!”, you don’t need to do anything. If instead you see “No update is necessary at this time”, tap “OK”. If instead you see “System Update Available”, do this:

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).

Basic keys The calculator includes 21 basic 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. It erases your last tap.

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

If you then tap the =, the phone hides your typing, so you see just the answer.

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.

Landscape mode

While using the calculator, try switching to landscape mode, by doing this:

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 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, where’s the Home button (the tiny circle on the screen)?

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).

 

Advanced calculation

While using the calculator, the screen’s left edge can show these 15 advanced keys:

On the tablet, those advanced keys appear automatically. On the phone, they appear just if you switch to landscape mode (by rotating the phone 90 degrees).

If you then tap “D” you see these 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 parentheses) 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 x^y 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 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 appears just if you tap “D”.) That makes the screen type “4!” and show the answer: 24.

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

On the phone, when you finish playing with the advanced keys (in landscape mode), return to portrait mode (by lifting the phone’s top edge then rotating the phone clockwise, 90 degrees).

Calendar

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

To make sure the calendar is normal, do this:

You see a calendar of the current month. Today’s date is a white number in a green box.

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 The Back button is at the screen’s bottom-right corner (on the tablet or in the phone’s portrait mode). It shows an arrowhead pointing back toward the left (“<”).

Tapping the Back button makes the phone 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 Recent Apps button is at the screen’s bottom-left corner (on the tablet or in the phone’s portrait mode). It shows 3 sticks (“III”).

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 apps (and use less electricity), do this:

 

Samsung’s built-in word processor is called Samsung Notes. Using it is a good way to practice typing, so try it!

To use it, tap “Samsung Notes”. (It’s on the tablet’s App screen. It’s on the phone’s Apps 2 screen.)

If the screen asks —

Tap “Allow”. If the screen asks “Got notes”, tap the “x” for now.

Create a note

Start a new note by doing this: tap the “+” (which is at the screen’s bottom-right corner).

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

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 device 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 black and blue letters. One of the suggestions will be “business”. Tap that suggestion. Then the phone 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:

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:

Alternate keyboards

To type a symbol, tap the !#1 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.

Here’s a faster but weirder way to type the “1/2” symbols:

If you switch to landscape mode (by lifting the device’s top edge then rotating 90 degrees counterclockwise), the keys become wider (so they’re easier to type on) but you see fewer lines of text.

Fonts

Here’s how to type in boldface (like this):

Here’s how to type in italics (like this):

Here’s how to type underlined (like this):

Emoji

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

Tablet Switch to landscape mode (by lifting the device’s top edge then rotating 90 degrees counterclockwise), so the keys become wider. Above the keyboard’s “1”, if you see a smiley surrounded by curved arrows, tap it.

Tap “J”, which is above the keyboard’s “2”. You start seeing some emoji. You see 39 at a time.

The emoji are organized into 8 categories:

To see more emoji in the same category, put your finger in the middle of the 39 and swipe up. To see emoji in the next category, put your finger in the middle of the 39 and swipe left. To see again the emoji you saw before, do the opposite (swipe down or right).

 

Phone If you see “<” above the keyboard’s left edge, tap it.

Tap “J”, which is above the keyboard’s left edge. You start seeing some emoji. You see 40 at a time.

The emoji are organized into 8 categories:

To see more emoji in the same category, put your finger in the middle of the 40 and swipe up. To see emoji in the next category, put your finger in the middle of the 40 and swipe left. To see again the emoji you saw before, do the opposite (swipe down or right).

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

When you finish typing emoji, tap the keyboard icon at the screen’s bottom-left corner. Then you see a normal keyboard again, so you can type words and numbers again.

Hide the keyboard

If you want to hide the keyboard (so your screen shows more of what you typed), tap the Down button (which is at the screen’s bottom and shows “v”).

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

Dictation

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

Tablet Above the keyboard’s left edge, if you see a smiley with arrows circling around it, tap it. Tap the microphone icon (picture of a microphone), which is above the keyboard’s “9”.

Phone If you see “<” above the keyboard’s left edge, tap it. Tap the microphone icon (picture of a microphone), which is above the keyboard’s “7”. (If the phone gives you a choice between “Allow” and “Deny”, tap “Allow” twice then the microphone icon again then “Agree”.)

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:

Scroll

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

Final steps

If you wish to give the note a title, tap “Title” (which is above your note) then type the title you want.

When you finish typing the note (and optional title), tap “Save” (which is at the screen’s top-right corner) then “<” (which is at the screen’s top-left corner and also bottom-right corner).

Then you see a list of all the notes you’ve created. (The newest is at the top.) That list gives you 3 popular choices:

Return to Home

When you finish writing and reading your notes, tap the Home button (the circle at the screen’s bottom), so you see the Home screen again.

(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.

Hint: if you’re transferring a phone number from an old Verizon phone to a new Verizon phone, just move the Verizon SIM card from the old phone to the new phone!

Smart Switch

To copy all info from your old phone to the new phone (including a list of your friends’ phone numbers, plus more), do this procedure:

Make a phone call

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 “Keypad”, which is 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.

(If the phone touches 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 calls, tap “Recents” (which is near the screen’s bottom). You see the 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, use one of these methods:

When you finish looking at the recent-call list, make the screen return to normal by tapping “Keypad” (which is at the screen’s bottom-left 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 that phone number then the Phone key (Å).

Answer a phone call

Same as pure Android, except for capitalization (Samsung says “Answer” instead of “ANSWER”, “Decline” instead of “DECLINE”), so see page 157.

Voicemail system

Same as pure Android, so see pages 157-158.

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 then the “Information” icon (an “i” in a gray circle) then “Add” then “Create new contact” then “Create contact”. If you see “Phone”, tap that then “Set as default”.

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

Here’s the type-name method:

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

Same as pure Android, so see page 158.

3-way call

Same as pure Android, except for capitalization (Samsung says “Add call” instead of “ADD CALL”), so see page 158.

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 a person, do this: using the Phone app’s keypad, press your finger on that person’s 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:

Make sure the screen’s top says “Messages”. If you don’t see that yet, make it appear by tapping the “<” 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:

How to type the message Tap the rounded gray box (which is above the keyboard and to the right of “+”).

Then that box says “Enter 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 show your message in a green 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.

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

If you want to reply, do this:

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 the smiling black box (which is to the right of your typing) then “J” (which is at the screen’s left edge).

You start seeing some emoji. You see 40 at a time.

The emoji are organized into 8 categories:

To see more emoji in the same category, put your finger in the middle of the 40 and swipe up. To see emoji in the next category, put your finger in the middle of the 40 and swipe left. To see again the emoji you saw before, do the opposite (swipe down or right).

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 the keyboard icon at the screen’s bottom-left corner. Then you see a normal 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.

Word emoji If you type a word such as “girl” or “love”, the screen will show, below your typing, the word’s emoji. If you tap that emoji, your message will include the emoji (instead of the typed word).

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

Near the device’s top edge are some holes. 5 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.

Start

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

If the device asks “Turn on Location tags?”, tap “Turn on”. If the device asks “Allow Camera to access this device’s location?” tap “Allow”.

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

To toggle (switch back and forth) between using the front camera and the back camera, tap the Switch Cameras button. (It’s on the screen and shows 2 arrows chasing each other around a circle. It’s at the tablet’s right edge. It’s near the phone’s bottom-right corner.)

Zoom

While using the back camera, you can zoom in by doing this:

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

When you’re ready to take your shot, tap the Capture button.

That tap makes the camera snap the photo. If you want to take another shot, tap that button again.

 

View photos

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

If the device asks “Allow location information to be shown?” tap “Allow”.

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, tap the trash can (which is near the screen’s bottom-right corner) then “Move to Trash”. (While doing that, if the device asks “Turn on Trash?” say yes.)

To return to making new photos, tap the Back button (the “<” at the screen’s bottom-right corner).

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.

Create a movie

To create a movie, do this:

That puts a red dot in the Capture button (the big white circle).

Tap the Capture button. 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 movies

To watch the movie you just made, do this:

You’ll start seeing the movie without hearing the sound. To see the movie from its beginning, with sound, tap “Play video”. If the device asks “Allow Video Player to access photos, media, and files on your device?”, tap “Allow”.

The movie will play repeatedly, until you tap the Back button (the “<” at the screen’s bottom-right corner).

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 phone’s top edge.

Return to Home

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

Gallery

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

Tap the photo or movie you want to see.

Tilt

If you tilt the device, you can create a tilted photo or movie. For example, you can record a landscape (wide) instead of a portrait (tall).

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.

Quickly tap the Power and the bottom part of the Volume button simultaneously. (If the device asks “Allow Samsung capture to access photos, media, and files on your device?” tap “Allow”.)

The device will take a photo of your screen’s appearance. The device will put the photo into your Gallery. (To see a list of all the photos & movies you created, tap “Gallery”, which is on the Apps screen.)

 

Your device can access the Internet.

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 At the screen’s top, above the word “Google”, you see a wide gray box that contains some text (such as “google.com/?gws_rd=ssl”). Tap that text. Then the words in the box say:

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

(The “www.” is optional. To type the “.com” quickly, just tap the “.com” key.)

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

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

Flick up Same as pure Android, so see page 161.

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. 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 “<” at the screen’s bottom-right corner).

Return to Home When you finish using the Web, tap the Home button (the circle 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, tap “Google” (which is on the Home screen) then “YouTube”.

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

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 You see a list of 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 (the “<” at the screen’s bottom-right 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 Same as pure Android, so see page 162.

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 Back button (the “<” at the screen’s bottom-right corner). 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 doing this:

Gmail

To send and receive email messages on your device, use Google’s email system (called Gmail).

To use Gmail, tap “Google” (which is on the Home screen and Apps screen) then “Gmail”.

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:

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

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

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

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 “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. (It’s 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 (the blue box 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 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 blue box. If you tap that box, it disappears, so you see just the microphone. If you tap there again, you see the blue box again.

While you see the 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 device will analyze your speech and figure out how to type it in English. The device 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 device also understands “comma”, “colon”, “semicolon”, and “quotation mark”. The device 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 blue microphone box (or pause awhile), the blue disappears and the computer stops listening to you. To resume, tap the microphone icon so it gets surrounded by a blue box again, then start speaking again.

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

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

Manipulate Same as pure Android, so see page 163.

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

Maps

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

Zoom in Same as pure Android, so see page 164.

Zoom out Same as pure Android, so see page 164.

Search To search for a particular place in the world,
tap “Search here”, which should be at the screen’s top-left corner. (If you don’t see “Search here” yet, make it appear by tapping the X near the screen’s top-right 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.

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). 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.)

If you tap “Steps & more” (which is at the screen’s bottom), you’ll 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-left corner), 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 at 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.

 

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 bottom-left corner). Then do this:

Adjust that time by swiping its parts up or down, until it becomes the alarm time you want. Tap “Save” (which is at the screen’s bottom-right corner).

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

At the time you requested, the alarm will suddenly play music (if the device is turned on or in sleep mode but not totally turned off). Then you have 3 choices:

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

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

Google Account

Same as pure Android, so see page 165.

Categories

Use landscape mode.

The screen should show 4 choices:

If you don’t see those choices yet, make them appear by tapping the Back button once or twice.

Tap your favorite choice.

Games If you tap “Games”, the screen’s top shows 8 choices:

(On the phone, you see the last choice fully just if you put your finger in the middle of that menu and swipe left.)

For example, if you tap “Categories”, you can see these 17 categories:

(To see the last few, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe up.)

Apps If you tap “Apps”, the screen’s top shows 6 choices:

For example, if you tap “Categories”, you can see these 36 categories on the tablet, 38 categories on the phone:

(To see the last few, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe up.)

Movies & TV If you tap “Movies & TV”, the screen’s top shows 7 choices:

For example, if you tap “Genres”, you can see these 21 genres:

(To see the last few, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe up.)

Books If you tap “Books”, the screen’s top shows 8 choices:

(To see the last few, put your finger in the middle of that menu and swipe left.)

For example, if you tap “Genres”, you see this lower menu:

If you then tap “Ebooks” on that lower menu (and swipe up), you see 27 choices:

If you tap “Audiobooks” instead on that lower menu (and swipe up), you see 17 choices:

If you tap “Comics” instead on that lower menu (and swipe up), you see 9 choices:

Discover

Same as pure Android, so see page 166.

 

Here’s how to customize your phone easily, so it fits your personal needs. (If you share the phone 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 8 circles, whose names are:

If you put your finger in the middle of that row and swipe down, you see these 15 circles instead:

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

These circles are the most interesting:

 

If you put your finger in the middle of that group of 15 circles and swipe left, you temporarily see these 2 circles instead:

To return to seeing the normal 15 circles, swipe right.

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

If you put your finger in the middle of that row and swipe down, you see these 16 circles instead:

Each circle is gray or blue. If the circle is gray, the feature is OFF; if the circle is blue, the feature is ON.

These circles are the most interesting:

If you put your finger in the middle of that group of 16 circles and swipe left, you temporarily see these 11 circles instead:

Normally, 5 of those are turned on (NFC, Always On Display, Sync, Edge lighting, and Bixby Routines), but you probably won’t use those features, so you can turn them off (to save electricity). These are the most interesting:

To return to seeing the normal 16 circles, swipe right.

Brightness Below all the circles, you see a slider with a blue circle. If you drag that blue 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.

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:

Bypass the Lock screen

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

Tap “Settings”. (It’s on the tablet’s Apps screen. It’s on the phone’s Apps screen 2).

Make sure the screen’s top says “Settings”. (If the top has “<” instead, tap the “<”.)

Tap “Lock screen”. (On the tablet, you see that immediately. On the phone, you see that when you swipe up.)

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 phone, you can phone me at
603-666-6644 (day or night, I’m usually in).

Tablet Here’s how to see Samsung’s free 116-page manual about that tablet (Galaxy Tab A 10.1-inch). Go to:

Click “MANUALS AND DOWNLOADS”. Then click the “DOWNLOAD” to the right of “User Manual Version P 9.0 WAC”.

Phone Here’s how to see Samsung’s free 169-page manual about that phone (Galaxy A51 for Verizon Wireless). Go to:

Click “View your User Guide (PDF)”, which is under “Samsung info” and visible when you scroll down.