How to Use an Android Phone

Smartphones have become a swiss army knife of features that have surpassed the versatility of other kinds of phones. As a result, smartphones have increased in complexity which requires more time to understand how to get the most out of your device. Aside from making phone calls and sending text messages, you can take advantage of expandable features your phone is capable of.

Part 1

Part 1 of 4:

Configuring Your New Phone

Inspect your device to locate the physical features of your phone. You will need to locate the buttons for power and sound volume as well as slots for power and audio cables. Also note the location of the Action Bar that assists with navigation on your phone. This will consist of a Home button with a house icon, a Back button indicated by an arrow and a Recent Apps button that lets you scroll through recently opened applications. This may not appear until the device is turned on based on the manufacturer. You will need to plug a charger into the phone before turning it on as it will not have enough power out of the box.
This is required to connect your phone to your service provider. The SIM card slot may vary depending on your phone manufacturer. Some phones place the SIM card slot behind the battery, under a flap or elsewhere on the phone. Be sure to consult your user’s manual to indicate where to insert the SIM card.
3
Add an SD card. An SD card is removable storage that can expand the total amount of space. This is entirely optional, however it may be necessary for storing more apps and other multimedia on the phone than what it is initially capable of storing. An SD card slot may appear under the battery cover and may support an SD card, mini SD card or micro SD card which depicts it’s physical size. Check with the user’s manual of your phone to see what your phone supports.
- It is possible that your phone may not support an SD card and may not have any solutions for expanding storage.
Press and hold the power button for a few seconds to turn the phone on. You will see a boot up sequence that will take a few seconds to start your phone. After the boot up sequence, you will go through a first time setup. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the setup process.
This will change the default language that appears on your phone and may change the language options for certain apps. This can be changed later in your phone’s settings.
6
Choose a Wifi network. If you have a data plan, you will already be able to connect online. However if you want to use a stronger network connection or if you want to avoid using your data plan, you can connect to a local Wi-fi service. Slide your finger up and down to choose between wi-fi spots that are available, then tap on a device to connect to it.
- If the Wi-fi connection shows that it is secured, you will need to enter a passcode to connect to it. Tap on the text field to bring up a keyboard and enter the passcode to connect to it.
The Android platform is created by Google and ties together their services such as the Google Play store, Gmail, YouTube and more with a free Google account. Follow the on-screen prompts to create a Google account or log in to an existing account. Your account will then be linked to your phone.
8
Set the date and time. You can choose to have it connect online to set the time or you can set the time manually.
- If you are configuring the time manually, choose the date, timezone and time display format for your phone.
9
Use the settings app to correct or configure your phone. The settings app allows you to adjust almost all aspects of your phone including app settings, notifications, sounds, languages and more. When you arrive on the home screen, tap the icon that looks like a grid to bring up the app drawer, where your apps will be listed. Slide your finger left or right to scroll through apps that are installed on your phone. Locate and tap on the “Settings” app to open it.
- You can tap on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Mobile Data to change settings, create a new connection, or toggle the connection on and off. Wi-fi connections take precedence over your Mobile Data if the Wi-fi connection is available.
- You can personalize your ringtone under Sound>Phone ringtone. You can also adjust the volume of your ringer and multimedia sliders separately under Sound>Volumes.
10
Secure your phone. You may opt to activate a lock screen on your phone. This will be useful in case your phone gets lost or stolen as this will prevent others from accessing your phone. Tap the “Settings” app icon then navigate to “Security” and choose to lock your screen through one of several methods such as a password, PIN or drawing a pattern by sliding your finger against a grid in a set pattern. Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the process.
- Be sure to remember how to bypass your lock screen as you may risk locking yourself out of your phone. You may have to perform a factory reset on your phone which means you will lose all data stored on the phone.
- Once the process is completed, you will be prompted to enter your preferred security code to unlock the phone if it is put to sleep. Press the power button on your phone to put it in sleep mode which will also lock the phone. Press the power button when in sleep mode to wake up the phone. Follow an on screen prompt to unlock the phone. You will then be prompted for the passcode to log in to your phone.
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Part 2

Part 2 of 4:

Contacting Other People from Your Phone

1
Make a call to another person. Tap on the “Phone” application to make a phone call based on your phone plan. The phone application can be located on the favorites bar, which is located at the bottom of the home screen or in the app drawer. Once the app is opened, you should see a number keypad. If you do not see it, tap on “Keypad” to bring it up. Type in a phone number to contact then tap “Call” to place your call. You will see additional functions while a call is taking place.
- Your phone will dim the screen and deactivate the touch screen when you bring the device up to your ear. Position the phone upright when you want to access phone functions during a call.
- Tap the microphone icon to mute your microphone so that the recipient cannot hear you. Tap it again to restore the microphone.
- Tap the speaker icon to emit the call sound between the loudspeaker to the ear speaker. If you want to change the volume of the call, tap on the volume buttons to adjust the audio level.
- Tap on the keypad icon, depicted by the square grid icon, to bring up the numerical keypad. This is useful if the call requires you to use the number keypad to input information.
- Tap on “End call” to end your call.
2
Set up your contacts. Your phone allows you to store individual contact information in a personal phonebook. Tap on the “Contacts” application in the app drawer to bring up a list of contacts. Your phone may pull your contact information from your SIM card or Google accounts to generate a list on your phone.
- To add a contact, tap the “Add” icon at the top of the screen. You can choose to store the contact information to your phone or to a Google account. You can enter the person’s name, phone number, E-mail address, and other additional details. When you have entered the information for the contact, tap on “Save” to create the contact information on your device.
- Slide your finger up and down the screen to go through your list of contacts. When you tap on a name listing, you are given access to their contact information and the ability to place a call, send a text message, send an E-mail or edit their contact information.
- Press and hold your finger on a contact to bring up a list of quick actions for the contact, such as place a call, edit their contact information, send a text message or block the contact.
- Tap the magnifying glass to bring up a search that allows you to put in a name of a contact to search for.
3
Send a text message. Tap on the “Messages” application which can be located on your Favorites bar or in the app drawer to send a text via a Short Message Service (SMS.) The app will also show a history of texts you have sent or received that will allow you to slide your finger up and down to scroll through contact threads. You will need to search for a number to contact
- You can send a message to a contact on your phone or to a phone number. Tap on the “Compose” icon to create a message stream. In the “To” text field, enter in the name of a contact that exists on your phone or type in a phone number to enter the destination of the message. If the contact exists on your phone your phone will bring up a list of suggestions that you can choose from by tapping on their name or phone number.
- You will see a text box that allows you to add text to it. Tap on the text box to bring up a keyboard. Tap on the keyboard to build your message then tap on “Send” to send your message.
- Tapping the paperclip icon will allow you to add an attachment to your message. You will be given different options for attaching media to your text message. Follow the on-screen prompts to add the media to your text message then tap on “Send” to send your message.
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Part 3

Part 3 of 4:

Customizing Your Home Screen

1
Add a home panel. You are able to add more home panels which allows you to add in applications you use for quicker access to avoid browsing the app drawer. Pinch the screen or tap the home button on the Action Bar to show the different available home panels. Tap “Add panel” to add in a panel. To remove a panel, press and hold your finger over one of the panels then slide your finger over “Remove” then release to remove the panel.
- One screen is the primary home panel. If you tap the home button when on a different panel, your screen will scroll to the primary home screen.
- Press and hold your finger on a panel to grab it then move over another panel to change the order your panels appear in.
2
Add apps on your home panel. Tap the grid icon on the home screen to bring up the app drawer that shows the different apps that are installed on your phone. Sliding your finger left and right will let you scroll between pages of available apps. Press and hold an app icon to bring up the home screen. Release your finger over a grid spot on the home screen to place the icon on your home screen.^{[1]XResearch source}
- The app drawer will also allow you to start apps without placing them on the home screen. Tap on an app icon to start the app.
- You can also place apps on your Favorites Bar which is located at the bottom of the screen. This bar stays consistent when browsing home panels and will appear on the lock screen.
3
Move items around the home panel. Your home panel will be your hotbed for navigation on your phone. You are able to arrange app icons and other features arranged in a grid format to be accessed quickly and organized to your liking. Press and hold your finger over an icon for a few seconds to grab an icon. Slide your finger over another spot then release to place your icon.
- You can hold an icon on the left or right sides of the screen to change between home panels.
- Your phone may allow you to place icons over each other to create a folder. Once you create a folder, tap on it to bring up. You can change the name of the folder by tapping on it’s name to bring up the keyboard. Tap on the keyboard to input a name then press Enter to name your folder.
- To remove an icon, tap and hold the icon to grab it, then slide over the “Remove” text and release to remove the icon from the screen.
4
Place a widget on your home screen. A widget is an app that is designed to run on your home screen. These can add unique functionality to your phone for immediate use such as a calculator, cast a live feed from social networks or act as an embedded music player. You can access a list of available widgets in one of two ways. Press and hold on an empty space on your home screen or press the app drawer and slide your finger to turn to the widgets section. To place a widget, note the size of the widget as they adhere like the app icons in a grid format. Press and hold your finger over a widget to grab it and return to the home panel, then slide your finger to arrange the placement of the widget. Let go to place the widget on the home panel.
- If there is not enough room for your widget, try adding a home screen space to place the widget in, or adjust surrounding icons or widgets to make room for the widget.
- Widgets will drain your battery faster if there are several placed on your home panels. Try to limit the amount of widgets on your home screens to what you find necessary.
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Part 4

Part 4 of 4:

Installing Apps from the Google Play Store

The Google Play Store will require you to be logged in to your Google account on your phone. Tap on the “Play Store” icon in the app drawer to open the Google Play store.
2
Look for an app to download. You are given several options on how to look for an app. Slide your finger up and down to scroll through the list of apps. Tap on an app to look at it’s information page.
- If you know what you are looking for, tap on the search bar at the top to bring up the keyboard and type in the name of an app then press the Enter key to show a list of apps that best match your search.
- If you are not sure of what apps to use on your phone, the Play store provides recommendations and trending apps for you to download. Slide your finger up and down to scroll through the app listing. Apps will be arranged horizontally through different categories that you can slide your finger left and right or tapping on the “More” option next to a listed category to view more apps.
3
View the app’s information page. The information page shows additional information to help you consider downloading the app.
- You can mark apps on your wish list by tapping on the ribbon icon located in a corner on the top of the information page.
- Slide your finger left and right on certain sections, such as the screenshots section to see different images showcasing the app. You will also see a list of reviews and recommendations made by other people.
- You may not be able to download an app if it is not compatible with your phone. You may try searching for a similar app or looking for other apps made by the developer as they may have one designed specifically for your device.
- Some reviews will note what kind of Android phone they were using when running the app. Look for reviews that match your phone type that will provide you a similar experience as some phones will differ in capability.
4
Download the app. At the very top of the page you can tap on “Install” or “Buy” to download the app to your phone. Google Play will tell you what features the app will need to utilize on your phone, such as your phone’s contacts list, connection type or other information about your phone. Once you accept the terms, your phone will download the app. This may take time depending on the size of the file. Your phone will notify you when the download process has completed.
- If the app has a price attached to it, it will show you the price in your currency. After you accept the features the app will use on your phone, you will see a prompt that will list your preferred method of payment. You can choose from a credit card or Google Play store credit. If you want to add a credit card payment method, tap on “Add payment method” to add your card information. Follow the on-screen prompts to add your payment information to your account. Afterwards your credit card will appear as a payment option and you are not required to re-enter your payment information. If you have insufficient funds in Google Play store credit, you can pay the remaining amount with your credit card.
- You might see text that says “In-app purchases” next to the “Install” button. This indicates there are additional purchases that are made within the app itself. This will use your Google Play account information for purchases. Read the instructions within the app for more information.
5
Install the app to your phone. The app will appear in your app drawer and if there is space on your home screen setup, will appear on there as well. Tap the app icon to run it.
- The “Download” button on the information page will change to an “Uninstall” button which allows you to remove the app from your phone. If you want to re-install the app, tap the download button if you want to download it to your phone again. Apps that were purchased before can be re-downloaded at no cost. You can recall your purchase history by tapping the Menu button then tapping “My apps & games” to retrieve your list of apps.
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Why was I charged for data I had not requested? How do I prevent these charges?
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Data is used when you go online when you have no WiFi, and will automatically be used if you don't turn it off in settings. You shouldn't be worried to download apps as long as you are connected to WiFi. Talk to your service provider for advice.
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How do I make a call?
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Click on the app with a phone symbol on it. It should lead you straight to a key pad with numbers on it. Type in the numbers you want and push the green call button.
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How do I erase past phone calls?
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The exact procedure varies depending on the version of Android OS installed on your smartphone. However, the basics remain the same. Open the call log/recent calls tab. Touch and hold the phone call detail you wish to delete. A pop-up 'Delete' option will appear, touch on that, and your work is done.
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Purchases on Google Play require a password to be entered before making the purchase. If you want to add a layer of security in case others have access to your phone, launch the Play Store app. Locate the Menu icon depicted by three horizontal bars to bring up a menu, then tap “Settings.” Scroll to the option that says “Require authentication for purchases” and change the setting to your preferred method.^{[2]XResearch source}
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The Google Play Store has a refund policy that allows you to obtain a refund if you remove the app from your account within two hours. To do so, you must start the Google Play App. Tap the menu icon>My account. Scroll down to Order History and tap on it to show a list of apps you have previously purchased. Slide your finger up or down to find the app you recently purchased and tap “Refund” to remove the app from your phone and provide you your money back. You will receive money back the same way you paid for it.^{[3]XResearch source}
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Once you download an app from the Google Play Store, it will be licensed to your account. This means you no longer have to purchase the app if you need to redownload it.
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