Android Smartphones For Seniors For Dummies

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Your Phone in the Android Universe 5

Chapter 1: Why Android? What's the Deal? 7

A Little Android History 8

The Many Flavors (Versions) of Android 9

Reasons That People Choose Android 10

Why You Need a Google Account 12

Accessing your Google account 12

Bequeathing your Google account 15

So Many Choices! 16

Flagship versus mid-range versus feature phones 17

Tech support options 18

5G? LTE? 4G? VoLTE? Whaaat? 19

A Word about Privacy and Security 20

Free usually isn't 21

The terms of service can be tricky 21

Making the AI decision - what is it really? 22

Marsha's sage advice about privacy 23

Chapter 2: Buying Your Android Smartphone and Accessories 25

Investigate First - Then Make a Buying Decision 26

Recognizing types and styles of phones 26

Looking at a phone's physical features 28

Reviewing before making a decision 32

What is the brand's update policy? 33

Considering an older model 34

Choosing where to buy your phone 35

Consider Your Carrier Choice 37

Checking out the carrier's coverage area 37

Finding senior discounts on carrier service 37

You Need a Few Accessories, Too 39

Power charging or wireless - volts and watts matter 39

MicroSD card 41

Phone cases 41

Phone sanitizer 43

Earbuds, wired or wireless? 44

Chapter 3: Activating and Connecting Your Phone 45

Unbox Your New Phone 46

Insert a SIM Card or Use an eSIM 48

Hardware Buttons and What They Do 49

Power buttons and your power-down options 51

Volume buttons and how they work 55

Turn On Your Phone for the First Time 57

Connecting to a network 58

Setting up a Google account 59

Setting up a secure lock 59

Restoring data from an older phone 60

Learn about Google One and Google Drive 61

Learn Android Smartphone Symbols and Gestures 62

Swipe, tap, pinch, and more 63

Recognizing common Android icons 63

Meeting the top status bar 65

Exploiting screen navigation and gestures 66

Part 2: Getting Started with Your Android Smartphone 69

Chapter 4: Safety First: Making Your New Phone Private 71

Set Up a Screen Lock 72

Checking out the screen locking options 72

Following the Lock screen setup process 75

Establish Data Backup 76

Place Owner Information on the Lock Screen 78

Add Emergency Info 81

Designating emergency or ICE contacts 81

Providing medical information 82

Chapter 5: Personalizing Your Handset 85

Find and Sort Your Apps 86

Move App Shortcuts to the Home Screen 88

Group Apps into Folders 89

Creating your own apps folders 90

Enlarge folders for easy viewing 91

Deal with Preinstalled Applications (or Bloatware) 92

Get the News (and Other Media) You Can Use 94

Customize the Home Screen's Look and Feel 95

Finding handy widgets 95

Looking for particularly handy widgets 97

Show your creative side with wallpaper and styles 99

Try Out the Android Accessibility Suite 100

Chapter 6: Android Typing Tricks with Google's Gboard 103

Make the Keyboard Decision 104

Selecting a keyboard to use 104

Noting keyboard features 106

Exploring keyboards you have (or can have) 110

Check Out Keyboard Contenders 112

Gboard, the official Google keyboard 112

Samsung Keyboard 115

Microsoft SwiftKey keyboard 115

Dictate with Voice Typing 117

Extended Keyboard and Special Characters 118

Learn the Emoji Language 119

Delete, Copy, and Paste Text 120

Chapter 7: Handling Notifications and Google Assistant 123

Meet the Android Notifications Drawer 124

Recognizing notification types and settings 124

Disabling notifications (or not) 125

Controlling notifications via app settings 129

Having fun with notifications (or not) 129

Taming Google Discover news feed 131

Manage Your Phone with Quick Settings 133

The first-up Quick Settings 134

The full cast of Quick Settings 135

Customizing the Quick Settings 136

Get the 411 from Google Assistant 138

Knowing what you can do with Google Assistant 139

Google Gemini versus Assistant 141

Part 3: Let's Start Communicating 143

Chapter 8: Setting Up and Maintaining Contacts 145

Establish Your Phone's Contacts 146

Starting out right with Google Contacts 147

Importing old address books 147

Save Contacts from Email 150

Add a Contact in Other Ways 151

Importing contacts from texts 152

Adding a contact from the call log 152

Type a Full Contact in the Contacts App 153

Merge Duplicate Contacts and Other Fixes 156

Customize, Delete, and Update Contacts 158

Chapter 9: Chatting via Voice or Video 161

Make a Voice Call 162

Making international calls from your phone 164

Calling internationally or locally with no contract 165

Check Voicemail 167

Get Voicemail Transcriptions 168

Reply to an Incoming Call by Sending a Text 170

Busy? Have Google Assistant Handle Your Calls 173

Using Audio Emoji 176

Set a Built-in Ringtone 178

Spend Face Time with Google Meet 178

Chapter 10: Texting with Poise and Character 181

Compare Types of Text Messaging 182

Turning on RCS chat features 185

Using third-party chat apps 187

There may be bubbles? 188

Dress Up Texts in Google Messages 189

The Text Message Bar and Emoji in Gboard 192

Find Even More Texting Options 194

Share Multimedia in Texts 195

Voice-Type (Dictate) 199

Manipulate the Text in Your Message 200

Act on Text Messages You Receive 201

Chapter 11: Managing Email with the Gmail App 203

Discover Gmail Features 204

Revealing the Gmail app's main menu 204

Tending to mailbox organization 205

Scoping out the main mailbox 206

Send a Gmail Email 207

Adding an email signature. 210

Scheduling an email delivery 211

Perform Basic Gmail Tasks 212

A table of common email tasks 212

Printing an email from Gmail 214

Print Other Messages, Documents, and Web Pages 215

Link to Other Apps and Gmail Settings 218

Part 4: Exploring Your Phone's Handy Apps 219

Chapter 12: Choosing and Using a Smartphone Camera 221

Examine Smartphone Cameras and Brands 222

Paying the right amount of attention to reviews 222

Phones with camera brand collaborations 223

Take a Camera-Spec Safari 224

Enough megapixel, but not too much 224

Home in on subjects with zoom 225

Exercise Your Android Camera's Capabilities 227

Just point-and-shoot either stills or video 227

Add interest with your camera's tools 229

Expand your reach with Google Lens visual search 229

Access camera features on the scrolling menu 235

Go Pro with Pro Mode 236

Discovering the Pro settings 236

Applying the Pro settings 237

Chapter 13: Organizing and Editing Photos 239

Find and Organize Photos on Your Phone 240

Using the in-phone Gallery 242

Using the Albums feature 242

Sharing photos in texts, emails, and more 243

Backing up your photos 244

Edit Your Photos in the Gallery 246

Finding editing options 247

Applying your phone's photo editing tools 248

Playing with filters, colors, and more 250

Getting into the Google Photos App 251

Organizing Google Photos 252

Organize and select a Top Pick with Stacks 254

Editing images in Google Photos 255

Chapter 14: Google Mobile Services and Apps for Android 257

Find Popular Google Apps 258

Google Photos 259

Storing and retrieving photos 261

Syncing and deleting photos 261

Sharing with friends 262

Searching for photos 262

Adding info to help with photo searching 264

Google Maps 266

Finding your way to an appointment 267

Employing the Directions screen options 268

Sharing your location 269

Google Find My Device Network 271

Take Note(s) with Google Keep 275

Chapter 15: Useful Apps in Google Play Store 277

Frequent the Google Play Store 278

Establish App Privacy Permissions 278

Connect to Radio (Yes, Radio), Podcasts, and Music 281

Configuring your speakers' volume 281

Making a wired connection 282

Using a Bluetooth connection 283

Find Favorite and Fun Apps - a Consensus 284

Radio, podcasts, and music 284

Video apps 286

Travel 286

Games 289

News 290

Books 291

Engaging Social Media 291

Chapter 16: Marsha's MUST-DO Things for Your Phone 293

Make the Orientation Decision 294

Take a Screenshot 295

Configure Do Not Disturb 296

Use Your Home Wi-Fi for Calls and Browsing 297

Practice Safety When Using Public Connections 299

Use a VPN to secure public Wi-Fi connections 299

Beware of charging a phone from a public port 301

Protect the Heart of Your Phone 302

Wireless charging overnight 303

Secure your power cables 304

Set Up Emergency Call and SOS 304

Establishing SOS messaging 305

Activating Emergency mode 306

Managing Emergency mode 307

Adding on the Pixel Personal Safety app 308

Dealing with unknown trackers 308

Index 311