DROIDS
DROIDS Made Simple
Martin Trautschold | Gary Mazo | Marziah Karch
CYAN MAGENTA
YELLOW BLACK PANTONE 123 C
SPOT MATTE
Day in the Life of an DROID User Sometimes it’s easier to learn by watching someone else use his or her DROID. The next best thing is to read about it yourself. Follow along here to see how you might best use your DROID in your own personal and work life.
Day in the Life of a DROID User (continued) Email – Ch. 9 Voice – Ch. 2
LEARN MORE...
Utilities – Ch. 23
Contacts – Ch. 12 Widgets – Ch. 6
Games – Ch. 22
Browser – Ch. 11 New Media – Ch. 16
Media Sync – Ch. 25 New Media – Ch. 16
CONTINUED ON BACK COVER
this print for content only—size & color not accurate
Trim: 7.5 x 9.25 spine = 0.000" 000 page count
■ CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
DROIDS Made Simple For the DROID, DROID X, DROID 2, and DROID 2 Global
■■■ Martin Trautschold Gary Mazo Marziah Karch
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Droids Made Simple: For the Droid, Droid X, Droid 2, and Droid 2 Global Copyright © 2010 by Martin Trautschold, Gary Mazo, and Marziah Karch All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher. ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4302-3279-7 ISBN-10 (electronic): 978-1-4302-3280-3 Printed and bound in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. President and Publisher: Paul Manning Lead Editor: Steve Anglin Development Editor: James Markham Technical Reviewer: Phil Nicklinson Editorial Board: Steve Anglin, Mark Beckner, Ewan Buckingham, Gary Cornell, Jonathan Gennick, Jonathan Hassell, Michelle Lowman, Matthew Moodie, Duncan Parkes, Jeffrey Pepper, Frank Pohlmann, Douglas Pundick, Ben Renow-Clarke, Dominic Shakeshaft, Matt Wade, Tom Welsh Coordinating Editor: Laurin Becker Copy Editor: Mary Behr, Mary Ann Fugate, Patrick Meador Compositor: MacPS, LLC Indexer: BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services Cover Designer: Anna Ishchenko Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media, LLC., 233 Spring Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10013. Phone 1-800-SPRINGER, fax (201) 348-4505, e-mail
[email protected], or visit www.springeronline.com. For information on translations, please e-mail
[email protected], or visit www.apress.com. Apress and friends of ED books may be purchased in bulk for academic, corporate, or promotional use. eBook versions and licenses are also available for most titles. For more information, reference our Special Bulk Sales–eBook Licensing web page at www.apress.com/info/bulksales. The information in this book is distributed on an “as is” basis, without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author(s) nor Apress shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this work.
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■ CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
From Martin and Gary: This book is dedicated to our families—to our wives, Julie and Gloria, and to our kids, Sophie, Livvie and Cece, and Ari, Dan, Sara, Billy, Elise and Jonah.
Without their love, support, and understanding, we could never take on projects like this one.
From Marziah: This book is dedicated to my husband, Harold, the best stay-at-home dad our kids could ever have, and to our kids, Pari and Kiyan. Their support makes it possible, and their praise makes it worthwhile.
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Contents at a Glance ■Contents ......................................................................................................... vi ■About the Authors .........................................................................................xix ■About the Technical Reviewer ........................................................................xx ■Acknowledgments .........................................................................................xxi Part I: Quick Start Guide ..................................................................................... 1 ■Getting Around Quickly.................................................................................... 3 Part II: Introduction .......................................................................................... 29 ■Introduction ................................................................................................... 31 Part III: You and Your DROID. . ......................................................................... 37 ■Chapter 1: Getting Started ............................................................................. 39 ■Chapter 2: Typing, Voice, Copy, and Search .................................................. 67 ■Chapter 3: Sync Your DROID With Your Google Account ............................... 97 ■Chapter 4: Other Sync Methods ................................................................... 105 ■Chapter 5: Wi-Fi and 3G Connectivity .......................................................... 127 ■Chapter 6: Organize Your Home Screen: Icons and Widgets ....................... 137 ■Chapter 7: Making Phone Calls ................................................................... 151 ■Chapter 8: Bluetooth on Your DROID ........................................................... 189 ■Chapter 9: Email on Your DROID .................................................................. 197 ■Chapter 10: SMS, MMS, and Instant Messaging ......................................... 221 ■Chapter 11: Surfing the Web ....................................................................... 239 ■Chapter 12: Working with Contacts............................................................. 257 ■Chapter 13: Managing Your Calendar.......................................................... 273 iv
■ CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
■Chapter 14: Enjoying Your Music ................................................................ 287 ■Chapter 15: Viewing Videos, TV Shows, and More ..................................... 311 ■Chapter 16: New Media: Reading Newspapers, Magazines, and E-books.......................................................... 325 ■Chapter 17: The Android Market ................................................................. 343 ■Chapter 18: Taking Photos and Videos ........................................................ 365 ■Chapter 19: Finding Your Way With Maps ................................................... 391 ■Chapter 20: Social Media and Skype ........................................................... 409 ■Chapter 21: Working With Notes and Documents........................................ 437 ■Chapter 22: Fun and Games ........................................................................ 469 ■Chapter 23: Utilities: Clock, Calculator, and Weather ................................. 479 ■Chapter 24: Troubleshooting ....................................................................... 493 Part III: Sync Media to your DROID ................................................................. 505 ■Chapter 25: DROID Media Sync.................................................................... 507 ■Appendix: DRIOD App Guide ........................................................................ 525 ■Index ............................................................................................................ 557
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Contents ■Contents at a Glance....................................................................................... iv ■About the Authors .........................................................................................xix ■About the Technical Reviewer ........................................................................xx ■Acknowledgments .........................................................................................xxi Part I: Quick Start Guide ..................................................................................... 1 ■Getting Around Quickly.................................................................................... 3 Learning Your Way Around .....................................................................................................................................4 Keys, Buttons, and Switches .............................................................................................................................4 The Launcher Icon .............................................................................................................................................5 The Four Buttons Along the Bottom ...................................................................................................................6 Short Tap and Long Press ..................................................................................................................................7 Adding, Removing, and Moving Widgets and Icons ...........................................................................................8 Switching Apps (aka Multitasking) ..................................................................................................................10 Starting and Exiting an App .............................................................................................................................11 Menus, Submenus, and Checkboxes ...............................................................................................................11 Reading the Top Status Bar .............................................................................................................................12 Flying on an Airplane – Airplane Mode .................................................................................................................15 Touch Screen Basics ............................................................................................................................................16 Touch Screen Gestures ....................................................................................................................................16 Tapping and Swiping or Flicking ..........................................................................................................................17 Swiping .................................................................................................................................................................17 Scrolling ...........................................................................................................................................................18 Double-Tapping ...............................................................................................................................................19 Pinching ...........................................................................................................................................................20
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App Reference Tables ...........................................................................................................................................21 Getting Started .................................................................................................................................................21 Stay Connected and Organized ........................................................................................................................23 Entertaining Yourself .......................................................................................................................................24 Staying Informed..............................................................................................................................................26 Networking Socially .........................................................................................................................................27 Being Productive ..............................................................................................................................................28
Part II: Introduction .......................................................................................... 29 ■Introduction ................................................................................................... 31 Congratulations on Your New DROID! ...................................................................................................................31 Referring to your DROID ...................................................................................................................................33 How This Book Is Organized ............................................................................................................................33 Quickly Locating Tips, Cautions, and Notes .....................................................................................................34 Free DROID Email Tips .....................................................................................................................................35 Part III: You and Your DROID. . ......................................................................... 37 ■Chapter 1: Getting Started ............................................................................. 39 Getting to Know Your DROID .................................................................................................................................39 What Is Included in the Box .............................................................................................................................40 Power and Lock Button ....................................................................................................................................40 Volume Buttons ................................................................................................................................................41 Slide to Unlock .................................................................................................................................................42 Slide to Mute ....................................................................................................................................................42 Using the Four Buttons Along the Bottom ........................................................................................................42 Slide-out Keyboard (for DROID and DROID 2)...................................................................................................43 Dedicated Camera Button ................................................................................................................................44 Inserting a Memory Card and Removing the Battery .......................................................................................44 Adjusting the Date, Time, Time Zone, and 24-Hour Format.............................................................................45 Adjusting the DROID’s Brightness ....................................................................................................................47 Charging Your DROID and Battery Life Tips .....................................................................................................48 Setting up Accounts on Your DROID .....................................................................................................................54 Setting up Your Google Account ......................................................................................................................55 Using Other Google Services............................................................................................................................55 Setting up More Types of Accounts .................................................................................................................56 Finding Your Email ...........................................................................................................................................56 Securing Your DROID ............................................................................................................................................57 Setting a Screen Lock ......................................................................................................................................57 Locking Your DROID .........................................................................................................................................60 Unlocking Your DROID ......................................................................................................................................60 Maintaining Your DROID ........................................................................................................................................60 Cleaning Your DROID Screen ...........................................................................................................................60 Cases and Protective Covers for Your DROID ...................................................................................................61 Where to Buy Your Covers ...............................................................................................................................61 What to Buy......................................................................................................................................................61 Saving Money on Phone Plans ..............................................................................................................................63 Data Packages .................................................................................................................................................63 Text, Picture, and Video Messaging Plans .......................................................................................................63 Equipment Insurance Plans .............................................................................................................................64 vii
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Mobile Wi-Fi Hot Spot ......................................................................................................................................64 Enhanced Voicemail Plans ...............................................................................................................................65 International Plans ...........................................................................................................................................65
■Chapter 2: Typing, Voice, Copy, and Search .................................................. 67 Typing on Your DROID ...........................................................................................................................................67 Two Ways to Type: Multi-touch and Swype .....................................................................................................68 The Device Keyboard (DROID 2 and Similar) ....................................................................................................73 Dictating Your Text...........................................................................................................................................74 Quickly Delete a Word at a Time ......................................................................................................................75 Typing on the Screen With Two Thumbs .........................................................................................................75 Moving the Cursor Around the Screen .............................................................................................................76 Saving Time With Suggested Words ................................................................................................................78 Using the Spell Checker ........................................................................................................................................80 Adding Words to the Custom User Dictionary ..................................................................................................80 Editing or Deleting Words From the User Dictionary........................................................................................81 Clearing Out the User Dictionary ......................................................................................................................81 Accessibility Options .............................................................................................................................................81 Accessibility – Voice Readouts (Reads the Screen) .........................................................................................82 Using Zoom Mode to Magnify a Portion of the Screen .....................................................................................83 Double Tap the Home Button Options ..............................................................................................................84 Pressing and Holding to Type Symbols (and More) .........................................................................................84 Toggling Caps Lock ...............................................................................................................................................85 Quickly Changing a Word ......................................................................................................................................85 Quickly Change Text .............................................................................................................................................86 Changing the Language and Keyboard Options ....................................................................................................87 Voice Command ....................................................................................................................................................88 Texting by Voice ...............................................................................................................................................89 Using Copy-and-Paste ..........................................................................................................................................89 Selecting Text ..................................................................................................................................................90 Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Text ..................................................................................................................90 Jumping Between Apps or Multitasking ..........................................................................................................90 Finding Things with Google Search ......................................................................................................................91 Modifying Your Search .....................................................................................................................................92 Performing the Search .....................................................................................................................................93 Performing a Voice Search ..............................................................................................................................93 Adding the Google Search Widget to Your Home Screen .................................................................................94 ■Chapter 3: Sync Your DROID With Your Google Account ............................... 97 Activating Your Phone ...........................................................................................................................................97 Activating Your Google Account ............................................................................................................................98 The Wonders of the Cloud ...................................................................................................................................100 More Reasons You Need a Google Account ...................................................................................................100 What to Do When your Calendar and Contacts are Not Already in Google ..........................................................102 Getting Information from Your Old Phone ......................................................................................................102 Fine Tuning Your DROID Sync ........................................................................................................................103 ■Chapter 4: Other Sync Methods ................................................................... 105 Backing up Your Outlook Data ............................................................................................................................107 Google Calendar Sync for Outlook (Windows PC) ...............................................................................................108 viii
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Supported Software (What You Need) . ...........................................................................................................108 Before You Install .............................................................................................................................................108 Downloading and Installing . ...........................................................................................................................109 Setting Up the Software . .................................................................................................................................109 Troubleshooting Google Calendar Sync . .........................................................................................................111 Missing Sync for Android . ....................................................................................................................................112 Reviews of the Missing Sync for Android . ......................................................................................................112 Supported Software (What You Need) . ...........................................................................................................113 Before You Install . ...........................................................................................................................................113 Downloading and Installing PC or Mac Software ............................................................................................113 Installing and Setting Up the DROID Software . ...............................................................................................116 Troubleshooting Missing Sync . .......................................................................................................................116 CompanionLink for Android . ................................................................................................................................117 Reviews of CompanionLink and DejaOffice App .............................................................................................118 Supported Software (What You Need) . ...........................................................................................................119 Before You Install . ...........................................................................................................................................119 Google Calendar First Time User . ...................................................................................................................119 Downloading and Installing the PC Software . .................................................................................................120 Installing and Setting Up the DROID Software (Only Required for USB Sync or CL Hosted Server options) . ....................................................................124 Troubleshooting CompanionLink . ...................................................................................................................125
■Chapter 5: Wi-Fi and 3G Connectivity ..........................................................127 Understanding Your Connection . .........................................................................................................................127 3G and 4G ........................................................................................................................................................128 Wi-Fi ................................................................................................................................................................129 Wi-Fi Security ..................................................................................................................................................130 Bluetooth..........................................................................................................................................................131 GPS ..................................................................................................................................................................131 Creating a Wi-Fi Hotspot with Your DROID. ..........................................................................................................131 Troubleshooting Connections . .............................................................................................................................133 Roaming ...........................................................................................................................................................133 Managing Power ..............................................................................................................................................134 Managing Syncing . .........................................................................................................................................134 Airplane Mode ..................................................................................................................................................135 VPN .......................................................................................................................................................................135 VNC ..................................................................................................................................................................136 Android’s Web Browser . .................................................................................................................................136 ■Chapter 6: Organize Your Home Screen: Icons and Widgets ....................... 137 Home Screen, Sweet Home Screen . ....................................................................................................................137 The App Tray .........................................................................................................................................................138 Adding App Icons to Your Home Screen . ........................................................................................................138 Adding Bookmarks to Your Home Screen . ...........................................................................................................139 Adding Shortcuts ..................................................................................................................................................141 Adding Folders ......................................................................................................................................................141 Widgets .................................................................................................................................................................142 Android Widget Size . .......................................................................................................................................143 Motorola Widgets ..................................................................................................................................................144 ix
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Adding and Resizing Motorola Widgets .........................................................................................................147 Removing Unwanted Items from the Home Screen ............................................................................................148 Wallpaper ............................................................................................................................................................148 Live Wallpapers..............................................................................................................................................149 Media Gallery .................................................................................................................................................150
■Chapter 7: Making Phone Calls ................................................................... 151 Getting Started with the Phone (Dialer) ..............................................................................................................151 Finding Your DROID Phone Number ...............................................................................................................152 Muting the Phone Ringer - Slide for Mute .....................................................................................................152 Examining Different Phone Views ..................................................................................................................153 Using the Dialer Keypad .................................................................................................................................154 Dialing Digits While on a Call .........................................................................................................................156 Using the Speaker Phone ...............................................................................................................................156 Talking Hands-free with a Bluetooth Headset or Bluetooth Car Stereo .........................................................156 Opening Other Apps While on a Call ..............................................................................................................157 Getting Back to the Phone From Any App ......................................................................................................157 Using Speed Dial on Your DROID (DROID 2 and DROID X only) ...........................................................................158 Adding Speed Dial Numbers ..........................................................................................................................158 Using Speed Dial ............................................................................................................................................159 Using the Recent View (Call Logs) ......................................................................................................................159 Placing Calls From Contacts ..........................................................................................................................164 Using Favorites ..............................................................................................................................................165 Voice Dialing .......................................................................................................................................................167 Voice Command .............................................................................................................................................167 Conference Calling ..............................................................................................................................................168 Accessing Voicemail ...........................................................................................................................................170 Setting up Basic Voicemail ............................................................................................................................170 Visual Voicemail .............................................................................................................................................172 Using Google Voice .............................................................................................................................................176 Installing the Google Voice App .....................................................................................................................176 Setting Up Google Voice .................................................................................................................................177 Placing Calls With Google Voice .....................................................................................................................179 Retrieving Google Voice Voicemails ...............................................................................................................179 Customizing Phone Options and Settings ...........................................................................................................180 Sounds, Ring Tones, and Vibration .....................................................................................................................182 Using Your Own Music As Your Ringtone.......................................................................................................182 Using Custom Ringtones and Alerts ...............................................................................................................182 Copying Custom Ringtones and Alerts to Your DROID ...................................................................................183 Selecting a New Ringtone for Text Messaging ..............................................................................................185 Assigning Custom Ringtones to Contacts ......................................................................................................186 Purchasing a Ringtone from the Amazon MP3 ...................................................................................................187 Buy Ringtones from the Android Market ........................................................................................................187 ■Chapter 8: Bluetooth on Your DROID ........................................................... 189 Understanding Bluetooth ....................................................................................................................................190 Turning On Bluetooth .....................................................................................................................................190 Pairing with a Bluetooth Device ..........................................................................................................................191 Pairing with a Headset or Any Bluetooth Device............................................................................................191 x
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Using the Bluetooth Headset .........................................................................................................................193 Bluetooth Stereo (A2DP) .....................................................................................................................................194 Connecting to a Stereo Bluetooth Device ......................................................................................................194 Disconnecting a Bluetooth Device ......................................................................................................................196
■Chapter 9: Email on Your DROID .................................................................. 197 Getting to Know Gmail ........................................................................................................................................198 Understanding Gmail Mobile ...............................................................................................................................199 Inbox and Archive ..........................................................................................................................................199 Priority Inbox ..................................................................................................................................................201 Labels ............................................................................................................................................................201 Automatic Filters ............................................................................................................................................203 The Settings Menu .........................................................................................................................................203 Web Version From Your Phone ......................................................................................................................206 Sending and Replying to Email ......................................................................................................................207 Search ............................................................................................................................................................208 Custom Signatures.........................................................................................................................................209 Notifications ...................................................................................................................................................209 Labels ............................................................................................................................................................211 Confirm Delete ...............................................................................................................................................211 Talk and Other Missing Gmail Features ..............................................................................................................211 Google Task List.............................................................................................................................................212 Buzz ...............................................................................................................................................................212 Multiple Gmail Accounts .....................................................................................................................................212 Switching Between Accounts ........................................................................................................................213 Deleting Accounts ..........................................................................................................................................214 The Email App .....................................................................................................................................................214 Exchange Accounts on Android .....................................................................................................................214 Turning Off Ringtones in the Email App .........................................................................................................214 Outlook Web Access ...........................................................................................................................................215 Corporate Sync Accounts ....................................................................................................................................215 Universal Inbox ...................................................................................................................................................215 Reading Attachments..........................................................................................................................................217 Third-Party Apps .................................................................................................................................................219 ■Chapter 10: SMS, MMS, and Instant Messaging ......................................... 221 SMS Text Messaging on your DROID ..................................................................................................................222 Composing SMS Text Messages ....................................................................................................................222 Composing an SMS Message from the Messaging App ................................................................................222 Options After Sending a Text .........................................................................................................................225 Composing an SMS Message from Contacts .................................................................................................226 Replying to a Text Message ...........................................................................................................................227 Viewing Stored Messages..............................................................................................................................228 Messaging Notification Options .....................................................................................................................229 Multimedia Messaging........................................................................................................................................230 The Messaging App .......................................................................................................................................230 Choosing a Picture from Your Gallery to Send via MMS ................................................................................233 Sending Multiple Pictures ..............................................................................................................................233 Instant Messaging on Your DROID ......................................................................................................................234 xi
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Google Talk ....................................................................................................................................................235 AIM and Other Instant Messaging Apps .........................................................................................................236
■Chapter 11: Surfing the Web ....................................................................... 239 Web Browsing on the DROID ...............................................................................................................................239 An Internet Connection Is Required ...............................................................................................................240 Launching the Web Browser ..........................................................................................................................240 Layout of Web Browser Screen......................................................................................................................241 Typing a Web Address ...................................................................................................................................242 Moving Backward or Forward Through Open Web Pages .............................................................................243 Using the Windows Menu Command .............................................................................................................244 Zooming In and Out in Web Pages .................................................................................................................245 Activating Links from Web Pages ..................................................................................................................246 Working with Browser Bookmarks .....................................................................................................................246 Adding a New Bookmark ...............................................................................................................................246 Using Bookmarks and History ........................................................................................................................247 Managing Your Bookmarks ............................................................................................................................248 Browser Tips and Tricks .....................................................................................................................................249 Finding Something on a Web Page ................................................................................................................249 Emailing a Web Page .....................................................................................................................................250 Printing a Web Page.......................................................................................................................................251 Watching Videos in Browser ..........................................................................................................................252 Saving or Copying Text and Graphics ............................................................................................................252 Remember Form Data and Passwords ..........................................................................................................253 Adding a Web Page Icon to Your Home Screen .............................................................................................254 Adjusting the Browser Settings ..........................................................................................................................255 Adjusting Security Settings ...........................................................................................................................255 Speeding Up Your Browser by Clearing History and Cookies ........................................................................256 Remembering Form Data ...............................................................................................................................256 ■Chapter 12: Working with Contacts............................................................. 257 Loading Your Contacts onto the DROID ...............................................................................................................257 When Is Your Contact List Most Useful? .............................................................................................................257 Two Simple Rules to Improve Your Contact List ............................................................................................258 Adding a New Contact Right on Your DROID .......................................................................................................258 Start the Contacts App ...................................................................................................................................259 Adding a New Phone Number ........................................................................................................................261 Adding an Email Address and Web Site .........................................................................................................262 Adding the Address ........................................................................................................................................263 Adding a Photo to Contacts .................................................................................................................................263 Searching Your Contacts ....................................................................................................................................265 Quickly Jump to a Letter by Scrolling and Sliding on the Contact Card ........................................................266 Search by Flicking .........................................................................................................................................266 Adding Contacts from Email Messages ..............................................................................................................267 Sending a Picture to a Contact ...........................................................................................................................269 Sending an Email Message from Contacts .........................................................................................................270 Showing Your Contacts Addresses on the Map ..................................................................................................270 Contact History and Social Networking Screens ................................................................................................271 Contacts Troubleshooting ...................................................................................................................................272 xii
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■Chapter 13: Managing Your Calendar.......................................................... 273 Managing Your Busy Life on Your DROID ............................................................................................................273 Accessing Your Calendar ...............................................................................................................................273 Viewing Your Schedule and Getting Around ..................................................................................................274 Switching Between the Four Calendar Views ................................................................................................275 Adding New Calendar Events ..............................................................................................................................278 Adding a New Appointment ...........................................................................................................................278 Setting Calendar Reminders ..........................................................................................................................280 Creating Additional Alerts ..............................................................................................................................280 Adding Recurring Events................................................................................................................................281 Choosing Which Calendar to Sync .................................................................................................................282 Editing Appointments ..........................................................................................................................................282 Editing a Repeating Event ..............................................................................................................................283 Switching an Event to a Different Calendar ...................................................................................................284 Deleting an Event ...........................................................................................................................................284 Accepting Meeting Invitations .......................................................................................................................284 Calendar Settings................................................................................................................................................285 ■Chapter 14: Enjoying Your Music ................................................................ 287 Your DROID as a Music Player ............................................................................................................................287 Buying Music from the Amazon MP3 App ...........................................................................................................288 The Music App ....................................................................................................................................................292 Changing the View in the Music App ..................................................................................................................293 The Artists View .............................................................................................................................................293 The Albums View ...........................................................................................................................................294 The Songs View .............................................................................................................................................295 Creating Playlists on the DROID .....................................................................................................................295 Searching for Music .......................................................................................................................................297 Viewing Songs in an Album ................................................................................................................................298 Playing Your Music .............................................................................................................................................299 Pausing and Playing.......................................................................................................................................300 Playing the Previous or Next Song .................................................................................................................300 Adjusting the Volume .....................................................................................................................................300 Repeating, Shuffling, and Moving Around in a Song .....................................................................................301 Moving to Another Part of a Song ..................................................................................................................301 Repeating One Song or All Songs ..................................................................................................................302 Shuffling Your Playlist ....................................................................................................................................302 Now Playing ...................................................................................................................................................303 Viewing Other Songs on the Album ...............................................................................................................303 Exploring Your Music Options .............................................................................................................................304 Listening to Free Internet Radio (Pandora) .........................................................................................................304 Getting Started with Pandora .........................................................................................................................305 Pandora’s Main Screen ..................................................................................................................................306 Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down in Pandora.......................................................................................................307 Pandora’s Menu .............................................................................................................................................308 Creating a New Station in Pandora ................................................................................................................308 Adjusting Pandora’s Settings – Your Account, Upgrading, and More ............................................................309
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■Chapter 15: Viewing Videos, TV Shows, and More ..................................... 311 Your DROID as a Video Player .............................................................................................................................311 Loading Videos onto Your DROID ...................................................................................................................312 Watching Videos on the DROID ......................................................................................................................312 Video Categories ............................................................................................................................................313 Playing a Movie ...................................................................................................................................................314 To Pause or Access Controls .........................................................................................................................315 Fast-Forward or Rewind the Video ................................................................................................................315 Using the Time Slider Bar ..............................................................................................................................316 Other Video Players........................................................................................................................................316 Deleting Videos ...................................................................................................................................................317 Using YouTube on your DROID ............................................................................................................................318 Searching for Videos ......................................................................................................................................319 Using the Bottom Icons ..................................................................................................................................319 Playing Videos ................................................................................................................................................321 Adjusting the DROID’s Video Controls ............................................................................................................321 Clearing Your History .....................................................................................................................................323 Using Netflix and Hulu on the DROID .............................................................................................................323 ■Chapter 16: New Media: Reading Newspapers, Magazines, and E-books .......................................................... 325 Newspapers on the DROID ..................................................................................................................................325 Popular Choices: The New York Times and USA Today .................................................................................326 The New York Times App ...............................................................................................................................327 USA Today App...............................................................................................................................................329 Moving Through and Enjoying Content ..........................................................................................................329 News Widgets .....................................................................................................................................................330 Magazines on Android ........................................................................................................................................331 Comic Books on Your DROID ...............................................................................................................................332 The DROID as a PDF Reader................................................................................................................................332 E-Books...............................................................................................................................................................333 Proprietary Readers .......................................................................................................................................334 Open E-Readers .............................................................................................................................................337 Reading E-Books.................................................................................................................................................340 ■Chapter 17: The Android Market ................................................................. 343 Using QR Codes...................................................................................................................................................343 Browsing the Android Market .............................................................................................................................344 Navigating by Category ..................................................................................................................................345 Paying for Apps ...................................................................................................................................................347 Downloading Apps ..............................................................................................................................................349 Installing Apps ....................................................................................................................................................349 Uninstalling Apps ................................................................................................................................................351 Updating Apps .....................................................................................................................................................352 Rating and Commenting ................................................................................................................................353 Installing Apps Outside the Android Market .......................................................................................................353 Ten Apps to Install Right Now .............................................................................................................................355 ShopSavvy .....................................................................................................................................................355 Lookout Mobile ..............................................................................................................................................356 xiv
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Mint.com ........................................................................................................................................................357 Cooking Capsules Taster ...............................................................................................................................358 Evernote .........................................................................................................................................................359 Pandora ..........................................................................................................................................................360 New York Times .............................................................................................................................................361 Google Voice ..................................................................................................................................................362 WikiMobile Encyclopedia (Bonfire) ................................................................................................................363 Yelp ................................................................................................................................................................364
■Chapter 18: Taking Photos and Videos ........................................................ 365 Understanding Your Camera ...............................................................................................................................365 Megapixels and Image Size ...........................................................................................................................366 Focus .............................................................................................................................................................366 Zoom ..............................................................................................................................................................367 Taking a Picture ..................................................................................................................................................367 Flash Modes ...................................................................................................................................................369 Reviewing and Sharing ..................................................................................................................................370 Share .............................................................................................................................................................370 Set As .............................................................................................................................................................372 Quick Upload ..................................................................................................................................................372 The Camera Roll..................................................................................................................................................373 Scenes ................................................................................................................................................................374 Creating a Panorama .....................................................................................................................................376 Camera Settings .................................................................................................................................................377 Shooting Video ....................................................................................................................................................381 Scenes and Effects ........................................................................................................................................382 Flash and Video..............................................................................................................................................383 Video Modes .......................................................................................................................................................383 Sharing Videos ....................................................................................................................................................384 The Gallery ..........................................................................................................................................................384 Using Picasa .......................................................................................................................................................385 Using Photos As Wallpaper and Widgets ............................................................................................................386 Using Photos for Contact Icons ...........................................................................................................................386 Copying Photos to Your Computer ......................................................................................................................387 Editing Photos .....................................................................................................................................................387 Photoshop Mobile ..........................................................................................................................................388 PicSay ............................................................................................................................................................388 Other Photo Apps ...........................................................................................................................................389 Printing ...............................................................................................................................................................389 ■Chapter 19: Finding Your Way With Maps ................................................... 391 Understanding Google Maps ...............................................................................................................................392 Driving Directions ..........................................................................................................................................393 Map Layers .........................................................................................................................................................394 Traffic.............................................................................................................................................................395 Satellite ..........................................................................................................................................................395 Buzz ...............................................................................................................................................................395 Google Labs Layers ........................................................................................................................................396 Location Sharing With Latitude ...........................................................................................................................397 xv
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Google Place Pages ............................................................................................................................................398 Google Places ................................................................................................................................................399 Starring Locations ..........................................................................................................................................400 Google Street View.........................................................................................................................................401 Using Your Phone for GPS Navigation .................................................................................................................402 CarDock .........................................................................................................................................................403 Email and Text Directions ...................................................................................................................................405 Making Your Own Maps ......................................................................................................................................405 Location-Based Social Media and Games...........................................................................................................406 Foursquare .....................................................................................................................................................407 Gowalla ..........................................................................................................................................................407
■Chapter 20: Social Media and Skype ........................................................... 409 Motorola Widgets ................................................................................................................................................409 Twitter and Microblogs .......................................................................................................................................411 The Mechanics and Culture of Twitter ...........................................................................................................412 Finding Twitter Apps ......................................................................................................................................414 Yammer .........................................................................................................................................................417 Other Microblogs ...........................................................................................................................................417 Social Bookmarking ............................................................................................................................................419 Facebook ............................................................................................................................................................419 Creating Fan Pages ........................................................................................................................................420 Facebook Apps ..............................................................................................................................................421 LinkedIn ..............................................................................................................................................................421 Blogging ..............................................................................................................................................................422 Phone Posts ...................................................................................................................................................423 WordPress ......................................................................................................................................................423 Bump...................................................................................................................................................................424 Buzz ....................................................................................................................................................................424 Cross-Posting......................................................................................................................................................425 Aggregating Content With Readers .....................................................................................................................427 Making Phone Calls and More with Skype..........................................................................................................428 Creating Your Skype Account on Your DROID ................................................................................................429 Log in to the Skype App .................................................................................................................................430 Finding and Adding Skype Contacts ..............................................................................................................430 Making Calls With Skype on Your DROID .......................................................................................................432 Receiving Calls with Skype on your DROID ....................................................................................................434 Chatting with Skype .......................................................................................................................................435 Adding Skype to Your Computer ....................................................................................................................436 ■Chapter 21: Working With Notes and Documents........................................ 437 Finding and Installing These Apps ......................................................................................................................438 Notes-Based Apps on Your DROID ......................................................................................................................438 AK Notepad App .............................................................................................................................................438 Evernote App ..................................................................................................................................................442 Sharing Files and Documents .............................................................................................................................447 Sharing Files with USB Mass Storage Mode ..................................................................................................448 Dropbox File and Document Sharing ..................................................................................................................449 Installing Dropbox on Your Computer (PC or Mac) .........................................................................................449 xvi
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Installing Dropbox on Your DROID ..................................................................................................................451 Working With Microsoft Office Documents .........................................................................................................454 Finding Product Reviews ...............................................................................................................................455 Moving Documents to and From Your DROID ................................................................................................456 Quickoffice .....................................................................................................................................................457 Documents to Go – the Full Version ...............................................................................................................460
■Chapter 22: Fun and Games ........................................................................ 469 Using the DROID as a Gaming Device .................................................................................................................469 Acquiring Games and Other Fun Apps ...........................................................................................................472 Reading Reviews Before You Buy ..................................................................................................................474 Looking for Free Trials or Lite Versions .........................................................................................................474 Being Careful When You Play .........................................................................................................................474 Two-Player Games .........................................................................................................................................475 Online and Wireless Games ...........................................................................................................................475 Playing Music Games with Your DROID ..............................................................................................................476 Other Fun Stuff: Football on the DROID ...............................................................................................................477 ■Chapter 23: Utilities: Clock, Calculator, and Weather ................................. 479 The Clock App (for DROID) ..................................................................................................................................480 The Alarm Clock (for DROID) ..........................................................................................................................481 Using the Alarm (for DROID 2/X) ....................................................................................................................484 Using the Timer (for DROID 2/X) .....................................................................................................................485 The Calculator App ..............................................................................................................................................486 Viewing the Basic Calculator (Portrait Mode) ................................................................................................487 Viewing the Advanced Panel..........................................................................................................................487 The Weather App ................................................................................................................................................488 Getting Started with the Weather App ...........................................................................................................488 Other Weather Apps .......................................................................................................................................491 ■Chapter 24: Troubleshooting ....................................................................... 493 Basic Troubleshooting ........................................................................................................................................493 What to Do If the DROID Stops Responding ...................................................................................................493 Managing Your Apps ......................................................................................................................................494 Resolving Issues With Placing a Phone Call, Syncing With Google, or Browsing the Web ............................497 Turning Off Airplane Mode .............................................................................................................................498 Cycling Your Wi-Fi Connection .......................................................................................................................499 Resolving Sound Issues in Music or Video.....................................................................................................499 Resolving Problems When Making Purchases ...............................................................................................500 Advanced Troubleshooting .................................................................................................................................500 Performing a Factory Data Reset ...................................................................................................................500 Increasing Your Text Message Limit ..............................................................................................................501 Additional Troubleshooting and Help Resources ................................................................................................502 The Motorola DROID Support Pages ..............................................................................................................502 DROID-Related Blogs .....................................................................................................................................503 Part IV: Sync Media to your DROID ................................................................. 505 ■Chapter 25: DROID Media Sync.................................................................... 507 Where to Enjoy Your Media on Your DROID.........................................................................................................508 Moving Files With Your USB Connection .............................................................................................................508 xvii
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Selecting a USB Connection Mode .................................................................................................................509 Changing USB Connection Modes ..................................................................................................................510 Dragging-and-Dropping Files ........................................................................................................................510 Disconnecting Your DROID Safely (Don’t Skip!) .............................................................................................512 Using doubleTwist ..............................................................................................................................................512 Downloading and Installing doubleTwist .......................................................................................................513 Getting Started With doubleTwist ..................................................................................................................514 Importing Your Playlists .................................................................................................................................515 Connecting Your DROID to doubleTwist .........................................................................................................516 Syncing Music and Podcast Subscriptions Automatically .............................................................................516 Fine Tuning the Sync .....................................................................................................................................517 Dragging-and-Dropping Media Onto Your DROID ..........................................................................................519 My Music App Won’t Play My Music ..............................................................................................................519 Finding and Subscribing to Podcasts With doubleTwist ................................................................................520 Finding Apps in the Android Market With doubleTwist ..................................................................................521 Buying Music from the Amazon MP3 Store in doubleTwist ...........................................................................522
■Appendix: DRIOD App Guide ........................................................................ 525 Document Tools ..................................................................................................................................................525 Printing ...............................................................................................................................................................527 File Management ................................................................................................................................................528 Virus Protection, Backups, and Security .............................................................................................................529 Presentation Software ........................................................................................................................................531 Web Conferencing ...............................................................................................................................................532 Notetaking and Mind Mapping ............................................................................................................................533 Email Management .............................................................................................................................................535 To-Do Lists ..........................................................................................................................................................536 Expenses and Finance ........................................................................................................................................537 Travel ..................................................................................................................................................................539 Health and Medicine ...........................................................................................................................................540 Law and Legal .....................................................................................................................................................542 Real Estate ..........................................................................................................................................................543 Sales and CRM ....................................................................................................................................................545 Retail ...................................................................................................................................................................546 Finance ...............................................................................................................................................................547 Project Management ...........................................................................................................................................549 Education and Training .......................................................................................................................................550 Social Media .......................................................................................................................................................551 Information Technology ......................................................................................................................................553 Other Apps .....................................................................................................................................................554 ■Index ............................................................................................................ 557
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About the Authors Martin Trautschold is the founder and CEO of Made Simple Learning, a leading provider of Apple iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, Android, and Palm webOS books and video tutorials. He has been a successful entrepreneur in the mobile device training and software business since 2001. With Made Simple Learning, he helped to train thousands of BlackBerry Smartphone users with short, to-the-point video tutorials. Martin has now co-authored nineteen “Made Simple” guide books. He also co-founded, ran for 3 years, and then sold a mobile device software company. Prior to this, Martin spent 15 years in technology and business consulting in the US and Japan. He holds an engineering degree from Princeton University and an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. Martin and his wife, Julia, have three daughters. He enjoys rowing with the Halifax Rowing Association in Daytona Beach, Florida and cycling with friends. Martin can be reached at
[email protected]. Gary Mazo is Vice President of Made Simple Learning and is a writer, a college professor, a gadget nut, and an ordained rabbi. Gary joined Made Simple Learning in 2007 and has co-authored the last seventeen books in the Made Simple series. Along with Martin, and Kevin Michaluk from CrackBerry.com, Gary co-wrote CrackBerry: True Tales of BlackBerry Use and Abuse—a book about BlackBerry addiction and how to get a grip on one’s BlackBerry use. The second edition of this book was published by Apress this fall. Gary also teaches writing, philosophy, technical writing, and more at the University of Phoenix. He holds a BA in anthropology from Brandeis University. Gary earned his M.A.H.L (Masters in Hebrew Letters) as well as ordination as Rabbi from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has served congregations in Dayton, Ohio, Cherry Hill, New Jersey and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Gary is married to Gloria Schwartz Mazo; they have six children. Gary can be reached at:
[email protected]. Marziah Karch enjoys the challenge of explaining complex technology to beginning audiences. She is an education technologist for Johnson County Community College in the Kansas City metro area with over ten years of experience. She holds a masters in instructional design and has occasionally taught credit courses in interactive media. Marziah also contributes to New York Times-owned About.com and has been their Guide to Google since 2006. Her first book was Android for Work: Productivity for Professionals. When she's not feeding her geek side with new gadgets or writing about technology, Marziah enjoys life in Lawrence, Kansas with her husband Harold and two children.
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■ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
About the Technical Reviewer Phil Nickinson spent 11 years at a daily newspaper as a sports clerk, page designer, news copy editor and news editor before becoming a full-time online editor with Smartphone Experts in December 2009. He cut his teeth on Windows Mobile and currently is editor of AndroidCentral.com, host of its weekly podcast and has more Android devices than he knows what to do with. Phil lives in Florida with his wife and two daughters.
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Acknowledgments A book like this takes many people to successfully complete. We would like to thank Apress for believing in us and our unique style of writing. We would like to thank our Editors, Steve, Jim and Laurin, and the entire editorial team at Apress. We would like to thank our families for their patience and support in allowing us to pursue projects such as this one. A special thank you to the good folks at Verizon Wireless for lending us DROIDS to complete this book. Portions of this book contain pictures that are modifications based on work created and shared by Google, and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License.
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Part
I
Quick Start Guide In your hands is one of the most exciting devices to hit the market in quite some time: a new DROID smartphone. This Quick Start Guide will help get you and your new DROID up and running in a hurry. You’ll learn all about the buttons, switches, and ports, and how to use the innovative and responsive touch screen and multitask. Our App Reference Tables introduce you to both the built-in apps and some valuable additions from the Android Market—and serve as a quick way to find out how to accomplish a task.
3
Getting Around Quickly This Quick Start Guide is meant to be just that – a section that can help you jump right in and find information in this book, as well as learn the basics of how to get around and enjoy your DROID right away. We’ll start with the nuts and bolts in our “Learning Your Way Around” section, which covers what all the keys, buttons, switches, and symbols mean and do on your DROID. In this section, you’ll see some handy features such as multitasking and adding and removing widgets. You’ll also learn how to interact with the menus, submenus, and set switches – tasks that are required in almost every application on your DROID. You’ll also find out how to read your connectivity status and what to do when you travel on an airplane. TIP: Check out Chapter 2: “Typing, Voice, Copy, and Search” for great typing tips and other helpful things. In the “Touch Screen Basics” section, we will help you learn how to touch, swipe, flick, zoom, and more. Later, in the “App Reference Tables,” section, we’ve organized the app icons into general categories, so you can quickly browse through the icons and jump to a section in the book to learn more about the app a particular icon represents. This guide also includes several handy tables designed to help you get up and running with your DROID quickly:
Getting Started (Table 2)
Stay Organized (Table 3)
Be Entertained (Table 4)
Stay Informed (Table 5)
Network Socially (Table 6)
Be Productive (Table 7)
So let’s get started!
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4
QUICK START GUIDE
Learning Your Way Around To help you get comfortable with your DROID, we start with the basics – what the buttons, keys, and switches do – and then move into how you start apps and navigate the menus. Probably the most important status indicator on your DROID, besides the battery, is the one that shows network status in the upper-right corner. Understanding what these status icons mean is crucial to getting the most out of your DROID.
Keys, Buttons, and Switches Figures 1 and 2 show all the things you can do with the buttons, keys, switches, and ports on your DROID, DROID 2, DROID 2 Global, and DROID X. Go ahead and try out a few things to see what happens. Tap the Search button (the Magnifying Glass icon) on the bottom of your phone, then tap the Microphone icon to try out Voice Actions. Next, swipe left or right to check out more Home screens, and then double-click your Home button (the House icon) to bring up Voice Commands. Long press (press and hold) the Home button to multitask. Have some fun getting acquainted with your device. Power/Lock
Top Edge
Power/Lock
Top Edge
DROID 2 and DROID 2 Global
DROID Status Bar Drag down for notifications.
Press ALT to type no. and symbols on keys. Tap icons to start apps.
Voice Dictation Search
Launcher icon. Tap to open the App Tray to view and start any app.
Phone
Menu button
Home button
Widgets Use to customize your Home screen.
Back button
Search button
Back button
Figure 1. The buttons, ports, and keys on the DROID, DROID 2, and DROID 2 Global.
Voice Actions Tap to speak commands. Start Browser
Menu button
Home button
QUICK START GUIDE
DROID X Power/Lock button
Top Edge 3.5 mm Headphone Jack
Widgets Use to customize your Home screen.
Status Bar Drag down for notifications.
Launcher icon. Tap to open the App Tray to view and start any app.
Tap icons to start apps.
View Contacts.
Start Phone
Menu button
Home button
Back button
Search button
Figure 2. The buttons, ports, and keys on the DROID X.
The Launcher Icon You may wonder where all your icons are kept. Swiping left or right won’t show you them. To see them all, you need to tap the Launcher icon at the bottom of your main Home screen. Tap the Launcher icon to see all your icons in the App Tray. There are usually more icons than are visible on a single screen; you need to slide your finger up or down to see all the icons (see Figure 3).
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QUICK START GUIDE
DROID 2, DROID 2 Global and DROID X
Slide your finger to view all installed icons.
Launcher icon Tap to see all your icons.
Touch & slide DROID
Figure 3. Use the Launcher icon to see all your application icons in the App Tray.
The Four Buttons Along the Bottom In addition to tapping or the touching the screen, you can use the Menu, Home, Back and Search buttons to help you navigate around your DROID. Menu button
Press the Menu button to see a menu for the currently open app or the Home screen. Press the button again to hide the menu. Inside any app, long press the Menu button to see the virtual keyboard.
or TIP: Press the Menu button, then press and hold it to see shortcuts to the various menu commands appear. Home button
or
Press the Home button once to jump right to your main (center) Home screen. Double-press the Home button to start Voice Command. This command allows you to speak commands to your DROID. (You can learn more about Voice Command in Chapter 2)
QUICK START GUIDE
Long press to multitask and see the eight most recent apps you have opened. Back button
Press the Back button to back out of any screen to the previous screen. Continue pressing to exit an app back to the Home screen.
Search button
Tap the Search button to bring up the Google Search screen. Long press to bring up the Voice Actions screen, where you can speak commands and perform voice Google searches. (You can learn more about Voice Actions in Chapter 2.)
Short Tap and Long Press As you just saw, the buttons do different things when you press them quickly or press and hold them. The same thing works on the touch screen. Short Tap
Icons: A short tap of any icon will start the app. Items inside apps: Tapping items inside apps such as calendar events, contacts, or picture thumbnails will usually expand the selected item to view more details or a larger version of the item. Switches: A short tap of a switch will set it to Off or On. Widgets: A short tap of a widget will do an action in the widget such as advance a screen, open the widget, or open an associated app. For example, touching a Tips and Tricks widget will open the tips so you can view them in more detail.
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QUICK START GUIDE
Long Press
Icons or Widgets: Long press an icon or widget to move it around the screen, between Home screens, or delete it from the Home screen. (Don’t worry: you can get the icon back on your Home screen after you press the Launcher icon.) Items inside apps: Pressing and holding items inside apps such as calendar events, contacts, or pictures will usually give you a context-sensitive menu. For example, long pressing a contact will give the option to view, call, send a text message to, share an email with, or delete the contact.
Adding, Removing, and Moving Widgets and Icons You will quickly find that your DROID is highly customizable, starting with your Home screen. The DROID 2 and DROID X have seven Home screens, and the DROID has five. TIP: We explain more details about how to use widgets and move icons in Chapter 6: “Organize Your Home Screen: Icons and Widgets.” To add a widget, shortcut, folder, or change the wallpaper, you long press anywhere you see a blank spot on a Home screen. This brings up a menu that lets you add any number of items including Motorola widgets, Android widgets, shortcuts, folders or even change your wallpaper (see the image to the right).
QUICK START GUIDE
To remove a widget or other item, you long press until it gets highlighted and drag it down to the Trashcan icon at the bottom of the screen.
To move a widget, icon, or other Home screen item, long press and drag that item around the screen. To move it to a different Home screen, drag your finger to the very edge of the screen.
Long press & drag
Slide your finger off either side of the screen to move it to another Home page.
Long press & drag
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QUICK START GUIDE
Switching Apps (aka Multitasking) If you are like most smartphone users these days, you definitely want to be doing more than one thing at a time. For example, you might like listening to free Pandora Internet radio while reading and replying to your email or text messages. The DROID is built to multitask (see Figure 4). Long press the Home button to bring up the recent apps in the middle of the screen, and then tap the icon of any app you want to start. If you don’t see the icon you want, then press the Home button again to see the entire Home screen. Repeat these steps to jump back to the app you just left. The nice thing is that the app you just left is always shown as the first app in the top-left position in the list of recent apps. TIP: If you don’t see the app you want in the list of Recent apps, then press the Home button, and Launcher icon to start it.
Long press the Home button to bring up the list of recently opened apps.
From any app, you long press the Home button to see the recently opened apps.
Tap the app you wish to start.
Figure 4. Multitasking or switching apps by long pressing the Home button.
Now you can text while listening to Pandora!
QUICK START GUIDE
Starting and Exiting an App To start any app, you simply tap the app’s icon with your finger.
To close the app and exit back to the Home screen, press the Back button.
If you press the Home button, you can leave the app running in the background and start another app.
Menus, Submenus, and Checkboxes Once you are in an app, you can select any menu item by simply touching it. Using the Settings app as an example, tap Wireless & networks, and then tap Airplane mode to set the checkbox (with a green check mark) and turn on Airplane mode (see Figure 5). Submenus are any menus below the main menu. NOTE: Switches set to On are green, while switches set to Off are gray.You can back up to the previous screen or menu by pressing the Back button on the bottom of your DROID. For example, if you’re in the Wireless & networks menu, you can press the Back button to return to the main the Settings menu.
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QUICK START GUIDE
Tap an item to get to the next screen.
Green switches are on.
Tap a switch to turn it on or off.
Gray switches are off.
Tap this button to back up one level.
Figure 5. Selecting menu items, navigating submenus, and setting switches.
Reading the Top Status Bar Most of the functions on your DROID work only when you are connected to the Internet (e.g., email, your browser, the wireless sync to Google Contacts and Google Calendar, Android Market, and so on), so you need to know when you’re connected. The top status bar also has many other status icons that are helpful to know. Understanding how to read the status bar can save you time and frustration. There are a wide variety of status icons on the top bar, and you can see various status examples in Figure 6. Missed phone call.
Media share.
New email.
USB cable connected.
New text message.
Figure 6. Reading your top status bar icons.
Debug mode.
Pandora playing.
3G wireless network.
Data sent or received.
Battery charge level.
Signal strength.
QUICK START GUIDE
TIP: If you touch and hold the status bar, then you can see today’s date.
TIP: Touch and hold this status bar to see today’s date.
Seeing More Detailed Status Messages Touch the very top of the device (above the screen), then swipe your finger down onto the screen to see detailed status messages. Press the Back button to hide the detailed status messages. Notice that there are two areas of status messages: Ongoing and Notifications. Ongoing Status Items In the example to the right, the Ongoing status section shows that we are playing Pandora internet radio, we have USB debugging connected, and we have a USB connection to our computer. Notification Items The Notification section in the image to the right shows that have 152 new email messages. We have a possible connection for Media Share, and we’ve missed three calls. TIP: Tap any item to learn more about it. For example, tapping the three missed calls will show you each caller, so you can immediately call them back if you wish.
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QUICK START GUIDE
Understanding the Data Connectivity Symbols You can read the strength of your data connection and see when data is being transferred by looking at the top status bar. The cellular data signal strength is represented by an icon that shows from one to five bars. The Airplane icon indicates that you are in Airplane mode.
Strong
Weak
Radio Off – Airplane Mode
The two arrows under the 3G show when data is being sent and received.
Data sent.
Data received.
You can tell whether you are connected to a network, as well as the general speed of the connection, by looking at the right side of your DROID’s top status bar. Table 1 shows typical examples of what you might see on this status bar. Table 1. How to Tell When You Are Connected.
In the upper-right corner, if you see letters and symbols...
or
Wi-Fi Network
Cellular Network (Phone, Web, Text, Email, Sync, and Skype)
(Web, Email, Sync, and Skype)
(Connected)
(Connected)
(Not connected)
(Connected)
(Not connected)
(Not connected)
QUICK START GUIDE
Chapter 5: “Wi-Fi and 3G Connectivity” shows you how to connect your DROID to a WiFi or 3G Cellular Data Network.
Flying on an Airplane – Airplane Mode When you fly on an airplane, the flight crew will ask you to turn off all portable electronic devices for takeoff and landing. Then, when you get to altitude, they will say “all approved electronic devices” can be set back to On. TIP: Check out the “International Travel” section of Chapter 5for many money saving tips you can take advantage of when you travel overseas with your DROID. If you need to turn off your DROID, long press the Power button on the top-right edge, and then tap Power off. Follow these steps to enable Airplane Mode: 1.
Long press the Power button on the top edge of your DROID.
2.
Tap Airplane mode from the popup menu.
3.
Notice that the Airplane mode icon in the top status bar replaces the 3G and signal bars. Your phone, web, wireless sync, and any applications that require an Internet connect will not work in Airplane mode.
TIP: Some airlines do have in-flight WiFi networks. On those flights, you may want to turn your Wi-Fi back On at the appropriate time. You can turn your Wi-Fi connection Off or On by following these steps: 1.
Tap the Settings icon.
2.
Tap Wireless & networks.
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QUICK START GUIDE
3.
To enable the Wi-Fi connections, set the switch next to Wi-Fi to On (Green = On, Gray = Off).
4.
To disable the Wi-Fi, set the same switch to Off (gray).
5.
Tap Wi-Fi settings to select the Wi-Fi network and follow the steps the flight attendant provides to connect to the in-flight Wi-Fi.
NOTE: On the DROID 2, DROID 2 Global, and DROID X, you have an Airplane mode widget you can add to your Home screen.
Touch Screen Basics In this section, we will describe how to interact with the DROID’s touch screen.
Touch Screen Gestures The DROID has an amazingly sensitive and intuitive touch screen. If you own a DROID, DROID 2, or DROID 2 Global, you also can slide out the physical keyboard to type. We show you more typing tips in Chapter 2. Typing on the touch-screen keyboard will take a little effort to master. With a little practice, though, you’ll soon become comfortable interacting with your DROID. You can do almost anything on your DROID by using a combination of the following:
Touch screen “gestures”
Touching icons, widgets, or soft keys on the screen
Tapping the Menu, Home, Back, or Search buttons at the bottom of your device (earlier in the chapter, we explained what each button does)
The following sections describe the various gestures you can use on an DROID.
QUICK START GUIDE
Tapping and Swiping or Flicking To start an app, confirm a selection, select a menu item, or select an answer, simply tap the screen. To move quickly through Home screens, contacts, lists, and the music library in List mode, flick from side-to-side or up and down. Figure 7 shows both of these gestures.
Note: The DROID only has five Home screens. DROID 2/Global/X have seven.
Notice the red dots appear here for a second to show you where you are.
Gently touch the screen and swipe left or right.
Tap the Home icon or Home button to return to the middle screen.
Tap any icon or widget to open it.
Figure 7. Swipe left or right to see all your Home screens.
Swiping To swipe, gently touch and move your finger as shown in Figure 8 to move between pictures. Swiping up and down also works in lists, such as the Contacts list.
Touch and scroll
Touch and scroll
Gently touch the screen and scroll left to see the next picture. Figure 8. Touch and swipe to move between pictures and up and down lists.
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QUICK START GUIDE
Scrolling Scrolling is as simple as touching the screen and sliding your finger in the direction you want to scroll (see Figure 9). You can use this technique in messages (email), the Browser app, menus, and more.
The current letter “M” is shown.
Gently touch the screen and scroll up to see lower down on the page.
TIP: Touch and slide this tab to quickly move up or down the Contact list. You see the current letter “M” shown.
Figure 9. Touch and slide your finger to scroll around contacts, a web page, a zoomed picture, and more.
QUICK START GUIDE
Double-Tapping You can double-tap the screen to zoom in and then double-tap again to zoom back out. This works in many places, such as web pages, mail messages, and pictures (see Figure 10).
Double-tap the screen to zoom in.
Double-tap again to zoom out.
Figure 10. Double-tapping to zoom in or out.
Slide your finger around to view more of the web page.
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QUICK START GUIDE
Pinching You can also pinch open or closed to zoom in or out. This works in many places, including web pages, mail messages, and pictures (see Figure 11). Follow these steps to zoom in using the pinching feature: 1.
To zoom in, place two fingers that touch each other on the screen.
2.
Gradually slide your fingers open. The screen zooms in.
Follow these steps to zoom out using the pinching feature. 1.
To zoom out, place two fingers with space between them on the screen.
2.
Gradually slide your fingers closed, so they touch. The screen zooms out.
Pinch your fingers open to zoom in.
Lift your hands from the screen and then pinch open again to zoom in more.
At some point, you cannot zoom in any further. The DROID will vibrate and let you know.
QUICK START GUIDE
App Reference Tables This section gives you a number of handy reference tables that group together the various apps that are pre-installed on your DROID by their functionality. Also included in the tables are other useful apps you can download from the Android Marketplace. Each table gives you a brief description of the app and tells you where you can find more information about it in this book.
Getting Started Table 2 provides some quick links to help you connect your DROID to the Web (using Wi-Fi or 3G); buy and enjoy songs or videos; lock your DROID or power it off; unlock your DROID; and more.
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QUICK START GUIDE
Table 2. Getting Started.
To Do This...
Use This...
Where to Learn More
Turn the DROID on or off.
The Power/Lock button: Press and hold Getting Started – Ch. 1 this key located on the DROID’s top edge.
See all icons on your DROID in the App Tray.
Launcher
Adjust settings and connect to the Internet (via Wi-Fi or 3G).
Settings > Wi-Fi or Settings > General > Wi-Fi and 3G – Ch. 5 Network
Return to the Home screen.
The Home button
Slide your finger Getting Started – Ch. 1 to unlock your DROID.
Completely Press and hold the power down your Power/Lock button. DROID.
Share and sync Share and sync music, videos, and pictures.
Getting Started – Ch. 1
or
Unlock the DROID.
Sync addresses, calendar, email, and notes with your main account.
Getting Started – Ch. 1
Tap this button to power the device off. Getting Started – Ch. 1
Google Sync – Ch. 3
Google Sync
Other Sync Methods – Ch. 4
Picasa, Facebook, MySpace, Photobucket Photos – Ch. 18 DoubleTwist Media Sync – Ch. 25
QUICK START GUIDE
Stay Connected and Organized Table 3 provides links for everything from organizing and finding your contacts to managing your calendar, working with email, sending messages, getting driving directions, calling people, and more. Table 3. Staying Connected and Organized.
To Do This…
Use This…
Where to Learn More
Manage your contact names and numbers.
Contacts
Contacts – Ch. 12
Manage your calendar.
Calendar
Calendar – Ch. 13
Surf the Web
Browser
Browser – Ch. 11
Call your friends.
Phone
Phone – Ch. 7
Call and chat with friends.
Skype mobile
Social Networking and Skype – Ch. 20
Voice Command
Typing, Voice, Copy, and Search – Ch. 2
Control your iPod and DROID with your voice. (Press and hold the Home button.)
Search Google and control your phone by simply speaking.
Voice Search Voice Action
Typing, Voice, Copy, and Search – Ch. 2
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QUICK START GUIDE
To Do This…
Use This…
Where to Learn More
Send text, picture, and video messages.
Text Messaging Messages
SMS and MMS – Ch. 10
View and send email.
Gmail Email
Email – Ch. 9
Find just about anything, get directions, avoid traffic, and more.
Maps
Maps – Ch. 19
Entertaining Yourself You can have lots of fun with your DROID; Table 4 shows you a few ways to get started. For example, you can use your DROID to view movies and TV shows, as well as to check out free Internet radio with Pandora. If you already use a Kindle, you can sync all your Kindle books to your DROID and enjoy them right away. You can also choose from thousands of free and paid apps from the Marketplace to make your DROID even more amazing, fun, and useful. Finally, y ou can buy new music on your DROID from the Amazon MP3 app. Table 4. Being Entertained.
To Do This…
Buy music.
Use This…
Amazon MP3
Where to Learn More
Music – Ch. 14
Blockbuster Rent a video.
Use your computer to sync, buy music apps, and listen to music and other content.
Netflix Mobile Queue
Videos, TV, and More – Ch. 15
DoubleTwist
Media Sync – Ch. 25
QUICK START GUIDE
To Do This…
Use This…
Where to Learn More
Browse and download apps right to your DROID.
Market
DROID App Guide – Appendix A
See playlists, artists,songs, albums, audiobooks, and more.
Music
Music – Ch. 14
Listen to free Internet radio.
Pandora
Music – Ch. 14
Read your Kindle books.
Kindle
New Media and E-Books – Ch. 16
Look at, zoom in on, and organize your pictures.
Gallery
Photos and Videos – Ch. 18
Take and shere pictures.
Camera
Photos and Videos – Ch. 18
Take and share videos.
Camcorder
Photos and Videos – Ch. 18
Watch a video from YouTube.
YouTube
Videos, TV, and More – Ch. 15
Play a game.
Games Need For Speed
Fun and Games – Ch. 22
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QUICK START GUIDE
Staying Informed You can also use your DROID to read your favorite magazine or newspaper with up-tothe-minute vibrant pictures and videos (see Table 5). Or, you can use it to check out the latest weather reports. Table 5. Staying Informed.
To Do This…
Use This…
Where to Learn More
Check your favorite radio news program.
NPR News
Market – Ch. 17
Read the newspaper.
New York Times
Market – Ch. 17
Check the weather.
The Weather Channel
Market – Ch. 17
Check out the latest headlines.
AP Mobile
Market – Ch. 17
QUICK START GUIDE
Networking Socially You can also use your DROID to connect to and stay up-to-date with friends, colleagues, and professional networks using the social networking tools on your DROID (see Table 6). Table 6. Networking Socially.
To Do This…
Use This…
Where to Learn More
Skype.
Skype
Social Networking and Skype – Ch. 20
Network on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn
Social Networking – Ch. 20
Stay connected with friends on Facebook.
Facebook
Social Networking – Ch. 20
Follow your favorites on Twitter.
Twitter
Social Networking – Ch. 20
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QUICK START GUIDE
Being Productive A DROID can also help you be more productive. You can use it to access and read just about any PDF file or other document with the GoodReader app. You can also take notes with the basic Notes app or step up to the advanced Evernote app, which has amazing capabilities for integrating audio, pictures, and text notes, as well as the ability to sync everything to a web site. You can also use your DROID to set an alarm, calculate a tip, see what direction you are walking in, and record a voice memo (see Table 7). Table 7. Being Productive.
To Do This…
Use This…
Where to Learn More
Take and organize your notes in a whole new way.
Evernote
Notes and Documents– Ch. 21
Move files between your DROID and your computer
Dropbox
Notes and Documents – Ch. 21
Use folders to organize your icons.
Folders
Icons and Widgets – Ch. 6
Set an alarm, countdoun timer, and more.
Alarm & Timer
Utilities – Ch. 23
Calculate a tip or find the cosine of 30 degrees.
Calculator
Utilities – Ch. 23
Open and edit Microsoft Office documents.
Quickoffice Notes and Documents – Ch. 21
Part
II
Introduction Welcome to your new DROID—and to the book that tells you what you need to know to get the most out of it. In this part we show you how the book is organized and where to go to find what you need. We even show you how to get some great tips and tricks sent right to your DROID via short email messages.
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Introduction
Congratulations on Your New DROID! You hold in your hands perhaps the most powerful smartphones available today, a phone that is also a media player, e-book reader, gaming machine, life organizer, and just about everything else available today: the DROID.
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INTRODUCTION
The DROID can do just about any other smartphone on the market. In a beautiful package, the DROID will have you placing phone calls, listening to music, playing games, surfing the web, checking email, and organizing your busy life in no time. NOTE: Take a look at Chapter 17: “Exploring the Android Market,”and Appendix A: “Droid App Guide” where we show you how to get all the greatest apps to boost the performance and fun of your new DROID! With your DROID, you can view your photos and interact with them using intuitive touchscreen gestures. You can pinch, zoom, rotate, and email your photos—all by using simple gestures. Interact with your content like never before. News sites and web sites look amazing due to the incredibly clear and crisp large touch screen display. Flip through stories, videos, and pictures, and interact with your news. Manage your media library with ease. The Music app features an intuitive interface, letting you choose music, watch videos, organize playlists, and more—all in an effortless and fun way on the DROID’s high definition–quality screen. Update your Facebook status and receive push alerts—all on your DROID. Stay connected to the web and your email with the 3G wireless and built-in Wi-Fi connection of the DROID. All the latest high-speed protocols are supported, so you can always be in touch and get the latest content. You can even turn your DROID into a Wi-Fi Hotspot to connect your laptop and up to four other devices to the internet just about anywhere you get a signal. The DROID and DROID 2 also include a slide-out keyboard to type out emails and notes when you use the device in Landscape mode.
Getting the Most out of Droids Made Simple Read this book cover-to-cover if you choose, but you can also peruse it in a modular fashion, by chapter or topic. Maybe you just want to check out the Android Market app, try the Kindle app, set up your email or contacts, or just load up your phone with music using doubleTwist on your computer (see chapter 25: "DROID Media Sync"). You can do all this and much more with our book. Be sure to check out our DROID App Guide in Appendix A at the end of the book to explore more than 80 apps that the authors have reviewed and tested to help you get the most out of your DROID. You will soon realize that your DROID is a very powerful device. There are, however, many secrets “locked” inside, which we help you “unlock” throughout this book. Take your time—this book can help you understand how to best use and have fun with your new DROID. Think back to when you tried to use your first Windows or Mac computer. It took a little while to get familiar with how to do things. It’s the same with the DROID. This book will help you get up to speed and learn all the best tips and tricks more quickly.
INTRODUCTION
Also remember that devices this powerful are not always easy to grasp—at first. You will get the most out of your DROID if you can read a section and then try out what you just read. We all know that reading and then doing an activity gives us a much higher retention rate than simply reading alone. So, in order to learn and remember what you learn, we recommend the following: Read a little, try a little on your DROID, and repeat!
Referring to your DROID In this book, we generally use the word DROID to mean DROID, DROID 2, DROID 2 Global and DROID X. Occasionally, we will specifically call out DROID 2/X, when we say that we mean this feature works on the DROID 2, DROID 2 Global and DROID X, but not the original DROID. Similarly, if we say only on the DROID or original DROID, we mean that the specified feature works on the original DROID, not the DROID 2/X.
How This Book Is Organized Knowing how this book is organized will help you quickly locate things that are important to you. Here we show you the main organization of this book. Remember to take advantage of the abridged table of contents, detailed table of contents, and comprehensive index. All of these elements can help you quickly pinpoint items of interest to you.
Day in the Life of a DROID User Located inside the front and back covers, the “Day in the Life of an DROID User” reference is an excellent guide to your phone’s features, providing ideas on how to use your DROID and lots of easy-to-access, cross-referenced chapter numbers. So, if you see something you want to learn, simply thumb to that page and learn it—all in just a few minutes.
Part I: Quick Start Guide Learning Your Way Around: Learn about the buttons and switches on the DROID, how to read your status bar, how to start and exit the apps, multitask, turn on Airplane mode and more. Touch Screen Basics: This book’s many practical and informative screen shots will help you quickly learn how to touch, swipe, flick, zoom, and more with your DROID's touch screen. App Reference Tables: Quickly skim the icons or apps grouped by category. Get a thumbnail of what all the apps do on your DROID, including a pointer to
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INTRODUCTION
the relevant chapter numbers so you can jump right to the details of how to get the most out of each app in this book.
Part II: Introduction You are here now . . .
Part III: You and Your DROID This is the meat of the book, organized in 24 easy-to-understand chapters, all of them packed with loads of pictures to guide you every step of the way.
Part IV: DROID Media Sync In Chapter 25, learn how to use doubleTwist to sync your music, playlists, videos, podcasts and more to your DROID from your Windows or Mac computer. Also, buy music using the Amazon MP3 store, check out cool apps in the Android Market and locate and subscribe to podcasts all in doubleTwist on your computer. We also show you how to use Mass Storage mode to transfer media and documents using the USB cable. The more of your media you can load on your DROID, the more fun you will have with it.
Appendix A: DROID App Guide Learn about over 80 apps in the following categories Microsoft Office document editing, printing, file management, virus protection, backup, security, presentation software, web conferencing, note taking and mind-mapping, to-do and task lists, expenses and finance, travel, health and medicine, law and legal, real estate, sales force automation, retail, project management, education and training, social media, information technology, and other apps.
Quickly Locating Tips, Cautions, and Notes If you flip through this book, you can instantly see specially formatted TIPS, CAUTIONS, and NOTES that highlight important facts about using the DROID. For example, if you want to find all the special tips relevant to using the Calendar, you can flip to the Calendar chapter and search for these highlighted nuggets of information. TIPS, CAUTIONS, and NOTES are all formatted like this, with a gray background, to help you see them more quickly.
INTRODUCTION
Free DROID Email Tips Finally, check out the author’s web site at www.madesimplelearning.com for a series of very useful “bite-sized” chunks of DROID tips and tricks. We have taken a selection of the great tips out of this book and even added a few new ones. Click the “Free Tips” link and register for your tips in order to receive a tip right in your DROID inbox about once a week. Learning in small chunks is a great way to master your DROID!
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INTRODUCTION
Part
III
You and Your DROID. . . This is the heart of Droids Made Simple. In this section, you’ll find clearly labeled chapters—each explaining the key features of your DROID. You’ll see that most chapters focus on an individual app or a specific type of application. Many of the chapters discuss applications that come with your DROID, but we also include some fun and useful apps you can download from the Android Market. Sure, the DROID can help you get work done, but it’s for a whole lot more, too. We finish with some handy troubleshooting tips that can help if your DROID isn’t working quite right.
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Chapter
1
Getting Started In this chapter, we will tell you everything you need to know to get up and running on your DROID. This chapter will go into a little more detail than you saw in the Quick Start Guide. First, we will go around the outside of the DROID and describe what each of the buttons and keys on your device does. Second, we will go inside the device and show you how to remove the battery and install a memory card. You will also learn how to charge your DROID and get the most out of your battery life with our battery life tips. Third, we will show you how to connect your DROID to your email, social networking, and other accounts, so you can have your life in the palm of your hand and stay up-todate with anyone at anytime and anywhere! Fourth, we will show you how to clean your DROID and protect it, and even how to give it some “bling” with stylish cases. Fifth, we will show you how to use a password to protect your personal and/or confidential information on your DROID. Finally, we will end this chapter with a discussion and some tips on saving money on your DROID phone plans. There are various options you can add or remove from your phone plan that can save you a good sum of money. TIP: Be sure to check out the Quick Start Guide if you haven’t already done so. This guide explains what all the buttons on your DROID do, how to navigate around the touch screen, and where to find other important information in this book.
Getting to Know Your DROID In this section, we will show you how to use everything you get in the box with your DROID. We will also give you some DROID battery and charging tips.
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What Is Included in the Box The DROID box may seem small, but it contains everything you need to get started (your DROID, a USB cable, and wall plug adapter) except for a good manual – which is why we wrote this book!
The USB Cable This is the cable that connects your DROID to your computer. This cable also doubles as your power cable when you plug it into the wall plug adapter.
The Wall Plug Adapter You will also see your wall plug adapter in the box. This adapter allows you to charge your DROID directly from a wall outlet without having your computer around. All you do is plug the USB cable into this wall adapter and the other end into your DROID. Now let’s explore some of DROID’s basic features . . .
The DROID wall plug adapter.
Plug your USB cable in here.
Power and Lock Button To power on your DROID, press and hold the Power/Lock button on the top-right edge of the DROID for a few seconds (see the figure to the right). Simply tapping this button quickly won’t power on the DROID if it is completely off – you really need to hold it until you see the DROID power on. Tap this button once to put your DROID in Sleep mode when the screen goes off; this saves your battery life.
Power/Lock Press and hold to power on/off. y to sleep or wake. Press q quickly
Top edge of DROID 2
Tap the screen again quickly to wake the device and bring the screen back on.
NOTE: The Power/Lock button may be at a slightly different location, depending on your DROID model.
CHAPTER 1: Getting Started
Volume Buttons The Volume buttons located on the upperright side of your DROID perform multiple functions, depending on the context in which you press them. When you press these buttons, you will see the type of volume you are changing with an on-screen pop-up window, as shown below.
Volume buttons Raise or lower phone ring tone, music volume and phone volume.
Top left edge of DROID 2
If you are not playing any media (e.g., a song, video, or other content), then these Volume buttons will change your phone’s ringer volume.
When you are playing music, watching a video, or listening to other media, then pressing the Volume buttons will adjust the playback (speaker) volume.
When you’re on a phone call, these Volume buttons will change the volume of the caller. Finally, when you are in the Camera or Camcorder apps, the Volume buttons will zoom in or out.
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Slide to Unlock When you first power on your DROID or wake it from Sleep mode, you will see two sliders at the bottom of the screen.
Touch and slide this icon to u oc you unlock your phone.
Touch and drag the Lock icon slider from left to right to unlock your phone. If you have assigned a password to your DROID, then you will need to enter your password to unlock the device.
Slide to Mute The other slider that appears next to the Lock icon when the phone wakes up is the Slide to Mute icon. Touch and drag the Slide to Mute icon slider from right to left to Mute or Unmute your phone ringer, as shown in Figure 1–1.
Touch and slide this icon to Mute or Un-Mute your phone ringer.
Figure 1–1. Slide to Mute or Unmute your phone ringer.
Using the Four Buttons Along the Bottom Along the bottom of your DROID, you will find four buttons: Menu, Home, Back, and Search. Note that these buttons do not appear in the same order on all DROID models. (Be sure to check out the Quick Start Guide earlier in this book to learn what each of the buttons does.)
CHAPTER 1: Getting Started
The DROID 2’s four buttons appear in this order: Menu, Home, Back, and Search.
The DROID X’s four buttons appear in this order: Menu, Home, Back, and Search. The DROID’s four buttons appear in this order: Back, Menu, Home, and Search.
Slide-out Keyboard (for DROID and DROID 2) If you own the DROID, DROID 2, or DROID 2 Global, then you have a physical slide-out keyboard. Slide it out from the left side of the phone and turn the phone to Landscape mode to type using the keyboard (see Figure 1–2). We recommend typing with two thumbs on the keyboard – it will help you type a little faster (see Chapter 2: “Typing, Voice, Copy, and Search” to learn more about these keyboards). DROID 2 or DROID 2 Global Keyboard
ALT key for numbers and symbols.
Voice dictation and voice commands
Search key
DROID Keyboard
Cursor keys to move around screen.
Figure 1–2. The DROID and DROID 2 slide-out keyboards.
ALT key for numbers and symbols.
Search key
Menu key
Trackpad to move around screen.
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Dedicated Camera Button On the lower-right side of your DROID, you will see a small button. This is your dedicated camera button. Press and hold it for about a second to start the Camera app.
Camera button. Press to start the Camera app or take a picture.
You can take a picture by pressing this button once the Camera app has started. You can learn more about taking pictures in Chapter 18: “Taking Photos and Video.”
Inserting a Memory Card and Removing the Battery You need to open the back of your phone to remove and replace the battery, as well as to remove or insert a MicroSD memory card. You also need to open the back of your DROID 2 Global to remove or insert a SIM card. In order to get at the battery and memory card slots, you need to do the following. 1.
Power off your phone.
2.
Remove the back cover by sliding it down and lifting it up.
3.
Remove the battery by inserting your fingernail or other thin object into the little space by the white or silver tab on the battery that says BATTERY REMOVAL HERE. The DROID X has a plastic tab you can pull to remove the battery.
4.
Figure 1–3 shows where the memory card slots are located on your phone. You find these slots in different places on the DROID X and DROID 2 models.
5.
Slide the media card (MicroSD format) into the slot with the notch oriented as shown in Figure 1–3; the metal contacts of the media card must be facing down as you slide it in.
CHAPTER 1: Getting Started
DROID, DROID 2 and DROID 2 Global
DROID X
MicroSD Memory Card slot. You must first remove the battery to access this slot.
Figure 1–3. How to insert a memory card into your DROID.
Adjusting the Date, Time, Time Zone, and 24-Hour Format Usually, the date and time is set and adjusted automatically on your DROID using the wireless network. However, there may be a few adjustments you might want to make, such as your time and date formats. The following sections will show you how to adjust everything related to your device’s date, time, and time zones. When you travel with your DROID, your time zone will usually adjust automatically. Keep an eye on the time and see if it has adjusted to local time when you land in a new time zone. If not, then you can change the time zone by following these steps: 1.
Touch the Settings icon.
2.
Swipe up to see the items at the bottom of the list and touch Date & time.
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3.
You can see that the Automatic box at the top is checked (set to On) in the figure to the right. If you want to manually adjust the date, time zone, and/or time, then you have to uncheck the Automatic setting (i.e., set it to Off).
4.
To set the date, tap the Set date option and make adjustments by tapping either the + and - icons or the items themselves. If you tap an item such as the number 29 (as shown in the image to the right), you can type numbers to set the day.
5.
When done, tap the Set button.
6.
Tap Select time zone to adjust the time zone. Next, swipe up or down on the next screen and tap the correct time zone.
7.
Tap Set time to adjust the time. The Set time screen is very much like the controls you use to set the date. Use the + or - icons or tap inside the numbers to make adjustments with the keyboard. Tap Set when you are done.
8.
To use the 24-hour time format (e.g., 16:00 instead of 4:00 PM), you tap Use 24-hour time format.
9.
To adjust the date format, tap Select date format.
CHAPTER 1: Getting Started
10. You will now see a pop-up window showing various date options. Tap your selection to choose it. 11. This brings you back to the main Date & time settings screen. Press the Home button to return to your Home screen.
Adjusting the DROID’s Brightness The wonderful screen on your DROID is also one of the largest consumers of your battery life. The default is automatic brightness, which uses the built-in light sensor to adjust the brightness of the screen. When it is darker in your immediate environment, the auto-brightness control will dim the screen. When it is bright or sunny, the screen will be automatically brightened, so it is easier to read. You may want to play with this setting and see how it affects your battery life. First, try the Automatic brightness setting (the default) and see how it works. If you find that the automatic brightness screen seems a little too bright, then you may want to play with this setting and dim the screen. A dimmer screen will help you conserve battery power. If you want to adjust the brightness manually, follow these steps: 1.
Touch the Launcher icon to see all your apps.
2.
Tap the Settings icon.
3.
Tap Display.
4.
Tap Brightness.
5.
Tap Automatic brightness to set this option to Off (i.e., to make the Checkmark icon go gray).
6.
Move the slider control to adjust the brightness.
7.
Tap OK to save your settings.
TIP: You can also use the Android Power Control widget to adjust brightness.
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TIP: Setting the brightness lower will help you save battery life. A little less than halfway across seems to work fine.
Charging Your DROID and Battery Life Tips Your DROID may already have some battery life, but you might want to charge it completely, so you can enjoy uninterrupted hours of use after you get it set up. TIP: We recommend charging your DROID every night, especially if you use it a lot during the day for phone calls or web browsing.
Charging From the Wall Outlet The fastest way to charge your DROID is to use the adapter and plug it directly into the wall outlet. TIP: Some newer cars have built-in power outlets (just like your home). These outlets let you plug in your DROID power cord. Note that these outlets are sometimes buried in the middle console behind the front seat.
Charging from Your Computer You can also charge your DROID when you plug it into your computer. TIP: Try powering your DROID with different USB ports on your computer. Some USB ports share a bus and have less power, while others have their own bus and more power. For best charging, you should have your computer plugged into the wall outlet. If your computer is not connected to the wall power outlet, your DROID will charge, but at a slower rate. Keep in mind that if your laptop computer goes to sleep or you close the screen, your DROID will stop charging.
CHAPTER 1: Getting Started
Stopping the Verizon VCAST Video Auto-play (Windows PC) If you plug your DROID into a Windows PC, you might see your web browser pop up and start automatically playing a Verizon VCAST promotional video. If your computer speaker volume is turned up relatively high, you might be really surprised by this video. It can get quite loud! Fortunately, there is a way to turn off the auto-play feature of this video: 1.
Right-click the Motorola icon in your Windows tray, as shown in Figure 1–4.
2.
Select When phone connects, launch.
3.
Select Nothing.
Select When phone connects, launch. Then, select Nothing.
First, right-click the Motorola icon in your Windows tray.
Figure 1–4. Stopping the VCAST video from auto-playing.
What Drains the Battery the Fastest? The main drains on your DROID battery are the large touch-screen display and the wireless radios (cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth). As long as you know this, you can increase your battery life – we will show you some cool battery extending tips in the next section. But the short version is this: you want to keep the screen dimmer and turn it off (Sleep mode) as soon as you don’t need it. You also want to keep your radio usage down or limit it to those times when you need it. For example, if you don’t need your GPS location enabled, then turn it off. If you don’t need to use your device for 15 minutes, then you can have the data updates turned off automatically. We will show you how to do this with the Battery Manager feature in the “Using the Battery Manager” section.
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The Power Control Widget A very convenient tool to help prolong your battery life without having to dig through the Settings app is the Power Control widget. Follow these steps to add this widget to your Home screen: 1.
Press the Menu button.
2.
Tap Add.
3.
Tap Android widgets.
4.
Tap Power Control.
The Power Control widget will look like the image to the right. From left to right, the buttons will:
Turn on/off the Wi-Fi radio.
Turn on/off the Bluetooth radio.
Turn on/off the GPS receiver.
Turn on/off the wireless sync to Google.
Adjust your screen brightness. Tap once to brighten, tap again to go to auto brightness, and tap yet again to dim the screen.
Getting More Out of Each Charge Following these tips will help you extend your DROID’s battery life: 1.
Put the DROID into Sleep mode whenever possible: Tap the Power/Lock button on the upper-right edge of the device to put it into Sleep mode whenever you are not using it. We use the term Sleep mode loosely; this feature really just turns off the screen to save the battery.
CHAPTER 1: Getting Started
2.
Turn off Wi-Fi when not needed: The Wi-Fi antenna uses power even if you are not connected to a Wi-Fi network, so turn it off when you don’t need it. Turn off Wi-Fi by going to Settings > Wireless & Networks > Set Wi-Fi to Off.
TIP: DROID 2 and X users can swipe left to the second of the seven Home screens, and then tap
the Wi-Fi switch that looks like this to turn Wi-Fi off or on. is set to Off.)
(This icon shows that Wi-Fi
3.
Lower your screen brightness: Use the Power Control widget to adjust your brightness.
4.
Set a Shorter Screen timeout: Shortening the time your DROID takes to turn off the screen when it’s not being used can help you extend your effective battery life. To do this, tap Settings, then Display, and Screen timeout. Set Screen timeout as short as possible – you can set it as short as 15 seconds, if you can stand it. Sometimes it get annoying when the screen keeps turning off,so play with this setting a bit to find the best interval for how you use the device.
5.
Disable GPS when not needed: Use the Power Control widget to turn off GPS.
6.
Turn off Bluetooth when not needed: Use the Power Control widget to turn off Bluetooth.
7.
Adjust your Battery Manager settings to a Saver mode: See the “Using the Battery Manager” section later in this chapter to learn how to adjust these settings.
Long-Term Battery Life The DROID uses a rechargeable battery that will lose its ability to maintain a charge over time and has only a limited number of cycles during its useful life. You can extend the life of your DROID battery by making sure you run it down completely at least once a month. The rechargeable battery will last longer if you do this complete draining once a month.
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Using the Battery Manager To see the Battery Manager (DROID 2 and DROID X) shown to the right, tap your Settings icon, then swipe up and tap Battery Manager. The Checkmark in the large Battery icon shows that the DROID is currently being charged. The image to the right shows a full battery charge with 100% battery power remaining.
NOTE: On the original DROID, go to Settings/About phone and you can view the battery status and usage.
Tap the Battery icon to see how much of your battery is being consumed by various processes. In most cases, you will see that the display takes the majority of your power. The display and the data updates – which mean your radios such as Wi-Fi and Cell – consume the majority of your power. Press the Back button to return to the Battery Manager screen.
CHAPTER 1: Getting Started
Tap Battery mode at the bottom of the screen to see available modes, as shown to the right. To save battery life, you need to reduce the frequency of automatic data updates and make the screen a little dimmer. The top two settings will allow you to get more battery life. The Performance mode setting gives you the highest performance, but will consume the battery the fastest. With Custom battery saver, you can fine-tune the settings to fit your needs. To learn more details about each preset, tap the Information icon. To adjust the custom battery saver settings, tap the Gear icon. Now you can fine-tune your Off-peak hours, Peak hours, how soon to turn off the data (your radios), and the Display brightness. When you’re done, tap the OK button at the bottom. Press the Home button to return to your Home screen.
As you can see, selecting the correct Battery mode is a tradeoff between your performance needs and the battery life.
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Finding More Places to Charge Your Droid No matter what you do, you will want to find more places and more ways to charge your DROID if you use it a lot. Table 1–1 shows you some other options for charging your DROID besides using your power cord or connecting it to your computer. Table 1–1. Other Places and Ways to Charge Your DROID.
Option
Description
Airport Charging Station
Most airports have wall sockets available today where you can top off your DROID’s battery while you are waiting for your flight. Some airports have labeled charging stations, and others simply have wall sockets that may even be hidden behind chairs or other objects. You may have to do a bit of hunting to beat out all those other power-hungry travelers!
Car Charger Accessory
If you are using your DROID heavily for phone calls during the day, you may want to invest in a car charger or some other way to give your DROID a little more juice in the middle of a long day. These chargers plug directly into the cigarette lighter socket in your car. These run about US $15–25.
Car Power Inverter
If you are taking a long car trip, you can buy a power inverter to convert your 12V car power outlets into a power outlet that lets you plug in your DROID charger. Do a web search for “power inverter for cars” to find many options for under US $50. This is a small price to pay for hours of enjoyment on your DROID!
Setting up Accounts on Your DROID You need to link to at least one Google account on your DROID. You can also connect to many other types of accounts (e.g., email, social networking, corporate, and photo). In this section, we explain the basics of setting up various types of accounts.
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Setting up Your Google Account When you power on your DROID for the first time and slide to unlock it, certain apps such as the Calendar, Contacts, and Email require that you connect your DROID to a Google account. This is because your DROID is running the Android operating system created by Google. It was designed from the ground up to be wirelessly connected to a Google account. If you don’t have a Google account already, you can create a free one with a Gmail address by registering at http://mail.google.com/mail/signup. To connect your DROID to Google, you need to enter your Gmail account login and password and follow the steps outlined to log in. We show you the detailed steps of how to do this in Chapter 3: “Sync Your DROID with Your Google Account.” Chapter 3 also shows you how to transfer your contacts from your computer to your Google account, so you can sync them to your phone. TIP: If your workplace uses Google Apps for Enterprise, then you could use this ID as your Google account. However, unless your phone is part of an enterprise deployment, the wiser course of action is to use a personal Google account and add the Google Apps information as an additional email account. That way, you don’t lose your phone data if you switch jobs.
Using Other Google Services We’ll cover how to use other Google services in greater detail in Chapter 3, but virtually everything on Android phones is handled through your Google account. You should set up and explore these tools on the Web for a better understanding of how they work on your phone. If you purchase apps in the Android Market, you’ll use your Google account and the Google Checkout app to complete the transaction. The default email account is Gmail, and the default calendar is Google Calendar. Here are a few of the default Google services you’ll get to know as you use your DROID: Gmail (Google’s email program), Google Calendar, Google Maps, Google Checkout (a payment system like the one from PayPal), Picasa (a photo upload and sharing site like Flickr), and YouTube (a video upload and sharing service).
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Setting up More Types of Accounts Except for the first Google account, which the phone automatically guides you through at the login screen, every other account requires that you access your Accounts page. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Tap the Launcher icon in the middle of the bottom of the Home screen.
2.
Tap the My Accounts icon.
3.
Tap the Add account button at the bottom.
4.
Select your type of account from the screen, as shown to the right. Use Corporate Sync icon for a Microsoft Exchange account. You may see fewer or more account type options depending on the number of apps you have downloaded from the Android Market.
5.
Follow the on-screen instructions to enter your login information. You may need to accept a license agreement if this is the first time you are accessing an app you just downloaded.
Finding Your Email After you get your accounts set up, you may be wondering where you can find your email. There are two icons for email on your DROID: Email and Gmail. The one called Email handles all email accounts except Gmail. And, as you might imagine, you use the Gmail app for all your Gmail accounts. This is the app you use for all your non-Gmail email accounts.
This is the app you use for your Gmail account(s).
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TIP: Sometimes the Corporate Setup option might not work for your Exchange or other type of server. In this case, you can turn to third-party apps for a solution. TouchDown is a $20 app from NitroDesk that allows Exchange ActiveSync with Push email. This company also offers a free trial, so do take advantage of it to make sure the app works with your Exchange service. For example, it is not supported with some Exchange Server 2003 configurations. The newest version of TouchDown also supports other types of servers, such as Zimbra, Kerio, Novell GroupWise, Sun Java Communication Suite, Oracle’s Oracle Collaboration Suite (OCS) and Beehive Suite, and other servers. Check out NitroDesk’s website at www.nitrodesk.com for more information. If you use TouchDown, you’ll have a separate email, calendar, and task list. It will all look familiar to Microsoft Outlook users; however, it doesn’t sync this data with your Google Calendar. You can download TouchDown from the Android Market or by visiting http://www.nitrodesk.com.
Securing Your DROID Your DROID can hold a great deal of valuable information. This is especially true if you save information such as the Social Security numbers and birthdates of your family members in your Contacts list. It’s a good idea to make sure that anyone who picks up your DROID can’t access all that information!
Setting a Screen Lock To set a screen lock to protect your DROID, tap your Settings icon, then Location & Security settings. Next, scroll down and tap Set up screen lock to see the list of lock options, as shown to the right: None: Disable security lock. Pattern: Draw a pattern of dots. PIN: Set a numeric PIN code. Password: Enter a password.
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Tap Pattern to draw a pattern with your finger across nine dots as shown to the right. You will need to draw the pattern twice to confirm it.
The defaults are no visible pattern or tactile feedback – you may want to enable these. If someone is watching you do this, however, then that person may be able to see your pattern code. By default the DROID will not lock for 20 minutes, so we recommend tapping the Security lock timer and setting it to a smaller interval. The most secure setting is When display is off, which means to lock the device every time the display times out or turns off with the Power/Lock button.
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If you tapped PIN for the security method, then you would need to type a numeric PIN of at least four digits. You can definitely use more, if you like. In this screen shot to the right, we used nine digits. Make sure that you use a PIN that you will remember.
Tap password to use a complex password that can include letters, numbers, and symbols. Again, your password must be at least four characters long.
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Locking Your DROID Your DROID will lock when one of the following occurs:
You press the Power/Lock button on the top edge, and the security lock timer is set to When display is off.
The security lock timer expires.
Unlocking Your DROID To unlock your DROID, you first slide the lock slider to see the lock code entry screen. Next, enter your pattern, PIN, or password to unlock the phone. You get five attempts to try your unlock code. After the fifth try, the DROID will lock up for 30 seconds before you can try again. If you enter 20 incorrect unlock codes, then your DROID will ask you to enter your Google account information to unlock it. CAUTION: We have heard that sometimes even entering the correct Google information will not allow you to unlock your DROID. If this occurs, then you will need to perform a Hard Reset. See Chapter 24: “Troubleshooting” for detailed information on performing a Hard Reset.
Maintaining Your DROID Now that you have your DROID fully charged, you will want to know how to safely clean the screen and keep it protected with various cases.
Cleaning Your DROID Screen After using your DROID a little while, you will see that your fingers (or other fingers besides yours) have left smudges and oil on the formerly pristine screen. You will want to know how to safely clean the screen. One way to keep the screen cleaner throughout the day is to place a protective screen cover on the DROID, which may also have the added benefit of cutting down on glare (as discussed in the next section). We also recommend the following: 1.
Turn off your DROID by pressing and holding the Sleep/Power key on the top edge, and tap Power off from the Phone Options pop-up menu.
2.
Remove any cables, such as the USB sync cable.
3.
Rub the screen with a dry, soft, lint-free cloth (such as a cloth supplied to clean eyeglasses or something similar).
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4.
If the dry cloth does not work, then try adding a very tiny bit of water to dampen the cloth. If you use a damp cloth, try not to get any water in the openings.
CAUTION: Never use household cleaners, abrasive cleaners such as SoftScrub, or ammoniabased cleaners such as Windex, alcohol, aerosol sprays, or solvents on your device.
Cases and Protective Covers for Your DROID Once you have your DROID in your hands, you will notice how beautifully it is constructed. You will also notice that it can be fairly slippery. At some point, it could even slip out of your hands, rock around a bit, or have the back get scratched when you are typing on it. We recommend buying a protective case for your DROID. Average cases run about US $10 – 40, and fancy leather cases can cost US $100 or more. Spending a little to protect your DROID, which costs $200 or more, makes good sense.
Where to Buy Your Covers You can purchase your DROID protective cover at any of the following locations:
Amazon.com (www.amazon.com)
Android Central (www.androidcentral.com)
Handheld Items (www.handhelditems.com)
You could also do a web search for “DROID cases” or“DROID protective covers.” TIP: You may be able to use a case designed for another type of smartphone for your DROID. If you go this route to save some money, just make sure your DROID fits securely in the case or cover.
What to Buy The following sections provide information on the available types of cases to choose from and their price ranges.
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Rubber / Silicone / Decorative Cases ($10–30) What these do: Provide a cushioned grip, absorb DROID bumps and bruises, and isolate the edges of the phone (antennas) from your fingers. Pros: Deliver inexpensive, colorful, and comfortable DROID protection. Cons: Provide a less professional look than a leather case.
Motorola A955 Droid 2 Full Diamond Graphic Case – Purple Heart Image courtesy of www.handhelditems.com.
Waterproof Cases ($10–40) What these do: Provide waterproof protection for your DROID and allow you to safely use the DROID near water (in the rain, at the pool, at the beach, on a boat, and so on). Pros: Provide good water protection. Cons: May make the touch screen harder to use; these covers typically do not protect your DROID from drops or bumps.
Hard Plastic / Metal Case ($20–40) What these do: Provide hard, solid protection against scratches and bumps and short drops. Pros: Provide good protection. Cons: Add some bulk and weight. You may need to remove such covers when charging because the DROID might overheat in that circumstance.
Leather or Special Cases ($50–100+) What these do: Provide more of a luxury feel and protect the DROID. Pros: Provide the more upscale look-and-feel of leather; such cases also protect the front and the back of the device. Cons: Cost more than other cases; add bulk and weight.
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Front Screen Glass Protectors ($5–40) What these do: Protect the DROID’s screen from scratches. Pros: Help prolong life of your DROID and protect against scratches; most covers like this also decrease screen glare. Cons: Some may increase glare or may affect the touch sensitivity of the screen.
Saving Money on Phone Plans You know you have to purchase a voice and data plan to use your DROID; however, fully understanding the available optional bells and whistles can help you save some money. TIP: Check with your workplace to see if it offers special deals on Verizon DROID and rate plans. You might be able to save some money through such a plan.
Data Packages At the time of publishing, Verizon offers two data plans that give you access to the mobile web, email, and contacts or calendar sync capabilities of your device. Both plans offered by Verizon feature unlimited calls. Option 1 is an unlimited corporate plan; Option 2 is a regular or “personal” plan. The corporate plan is about $45 / month, and the personal plan is about $30 / month. The only real difference between the plans is that the corporate plan allows you to connect your DROID to a corporate email service, such as Microsoft Exchange Active Sync, IBM Lotus Notes Traveler, or Good Mobile Messaging. TIP: Your DROID comes with built-in wireless sync to your Google Contacts, Email, and Calendar programs. This means that, unless you need a special corporate email connection, you should be able to go for the personal data plan and save some money.
Text, Picture, and Video Messaging Plans Usually, the texting add-on service plans can be added or removed from your plan at any time. Texting rates are all for both inbound and outbound messages. At publishing time, Verizon bills $0.20 for text messages and $0.25 for picture messaging. As soon as you exceed 25 text messages in a month, you should opt for the basic 250 message plan; it is cheaper. Text, picture, and video messaging plans range from 250 to 5000 messages.
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TIP: Save Money on Text, Video, and Picture Messaging You need to watch your monthly bill closely. If you find out that you have gone over $20 in total messaging charges, you may be able to cut the bill down to $20 by calling Verizon and asking to be switched over to an unlimited messaging plan. If you sweet talk them, they will usually institute the plan retroactively, so it reduces your current phone bill.
Equipment Insurance Plans You may be offered a total equipment protection plan that will allow you to get a new phone if yours is damaged or lost. Please note that many of these plans have deductibles of $90 or more and caps on how many phones per year (usually two) that you can recover. New DROIDs with a service plan cost about $200; without a service plan, the phones usually cost $500 – $600. Because this is what you might have to pay to buy a phone to replace your lost or damaged DROID, it seems to make financial sense to get the insurance. At about $8 / month, you are paying $96 per year. If you add on the $90 deductible, you are still at just $186 in the first year and $276 for the second year. This is well below the $500 - $600 price to buy a new DROID without a service plan. NOTE: You can typically add insurance only during the first 30 days after you sign up for the original service plan.
Mobile Wi-Fi Hot Spot A very cool and useful feature on the DROID is the Mobile Wi-Fi Hot Spot feature (also known as Wireless Internet Access). We describe this feature in more In Chapter 5: “Wi-Fi and 3G Connectivity.” This feature allows you to turn your DROID into a secure, private, mobile Wi-Fi hot spot for up to five devices. A good example of this is when you are traveling in a car or sitting in a location waiting for something, and you need an Internet connection for your laptop. In this case, you can use the DROID to connect your laptop, iPod touch, iPad, or any other device that needs a Wi-Fi Internet connection. Usually, the Wi-Fi connection speeds are quite respectable!
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TIP: Controlling Costs With Reminders You can set a DROID Calendar Reminder to help you remember to turn off temporary service plan features. For example, Verizon (like most phone companies) bills in advance for additional add-on services such as Mobile Hotspot or Visual Voicemail. Our recommendation is that you put the service on a recurring monthly reminder on your DROID calendar. This reminder should be set to a day or two before your monthly billing cycle ends. When the reminder comes up, you should check whether there are any features that you want to turn off. For example, if you are going on a summer trip and need the Mobile Hotspot feature for just a month, the reminder would help you save $20 or more by making sure you turn off the service when you are done with it.
Enhanced Voicemail Plans Verizon also sells Visual Voice Mail or Premium Voice Mail services on an ad-hoc basis. This means you can turn the features on or off at will, with no penalties. The Visual Voice Mail service gives you the ability to see a list of all your messages on your DROID and tap to listen to them in any order. It’s a nice feature. The Premium Voice Mail service gives you twice the storage for your voice mail messages. At the time of publishing, the Premium plan lets you store 40 messages instead of the standard 20. If you are careful about cleaning out your inbox, then the standard 20 messages included for free should be adequate. TIP: If you use the free Google Voice service, you can get free Visual Voice Mail service. You can learn more about Google Voice in Chapter 7: “Making Phone Calls.”
International Plans If you travel to Canada or Mexico, Verizon offers special plans that allow you to fully use your DROID for voice and data while traveling. Again, these plans can be turned on or off at will. So, if you are only going to be in Mexico a week or so, just remember to turn off the plan when you return home. We cover international travel in more detail in Chapter 5: “Wi-Fi and 3G Connectivity.” Also, if you call from the US to other countries, be sure to inquire about international access plans that give you reduced calling rates to overseas phone numbers. If you travel to other countries, check with Verizon and get the company to enable your phone for international travel. You should also have someone explain all the various plans, as well as any limitations to your coverage when you travel.
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TIP: Plans for Cruise Ships! There are even special plans and rates that will allow you to make calls and stay connected to your data plan when you take a cruise. Rates and plans vary by cruise line, so give Verizon a call to see what is available. Now that you know all about the various service plans, you are ready to start using your new DROID!
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Typing, Voice, Copy, and Search In this chapter, we will show you the ins-and-outs of using the DROID keyboards. We will cover both the virtual on-screen keyboard and the slide out keyboard (for DROID and DROID 2). The on-screen keyboard comes in two flavors: Portrait mode (vertical/smaller) and Landscape mode (horizontal/larger). You will also learn how to use the innovative Swype typing, where you drag your finger across the virtual keyboard to Swype words. You can also fine-tune your keyboard to vibrate, click, or be silent when you press keys. Your DROID also comes with accessibility features such as Voice ReadOuts (where the DROID reads the screen out loud) and Zoom Mode (where you zoom in on a section of the screen for easier reading). You may also choose to skip typing altogether and use the DROID’s voice recognition software to speak your text – it works amazingly well. Your DROID also comes with a Voice Command app to help you control the DROID itself with your voice. Finally, we will show you how to use the DROID’s copy-and-paste features, as well as the highly flexible Google Search and Voice Search functions.
Typing on Your DROID When you first use your DROID, you will quickly find two on-screen keyboard orientations on the device. The first (and smaller of the two) is visible when you hold your DROID in a vertical orientation (Portrait mode); the second orientation is the larger Landscape mode that you see when you hold the DROID in a horizontal orientation. The nice thing is that you can use whichever orientation works best for you.
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Two Ways to Type: Multi-touch and Swype Your DROID also gives you two ways to type text on your virtual keyboards: Multi-touch and Swype. We recommend trying both methods and seeing which one works best for you.
Quickly Switch Between Multi-touch and Swype While you can change typing modes in the Settings app, one of the fastest ways to change typing modes is to long-press on any word. This will bring up a pop-up window from which you can select Input method at the bottom of the list to change your typing method.
Multi-touch Typing With the standard Multi-touch typing method, you tap each key only once, just as you do on a standard keyboard.
TIP: You know are using the Multi-touch keyboard if you see the ?123 key or the ABC key (which is visible after you quickly tap the ?123 key) in the lower-left corner of your virtual keyboard.
Various Multi-Touch Keyboards You will see the entire keyboard show uppercase letters when you press the Shift key or you are typing at the beginning of a sentence (DROID automatically capitalizes the first letter). You can tap the ?123 key to access numbers and basics symbols, and then tap the ALT key to access the advanced symbols keyboard. Tap the ABC key to return to the letter keyboard (see Figure 2–1). Upper Case
Lower Case
Press Shift
Touch to dictate text.
Numbers & Basic Symbols
Advanced Symbols
Press ?123
Press ?123 Then ALT
Return to letter keyboard.
Figure 2–1. Accessing number and symbol keyboards in Multi-touch mode.
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Accessing Settings and Switching Typing Modes from Multi-touch Assume you want to quickly access the Settings program or switch typing modes while using the Multi-touch keyboard. From the Multi-touch keyboard, press and hold the Settings / ?123 key in the lower-left corner of the keyboard to bring up the Multi-touch keyboard dialog box. You can also get to this by pressing and holding any input box. Tap Multi-touch keyboard settings or Input method to access either function.
NOTE: On the original DROID, you have the option of Android keyboard settings instead of Multi-touch keyboard settings. From the Input method dialog, you can switch between the Swype and Multitouch keyboards.
Swype Typing (DROID 2 and DROID X only) When using the Swype typing method, you touch-and-drag your finger around the screen to cross each of the letters in the word you are typing. With Swype, you only lift your finger after completely touching all the letters.
TIP: You know you are in the Swype mode of typing if you see the Swype (stylized S) key or the OPT key (which is visible after pressing the SYM key) in the lower-left corner on your virtual keyboard.
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Follow these steps to type the word “hope” with Swype: 1.
2.
3.
Using Swype to type the word “hope.” 3
Touch the keyboard on first letter (h). Drag your finger across the next letters (o) and (p).
Lift your finger on the last letter in the word.
Lift your finger on the last letter (e).
Swype Help and the Built-in Swype Tutorial If you want to learn more about Swype, the on-board help is pretty good. To access Swype Help, long-press the Swype key in the lower-left corner. To access Swype Tutorial, tap the Tutorial button at the bottom of the Help screen. You will see an Options button; this button provides quick access to the settings screens. Follow these steps to navigate through the available options:
Tap the Next button to move forward (the Next button is the green, right-facing arrow)
Tap the Previous button to move back a step (the Previous button is the green, left-facing arrow).
Tap the Close button (signified by a red “X”) or the Back key to close the tutorial.
2
Drag
Lift Touch
1 Touch the screen on the first letter.
Drag your finger to each letter in the word.
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Word Choice Window If Swype cannot figure out what you are trying to type, it shows you a Word Choice window. Follow these tips to navigate the Word Choice window:
Tap any word to select it or press the Space key to select the bold word (in this image, merck is bold.)
Tap the arrow on the bottom of the window to see more choices.
Tap the X button on the left side to close the window.
Various Swype Keyboard Layouts As with the Multi-touch keyboard, you can use Swype to access various number and symbol keyboards using the buttons in the lower-left corner (see Figure 2–2). Upper Case
Lower Case
Press SYM
Press Shift
Swype key – tap for suggestions, longpress for tips.
Numbers & Basic Symbols
Microphone key – tap to dictate text.
Long press for Keyboard Settings.
Advanced Symbols Press SYM Then Shift
Return to letter keyboard.
Figure 2–2. Accessing numbers and symbol keyboards in Swype typing mode.
Getting to Keyboard Options from the Swype Keyboard To quickly access options to change keyboard settings or to change from Swype typing back to Multi-touch typing, you press the SYM key, and then press and hold (long press) the OPT key in the lower-left corner of the keyboard.
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Swype Tips and Tricks Here are some things to keep in mind while using Swype:
Touch and hold the Swype key for tips and tricks about how to use Swype.
No spaces are necessary. Skip pressing the Space key between words because spaces are automatically inserted.
You can enter double letters by “scribbling” on the letter or making a little circle on the letter you want to double as you drag your finger. For example, when typing “hello,” scribble a little on the letter “l” to get the double letter.
If you want to change the last word typed, tap the Swype key to see a list of alternate words appear, and then tap the correct word.
If you get tired of Swype typing, try using the Microphone key next to the Space key to dictate your text (see the “Dictating Your Text” section in later in this chapter for more information).
Sometimes you may want to type in ALL CAPS. Start Swyping as you do normally, then slide your finger until it is above the keyboard. Next, make a circle, and then continue Swyping the rest of the word. It will appear in ALL CAPS.
If you just can’t type a word using the Swyping motion, you can go back to tapping each letter; that still works as a back-up plan.
Swype from the period to the space at the end of a sentence, rather than tapping each separately – this will save you time and make the next letter you type automatically uppercase.
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The Device Keyboard (DROID 2 and Similar) If you have a DROID 2 or DROID with a slide out keyboard – also known as the Device keyboard – you can slide it out to type (see Figure 2–3).
DROID Device Keyboard Trackpad to move around screen. Press in or click to select.
ALT key for numbers and symbols shown on the top of the keys.
Symbols: Press ALT then press the Space key.
Search
Menu
DROID 2 / DROID 2 Global Device Keyboard Backspace B Tab Enter Shift
Press ALT to type no. and symbols on keys.
Voice Dictation
Search
Symbols: Press ALT + the Space key.
Figure 2–3. The DROID and DROID 2 slide-out physical keyboard.
Device Keyboard Options You can set a few options on your Device keyboard. From your Settings icon, tap Language & Keyboard settings, and then tap Device keyboard. This brings up a menu with three options: Auto-replace, Auto-cap, and Auto-punctuate. Auto-replace automatically corrects misspelled words.
OK / Click highlighted item. Back
Cursor keys
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Auto-cap capitalizes the first letter in sentences. Auto-punctuate allows you to press the Space key twice to insert a period at the end of a sentence.
Dictating Your Text If you get tired of typing, tap the little Microphone key to the left or right of the Space key on the virtual keyboard. This allows you to dictate your text (see Figure 2–4). In informal testing, the authors found that this dictation worked amazingly well! However, one author’s 10-year-old daughter, Cece, did not get quite such accurate results. “My name is Cece,” she said. But the DROID typed out, “I’m a meanie cc.” OK, so it wasn’t quite right, but it gave us a good laugh.
Tap the Microphone key.
Speak loudly and clearly.
Your voice is transcribed into text.
Figure 2–4. Using the Microphone key to dictate text for emails,text messages, notes, and more.
TIP: To enhance the translation of your dictated words, try these tips:
Dictate in a quiet place.
Try to speak slowly and enunciate your words clearly.
Speak loudly.
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Quickly Delete a Word at a Time To save your finger when you need to delete an entire word or series of words, simply press and hold the Backspace key (see the image to the right) to delete a word at a time. This brings up a little window pop-up saying Delete Word Back (again, see the image to the right).
Backspace
Typing on the Screen With Two Thumbs You will find when you first start out with your DROID that you can type most easily with one finger – usually your index finger – while holding the DROID with the other hand. After a little while, you should be able to experiment with thumb typing (as you see so many people doing with other phones). Once you practice a little, typing with two thumbs instead of a single finger will really boost your speed. Just be patient; it takes practice to become proficient typing quickly with two thumbs. TIP: If you have large hands and fingers, try flipping your DROID on its side to get the larger landscape keyboard! You will eventually notice that the on-screen keyboard touch sensitivity assumes you are typing with two thumbs. This means that the letters on the left side of your keyboard are meant to be pressed on their left side, and the keys on the right are meant to be touched on their right side (see Figure 2–5).
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Smaller Portrait Keyboard Larger Landscape Keyboard Flip the DROID on its side to get the larger keyboard.
Type the keys on the left side with your left thumb.
Hold the DROID with both hands near the bottom of the device.
Type the keys on the right side with your right thumb.
Figure 2–5. Typing with two thumbs can be much faster than using a single finger.
Moving the Cursor Around the Screen As you type, you will want to precisely position the cursor in the text, so you can edit it or switch between fields on a form, such as a calendar. The following sections explain how to do this.
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Tapping to Move the Cursor You can tap anywhere inside a text entry area on the screen to move the cursor. You might do this to correct a sentence you typed in an email message or to jump between fields in a calendar event, as shown in Figure 2–6.
Tap quickly to move the cursor to a different location.
The cursor at the beginning or end of a field is shown as a half circle.
The cursor in the middle field is shown as a full circle.
Figure 2–6. Tap the screen to move the cursor around.
NOTE: The full and half circles do not appear on the original DROID.
Sliding to Exactly Position the Cursor If you need to position the cursor on the screen more precisely, then you need to touch and slide your finger around the screen. You will see a little window appear above your finger; this tells you where the cursor is located, as shown in the figure to the right. TIP: You will see suggested replacement words based on the word closest to or under the cursor. In the figure to the right, notice that the word “new” is touched. Consequently, the related suggestions are “news,” “newsletter,” and “newspaper.”
Touch and slide your finger around the screen to place the cursor. Notice the suggested words here.
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Keyboard Vibration and Sounds When using the on-screen keyboard, you might find it useful to have some audible or sensory feedback as you press the virtual keys. Follow these steps to toggle a click sound or a short vibration on or off: 1.
Tap the Settings icon.
2.
Tap Language & keyboard.
3.
Tap the type of keyboard you are using (Multi-touch keyboard or Swype).
4.
For the Multi-touch keyboard, you can turn Vibrate on or off on keypress and Sound on or off on keypress by tapping either option. If you are using the Swype keyboard, you can only turn Vibrate on or off on keypress.
Saving Time With Suggested Words On the Multi-touch keyboard, you will see a line of suggested words appear in a gray bar directly above the keyboard. These suggestions appear whether you have an onscreen keyboard or physical keyboard, as long as you have the option enabled in your settings.
TIP: If you never see the suggested words appear above the keyboard, then you will have to enable suggestions by selecting your Settings app > Language & keyboard > Multi-touch keyboard or Swype keyboard, and then setting Show suggestions to on (a Green check mark button next to the option means it is selected). You can save yourself time when you see the correct word guessed (shown in bold font) by just pressing the Space key at the bottom of the keyboard to select that word (see Figure 2–7). In this example, we wanted to type the word “Martin” but misspelled it as “marton.” The suggested words box displayed the correct spelling of his name with the highlighted word. Since the correct suggestion is highlighted, we can simply tap the Space key to
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select it. If the correct word were not highlighted, then we would need to tap the correct word to select it from the list.
Suggested words
Tap any suggested word or the Space key to select it. Figure 2–7. Tap any suggested word to select it or press the Space key to select the highlighted word.
TIP: The Auto-Replace feature also looks through your Contacts list to make suggestions. For example, if Martin Trautschold was in your Contacts list, you would see “Trautschold” come up as a suggested word after typing “Trau” – the figure to the right shows an example of this. After you get used to tapping the suggested words and using the Space key to select highlighted suggestions, you will come to appreciate just how much time this feature saves you. Sometimes when you hit the Space key, the wrong word is selected. In this case, you simply need to press the Backspace key to see the originally typed word. At this point, you can select one of the other suggestions or keep typing.
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TIP: With the Auto-Replace feature, you can save time by not typing the apostrophe in many common contractions, such as “wont” and “cant.” The suggested words will show you the contraction spelled correctly. If the correction is highlighted, press the Space key to select it. If not, then tap the word.
Using the Spell Checker Working hand-in-hand with the suggested words feature is the DROID’s built-in spell checker and its user dictionary. Most of the time, your misspelled words will be caught and corrected automatically by the Auto-correction feature. CAUTION: At the time of publishing, if you ignore the suggested correction or the misspelled word is not in the dictionary, then it will not be corrected before you send your email message. The spell checker on the DROID does not check words after you finish typing them; it only checks words as you type them.
Adding Words to the Custom User Dictionary You can add words to the built-in user dictionary, so they are not auto-corrected by the DROID. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Tap Settings.
2.
Tap Language & keyboard.
3.
Tap User dictionary.
4.
Press the Menu key and select Add.
5.
Type in your new word for the user dictionary and click OK.
6.
Repeat for as many words as you want to add.
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Editing or Deleting Words From the User Dictionary Navigate to the User dictionary screen, as shown in the above image. Next, long-press (press and hold) any word and then select Edit or Delete.
Clearing Out the User Dictionary It’s possible that you will end up adding misspelled words to your user dictionary. If at some point you find that your user dictionary has too many misspelled words, then you can give it a fresh start by clearing out all the custom words. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Tap Settings.
2.
Tap Language & keyboard.
3.
Tap Multi-touch keyboard.
4.
Tap Clear user dictionary.
5.
Tap Yes to confirm that you want to clear the user dictionary.
The preceding process will clear out all custom words added to your DROID dictionary.
Accessibility Options There are a number of useful features on the DROID to help with accessibility. For example, the Voice Readouts feature will read text on the screen to you. It will tell you what you tap on, what choices are selected, and even read email. If you like to see things in a larger size, you can turn on the Zoom Mode feature; this chapter’s “Using Zoom Mode to Magnify a Portion of the Screen” section explains how to do so.
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Accessibility – Voice Readouts (Reads the Screen) One cool feature of the DROID is that it has a Voice Readouts feature you can turn on to make the DROID will speak anything you tap on the screen. You can even get it to read to you from any email or other text-based document.
TIP: Use a set of headphones when listening to Voice Readouts to better hear what is being said and to avoid disturbing others.
Follow these steps to enable Voice Readouts: 1.
Tap the Settings icon.
2.
Tap Accessibility near the bottom of the page.
3.
Tap Accessibility again to check it.
4.
Tap Voice Readouts to check it.
TIP: The Voice Readouts gestures are a little different from the normal gestures. A single tap will result in the item being read to you. Once you enable this feature, you have to double-tap an item to select it or set a switch.
NOTE: The original DROID has the options of TalkBack, SoundBack and KickBack. TalkBack recites menu options, app titles, contacts, etc when scrolling through and opening. SoundBack plays a tone when scrolling menus and a different one everytime a menu is selected. KickBack is like SoundBack but with vibration.
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Using Zoom Mode to Magnify a Portion of the Screen You may want to turn on the Zoom Mode feature if you find that the text, icons, buttons, or anything else on the screen is a little too hard to see. Zoom mode is not available on the original DROID. Follow these steps to enable Zoom Mode: 1.
Tap the Settings icon.
2.
Tap Accessibility near the bottom of the page.
3.
Make sure Accessibility at the top is checked.
4.
Tap Zoom Mode to check it.
5.
You will see a warning that the Zoom Mode will collect everything you type. Tap OK to continue.
With the Zoom Mode turned on, you will see a box with gray bars on the top and bottom. In the upper- and lower-left corners, you will also see + (plus) and – (minus) symbols. Tap the + symbol to zoom in and the – symbol to zoom out. Drag either gray bar to move the screen around and zoom in on something else (see Figure 2–8).
+ = increase zoom - = decrease zoom
Drag the Zoom Mode box around the screen using the bar at the top or bottom.
You can now see a zoomed in area of the screen inside this box.
Figure 2–8. Using Zoom Mode to expand a portion of your DROID screen.
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Double Tap the Home Button Options The default setting for when you double-click the Home button is to start up Voice Command, but you can adjust this behavior in your settings. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Tap your Settings icon.
2.
Tap Applications.
3.
Tap Double tap home launch.
4.
Select from any of the available options.
Note that this list is longer than the screen, so scroll up and down to see all the options available. You can choose from Browser, Camera, Contacts, Dialer, Gmail, Maps, Messaging, Music, News, Social Networking, Text Messaging, Voice Command, and Voice Search. NOTE: Double tap home launch is not available on the original DROID.
Pressing and Holding to Type Symbols (and More) You might wonder how you type symbols that aren’t shown on the standard keyboard. TIP: You can type more symbols than are shown on the screen. To do so, simply press and hold a letter, number, or symbol that is related to the symbol you want. If you see three dots (...) in the lower-left corner of a letter, that’s your tip that pressing and holding that letter will show you more character options (see the figure showing the letter “E” to the right).
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Several characters have special, additional characters associated with them, including all the vowels; the letters “C” and “N”; and the . (period) and $ (dollar) symbols. For example, follow these steps if you want to type the ¥ (yen) symbol:
Press and hold the $ key until you see the other options.
Slide up your finger to highlight the ¥ symbol and then let go with your finger over that symbol.
Toggling Caps Lock You double-tap the Shift key to turn on Caps Lock. You know Caps Lock is turned on when the little dot in the upper-left corner of the key turns green. An easy way to see whether Caps Lock is on: all the letters on the keyboard will be shown in UPPER CASE. To turn off Caps Lock, simply press the Shift key again.
Quickly Changing a Word If you want to quickly change a single word, tap it once to put the cursor in it, as shown in the figure to the right. The cursor in this image is in the middle of the word “quickly.” This causes the suggested words shown at the bottom of the image to be related to the word “quickly.” If you see the suggestion you want, tap it. If not, tap the gray triangle in the lower-right corner to see more suggestions.
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Quickly Change Text Sometimes you need to quickly change or delete some text you are typing. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Begin by selecting the desired text by double-tapping it. Notice that the word you tapped is now selected.
2.
Adjust the selection by dragging the blue handles.
3.
To erase the selected text, press the Backspace key.
4.
To replace the text, simply start typing. The text will be instantly replaced by the letters you type.
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Changing the Language and Keyboard Options The DROID includes a few keyboard options to make typing on your DROID easier. The keyboard options are located in the Settings app. Follow these steps to change these settings: 1.
Tap the Settings icon.
2.
Tap Language & keyboard.
3.
To change your language, tap Select Locale and select another language.
4.
To change your typing method, tap Input Method and select between Multi-touch keyboard and Swype.
5.
To adjust the settings particular to the various keyboards, tap each type of keyboard: Swype; Multi-touch keyboard; and if you happen to have a device keyboard (DROID 2 models), Device keyboard.
6.
Tap User dictionary to make adjustments to your user dictionary. For example, you might add, edit, or delete words to your custom dictionary.
If you changed your local language to Español, then you would see all the labels and menus on the DROID change to Spanish.
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Voice Command The DROID 2 and DROID X comes with a nice feature called Voice Command that allows you to control many aspects of your phone using your voice. Double-pressing the Home button will usually bring up Voice Command. You can also tap the icon to start it. If the default behavior of double-clicking the Home button has been changed (DROID 2 and DROID X only), you can change it back to start Voice Command by following the steps we showed you in this chapter’s earlier section, “Double-Clicking the Home Button Options.” The Voice Command feature lets you do the following:
Call a person by name or number. Send a text message. Send a picture. Send a video. Send an email. Lookup someone’s contact information. Go to a menu. Play a playlist.
When you say (or tap) Check, you can check any number of status items, as shown in the image to the right.
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Texting by Voice The Voice Command feature lets you do a lot of cool things. For example, you can use this feature to dictate and send an email to someone. Follow these steps to do so:
Say “Send text” and then the person’s name.
Select the desired phone number or email address when prompted.
You will see a screen with the addressee. Tap the Enter message here window to write the message.
You can continue dictating the message by tapping the Microphone icon next to the Space key on your keyboard. In the image to the right, we just finished dictating the exact message shown as underlined. If the dictation was incorrect, one tap of the Backspace key would erase the entire underlined text.
Tap the Send button to send the message.
NOTE: On the original DROID, just start the Messaging app and then touch the Microphone icon to speak your text.
Using Copy-and-Paste The ability to copy-and-paste is very useful for saving time and increasing your accuracy. You can use this feature for taking text from your email (such as meeting details) and pasting it into your Calendar. Or, you may want to simply copy an email address from one place in a form to another to save yourself the time and trouble of retyping it. There are lots of places to use copy-and-paste; the more comfortable you are with it, the more you will use it.
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Selecting Text If you are reading or typing text, you can select text by double-tapping a word and then dragging the handles as we showed you in the “Quickly Change Text” section earlier in this chapter. You can also select text by long-pressing it and choosing Select all or Select text.
TIP: In the Browser, you can save an image to your DROID by pressing and holding it until you see a pop-up menu. Tap Save image to save the image or Set as wallpaper to set the image as your DROID wallpaper.
Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Text Once you have the text that you wish to copy or cut highlighted, long-press again and tap Copy or Cut. If you want to paste the text in the same screen, reposition the cursor by tapping the screen, and then long-press and select Paste. If you want to paste the text into another app, use the multitasking steps shown in the next section.
Jumping Between Apps or Multitasking After you copy text, you may want to paste it into another app. The easiest way to jump between apps is to use the Recent list. Follow these steps to paste text you copy into another app:
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1.
Copy or cut your text.
2.
Long-press the Home button to bring up the Recent list of the eight most recent apps you have opened on your DROID.
3.
If you just left an app running in the background, you will be able to find it in the top left position of the Recent list. Tap any of the eight apps to jump to it.
TIP: If you don’t see the app you want to start in the Recent list of eight apps, then tap the Home button, and then the Launcher icon to see all your apps. From here, you can fire up the app you need. 4.
Paste the text by pressing and holding the screen and selecting Paste from the pop-up.
5.
Long-press the Home button again to see Recent list and tap the app you just left to jump back to it.
Finding Things with Google Search As you might expect from the creator of the most popular search engine on the planet, Google’s Android operating system has a very nice search feature. You even have a dedicated Search button on the bottom of your DROID, as shown to the left. Follow these steps to start a search for something on your DROID: 1.
Press the Search button on the bottom of the DROID and start typing your search word or phrase.
2.
Instantly, you will see matching items and search suggestions appear. Tap the item or search suggestion you desire to view or use.
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Modifying Your Search It’s also a simple matter to change the parameters of your search. Tap the icon (usually the Google “g” ) just to the left of the search box to adjust what you’re searching for. The default setting for search is All, but you can also search only the Web or Apps from the Android Market.
If you want to see more items that you can search for, tap the Settings icon in the upper-right corner of the pop-up window with the search icons.
From this window, you can check or uncheck various items to include in the search. By default, only the Web and Apps options are checked. For example, you can check the Kindle app to search titles and authors of your Kindle books. You can also check Contacts to search your DROID contact list. Or, you can check Music to quickly search for artists, album names, and song names.
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Performing the Search The figure to the right shows the results of typing the letter “e” into the Search window. Doing so displays a number of apps and suggested search terms. You have several options at this point. You can tap a given app icon to jump into that app or tap the search term to execute a Google search with your search term. You can also tap the Pencil icon to the right of the search term to select the chosen search term and continue typing more in the Search box.
TIP: To hide the virtual keyboard, swipe your finger down from the top of the keyboard toward the bottom.
Performing a Voice Search After you bring up the Search window, tap the Microphone icon to the right of the Search window to use your voice to dictate the search. Speak loudly and clearly when you see the Speak now window as shown to the right. Once you stop speaking, the DROID will take a second and do its best to type what you just spoke and search for it.
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In the image shown to the right, we searched for “pizza 32174.” This search quickly found all pizza restaurants in the ZIP code 32174. You could search for anything, including the following:
Golf courses
Bars
Plumbers
Libraries
Grocery stores
Panera Bread stores
Your favorite gas station and more!
Adding the Google Search Widget to Your Home Screen If you use the search feature often, you will want to add a Google Search widget to your Home screen. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
The Google Search widget requires four empty spaces across to be placed. Locate such an empty space on your Home screen and press and hold the screen.
2.
Select Android widgets.
3.
Select Google Search.
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Now you have instant access to Google Search right from your Home screen.
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Sync Your DROID With Your Google Account In order to use a DROID, you must have a Google Account. You can still check your work email and use other accounts, but you must have at least one Google Account. When you activate a new DROID, setting up a Google Account is the second thing you’ll do, right after activating the phone number itself with Verizon Wireless. Your Google Account serves as your default contact list, email, and calendar on your DROID. You will be able to view, manage and update your Google Contacts and Calendar using the Contacts and Calendar apps on your DROID. You can add other services such as Twitter, Facebook, and Microsoft Exchange email (we’ll get to that in Chapters 9 and 20); however, by default all new contacts you create directly on your phone go into your Google Account.
Activating Your Phone If you already have a DROID in your hand, chances are you’ve already activated it. If you’re still considering a purchase or an upgrade, here are the steps for activation: 1.
Tap on the screen. You’ll see an Android with a hand.
2.
Follow the instructions on the screen.
3.
Your phone will dial a special number for activation.
4.
You’ll see a message that your phone has been activated.
5.
It may take up to 15 minutes for service. Meanwhile, you can press the Next key to begin a tutorial on activating and using your DROID. This tutorial will also guide you through setting up your Google Account.
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Activating Your Google Account You have two basic choices: you can use a Google Account you’ve already created, or you can create one. Once you’ve completed this step, you can also go back and add multiple Google Accounts; thus, if you have one email for home and another for work, it’s no problem. Figure 3–1 shows the activation steps for creating a new Google Account, and Figure 3– 2 shows the steps for signing in with your existing account.
Type in your real first and last name and your desired Username.
Tap Tap
Tap to select the text boxes.
Select a different security question if desired.
If you don’t have a Google Account, tap on Create to make one now.
Create and confirm your password.
Bar changes from green to red to indicate password strength.
Tap to change The answer and secondary email are for password retrieval.
Tap the Create button when you’re finished.
Figure 3–1. Setting up a new Google account.
Follow these steps to create a new Google Account: 1.
If this is your first Google Account, press the Create button.
2.
Enter your first and last name and your desired Gmail username in the appropriate boxes.
3.
Google will check to see if your username is available. If not, it will suggest alternatives.
4.
Once you've selected an available username, you need to create a password.
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5.
Google will indicate if this is a “strong” password. Our experience is that Google overrates the strength of passwords, so try to create a password that has at least one number, punctuation character, and at least one capital letter.
6.
Next you’ll need to add security questions in case you ever forget your password. You can click the security question to select a different question.
CAUTION: Keep in mind that identity thiefs can use Google to find obvious answers about you, so avoid questions such as your city of birth or high school. You could also make up an answer to these questions that you’ll remember but strangers can’t research. 7.
Now you should enter a secondary email address. This is where your password reset instructions will be emailed.
8.
Agree to the Google Terms of Service by pressing I agree, Next.
9.
Congratulations! You’re the proud owner of a new Google Account.
Tap Tap
If you already have a Google Account, tap Sign in.
Enter your username and password. No need to type “@gmail.com.”
Tap here to type numbers and symbols.
Tap Next when done, and then wait for Google to verify your account. You can add more Google Accounts by tapping the Google button.
Figure 3–2. Adding an existing Google Account.
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Follow these steps to sign into an existing Google account: 1.
If you already have a Google Account, tap the Sign in button.
2.
Enter your username and password in the appropriate fields.
3.
Google will verify your username and password.
4.
Congratulations, your phone is set up to sync with your Google Account.
TIP: You don’t need to type your full Gmail address in the Username field. Just type the part that goes before the @ sign, and your DROID will autocomplete the rest. Once you’re done adding the first account, the DROID will ask if you’d like to add more Google Accounts. To add multiple accounts, just press the Google button and repeat the same steps. When you add new Google Accounts, you’ll need to decide if you want to sync your contacts, Gmail, or both (you’ll learn more about this in the “Fine Tuning Your DROID Sync” section later in this chapter).
The Wonders of the Cloud One of the driving forces behind Google and Android is the concept of cloud computing. Rather than rely on a single computer with a single processor, Google relies on a bank of servers on the Internet for nearly every product or service it produces—in other words, these apps and services are “in the cloud.” When you send Gmail messages, make Google Calendar entries, or add contacts to your Google Contact list, that information is available on your DROID and on any computer you connect to the Internet with when you log into your Google Account. You do not need to connect your DROID to your computer to get the benefit of this syncing. And if you should accidentally break your DROID, you’ll probably be very sad, but you won’t be without your Google contacts or calendar. Have you ever seen someone update their Facebook status or send out a frustrated email where they beg everyone to send them their contact information again to replace all the numbers they lost with their broken phone? As long as you stick with DROIDs and other Android-powered phones, that will never be you.
More Reasons You Need a Google Account If you purchase apps in the Android Market, you’ll use your Google account and Google Checkout to complete the transaction. The default email account on your DROID is Gmail, and the default calendar is Google Calendar. Table 3–1 lists a few of the Google services you’ll get to know as you use your phone.
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Table 3–1. Drilling Down on Google Account Services.
Gmail:
Gmail is a free web-based email service, but it’s good enough to replace those email accounts your Internet service provider gives you. We’ll talk about email in greater detail later. Make sure you register for an account. Some Android phones will not let you activate them without one.
Google Voice:
Google Voice is a VoIP (Voice over IP) service that allows you to use a single phone number to forward your calls, create a visual voicemail message with text transcription, and make low cost international long-distance calls. Google Voice isn’t a pure VoIP service at this time. You still need a phone in order to use it, although you can initiate calls from your computer using Gmail.
Google Calendar:
Google Calendar works a bit differently from the calendar in Microsoft Outlook. It includes standard features like events and invitations, but Google Calendar is meant to be even more collaborative. You manage Google Calendar by adding multiple calendars and sharing them with others. For instance, you can have a calendar you allow colleagues to see but not edit, a calendar team members can all edit, and another calendar of fully public events.
Google Maps:
You’re probably already familiar with this map application. Google Maps is the engine behind most of your phone’s geographically sensitive apps. Google Maps does more than provide you driving directions; it can also give you walking and public transport directions. This is invaluable when you’re on the road.
Google Google Checkout is a tool for buyers and merchants to Checkout: complete credit card transactions without revealing the credit card info to the merchant. It’s a competitor to PayPal. You’ll need to set up an account with this service that contains your credit card information if you want to purchase apps from the Android Market. Picasa:
The web-based albums in Picasa Web Albums are Google’s answer to Flickr. If you want to upload pictures from your phone to the Web, this is the default location for sharing such pictures on the DROID. You may want to set up your account with albums and public or private sharing permissions if you need to share photos as part of your job. It’s more efficient to upload photos to Picasa
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than it is to send them as email attachments, though you can do both. Picasa also has a desktop program you can use for syncing and editing photos. YouTube:
If you have any reason to take quick videos with your DROID, set up a YouTube account with your preferred username beforehand. You can upload videos directly instead of offloading them to your desktop computer first. You can also use a YouTube account to comment, rate, and add videos to playlists.
TIP: Most DROIDs do not come with a SIM card. The exception is the DROID 2 Global. This is because they run on Verizon Wireless’ CDMA network and not on a GSM network. This means you won’t be able to transfer contacts by popping a SIM card between phones, but your Google contacts will still sync with new Android phones.
What to Do When your Calendar and Contacts are Not Already in Google If you already use Google for your Contacts and Calendar, by setting up your Google Account on your DROID, these contacts and calendar events flow automatically and wirelessly to your DROID. You're done. But what happens if your contacts and calendar are stored in Microsoft Outlook, the Apple Address Book, another desktop application or even just your old phone? TIP: See Chapter 4: "Other Sync Methods" to learn about ways to sync or share information between Microsoft Outlook, Apple Address Book, Microsoft Entourage, iCal, ACT!, GoldMine, Lotus Notes and other applications and your DROID.
Getting Information from Your Old Phone In the case that you only have your contacts and calendar stored on your old phone and not in any other application, you should try to transfer that information into Google directly or into another desktop application or file. How you get this accomplished varies widely based on the type of phone you have, so we are not able to provide step-by-step instructions here. Instead, you have a couple of options: Option one, ask your Verizon representative for assistance. Option two, do a web search that specifically identifies your phone and says "transfer contacts from (my phone name) to DROID or Google." If you can figure out how to get your contacts from
CHAPTER 3: Sync Your DROID With Your Google Account
your phone into a desktop application, or file of the format vCard or .csv (comma separated variable) format, then you will be able to follow the steps below to import them into Google. NOTE: If you can get the data to Google Contacts at http://www.google.com/contacts, it will appear on your phone after you setup your Google Account on your DROID. The backup plan, if none of the sync or import options work is that you can add your contacts manually. See Chapter 12: “Using your Contacts.”
One-time Import of Contact Information from Outlook or the Apple Address Book Follow these steps to perform a one-time import of your contacts from Outlook or the Apple Address Book to your DROID phone: 1.
Export your contacts as a CSV or vCard file.
2.
Use the import link on the upper-right corner of Google Contacts as shown in Figure 3–3.
Add individual contacts.
Import contacts from Outlook, Apple, or other address books.
Figure 3–3. Importing contacts from Google Contacts.
Fine Tuning Your DROID Sync When you add Google Accounts, you choose how much information you want to sync. You may not want to check your work email on your phone, or you may want to read your email but ignore the contact list. It’s your choice. The three basic Google Account items you can sync on a DROID are your Google Calendar, your Gmail, and your Google Contacts.
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Figure 3–4 guides you through the steps for enabling and disabling Google syncing; follow these steps to do so: 1.
From the Home screen, press the Menu button.
2.
Tap Settings, then tap Accounts.
3.
Tap the Google account you wish to modify.
4.
Green checks indicate syncing, and gray checks indicate syncing is disabled. Tap on the checkbox to switch syncing on or off for a service.
5.
Press the Back button until you return to the Home screen.
Figure 3–4. Syncing Google accounts.
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Other Sync Methods In Chapter 3: “Sync Your DROID with Your Google Account,” you learned how to connect your DROID to your Google account to wirelessly sync your Google contacts, calendar, and Gmail. That works well if you already use Google for your personal information, but it will not work for you if you store your contacts, calendar, and other items in your computer using software such as Microsoft Outlook, iCal, or Microsoft Entourage. In this chapter, we show you alternative sync methods to sync some or all of your personal information to your DROID. Some of these options are free, others cost about US$40. We hope that this chapter will give you a good overview of the options and help you implement the one that best suits your needs. While we don’t intend to replace the software manufacturer's level of documentation and troubleshooting materials, we do hope to give you enough to get up and running. NOTE: We cover how to sync media and other files such as documentsusing free software options in Chapter 25: "DROID Media Sync." We discuss ways to sync your email in Chapter 9: "Email on Your DROID." While there are other options out there to sync to your DROID, we decided to cover a few of the more popular software products. You may find other options at different prices or even other free options, but beware that we have heard of people losing all their calendar entries by trying some free sync options not listed in this book. CAUTION: For any sync solution, including the options listed in this book, we do recommend saving a backup file of the personal information on your computer just as a precaution in case something goes wrong with the sync process. It's always safer to have that backup handy.
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Table 4–1 provides a brief overview of the sync options covered in this chapter. Table 4–1. Alternative Sync Methods for Your DROID.
Type of Information
Google Calendar Sync
Missing Sync for
Companion Link
Android Outlook Contacts (Windows)
-
Yes
Yes
Outlook Calendar (Windows)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Outlook Tasks (Windows)
-
Coming
Yes (to DejaOffice app)
Outlook Notes (Windows)
-
Yes (to Fliq Notes app)
Yes (to DejaOffice app)
Outlook 2011 for Mac
-
-
-
iCal (Mac)
-
Yes
-
Entourage Calendar (Mac)
-
Yes (To Fliq Calendar app)
-
Entourage Notes (Mac)
-
Yes (To Fliq Notes app)
-
Address Book (Mac)
-
Yes
-
Entourage Address Book (Mac)
-
Yes
-
ACT! (Windows)
-
-
Yes
Novell GroupWise (Windows)
-
-
Yes
Lotus Notes (Windows)
-
-
Yes
GoldMine (Windows)
-
-
Yes
CHAPTER 4: Other Sync Methods
Backing up Your Outlook Data Before you start syncing your Outlook data, we recommend taking a backup copy of your Outlook data. This may be a single file or several files, depending on how your system is setup. 1.
Determine the file name and folder containing your Outlook data. From the Outlook menu, select File > Data File Management.
2.
Look under the Filename column for both the data file name (usually Outlook.pst or Archive.pst) and the folder name which is listed right after the file name.
3.
Close Outlook to close all the data files.
4.
After Outlook is closed, use your Windows Explorer (shortcut Windows Key + E) to locate all the data files and copy them to a backup location. We recommend something not on your computer, e.g. an external hard disk, CD/DVD, cloud storage, or a USB thumb drive.
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Google Calendar Sync for Outlook (Windows PC) Google provides a free application to sync your Microsoft Outlook Calendar to your Google Calendar. From the Google Calendar, you use the standard DROID sync software described in Chapter 3 to sync Google to your DROID. It is a two-step sync: Outlook to Google Calendar to DROID Calendar. For this sync to stay updated, your computer needs to be turned on, Microsoft Outlook needs to be running, along with the Google Calendar sync, and you need an Internet connection. If any of these are not working, the sync will stop. It should catch up next time everything is on and connected. Learn more on the Google Calendar Sync here: www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=89955 Or you can perform a web search for "Google Outlook Calendar Sync."
Supported Software (What You Need) In order to use the Google Calendar Sync, you need the following:
A Windows PC running XP, Vista, or Windows 7
Microsoft Outlook 2003, 2007, 2010 (32-bit).
An active Internet connection
No special software on your DROID—you just use the standard Calendar app and sync it to the Google Calendar.
NOTE: No Mac support was available to Sync your Google calendar to Outlook 2011 or Entourage on the Mac. You can sync your Google calendar to iCal by setting up your Google calendar as a CalDAV account under iCal preferences. Also, Outlook 2010 (64–bit) for Windows was not yet supported, however we understand Google is working on this issue and may have it resolved soon.
Before You Install We highly recommend doing the following:
Turning off any other sync applications that are syncing to your Outlook Calendar.
Making a backup copy of your Outlook Data File. See the “How to Backup Your Outlook Data” section in this chapter.
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Downloading and Installing Download the software from Google. To find the software, go to www.google.com/sync/index.html. You will most likely see a web page similar to the one shown in Figure 4–1. Click on PC to go to the Google Outlook Calendar Sync for Windows page. Follow the instructions on the website to install the software.
Figure 4–1. Google Sync Services Website.
Setting Up the Software 1.
Start up the software. After you have installed Google Sync, start it up by typing Google Calendar Sync in your Windows search box. Click on the software which appears at the very top of the list under Programs.
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2.
The program may not appear on the screen but will start up in a Windows Tray icon. You need to right-click the tray icon and select Options to see the setup window.
Right-click this tray icon to see the menu.
Figure 4–2. Google Calendar Sync Setup Window.
3.
Enter your Google Calendar username and password in the window shown in Figure 4–2.
4.
Then choose your Sync Options. You probably want the 2-way sync unless you have a strong reason for 1-way sync. With the 2-way sync, any updates you make on your DROID Calendar will by synced to Google and back to Outlook and vice-versa. Everything is kept up-to-date.
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2-way Gives you full two-way synchronization between your Google Calendar (and DROID Calendar) and your Microsoft Outlook Calendar.
1-way: Google to Outlook Syncs only from your Google Calendar (DROID Calendar) into your Outlook Calendar.
1-way: Outlook to Google Syncs only from your Outlook Calendar to your Google Calendar (DROID Calendar).
5.
You can then adjust the sync frequency. The default is the shortest duration of 10 minutes; however, you can make it longer interval if you desire.
6.
When you are done, click Save to start the calendar sync from Outlook to Google.
7.
Remember to follow the steps shown in Chapter 3 to get your DROID Calendar to sync wirelessly with your Google Calendar.
Now all appointments from your Google calendar should flow into both your Outlook Calendar and your DROID Calendar app. Pretty soon, all three calendars should be identical.
Troubleshooting Google Calendar Sync Common issues and potential resolutions with Google Calendar Sync are shown in Table 4–2. Table 4–2. Common Google Calendar Sync Issues and Resolutions
Common Issue
Resolution
Error connecting to Outlook.
Make sure Outlook is running on your computer.
Error connecting to Google.
Make sure you have an Internet connection from your computer.
Calendar events are not updated on your DROID.
Make sure your account is setup correctly on your DROID. Make sure your computer is powered on, Outlook is running and it has an internet connection.
Google also provides a wealth of troubleshooting resources. The fastest way to find them is to do a web search for “Trouble Syncing Google Calendar with Outlook.” Then look for a link in the upper right corner of the page that says "Google Calendar Sync Troubleshooting."
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Some of the help topics covered online include:
Events not syncing at all.
Events display the wrong time after syncing.
Calendar alarms aren't syncing correctly.
Trouble connecting to Outlook.
Privacy settings don't match.
Description or error codes 0, 1008, 1011, 2008, 2013, 2016, and more.
Hopefully, with the online resources and the description in this book, you should be armed with enough information to get your Google Calendar Sync set up and running smoothly to your DROID.
Missing Sync for Android The Missing Sync for Android from Mark/Space, Inc. provides you the ability to sync from your Windows or Mac PC to your DROID. Items that you can sync are:
Outlook or Entourage Calendar, Contacts, and Notes
Music from iTunes or Windows Media Player
Photos, Videos, Ringtones, Documents and Files, Podcasts, and Call History.
Learn more about the Missing Sync for Android here: www.markspace.com/products/android/missing-sync-android.html NOTE: The software vendor does not provide a free trial of the software, so we encourage you to read the online reviews and comments about the software before purchasing it.
Reviews of the Missing Sync for Android We found a review of the Missing Sync for Android at publishing time. You should do a quick web search to see if there are any new or updated reviews at the time you are reading this. Try searching for "Missing Sync Android Review." PC Magazine review for the Missing Sync for Android v1.4 (August 2, 2010) at www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367260,00.asp The review gave the application 2 out of 5 stars and said it worked as advertized; however, it was challenging to use and needed more features to justify the $40 price. This review also included comments from people who have purchased the software. Keep in mind that the PC Magazine review and comments are based on version 1.4 of
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the software, so that if the vendor has released an update, some or all of the concerns of the reviewers may have already been addressed.
Supported Software (What You Need) In order to use the Missing Sync for Android, you need the following:
A Windows PC running XP, Vista (32-bit only), or Windows 7 (32-bit or 64–bit) and Microsoft Outlook 2003, 2007, 2010 (32-bit)
A Mac OS 10.5.6 Leopard or later, or Snow Leopard running Entourage 2004, 2008, or Apple iCal
iTunes or Windows Media Player to sync media
An active Internet connection
Three free apps for your DROID to fully take advantage of the synced data. All three are available in the Android Market app.
The Missing Sync for Android
Fliq Calendar (Required for a 2-way calendar sync)
Fliq Notes (Required to sync notes)
NOTE: At the time of publishing, the Missing Sync for Android did not support Office 2011 for Mac.
Before You Install We highly recommend doing the following:
Turning off any other sync applications that are syncing to Outlook.
Making a backup copy of your Outlook Data File. See the “How to Backup Your Outlook Data” section in this chapter.
Downloading and Installing PC or Mac Software There is no free trial available of the Missing Sync, so you need to purchase it in order to download it. 1.
Buy and download the software from the www.markspace.com site.
2.
Double-click the downloaded file to get the installation started.
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3.
Once you have installed the software, locate and double-click on the application icon on your PC or Mac. You should see a settings screen similar to the one shown in Figure 4–3.
Figure 4–3. Missing Sync for Android Sync Setup Window.
4.
Check or un-check items to turn the sync on or off.
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5.
Double-click a particular item to see more details about that item and to be able to customize the synchronization settings. For example, clicking the Calendar row at the top will show you the Calendar Settings dialog box shown to the right.
6.
Repeat this procedure to set up the sync for all the various data types: Call Logs, Contacts, Folders (easily share documents and files), Music, Notes (sync to Fliq Notes from), Photos, Ringtones (create and sync), SMS Log (keep track of SMS messages received and sent), Video (copy and re-format videos to play on your DROID or copy videos recorded on your DROID to your computer).
7.
When you are done configuring all the data types, you are ready to connect or pair your DROID with the desktop Missing Sync software using the Setup Assistant by clicking the Setup Assistant icon. At the end of this process, you will receive a 5-digit passkey to enter on the Missing Sync app on your DROID to complete the pairing. Follow the steps below to finish the setup on your DROID.
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Installing and Setting Up the DROID Software Go to the Android Market app and search for "Missing Sync for Android," then tap that application. Scroll down a little and tap View more applications to see all the applications by Mark/Space, the developer. You should see three apps as shown in the figure to the right. Go ahead and install all three apps.
1.
After you have already installed, set up, and configured your Missing Sync for Android PC or Mac app, you can tap the Missing Sync for Android app to start it.
2.
Tap the Synchronize button then answer the question "Do you have the Missing Sync for Android installed on your Mac or Windows System?" as a Yes to get started.
3.
Setup either a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection from your computer to use for the sync and tap Next.
4.
Enter the 5-digit passkey that you received from the Missing Sync for Android Setup Assistant to get the sync started.
Troubleshooting Missing Sync The Missing Sync website provides a knowledgebase of common issues and suggested solutions. From your web browser, go to support.markspace.com and click on Technical Support: Missing Sync for Android to see all the support topics. Some of the help topics covered online include:
Configuring Entourage 2008.
Unable to locate Missing Sync in the Android Market.
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Some or all contacts are missing after a sync. Error: the location of Outlook is unknown. Seeing an error message during the sync for either Windows or Mac. Hopefully, with the online resources and the description in this book, you should be armed with enough information to get the Missing Sync for Android set up and running smoothly to your DROID.
CompanionLink for Android CompanionLink (CL) software provides various software products to sync to your DROID. With CompanionLink, you have three sync options:
Option 1: Direct USB Sync Android direct via USB
Option 2: Sync to DROID via Google
Option 3: Sync to DROID via the CL Hosted Servers
This will sync from your PC through the USB cable directly to your DROID. If you choose this option, you need to install the DejaOffice app on your DROID.
You need to install a new app on your DROID called DejaOffice to use this option.
This will sync your data from your PC to your Google Account. Then you use the setup process in Chapter 3 to setup the sync from Google to your DROID.
No additional software needs to be installed on your DROID; you use the standard Contacts and Calendar apps.
This is like the Google sync option, except that your data goes to the CompanionLink servers instead of Google.
You need to install a new app on your DROID called DejaOffice to use this option.
The CompanionLink for Outlook software provides two-way sync from Outlook to Google (then you sync your DROID to Google) or Outlook direct via a USB cable to your DROID. In this book, we have chosen to focus on the CompanionLink for Outlook product with the setup that it syncs to your Google Account. We do cover how to get the DejaOffice app installed on your DROID should you desire to use the USB or CL Hosted Server sync options. The steps shown here should be able to help you get a feel for how all the various CompanionLink sync options work.
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CompanionLink supports a number of PC software applications to sync to your DROID:
Microsoft Outlook
ACT! (Contact Management Software)
Palm Desktop and Pimlical
Lotus Notes
GoldMine
Novell GroupWise
NOTE: CompanionLink does not support any Mac software as of publishing. Get all the latest information about CompanionLink's products by visiting their website: www.companionlink.com/
Reviews of CompanionLink and DejaOffice App We found a couple of reviews of CompanionLink at publishing time. Please note that these two reviews are already a bit dated (six months old) as of publishing time, so you keep in mind that any negative comments could already have been resolved in newer versions of CompanionLink. Droid Forums.net Review of CompanionLink (March 7, 2010): Disclaimer: CompanionLink is a sponsor of this particular forum. www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-news/27927-video-review-companionlinksoftware.html Andronica's Blog Review of CompanionLink USB (February 16, 2010): androinica.com/2010/02/16/sync-outlook-and-android-with-companionlink-softwarereview/ DejaOffice (Android App) created by CompanionLink to store Outlook data on your DROID. Read the customer reviews in the Android Market for this app. Keep in mind that you only need to install the DejaOffice app if you want to use the USB cable to sync directly from Outlook to your DROID and skip the sync to Google. If you go with the USB sync option, you have the benefit of not having your data pass through Google; however, you have the added challenge of installing and using a new contacts, calendar, notes, and task app on your DROID.
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Supported Software (What You Need) In order to use the Missing Sync for Android, you need the following:
A Windows PC running XP, Vista, or Windows 7 (32-bit or 64–bit) and Microsoft Outlook 2000, 2003, 2007, 2010 (32-bit and 64–bit) or Microsoft Outlook Business Contact Manager 2007 and 2010
An active Internet connection
A Google, Gmail, or Google Apps account
DejaOffice app (free) on your DROID only if you choose the USB or CL Hosted Server Sync options.
NOTE: At the time of publishing, the CompanionLink did not support any Mac software applications includingOffice 2011 for Mac.
Before You Install We highly recommend doing the following:
Turning off any other sync applications that are syncing to Outlook.
Making a backup copy of your Outlook Data File. See the “How to Backup Your Outlook Data” section in this chapter.
Google Calendar First Time User If you are setting up a new Google account and have not yet added any events to your Google Calendar, you need to go into Google and add a new event in order for CompanionLink to work. The first time you go into the Google Calendar, you will see a screen similar to the one shown to the right. Click Continue to set up your calendar.
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Downloading and Installing the PC Software We highly recommend downloading the 14–day free trial version of the CompanionLink software by going to www.companionlink.com/downloads/. This will allow you to test out the software before you buy it. At publishing time, pricing for CompanionLink for Outlook was $39.95. The Free Evaluation Software page asks for your email, the product, and which PC software you want to sync with as well as what type of phone you use. TIP: Video Tutorials on CompanionLink's Website Visit www.companionlink.com/support for some good technical support information as well as some great video tutorials explaining how to setup their software. 1.
Double-click the downloaded file to get the installation started.
2.
Once you have installed the software, click your Windows logo in the lower left corner and select All Programs. Scroll down to Companion Link and click on Companion Link Setup as shown to the right.
3.
You should see a settings screen similar to the one shown in Figure 4–4. Click the drop-down menu that says (Select your sync target) to choose one of the Android options.
Android (CL Secure Hosted Sync) — This will sync your data via the Companion Link secure server then to your DROID.
Android direct via USB — This will sync from your PC through the USB cable directly to your DROID. If you choose this option, you need to install the DejaOffice app on your DROID.
Android via Google — This will sync your data from your PC to your Google Account. Then you use the setup process in Chapter 3 to setup the sync from Google to your DROID.
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Figure 4–4. CompanionLink for Outlook Sync Setup Window.
4.
Next, click (Select your Contact Manager) to select your software. In this case, we selected Microsoft Outlook 2000 - 2010.
5.
Click Google Settings from the main settings screen to see the Google Settings pop-up window shown to the right. Enter your Google Account email and password. Then, if you want to adjust which Google Calendars to sync (if you have more than one), click the Google Calendars tab and make adjustments. When you are done, click the OK button to save your settings.
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6.
Next, click Outlook Settings from the main setup screen to see the screen to the right. Make adjustments to Selected Categories, if you choose.
7.
Click the Applications tab to adjust how to sync your data. Each check shows you want to sync Contacts, Calendar, or Tasks. You can Sync Both Ways, (1-way) Outlook to Google or (1-way) Google to Outlook.
8.
Click the Outlook Folders tab to adjust which folders are synced from Outlook. Check the box to Include SubFolders if you desire. Finally, click the OK button to save your settings.
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9.
Next, click Advanced Settings from the main window to make further adjustments. Most people will not need to use this area. But it might be good to browse the screens and see if anything might need adjusting. The things you can change are syncing personal category from Outlook, how to handle sync conflicts (Outlook wins, Google wins, create duplicate record, keep latest change), date range for the calendar sync, and name sorting order (First, Last or Last, First). You can also adjust field mapping, phone number formats, and the sync settings as shown in the Applications tab of the Outlook Settings window shown above in step 7.
10. Finally, click the Auto-Sync button to setup how often CompanionLink will sync between Outlook and Google. The default is set to Synchronize Manually, but you may want to sync every 15 minutes or some other setting. Also, you can set the Sync Time to only operate between certain times— usually the work day is fine because who needs to sync changes in the middle of the night? Click OK to save your settings.
11. Now, to get started, click the Synchronize button in the left column of the main window. 12. Finally, if you have not already done so, you need to follow the steps in Chapter 3 to set up access from your DROID to the Google Account to which you just synced all your Outlook Contact and Calendar information. NOTE: Working with a Google Calendar Sync Error. After you click the Synchronize button, if you see an error telling you that CompanionLink was unable to read your Google Calendar, then you need to complete setting it up. See the “Google Calendar First-Time User” section above.
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Installing and Setting Up the DROID Software (Only Required for USB Sync or CL Hosted Server options) NOTE: This step is only required if you are using the USB direct sync option or the Companion Link (CL) Hosted Server sync option from Outlook to Android. If you are using the sync method just described above from Outlook to Google, you don't need to install any additional software on your DROID. Instead, your calendar and contacts flow from Google to your DROID native Contacts and Calendar apps after you setup your Google Account as shown in Chapter 3. To locate the DejaOffice app, go to the Android Market app and search for "DejaOffice," then tap that application. You should see the app as shown in the figure to the right. Go ahead and install the DejaOffice - Outlook app.
1.
After installing DejaOffice, tap the icon to start it up. You will see the screen shown to the right. You will probably want to check both boxes for Sync with the Android Contacts App and Sync with Android Calendar App. This allows Caller ID and e-mail to work well on your DROID. Tap the Configure button to adjust these sync settings. Tap OK when done to start the sync with the Contacts and Calendar apps.
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2.
Then, you can tap any of the icons within DejaOffice to access your DejaContacts (Outlook Contacts), DejaCalendar (Outlook Calendar), DejaTasks (Outlook Tasks), DejaNotes (Outlook Notes), DejaToday (Today view), Sync (force a sync), Settings (all settings including sync settings), Categories (Outlook Categories), Read Android Data (sync with your DROID Contacts and Calendar), and Release Notes (notes from the developer about this release of the DejaOffice app).
3.
Think of DejaOffice as your mobile version of Outlook on your DROID.
Troubleshooting CompanionLink The CompanionLink website provides a FAQ (frequently asked questions), video tutorials, Set Up Guides, and the ability to contact tech support via e-mail or purchase premium support for US$99 for 12 months (as of publishing time). Check out all these support options by visiting www.companionlink.com/support/ You may also be able to find additional support and troubleshooting tips by doing a web search for "CompanionLink Google (your issue description)." Hopefully, with the online resources and the description in this book, you should be armed with enough information to get the CompanionLink set up and running smoothly.
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Chapter
5
Wi-Fi and 3G Connectivity Let’s face it, you wouldn’t buy a DROID if you didn’t want to go online. Going online doesn’t just mean using the built-in web browser in Android. Whether you’re using apps or checking your contact list, talking on the phone is just about the only activity that doesn’t involve using your data plan. That’s one of the reasons you can’t buy a DROID phone without also purchasing a data plan. Trust us: you wouldn’t want to do so, anyway. In this chapter, we’ll talk about getting online with your DROID. Android works best when it works online. Google purchased and developed the Android platform around the idea of storing data online or “in the cloud,” rather than just on the device. We’ll go over the different ways your phone can access data and how to get the fastest connection with the least amount of battery drain.
Understanding Your Connection The status or notification bar on the upper part of your DROID shows you what type of connection you have available and the relative strength of the connection. Figure 5–1 shows various types of connection information you might see in your DROID’s status bar. Back in the days when a car phone meant the phone was built into your car, cell towers carried an analog signal that was much like a radio signal, but at a different frequency. This was the first generation of wireless, and it’s no longer in use. The second generation of technology, or 2G, is what Verizon Wireless calls 1X. Instead of using an analog signal, 2G networks are digital. Many phone carriers use the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standard to deliver 2G data, but Verizon and your DROID use CDMA (Coe-Division Multiple Access).
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There’s an available WiFi network.
The DROID is connected to a 3G network.
There are no black bars. The 3G signal is weak here.
These arrows are black when data is being transferred.
The DROID is connected to a Wi-Fi network.
Only a 1X signal is available here.
Notice the relative strength of the Wi-Fi connection.
It may only be 1X, but the signal is very strong.
Figure 5–1. Sample status bar notifications.
Using 1X is like using an old dial-up modem. It works, but it isn’t fast, and you’ll have to spend a lot of time waiting for email to load, apps to sync, and pictures to upload. However, 1X signals are available everywhere your phone can connect to the Verizon network, and it doesn’t take much battery power to use 1X.
3G and 4G CDMA was upgraded to 3G with yet another acronym, EV-DO, for Evolution-Data Optimized. 3G networks have huge speed advantages over 1X networks, but these are still slower than the average coffee shop Wi-Fi hotspot. The fourth generation of wireless technology in the US, 4G, has begun a rollout in select US cities at the time of writing. Sprint has begun its 4G rollout, and Verizon expects to offer full 4G coverage by 2013, including all those areas that only get a 1X signal now. Verizon purchased some of the spectrum previously used by analog television broadcasts in order to build its next-generation network. Verizon is using LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology, which Verizon promises will work much better in rural areas and will be more internationally compatible than the current CDMA network. It will also give phones a large speed boost, so we can do things such as reliably video conference from our mobile phones. LTE is a high-speed, long distance Internet signal that can be used for home and phone networks, and it will likely be used the same way Wi-Fi is used on smartphones today. You might think of it as a form of Wi-Fi that can be broadcast for miles instead of several dozen feet. The bad news is that you will not be able to connect to 4G networks on your DROID, DROID X or DROID 2. Your phone must be specifically made to take advantage of 4G networks. And although we expect an announcement of a 4G version of DROID soon, it did not happen by the time this book went to press.
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The good news is that you don’t need 4G in order to have a fast connection. You can still use Wi-Fi; and as Verizon rolls out 4G networks, it’ll undoubtedly sell portable devices you can use to receive 4G signals and create your own portable Wi-Fi hotspot.
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi signals are generally the fastest way to connect your DROID to the Internet. This is the same technology that connects laptops and other wireless devices to networks. It’s fast but short-range, and it’s not the same signal that telecommunications companies (telcos) send over cell towers. In order to connect to a Wi-Fi network, you have to be within range of the signal, and you have to be authorized to use the network. Some book stores, fast food chains, and restaurants offer free Wi-Fi access networks to anyone within range of the signal. Connecting is easy; Figure 5–2 shows you how.
Wi-Fi is on. You can also enable this through a widget.
Select Network notification to find open, pubic networks.
Tap Select an available network to log in.
Use Manage Networks to remove old networks and save batteries.
Use Add Wi-Fi network to add a hidden network.
Figure 5–2. Connecting to a Wi-Fi network.
Follow these steps to connect to a Wi-Fi network: 1.
Go to your Home screen.
2.
Tap the Settings icon.
3.
Select Wireless & Networks. Then tap Wi-Fi settings.
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4.
Check the boxes to turn on Wi-Fi and receive a notification when an open Wi-Fi network is within range.
5.
Tap an available network to log into it. If the network requires a password, you’ll only have to type it here once. Your DROID will remember your settings next time you use this service.
If you want to add a private network that doesn’t broadcast its SSID, tap Add Wi-Fi network. If you want to remove networks you no longer use, such as hotels you visited only once, tap Manage Networks. TIP: You can also use a Wi-Fi widget from your Home screen to toggle Wi-Fi on and off. See Chapter 6, “Organize Your Home Screens” for specifics on adding widgets. The clear advantage of Wi-Fi is speed. Wi-Fi is superior when it comes to uploading or watching videos. Its chief disadvantage is distance. If you’re not within range of a Wi-Fi network all day or even most of the day, you can extend your DROID’s battery life by turning off your Wi-Fi signal.
Wi-Fi Security A big consideration with Wi-Fi is security. If you’re using an encrypted connection, this isn’t as much of a problem. However, those convenient, open Wi-Fi access points at the coffee shop may in theory expose your phone to unwanted eavesdropping through an exploit called the man-in-the-middle attack where someone intercepts your unencrypted information before it reaches the Wi-Fi access point. It’s also sometimes called a bucket brigade attack, so think of the attacker as a stranger standing in the middle of a bucket brigade with the chance to see the contents of each bucket that passes by. Wi-Fi security usually involves some sort of password protection to access the network. An older, less secure method of connecting to Wi-Fi is WEP. A more secure method is WPA or WPA2. Most personal networks, like your router at home, can be set to use WPA-PSK (pre-shared key.) This is a fancy way of saying that you have to type in a password or passphrase to get access to the network. CAUTION: If you have a choice in the matter, avoid relying on WEP for your Wi-Fi security. It’s an old standard and very easy to crack. Businesses that want to sell or restrict access to their network use a form of WPAenterprise. This type of connection usually requires you to log in when you open your first web page, and it compares your username with a list of authorized users. In some cases, you don’t actually have to log in, but you do have to click something to agree to the location’s terms of service. This is still part of WPA security.
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If you aren’t required to log into anything, you don’t need to click OK to agree to the access rules, and you don’t need a password to get onto the network – then chances are that you’re using an open Wi-Fi access point. A skilled hacker may be able to intercept your signal. CAUTION: Unless you’ve installed security software, avoid entering passwords or sending sensitive information on open Wi-Fi networks.
Bluetooth Bluetooth is a super short-range technology meant as more of a wire replacement than a way to get onto the Internet. Bluetooth can be used to communicate with a wireless headset or your laptop, and some apps can use Bluetooth to transfer files between your phone and your computer. For more on Bluetooth, read Chapter 8: “Bluetooth on Your DROID.”
GPS GPS stands for global positioning system. It’s one of the few acronyms in this chapter worth spelling out, because the long name explains what it does. GPS triangulates your position through satellite signals. This isn’t the only way your phone can tell where you are, but it’s the most commonly used method. Devices that use maps or tag your photos by location typically rely on a GPS signal to do this. Android can also supplement this with the location of nearby cell towers and the location of any Wi-Fi networks you’re using. However, plenty of apps require a GPS signal to tell you what movies are showing nearby or the location of the nearest Thai restaurant. GPS activity is represented on the top of your screen as a satellite. If you have the GPS feature activated, you may notice it activating when you open your Web browser, even if you aren’t doing anything directly map related. This is usually to sense your location for local search results and ads. You can turn GPS off when you’re not using it to save your phone’s battery.
Creating a Wi-Fi Hotspot with Your DROID If you pay for mobile hotspot access, which is an add-on service for DROID phones, you can use Verizon’s 3G Mobile Hotspot app to turn your DROID into a wireless modem for your laptop or other device, as shown in Figure 5–3. It’s still sharing a 3G connection to a laptop, so it is not super fast; however, it will let you use your laptop’s larger screen and keyboard while you’re out of Wi-Fi range. You can share your connection with up to five devices, so you could also share a connection with a friend.
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AP stands for Access Point. Use the 3G Mobile Hotspot app.
Tap to turn on the 3G Mobile Hotspot and configure it for the first time.
Tap
Connect to your DROID just like any other network. Mobile Hotspot is on.
The SSIDService Set Identifier is the name of your hotspot. Choose a type of security. WPA2 is the default.
You can see all connected devices.
Check this box to see your password as you type.
Choose a password.
Figure 5–3. Creating a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Follow these steps to connect to a mobile hotspot: 1.
Launch the 3G Mobile Hotspot app.
2.
Tap the checkbox to start Mobile Hotspot service.
3.
The first time you launch the app, you’ll be prompted to set up your AP Settings. AP stands for access point.
4.
Give your mobile network a name (SSID) or leave the default setting.
5.
Choose a security method; WPA2 is preferred.
6.
Choose a password.
7.
Save your settings.
8.
Connect to your network from your laptop, iPad, or other Wi-Fi device just as if it were another Wi-Fi access point.
CHAPTER 5: Wi-Fi and 3G Connectivity
TIP: Creating a Wi-Fi hotspot uses a lot of energy and drains a battery quickly. Connect your DROID to your laptop with a USB cable to keep the phone charged while surfing. Users on Verizon’s support forum have also reported that June Fabric’s PDAnet program works on their DROID and allows them to tether their 3G connection through their USB port. It’s a $30 app instead of a recurring fee. However, using PDAnet may violate Verizon’s terms of service, so proceed at your own risk.
Troubleshooting Connections The top of your phone will indicate which types of signals you’re using and the relative strengths of those signals, as shown in Figure 5–1. You’ll also see a pair of side-by-side Up and Down arrows; these arrows indicate an active data transfer. Wi-Fi is indicated by a dot with curved lines above it to indicate a point giving out signal. GPS is depicted as a satellite, and it only shows up when it is actively being used. Bluetooth uses the trademarked Bluetooth symbol. If you’re having trouble with your signal, first check the top of your screen to make sure that you have an adequate signal and that you are using the network you expected to use. If you’re using Wi-Fi, make sure you are correctly signed into the network.
Roaming When you wander outside the range of cell towers that belong to your carrier (Verizon), you start roaming. You may be billed for roaming fees if roaming is not covered by your service plan. You may also need to add I-Dial or an international plan to your phone in order to check email or use data on your DROID in Mexico or Canada. See http://b2b.vzw.com/international/naroaming.htm for more information on this topic. Follow these steps to turn off data roaming on your DROID and avoid roaming charges: 1.
Go to your app tray and tap Settings.
2.
Tap Data manager.
3.
Tap Data Delivery.
4.
Make sure the checkbox next to Data Roaming is grayed out. If you do select it, you’ll see a warning box that roaming may cost you money.
NOTE: Data roaming is different from voice roaming. You disable voice roaming through the Wireless and networks settings instead of the Data manager.
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Managing Power All of this connectivity comes at a cost. In order to save battery power, you should disable services you aren’t using. This is especially true when you are traveling and can’t charge your phone immediately. Keep your GPS off unless you’re using a map or other app that hooks into your location. Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when you’re not actively using them. In order to make all this management easier, your phone has a Power Control widget that lets you toggle your signal on and off with a touch. The DROID even comes with two styles of widgets for toggling your connections. Simply tap the connection on or off from your Home screen. For more information on adding and rearranging widgets, look at Chapter 6: “Organize Your Home Screens.”
Managing Syncing In addition to turning connections on and off, you can control how often your connections sync. Figure 5–4 shows how the Data manager settings can help you save battery time, as well as how to disable data roaming. On the DROID 2 and DROID X, you can also turn off data completely for those times you really need to preserve your battery.
Tap
Tap
Choose Settings: Data manager.
Turn this off to save batteries, or leave it on to enable data sync. Data roaming may cost you money if enabled.
Email and Corporate sync show up on the DROID2 and X. Tap Social Applications (DROID X) or Motorola Applications (DROID 2) to see this.
Figure 5–4. The DROID’s data management settings.
CHAPTER 5: Wi-Fi and 3G Connectivity
Airplane Mode If you’re on an airplane, on a cruise ship, or in an area you know qualifies as roaming, you may want to just put your phone in Airplane mode. Toggling this mode on means you will not get any connection at all, whether it’s by data, cell, or GPS. The following steps explain how to toggle Airplane mode on and off: 1.
To turn on Airplane mode, hold down the Power key until you see an alert window.
2.
Tap Airplane mode.
3.
Use the same steps to exit Airplane mode.
Your DROID also comes with a Motorola widget to toggle Airplane mode on and off. TIP: In addition to using Airplane mode to avoid roaming charges, you can use it to avoid calls, emails, and other distractions during important meetings.
VPN A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, allows you to log into your workplace intranet and enjoy the security of your corporate firewall without having to be hardwired into the network. Some places require this in order to access Exchange email or view sensitive corporate files. This technology is natively supported on your DROID, but the implementation on your DROID won’t necessarily work with every VPN setup. We’re still waiting on an Android version of AnyConnect, but Cisco assures us it will be done around the time this book goes to press. Follow these steps to log into a VPN from your DROID: 1.
Go to the Home screen and then press the Menu button.
2.
Tap Settings. Then tap Wireless & network settings.
3.
Next, select VPN settings. If you’ve already configured a VPN, it will be available here.
4.
Otherwise, you’ll need to select add a VPN.
You’ll need to obtain the specific format and settings from your workplace. These settings include PPTP, L2TP, L2TP/IPSec with pre-shared key (PSK), and L2TP/IPSec CRT (certificate based). If your workplace doesn’t support one of these protocols, you’ll need to work with your company’s IT department to see if there’s any other way to log in securely.
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VNC VNC, or Virtual Network Computing, provides a way to share screens remotely and control one device from another, even if that device runs on a different platform. If you leave your office or home computer on at all times and your office allows it, then you can use VNC to check documents, email, or execute work tasks from wherever you are. VNC can be used with Macs, Windows, and Linux computers. In order to use VNC securely, you should pair it with VPN. There are several VNC clients available for Android, including Android VNC Viewer, Remote VNC, and PhoneMyPC.
Android’s Web Browser Android has a full featured web browser based on Webkit, as shown in the figure on the right. It uses the same codebase that is used in the Chrome and Safari web browsers. Generally, this browser behaves just like other web browsers. You can also download alternative browsers like the Dolphin browser or Opera.
One thing the Android Browser app is not is Internet Explorer. You may encounter sites that absolutely will not work unless you use IE. You may also encounter websites that won’t work without plug-ins and extensions that aren’t available on Android. If you find this is the case, you might be able to get around this limitation by using VNC and launching IE from your remote computer. For more information, turn to Chapter 11: “Surfing the Web.”
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Organize Your Home Screen: Icons and Widgets In this chapter, we’ll look at ways to customize your Home screen. This way you’re not stuck with a boring collection of apps, and you’re not stuck using the screen arrangement that your DROID came with. You can customize your phone to match your personality and the way you use the device by adding and rearranging icons and widgets.
Home Screen, Sweet Home Screen Icons on your Home screen are just shortcuts to the actual apps, so don’t worry about deleting them or moving them around. You’re not actually deleting the apps. Think of your Home screen as one long screen that can’t be displayed all at once. Alternatively, you can think of it as a series of several pages of screens. The Home screen, shown to the right, is where you can store your favorite apps or display your favorite wallpaper. With your phone in Portrait mode, swipe your finger sideways to flip between the pages of your Home screen. How you organize your Home screens is entirely up to you. A method we’ve found useful is to create a theme for every page. One page might be dedicated to social networking apps, while another page might be dedicated to email and office productivity. A third page might be dedicated to games, restaurants, and entertainment tools.
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The App Tray The App tray, which is shown to the right, holds all of your apps, including apps you’re already using as icons on your Home screen. Sometimes you’ll also see apps that don’t do anything by themselves, but add features to an existing app, such as pro feature upgrades. You open the App tray by tapping your Launcher icon at the bottom center of the screen. You can also scroll through apps by swiping your finger up and down on the screen. See Figure 3 in the Quick Start Guide for images of the Launcher icons on the DROID, DROID 2, DROID 2 Global and DROID X. Once the App tray is open, you can launch apps by tapping them. Click the Back or Home button to return to the Home screen.
Adding App Icons to Your Home Screen Let’s review the long press, because you’ll need it here. If you press down on an item and keep pressing for a few seconds, this is what Android calls a long click. However, you don’t physically click the screen, so we’ll call it a long “press” for clarity. You’ll generally feel some haptic feedback when you use the long press – the DROID will vibrate slightly to let you know that you’ve done something different than a regular tap. A long press can be programmed into apps. On the Home screen, a long press is used to add and remove items. Figure 6–1 illustrates how to add an icon to your Home screen.
CHAPTER 6: Organize Your Home Screen: Icons and Widgets
Long press
Tap
Launch the app tray by tapping Launcher icon on the center bottom of the Home screen.
Long press on the desired app by pressing until you feel the vibration.
Your app icon will appear on the Home screen. Long press and drag the icon to reposition it.
Figure 6–1. Adding icons to the Home screen.
Follow these steps to add an app to your Home screen: 1.
Navigate to page of the Home screen you want to modify.
2.
Open the App tray and find the icon for the app you want to launch.
3.
Long press the app and keep pressing.
4.
The App tray will vanish after a few seconds, and you’ll see the Home screen.
5.
Continue to press down, and then drag your app to the desired position.
6.
Release your finger.
Adding Bookmarks to Your Home Screen You’re not limited to just App icons. You can also long press a bookmark to add it to your Home screen as a shortcut. It will be added to whichever Home screen page you viewed immediately before launching the Browser app. You can read more about using the Browser app in Chapter 11: “Surfing the Web.” However, if you’re already familiar with using the Browser app and adding bookmarks, Figure 6–2 illustrates how to add a Browser app bookmark to your Home screen.
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Tap
Long press Long press on the bookmark you wish to add to the Home screen.
Tap Add shortcut to Home. The shortcut will be added.
The shortcut will have a specific icon for some sites and a generic star for others.
Figure 6–2. Adding bookmarks to the Home screen.
Follow these steps to add a bookmark from the Browser app to your Home screen: 1.
Open the Browser app.
2.
Press the Menu button.
3.
Tap Bookmarks.
4.
Long press on the desired bookmark.
5.
Tap Add shortcut to home.
If you’re already at the Home screen, you can add a bookmark by adding a shortcut after the initial long press.
CHAPTER 6: Organize Your Home Screen: Icons and Widgets
Adding Shortcuts When you long press on the Home screen, you’ll see the menu shown to the right. One of your menu choices is Shortcuts. Shortcuts aren’t reserved for bookmarks. You can add shortcuts for individual contacts, Gmail labels, items in the Settings menu, and more. Some apps may also have shortcut options. For example, Foursquare, a social location app, allows you to save locations as shortcuts for easy check-ins. And Aldiko, an eBook reader, allows you to save shortcuts to individual books in your library.
All of your Home screen app icons are actually shortcuts, and they can be added through the Shortcuts menu, too. We still prefer adding them with the method illustrated in Figure 6–1 because it’s easy to accidentally click the wrong app when you add them through the Shortcuts menu.
Adding Folders You can add as many contacts to your Home page as will fit. But why stop there? Instead of adding a single contact, you can add a folder, as shown to the right. Follow these steps to create a folder on your Home screen: 1.
Long press on the Home screen.
2.
Select Folders.
3.
Tap your desired folder.
You can either add an empty New folder or choose from the many “smart” folders that have already been predefined and filled with content, such as Statuses or All contacts. Move items into blank folders by long clicking the item and dragging it on top of the folder, just as you would on a computer desktop.
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CAUTION: Removing a folder from your Home screen also removes any shortcuts you’ve moved into that folder.
Widgets Widgets are like miniature applications that run on your Home screen. They can be interactive or passive, and they can be used for everything from instant access to the time and weather, to access to your personal finances at a glance. Figure 6–3 shows some example widgets.
This is an example of a widget specific to Motorola and DROIDs.
Widgets are small apps that run on your Home screen. They’re often interactive. This is the New York Times widget, which can be downloaded from the Android Market. Widgets come in different shapes and sizes and be repositioned on the Home screen.
Figure 6–3. Some Android widgets.
Your DROID comes with two basic styles of widgets: the standard Android widget and the Motorola widget. Motorola widgets were created as part of the Motorola DROID modifications, and they behave a bit differently than standard widgets by letting you resize them. We’ll cover both Android and Motorola widgets. NOTE: The Motorola widgets are not available on the original DROID. You use the same basic process to add widgets to your Home screen that you use to add icons and bookmarks. Figure 6–4 illustrates the process with the Android Home screen Tips widget. This widget was designed to give you tips on how to use your phone.
CHAPTER 6: Organize Your Home Screen: Icons and Widgets
Long press
Tap Tap Long press on the Home screen where you wish to add a widget.
Tap to select Android widgets.
Tap on the desired widget. In this case, it’s the Home screen tips widget.
The widget appears on the screen. Long press and drag to reposition it on the screen.
Figure 6–4. Adding widgets.
Follow these steps to add a widget to your Home screen: 1.
Long press on the Home screen.
2.
Tap Android widgets.
3.
Tap your desired widget.
4.
Your widget will be added. Now you can long click and drag the widget to a new location on the screen, if desired. You can even drag it to another Home screen page.
Android Widget Size When you add widgets to the Home screen, most widgets are already a predetermined size and shape. Either they fit in the space given – or they do not. If you long-click a widget, you can move it within a screen. However, you cannot make it larger or smaller. Many app developers make multiple versions of the same widget and label them with size-specific information such as “32” or “41.”
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You might wonder what these measurements mean. If you measure your phone’s screen, not by its physical screen size, but by the number of icons you can store on it, your DROID has a Home screen that measures four app icons by four app icons. Each icon is rectangular in shape to allow space for text labels. The widget measurement generally goes horizontally by vertically. Thus, a widget that measures 41, such as the Power Control widget shown on the right, takes up the space of four apps across and one down. The widget has five buttons on it, but it is only four icons wide on your screen.
Motorola Widgets Your DROID ships with a few Android widgets, and you can download a nearly endless supply from the Android Market. Your DROID 2, DROID 2 Global, and DROID X also ships with Motorola widgets that aren’t available for download. Table 6–1 has a rundown of the different Motorola widgets and what they do. Table 6–1. Motorola widgets.
Airplane mode toggle: This widget allows you to toggle your phone in and out of Airplane mode. It’s useful for flying or for times when you absolutely don’t want to be interrupted. Bluetooth toggle: Like the Airplane mode toggle, this is a simple on and off switch for enabling and disabling Bluetooth. Calendar widget: This is a simple calendar that ties into both the Google Calendar and the Corporate Sync Calendar.
CHAPTER 6: Organize Your Home Screen: Icons and Widgets
Contact quick tasks: This widget is useful for your frequent contacts like friends and relatives. You can add shortcuts to call, email, text, or even send them a Twitter or Facebook message.
Date and Time: Unlike the Calendar widget, the Date and Time widget isn’t about your appointments. This is strictly a clock for displaying the current date and time. You can select the color and choose between a digital and analog time display. GPS toggle: Like the other toggles, this is a simple on/off switch. This one controls your DROID GPS. Messages: This widget displays email messages from any account you have linked to your DROID. It also displays SMS/MMS text messages and status updates from social networking accounts.
News: The News widget displays news items or blog entries. You can add feeds by URL or subscribe to preset bundles of news feeds.
Photo slideshow: This is a gallery widget that displays an interactive slideshow of photos you’ve taken from your DROID. You can also use it as a quick shortcut to your DROID’s gallery and camera apps. You can only have one Photo slideshow widget at a time. Photo Widget: This widget lets you display a single photo as if it were an app icon or other shortcut. You can add as many of these as you wish, but each one takes space on your Home screen, and each widget can only display a single photo.
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Social Networking: This widget displays a feed of updates from your linked social networking services such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. Social Status: This widget is the other end of the social networking widget. It allows you to update your linked social networking services with status updates. You can update individual services, such as just Facebook or just Twitter; or you can update all of them at once with the same message. Sticky Note: This is the DROID version of a paper sticky note. You can write new notes to yourself and display them until you change the note. It’s not for long-term storage, and it doesn’t pull the information from other sites. Weather: This widget displays weather information with a nice graphic to suggest current conditions. The information displayed in this widget comes from AccuWeather.com. WiFi toggle: This is a simple on/off toggle for using Wi-Fi for your DROID. Toggle it off when you’re out of Wi-Fi range to save battery time. Motorola widgets have a lot in common with Android widgets, but they also give you an extra bonus in flexibility. Motorola widgets are resizable, so they’ll take up as much or as little space as you allow them. Figure 6–5 shows you how this works.
CHAPTER 6: Organize Your Home Screen: Icons and Widgets
Tap
Long press
Long press on the Home screen by pressing the screen and holding.
Drag
Tap on Motorola widgets and then scroll by swiping up and down.
There are 15 Motorola widgets to choose from.
Drag from the middle to reposition the widget.
Drag a corner to resize the widget.
A frame will appear around the widget.
Long press on a Motorola widget to change the size.
Figure 6–5. Working with Motorola widgets.
Adding and Resizing Motorola Widgets Follow these steps to add a Motorola widget to your Home screen; note that you use the same long press procedure you would to add an Android widget: 1.
Long press on the Home screen.
2.
Tap Motorola widgets.
3.
Slide your finger along the screen to scroll through the widget list.
4.
Tap to select the desired widget.
Once you’ve added a widget, you can follow these steps to resize that widget to fit on your screen: 1.
Long press on a Motorola widget until your DROID vibrates and you see a green halo around the widget.
2.
A frame appears around the widget. Drag the corners of the frame to resize the widget.
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3.
Tap anywhere else on the screen to complete the action.
In addition to allowing you to resize them, many Motorola widgets also allow you to customize the info they display.
Removing Unwanted Items from the Home Screen The Android Home screen Tips widget is only useful when you first get started with your DROID. After a while, you may want to remove it to make space for other app icons, widgets, or shortcuts. Removing widgets is as simple as dragging them to the trash, as shown in the image on the right. In fact, this is the same process you use to remove any unwanted item from the Home screen, whether it’s an app icon, a shortcut, or a widget. Follow these steps to remove a widget from the Home screen: 1.
Long press the item you want to remove until you feel the haptic feedback.
2.
The item will get a green halo, and you’ll see a trashcan on the bottom of the screen. Drag the item to the trash.
Long press
Long press and then drag unwanted widgets to the trash.
Don’t worry. You haven’t permanently deleted the app or widget. If you change your mind, you can add it back to your Home screen.
Wallpaper So far we’ve covered widgets, shortcuts, and folders. The last option you see when you long press on the screen is wallpapers. Wallpapers provide an easy way to personalize your phone, whether it’s by downloading artwork or using a photo you shot from your DROID. There are three basic types of wallpapers on your DROID: Live wallpapers, Media gallery, and Wallpapers. Figure 6–6 illustrates their basic differences.
CHAPTER 6: Organize Your Home Screen: Icons and Widgets
Live wallpapers are special wallpapers that are animated or interactive.
Wallpapers are a collection of still images designed to be used as wallpaper.
Media gallery lets you choose and crop a portion of a photo from your DROID’s camera.
Only a portion of the image shows on each screen.
Figure 6–6. Wallpaper types.
Live Wallpapers Android 2.1 introduced Live wallpapers. These are background wallpapers that can be animated and made to react to events on your phone. For example, they might respond to you touching the phone, the time of day, or the sounds playing on your phone. Several Live wallpapers come with your DROID, including the red, lit robotic eye that you see in the DROID commercials. You can also download new wallpapers both as free and paid apps. The screen on the right shows the Shake Them All! wallpaper by Yougli; one of the Live wallpapers included in this app shows the Android logo falling in slow-motion on your screen. It reacts when you shake the screen or touch the androids as they fall. The disadvantage of Live wallpapers is that they take more power to display, especially if they have interactive features.
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Live wallpapers are essentially small apps running in the background, which means they can occasionally crash or cause issues with other running apps. If you find your phone crashing frequently or losing battery power rapidly, try switching to a different wallpaper.
Media Gallery You might want to use a photo you took on your DROID as your wallpaper; this is easy to do, and it falls into the Media Gallery wallpaper category. Keep in mind that you can only use a portion of the photo, and the entire photo will not display at once. You might also notice that the portion of the image you see is actually thinner than your Home screens. As you scroll between screens, the Home screen wallpaper will appear to move more slowly than the foreground images. Follow these steps to display a photo you took with your DROID as the wallpaper on your Home screen: 1.
Long press the Home screen.
2.
Tap Wallpapers.
3.
Tap Media gallery (DROID 2/X) or tap Gallery (DROID).
4.
Choose a photo you want to use.
5.
Select an area of the photo to use. By default, the photo starts with a small, central crop. You can drag the red frame edges until you’ve selected the portion of the photo you want to use.
6.
Tap Save.
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Making Phone Calls The DROID is capable of so many cool things that it’s easy to forget that it’s also a very powerful phone. In this chapter, we will cover the many DROID features you would expect from a high-end smartphone. You can dial by name, save time by using your recent call logs, dial by voice, use speed dial numbers, and use Basic or Visual Voicemail features. You can also use your DROID to initiate a conference call among several people. You can also customize your phone, message, and other ringtones. You can even set a custom ringtone for individual contacts in your address book – this is a great way to know who is calling without looking at your phone. It is easy to use your own music as ringtones on a DROID, but a little harder to use your own music as custom ringtones for contacts or text messages. We will show you how to do all these things, and a few more nice tricks, as well. We will also show you how to purchase ringtones from the Amazon MP3 and Android Market online stores.
Getting Started with the Phone (Dialer) Start your phone by using the Phone icon located at the bottom-left corner of every Home screen. You can also start the phone by using the Dialer icon or Phone icon on the original DROID.
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Finding Your DROID Phone Number Maybe you just received your new DROID and don’t yet know the phone number. Don’t worry; you can find your number in the Settings app by following these steps: 1.
Tap the Settings icon.
2.
Scroll down and tap About Phone.
3.
Finally, tap Status. Your number is listed under My phone number, as shown in the image to the right.
TIP: You can also check your phone number using Voice Command on the DROID 2 and DROID X. From the Phone dialer screen, tap the Voice Command icon just to the right of the Green phone icon and say, “Check my phone number.”
Muting the Phone Ringer - Slide for Mute Occasionally, you want to silence your phone ringer. Follow these simple steps silence your DROID’s ringer: 1.
Tap the Power/Lock key on the top of your phone to turn off the screen (see Figure 7–1).
2.
Tap the same Power/Lock key to bring up the Lock screen.
3.
Slide the Speaker icon to the right to turn it to Vibrate mode. Notice that the Speaker icon changes to show a Vibrating phone icon.
4.
To turn off Vibrate mode, repeat the procedure. Notice that the icon returns to the Speaker icon.
TIP: You can also press and hold the Volume Down button to mute your ringer.
CHAPTER 7: Making Phone Calls
Notice the mute icon is shown in status bar.
Slide this to mute your ringer and other sounds.
Slide again to un-mute your ringer and other sounds.
Icon shows you are currently in mute mode.
Slide
Slide
Figure 7–1. Slide to mute or unmute your phone.
Examining Different Phone Views Your phone keypad can be shown by tapping the Dialer soft key. There are three other soft keys along the top that give you different ways to use your phone: Recent, which shows recent calls placed, missed, or received; Contacts, which shows your contact list; and Favorites, which shows your favorite phone numbers (see Figure 7–2). Dialer Tap to dial numbers using the keypad.
Recent View placed, received and missed calls.
Contacts Tap to dial from your Contacts list.
Figure 7–2. These soft keys show you different views of your phone.
Favorites Tap to use your stored favorites.
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Using the Dialer Keypad The simplest way to make a call is to use the Dialer. The numbers on the screen are large, so it’s easy to dial a number. Follow these steps to use the Dialer app or Phone app on the original DROID to make a call: 1.
Tap the Dialer icon (see Figure 7–3).
2.
If you do not see the keypad to dial, tap the Dialer soft key the top-left portion of the screen.
3.
Now you can simply start dialing by tapping number keys.
4.
If you make a mistake, press the Backspace key window where the numbers appear.
5.
If you need to type a Plus (+) sign for an international number, press and hold the Zero (0 +) key.
6.
When you are done dialing, press the green Phone key at the bottom
at
next to the
. If the person you are dialing has a picture attached to his contact record, you will see the picture appear (see Figure 7–3). 7.
When you are done with the call, press the End call key (the Red phone
icon)
.
TIP: Sometimes you have to enter a pause in a phone number for a couple of seconds, then dial another number such as an extension or a password. You can dial a pause by pressing the Menu button and selecting Add Pause. You see a comma appear next to the phone number, which indicates a two-second pause. If you need a wait to be inserted, then press the Menu button and select Add wait. A wait will pause in dialing and wait for you to tap a button to continue dialing.
CHAPTER 7: Making Phone Calls
Start the phone by tapping the Phone or Dialer icons.
Tap the Dialer soft key to bring up the keypad.
OR
Tap
Press here to view voice mail messages. Press the green phone key to start the call.
Press and hold the 0 key to type a plus (+).
Tap here for Voice Command. (Dial by voice.)
Hang up with this red phone key.
Figure 7–3. Dialing phone numbers with your DROID keypad.
TIP: You can redial the number you just called by tapping the Green phone key on the Dialer pad. You will see the most recent number you dialed appear; tap the Green phone key again to place the call.
Muting Yourself on a Call If you want some privacy during the call, tap the Mute button in the bottom-middle of the screen. You know the call is muted when you see the green bar at the bottom of the button lit up as shown in the figure to the right. Tap it again to unmute yourself.
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Dialing Digits While on a Call Sometimes you need to dial numbers while already on a call. Common examples include dialing an extension or dialing the first few letters of someone’s last name to look up her name in automated directory.
To start dialing digits, tap the Dialpad button shown to the right. Tap the same button to hide the dialpad, which has changed to say Hide.
Using the Speaker Phone Tap the Speaker key to use the speakerphone on your DROID. Like the Mute key, the speakerphone is on when the green bar is lit on the bottom of the key.
Talking Hands-free with a Bluetooth Headset or Bluetooth Car Stereo If you are in one of the many states or provinces where you cannot legally hold your DROID while driving a car, you will want to purchase a Bluetooth headset or use a Bluetooth car stereo connection to talk hands-free (please see Chapter 8: “Bluetooth on Your DROID” for more information on this topic).
CHAPTER 7: Making Phone Calls
Tap the Bluetooth key in the lower-left corner of the screen to switch audio over to your Bluetooth device. As with the Mute feature, you know Bluetooth is on when the green bar is lit on the bottom of the key. Check out the “Voice Dialing” section later in this chapter for more information.
Opening Other Apps While on a Call It’s easy to multitask on your DROID. This is especially useful when you are on a phone call. For example, you can press the Home button to jump back to the Home screen and start another app, or long-press the Home button to jump to a recently used app. Some common examples of useful multitasking while on a call include the following: Checking and scheduling a new Calendar event. Looking up a name, address, or phone number in the Contacts app. Finding a message in your Email app to use during the call.
Getting Back to the Phone From Any App Returning to your phone call from any app is easy. Follow these steps to get back to your call in progress from the Home screen or any other app on your DROID (see Figure 7–4): 1.
Start by swiping your finger down from the top status bar.
2.
Tap the Phone call in progress to return to the current call or tap the Red phone icon to hang up.
You can also return to a call by long-pressing the Home button to bring up your Recent window of apps, and then selecting the Dialer icon.
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Slide
Tap
Figure 7–4. Getting back to the call in progress from any app.
Using Speed Dial on Your DROID (DROID 2 and DROID X only) The Speed Dial feature lets you use the number keys on the phone’s dialpad to quickly dial phone numbers. You can press and hold a number to call the associated speed dial number. TIP: The only speed dial number that is pre-assigned is the number one (1), which dials your voicemail by default. You speed dial your voicemail by pressing and holding the 1 key.
Adding Speed Dial Numbers You have a few options for adding new numbers to speed dial, including the following:
Press and hold any unassigned number on the dialpad to set it as a new speed dial number. Next, select a contact to assign to that number to.
From any Phone screen, press the Menu key and select Speed dial setup. Next, tap any number that has not yet been assigned to select a contact to assign to it.
From the Recent list, you can add speed dial numbers by following the steps shown in the “Assigning a Recent Caller a Speed Dial Number” section later in this chapter.
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From the Contacts view in the phone, press and hold any contact name and select Edit speed dial to assign this contact a speed dial number.
Using Speed Dial It’s easy to use the DROID’s speed dial feature to make a call. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Bring up the keypad on the phone by tapping the Phone icon and then tapping the Dialer soft key.
2.
Press and hold the correct speed dial number on the keypad to dial its associated number.
Using the Recent View (Call Logs) The Recent view serves as your call log of outgoing, incoming, and missed calls. Touching the Recent soft key displays a list of all your recent calls. Tap the View bar just under the soft keys to filter your view by All calls, Missed calls, Received calls, or Outgoing calls (see Figure 7–5).
NOTE: The original DROID uses a Call log soft key instead of one that says Recent.
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Tap this bar to filter your view.
Tap the Recent soft key to see this screen.
Select a different way to filter your view.
You see only phone numbers when they are not in your contacts.
Outgoing calls are shown in blue arrows, calls received are green and missed calls are red.
Press the Menu button to see these items.
TIP: Tap any contact entry listed to see their contact details.
Tap the green phone icon to call this person.
Tap any phone number or longpress any contact entry to see these options.
Figure 7–5. Working with your Recent screen.
Placing a Call from the Recent View It’s a simple matter to place a call when looking at the Recent view. All you need to do is tap the Green phone icon next to a recent caller to call that contact or number.
Viewing Contact Details from the Recent View It’s also easy to view the contact information for someone listed in the Recent view. Simply tap the contact’s name to view their contact details.
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Adding a Number to Your Contacts List Sometimes you will want to add the phone number of a recent caller to your Contacts list. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Tap the phone number listed in the Recent or Call log list to see a pop-up asking whether you want to Add to contacts.
2.
You will be asked whether you want to add the number to an Existing contact or to create a New contact with this number. If you select Existing, then you will need to choose a contact from your list.
3.
If you select New, then you need to create a new contact with the number listed in the Recent view.
Sending a Text Message to a Recent Caller Another cool DROID ability: You can send a text message to a recent caller. To do so, long-press the name or phone number in the Recent list and select Send text message.
Assigning a Recent Caller a Speed Dial Number (DROID 2 and DROID X only) It’s also a simple matter to assign a speed dial number to a recent caller. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Long-press the name or phone number in the Recent list and select Add to speed dial.
2.
The next screen (shown to the right) displays a default number (4, in this case) as the next available speed dial number. Tap that number to change it to another number, if you desire.
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3.
When done, tap Add at the bottom to assign this speed dial number to a recent caller.
Tapping the Contact Icon to Access Other Features When you tap the icon shown to the left of the contact name in your Recent list, a little Quick Access pop-up appears above the icon. This pop-up allows you to view the contact’s details; or to call, text, email, or map the contact (see Figure 7–6). If the contact has a picture – such as the one for Gary Mazo shown to the right or just a blank shoulder/head – then you know the person is in your Contacts list. If you see Question mark icon, then you know the phone number is not connected to any contact.
or
Tap the contact icon here to view this pop-up.
Call contact
View contact
Text contact
Email contact
Figure 7–6. Using the Quick Access contact pop-up from the Recent screen.
Map contact
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NOTE: On the original DROID, you only see the contact icons in the Contacts and Favorites sections of the Phone app.
NOTE: Certain icons will not appear in the Quick Access window if you do not have the related information stored in your Contacts app. For example, if you do not have an address for a contact, then the Map icon will not appear. Similarly, if you do not have an email address, then the Email icon will not show up. This Quick Access window also appears in your Contacts app when you tap the icon to the left of the contact name.
Tapping the Question Mark Icon to Add, Call, or Text a Recent Caller You have two clues that a given phone number is not in your Contacts list. First, you will see a Question mark icon (?) instead of a face or blank head/shoulders in the icon. Second, you will see a phone number instead of a contact name. To quickly add this number to an existing or new contact, tap the Question mark icon to see this screen. From this screen, you can choose Add to existing contact if this is a phone number for someone already in your address book. Tap Create new contact to associate this number with a new contact entry.
Clearing Out or Erasing Your Recent List Sometimes you may want to delete all the numbers in your recent list. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Press the Menu button.
2.
Select Clear list to erase all the entries in the Recent list.
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Placing Calls From Contacts One of the great things about having all your contact information in your phone is that it becomes very easy to place calls from your Contacts list on the DROID. Follow these steps to call someone in your Contacts list: 1.
If you are not in your Dialer app, tap the Dialer icon to start it up.
2.
Touch the Contacts soft key at the top.
3.
Locate a contact to call using one of the following methods: a.
Swipe up or down through the list.
b. Press the Menu key and select Search. c.
If you have a physical keyboard, slide it out and start typing a name.
4.
When you find the contact entry you want, tap the Green phone icon next to his name.
5.
If the contact has more than one phone number, you need to select one. If you want the DROID to remember this is your default choice, check the box next to Remember this choice. See the “Calling Favorites” section of this chapter for more information on how to do this.
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Using Favorites Your Favorites view shows both contacts you have specifically assigned as Favorites and frequently called contacts. This is a nice view because it can save you time by putting your contacts just a tap away. All your favorites are shown at the top, and the Frequently called contacts are displayed at the bottom. TIP: You can clear out the Frequently called contacts by pressing the Menu key and selecting Clear frequent list.
Adding New Favorites It is easy to add new favorites to your list from the Contacts view in the Dialer app. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
If you are not in the Dialer app, tap the Dialer icon to start it up.
2.
Touch the Contacts soft key at the top to view your Contacts list.
3.
To search for a contact, press the Menu button and select Search.
4.
Start typing a few letters of the contact’s first, last, or company name to find the contact quickly.
TIP: If you have a physical keyboard, then you can also slide out the keyboard and start typing to find a particular contact. 5.
You can simply swipe up or down to find a contact.
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6.
Long-press the contact you want to add as a Favorite and select Add to favorites.
TIP: You can also make any contact a Favorite by just touching the star next to his name in your Contacts app.
Calling a Favorite To call any Favorite, touch the Green phone icon next to the name of the contact in your Favorites screen. If the contact has several phone numbers, then you will be asked to select the phone number to call. TIP: If you almost always use the same number for that contact, then you can press the Remember this choice option in the dialog box that pops up, as shown in the image to the right.
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Voice Dialing You can use your voice to dial names and phone numbers from a variety of places on your DROID. Here are three options you have for dialing a call with your voice: Tap the Voice dialing icon in the lower-left corner of the Dialer app’s
Dialer screen.
Press and hold the Search button on the bottom of your DROID until you see the Speak now box appear in the middle of the screen. If you have a slide-out keyboard, you can do the same thing with the Search button on the keyboard. You can also double-press the Home button on both the DROID X and DROID 2 to accomplish this task. Press the button on the side of your Bluetooth headset or the call button on your Bluetooth car stereo to start Voice Command.
Voice Command The Voice Command feature on your DROID enables you to place calls using your voice. Note that you can use Voice Command to dial a contact by name or number; send a text message; dictate an email; check for missed calls; look up a contact entry; play a playlist; check messages; check signal strength, network availability, or battery charge; and much more. We cover Voice Command fully in Chapter 2: “Typing, Voice, Copy, and Search.”
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Quickly Checking Missed Calls If you have a Bluetooth headset, you can quickly check for all missed calls by pressing the button on the headset and saying, “Check missed calls.” TIP: You don’t need a Bluetooth headset for this trick. You can also do this by tapping the Voice dialing icon in the lower-right corner of the Dialer app’s Dialpad screen.
Conference Calling You can get a conference call going fairly easily on your DROID. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Call the first person and press the Add call button.
2.
Call the second person using any of the methods described in this chapter: Dialer, Recent, Contacts, Favorites, or Speed Dial.
TIP: You know someone is on the phone because the top status bar is now green, as shown to the right. On the original DROID, you won't see a green status bar but you will see a Green Phone icon.
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3.
Once the second person is connected, you see a large Green phone icon in the center of the screen and the green Merge calls button. Tap Merge calls to put the callers together in a conference call.
4.
Once you have connected the callers, you have the following options:
Tap End last call to hang up with the second caller.
Tap the Add call key to add another person to the conference call.
Tap End call to hang up on all the callers.
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Accessing Voicemail Your DROID comes with the basic Voicemail features and an optional enhanced voicemail system called Visual Voicemail that costs an extra $2.99 per month at publishing time. Visual Voicemail is a nice feature because it allows you to quickly see all voicemails and play them in any order. You don’t have to listen to each message to see who called; instead, you can just tap the message you want to hear.
Setting up Basic Voicemail Setting up basic voicemail features on your DROID requires only a handful of steps: 1.
Tap the Dialer icon or Phone icon on the original DROID.
2.
Tap the Voicemail icon the Green phone key.
3.
Tap Call Voicemail. If this is the first time you are using voicemail with this phone number, then follow the prompts to set up your voicemail and select a pass code. Otherwise, enter your passcode if requested and follow the prompts to retrieve your voicemail messages.
in the bottom row of soft keys next to
TIP: Your default voicemail password might be the last four digits of your phone number. If you are unsure, give that a try.
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Getting Your DROID to Enter Your Voicemail Password Normally, you have to type in your voicemail password or PIN every time you call voicemail. This tip will allow you to have it automatically entered for you by your DROID: 1.
Start your Contacts app.
2.
If you see a contact called Voicemail, press the Menu button and select Edit. Otherwise, create a new contact and call it Voicemail.
3.
In the phone number box, type *86,,,nnnn#, where nnnn is your four-digit voicemail password or PIN. You will need to tap the *#( key to see the Pause key. Each comma (,) is really a two-second pause. Remember to put the pound sign (#) at the end of your entry.
4.
Now you can call the Voicemail contact and have it automatically dial your password. You can make this process even easier by associating your Voicemail contact with your speed dial for the number 1. This will enable you to access your voicemail with a single long-press of the 1 key on your phone’s dialpad.
5.
Start your Dialer app, press the Menu key, and select Speed dial setup.
6.
Tap the Minus key to the right of the top speed dial to remove it.
7.
Now tap the top item (1) to set it as the Voicemail contact that you just edited or created. It should look similar to the screen shown to the right when you are done.
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8.
Next, press and hold the 1 key on the dialpad of your Phone app to automatically call the Voicemail contact and have your password entered automatically. You will see a short pause, after which your password will be sent in a little pop-up window that says, “Sending Tones.” The figure to the right shows this process in action.
TIP: You can use this same trick to add pauses and waits to other numbers when dialing extensions, dialing phone and other passwords, or even when accessing numbers. You need to set up new contacts for each number you want to call, after which you can quickly dial these numbers and their access codes or passwords without entering them manually – and without dialing them each time. We definitely recommend you secure your DROID with a password or other method if you choose to enter sensitive information such as bank access passwords in your DROID contacts.
Visual Voicemail As we mentioned earlier in this chapter, the Visual Voicemail feature allows you to instantly see who has left you voicemail messages. It also lets you listen to them or delete them in any order. At publishing time, this was a paid add-on service from Verizon that costs US $2.99 per month. TIP: You can get free Visual Voicemail-like features from other places. For example, you can choose one of the free apps from the Amazon Market such as YouMail Visual Voicemail or Visual VoiceMail. The other method is to use the free Google Voice app; you’ll learn more about this app in the “Using Google Voice” section later in this chapter.
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Follow these steps to access the Visual Voicemail service from your DROID: 1.
Tap the Dialer icon.
2.
Tap the Voicemail icon in the bottom row of soft keys next to the Green phone key.
3.
If this is the first time you are using Visual Voicemail, then you need to tap the Subscribe to Visual Voicemail button at the bottom of the screen and Accept the license agreement.
4.
Enter your voicemail password and click Login.
5.
At this point, you should see your Visual Voicemail mailbox, as shown in the image in the left to the right. The blue dot column indicates that you have new messages you haven’t listened to yet.
6.
Tap any entry to listen to it, delete it, or call the person back. From this detail screen, you can do the following:
Rewind
Play / Pause
Fast forward
Call back the person who left the message
Toggle the Speaker on or off
Delete a message
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Unsubscribing from Visual Voicemail If you decide you want to turn off and stop paying for the Visual Voicemail service, you can do so, but the wireless carrier wants to make absolutely certain you want to stop using the service; you need to confirm your choice four times! Follow these steps to cancel the Visual Voicemail service: 1.
Bring up your Visual Voicemail inbox, as just explained.
2.
Press the Menu key and select More.
3.
Tap Unsubscribe from the menu.
4.
Tap Unsubscribe from the pop-up window.
5.
You may see a warning similar to the one shown to the right. If you’re sure you want to cancel your subscription, tap Cancel Subscription.
6.
You will also have another screen that asks you again to Confirm Cancel Subscription.
7.
You may also be presented with a survey that you can choose to ignore. From this point, it takes about five minutes to cancel.
Deleting All Visual Voicemails at Once The Visual Voicemail service provides the option of deleting all your voicemails at once. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Press the Menu button and tap More.
2.
Select Delete All Voicemails.
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Archiving or Deleting Multiple Messages Sometimes you may want to archive or delete multiple voicemail messages at once. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
From your Visual Voicemail inbox, press the Menu button and tap Select Multiple.
2.
Now each message you tap will be selected with a Green checkmark icon.
3.
Tap Archive or Mark as Heard to save all the selected messages.
4.
Tap Delete or Eraseto delete all the selected voicemails.
Changing Your Voicemail Ringtone and Vibration You can also change your voicemail ringtones and vibration settings from your Visual Voicemail inbox. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
From your Visual Voicemail inbox, press the Menu button and tap Settings.
2.
To change the ringtone you hear when you receive a new voicemail message, tap Select ringtone and change it.
3.
Tap Vibrate to turn the vibration feature on or off when you receive new messages.
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Using Google Voice If you already use the Google Voice app, you will want to install it on your DROID. If you are new to Google Voice, then you should know that this is a great service that gives you the following features for free:
Ring all your phones simultaneously – This feature allows people to reach you whether you are at home, at your office, or out and about with your DROID by calling a new Google Voice number that in turn rings all your phones, wherever you might be.
Receive a free Visual Voicemail-type service – This feature lets you see all your voicemails listed on your DROID screen. You can listen to these voicemails in any order.
Receive voicemails transcribed as email or SMS text messages – This feature provides a very convenient way to read and respond to voicemail messages.
Display your Google Voice number as your caller ID – This feature shows your Google Voice number when people call your DROID.
Send free text messages – This feature lets you use Google Voice to send free text messages from your DROID.
You can learn more about Google Voice by viewing these video tutorials produced by Google at this URL: http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html. NOTE: At publishing time, you could not use Google Voice outside the United States.
Installing the Google Voice App Obviously, you’ll need to install the Google Voice app before you can use it. Fortunately, you can acquire this app for free from the Android Market. We initially tried to find it by searching for “Google Voice”; however, we found it hard to locate the app with that search criteria. Instead, we recommend starting your Browser app and going to http://m.google.com/voice. Next, click the Download from Market button. Once you’re in the Market app, follow the steps described to install the app.
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Setting Up Google Voice To start Google Voice, tap the Voice icon. You may think you should look for a Google Voice icon; however, the icon is simply called Voice.
The first time you start the app, you need to log in. You need to use the Google account you used to set up your Google Voice account. This account could be the same or different from your default Google account on your DROID. After logging in, you have a few things to set up. Tap the Next button on the bottom of the screen to continue, and then follow the instructions to select and verify your DROID phone number.
Next, you can choose whether you want to use Google Voice to make all calls, no calls, international calls, or be prompted each time you make a call. Choose the option that works best for you. The example shown in this chapter uses all calls, as shown in the figure to the right.
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Now select whether you want to use the Google Voice app’s Voicemail service on your DROID. We recommend doing this because it gives you free visual voicemail and transcription of all your voicemail messages. Make sure that you tap Google Voice when shown the screen to the right. You can also get to this screen from the Settings app > Call settings > Voicemail service. At this point, you will see a screen that asks you to dial a number – the example shown to the right asks us to “dial *713864731790.” This number consists of *71, plus our Google Voice number. Tap the underlined number to dial it from your DROID. You will then see a pop-up window called Call Settings. This window displays a status message that shows your Reading settings. When this process is complete, your voicemail should be correctly set to Google Voice. You will know if you have successfully set up Google Voice as your voicemail service if you see it shown under Voicemail Service on the Call settings screen, as shown in the image to the right. The Google Voice service will now route all your callers to the Google Voice voicemail system when they call you.
TIP: You can adjust many of the Google Voice app’s initial settings by starting the Voice app, pressing the Menu button, tapping More, and then tapping Settings.
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Placing Calls With Google Voice The nice thing about using Google Voice is that it is seamlessly integrated into your DROID phone and voicemail systems. To place a call, all you need to do is launch the Phone app; and then call a Recent, Favorite, or other contact as you would normally. If you selected for all calls to be placed with Google Voice as shown above, then the call will automatically be placed using Google Voice. The caller ID displayed on the phone of the person you are calling will show your Google Voice number, not the number of your DROID. That way, the person will call you back on your Google Voice number. This also means that you can use the enhanced voicemail services of Google Voice.
Retrieving Google Voice Voicemails You might think you should be able to tap the regular Voicemail icon next to the Green phone icon in your dialpad to retrieve your voicemail messages. However, this does not work. Instead, you need to tap the Voice app to see all your Google Voice voicemail messages. NOTE: You can also retrieve Google Voice voicemails from any desktop computer browser. You can tap any message in the list to view the entire transcript and play the voice message. When viewing an individual message, you can press the Menu button to accomplish the following tasks:
Call the person back.
Text that person.
View contact details (if that person is in your address book).
Add a Star or press More to Delete the message.
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Customizing Phone Options and Settings You can customize your DROID phone by going into the Settings app. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Tap the Settings icon.
2.
Tap Call settings.
From this screen, you can configure the following options:
Voicemail service and settings – Choose whether to use your carrier or Google Voice to handle voicemail.
Assisted dialing – This option helps you place calls when you are roaming overseas.
Auto answer – Check this box to have the DROID automatically answer calls when the device is in Hands-free mode (e.g., when the device is connected to your Bluetooth car stereo or headset).
Caller ID Readout – This option reads out the contact name or phone number via the DROID speaker. You can set this option to ring only (the default value); speak the Caller ID and then ring; or Caller ID repeat. The last option keeps repeating the name or number, which can be a little annoying!
Auto Retry – If a call fails, this option prompts the DROID to automatically try the same number again.
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TTY Mode – This option specifies the deaf accessibility settings for the DROID. Possible values for this option are Off, Full, HCO, or VCO.
DTMF Tones – This option sets the length of the tones you hear when you press a key on the dialpad between Normal (default) and Long. This can be useful if you are calling automated systems with a bad connection; making the tones longer can help the system recognize the digits you input.
HAC Mode Settings – These settings govern hearing-aid compatibility.
Voice Privacy – This option adds an extra layer of encryption to your voice calls; it is set to Checked (on) by default.
Show Dialpad – This option enables you to set the phone to automatically show the dialpad after you are connected to a phone number. The default shows the dialpad only for Voicemail, toll-free, and 900 numbers; however, you can change this setting to show the dialpad for Custom phone numbers or even All calls.
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Sounds, Ring Tones, and Vibration The DROID will alert you to incoming calls, voicemails received, and other features with unique sounds or vibrations. These can easily be adjusted using your Music and Settings apps. You can also assign unique ringtones to specific people from your Contacts apps.
Using Your Own Music As Your Ringtone One cool DROID feature: You’re able to make your own music serve as your ringtone. For this to work, you need to sync the desired music to your DROID. If you want to use a custom ringtone, you need to follow the steps shown in this chapter’s “Copying Custom Ringtones and Alerts to your DROID” section. Begin by starting the Music app and playing the song you want to use as the main ringtone on your DROID. In the example shown to the right, we have started an old favorite: 99 Red Balloons by Nena. Press the Menu button and select Use as ringtone.
TIP: Check out Chapter 25: “DROID Media Sync” to learn how to get your music onto your DROID.
Using Custom Ringtones and Alerts You can customize the way your DROID sounds by using the preloaded DROID ringtones and notifications. Or you can use your own custom ringtones and notifications. There are a few extra steps involved before you can use custom ringtones; however, the extra effort can be worth it if you want to hear a particular sound or song when a friend calls or sends you a new text message. The extra effort can also be worth it if you want a particular sound or song to serve as an alarm.
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Selecting New Phone Ringtones and Notification Ringtones Your DROID comes with a number of fun ringtones and alerts already preloaded. In this section, we show you how to select these preloaded items. TIP: The steps described in this section will also work for custom ringtones and alarms – once you have them synced to your device. You will learn how to sync these to your DROID later in this chapter. Follow these steps to select from the DROID’s preloaded (or previously synced) ringtones and alerts: 1.
Tap your Settings icon.
2.
Tap Sound.
3.
Tap Phone ringtone to listen to and select a new ringtone. Tap OK when done. All the standard ringtones and any new ringtones you have added to the media/audio/ringtones folder on your media card will appear in this list.
4.
Tap Notification ringtone to set a new ringtone for your notifications. Tap OK when done. All the standard notification ringtones and any new ringtones you have added to the media/audio/notifications folder on your media card will appear in this list.
Copying Custom Ringtones and Alerts to Your DROID You cannot select and use your own music or custom ringtones until you copy them into the correct folder on your DROID. In this section, we will show you how to copy your own music and ringtones to your DROID. Once you do this, you can enjoy custom ringtones for your phone, contacts, alerts, notifications, and text messages. Note that you need a MicroSD format media card to perform this step. Compatible file formats for ringtones are files with these extensions: MP3, MID, AAC, and WMA. Follow these steps to copy your own music or ringtones to your DROID:
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1.
Connect your DROID to your computer with the USB cable.
2.
Drag your finger down from the top of the status bar to open your Notifications screen, and then tap the USB connection setting.
3.
Tap the USB Mass Storage option (as shown in the figure to the right), and then tap OK.
4.
You should now see your DROID media card appear as a new disk drive letter on your computer.
5.
If you don’t see the media folder, then you need to create one. Next, you need to create the folders as shown in the image to the right. Be sure to place the audio folder inside media, and then place ringtones and notifications folders inside audio.
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6.
Now copy (or drag-and-drop) the ringtone or notification alert into the correct folder, as described previously:
The Ringtones folder stores ringtones for the phone and contacts.
The Notifications folder stores ringtones for alerts and text messages.
7.
Next, disconnect your DROID by unplugging the USB cable from your computer. This step is important; otherwise, your DROID will not be able to see the new ringtones and notifications you have added.
Selecting a New Ringtone for Text Messaging You will be able to use these same steps for both the preloaded ringtones and any customized ringtones you have added. Follow these steps to select a new ringtone for a text message: 1.
Tap the Messaging icon.
2.
Press the Menu button and select Messaging settings.
3.
Tap Select Ringtone in the Text messaging settings area.
4.
Swipe up and down to see all the ringtones.
5.
Tap a ringtone to listen to it and select it.
6.
Tap OK when you are done.
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Assigning Custom Ringtones to Contacts Sometimes, it is both fun and useful to give a unique ringtone to a certain contacts in your address book. This way, you know who is calling without looking at your phone. You can use ringtones that are already on your DROID, or you can use one of the following options to get new ringtones:
Purchase ringtones using the Amazon MP3 or DROID Market apps on your DROID.
Create or download ringtones to your computer, and then copy them to your DROID.
Use your own songs synced to your DROID as ringtones.
For example, one of the authors (Gary) sets the ringtone for his son Daniel to the ring tone of Elton John’s “Daniel.” You need to edit a person’s information in Contacts to change his ringtone. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Tap the Contacts icon.
2.
Tap the contact you wish to change (in this case, Gary Mazo).
3.
Press the Menu button and select Edit.
4.
Swipe to the very bottom and tap the Additional info gray bar.
5.
Swipe again to the very bottom of the screen.
6.
Tap the Call Handling Ringtone option. It will say No ringtone specified when you first change it.
7.
Tap any ringtone to select it and tap OK to save it. Now you will see the name of the selected ringtone on the same screen.
8.
Tap Save to save your changes.
The next time this contact calls you, you will hear the newly selected custom ringtone.
CHAPTER 7: Making Phone Calls
NOTE: On the original DROID, press the Menu button, then press Options and then select Ringtone and choose a unique ringtone.
Purchasing a Ringtone from the Amazon MP3 The Amazon MP3 app connects you to a site where you can purchase files that can serve as ringtones. Follow these steps to purchase ringtones from this site: 1.
Tap the Amazon MP3 icon.
2.
Type ringtone in the Amazon search window and tap the search button (where the enter key is usually located).
3.
You will then see all items that match. The image to the right shows Albums or groups of ringtones. Tap Songs at the top of the list to view individual ringtones. Most individual ringtones are US $0.89 or US $0.99.
4.
Tap the price or FREE button to purchase or download the ringtone to your DROID.
After you purchase your ringtone, follow the steps described in the preceding sections to assign your new ringtone to your phone or a contact.
Buy Ringtones from the Android Market You can also buy ringtones using the Android Market app. Start the Market app and type ringtone into the Search window. You will find both ringtones and apps that help you create ringtones. Once you find a ringtone or app that interests you, follow the instructions provided to acquire the file(s) in question. At this point, you can follow the steps described in the preceding sections to assign your new ringtone to your phone or a contact.
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Bluetooth on Your DROID In this chapter, we will show you how to pair your DROID with any Bluetooth device, whether it is another computer, stereo speakers, or a wireless headset. Thanks to the technology known as A2DP, you can also stream your music to a capable Bluetooth stereo. NOTE: You must have a capable third-party Bluetooth adapter or Bluetooth stereo to stream your music via Bluetooth technology. Also, there is AVRCP profile support, so many music controls on a Bluetooth device (like Play, Pause, or Skip) can be operated from your DROID. Think of Bluetooth as a short-range, wireless technology that allows your DROID to connect to various peripheral devices without wires. Bluetooth is believed to be named after a Danish Viking and king, Harald Blåtand, whose name has been translated as Bluetooth. King Blåtand lived in the tenth century and is famous for uniting Denmark and Norway. Similarly, Bluetooth technology unites computers and telecom. His name, according to legend, is from his very dark hair, which was unusual for Vikings. Blåtand means dark complexion. There’s also a popular story that the king loved to eat blueberries, so much so that his teeth became stained with the color blue. Sources:
http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5980-3032EN.pdf
www.cs.utk.edu/~dasgupta/bluetooth/history.htm
www.britannica.com/eb/topic-254809/Harald-I
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Understanding Bluetooth Bluetooth allows your DROID to communicate with things wirelessly. Bluetooth is a small radio that transmits from each device. Before you can use a peripheral with the DROID, you have to “pair” it with that device to connect it to the peripheral. Many Bluetooth devices can be used up to 30 feet away from the DROID. Among other things, the DROID works with Bluetooth headphones, Bluetooth stereo systems and adapters, Bluetooth keyboards, Bluetooth car stereo systems, Bluetooth headsets, and hands-free devices. The DROID supports A2DP, which is known as Stereo Bluetooth.
Turning On Bluetooth
The first step to using Bluetooth is to turn the Bluetooth radio On. 1.
From your Home screen, tap your Menu button.
2.
Then, touch Settings.
3.
Touch Wireless & Networks at the top of the list.
4.
You will see Bluetooth in the list.
5.
By default, Bluetooth is initially Off on the DROID. Touch the box to turn it to the On position. You will see a green check mark appear in the box.
CHAPTER 8: Bluetooth on Your DROID
TIP: Bluetooth is an added drain on your battery. If you don’t plan on using Bluetooth for a period of time, think about turning the switch back to Off.
Pairing with a Bluetooth Device Your primary uses for Bluetooth might be with Bluetooth headphones, Bluetooth stereo adapters, or a Bluetooth headset. Any Bluetooth headphones should work well with your DROID. To start using any Bluetooth device, you need to first pair (connect) it with your DROID.
Pairing with a Headset or Any Bluetooth Device As soon as you turn Bluetooth On, the DROID will begin to search for any nearby Bluetooth device—like a Bluetooth headset or stereo adapter (see Figure 8–1). For the DROID to find your Bluetooth device, you need to put that device into “pairing mode.” Read the instructions that came with your headset carefully—usually there are a combination of buttons to push to achieve this. TIP: Some headsets require you to press and hold a button for five seconds until you see a series of flashing blue or red/blue lights. Some accessories automatically start up in pairing mode. Once the DROID detects the Bluetooth device, it will attempt to automatically pair with it. If pairing takes place automatically, there is nothing more for you to do.
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Figure 8–1. Bluetooth device discovered and in process of pairing.
NOTE: In the case of a Bluetooth device, such as a computer, you may be asked to enter a series of numbers (passkey) on the keyboard itself or confirm that a passkey is being shown. See Figure 8–2.
Confirm the PIN code provided by the device manufacturer. Select Pair to complete Pairing.
Figure 8–2. Select Pair to connect to another Bluetooth Device that requires a passkey.
CHAPTER 8: Bluetooth on Your DROID
Newer headsets like the Aliph Jawbone ICON, used here, will automatically pair with your DROID. Simply put the headset into pairing mode and turn on Bluetooth on the DROID—that’s all you have to do! Pairing will be automatic, and you should never have to re-pair the headset again.
Using the Bluetooth Headset If your headset is properly paired and on, all incoming calls should be routed to your headset. Usually you can just press the main button on the headset to answer the call or answer it on the DROID. Move the phone away from your face (while the DROID is dialing), and you should see the indicator showing you that the Bluetooth headset is in use. In the image you see that the Bluetooth icon is activated. You will also see the options to send the call to the Speaker or Mute the call. You can change this at any point while you are on the call.
Just choose to send the call to any of the options shown, and you will see the small Speaker icon move to the current source being used for the call (Figure 8–3).
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Green light shows Bluetooth is selected.
Now, Speaker is selected.
Figure 8–3. Changing from Bluetooth headset back to the DROID while on a call.
Bluetooth Stereo (A2DP) One of the great features of today’s advanced Bluetooth technology is the ability to stream your music without wires via Bluetooth. The fancy name for this technology is A2DP, but it is simply known as Stereo Bluetooth.
Connecting to a Stereo Bluetooth Device The first step to using Stereo Bluetooth is to connect to a capable Stereo Bluetooth device. This can be a car stereo with this technology built in, a pair of Bluetooth headphones or speakers, or even newer headsets like the Jawbone ICON. Put the Bluetooth device into pairing mode as per the manufacturer’s instructions, and then go to the Bluetooth setting page from the Settings icon, as we showed you earlier in the chapter. Once connected, you will see the new Stereo Bluetooth device listed under your Bluetooth devices. Sometimes it will simply be listed as “Headset.” Just touch the device, and you will see the name of the actual device next to the Bluetooth tab in the next screen, as shown here.
Connected to Media audio means this is a Stereo Bluetooth device.
CHAPTER 8: Bluetooth on Your DROID
Next, tap your Music icon and start up any song, playlist, podcast, or video music library. You will now notice a small Bluetooth icon in the middle of top status bar. Touch the Volume buttons on the side of your DROID to adjust the volume of the paired Bluetooth device streaming your music (see Figure 8–4).
First, notice the Bluetooth Audio connection… … Then, touch the volume controls to control the volume of your Stereo Bluetooth Device.
This speaker icon shows the selected device. Figure 8–4. Adjusting the volume of a Bluetooth device.
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Disconnecting a Bluetooth Device Sometimes, you might want to disconnect a Bluetooth device from your DROID. It is easy to get this done. Get into the Bluetooth settings as you did earlier in this chapter. Touch and hold the device you want to disconnect in order to bring up the next screen, then tap the Disconnect & Unpair button, and confirm your choice. NOTE: Bluetooth has a range of only about 30 feet, so if you are not nearby or not using a Bluetooth device, turn off Bluetooth. You can always turn it back on when you are actually going to be using it. This will delete the Bluetooth profile from the DROID. (See Figure 8–5.)
Touch and hold the device in the list of Bluetooth devices to see this screen.
Device is now not paired.
Choose “Disconnect & unpair” to “Forget” this device. Figure 8–5. Disconnecting and unpairing a Bluetooth device.
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Email on Your DROID One of the big reasons to have a smartphone is to keep on top of your email. Your DROID allows you to keep track of both personal and corporate email. It works with Microsoft Exchange accounts, Yahoo! Email, and, of course, your Gmail account. You can sync your phone with all your accounts, and you can create signatures to let your recipients know you’re responding from your phone, if you choose. DROIDs offers many options for email: The Gmail app The Email app (includingYahoo accounts) Outlook Web Access Corporate Sync Accounts The Web Browser Third-party apps
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Your DROID also comes with a Motorola widget that creates a universal messaging inbox on your Home screen, as shown to the right. Messages sent to all your accounts can be read without having to launch any email apps. You can read more about widgets in Chapter 6: “Organize Your Home Screens: Icons and Widgets.”
Getting to Know Gmail Gmail is the default email app for Android phones, and your DROID ships with the Gmail app icon displaying on the Home screen. Go to http://mail.google.com to get started with a free Gmail account. To understand the Gmail app, it’s helpful to first understand Gmail on the Web. You’ll also need to visit Gmail on the Web in order to get the best use of Gmail by setting up filters and experimenting with new features. Gmail is arguably the best free email service available. There’s no automatic tagline on the end of your messages advertising that you’re using a free email. You don’t have to pay extra in order to use a desktop or mobile app to access your email. The spam filtering is above average, and you get plenty of storage space. In fact, Gmail works so well that many business users have come to rely on the service through the enterprise Google Apps suite.
CHAPTER 9: Email on Your DROID
TIP: Although it’s not a faux pas to use a Gmail address for professional correspondence, you can use Google Apps to send and receive Gmail through custom business domains. If you own a small- to medium-sized business, you can take advantage of their services from either the limited free “standard” account or the $50 per-user per-year “premium” account. If you qualify for the free standard version, you can set up Google Apps as a free email service for a domain name you already own. For more information, visit Google Apps at www.google.com/a.
Understanding Gmail Mobile There are two basic ways to access Gmail from your phone. You can use either the Gmail app, or the phone’s web browser to access Gmail from the Web. When you use your web browser, by default you’ll see a mobile version of Gmail that is trimmed down and simpler to use on phones. The Gmail app on Android uses push email. That means that you don’t need to keep checking a web site. Your email is always on, always ready to receive new messages. This is just like keeping your desktop email client on in the background when you use your laptop. It’s the big advantage of the Android Gmail app over your phone’s web browser, though the browser does have a few features missing in the Gmail app. When new messages arrive, by default you’ll see a notice in the status bar. You can drag down the status bar and click the notification to launch the Gmail app. We will go over quite a few web-based features in this chapter, but there is an important reason to get to know them first. Many of these features cannot be changed from the Gmail app in Android or Gmail’s mobile browser version.
Inbox and Archive Gmail doesn’t have folders. Rather, Gmail uses labels. We’ll get to that next, so let’s just say that for most purposes, there are only two places for email you want to keep: the inbox and the archive. There are two places for email you don’t want to keep: trash and spam. Generally you’ll want to mark spammy messages appropriately before deleting them, because this helps train the spam filters to recognize unwanted messages.
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If you don’t ever want a message again, by all means delete it. Email sent to the trash is permanently deleted after thirty days. However, messages you might need later should be archived. To archive a message from the Web, select the check box next to the message, and then press the Archive button. It’s on the left side of the buttons above the inbox, as shown in Figure 9–1. Archive messages to remove them from the Inbox.
Report spam to train Gmail’s spam filter.
Stars flag important messages.
Messages are grouped by subject.
Label important messages as high priority.
High priority messages are in the Priority Inbox.
Mark low priority messages as unimportant.
Labels replace folders for sorting messages.
Figure 9–1. Gmail Web.
When you archive a message, you move it out of the inbox. You can still find the message by using the “all mail” label or by using the Gmail search box. For messages of low importance, you may even want to set up a filter that archives the messages immediately so they never clog your inbox. We’ll explain how to do that later in this chapter. NOTE: Gmail messages are grouped into conversations. Rather than showing each message in the order they arrived, conversations are clusters of messages to and from a person or group. The messages are stacked together, so you can view the conversation in context, and they appear chronologically in your inbox according to the last message received. Any actions you apply to one message in the conversation will apply to all of them. If you want to view or act on the messages individually, just click the “Expand all” link to the right of the message. If you keep seeing a super long conversation that you’d rather ignore, use the “mute” option to archive the current and future messages in that conversation. The messages will still be available and marked as unread. They just won’t be in your inbox.
CHAPTER 9: Email on Your DROID
Priority Inbox Google introduced a new feature called the Priority Inbox. What this is meant to do is filter your important email from what some call bacn. Bacn (pronounced “bacon”) messages are those newsletters, alerts, and coupons that you did at some point sign up to receive and you probably do want to read, just not right now. They’re not really spam, but they’re not really important. They’re bacn. The Priority Inbox flags important, unread messages and displays them at the top of your Gmail inbox on the Web. You can train Gmail to better recognize which messages are important and which are not by flagging them, and you can customize the Priority Inbox to also separate items with specific labels, as shown earlier in Figure 9–1. Behind the scenes, this is really just a new way to display a label or star.
Labels Many email accounts work by allowing you to place email messages in folders. Gmail would prefer you use labels. What is the difference? A single piece of email can exist only in a single folder. You’d have to copy an email message for it to be both in the “work” and “tax related” folders, but it can have multiple labels. Use labels to organize your messages by topic. You can click one of the labels on the left side of the screen (as shown in Figure 9–1) in order to view only messages with that particular label, including messages that have been archived. Gmail automatically creates the following labels:
Inbox
Buzz
Starred
Chats
Sent Mail
Drafts
All Mail
Spam
Trash
You can create other labels as needed. We sometimes set up temporary labels for upcoming conferences or events and then remove or hide the labels after the conference.
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You’ll notice that Starred is also a label. Click the empty star to the left of a message in order to “star” it or give it the star label. That highlights the message with a yellow star. Since you can apply more than one label to an item, adding both a star and a different label could emphasize urgent messages or highlight items that needed a response or required action.
Creating and Deleting Labels You can create labels many ways on the Web. 1.
Click the Labels button at the top of your inbox.
2.
Click Manage labels from the dropdown menu, as shown on the right.
3.
You now are in the Label settings area. You can enter new labels by typing into the box labeled Create a new label.
You can also get to this menu by clicking settings on the upper right-hand side of the screen and then clicking Labels. Another method is to click More on the bottom of your label list on the right side of the screen and then Manage labels. TIP: You’re limited to 40 characters in a label, but it would be wise to keep it even shorter. Long labels mean less space for your message previews. You can edit a label by clicking the label name in the Label settings and then typing the new name in. You can show or hide labels by clicking the link to the right of the labels, and you can delete them as well. Deleting a label does not delete the messages.
CHAPTER 9: Email on Your DROID
Automatic Filters Automatic filters are probably one of the most powerful tools in any email program. When combined with labels, Gmail lets you do quite a lot with filters. 1.
Click the check box next to one or more messages.
2.
Click the More actions button.
3.
Select Filter messages like these.
4.
Gmail will try to guess the criteria you’re using, such as messages from a certain sender or messages containing a particular subject line. If the guess is wrong, you can change the criteria. Once you’ve got the correct criteria, click the Next Step button.
5.
Now you choose an action. Your choices include archive (the Skip the Inbox option), star, mark as read, apply a label, forward it, delete it, or never flag it as spam. If you’re using Priority Inbox, this is a choice as well. You can select more than one action for an item, such as starring and never marking it as spam.
6.
Next, create the filter. You can also select the check box to apply that filter to any previous messages that matched your criteria.
We use filters to automatically prioritize messages from business contacts with stars and subject labels. We de-clutter by archiving distracting mailing lists and other bacon items we may want to read later or notifications from Facebook and Twitter. We also make sure important senders never have their messages marked as spam. NOTE: You can create an easy filter for a group or project by creating a custom email address. Your Gmail address supports adding words to your address by adding them on with a plus sign. For instance, you can have everyone involved with a project send messages to
[email protected]. Add a filter for messages sent to that specific address, and then apply the desired label.
The Settings Menu We’ve already explored filters and labels. There are many other options on the settings menu worth mentioning. To adjust settings, click the Settings link on the upper right of the Gmail Web screen, just next to your email address.
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General Settings The first tab offers some general settings. Make sure your browser connection is set to always use https://. That makes sure you use a more secure connection to check your email when using a web browser. It’s also the default setting, so if you don’t have either one selected, it’s still using the secure connection. The other important thing to note is that you can create text signatures and set automatic vacation replies through the appropriate boxes here. Be aware that any signatures you create here will not translate to your phone. You have to set those up separately. If you change anything, be sure to press the Save Changes button before moving on.
Accounts You can add additional email accounts through Gmail and check and respond to them from the same inbox as your Gmail account. They have to be a standard POP3 account, but that includes most web-based email and email accounts offered through Internet service providers. That generally does not include Exchange accounts. The settings are shown in Figure 9–2. To add an email account to your Web Gmail account, do the following: 1.
Log into Gmail on the Web.
2.
Click Settings. It’s on the upper right of your browser window.
3.
Click Accounts and Import.
4.
Click Add POP3 email account.
5.
Enter your email address, password, and any specific settings provided by your ISP.
6.
Decide how you handle messages on the old account. Do you delete them as they’re imported or are they left on the server?
7.
Decide if you’d like to add a custom label (by default your email address will be the label) and if you’d like to automatically archive new messages.
CHAPTER 9: Email on Your DROID
Figure 9–2. Adding email accounts to a single Gmail.
If you add accounts, you’ll want to decide if you should respond from the address that received the email or always use your default email address. We find it less confusing to respond with the same account that originated the email. Your default address is the address you’ll use to compose new messages. You can also add more accounts from your DROID without joining them in your Gmail account. It’s just a matter of deciding how you’d rather manage your email accounts.
Forwarding and POP/IMAP You can automatically forward a copy of each mail message to a different account and either keep, archive, or delete the original message. This applies to all messages to that account, but you can forward selectively by creating a filter. For accessing email on your Android phone, you’ll want to enable IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). This is the mail protocol that allows your account to sync with your phone. You can also enable POP (Post Office Protocol) if you wish, but this isn’t necessary for Android access.
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Labs, Themes, Offline These are settings that apply only to the web-based version of Gmail. Gmail Labs allows you to add experimental features that may or may not make it into the main release. Themes allow you to customize the look and feel of your Gmail Web experience, and offline access lets you read and compose Gmail messages while not connected to the Internet. Messages sync once your Internet connection is resumed. Feel free to experiment and explore, but be aware that these settings do not transfer to your phone. NOTE: One interesting Labs tool is called Green Robot. This add-on turns the icons of chat buddies into robots if they’re currently using Android for their chat session. It works only for Android, so you can’t tell if they’re chatting from an iPhone or Blackberry. As with other Gmail Labs, this doesn’t change anything in your Gmail phone app.
Web Version From Your Phone If you are in a pinch and need to set up a filter or create a label, you can still do this from your phone. It just involves a bit of wrangling. 1.
Point your DROID browser to http://mail.google.com.
2.
When you are logged in, scroll to the very bottom of the screen. You’ll see that you’re viewing Gmail in: Mobile.
3.
Click the link next to that that says Desktop.
What you see should be similar to the figure on the right. It’s tiny, so you’ll need to magnify your view and scroll around to navigate. You will still have fewer options than you would on your laptop’s web browser. However, you still have all the options you need for effective phone use.
CHAPTER 9: Email on Your DROID
Sending and Replying to Email Let’s return to the Gmail app on your DROID. illustrated in Figure 9–3.
Sending email with Gmail is
Make sure you’re using the correct account.
Tap Compose to start a new message.
Tap
Your To: field will autocomplete as you type. Tap Send when you are finished.
Tap on the Gmail app icon.
Figure 9–3. Composing Gmail messages.
1.
Navigate to the correct account, click the menu button, and select Compose. If you’re using a DROID or DROID 2 with a keyboard, you can slide it out or just use the virtual keyboards.
2.
Start entering an address in the To: field, and Google will attempt to autocomplete the email address from your contact list. If this is to a new contact, you’ll just have to type the whole thing out. Use your finger to navigate to the next fields.
3.
If you want to add a picture attachment or more recipients, press the menu button again. You’ll have the option to add BCC and CC recipients and attachments from your phone’s camera gallery. You can also choose to take a new picture to attach. Picture files are the only type of attachment supported on the default Android Gmail app, but you can still forward messages that contain other types of attachments.
4.
When you’re done with your message, tap Send.
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To reply to a message, open that message, and tap the Reply button. This menu remains sticky at the top of the screen, even if you scroll through a long message. As with desktop email programs, you can choose the Reply or Reply All option. You can also choose to forward messages. Expand your options by tapping the left-facing triangle, as shown in the image on the right.
If you are replying to a message, Android will automatically copy and append the entire message you’re replying to. If you’re used to paring down this message to highlight only the relevant section or insert something in the middle, you’re out of luck. You can’t edit the attached previous message, so just note the relevant parts in text.
Search It’s easy to get trapped into navigating through messages by the subject line and preview, but sometimes there’s a faster way to find what you need. Google is known for search, so it’s unsurprising to find a well-supported search tool within Gmail. Whenever you’re in the Gmail app, press the physical Search button on your DROID, and you can search through your messages. The search tool will auto-suggest as you type.
CHAPTER 9: Email on Your DROID
Custom Signatures If you set a signature on Gmail on the Web, that signature doesn’t get included on email you send from your phone. This gives you the chance to make a custom signature from your phone—perhaps something indicating that you’re using a phone, so your recipient is more willing to forgive short messages and the occasional typo. To set your custom signature, do the following: 1.
Go to your Gmail inbox.
2.
Press the Menu button.
3.
Next, select Settings. On the original DROID, you need to touch More and then Settings.You’ll see the Signature setting, and you can use this to create a text-only signature.
4.
When you’re done, hit Save. That signature will apply only to messages sent from your phone for that account.
Notifications While you’re editing settings, it’s a good time to think about notifications. Do you want a ringtone every time you get a message? Do you want the phone to vibrate? Do you want an update in your status bar? Or, you may want your DROID to do nothing, so you can review new email when you choose? These are options listed under “Notification settings.” By default, your DROID will use the robotic “Droid” ringer, which may be startling the first time you get a message. We get a lot of messages, so we silence the ringers and keep the option Email notifications checked, so we can glance at the Notifications bar to find new messages. Figure 9–4 illustrates how to silence the email notifications.
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Silent turns ringtone notifications off.
Tap
Swipe
Tap
Press the Menu button and tap More.
Tap Settings from the More menu.
Tap OK when done.
Scroll down to see the Notification settings. Tap Select ringtone to change the alert sound.
Figure 9–4. Ringtones.
1.
Go to Gmail.
2.
Press the Menu button.
3.
Tap More.
4.
Tap Settings.
5.
Scroll down the menu to the Notifications settings and tap Select ringtone.
6.
Choose Silent.
7.
Tap the OK button.
CHAPTER 9: Email on Your DROID
Labels Another way you can cut down on your inbox clutter is to sync only certain Gmail labels. Choose Labels in from the Settings menu of the account you want to change, and you’ll see the Synchronization menu as shown on the right. You can choose how far back you want to sync messages in your inbox and choose which labels to sync on a case-by-case basis. You could put an automatic label on some of your bacn newsletters, and then choose not to sync them to your phone, or you could choose to sync workrelated emails only on weekdays. Not syncing labels doesn’t mean you can’t still find the information, just like archiving a message doesn’t mean it is inaccessible. Searching your inbox will still retrieve old messages. It just saves some phone memory and syncing time for things you don’t need instantly available every time you launch the Gmail app.
Confirm Delete If you check this item, you’ll get an extra dialog every time you try to delete a message. If you’re pretty sure with your fingers, leave it unchecked. If you’re nervous that you’ll have a butter finger moment and accidentally delete an important email, leave it checked.
Talk and Other Missing Gmail Features Gmail on the Web has a chat window with Google Talk integration. Rather than accessing Chat through the Android Gmail app, you’ll use the separate Google Talk app on your phone. Messaging.
We cover Google Talk in Chapter 10: "SMS, MMS, and Instant
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Google Task List Another feature you may notice missing from the Gmail app is a task list. It’s a very handy to-do list tool. It’s not included in the Gmail app. However, you can still use the task list. Simply navigate your web browser to http://mail.google.com/tasks.
You can also make a shortcut for your Home screen. 1.
Create a bookmark of this address by pressing the star in your browser bar.
2.
Go to your Home screen and long press.
3.
Select Shortcut.
4.
Select Bookmark, and then find the task list.
Buzz Google Buzz is a social networking component of Gmail. We’ll talk about social networking tools in more detail in Chapter 20, “Social Media and Skype.” Buzz isn’t supported in the Gmail app on Android, but you can download a widget from Google that allows you to post updates, your location, and photos from your phone.
Multiple Gmail Accounts You can set up multiple Gmail accounts on your DROID and manage them all from the Gmail app. The figure on the right shows multiple Gmail accounts. Unread messages are shown to the right of each account. If you click an account, you’ll see only the inbox of that account. You can always get back to the view shown to the right by clicking the menu button and selecting Accounts.
To add another Gmail account to your DROID, follow the same steps you’d use to add any other type of email account, as shown in Figure 9–5.
CHAPTER 9: Email on Your DROID
Tap on the My Accounts app in the App Tray.
Enter your email address and password.
This success message indicates the automatic settings worked.
Choose the type of account. Choose Email for a generic email account.
Tap
Tap on Add account.
Keep Automatically configure account checked.
If you do not see the message, contact your ISP for your email settings.
Figure 9–5. Adding accounts.
You can also add accounts from directly within the Gmail app by pressing the Menu button, going to Accounts, and then tapping the Add account button. When you add another Google account, you’ll be prompted to specify which parts of that account you want to sync. Your choices depend on what services you’ve used, but for email accounts, you’ll have the choice to sync Gmail and Contacts.
Switching Between Accounts It’s important to keep track of which account you’re using when you read or send messages. To switch between accounts: 1.
Press the Menu button.
2.
Tap Accounts.
3.
Tap the email inbox you wish to switch to.
Or 1.
When composing an email, tap the From: field.
2.
A pop-up window will show your Gmail accounts.
3.
Tap your choice.
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Deleting Accounts Deleting accounts is a reverse of the same process that created them. 1.
Go to the Home screen and press the Menu button.
2.
Select Settings then tap Accounts.
3.
Tap the name of the account you want to delete.
4.
Tap the Remove account button on the bottom of the screen.
You’ll get a warning message that you’re about to delete an account, the email, and the synced contacts, and you’ll need to confirm to delete. Alternatively, you could just stop syncing an account if you wanted to retain your contacts without checking the email.
The Email App Android includes the Gmail app for adding Gmail accounts, but there’s also an Email Depending on your Exchange app for checking mail with non-Gmail accounts. server’s settings, this account can sometimes be used to check Exchange accounts as well as standard email accounts that use POP or IMAP protocols. Just like the Gmail app, you can add more than one account to the Email app. The Email app also syncs with your DROID Messaging widget and Universal Inbox. In addition to the Email app, your DROID also has a Yahoo! email app for adding your Yahoo! account.
Exchange Accounts on Android Android 2.2 supports Exchange email through the Email app. As we mentioned earlier, Verizon charges for corporate email sync, so you may have limited success using Exchange email through the standard Email app, you may have problems syncing your calendar, and you may not see your Global Address List (GAL).
Turning Off Ringtones in the Email App Turning off the “Droid” ringtone in the Email app is similar to the way you do it in Gmail. 1.
Launch the Email app.
2.
Press the Menu button.
3.
Tap Email settings.
4.
Tap Notifications.
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5.
Tap Select ringtone.
6.
Select Silent.
Of course, if you do want an audio notification of new emails, you can use this method to change your ringtone to any ringtone sound you’d like.
Outlook Web Access If you can’t add an Exchange account through the Email app, you might be able to use an Outlook Web Access or OWA account instead. You have to actively check for email yourself instead of getting notification that you’ve got a new message. If you use OWA to access mail, just set up a bookmark on your Home screen for quick access.
Corporate Sync Accounts If you have no luck adding an Exchange email to the Email app, you may need to use a Corporate Sync accounts are designed to be compliant Corporate Sync account. with security standards mandated by corporate email systems. Corporate email accounts can also be remote wiped, or erased remotely if you lose your phone. The disadvantage to Corporate Sync accounts is that as of the time of this publication, Verizon charges more for these accounts. That’s why it’s important to remove any accounts you don’t need.
Universal Inbox Your DROID organizes all your non-Gmail email accounts, your text messages, and social networking status updates into a Universal Inbox in the Messaging app, so you can read all your messages from one central location. The Universal Inbox is shown in Figure 9–6. Please see Chapter 10 for more on using Instant Messaging and this Universal Inbox.
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Tap on the Messaging app icon to find the Universal Inbox.
Click the plus sign to compose a new message.
Click the plus sign to compose a new message.
The Universal Inbox shows messages from everything but Gmail.
The symbol indicates the type of account for the message.
The number indicates unread messages.
Messages with attachments are indicated with the paper clip.
Figure 9–6. The Universal Inbox.
You can navigate to your email messages in many ways:
Launch the Email app in the App Tray.
Use the Messaging app and the Universal Inbox.
Drag down the Notification bar whenever you see a notification that you’ve got a new message.
Use the Messaging widget on the Home screen.
Your Universal Inbox is available through the Messaging app, but it’s also available through the Messaging widget. By using the widget, you can read previews of your email messages right from your Home screen, and even compose replies. Figure 9–7 shows quick ways to check email.
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Swipe down
Tap
Pull down the Notifications bar to see a preview.
Tap to go to the message in the Email app.
Tap Navigate to previous messages by tapping the side.
This indicates the type of message – in this case Email.
Tap the Messages widget to preview the email. You can Reply to a message or Delete it by tapping.
Figure 9–7. Two ways to check email.
Reading Attachments Your ability to read attachments is going to depend on the type of attachment, the app you’re using, and the software you have installed on your phone. If an email has embedded pictures, just as with many desktop email programs, you’ll generally see them. Gmail doesn’t automatically download pictures, but you can tap Show Pictures to download and see them. Other attachments require you to click to download and view, as shown in Figure 9–8.
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Tap
Non image attachments will appear as an arrow.
Tap to start downloading the attachment.
Tap
Figure 9–8. Emailing attachments.
If your DROID has more than one app capable of handling an attachment, you’ll see a dialog box that lets you choose how you want to handle the file. Click your preferred app, and you can view your attachment. If your DROID doesn’t have any app capable of viewing an attachment, you can still download it in case you get an app later.
Tap again to view the attachment.
This will only work if you have an app capable of viewing the attachment.
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Third-Party Apps If you want an alternative to Corporate Sync, you may be able to use third-party apps. One popular app is TouchDown by NitroDesk. You can get more information here: www.nitrodesk.com/dk_touchdownFeatures.aspx. TouchDown comes in both a free and paid version. The free version lets you check email and get the day’s calendar, while the $19.99 paid version, shown to the right, allows you to sync your Exchange email, accept and send task and event requests, use the Global Address List, etc. TouchDown also supports security policy enforcement, so it should pass muster with most IT departments. You can also use it through OWA if you can’t get it to work with ActiveSync. There’s a fully functional free trial, so you can test to make sure everything works before you purchase it.
TouchDown is a solid app. Not only does it provide most of the features of Outlook in your pocket, it also includes several widget options to keep your Exchange info handy whenever you use your phone. However, it doesn’t mesh your email, calendar, and task information with your other Android calendar contact, or task lists. On one hand, it’s handy to have business separate from personal life, and on the other hand, it would be nice to have access to your Global Address List when using your main contact list.
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SMS, MMS, and Instant Messaging SMS stands for Short Messaging Service, and it is commonly referred to as text messaging or simply texting. Text messages are usually limited to 160 characters, and they are a great way to quickly touch base with someone without interrupting them with a voice call. Sometimes you can text someone and receive a text reply when it would be impossible or difficult to make a voice call. A related technology is Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), which lets you send a message with pictures, audio, or video.
Icon on DROID
DROID 2/2 Global/X
In this chapter, we will cover how to send and receive SMS text and MMS picture/video messages on your DROID. As shown to the right, your DROID has only one Messaging icon, but on your DROID 2/X, you will see two icons Messaging and Text Messaging. The Text Messaging icon is the faster way to get into messaging when you have a DROID 2/X. You will also learn how to send a text message from your Contacts app and how to send a picture as an MMS message from your Gallery app.
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SMS Text Messaging on your DROID Text messaging has become one of the most popular services on cell phones today. While it is still used more extensively in Europe and Asia, it is growing in popularity in North America. The concept is very simple; instead of placing a phone call, you send a short message to someone’s handset. It is much less disruptive than a phone call; and you may have friends, colleagues, or co-workers who do not own a DROID – so email may not be an option. One of the this book’s authors uses text messaging with his children all the time – this is how the generation his kids are part of communicates. “R u coming home 4 dinner?” “Yup.” There you have it: meaningful dialog with an 18-year-old – short, instant and easy.
Composing SMS Text Messages Composing an SMS message is much like sending an email. The beauty of an SMS message is that it arrives on virtually any handset and is quite simple to reply to.
Composing an SMS Message from the Messaging App There are a couple of ways to send text messages on your DROID. The easiest way is to touch the Messaging icon (DROID) and Text Messaging icon (DROID 2/X) on the Home screen.
When you first start the app, you most likely won’t have any messages, so the screen will be blank. Once you get started with SMS messaging, you will have a list of messages and current “open” discussions with your contacts.
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Follow these steps to send a new SMS message:
Tap here to view your Contacts (for DROID 2/X).
1.
Tap the Messaging icon (DROID) or Text Messaging icon (DROID 2/X).
2.
Touch New message or New text message at the top of the screen.
3.
The cursor will immediately go to the To: line. Touch the To: field and start typing in the name of your contact. Or, you can tap the person with the plus icon as shown in the figure to the right to select a contact from your Contacts list.
4.
If you want to just type someone’s mobile phone number, then press the ?123 button and dial the number.
5.
When you find the contact you wish to use, touch the name and it will appear in the To: line (see Figure 10–1).
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To SMS someone in your Contacts, just type a few letters of their first / last name.
Then touch to select their name. Usually you can only send SMS to mobile phones.
Touchto Select
When ready to type the message, click here.
Click here to add a phone number in the “To” line.
Figure 10–1. Choosing a recipient for an SMS message.
6.
When you are ready to type the SMS message, touch anywhere in the box in the middle of the screen (next to the Send button).
7.
The keyboard will be displayed. Just type in your message and then touch Send when you are done.
NOTE: There is no character counter in the Android OS, so if your messages go over 160 characters, they will be divided into two messages.
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TIP: If you prefer, you can use the larger Landscape mode keyboard for sending text messages. It can be easier to type with the larger keys on the DROID X or the keyboard on the DROID and DROID 2, especially when your fingers are a little larger, or it is hard to see the smaller keys.
Options After Sending a Text Once the text has been sent, the window changes to a threaded discussion window between you and the contact. The text that you sent displays with a white background. When your contact replies, his message will appear in a blue background. If you have a contact picture for the recipient, that will show up in the display, as well.
Messaging on DROID
To leave the SMS screen, touch the Back key a couple of times; or, you can just touch the Home key to go back to your Home screen. NOTE: If the message fails to send, it is usually because of a low wireless signal. When you get to a stronger signal area, the message should send.
DROID 2/2 Global/X
At this point, you can send another text message following the steps just outlined. You can also call the contact or view his contact info. To initiate a call to the contact you are texting with, touch the image of the contact in the threaded message to bring up a pop-up window. In the example on the right, you could call Martin by touching the Call button. To look at his contact info, you can touch the Contact Info button.
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Composing an SMS Message from Contacts You also have the ability to send a text message right from your Contacts list on your DROID. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Tap your Contacts icon.
2.
Find the contact you wish to send a text to by searching or scrolling through Contacts.
3.
At the right-hand side of the phone numbers in the contact info, there will be a Messaging icon (see Figure 10–2). Touch that icon and you will be taken to the messaging screen (as shown previously).
4.
Type in your message and follow the steps listed previously.
NOTE: Remember that you can only send SMS messages to a mobile number.
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Choose Messaging icon.
Type in message and then touch Send.
Figure 10–2. Sending an SMS message from your Contacts app.
Replying to a Text Message When a text message is received, your DROID will play an indicator tone or vibrate – or both – depending on your settings. A notification will appear on the screen in the notification bar at the top. Responding to a text is easy. Simply pull down the indicator bar, touch the message response, and then touch Type to compose to enter a response. NOTE: If your screen is locked, you will not see the message. Just slide the Lock tab and you will be able to pull down the indicator bar to see the message.
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Viewing Stored Messages Once you begin a few threaded messages, they will be stored in the Messaging (DROID) or Text Messaging (DROID 2/X) app. Touch the Messaging icon to scroll through your message threads.
Sometimes you will want to continue an earlier conversation with someone. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Touch the thread you want to continue. The conversation will open up, showing you a threaded view of the previous messages.
2.
Touch the text box and type your message.
3.
Touch the Send button to continue the conversation.
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Messaging Notification Options There are a couple of options available to you with respect to how your DROID reacts when an SMS message arrives. Follow these steps to customize those options: 1.
Start your Text Messaging app and press the Menu button.
2.
Touch Settings (DROID) or Messaging Settings (DROID 2/X).
3.
Scroll down a bit further and you will see a drop down that says Select Ring Tone. Touch this and you can choose the tone for the SMS message. You are limited to the choices offered (usually 12 or more); you can also choose None.
4.
Choose your preferred sound for incoming SMS message notifications and then touch the OK button in the lower-left corner to finalize your selection.
5.
You can also set your DROID to vibrate for every text message received by checking the box next to Vibrate.
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Multimedia Messaging The Messaging app provides the necessary tools to send and receive multimedia messages in MMS format, including picture and video messages. MMS messages appear right in the messaging window, just like your SMS text messages. NOTE: You can send multimedia messages from your DROID that includeimages, videos, locations (from maps), audio (from Voice Memo), and vCard files (from Contacts) in MMS format.
The Messaging App Follow these steps to send a picture to someone else in MMS format: 1.
Touch the Messaging icon to start messaging, just as you did to initiate an SMS message.
2.
Press the Menu button and then select Attach (DROID) or Insert (DROID 2/X) or Add Subject. This will put you into MMS mode; a notification on the screen will let you know you’ve entered this mode.
NOTE: The screen shown to the right is from a DROID. On your DROID 2/X you will see a slightly different screen that is titled with the word Insert but it has almost all the same options.
DROID
DROID 2/2 Global/X
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3.
To take a photo, follow the instructions in Chapter 18: “Take Photos and Videos.” If you touch Pictures or Videos, just navigate through your pictures/videos and find the item you would like to add to your message (see Figure 10–3).
Figure 10–3. Choosing an existing photo to send in MMS format.
4.
Touch the picture you wish to send as an MMS message and you will see the picture load into the small window. You may see a warning that the picture is too large to send, tap Resize to shrink the image so it can be sent.
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5.
Select a recipient and type in a short note if you like.
6.
Touch the Send button.
If you already have a threaded discussion with that particular contact, then the picture will show up in that threaded discussion. NOTE: You can continue to exchange images and text in the middle of a threaded discussion. You can always scroll through to see the entire discussion – pictures and all!
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Choosing a Picture from Your Gallery to Send via MMS A second way to send an MMS message is to go straight to your Gallery app and choose a picture. Follow these steps to do so: 1.
Start your Gallery app and navigate through your pictures (see Chapter 18: “Take Photos and Videos” for more information on how to do this).
2.
To send only one picture, touch the picture you wish to send.
3.
Press the Menu button and tap Share.You will now see Messaging or Text Messaging in the list of options and other services that are installed on your DROID.
4.
Choose Messaging and the photo will load into the message, just as it did previously.
DROID
DROID 2/2 Global/X
Sending Multiple Pictures You can also send multiple pictures in an MMS message. Start your Gallery app as you did in the previous section. On the DROID, touch and hold one picture until you see a check mark. On the DROID 2/X, press the Menu button and choose Select items. Now tap as many pictures as you want to add. This will highlight your pictures and display them with a green check mark in the corner of the picture’s box (see Figure 10–4).
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Figure 10–4. Selecting multiple photos to send in an MMS message.
Once you have chosen all the pictures you want to send, on the DROID, touch the Share button and choose Messaging. On the DROID 2/X, press the Menu button and select Share then tap Text Messaging and the pictures will appear in the message, along with an arrow that allows the recipient to play a slideshow of the images.
Instant Messaging on Your DROID So far we have covered SMS and MMS messaging in this chapter. However, there are many other ways to stay in touch with your friends and use your DROID as a messaging device. One option for staying in touch with friends and family members is to use one of the many instant messaging apps available. The advantages of instant messaging, as opposed to SMS or MMS messaging, are as follows:
Instant messaging is usually free from additonal charges (assuming you have a data plan).
Instant messages reach your intended audience immediately.
Instant messages let you have quick, ongoing chats in real time.
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Google Talk Your DROID is made to operate in the Google world, so it makes sense to start with the instant messaging app designed by Google: Google Talk.
Google Talk is an instant messaging client available to anyone with a Gmail or Google account. You can also invite contacts to become Google Talk “chat buddies” by sending them a Google Talk invite. Follow these steps to invite someone to be part of your Google Talk contacts: 1.
Start Talk from the Home screen.
2.
Press the Menu button and select Add friend.
3.
Type in the Send chat invitation window until you see a match with one of your contacts (see Figure 10–5).
4.
Tap Send Invitation to send the invitation.
Figure 10–5. Sending a Googe Chat invitation to a contact.
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Using Google Talk Using Google Talk is just like using your Messaging app. Start the Google Talk app and choose the contact you wish to chat with. Type your message in the Type to compose box and then touch Send. You can keep your chat window open to have a running chat; alternatively, you can rely on the Notification icon to tell you when you have a new chat message.
NOTE: Even if your contact is not online, you can still post your chat message. In this case, your contact will see it as soon as he or she logs on.
AIM and Other Instant Messaging Apps The Andoid Market is filled with instant messaging apps. AIM is particularly popular chat program, and it can also be tied to your Facebook app for chat.
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Follow these steps to download AIM from the Android Market. 1.
Start up the Android Market (see Chapter 17: “Exploring the Android Market” for more information on how to do this).
2.
Search for AIM and download the app.
Using AIM You start the AIM app by touching the icon on your Home screen. Choose whether to log in using you standard AIM account or by using your Facebook account, as shown in Figure 10–6. Input your login information and then chat as you would using the Google Talk app or your Messaging app.
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Figure 10–6. Logging in to your AIM account using AIM or Facebook.
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Surfing the Web Now, we’ll take you through one of the most fun things to do on your DROID: surfing the Web. You may have heard web surfing on the DROID is a better experience than ever before—we agree! We’ll show you how to touch, zoom around, and interact with the Web like never before with the web browser on your DROID. You’ll learn how to set and use bookmarks, quickly find things with the search engine, open and switch between multiple browser windows, and even easily copy text and graphics from web pages.
Web Browsing on the DROID You can browse the web to your heart’s content via your DROID’s Wi-Fi or 3G connection. Like other smartphones using a Webkit browser, your DROID has one of the most capable mobile browsing experiences available today. Web pages look very much like web pages on your computer. With the DROID’s ability to zoom in, you don’t have to worry about the smaller screen size inhibiting your web browsing experience. In short, web browsing is a much more satisfying experience on the DROID.
Choose to browse in portrait or landscape mode, whichever you prefer. Quickly zoom into a video by double-tapping it or pinching open on it, which is natural to you because those are the motions you use to zoom in text and graphics.
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Why Do Some Videos and Sites Not Appear? (Flash Player Required) Some web sites are designed with Adobe Flash Player. At the time of this writing, the DROID fully support Adobe Flash through the Flash “lite” app that is making its way onto select Android phones. Go to the Android Market, look for Flash Player, and install in. Learn how to download apps from the Android Market in Chapter 17: “Exploring the Android Market.” If you tap a video and the video does not play, or you see something like “Flash Plugin Required,” “Download the Latest Flash Plugin to view this video,” or “Adobe Flash Required to view this site,” you will need to update your operating system to view the video or web page.
An Internet Connection Is Required You do need an Internet connection on your DROID via Wi-Fi or 3G to browse the web. Check out the Chapter 5: “Wi-Fi and 3G Connectivity” to learn more.
Launching the Web Browser You should find the web browser icon on your initial Home screen. Usually the Browser icon is in the bottom row of icons on your Home screen.
Touch the Browser icon, and you will be taken to the browser’s home page. Most likely, this will be the Google start page. Just turn your DROID on its side to see the same page in wider landscape mode. As you find web sites you like, you can set bookmarks to easily jump to these sites. We will show you how to do that later in this chapter.
View web pages in portrait mode.
Or, turn your DROID on its side to see them in landscape mode.
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Layout of Web Browser Screen Figure 11–1 shows how a web page looks in the browser and the different actions you can take in the browser. Touch and pull down to view Notifications.
Tap here to see Bookmarks and History.
Tap here to type a web address.
Swipe up or down.
Zoom by pinching open, pinching closed or doubletapping.
New window View Bookmarks
Switch between open Browser Windows.
Go Forward or Refresh page.
Touch to Find on page, Select text, see Page info, Share page or see Settings.
Figure 11–1. Web browser page layout.
NOTE: On your DROID 2/X the icons shown on the menu items may appear slightly different than shown in figure 11-1, but the names and functions they perform will be the same. As you look at your screen, notice the Address Bar in the upper left side of the screen. This displays the current web address. You can also type search words right in the address bar. If you type words and click Go or the Enter key, then the DROID assumes you want to do a web search. By default, this is set to Google search, but you can change that if you want. At the bottom of the screen are five icons: Back, Forward, Add Bookmark, Bookmarks, and Pages View.
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Typing a Web Address The first thing you’ll want to learn is how to get to your favorite web pages. Just like on your computer, you type in the web address (URL) into the browser. 1.
To start, tap the Address Bar at the top of the browser as shown in Figure 11–2. You’ll then see the keyboard appear and the window for the address bar expand.
2.
If there is already an address in the window and you want to erase it, just touch and hold the address and it will become highlighted and the keyboard will pop up.
3.
Start typing your web address (you don’t need the www.).
4.
When you start typing, you may see suggestions appear. Just tap any of them to go to that page. The suggestions are very complete because they are pulled from your browsing history, bookmarks, the web address (URL), and web page titles.
5.
When you are finished typing, tap the Go key to go to that page.
TIP: Don’t type the www. because it’s not necessary. Remember to use the colon, forward slash, underscore, dot, and .com keys at the bottom to save time.
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Tap here to type a web address.
TIP: Skip typing www, because you don’t need it.
Use these buttons to save time.
Save time by tapping pages that appear here.
Tap to go to the page.
Figure 11–2. Typing a web address.
TIP: If you turn the DROID sideways, you get a landscape keyboard which might be easier for those with “big thumbs” to use.
Moving Backward or Forward Through Open Web Pages Now that you know how to enter web addresses, you’ll probably be jumping to various web sites. The Forward and Back buttons make it very easy to go to recently visited pages in either direction, as Figure 11–3 shows. Touch the Back button (the soft key at the bottom of the DROID) to go backwards to the last page visited. To move forwards, touch the Menu button, then select the Forward soft key. Let’s say you were looking at the news on The New York Times web site, and you jumped to ESPN to check sports scores. To go back to The New York Times page, just touch the Back button. To return to the ESPN site again, touch the Menu key and then the Forward arrow.
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Tap here to return to the previous web page (nytimes.com).
This would take you back to espn.com.
Figure 11–3. Returning to a previously viewed web page.
Using the Windows Menu Command When you press the Menu button and then select the New window button, the DROID keeps track of all the open windows in the browser. Just press the Menu button again and choose the Windows button to see all the open Browser windows. The URL for each window is now listed. Just touch the desired URL to jump right to that open browser window. In the example shown in Figure 11–4, we touched a link that opened a new browser window. The only way to get back to the old one was to press the Menu button and tap the Windows button and select the desired page.
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Open a new web page.
Some images or ads will open a new web page.
Press the Menu button to see this menu.
Tap here to see all open windows.
Tap any page to open it.
Close this page.
Touch to go back.
Figure 11–4. Jumping between open web pages on the DROID.
Zooming In and Out in Web Pages Zooming in and out of web pages is very easy on the DROID. There are two primary ways of zooming—double tapping, and pinching.
Double-tapping If you tap twice on a web page, the page will zoom in on that particular column. This lets you hone in on exactly the right place on the web page, which is very helpful for pages that aren’t formatted for a mobile screen. To zoom out, just double-tap once more. See how this looks graphically in the “Quick Start Guide” earlier in this book.
Pinching This technique lets you zoom in on a particular section of a page. It takes a little bit of practice but will soon become second nature. Take a look in the “Quick Start Guide” to see graphically how it looks.
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Place your thumb and forefinger close together at the section of the web page you wish to zoom into. Slowly pinch out, separating your fingers. You will see the web page zoom in. It takes a couple of seconds for the web page to focus, but it will zoom in and be very clear in a short while. To zoom out to where you were before, just start with your fingers apart and move them slowly together; the page will zoom out to its original size.
Activating Links from Web Pages When you’re surfing the Web, often you’ll come across a link that will take you to another web site. Simply touch the link and you will jump to a new page. NOTE: Once you jump to a new page from a link, the old page can still be found using the technique shown in Figure 11–4 above.
Working with Browser Bookmarks As soon as you start browsing a bit on your DROID, you will want to quickly access your favorite web sites. One good way to do this is to add bookmarks for one-tap access to web sites. TIP: You can sync your Bookmarks from your computer’s web browser. Check out Chapter 3: “Sync to your Google account” for more details.
Adding a New Bookmark Adding new bookmarks on your DROID is just a few taps away. 1.
To add a new bookmark for the web page you are currently viewing, tap the Bookmark icon to the right of the web address window.
2.
The first box says Add, tap that box.
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3.
We recommend that you edit the bookmark name to something short and recognizable.
4.
Make sure the location is correct.
5.
When you’re finished, tap the OK button.
Tap to change the bookmark name.
Tap to change the bookmark folder.
Using Bookmarks and History Once you have set a few bookmarks, it is easy to view and work with them. In the same area, you can also see and use your web browsing history. A very useful tool on your DROID is the ability to browse the web from your History, just as you would on a computer. 1.
Tap the Bookmarks icon top of the page.
2.
Swipe up or down to view all your bookmarks.
3.
Tap any bookmark to jump to that web page.
at the
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4.
Tap the History button to view your recent history of visited web pages.
5.
At the top of the list, you see Today, which shows the sites you visited today; at the bottom of the list, you see Older, which shows you previous days.
6.
Tap any history item to go to that web page.
TIP: To clear your history, tap the Menu button and then select Clear history. You can also clear your history, cookies, and cache in the Settings app. Tap Menu from an open Browser page and tap More then scroll down to Settings, scroll to the bottom and tap Clear Cache, Clear History, Clear all cookie data, Clear form data, Clear location access or Clear passwords.
Managing Your Bookmarks It is very easy to accumulate quite a collection of bookmarks, since setting them up is so easy. You may find you no longer need a particular bookmark, or you may want to organize them by adding new folders. Like other lists on your DROID, you can reorder your bookmarks’ list and remove entries.
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1.
View your Bookmarks list as you did previously.
2.
Touch and hold, then choose the Edit bookmark button to edit the name or location.
3.
To delete a bookmark, follow the same procedure as above and simply scroll to Delete bookmark.
4.
To copy the link URL, touch and hold the bookmark and scroll to Copy link URL.
5.
To set the bookmark as your Home Page, follow the same procedure and scroll down to Set as homepage.
6.
To toggle between thumbnail and list view, press the Menu button and choose the appropriate view.
7.
When you are finished, tap the Back button and you will return to the previous web page.
Browser Tips and Tricks Now that you know the basics of how to get around, we will cover a few useful tips and tricks to make web browsing more enjoyable and quicker on your DROID.
Finding Something on a Web Page Sometimes, you need to find something specific on a particular web page. Fortunately, it is easy to get a Find on page search box. Just touch the Menu button and then touch More or touch and hold Menu + f, as shown in Figure 11–5. Then just type in the word or phrase you are searching for. This only works on DROIDs with physical keyboards.
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Figure 11–5. Use the Find command on a page the browser.
Emailing a Web Page Sometimes while browsing, you find a page so compelling you just have to send it to a friend or colleague. Touch the Menu key and then touch More select Share Page (see Figure 11–6). You have the option to share the page via Bluetooth, Facebook, Gmail, Messaging, SiteShot or Twitter. NOTE: You can also hold the Menu button and the S key to bring up the share menu.
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The web page title is the subject and the link is in the body of the message.
Figure 11–6. Share a link to a web page.
Printing a Web Page The DROID (at the time of this writing) does not have a built-in Print command. You have a couple of options, but neither is very simple.
Option 1: Email yourself or a colleague the web page link and print it from a computer. If you are traveling and staying at a hotel with a business center, you may be able to send it to someone at the business center or front desk to print the page.
Option 2: Buy a network printing app from the Android Market that allows you to print to a networked printer. Of course, this only works if you have access to a networked printer. It’s usually best if you do this from your home or office network and can get help setting up, as doing so can be challenging.
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Watching Videos in Browser You will find videos in many web sites. You will be able to play most but not all videos. If the Flash Player installs properly on your DROID, you can play Flash videos right inside the web browser window. YouTube videos should also play right inside your browser window. Tap the screen to bring up the player controls if they have disappeared. Some videos you click on may actually need to download onto the device. For these videos, pull down the notification window to monitor the download and touch on the file once it is downloaded. Your video player should launch and play the clip. TIP: Check out all the video player tips and tricks in Chapter 15: “Viewing Videos, TV Shows, and More.”
Saving or Copying Text and Graphics From time to time, you may see text or a graphic you want to copy from a web site. We tell you briefly how to do this in this section, but to see how to get it done graphically, including using the Cut and Paste functions, please see the “Copy and Paste” section in Chapter 2: "Typing, Voice, Copy and Search." Here’s a quick look: To copy text, touch the Menu button and then tap More. Choose Select text. Now, drag your finger across the screen to highlight text to copy. As soon as you let go, you will see the words Text copied to clipboard appear on the screen (see Figure 11-7). CAUTION: As soon as you release your finger from the screen, you will see the Copy to clipboard icon. Make sure you have all the text you want highlighted before you release your finger!
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Touch and drag
Choose Select text.
Release and text will be copied.
Figure 11–7. Select and copy text from a web page to the clipboard.
To Save or Copy a graphic, touch and hold the picture or image until you see the popup asking if you would like to Save or View the image or Set as wallpaper.
Remember Form Data and Passwords Remembering form data and passwords is a great way to save time typing your personal information including usernames and passwords on web sites. The Remember Form Data tool can remember and fill in information required in web forms. Once this is enabled, just go to any web page that has a field to fill out. if you have your DROID set to remember your login information, you should see it displayed already in the proper fields. Just touch the Login button to enter the site. CAUTION: Having your name and password entered automatically means that anyone who picks up your DROID will be able to access your personal sites and information.
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For Usernames and Passwords The first time you go to a web site where you have to enter a username and password, you type them and press Submit or Enter. At that time, AutoFill will ask if you want to remember them. Your options are Not now, Remember or Never. Tap Remember if you want them to be remembered and next time automatically entered.
The next time you visit this login page, your username and password will be automatically filled in.
Adding a Web Page Icon to Your Home Screen If you love a web site or page, it’s very easy to add it as an icon to your Home Screen. That way, you can instantly access the web page without going through the Browser ➤ Bookmarks bookmark selection process. You’ll save lots of steps by putting the icon on your Home Screen. This is especially good for quickly launching web apps, like Gmail or Buzz from Google, or web app games. Here’s how to add the icon: 1.
Touch the Bookmark icon next to the web address.
2.
Touch and hold any bookmark to see the menu list of options.
3.
Choose Add shortcut to home.
4.
Touch the Home button and the icon will be on the home screen.
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Adjusting the Browser Settings There are settings you can adjust in your Browser app. 1.
Press the Menu button from any browser page and select More.
2.
Select Settings at the bottom.
3.
Choose to adjust Text size, Default zoom, Text encoding, Enable plugins, Set home page, and more from choosing the Drop down arrow button.
4.
Choose to Open pages in overview, Block pop-up windows, Load images, Auto-fit pages, Enable java script, Open in background and more by placing a green “check” in the radio boxes
Adjusting Security Settings Under the Security settings heading, Remember passwords, Clear passwords and Show security warnings can all be adjusted. You can modify any of these by either opening the drop down menu or putting a check in the appropriate radio box. NOTE: Many popular sites like Facebook require JavaScript to be ON. Turn it on in the Page content settings.
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Speeding Up Your Browser by Clearing History and Cookies In the middle of the Browser settings screen, you can see a heading marked Privacy settings. The Clear History, Clear all Cookie data, and Clear Cache drop down arrows are all next to the appropriate item. If you notice your web browsing getting sluggish, it’s probably a good time to clear out all three of these by tapping them and confirming your choices.
TIP: Clearing the history, cookies, and cache is also a good privacy measure, as it prevents others from seeing where you’ve been browsing.
Remembering Form Data As we showed you earlier in this chapter, remembering form data is a convenient way to have your browser automatically fill out web page forms that ask for your name, address, phone number, and even username and password. It can save you a tremendous amount of time typing and retyping your name and other information. To enable Remember form data, follow these steps: 1.
Go to the Browser settings as shown previously.
2.
Scroll down to Privacy settings.
3.
Put a check mark in the Remember form data box.
4.
To remember all usernames and passwords, scroll down to Security settings.
5.
Put a check mark in the Remember passwords box.
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Working with Contacts Your DROID gives you immediate access to all your important information. Just like your computer, your DROID can store thousands of contacts for easy retrieval. In this chapter we’ll show you how to add new contacts (including from an email message), customize your contacts by adding notes and nicknames, organize your contacts with groups, quickly search or scroll through contacts, and even show a contact’s location with the DROID Maps app. We will also show you how to customize the Contacts view so it is sorted and displayed just the way you like it. Finally, you will learn a few troubleshooting tips that will save you some time when you run into difficulties. The beauty of the DROID is how it integrates all of the apps so you can email and map your contacts right from the contact entry.
Loading Your Contacts onto the DROID In Chapter 3: “Sync Your DROID to Your Google Account,” we show you how to load your contacts onto the DROID using your Mac or Windows computer. You can also use your Google account information to seamlessly and wirelessly sync at all times. Various snyc methods are described in the Chapter 3: “Sync Your DRIOD to your Google Account” and in Chapter 4: “Other Sync Methods.” TIP: You can add new contact entries from email messages you receive. Learn how in the "Adding Contacts from Email Messages" section later in this chapter.
When Is Your Contact List Most Useful? The Contacts app is most useful when three things are true: 1.
You have many names and addresses in it.
2.
You continually add new information as it becomes available.
3.
You can easily find contacts.
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Two Simple Rules to Improve Your Contact List Here are a couple of basic rules to help make your contact list on your DROID more useful. Rule 1: Add anything and everything to your contacts. You never know when you might need that obscure restaurant name, or that plumber’s number, etc. Rule 2: As you add entries, make sure you think about how to find them in the future (First name, Last name, Company). We have many tips and tricks in this chapter to help you enter names so that they can be instantly located when you need them. TIP: Here’s a good way to find restaurants. Whenever you enter a restaurant into your contacts list, put the entire restaurant name in the First name field and type the word “restaurant” into the Last name field. Then when you type the letters “rest,” you should instantly find all your restaurants!
Adding a New Contact Right on Your DROID You can always add your contacts right on your DROID. This is handy when you’re away from your computer—but have your DROID—and need to add someone to your contacts. It’s very easy to do. Here’s how.
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Start the Contacts App 1.
From your Home screen, touch the Contacts icon and then the Menu button. Tap the New contact button to add a new contact, as shown in the figure to the right.
Tap here to add a new Contact entry
To start entering the name, tap here
…Then click Done.
To cancel tap here.
Tap here to enter First and Last name.
Figure 12–1. Entering a new contact name.
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2.
Touch the First name and Last name buttons to enter the new contact’s first and last names. You can also add a company name by touching the green + sign next to Organization.
TIP: Keep in mind that the contacts search feature uses first, last, and company names. When you add or edit contacts, adding a special word to the company name can help you find a particular contact later. For example, adding the words “Cece friend” to the Company field can help you find all of Cece’s friends quickly using the search feature. 3.
Under the First Last button are more buttons, as shown in Figure 12–2. Each is activated by touching either the drop-down arrow or green + to the right of the category name. Touch the green + again to add another line—for example, a second phone number or email.
Figure 12–2. Available contact fields.
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Adding a New Phone Number
Touch the Phone field and use the number keyboard to input the phone number.
TIP: Don’t worry about parentheses, dashes, or dots—the DROID will put the number into the correct format. Just type the digits of the area code and number. If you know the country code, it’s a good idea to put that in as well. Next, choose which type of phone number it is. There are nine fields you can choose from, including an Other field if you find that none of the built-in fields apply.
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TIP: Sometimes you need to add a pause to a phone number—for example, when the phone number is for someone at an organization that requires you to dial the main number and then an extension. This is easy to do on the DROID. You just add a Pause which shows up as a comma between the main number and the extension like this: 386-555-7687, 19323. To add a pause, tap the * # ( key in the lower left corner of the keypad and tap Pause. When you dial this number from your DROID, the phone would dial the main number, pause for two seconds, and then dial the extension. If you need a longer pause, simply add more commas.
Adding an Email Address and Web Site
Touch the Email field and enter the email address for your contact. You can also touch the tab to the left of the email address and select whether this is a home, work, or other email address. Under the Organization field you’ll also find a More button. Touch the More button and scroll to the bottom. Touch the green + sign and a new field will pop up for the address of your contact’s web site.
NOTE: If you use Facebook on the DROID, it will automatically look for a Facebook homepage to integrate into the contact info.
TIP: Suppose you met someone at the bus stop—someone you wanted to remember. Of course, you should enter your new friend’s first and last names (if you know it), but also enter the words “bus stop” in the Company name field. Then when you type the words “bus” or “stop,” you should instantly find everyone you met at the bus stop, even if you can’t remember their names!
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Adding the Address
Below the Email field are the fields for adding the Postal address. Input the Street, City, State and Zip Code. You can also specify the Country and whether this is a home or work address. When you are done, just touch the Done button right below the Address field.
Adding a Photo to Contacts From the New Contact screen we’ve been working in, just touch the Add Photo icon at the top of the Contact editing window. After you touch the Add Photo icon, you’ll see that you can
Take a Photo
Select a Photo from Gallery
If there’s a photo already in place, you can
Remove a Photo icon
Change a Photo icon
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To choose an existing photo, select the photo album where the picture is located and touch the corresponding tab. When you see the picture you want to use, just touch it.
You’ll notice that the top and bottom of the photo are now grayed out and that you can manipulate the picture by moving it and then arranging it in the picture window.
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Once the picture is sitting where you want it, touch the Save button in the lower left corner and that picture will be set for the contact.
TIP: If you just moved into a new neighborhood, it can be quite daunting to remember everyone’s name. A good practice to follow is to add the word “neighbor” into the Company Name field for every neighbor you meet. Then, to instantly call up all your neighbors, simply type the letters “neigh” to find everyone you’ve met!
Searching Your Contacts Let’s say you need to find a specific phone number or email address. Just touch your Contacts icon as you did previously and then touch the Search button on the DROID and you’ll see a search box at the top of your Contacts list, as in Figure 12–3.
Figure 12–3. The contacts search box.
NOTE: On your DROID you may not see the Android contact icon to the left of your search window, but it still works the same way!
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Enter the first few letters of any of these three searchable fields:
First Name
Last Name
Company Name
The DROID begins to filter immediately and displays only those contacts that match the letters typed. TIP: To further narrow the search, hit the space key and type a few more letters. When you see the correct name, just touch it and that individual’s contact information will appear.
Quickly Jump to a Letter by Scrolling and Sliding on the Contact Card If you start scrolling through your contacts, you will see a small Contact Card icon on the right edge of the screen. Drag it up or down, and you can quickly advance by letter through the alphabet.
Search by Flicking If you don’t want to manually input letters, you can just move your finger and flick from the bottom up, and you’ll see your contacts move quickly on the screen. Just continue to flick or scroll until you see the name you want. Tap the name and the contact information will appear.
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Adding Contacts from Email Messages Often you’ll receive an email message and realize that the contact is not in your address book. Adding a new contact from an email message is easy. Open the email message from the contact you’d like to add to your contacts list. Then, in the email message’s From field, just touch the Android icon next to the name of the sender next to the From: tag. If the sender is not in your address book, you’ll be taken to a screen that lets you choose whether to add that email address to an existing contact or to create a new one. If you select Add contact, you’ll be taken to the same New Contact screen you saw earlier (Figure 12–1). Just make sure you select Create new contact at the top. Once you select Create new contact, you will see the contact editing screen. Add any other pertinent information for this contact (the email and name will automatically be put in) and then select Done.
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Linking Contacts to Another App You might have contact information for the sender of the email message in another app on the phone. With the DROID it is easy to link these contacts together. In this example, Martin, the sender of the email message, is one of my Facebook contacts, and I want to link his picture and birthday to my DROID contact information. Here is how I can link his contact information in my DROID to the information I have in Facebook. 1.
I add him to my contacts, as shown previously.
2.
I start up my Facebook app. See Chapter 20: "Social Networking and Skype" for more information on the topic.
3.
I find my contact information for Martin to verify that he is in my Facebook app.
4.
I touch the Menu button.
5.
I choose Settings in the lower left-hand corner.
6.
I then scroll down to Sync Contacts (see Figure 12–4).
7.
I choose one of the following options: Sync all, Sync with existing contacts. or Remove Facebook data. In this case, I will choose Sync with existing contacts.
8.
Martin’s picture and updated information are then brought into his contact information on my DROID.
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Contact info from email is not complete.
Launch Social Networking app.
Verify profile for contact.
Choose Sync with existing contacts.
Now, DROID contact information is more complete. Figure 12–4. Linking social networking contact to an existing contact profile.
TIP: Learning the names of parents of your school-age children’s friends can be fairly challenging. In the First field, however, you can add not just your child’s friend’s name but the parents’ names as well (e.g., First: Samantha (Mom: Susan, Dad: Ron)). Then in the Company field, add in the name of your child and “school friend” (e.g., Cece school friend). Just typing your child’s name in your All Contacts list’s search box brings up every person you ever met at your child’s school. Now you can say, “Hello, Susan, great to see you again!” without missing a beat. Try your best to covertly look up the name.
Sending a Picture to a Contact If you want to send a picture to a contact, you can do that from the Photos app. (See Chapter 18: “Taking Photos and Videos.”)
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Sending an Email Message from Contacts Since many of the core apps (Contacts, EMail, Gmail and Messages) are fully integrated, one app can easily trigger another. So, if you want to send an email message to one of your contacts, open the contact and tap the email address. The Mail app will launch, and you can compose and send an email message to this person. Start your contacts by touching the Contacts icon. Either search or flick through your contacts until you find the contact you need.
In the contact information, touch the email address of the contact you’d like to use. You’ll see that the Email program launches automatically with the contact’s name in the To: field of the email message. Type and send the message.
Showing Your Contacts Addresses on the Map One of the great things about the DROID is its integration with Google Maps. This is very evident in the Contacts app. Let’s say you want to map the home or work address of any contact in your address book. In the old days (pre-DROID), you’d have to use Google, MapQuest, or some other program and laboriously retype or copy and paste the address information. This is very time-consuming—but you don’t have to do this on the DROID. Simply open the contact as you did earlier. This time, touch the address at the bottom of the contact information.
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Your Maps app (which is powered by Google Maps) immediately loads and drops a marker at the exact location of the contact. The contact name will appear above the marker. (The satellite imagery is ©2010 Google.)
NOTE: The old company name of Made Simple Learning was BlackBerry Made Simple, that's why it is showing up on Google Maps.
Touch the tab on the top of the marker to get to the info screen. Now you can select Share this place or Search nearby. Touch the Directions icon and then touch the Driving Navigation, Walking Navigation, or Get directions. What if you had just typed the address into your Maps app instead of clicking from your contact list? In that case, you might want to touch Add as a Contact to add this address.
TIP: To return to your contact information, tap the Map button and then touch the Back button.
Contact History and Social Networking Screens On your DROID 2 and DROID X, you can see Contact History and Social Networking feeds for your contacts by swiping left and right from the contact detail screen. (See Figure 12-5.) You can also see history and social networking information for all your contacts together if you swipe left or right from the Contact List view.
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Swipe left to see communication history with this contact.
You first see the main Contact Info screen.
Swipe right to see Social Networking feeds with this contact.
Figure 12–5. Swipe left or right to see Contact History and Social Networking screens.
Contacts Troubleshooting Sometimes, your Contacts app might not work the way you expect. If you don’t see all your contacts, review the steps in the Chapter 3: “Sync Your DRIOD to your Google Account” or Chapter 4: “Other Sync Methods” on how to sync with your address book application. Make sure you have selected All Groups in the settings in your contact management app. TIP: If you are syncing with another contact application, such as Contacts in Gmail, make sure you select the option closest to All Contacts rather than a subset like a particular group.
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Managing Your Calendar The DROID makes the old calendar that used to hang on the fridge obsolete. In this chapter, we will show you how to utilize the Calendar app of the DROID to its full potential. We will show you how to schedule appointments, how to manage multiple calendars, how to change views on your calendar, and even how to deal with meeting invitations. NOTE: For most of this chapter, we will talk about syncing your DROID calendar with another calendar because it is nice to have your calendar accessible on your DROID and other places. If you choose, you can also use your DROID in a standalone mode, where you do not sync to any other calendar. In the latter case, all the steps we describe for events, viewing, and managing events still apply equally to you.
Managing Your Busy Life on Your DROID The Calendar app is a powerful and easy-to-use application that helps you manage your appointments, keep track of what you have to do, set reminder alarms, and even create and respond to meeting invitations for Microsoft Exchange users.
Accessing Your Calendar The Calendar icon is usually visible once you touch your Launcher icon. Once all applications are visible on the Home screen, scroll to the Calendar icon.
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TIP: If you use your DROID’s Calendar app often, you can also create a Calendar widget (see Chapter 6: “Organize your Home Screens: Icons and Widgets”); this Calendar widget will show today’s date and any upcoming appointments for the day. If you maintain a calendar on your computer or on a website such as Google Calendar, you can synchronize or share that calendar with your DROID (see Chapter 3: “Sync Your DROID with Your Google Account” and Chapter 4: “Other Sync Methods” for more information on syncing). After you set up the calendar sync, all of your PC, Mac or online calendar appointments will be synced with your DROID calendar automatically, based on your sync settings (see Figure 13–1).
Figure 13–1. Syncing a PC, Mac, or online calendar to a DROID.
Viewing Your Schedule and Getting Around The default view for the Calendar app shows your Day view. This view shows you at a glance any upcoming appointments for your day. Appointments are shown in your calendar (see Figure 13–2). If you happen to have multiple calendars set up on your computer, such as Work and Home, then appointments from the different calendars will display as different colors on your DROID calendar.
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Tap to see appointment details. Swipe to the right to see the next day. Event location
Event topic
Colors show events from particular calendars.
Swipe up or down to view more.
Day view.
Tap to see additional calendars or to adjust calendar settings.
Agenda view. (Also list view)
Jump to Today.
Week view.
Month view.
Figure 13–2. The Calendar app’s Day view layout.
You can manipulate the calendar in various ways:
Move a day at a time: If you swipe left or right, you move forward or backward a day.
Change views: Press the Menu key and then use the Agenda, Day, Week, and Month buttons at the bottom to change the view.
Jump to today: Press the Menu key and then touch the Today button located in the bottom-center of the screen.
Switching Between the Four Calendar Views Your Calendar app comes with four views: Day, Week, List (Agenda), and Month. You can switch views by pressing the Menu button and selecting the view.
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Day view: When you start the DROID’s Calendar app, the default view is usually the Day view. This allows you to quickly see everything you have scheduled for the day. You can bring up buttons to change the view by pressing the Menu button; your view options will appear at the bottom of the Calendar app.
Week View: Touch the Week button to see an overview of the current week. Different colored boxes denote appointments.
Agenda view: Touch the Agenda button at the bottom to see a list of your appointments. Depending on how much you have scheduled, you could see the next day’s or even the next week’s worth of scheduled events. Swipe up or down to see more events.
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Month view: Touch the Month button at the bottom to see a layout of the full month. Days with appointments have a small dot in them. TIP: To return to the Today view, press the Menu button and touch the Today button at the bottom of the screen.
You can go to the next month by swiping up; you can go to the previous month by swiping down to return to the previous month.
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Adding New Calendar Events You can easily add new events or appointments right on your DROID. These new events and appointments will be synced (i.e., shared with) your computer the next time the sync takes place.
Adding a New Appointment As you might expect, you simply long-press or double tap the screen at a particular time to set an appointment.
To add a new calendar event from any Calendar view, follow these steps: 1.
Touch the day or time block (while in Day view) for which you want to schedule an appointment and then touch New event. The Event details screen will be shown.
2.
Next, touch the box marked What.
Type in a title for the event, then scroll down to the Where box and type in a location. For example, you might type “Meet with Martin” as the title and input the location as “Office.” Or, you might choose to type “Lunch with Martin” and then choose a very expensive restaurant in New York City.
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3.
Touch the From or To tab to adjust the timing of the event. To change the date, touch the day and date field to bring up the month, date, and year adjustments. Next, touch the + or buttons above and below to adjust the date and start time of the appointment. Touch the Time field and set the starting and ending times. When done, touch the Set key.
4.
The Where box includes a Description box; enter the event’s location in the latter box.
5.
Alternatively, you can set an allday event by touching the box next to All-day; this sets the switch to ON.
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Setting Calendar Reminders
You can have your DROID give you an audible reminder, or alert, about an upcoming appointment. Alerts can help you keep from forgetting an important event. Follow these steps to create an alert: 1.
Touch the Reminders tab and then select the option for a reminder alarm. You can have no alarm at all or set a reminder anytime from one minute before the event all the way to one week before it, depending on what works best for you.
2.
Once you make your selection, you will automatically return to the Event screen.
Creating Additional Alerts In most cases, you will see a tab that says Add reminder once you set your first reminder.
NOTE: You can set up to five reminders for any appointment. You can set an additional reminder to another time before or after the first reminder. Some people find a second alert very helpful for remembering critical events or appointments.
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TIP: Here’s a practical example that illustrates when you might want to set up two calendar reminders. If your child has a doctor or dentist appointment, then you might want to set the first reminder to go off the night before. This will remind you to write a note to the school and give it to your child. You can then set the second reminder for 45 minutes prior to the appointment time. This will leave you enough time to pick up your child from school and get to the appointment.
Adding Recurring Events
Some of your appointments happen every day, week, or month at the same time. Follow these steps if you are scheduling a repeating or recurring appointment: 1.
Touch the Repetition tab and then select the correct time interval from the list.
2.
Once you select the repetition, you will return to the main Event screen.
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Choosing Which Calendar to Sync
If you use more than one calendar in Outlook, Google, iCal, or some other program, then you will have various calendars available to you when you sync your DROID with that program. NOTE: If you create an event and choose an Exchange or Google calendar, then you’ll see an option to invite other users to the event. To see all your calendars, touch the Menu button, touch More, and then touch Calendars. Tap the calendar you want to use to highlight the Sync and Visible icons; this ensures that events are synced and visible in your DROID calendar.
NOTE: To schedule an appointment in a calendar other than the default, start a new event and touch the Calendar dropdown. You should see your available calendars for scheduling the new appointment. Touch the specific calendar you want to place the new appointment under.
Editing Appointments Sometimes, the details of an appointment may change and need to be adjusted (see Figure 13–3). Fortunately, it’s easy to revise an appointment on your DROID: 1.
Tap the appointment that you want to change.
2.
Press the Menu key and then tap the Edit button to see the Edit screen showing the appointment details.
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Tap any field to change it.
Tap any event to view it.
Then, press Menu and tap the Edit event button to make changes.
Tap here to save the event.
Tap here to delete this event.
Figure 13–3. Editing an appointment.
3.
Now just touch the tab in the field you need to adjust. For example, you can change the time of this appointment by touching the From or To tab, and then adjusting the time for the event’s starting or ending time. Any field can be adjusted or changed.
4.
When you are done, touch the Done button in the lower-left corner.
Editing a Repeating Event You edit a recurring or repeating event in exactly the same manner as any other event. The only difference is that you will be asked a question before you edit the event. Tap Change only this event if you want to make changes to only this instance of the repeating event. Tap Change all events in the series if you want to make changes to all instances of this repeating event.
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Switching an Event to a Different Calendar If you mistakenly set up an event on the wrong calendar, then tap the Calendar button to change the calendar. Next, select one of the different calendars you have synced to your DROID. NOTE: Remember that only those calendars configured to sync with your computer will update when selected. If you switch to a calendar that doesn’t sync with your computer, the change will only be visible on the DROID, and the event will no longer display on your computer.
Deleting an Event Notice that, at the bottom of the Edit screen, you also have the option to delete this event. Simply touch the Delete button at the bottom of the screen to do so. You can also delete events from the Event Details screen by pressing the Menu button and selecting Delete event.
Accepting Meeting Invitations For those who use Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Outlook, or Entourage regularly, meeting invitations become a way of life. If you receive a meeting invitation in your email, accepting the invitation automatically places the appointment in your calendar. On your DROID, you will see the invitations you accept placed into your calendar immediately. NOTE: If you use an Exchange calendar or a Google calendar, you can invite people and reply to meeting invitations on your DROID (see Chapter 4: “Other Sync Methods” to learn more about this subject).
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When a meeting invitation goes to your Gmail or Exchange account, you will receive an email with the invitation; however, the meeting will automatically get placed into your calendar, as shown to the right. Just pull down the Attending drop-down window and respond with either Yes, Maybe, or No.
NOTE: Responding to a meeting invitation requires that you open your Calendar app, touch the meeting invite, and then send your response from there.
Calendar Settings You are able to adjust a few settings in your Calendar app; you can find these by touching the Menu key from inside the Calendar app and then choosing More > Settings. Follow these steps to adjust these options: 1.
Tap the Settings icon.
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2.
To Hide declined events, just put a check in the box.
3.
Scroll down to Set alerts & notifications and touch the drop down arrow to select either an Alert or a Status bar notification.
NOTE: On the DROID 2/X, you can customize Week view to show either the Work week view (5 days) or the Full week view (all 7 days).
4.
Scroll down to Select ringtone and touch the drop-down arrow to choose from one of the built-in ringtones for your alert.
5.
Touch the drop-down box next to Vibrate and choose when you want your DROID to vibrate for alerts: Always, Only when silent, or Never.
6.
Touch the Default reminder tab and select a default reminder time prior to calendar events. You can choose to have no reminder, or you can select any time interval from one minute to one week prior to the appointment.
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Chapter
Enjoying Your Music This chapter shows you how to turn your DROID into a terrific music player. We’ll show you how to play and organize the music you buy from the Amazon MP3 store or sync from your computer, how to view playlists in a variety of ways, and how to quickly find songs. TIP: Learn how to load your iTunes or Windows Media Player music and playlists into doubleTwist in Chapter 25: “DROID Media Sync”; this will enable you to sync them with your DROID. And you’ll learn how to stream music using the Pandora applications. With these applications, you can select from a number of Internet radio stations or create your own station by typing in your favorite artist’s name – and it’s all free.
Your DROID as a Music Player Your DROID is probably one of the best music players on the market today. The touch screen makes it easy to interact with and manage your music, playlists, cover art, and the organization of your music library. You can even connect your DROID to your home or car stereo via Bluetooth, so you can listen to beautiful stereo sound from your DROID! TIP: Check out Chapter 8: “Bluetooth on your DROID” to learn how to hook up your DROID to your Bluetooth stereo speakers or car stereo. Whether you use the built-in DROID Music app or an Internet radio app like Pandora, you’ll find you have unprecedented control over your music on the DROID.
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Buying Music from the Amazon MP3 App You can purchase music and ringtones right on your DROID from the Amazon MP3 app. 1.
Tap the Amazon MP3 app to get started.
2.
Now you will see the main screen of the app with the Search window at the top, links for Bestselling Albums, Bestselling Songs and Browse by Genre as well as the featured Free Song of the Day and the Album Daily Deal.
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3.
Tap Bestselling Albums to see a list of albums for sale. You will see similar screens when you tap Bestselling Songs.
4.
To purchase a song or album, simply tap the price, enter your amazon.com account information and confirm your purchase.
5.
If you prefer to browse for a song, tap Browse by Genre and then select any sub-genre until you get to the list of songs or albums you desire.
6.
To view only songs, tap the Songs tab at the top of the screen.
7.
To view only full albums, tap the Albums tab at the top.
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8.
You can also search for a particular song, album or artist by using the search field in the first screen you see when you enter the app.
Viewing and Playing Downloaded Songs and Albums 1.
From the main screen in the Amazon MP3 app, press the Menu button and select Downloads to see all content you have downloaded.
2.
Now you will see all the songs and albums downloaded. You will know the item has been successfully downloaded when you see the checkmark next to it and the word Downloaded under it.
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3.
Tap any item to start playing it in your DROID Music player.
Enter an Amazon Gift Code, Log Out and Adjust Settings You can enter an Amazon Give Card code, log out or adjust settings from the Setting screen. 1.
From the main screen in the Amazon MP3 app, press the Menu button and select Settings.
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2.
From the Settings screen you can:
Tap Sign out to log out.
Choose to turn on or off the Auto-resume downloads setting.
Clear cache — this can sometimes speed up the app as well as free up memory on your DROID.
Enter a claim code — enter an Amazon.com Gift card or code.
The Music App Most music is handled through the Music app – you find the icon for this app on the Home screen of the DROID.
Touch the Music icon and, as Figure 14–1 shows, you’ll see four soft keys across the top:
Artists: Lets you see an alphabetical list of artists that is searchable like your address book.
Albums: Lets you see your music organized by album title with cover art (also searchable).
Songs: Lets you see an alphabetical list of songs (also searchable).
Playlists: Lets you see synced playlists from your computer plus playlists created on the DROID.
Figure 14–1. The Music app’s soft keys.
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Changing the View in the Music App The Music app is very flexible in how it lets you display and categorize your music. Sometimes you want to look at your songs listed by the artist. Other times you might prefer seeing your library organized by album name. The DROID lets you easily change the view to help manage and play just the music you want at a given moment.
The Artists View
The Artists view lists all the artists on your DROID; or, if you are in a playlist, it lists the artists in that playlist. Flick through the list to move to the first letter of the artist’s name. When you find the artist’s name, touch it and all the songs and albums by that artist will be listed, with a picture of the album art to the left. TIP: You can use the same navigation and search features in the Music app that you do in the Contacts app (the address book).
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The Albums View
The music on your DROID is also organized by albums, which you’ll see when you touch the Albums icon. Again, you can scroll through the album covers to find the album you are looking for. Once you start scrolling, you will see the Search tab on the right that you can “pull” down to quickly advance through the alphabetical list of albums. When you choose an album, all the songs on that album will be listed. To go back, just touch the Back button.
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The Songs View
Touching the Songs button displays a list of every song on your DROID. If you know the name of the song, flick through the list or touch the first letter of the song in the alphabetical list to the right.
Creating Playlists on the DROID The DROID lets you create a playlist from recently added music. You can change the playlist whenever you want, removing old songs and adding new ones – it couldn’t be easier! To create a new playlist on the DROID, touch the Recently added tab under Playlists.
Touch the Menu button and select Save as playlist. Give your playlist a unique name (we’ll call this one “New playlist 1”), and then touch Save.
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Follow these steps to delete a song: 1.
Touch and hold a song in the playlist to bring up a menu list with six options.
2.
Tap the Delete button towards the bottom of the list. The song will be removed from your music library on the DROID.
Follow these steps to move a song up or down in a playlist: 1.
Touch a playlist to display the songs.
2.
Touch and hold the three gray bars to the left of the song.
3.
Drag the song up or down and then let go.
4.
Touch the Back button to exit the Playlist view.
Touch & Drag
To move a song, touch here and drag up or down.
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Searching for Music Every view from your Music app (e.g., Playlists, Artists, Songs) can have a search window at the top of the screen, as shown in Figure 14–2. From any of the music views, just touch the Search button on the DROID. Tap once in the Search window and type a few letters of the name of an artist, album, playlist, video, or song to instantly see a list of all matching items. This is the best way to quickly find something to listen to on your DROID.
Tap in this box to begin the search. Tap
All matching items are shown here.
Type a few letters to search for matching songs, artists and albums. Figure 14–2. Finding music.
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Viewing Songs in an Album When you’re in Albums view, just touch an album cover or name and the screen will slide, showing you the songs on that album (see Figure 14–3). To see the songs on an album that is playing, tap the List button. The album cover will turn over, revealing all the songs on that album. The song that is playing will have a small blue arrow next to it.
Touch the List button to view a list of songs from this album.
Touch the Arrow icon to see the cover art again.
Currently playing song. TIP: Touch any other song to start playing it.
Touch
Figure 14–3. Touch the List button to see the songs on a particular album.
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Playing Your Music Now that you know how to find your music, it’s time to play it! Find a song or browse to a playlist using any of the methods mentioned above. Simply tap the song name and it will begin to play.
Touch here to Shuffle songs or Repeat the song.
Touch here to view a list of songs from this album. Artist, Album, Song
Touch here to play or pause the song.
Previous Song or Back to List (if first song)
Next Song or Back to List (if last one.) Timeline This screen shows the name of the artist, album, and song underneath the picture of the album cover. Along the bottom of the screen, you’ll find the Timeline slider bar and the Previous Song, Play/Pause, and Next Song buttons. To see other songs on the album, just tap the List button. You can also touch the Shuffle or Repeat buttons under the album artwork.
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Pausing and Playing Tap the Pause symbol (if a song is playing) or the play arrow (if the music is paused) to stop or resume the song.
Playing the Previous or Next Song If you are in a playlist, touching the Next Song arrow (to the right of the Play/Pause button) advances you to the next song in the list. If you are searching through your music by album, touching Next Song moves you to the next song on the album. Touching the Previous Song button does the reverse. NOTE: If you’re at the beginning of a song, Previous Song takes you to the preceding song. If the song is already playing, Previous Song goes to the beginning of the current song (and a second tap would take you to the previous song).
Adjusting the Volume You can adjust the volume on your DROID by using the external Volume buttons on the side of the phone. The external Volume buttons are on the upper-right side of the device. Press the Volume Up key (the top button) or the Volume Down key to raise or lower the volume. You’ll see the Media volume control move as you adjust the volume.
Media volume is adjusted using Volume keys on side of DROID.
TIP: To quickly mute the sound, press and hold the Volume Down key and the volume will eventually reduce to zero.
TIP: If you hold down the Previous Song control, the song will rewind; if you hold down the Next Song control, it will fast forward.
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Repeating, Shuffling, and Moving Around in a Song In play mode, under the album art, you will see the controls for Repeat and Shuffle. At the bottom of the Now playing screen, you will see a timeline below the Play/Pause indicator that shows you where you are in the song.
Moving to Another Part of a Song Slide the scrubber bar to the right and you’ll see the elapsed time of the song (displayed to the far right) change accordingly. If you are looking for a specific section of the song, drag the slider, then let go and listen to see if you’re in the right place.
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Repeating One Song or All Songs To repeat all the songs you’re listening to, touch the Repeat symbol at the left of the top controls twice until you see it turn green and display Repeating all songs.
To repeat the current song in the playlist, song list, or album, touch the Repeat icon again until it displays Repeating current song.
To turn off the Repeat feature, press the icon until it turns gray again.
Shuffling Your Playlist If you are listening to a playlist or album or any other category or list of music, you might decide you don’t want to listen to the songs in order. You can touch the Shuffle symbol so the music will play in random order. You know Shuffle is turned on when the icon is green; when it’s gray, the Shuffle feature is off.
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Now Playing Sometimes you’re having so much fun exploring your options for playlists or albums that you get deeply buried in a menu – and then find yourself just wanting to get back to the song you’re listening to. Fortunately, this is always easy to do – you can just touch the Now Playing icon at the bottom of most of the music screens.
Viewing Other Songs on the Album You may decide you want to listen to another song from the same album rather than going to the next song in the playlist or genre list. In the upper-right corner of the Now Playing screen, you’ll see a small button with three lines on it.
Tap that button and the view switches to a list of all the songs on that album on your DROID. Touch another song on the list and that song will begin to play. NOTE: If you were in the middle of a playlist and you jump to another song from an album, you won’t be taken back to that playlist. To return to that playlist, you’ll need to go back to your playlist library.
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Exploring Your Music Options There are a few options available to you when you are in the Now playing screen. From this screen, touch the Menu key and you should see five soft keys: Library, Party shuffle, Add to playlist, Use as ringtone, and Delete. Library will take you back to your music library. Party shuffle will take you out of your playlist and arrange a random shuffling of music. Add to playlist allows you to add the current song to any playlist on your DROID.
Use as Ringtone allows you to use the current song as the general ringtone for the device. Delete will delete the song from your DROID.
NOTE: On the DROID 2/X, you will see another menu item called Audio Effects. Use this to adjust things like which speakers are connected and adjust the sound profile or use an equalizer.
Listening to Free Internet Radio (Pandora) While your DROID gives you unprecedented control over your personal music library, there may be times when you want to listen to some other music. TIP: A basic Pandora account is free. It can save you considerable money compared with buying many new songs from Amazon MP3. Pandora grew out of the Music Genome Project, a huge undertaking in which a large team of musical analysts looked at just about every song ever recorded and then developed a complex algorithm of attributes to associate with each song.
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NOTE: Pandora may have some competition by the time you read this book. Right now there’s one other competitor called Slacker Personal Radio, but there will probably be more. If you want to find more options, try searching the Android Market for “Internet Radio.” Also, please note that Pandora is a US-only application and Slacker is available only in the U.S. and Canada. Spotfly is a similar app for Europe. More options should begin to pop up for international users.
Getting Started with Pandora Pandora lets you design your own unique radio stations built around artists you enjoy. Best of all, it is completely free! Start by downloading the Pandora app from the Android Market. Just go to the Market and search for “Pandora.” Now just touch the Pandora icon to start. NOTE: Some users have reported sound issues with Android 2.2 and Pandora, but they are being addressed.
The first time you start Pandora, you’ll be asked to either create an account or to sign in if you already have an account. Just fill in the appropriate information – an email address and a password are required – and you can start designing your own music listening experience.
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Pandora is also available for your Windows or Mac computer, as well as for most smartphone platforms. If you already have a Pandora account, all you have to do is sign in.
Pandora’s Main Screen Your stations are listed on the screen. Just touch one and it will begin to play. Usually, the first song will be from the actual artist chosen, and the next songs will be from similar artists.
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Once you select a station, the music begins to play. You’ll see the current song displayed, along with album art – very much like when you play a song using the Music app. Touch the Information icon in the upperright corner, and you’ll see a bio of the artist, which changes with each new song.
Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down in Pandora If you like a particular song, touch the Thumbs-up icon and you’ll hear more from that artist. Alternatively, if you don’t like an artist on this station, touch the Thumbs-down icon and you won’t hear that artist again. If you like, you can pause a song and come back to it later. Or, you can skip to the next selection in your station.
NOTE: With a free Pandora account, you are limited to a certain amount of skips per hour. Also, you’ll occasionally hear advertising. To get rid of these annoyances, you can upgrade to a paid “Pandora One” account.
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Pandora’s Menu From the Now playing screen, press the Menu button on your DROID. Touch this and you can Bookmark the artist or song, go to Amazon MP3 to buy music from this artist, or Share the station with someone in your Contacts list. You can also adjust your Pandora Preferences.
Creating a New Station in Pandora Creating a new station couldn’t be easier. Start by pressing the Menu key when at Station list screen of Pandora. Just touch the Create Station button along the bottom row. Type in the name of an artist, song, or composer. When you find what you are looking for, touch the selection and Pandora will immediately start to build a station around your choice. You can also touch Genre and build a station around a particular genre of music. You’ll then see the new station listed with your other stations. You can build up to 100 stations in Pandora. TIP: You can organize your stations by pressing the By Date or ABC buttons at the top of the screen.
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Adjusting Pandora’s Settings – Your Account, Upgrading, and More You can sign out of your Pandora account, adjust the audio quality, and even upgrade to Pandora One (which removes advertising) by tapping the Preferences icon after pressing the Menu key from the Now playing screen (see Figure 14–4.)
Figure 14–4. The Preferences options in Pandora.
To sign out, tap your account name. To adjust the sound quality, move the switch under Cell Network Audio Quality to either High or Normal. When you are on a cellular network, setting this to Off is probably better; otherwise, you may hear more skips and pauses in the playback. When you are on a strong Wi-Fi connection, you can set this to High for better quality. See Chapter 5: “Wi-Fi and 3G Connectivity” to learn more about the various connections.
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To save your battery life, you should set the Auto-Lock to On, which is the default. If you want the force the screen to stay lit, then switch this to Off. To remove all advertising, tap the Upgrade to Pandora One button. A web browser window will open, and you’ll be taken to the Pandora web site to enter your credit card informati
