Android Smartphones For Seniors For Dummies

Marsha Collier is one of the top-selling For Dummies authors of all time. Her books on eBay, social selling, and social media platforms add up to over a million copies sold. Marsha is a recognized social influencer as well, regularly named to ‘top influencer’ lists in the business and tech categories.

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• Introduction 1About This Book 1Foolish Assumptions 3Icons Used in This Book 3Beyond the Book 4Where to Go from Here 4Part 1: Your Phone in the Android Universe 5Chapter 1: Why Android? What’s the Deal? 7A Little Android History 8The Many Flavors (Versions) of Android 9Reasons That People Choose Android 10Why You Need a Google Account 12Accessing your Google account 12Bequeathing your Google account 15So Many Choices! 16Flagship versus mid-range versus feature phones 17Tech support options 185G? LTE? 4G? VoLTE? Whaaat? 19A Word about Privacy and Security 20Free usually isn’t 21The terms of service can be tricky 21Making the AI decision — what is it really? 22Marsha’s sage advice about privacy 23Chapter 2: Buying Your Android Smartphone and Accessories 25Investigate First — Then Make a Buying Decision 26Recognizing types and styles of phones 26Looking at a phone’s physical features 28Reviewing before making a decision 32What is the brand’s update policy? 33Considering an older model 34Choosing where to buy your phone 35Consider Your Carrier Choice 37Checking out the carrier’s coverage area 37Finding senior discounts on carrier service 37You Need a Few Accessories, Too 39Power charging or wireless — volts and watts matter 39MicroSD card 41Phone cases 41Phone sanitizer 43Earbuds, wired or wireless? 44Chapter 3: Activating and Connecting Your Phone 45Unbox Your New Phone 46Insert a SIM Card or Use an eSIM 48Hardware Buttons and What They Do 49Power buttons and your power-down options 51Volume buttons and how they work 55Turn On Your Phone for the First Time 57Connecting to a network 58Setting up a Google account 59Setting up a secure lock 59Restoring data from an older phone 60Learn about Google One and Google Drive 61Learn Android Smartphone Symbols and Gestures 62Swipe, tap, pinch, and more 63Recognizing common Android icons 63Meeting the top status bar 65Exploiting screen navigation and gestures 66Part 2: Getting Started with Your Android Smartphone 69Chapter 4: Safety First: Making Your New Phone Private 71Set Up a Screen Lock 72Checking out the screen locking options 72Following the Lock screen setup process 75Establish Data Backup 76Place Owner Information on the Lock Screen 78Add Emergency Info 81Designating emergency or ICE contacts 81Providing medical information 82Chapter 5: Personalizing Your Handset 85Find and Sort Your Apps 86Move App Shortcuts to the Home Screen 88Group Apps into Folders 89Creating your own apps folders 90Enlarge folders for easy viewing 91Deal with Preinstalled Applications (or Bloatware) 92Get the News (and Other Media) You Can Use 94Customize the Home Screen’s Look and Feel 95Finding handy widgets 95Looking for particularly handy widgets 97Show your creative side with wallpaper and styles 99Try Out the Android Accessibility Suite 100Chapter 6: Android Typing Tricks with Google’s Gboard 103Make the Keyboard Decision 104Selecting a keyboard to use 104Noting keyboard features 106Exploring keyboards you have (or can have) 110Check Out Keyboard Contenders 112Gboard, the official Google keyboard 112Samsung Keyboard 115Microsoft SwiftKey keyboard 115Dictate with Voice Typing 117Extended Keyboard and Special Characters 118Learn the Emoji Language 119Delete, Copy, and Paste Text 120Chapter 7: Handling Notifications and Google Assistant 123Meet the Android Notifications Drawer 124Recognizing notification types and settings 124Disabling notifications (or not) 125Controlling notifications via app settings 129Having fun with notifications (or not) 129Taming Google Discover news feed 131Manage Your Phone with Quick Settings 133The first-up Quick Settings 134The full cast of Quick Settings 135Customizing the Quick Settings 136Get the 411 from Google Assistant 138Knowing what you can do with Google Assistant 139Google Gemini versus Assistant 141Part 3: Let’s Start Communicating 143Chapter 8: Setting Up and Maintaining Contacts 145Establish Your Phone’s Contacts 146Starting out right with Google Contacts 147Importing old address books 147Save Contacts from Email 150Add a Contact in Other Ways 151Importing contacts from texts 152Adding a contact from the call log 152Type a Full Contact in the Contacts App 153Merge Duplicate Contacts and Other Fixes 156Customize, Delete, and Update Contacts 158Chapter 9: Chatting via Voice or Video 161Make a Voice Call 162Making international calls from your phone 164Calling internationally or locally with no contract 165Check Voicemail 167Get Voicemail Transcriptions 168Reply to an Incoming Call by Sending a Text 170Busy? Have Google Assistant Handle Your Calls 173Using Audio Emoji 176Set a Built-in Ringtone 178Spend Face Time with Google Meet 178Chapter 10: Texting with Poise and Character 181Compare Types of Text Messaging 182Turning on RCS chat features 185Using third-party chat apps 187There may be bubbles? 188Dress Up Texts in Google Messages 189The Text Message Bar and Emoji in Gboard 192Find Even More Texting Options 194Share Multimedia in Texts 195Voice-Type (Dictate) 199Manipulate the Text in Your Message 200Act on Text Messages You Receive 201Chapter 11: Managing Email with the Gmail App 203Discover Gmail Features 204Revealing the Gmail app’s main menu 204Tending to mailbox organization 205Scoping out the main mailbox 206Send a Gmail Email 207Adding an email signature. 210Scheduling an email delivery 211Perform Basic Gmail Tasks 212A table of common email tasks 212Printing an email from Gmail 214Print Other Messages, Documents, and Web Pages 215Link to Other Apps and Gmail Settings 218Part 4: Exploring Your Phone’s Handy Apps 219Chapter 12: Choosing and Using a Smartphone Camera 221Examine Smartphone Cameras and Brands 222Paying the right amount of attention to reviews 222Phones with camera brand collaborations 223Take a Camera-Spec Safari 224Enough megapixel, but not too much 224Home in on subjects with zoom 225Exercise Your Android Camera’s Capabilities 227Just point-and-shoot either stills or video 227Add interest with your camera’s tools 229Expand your reach with Google Lens visual search 229Access camera features on the scrolling menu 235Go Pro with Pro Mode 236Discovering the Pro settings 236Applying the Pro settings 237Chapter 13: Organizing and Editing Photos 239Find and Organize Photos on Your Phone 240Using the in-phone Gallery 242Using the Albums feature 242Sharing photos in texts, emails, and more 243Backing up your photos 244Edit Your Photos in the Gallery 246Finding editing options 247Applying your phone’s photo editing tools 248Playing with filters, colors, and more 250Getting into the Google Photos App 251Organizing Google Photos 252Organize and select a Top Pick with Stacks 254Editing images in Google Photos 255Chapter 14: Google Mobile Services and Apps for Android 257Find Popular Google Apps 258Google Photos 259Storing and retrieving photos 261Syncing and deleting photos 261Sharing with friends 262Searching for photos 262Adding info to help with photo searching 264Google Maps 266Finding your way to an appointment 267Employing the Directions screen options 268Sharing your location 269Google Find My Device Network 271Take Note(s) with Google Keep 275Chapter 15: Useful Apps in Google Play Store 277Frequent the Google Play Store 278Establish App Privacy Permissions 278Connect to Radio (Yes, Radio), Podcasts, and Music 281Configuring your speakers’ volume 281Making a wired connection 282Using a Bluetooth connection 283Find Favorite and Fun Apps — a Consensus 284Radio, podcasts, and music 284Video apps 286Travel 286Games 289News 290Books 291Engaging Social Media 291Chapter 16: Marsha’s MUST-DO Things for Your Phone 293Make the Orientation Decision 294Take a Screenshot 295Configure Do Not Disturb 296Use Your Home Wi-Fi for Calls and Browsing 297Practice Safety When Using Public Connections 299Use a VPN to secure public Wi-Fi connections 299Beware of charging a phone from a public port 301Protect the Heart of Your Phone 302Wireless charging overnight 303Secure your power cables 304Set Up Emergency Call and SOS 304Establishing SOS messaging 305Activating Emergency mode 306Managing Emergency mode 307Adding on the Pixel Personal Safety app 308Dealing with unknown trackers 308Index 311