Android Device Usage Basics
Power Up and Unlock
UI Guidelines
Apps should implement Google'sUI Best Practices Guide, which are
less regimented than Apple's.
One guideline is for an app to take
no more than 100 milliseconds
to perform each activity.
Demo of GUI, including
long press to cut and paste
on the device.
Let's start with turning the phone on by holding down the device's power button. Some phones have the button on the right top edge, others (like the iPhone), have it on the top right edge.
To restart the device, hold the volume-down button. When the text screen of choices appears, use the volume-down button. Select Recovery, and press the power button. When the triangle with the exclamation point appears, press the power button and then the volume buttons to select apply sd card if a zip file has been copied to the top level of the sd card.
Each handset manufacturer applies a different skin to differentiate themselves: (HTC SenseUI, Moto MotoBlur, Samsung TouchWiz, etc.)
Locking and unlocking your phone and thus your private data can be customized.
The Jelly Bean version of Android reflects Apple's win of the lawsuit about their patent on Left swipe to Unlock. Unlock can now be invoked by swiping from 4 directions. Swipe right yields Google screens.
Home Screens by the Dot
The screen that appears after start-up some call the Home screen. Others call it the Desktop (borrowing from Windows terminology).
Like the iPhone, dots on the screen show the number of pages. Some have 5 dots on the bottom, others have 7 on the top, with a larger dot showing which you are seeing at the moment.
DO THIS: To see panels all together (smaller) on a single screen, pinch the screen (place one finger at the top right corner and another on the left bottom corner, then bring your fingers together across the screen surface).
Customizations to home screens require the phone to be
rooted
,
because carriers want to impose their stuff on consumers.
Home and Apps Toggle
DO THIS: Switch between the (alphabetical) list of Applications and your customizable Home screens by pressing the icon that changes from Home to App when you press it.
REMEMBER: The name under the icon is where you'll go when you press the icon (not what it currently is).
Apps installed from the Marketplace are placed in the Applications list, not on the Home screen.
TIP: On your home screen, put apps most often used.
DO THIS: To copy an app to your home screen, hold down its icon a few seconds until the phone vibrates (called the "haptic" feature) and the Remove icon appears at the bottom, then drag and drop it to the desired location.
DO THIS: In the Applications list, drag the icon near a screen edge to automatically scroll to the next page.
DO THIS: Long press on an empty part of the home screen to select different types of components to add to the home screen.
The Ice Cream Sandwich version introduced widgets such as clocks that always move (update) on the home screen. Each app can have its own widget(s), such as a music player with a small widget to display what is currently playing.
Navigation Bar + Status Bar on System Bar
On Ice Cream Sandwich devices, Status bar icons are moved to the bottom-right of the screen in a combined virtual System Bar at the bottom which can disappear during movie watching.
TIP: Memorize the physical location of the buttons on your device so you can touch it in the dark. It often isn't lit up.
The HTC HD2 and HTC Leo is unique in their 5 buttons. This enables the devcie to be moded to run Windows Mobile software.
Alas, ALL physical buttons (Settings, Search, Home, Back) are GONE in Ice Cream Sandwich devices and onward in favor or virtual icons.
Settings Button
DO THIS:
Hold and drop the Settings icon [?] to Remove because
Settings can also be reached by pressing the Menu device key from the Home page.
Long press on it, then drag it on top of the Remove and let go to drop.
CAUTION: Only connect to secure networks. A Wi-Fi network can be a "honey-pot" which steals your information and infiltrates unprotected apps.
Search Button
To search from any app, on devices before Honeycomb,
a physical search button icon that looks like a magnifying-glass can be pressed.
This feature allows the Google search bar on the home screen to be removed, making room for other widgets on the home screen.
Home Button on the Action Bar
Don't be confused by the fact their is a Home icon and also a Home button on the device.
To take a photo ("screenshot") of the phone's screen,
hold down the Home button and (before the Task Manager screen appears on some phones)
press the power button.
This places a jpg file in folder screenshot.
DO THIS: Before Honeycomb, for a list of recent items on the Task Manager, hold down the Home device button.
Recent Button on the Action Bar
Instead of long-pressing the Home key, this button was added in Honeycomb to show recent activities.
Back (Return) Button on the Action Bar
To go back one logical step, tap the Back (aka Return) button on the device.
The Gingerbread version of Android onwards provide these keys on-screen.
Many Android apps don't provide an OK button on the screen because they rely on
the Android device Back button.
Notifications
DO THIS:
Get the
Notifications list by running your finger from the top of the screen down.
Task Manager and Android Internals
Tap on the [?] Task Manager icon.
Tap on the [?] Package icon for a list of apps installed. Default apps from Google and your phone company cannot be uninstalled here.
Tap on the [?] RAM icon to see if more can be added.
WARNING: Keep this below 60% or you will experience slower performance on all apps, and even crashes.
Tap on the [?] Summary icon to see free memory on various portions of the device.
WARNING: Keep at least 40mb of on-board storage free and unused. The less free space you have, the more buggy Android gets.
There are separate areas of memory.
SD Cards
If the External SD card can be removed on a device, it can be substituted with a card up to 64 GB (as of May, 2011, more than 32GB).
TIP: Know how much SD cards costs as the basis for deciding which phone to get.
64 GB SD cards are about $80 at Amazon.
Apps can be stored on the external card from API 8 (Froyo) on.
Different phones and carriers offer different amounts of memory on devices.
BLAH:
Barnes & Noble limits Nook Tablet "Other Storage" used by apps and content outside its store to 1 GB out of 16 GB total.
This makes the device a non-contender for my money.
Phone Photography
- instagr.am
- iphonephotography.com
- iphoneart.com
- iphoneographycentral.com
- iphonegenic.tumbr.com
- pixels at an exhibition.com
- mobile photo group.com
There are special techniques for taking photos with phones. Communities that discuss this topic:
ustream.tv displays video streams. Join the crowds!
User Blog Roll
Individuals blogging about Android usage: