Android Smartphones For Seniors For Dummies

Marsha Collier (Los Angeles, CA) is one of the top-selling For Dummies authors of all time with her books on eBay, social selling, and social media platforms adding up to well over a million copies in print. Marsha is a recognized social influencer as well, regularly making top influencer lists in the business and tech categories.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Your Phone in the Android Universe 5

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

A Little Android History 8

The Many Flavors (Versions) of Android 9

Reasons That People Choose Android 10

Why You Need a Google Account 11

Accessing apps and settings 12

Bequeathing your account 12

So Many Choices! 14

Tech support options 15

5G? LTE? 4G? VoLTE? Whaaat?  16

A Word about Privacy and Security 17

Free usually isn’t 17

The terms of service can be tricky 17

Marsha’s sage advice about privacy 18

Chapter 2: Buying Your Android Smartphone and Accessories 21

Investigate First — Then Make a Buying Decision 22

Looking at a phone’s physical features 22

Reviewing before making a decision 26

Considering an older model 27

Choosing where to buy your phone 28

Consider Your Carrier Choice 29

Checking out the carrier’s coverage area 30

Finding senior discounts on carrier service 31

You Need a Few Accessories, Too 32

Power charging blocks — volts and watts matter 32

MicroSD card 33

Phone case 34

Phone Sanitizer 35

Chapter 3: Activating and Connecting Your Phone 37

Unbox Your New Phone 38

Insert a SIM Card 40

Turn On Your Phone for the First Time 41

Connecting to a network 42

Setting up a Google account 42

Setting up a secure lock 44

Restoring data from an older phone 44

Learn Android Smartphone Symbols and Gestures 45

Recognizing common Android icons 45

Meeting the top status bar 47

Exploiting screen navigation and gestures 48

Part 2: Getting Started with Your Android Smartphone 51

Chapter 4: Safety First: Making Your New Phone Private 53

Set Up a Screen Lock 54

Checking out the screen locking options 54

Following the lock screen setup process 56

Establish Data Backup 58

Place Owner Information On the Lock Screen 59

Add Emergency Info 62

Designating Emergency or ICE contacts 62

Providing medical information 63

Chapter 5: Personalizing Your Handset 67

Hardware Buttons and What They Do 68

Power buttons 70

Volume buttons 73

Find and Sort Your Apps 75

Move App Shortcuts to the Home Screen 77

Group Apps into Folders 78

Deal with Preinstalled Applications (or Bloatware) 81

Get the News (and Other Media) You Can Use 82

Customize the Home Screen with Widgets 84

Chapter 6: Android Typing Tricks with Google’s Gboard 87

Make the Keyboard Decision 88

Selecting a keyboard to use 88

Noting keyboard features 89

Exploring keyboards you have (or can have) 93

Check Out Keyboard Contenders 94

Gboard, the official Google keyboard 95

Samsung Keyboard 97

Microsoft SwiftKey keyboard 99

Speak Words with Voice Typing 99

Spell-Check as You Type 100

Extended Keyboard and Special Characters 101

Learn the Emoji Language 102

Delete, Copy, and Paste Text 104

Print Messages, Documents, and Web Pages 105

Chapter 7: Handling Notifications and Google Assistant 109

Meet the Android Notifications Window Shade 110

Recognizing notification types and settings 110

Disabling notifications (or not) 111

Controlling notifications via settings 114

Having fun with notifications, or not 115

Taming Google Discover news feed 117

Manage Your Phone with the Window Shade Quick Settings 119

The first-up Quick Settings 120

The full cast of Quick Settings 121

Get the 411 from Google Assistant 122

Knowing what you can do with Google Assistant 123

Installing or deactivating Google Assistant 124

Part 3: Let’s Start Communicating 127

Chapter 8: Chatting via Voice or Video 129

Make a Voice Call 130

Making international calls from your phone 131

Calling internationally with no contract 132

Check Voicemail 133

Get Voicemail Transcriptions 135

Reply to an Incoming Call by Sending a Text 138

Set a New Ringtone 141

Using a built-in ringtone 141

Downloading a custom ringtone 141

Activating a downloaded ringtone 144

Spend Face Time with Family and Friends 146

Google Duo 146

Google Meet 148

Chapter 9: Keeping Track of Friends and Appointments 149

Establish Your Phone’s Contacts 150

Starting out right with Google Contacts 151

Importing old address books 151

Save Contacts from Email 154

Add a Contact in Other Ways 156

Importing contacts from texts 157

Adding a contact from the call log 158

Type In a Full Contact in the Contacts App 158

Merge Duplicate Contacts 161

Customize, Delete, and Update Contacts 162

Energize Your Calendar App 164

Add Calendar Events from Gmail 166

Chapter 10: Texting with Poise and Character 167

Compare Types of Text Messaging 168

Turning on RCS chat features 170

Using third-party chat apps 172

Dress Up Texts in Google Messages 173

The Text Message Bar and Emoji 176

Find Even More Texting Options 177

Share Photos and Videos in Texts 179

Voice-Type (Dictate) 180

Manipulate the Text in Your Message 181

Schedule a Text Message for Later Delivery 183

Act on Text Messages You Receive 184

Share and Print Documents, Email Messages, and Web Pages 185

Printing from Gmail 186

Printing from a web page 186

Chapter 11: Managing Email with the Gmail App 189

Discover Gmail Features 190

Revealing the Gmail app’s main menu 190

Tending to mailbox organization 191

Scoping out the main mailbox 192

Send a Gmail Email 193

Adding an email signature 196

Creating a Vacation Responder email 196

Perform Basic Gmail tasks 198

A table of common email tasks 199

Printing an email from Gmail 200

Link to Other Apps and Gmail Settings 201

Chapter 12: Choosing and Using a Smartphone Camera 203

Examine Smartphone Cameras and Brands 204

Paying the right amount of attention to reviews 204

Phones with camera brand collaborations 205

Take a Camera-Spec Safari 205

Enough megapixel, but not too much 206

Home in on subjects with zoom 207

Exercise Your Android Camera’s Capabilities 209

Just point-and-shoot either stills or video 210

Add interest with your camera’s tools 210

Expand your reach with Google Lens 212

Access camera features on the scrolling menu 214

Go Pro with Pro Mode 215

Discovering the Pro settings 216

Applying the Pro settings 217

Edit Your Photos 218

Finding editing options 219

Applying the photo editor’s tools 220

Playing with filters, colors, and more 222

Part 4: Exploring Android Apps 225

Chapter 13: Preinstalled Tools You Want to Use 227

Take a Shortcut to Features with Android Quick Settings 228

Customizing the Quick Settings 228

Meeting popular Quick Settings 231

Quick Settings That Offer Valuable Options 234

Opting for Dark mode 234

Maximizing eye comfort 235

Avoiding interruptions 236

Sharing with “close” friends 239

Phone-Resident Android Apps 240

Recording your voice 240

Taking a screen shot 242

Staying on task with Google Calendar 244

Frequenting the Google Play Store 245

Chapter 14: Google Mobile Services Apps for Android 247

Find Popular Google Apps 248

Google Photos 249

Storing and retrieving 250

Syncing and deleting 251

Sharing 251

Searching 252

Google Maps 255

Finding your way to an appointment 255

Employing the Directions screen options 256

Find My Device 258

Take Note(s) with Google Keep 260

Chapter 15: Apps You Might Like in Google Play Store 261

Establish App Privacy Permissions 262

Connect to Radio (Yes, Radio), Podcasts, and Music 264

Configuring your speakers’ volume 264

Making a wired connection 265

Using a Bluetooth connection 266

Find Favorite and Fun Apps — a Consensus 267

Radio, podcasts, and music 268

Video apps 269

Travel 270

Games 270

News 273

Books 274

Engage Social Media 275

Try Out the Android Accessibility Suite 276

Part 5: Android Today and Tomorrow 279

Chapter 16: Marsha’s MUST-DO Things for Your Phone 281

Make the Orientation Decision 282

Configure Do Not Disturb 283

Use Your Home Wi-Fi for Calls and Browsing 284

Practice Safety When Using Public Connections 285

Use a VPN to secure public Wi-Fi connections 285

Beware of charging a phone from a public port 287

Secure Your Power Cables 289

Set Up Emergency Call and SOS 289

Establishing SOS messaging 290

Activating Emergency mode 291

Managing Emergency mode 294

Manage Home Screen App Shortcuts 295

Make Folders of Apps 299

Chapter 17: Android 12 and Beyond: The OS Evolution 301

Find Helpful New Features in Android 12 302

Make purchasing faster with GPay 302

Poke around in Android 12 303

Meet the Soothing Android 12 User Experience 304

Be Ready for the Future 306

Index 307