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CHAPTER 23: Utilities: Clock, Calculator, and Weather

491

Other Weather Apps

The

Weather

app bundled with the DROID is certainly functional, but there are

alternatives available. Most of the weather apps are free in the Android Market, but
some also offer premium versions for a modest fee.

NOTE:

Most of the free weather apps are supported by ads in the app. For the most part, these

ads are not intrusive.

The easiest way to find alternative weather apps is to go to the Android Market and
touch the

Apps

icon at the top of the screen. The store actually includes a distinct

News

and Weather

category. In the

Weather

category, touch

Top Free

at the top and then

search for apps. You can learn more about downloading apps in Chapter 17: “Exploring
the Android Market.”

The Weather Channel

The Weather Channel is one of the preeminent weather
authorities today. The Weather Channel website can
be accessed right from the DROID’s

Weather

app.

Just touch the small

Weather Channel

icon on your

News and Weather

home page to visit the site.

When you first go to the site, you will input your ZIP
code or address, so a custom home page with your
weather can be created. This home page shows the
current weather. You can scroll down the page to see

Hourly

,

36 Hour

, and

10 Day

forecasts.

Scroll further down the page to see local video,
weekend forecasts, weather tools, and more.

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Summary of Contents for DROID 2 Global

Page 1: ...DROIDS Made Simple MartinTrautschold Gary Mazo Marziah Karch DROIDS ...

Page 2: ...il Ch 9 Voice Ch 2 Contacts Ch 12 Widgets Ch 6 Games Ch 22 New Media Ch 16 New Media Ch 16 Day in the Life of an DROID User Day in the Life of a DROID User continued 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 CONTINUED ON B...

Page 3: ......

Page 4: ... CONTENTS AT A GLANCE i DROIDS Made Simple For the DROID DROID X DROID 2 and DROID 2 Global Martin Trautschold Gary Mazo Marziah Karch ...

Page 5: ...viewer 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 Index...

Page 6: ... 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 ...

Page 7: ... 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 C...

Page 8: ...rket 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 ...

Page 9: ...cher 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 Dou...

Page 10: ...ns 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...

Page 11: ...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 th...

Page 12: ...er 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 Connecti...

Page 13: ... 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 18...

Page 14: ...ounts 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 ...

Page 15: ...asswords 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 Con...

Page 16: ... 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 ...

Page 17: ...hapter 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 Bo...

Page 18: ...oll 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 1...

Page 19: ...dIn 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 Sky...

Page 20: ...or 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 Browsin...

Page 21: ...n 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...

Page 22: ...ith 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 Uni...

Page 23: ...ews 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 ...

Page 24: ...tire 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 ...

Page 25: ... ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xxii ...

Page 26: ...elp 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 I ...

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Page 28: ...ion 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 gene...

Page 29: ...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 Launcher icon Tap to open the App Tray to v...

Page 30: ...k button Top Edge 3 5 mm Headphone Jack 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 sing...

Page 31: ...u navigate around your DROID Menu button or 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 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 you...

Page 32: ...ong 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 S...

Page 33: ...t 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 wid...

Page 34: ... icon at the bottom of the screen Long press drag 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 ...

Page 35: ...e 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 Long press the Home button to bring up the list of recently opened apps Tap the app you wish to start TIP If you don t see the app...

Page 36: ...elect 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...

Page 37: ...ync 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 New email Ne...

Page 38: ... 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 Med...

Page 39: ...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 let...

Page 40: ...eas 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 pop up 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 ...

Page 41: ...es 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 yo...

Page 42: ...red dots appear here for a second to show you where you are Tap the Home icon or Home button to return to the middle screen Gently touch the screen and swipe left or right 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...

Page 43: ...s technique in messages email the Browser app menus and more 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 The current letter M is shown Figure 9 Touch and slide your finger to scroll around contacts a web page a zoomed picture and more ...

Page 44: ...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 Slide your finger around to view more of the web page Figure 10 Double tapping to zoom in or out ...

Page 45: ...h 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 poin...

Page 46: ...ded 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 ...

Page 47: ...ttings General Network Wi Fi and 3G Ch 5 Return to the Home screen or The Home button Getting Started Ch 1 Unlock the DROID Slide your finger to unlock your DROID Getting Started Ch 1 Completely power down your DROID Press and hold the Power Lock button Tap this button to power the device off Getting Started Ch 1 Sync addresses calendar email and notes with your main account Google Sync Google Syn...

Page 48: ...ere 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 Control your iPod and DROID with your voice Press and hold the Home button Voice Command Typing Voice Copy and Search Ch 2 Search G...

Page 49: ...s 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 Use T...

Page 50: ...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...

Page 51: ...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 ...

Page 52: ... 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 ...

Page 53: ...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 Widge...

Page 54: ... 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 II ...

Page 55: ......

Page 56: ...ns 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 ...

Page 57: ...otocols 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 Sim...

Page 58: ...hat 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 excellen...

Page 59: ...a 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 s...

Page 60: ...ery 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 ...

Page 61: ...INTRODUCTION 36 ...

Page 62: ...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 III ...

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Page 64: ...p to date 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 vari...

Page 65: ... adapter and the other end into your DROID Now let s explore some of DROID s basic features Plug your USB cable in here The DROID wall plug adapter 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 r...

Page 66: ...r 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 but...

Page 67: ...der 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 y...

Page 68: ...e 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 DROID Keyboard Cursor keys to move around screen Trackpad to move around scr...

Page 69: ...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...

Page 70: ...rk 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 th...

Page 71: ...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 adj...

Page 72: ...l 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...

Page 73: ...ly 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 So...

Page 74: ...lect Nothing 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...

Page 75: ...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...

Page 76: ...eout 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...

Page 77: ... 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 C...

Page 78: ...onsume 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 bot...

Page 79: ...wer 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 ...

Page 80: ...es 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 servi...

Page 81: ...count 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 ...

Page 82: ...ore 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 s...

Page 83: ...eedback 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 th...

Page 84: ...N 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 ...

Page 85: ...m 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 smudg...

Page 86: ... 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 androidc...

Page 87: ...ter 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 ...

Page 88: ...d 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 ...

Page 89: ... 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 ori...

Page 90: ...ten 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 g...

Page 91: ... 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 ...

Page 92: ...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 f...

Page 93: ...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 autom...

Page 94: ...hod 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 Multi touch 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 yo...

Page 95: ...e 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 bu...

Page 96: ...ype to access various number and symbol keyboards using the buttons in the lower left corner see Figure 2 2 Press Shift Upper Case Lower Case Press SYM Numbers Basic Symbols Advanced Symbols Press SYM Then Shift Swype key tap for suggestions long press for tips Return to letter keyboard Microphone key tap to dictate text Long press for Keyboard Settings Figure 2 2 Accessing numbers and symbol keyb...

Page 97: ...y 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...

Page 98: ...oard DROID Device Keyboard Trackpad to move around screen Press in or click to select Search Menu ALT key for numbers and symbols shown on the top of the keys Symbols Press ALT then press the Space key 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 Lan...

Page 99: ... 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 ...

Page 100: ... 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...

Page 101: ... side with your right thumb Larger Landscape Keyboard Type the keys on the left side with your left 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...

Page 102: ...he 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 ...

Page 103: ...r in a gray bar directly above the keyboard These suggestions appear whether you have an on screen 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 Sh...

Page 104: ...o 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...

Page 105: ...d 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 Dictio...

Page 106: ... 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 Readou...

Page 107: ...eadouts 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 h...

Page 108: ...m 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 somethin...

Page 109: ...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...

Page 110: ...k 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 ...

Page 111: ...low 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 ...

Page 112: ... 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 edi...

Page 113: ... 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 info...

Page 114: ...hed 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 yo...

Page 115: ...ve 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 multita...

Page 116: ...te 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 Sear...

Page 117: ... 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 c...

Page 118: ...o 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 ...

Page 119: ...braries 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 th...

Page 120: ...CHAPTER 2 Typing Voice Copy and Search 95 Now you have instant access to Google Search right from your Home screen ...

Page 121: ...CHAPTER 2 Typing Voice Copy and Search 96 ...

Page 122: ... 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 ...

Page 123: ...e in your real first and last name and your desired Username Tap Tap to select the text boxes 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 Select a different security question if desired Figure 3 1 Setting up a new Google account Follow ...

Page 124: ... 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 Accoun...

Page 125: ...ssor 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...

Page 126: ...ple 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 driv...

Page 127: ...unt 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 Boo...

Page 128: ... 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 f...

Page 129: ...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 ...

Page 130: ...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 documents using 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...

Page 131: ...look 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...

Page 132: ... 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 ...

Page 133: ...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 ...

Page 134: ...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 l...

Page 135: ...ay 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...

Page 136: ...ndar 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 ...

Page 137: ...casts 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 p...

Page 138: ...ntage 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 t...

Page 139: ...d 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 ...

Page 140: ...c 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 t...

Page 141: ...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...

Page 142: ...ogle 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 Option 3 Sync to DROID via the CL Hosted Servers This is like the Google sync option except that your data goes to the CompanionLink server...

Page 143: ...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 companionlink software html Andronica s Blog Review of CompanionLink USB February 16 2010 androinica com 2010 02 16 sync outlook and android with companionlink software review DejaOffice Android App cr...

Page 144: ...blishing 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 ...

Page 145: ...are 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 targe...

Page 146: ...icrosoft 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 ...

Page 147: ... 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 ...

Page 148: ...onLink 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 l...

Page 149: ...tacts 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 ...

Page 150: ...ce 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 ab...

Page 151: ...CHAPTER 4 Other Sync Methods 126 ...

Page 152: ... 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 Ba...

Page 153: ...he 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 w...

Page 154: ... 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 t...

Page 155: ...oints 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 content...

Page 156: ...mmonly 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...

Page 157: ...on Check this box to see your password as you type 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 ...

Page 158: ...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 sta...

Page 159: ...imply 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 ...

Page 160: ...porate 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 t...

Page 161: ...C 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 Exp...

Page 162: ...und 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 yo...

Page 163: ... screen a long press is used to add and remove items Figure 6 1 illustrates how to add an icon to your Home screen 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 b...

Page 164: ...p 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 adde...

Page 165: ...cific 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 i...

Page 166: ...nd 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 t...

Page 167: ...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 stand...

Page 168: ...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 ...

Page 169: ...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 ...

Page 170: ...s 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 t...

Page 171: ... 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 usin...

Page 172: ...otorola 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 foll...

Page 173: ...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...

Page 174: ...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 ...

Page 175: ... 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...

Page 176: ...ngtones 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 als...

Page 177: ...en 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 ...

Page 178: ...hown 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 Recent View placed received and missed calls Dialer Tap to dial numbers using the keypad Contacts Tap to ...

Page 179: ...gn 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 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...

Page 180: ...OR 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 m...

Page 181: ...ad 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 ...

Page 182: ...p 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...

Page 183: ... 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 ...

Page 184: ...one 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 c...

Page 185: ...y contact entry to see these options TIP Tap any contact entry listed to see their contact details Tap the green phone icon to call this person 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 Viewin...

Page 186: ... 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 s...

Page 187: ...u 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...

Page 188: ...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 ch...

Page 189: ...ft 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 DR...

Page 190: ...lecting 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 t...

Page 191: ...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 imag...

Page 192: ...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 ...

Page 193: ...r 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 ba...

Page 194: ...en 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 ...

Page 195: ... 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 in the bottom row of soft keys next to 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...

Page 196: ...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...

Page 197: ...t 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 y...

Page 198: ...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 to the right The blue dot in the left 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 ...

Page 199: ...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 ...

Page 200: ...r 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 yo...

Page 201: ...spond 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 htm...

Page 202: ... 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 m...

Page 203: ...lus 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 und...

Page 204: ... 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 mess...

Page 205: ...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 t...

Page 206: ...nection 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 de...

Page 207: ...ID 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 w...

Page 208: ...ia 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 you...

Page 209: ...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 notificatio...

Page 210: ...t 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 setting...

Page 211: ...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 ...

Page 212: ... 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 ...

Page 213: ...CHAPTER 7 Making Phone Calls 188 ...

Page 214: ...hort 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 ...

Page 215: ...ks 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 a...

Page 216: ...ce 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 ...

Page 217: ...h 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 ...

Page 218: ...d 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 cal...

Page 219: ...onnect 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 se...

Page 220: ...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 Then touch the volume controls to control the volume of your Stereo Bluetooth Device This speaker icon shows the selected device First notice the Bluetooth Audio connection Figure 8 4 Adjusting the volume of a Bluetooth device ...

Page 221: ...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 scre...

Page 222: ...ith 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 9 ...

Page 223: ...le 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 r...

Page 224: ...p 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 ba...

Page 225: ...ge 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...

Page 226: ...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 ca...

Page 227: ...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 c...

Page 228: ... 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 ...

Page 229: ...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...

Page 230: ...oining 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 Andro...

Page 231: ...ntly 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 DROI...

Page 232: ...or just use the virtual keyboards 2 Start entering an address in the To field and Google will attempt to auto complete 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 B...

Page 233: ...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 wh...

Page 234: ...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 r...

Page 235: ... see the Notification settings Tap Select ringtone to change the alert sound Silent turns ringtone notifications off Tap OK when done 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 ...

Page 236: ...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 f...

Page 237: ...e 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 show...

Page 238: ...il 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 y...

Page 239: ... 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 Exc...

Page 240: ...e email to the Email app you may need to use a Corporate Sync account Corporate Sync accounts are designed to be compliant 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 account...

Page 241: ...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 t...

Page 242: ...the message in the Email app 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...

Page 243: ...app capable of viewing the attachment 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 ...

Page 244: ...rity 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 kee...

Page 245: ...CHAPTER 9 Email on Your DROID 220 ...

Page 246: ...all A related technology is Multimedia Messaging Service MMS which lets you send a message with pictures audio or video 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...

Page 247: ...ime 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 Messa...

Page 248: ...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 Tap here to view your Contacts for DROID 2 X 5 When you find the contact you wish to use touch t...

Page 249: ...he To line When ready to type the message click here 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...

Page 250: ... contact picture for the recipient that will show up in the display as well 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 Messaging on DROID DROID 2 2 Global X At this point y...

Page 251: ...cts 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 mess...

Page 252: ...lay 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 do...

Page 253: ... 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 ...

Page 254: ...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 se...

Page 255: ...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...

Page 256: ...gh 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 ...

Page 257: ...h 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 ...

Page 258: ...will now see Messaging or Text Messaging in the list of options and other services that are installed on your DROID DROID DROID 2 2 Global X 4 Choose Messaging and the photo will load into the message just as it did previously 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 pic...

Page 259: ...ges 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...

Page 260: ...ogle 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 t...

Page 261: ...ur 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 pop...

Page 262: ...arket 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 ...

Page 263: ...CHAPTER 10 SMS MMS and Instant Messaging 238 Figure 10 6 Logging in to your AIM account using AIM or Facebook ...

Page 264: ...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...

Page 265: ...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 yo...

Page 266: ...ull down to view Notifications 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 ...

Page 267: ... 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 titl...

Page 268: ...ow 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 t...

Page 269: ... 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 t...

Page 270: ...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...

Page 271: ...ther 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 s...

Page 272: ... the bookmark name 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 at the top of the page 2 Swipe up or down to view all your bookmarks 3 T...

Page 273: ...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 ...

Page 274: ...ress 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 o...

Page 275: ...g 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 ...

Page 276: ...f 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 ...

Page 277: ...e 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...

Page 278: ...s 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 th...

Page 279: ...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 fr...

Page 280: ...ton 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 ...

Page 281: ...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 informat...

Page 282: ...y 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...

Page 283: ...ny 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 restau...

Page 284: ...ts 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 Tap here to enter First and Last name Then click Done To cancel tap here Figure 12 1 Entering a new contact name ...

Page 285: ...tacts 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 T...

Page 286: ... 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 ...

Page 287: ...te 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 y...

Page 288: ...e 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 ...

Page 289: ...bum 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 ...

Page 290: ...r 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 Fi...

Page 291: ...ntact 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 fro...

Page 292: ... 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 n...

Page 293: ... 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 ...

Page 294: ...wever 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 wit...

Page 295: ... 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 ...

Page 296: ...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 DROI...

Page 297: ...imes 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 Con...

Page 298: ...dar 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...

Page 299: ...hods 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 a...

Page 300: ...ndar 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 ...

Page 301: ...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 sched...

Page 302: ...ut 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 ...

Page 303: ...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 w...

Page 304: ...justments 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 all day event by touching the box next to All day this sets the switch to ON ...

Page 305: ... 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 ad...

Page 306: ...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 t...

Page 307: ... 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 Some...

Page 308: ...r 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 eve...

Page 309: ...en 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 meeti...

Page 310: ...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...

Page 311: ...ys 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 ...

Page 312: ...om 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 ...

Page 313: ...ones 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 ...

Page 314: ...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 ...

Page 315: ... 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 ...

Page 316: ...ing 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 ...

Page 317: ...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 ...

Page 318: ...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 a...

Page 319: ...ms 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 ...

Page 320: ...st 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 ...

Page 321: ...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 ...

Page 322: ...h 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 Type a few letters to search for matching songs artists and albums All matching items are shown here...

Page 323: ...m 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 Touch the List button to view a list of songs from this album Touch the Arrow icon to see the cover art again TIP Touch any other song to start playing it Currently playing song Figure 14 3 Touch the List button to see the...

Page 324: ...ause the song Timeline Previous Song or Back to List if first song Next Song or Back to List if last one Artist Album Song Touch here to Shuffle songs or Repeat the song 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 oth...

Page 325: ...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...

Page 326: ...ying 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 ...

Page 327: ...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 kno...

Page 328: ...um 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...

Page 329: ...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 lis...

Page 330: ...ational 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...

Page 331: ...or 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 ...

Page 332: ...n 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 certa...

Page 333: ...tart 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 se...

Page 334: ...en 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 H...

Page 335: ... 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 information At the time of publishing the annual account cost is 36 00 but that may be different by the time you read this book ...

Page 336: ...om the Android Market DROID X and DROID 2 phone ship with the Blockbuster app for renting and watching movies from Blockbuster on your phone NOTE These apps change quickly We expect that services such as Hulu plus will also make their way to the DROID We suggest that you go to the Android Market frequently and type in videos to see the changing options Your DROID as a Video Player The DROID is not...

Page 337: ...Make sure you don t violate any copyright laws in the process of doing so Video conversion software is widely available on the Web The optimal output settings for ripping videos to play on the DROID are to use MP4 with the following video audio codecs and settings Video Resolution Up to WVGA 854x480 Codec H 264 Baseline profile Bitrate 2 5 Mbps Framerate 24fps Audio Codec AAC stereo au Watching Vi...

Page 338: ...our videos broken down by any particular category such as music videos podcasts or movies Instead all your videos will simply be shown in a single continuous list On the DROID to get more information on a specific video touch and hold that video to highlight it and then press the Menu key and select More Next touch Get info to display the details of the video On the DROID 2 X tap the video thumbna...

Page 339: ... playing it Most videos take advantage of the relatively large screen real estate of the DROID to play in widescreen or landscape mode just turn your DROID sideways to watch them Most videos will play in landscape mode Turn your DROID sideways to watch them Touch to Play Figure 15 1 Playing a video When the video first starts to play there are no menus and no controls Indeed there is nothing on th...

Page 340: ...ast forward Move to a different section of the video TIP Drag your finger down to scan more slowly with this control Show full screen Tap to Rewind 5 seconds Volume indicator Play Pause Tap to Fast Forward 15 seconds Length of video Tap to show hide controls Play Pause Figure 15 2 The video controls in the Gallery media app Fast Forward or Rewind the Video On the DROID on either side of the Play P...

Page 341: ...hows you the elapsed time of the video If you know exactly or approximately which point in the video you wish to watch just hold and drag the slider to that location Some people find this to be a little more exact than holding down the Fast Forward or Rewind Buttons Other Video Players The Gallery app is a very limited video player It functions fine for basic viewing and it is built in to the DROI...

Page 342: ...een Deleting Videos Sometimes you might want to delete a video to save space on your DROID To do so touch and hold a video from the video list You will see three soft keys appear at the bottom of the screen the middle key is Delete Touch the Delete key see Figure 15 3 and confirm that you want to delete the file NOTE Deleting a video deletes the video only from your DROID a copy will still remain ...

Page 343: ...ill be in a drop down menu in the middle of the screen instead of along the bottom as shown Using YouTube on your DROID Watching YouTube videos is certainly one of the most popular things for people to do on their computers these days YouTube is as close to you as your DROID Your DROID s Home screen includes a YouTube icon touch the YouTube icon and you will be taken to the YouTube app ...

Page 344: ...he video choices as you do in other apps Using the Bottom Icons Touch the Menu key and the YouTube app will display five icons along the bottom Search Upload My account Categories and Settings Each is fairly self explanatory To see the videos that YouTube is featuring that day scroll down to the Featured list To see the list of most viewed videos scroll down to the Most Viewed icon ...

Page 345: ... can also search the huge library of YouTube videos from your DROID Touch the Search box as in previous apps and the keyboard will pop up Type in a phrase topic or even the name of a video The example to the right shows a search for the newest Made Simple Learning video tutorial with the user entering Made Simple Learning to see a list of such videos When the user finds a video she wants to watch ...

Page 346: ... sideways to watch the video see Figure 15 4 Figure 15 4 Playing a video in Landscape mode Adjusting the DROID s Video Controls Once the video begins to play the on screen controls disappear so you see only the video To stop pause or activate any other options while the video is playing just tap the screen see Figure 15 5 Tap to show hide controls Rewind Move Slider to advance the video Play Pause...

Page 347: ...n reverse tap the Rewind arrow Press the Menu key and six more soft keys appear Captions Details Rate Favorite Share and More To set a favorite touch the Favorite icon at the far left To email the video Follow these steps 1 Touch the Share icon Your email will start with the link to the video in the body of your email 2 Type the recipient s name see Chapter 9 Email on your DROID for more informati...

Page 348: ...tals for consumers Relatively recently Netflix has also added on demand video streaming This streaming can even be delivered wirelessly to computers and set top boxes for your TV At the time of writing Netflix is developing a new app for streaming movies on the DROID it should be available by late 2010 or early 2011 Hulu is a Flash based video service for watching recent TV episodes While you can ...

Page 349: ...CHAPTER 15 Viewing Videos TV Shows and More 324 ...

Page 350: ...Newspapers on the DROID Remember the days when newspapers were delivered to the house Invariably if there was one puddle in the sidewalk that was where the newspaper landed You took it out of that plastic bag shook it off and tried to make out what was in section two the section that got soaked Well those days may be gone forever You now have the opportunity to interact with the news and even get ...

Page 351: ... York Times and USA Today both have large circulations but each paper has taken a different approach to bringing you the news on the DROID NOTE You can always go and visit the dedicated web site for any news source Some are optimized for the DROID while others offer you a full web experience Some require registration or a paid subscription to view the paper s full content ...

Page 352: ...r app 3 Once you locate the desired news app download it as you would any other app 4 Once the app is downloaded tap its icon to launch it NOTE Many news apps are free Some are free to try but require you to buy them to continue receiving them Others offer limited free content but you need to subscribe to gain access to their full content See Chapter 17 The Android Market for more information The ...

Page 353: ... the Home page use the back button You can also share an article with friends using e mail Twitter Facebook text messaging or any other app designed to handle Android share requests The New York Times app comes with a handy widget Rather than launching the full app and navigating to your favorite section you can add the widget to your Home screen and display headlines from your favorite section Ta...

Page 354: ...cores Weather Pictures and Snapshots along the top of the screen Moving Through and Enjoying Content After you play for a while with all these news sites you ll begin to realize that there is no real standard for moving around This means you ll need to become familiar with each app s own way of navigating articles and returning to the main screen Here s a short guide for generally navigating these...

Page 355: ...e the article with a social networking site such as Facebook or Twitter TIP Almost all newspaper or magazine apps let you change font sizes and e mail or otherwise share an article Look for a button or icon that says Tools Options Settings or something similar In some apps the font size adjustment option shows as small A and large A icons News Widgets One of the advantages of using your phone for ...

Page 356: ...ck for them in any magazine you purchase they will give you the most up to date information TIP Make sure to check the user ratings for a magazine or other app before you purchase it Doing so may save you some money and some grief The Android Market offers some individual magazines for purchase however these magazines sometimes include limited content for free You can also check out the magazine r...

Page 357: ...lows you to browse and download content directly to your phone Navigation is similar to other magazine and e book readers The example to the right is a story by Cory Doctorow called iRobot The DROID as a PDF Reader Another way to get e books and other content to phones is through PDF files There are several apps capable of viewing PDF content including Adobe s Acrobat Reader You can find the Acrob...

Page 358: ...tent If you re just getting started there are a few things to keep in mind as you choose a reading app Proprietary formats Epub is one of the most widely accepted book formats but even it comes in DRM and non DRM varieties Check to see if the book you purchase is protected by DRM or an open offering Storage Where are your books stored Can you download a new copy if your phone crashes Can you pick ...

Page 359: ... to start reading on one device and continue reading on another device This is very handy if you ve got a dedicated e book reader iPad or laptop you sometimes carry with you Kindle Reader The Amazon Kindle app is available through the Android Market Amazon has made a Kindle app for several different mobile devices so you can use it on Android phones iPods iPhones laptops and of course Amazon s ded...

Page 360: ...r Kindle right on the Kindle app on your DROID In some books the publisher might limit this capability but we have never run into this limit Just touch the Kindle app and either sign in to your Kindle account or press the Menu button and select create a new account with a user name and password Once you sign in you will see your Kindle books on the home page You can touch either a book cover to st...

Page 361: ...m row of icons You can add a bookmark by touching the plus button Once the bookmark is set the plus turns to a minus You can go to the cover Table of Contents or beginning of the book or specify any location in the book by touching the Go To from the menu The font as well as the color of the page can be adjusted One very interesting feature is the ability to change the page to Black which is great...

Page 362: ...er Nook users for up to two weeks Shortly before this book went to press Amazon announced they were going to do the same for Kindle books Open E Readers In addition to commercial e book readers like the Kindle and Nook apps you can use open alternative readers that support common formats The disadvantage is that many of these apps are not attached to a bookstore so purchasing books is not as conve...

Page 363: ...er for whichever book you wish to open Or touch the List tab to see your books organized in a list format You can also directly go to the Kobo store to purchase books by touching the Discover or Browse buttons at the bottom However Kobo also supports and sells standard Epub and Adobe Digital Editions book formats in their store That means you may be able to read e books from public libraries and i...

Page 364: ...on Libris Lite and a paid 2 99 app The paid app offers support for more book formats including Mobipocket Epub Libris PalmDoc and plain text but it can t read any format with DRM You can use Libris to read books on your computer desktop if your computer has Java installed or on your Android but the books are not stored online like they are on some e readers so you ll still need to physically sync ...

Page 365: ...l open to the very first page which is often the title page or other front matter in the book Pages It s just text You could just see a very long column of text that scrolls but nearly every reader has kept the analogy of pages of text to make it much easier to navigate Swipe your finger sideways to flip between pages Some apps even show page curl animations as you do this Chapters You re not stuc...

Page 366: ...n to find it Customize Your Experience There s almost always a Settings menu and you can usually find this by pressing the Menu button Some readers have more choices than others but most allow you to increase or decrease font size and switch from day or night view which usually just switches from black text on a white screen to white text on a black screen In some cases you can also make the backg...

Page 367: ...CHAPTER 16 New Media Reading Newspapers Magazines and E books 342 ...

Page 368: ...o further let s introduce the concept of QR quick response codes You may have seen these square barcodes on objects or websites The QR code was patented by the Japanese company Denso Wave Rather than restrict the use of such codes with licensing fees Denso Wave chose to allow anyone to generate or use QR codes without having to pay a fee and their use has been growing as smartphone use has grown T...

Page 369: ... you ll need to use your phone to see the apps available for DROID Launch the Android Market app from your phone s application tray or desktop The initial page will look similar to the figure on the right with buttons for Apps Games and Verizon a splash banner and a list of featured apps NOTE You can also browse available apps on the Web at www androlib com www appbrain com and www androidzoom com...

Page 370: ...Use the search box to find apps quickly Navigating by Category Follow these steps to navigate the Android Market by category 1 Tap the Apps button 2 Tap a category to select it 3 You ll see three new buttons at the top Top paid Top free and Just in By default the Top paid category is selected but you can switch to free or recent apps by tapping the appropriate button NOTE Apps in the Android Marke...

Page 371: ... phone number You ll also see links to any other apps that the developer or publisher may have created If the app is deceptive or malicious the very bottom of the page gives you the option to flag it Check here to allow automatic updates in the future Tap here to Update this time only Tap here to Uninstall the app from your phone Tap here to give this app a rating The Description is written by the...

Page 372: ... spam This is similar to the way users can rate Amazon com reviews Paying for Apps The Android Market has a huge selection of free apps but there are times when it s worth it to pick up a paid app You use Google Checkout to buy your app so if you have not already signed up for a Google Checkout account you should do so Currently T Mobile is the only supported carrier for direct billing it supports...

Page 373: ... card info on a phone keyboard You can purchase apps in most foreign currencies using Google Checkout and your credit card as long as your credit card allows foreign currency transactions Google will give you an estimate of what the price is in US dollars as shown in the screen capture to the right However your credit card may charge you a fee for currency conversion or use a different exchange ra...

Page 374: ... OK button Your download will start You ll see a progress bar in the Android Market as well as a notice in your Notification bar that a download is in progress The notice will change once the download is complete There s no need to keep using the Android Market app while you re downloading The download will continue in the background Installing Apps In most cases downloading the app installs it au...

Page 375: ...eloper to allow the option in his app see Figure 17 2 Move your app to your SD card when this button is available One way to Uninstall apps Force an app to stop running This will remove the data from your app use with caution Figure 17 2 Installing an app to the SD card NOTE to get to the screen above go to Settings Applications Manage Applications and then tap on the application for which you wis...

Page 376: ...this through the Android Market Follow these steps to get a refund on a purchase 1 Go to the Android Market by pressing the store s app icon within 24 hours of a purchase 2 Press the Menu button 3 Tap Downloads 4 You ll see the name of all apps you ve recently downloaded Tap the name of the app you wish to uninstall 5 Tap the Uninstall refund button You ll see a warning window telling you that you...

Page 377: ...s for downloading it You can update everything at once by tapping Update all Tap here to update everything at once For an app that you ll unhesitatingly update you can also specify that you ll allow automatic updates on that app s About page in the Android Market as seen in Figure 17 1 Checking the Allow automatic updating box means available updates will automatically install as soon as they re a...

Page 378: ... are finished tap OK Once you ve rated an app you ll see a link to post a comment right under your rating You can only comment on apps you ve rated Installing Apps Outside the Android Market In most cases the Android Market is all you need to find apps for your phone However developers aren t required to offer their apps through the market App developers in countries that don t yet support paid ap...

Page 379: ...rces Now you can download apps that aren t in the Android Market If you know the location of an app you can navigate there through your phone s Browser app and install it You can also install apps delivered by email Android apps have the apk extension Download the APK file and then tap the message that the download is complete in your Notification bar You ll see a screen asking you if you d like t...

Page 380: ...can in the code and navigate directly to the app on the Android Market We ve also listed additional apps in Appendix A at the end of this book ShopSavvy ShopSavvy is a longtime favorite free app It debuted on the Android and really showed off the potential of the phone It uses your camera to scan in barcodes and comparison shop with both local and online items Local shopping results are sometimes ...

Page 381: ...w mylookoutmobile com You can also schedule backups for times when you know your phone will be in its charger Virus protection may not seem like a huge deal right now however it could become a more significant problem as smartphones and the Android platform in particular gain in popularity Lookout Mobile scans apps as you download them which means downloads do take slightly longer to install If yo...

Page 382: ...load a widget that gives you access to this software on your DROID You can choose whether the phone remembers your data or requires a password each time you log in This is as simple as making the appropriate choices in the app s Settings menu which you access by pressing the Menu button CAUTION If you choose to install the Mint com widget portion you re exposing your financial data to anyone withi...

Page 383: ...en the premium version isn t going to break the bank The app offers you brief video instructions on preparation a shopping list of ingredients you can check off as you purchase them and finally a checklist of cooking instructions based on the video you ve already seen Even if you re not much of a chef this app will have you cooking like a pro Try the free Taster app before moving on to other modul...

Page 384: ...re on the Web This means you can make a grocery list and have it available on your phone Or you might take a picture of something on the road and examine it from your desktop computer You might even take a quick audio note or picture in the parking garage so you can remember where you parked The app also includes a widget The Evernote app is free as is the basic Evernote service There is also a pr...

Page 385: ...oject You can refine the choices by clicking a Like or Dislike button It s a great way to find new music you didn t realize you liked it s also a great way to listen to music on your phone without having to download it Pandora offers free ad sponsored listening for 40 hours per month You can upgrade to a premium account for 36 a year the premium service features unlimited listening and no ads The ...

Page 386: ...s you see the newspaper s content in a format optimized for mobile viewing It s also easier to carry around than a full paper There s no registration required and at this point there appears to be no advertising for anything other than home delivery of The Times There is also a widget version of this app ...

Page 387: ...allows you to use a single telephone number as your point of contact even if you re not always at the same phone You can also use it for free SMS text messages and discount international calls The picture on the right is courtesy of Google and it shows how Google Voice can also give you a text transcript of your voicemail messages ...

Page 388: ...reat first start If you find yourself looking things up in Wikipedia all the time it makes sense to have an app that can do that for you This encyclopedia uses less bandwidth than your web browser so you get the results faster The app lets you swipe through pages one at a time it also includes a Back or Forward option for navigating densely linked pages ...

Page 389: ...ut Yelp has a vibrant user community and ratings for just about every location You can use this app to find a restaurant bank gas station or drugstore near you at home or on the road The app s straightforward interface and copious reviews make this a must have for anyone who travels or just likes to eat out ...

Page 390: ...using your phone to take video footage and some of the apps that will make your photography and video session shine NOTE If you re using an original DROID your camera screens and settings are going to look somewhat different from what is pictured in this chapter Understanding Your Camera Before going into the nitty gritty of shooting photos let s discuss the camera on your phone Since there is no ...

Page 391: ...r for 8x10 prints Some other smartphones have has an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a 1 3 megapixel camera on the front for video conferencing and this may be something we ll see from Verizon Wireless in future DROIDs Video resolution is lower than print resolution High definition HD video is at maximum just slightly bigger than 2 megapixels However video struggles against the amount of space ...

Page 392: ...e subject of your photo or video However that s not always practical or possible and that s where digital zoom is handy Taking a Picture A lot of this chapter is going to depend on which phone you use Not only are there differences in physical hardware but the interface is different between the DROID and DROID 2 X camera and galleries To take a picture press the physical Camera button on your phon...

Page 393: ...mode best for your images by using Scenes and even apply some Effects before shooting your picture Figure 18 2 shows some of the options available by dragging the Settings tray to the left You can also adjust focus by pressing on the desired focal point in some modes Tap the focal point of your image on the screen gently and wait You ll see brackets around the new focal point ...

Page 394: ... Tag the location where your photo is shot Figure 18 2 Photo settings Flash Modes One of the most common things you may want to control when taking photos is whether you use a flash In most cases the DROID camera will automatically detect the lighting conditions and make the right choice but there are cases like shots lit from behind where you want the flash on or museums and performances where yo...

Page 395: ...cebook or even send your photos to a retail printer Android apps can take advantage of photo sharing so your sharing choices can include all sorts of apps as shown here Your DROID ships with the ability to share with Bluetooth Email Facebook Picasa Photobucket Text Messaging and Print to Retail The Print to Retail option will search for a supported retail outlet where you can pick up your photos s...

Page 396: ... 1 Snap a photo 2 Tap the screen 3 Tap the Share icon 4 Tap Send to Retail 5 If your GPS is enabled your DROID will find a retail location near you Alternatively you can tap the Search by City or Zip Code button instead Use this when you are on vacation or sending photos to another city for someone else to pick up 6 You ll see a listing of stores the price of prints and their distance from your lo...

Page 397: ...e square to move the center of focus 7 When you ve completed your choice tap Save Quick Upload Sometimes you don t care about adding descriptions or fancy settings You just want to post pictures at the touch of a button and sort out the rest later You can set your camera to quickly upload your photos to a favorite web album such as Facebook Picasa or Photobucket through the Quick Upload feature Wh...

Page 398: ...s shown in Figure 18 3 Figure 18 3 Camera roll Drag your finger left and right to progress through the photos They re organized chronologically and you ll periodically see text indicating when the photos in your camera roll were taken such as Today Last Week or Last Month NOTE You still have all the same options for sharing editing and deleting photos as you do when you tap the review image shortl...

Page 399: ... choices for still pictures are shown in Table 18 1 NOTE On the original DROID touch the settings icon and then scroll down to Scene Mode The icons pictured here are not available on the original DROID The icons may look slightly different on your DROID 2 depending on your software version Table 18 1 Scenes Scene Icon Description This is the default setting Auto allows the camera to decide how to ...

Page 400: ...e camera will capture the pretty colors in the background and silhouette anything in the foreground Use this scene setting if you re having problems with your hands shaking when you try to take pictures Portraits are for taking pictures of people Remember to gently tap to select an area for focus In this case you ll want to focus on the face The Sport setting is for taking pictures of fast moving ...

Page 401: ...ome fantastic panoramas Rather than one continuous shot a panorama is a long skinny shot made from stitching photos together Figure 18 4 shows how this works NOTE Panorama assist is only available on the DROID 2 and DROID X Figure 18 4 Creating a panorama 1 Press the Menu button 2 Tap Picture modes 3 Tap Panorama assist 4 Select a camera direction You can go left to right right to left up to down ...

Page 402: ... picture by itself 9 Proceed to the next photo If you do not want to take the full six photos you can stop the series by tapping the square symbol on the upper right side of the screen Otherwise continue 10 When you ve taken six photos or stopped the panorama your DROID will stitch the photos together to form your panoramic image Camera Settings The Camera Settings menu lets you change advanced fe...

Page 403: ...t messages or sending videos by email you ll want to make the video even smaller Try QCIF 176x144 or QVGA 320 x 240 Those are tiny videos to watch but they take much up less storage space as an attachment to a message Quick Upload Album We ve already discussed setting up a Quick upload album Here is where you d change the location You may want to change locations prior to a trip in order to make i...

Page 404: ...ting conditions and subjects you can add effects to photos as you shoot them 1 Launch the Camera app as shown here by pressing your Camera button or tapping the Camera app icon 2 Open the Photo Capture Settings tray tab by sliding your finger on the right side of the screen 3 Tap the Effects button 4 Slide and drag your finger to the left or right to navigate through the Effects options You ll see...

Page 405: ...s Figure 18 6 Adding tags 1 From the Camera app press the Menu button 2 Tap Tags 3 Check the box next Auto Location Tag if you want the camera to automatically geotag your images Your GPS must be enabled for this to work 4 Check the box next to Custom Tags to create a custom tag 5 If you ve already created a tag it will be listed under Active Custom Tags Otherwise you should tap Select to add cust...

Page 406: ...video mode You can switch back the same way by tapping the Switch to button only the button will now show a still camera icon You ll notice a few other differences in video mode as shown in Figure 18 6 The icons along the top left still show tags and rather than showing your resolution in megapixels it will show your video resolution Rather than a shutter you ll see a red record button on the uppe...

Page 407: ...g Icon Description The Everyday setting is a good overall choice It records in stereo and is suitable for most situations Use the Concert settings for recording concerts or other loud stereo sources Narrative is used when you re voicing over the video as you film it such as film of the Grand Canyon while talking about your impressions of the area The sound picks up behind the camera The Outdoors s...

Page 408: ... on your DROID for sophisticated options 1 Launch the Camera app 2 Switch to Video mode 3 Press the Menu button 4 Tap Video Modes You ll see choices like those on the right except for the original DROID Normal video is self explanatory and this is the setting you ll use to return to your regular video settings Slow motion video captures extra frames so when you play the video back everything appea...

Page 409: ...e com t partnerships_faq In order to upload videos to YouTube you must have a YouTube account and it must be linked to a Google account However large files require a Wi Fi connection NOTE When you give public photos and videos tags and descriptions keep search in mind Use terms that you think people searching for that video would use and do not skip fields The Share button will also work for sendi...

Page 410: ...ze them into albums Each album can have privacy settings captions tags and location information geotags When using the service in a standard web browser it also has facial recognition capabilities So far this hasn t been translated into the phone version but it s only a matter of time Picasa doesn t provide unlimited storage At the time of publication it provides 1GB of free storage and anything b...

Page 411: ... see an outline around part of the photo indicating where it will be cropped to fit as your wallpaper 5 Drag your finger to expand shrink or move the cropping area 6 Click Save when you are done Using Photos for Contact Icons You can also add contact photos by browsing to the photo in the Gallery and clicking Menu More Set as and then clicking the Contact icon You ll be given the option to crop th...

Page 412: ... apply effects and choose Scenes but what if you want to do something more advanced What if you want to add an effect after you ve already taken the photo or edit out red eye Fear not there are tons of apps that allow you to edit photos directly from your phone and your DROID even ships with advanced photo editing tools which were used on the image shown here Nothing offers the same quality you d ...

Page 413: ...account you ll be prompted to create an account if you don t have one already Once your photos have been uploaded you can share and edit them from your Photoshop com account PicSay PicSay is probably the best known of several photo editing apps that allow you to make artistic and novel changes to photos before uploading them as shown here PicSay comes in a free trial version and a paid app about 4...

Page 414: ...r easier photo composition Camera Pro even offers to replace the Camera app as the default camera Google launched an experimental app for searching with pictures called Goggles Goggles is best when used to scan man made objects like DVD covers text and famous buildings Goggles analyzes any photo you take with it and attempts to identify the object and find it in search If it can t identify the obj...

Page 415: ...CHAPTER 18 Taking Photos and Videos 390 ...

Page 416: ...ing the Earth Your DROID s GPS unit attempts to find the signal from at least three of them and triangulate your position However this requires your phone to have a chip that detects GPS signals and be in an area that can detect them If you re indoors underground or around lots of tall buildings your phone might not pick up a GPS signal Your location can also be estimated using relative positions ...

Page 417: ...es Street View and Navigator You can either launch these apps individually or launch them from within Google Maps Google Maps works with your phone s GPS and if you have location sensing enabled on your DROID Google Maps will determine your location when you launch the app You can also use it to search for distant locations You can move your view of the map with your fingers and you can also use p...

Page 418: ... It s not however for directions on how to get to places There s also a handy Bookmark button next to the My Location and End point fields This lets you choose from your current location a place you point to on the map the address of one of your contacts or any location you ve starred You ll also see a series of buttons below these fields for choosing what mode of transportation you need You can c...

Page 419: ...tions for the trip back or report a problem with the directions Press the Navigate button to hear spoken directions that guide you to your destination Map Layers Google Maps for Android works by displaying information as a series of information layer overlays If you re familiar with Google Earth it works the same way These layers can be turned on and off individually Follow these steps to use this...

Page 420: ...images are usually great but sometimes the stitching process distorts the image Consequently there are times when an address appears to be in the wrong location and you ll notice patches of ground with different image quality Satellite images are also not necessarily up to date The photos for any given area could be several years old Google will often buy new images when something major happens in...

Page 421: ...main Google products have their own set of Google Labs experiments and quite often as in Gmail those features just won t work on your phone Google Maps is an exception to this general rule Follow these steps to toggle Google Labs layers on or off 1 To get to Google Labs press the Menu button while in Google Maps 2 Tap More 3 Tap Labs 4 Tap on individual layers to toggle them on or off You can enab...

Page 422: ...ur friends Set your location You can manually update your location and lie about where you are if you wish Hide your location Nobody sees your location but you can still see your friends Turn Latitude off Your friends can t see you where you are nor can you can see where they are Keep in mind that your friends are the only ones who can see any of this and settings for individuals will override glo...

Page 423: ...er or tweak them by relationship level For example you might let your spouse know your exact location and your business contacts know your city only when you travel You can also globally shut down location information by hiding or manually entering just your city name when you don t want to broadcast your location Google Place Pages Sometimes you want more information about a particular location I...

Page 424: ...p Although it s a separate app it s really just a different interface for the same Google Maps database You can use Places to browse for apps by category or search individually Once you ve landed on an item s Page Place you can get navigation directions phone the business view the location in Street View and more Figure 19 1 illustrates the power of Places Tap the Places icon to start the Places a...

Page 425: ...aving bookmarks for web pages This feature enables you to easily find locations you visit frequently or need to find quickly Follow these steps to access your list of starred items in Google Maps 1 Press Menu 2 Tap More On the original DROID tap Starred Places 3 Tap Starred items NOTE When you travel for business put a star on the convention center and your hotel before you arrive this will give y...

Page 426: ...We use it when we have an appointment at a new location to see what the building looks like before we arrive we also use it to check whether there s any parking or tricky intersections along the way Follow these steps to get to Street View 1 Go to the location details page 2 Tap the Street View button which looks like a person with a triangle on his chest Not every location has a Street View if th...

Page 427: ...you get driving directions choose the Navigate option You can select Navigate from within Google Maps or just launch the Navigation app Directions will be spoken from your DROID s speaker or Bluetooth headset when attached Just as with dedicated GPS navigation systems Navigation will attempt to compensate if you take a wrong turn or choose to take an alternate road It also has text to speech which...

Page 428: ...k In addition to Google Maps Google Navigation and Google Places your DROID also has a Google app called CarDock a tool specifically made for using your phone in the car CarDock assumes that you will mainly be using your phone as a speaker phone to dial your contacts using voice commands to find driving directions and playing music The buttons on CarDock are intentionally big so you can press them...

Page 429: ...the FM Radio app on your DROID Amazon s MP3 Player or any other app you frequently use while driving Follow these steps to add an app to CarDock 1 Press down and hold your finger on the Add App button the long press gesture 2 You will see a prompt Scroll through the list of available apps and tap the one you wish to add 3 The Add App button will be replaced by the name of the app you ve chosen Alt...

Page 430: ...ikewise if you receive an SMS message with a Google Maps address link you can use the link to launch Google Maps Making Your Own Maps You may have noticed that one of your options in Google Maps layers is My maps You re not limited to Google s layers in order to make a map You can actually create your own map as a layer to Google Maps To create your own maps you can either use Google Maps on a des...

Page 431: ...ion they were taken See Chapter 18 Photos and Video for more information The Latitude and Buzz services use some of these geo tagging features and Twitter has likewise enabled the ability to give location information However two rising stars in this field are Gowalla and Foursquare Both were created around the same time and offer very similar features App developers are also free to take advantage...

Page 432: ...r of a location is the person who has checked in most frequently in the last two months so you need to keep checking in to maintain the title However rapid checking in is disabled to prevent too many people from gaming the system Gowalla While Foursquare is a bit of a competitive game Gowalla is more of a personal exploration and virtual geocaching tool You can earn pins similar to the badges in F...

Page 433: ...ith Maps 408 check in This makes it ideal for walking tours and pub crawls but not so great for check ins within a building or anyplace where the GPS will not work well In the next chapter we ll explore social media in more detail ...

Page 434: ...business for you or your company so think twice about what you post and exercise some common sense People have been fired for casual posts they ve made on their blog Facebook Twitter and other social media websites In this chapter we ll explore some of the social media tools available for Android as well as how you can make efficient use of your social time both on and off the clock Motorola Widge...

Page 435: ...more choices The Social Status widget expands to allow you to make status updates to your Twitter and Facebook accounts The Social Networking widget expands to let you read comment Like Retweet and otherwise interact with your social networks see Figure 20 2 Reply to Event Invitations in Facebook from the Social Networking widget Retweet and Favorite Twitter posts Comment and Like Facebook posts T...

Page 436: ... all of those tools have made their way to Android and Twitter features are built into your Social Networking and Social Status widgets as well as many other apps including those shown on the right You might wonder why you would use Twitter The short messages are great for pointing out items of interest letting your friends know what you re feeling or critiquing a conference as it happens Twitter ...

Page 437: ... more authority in his tweets Many of Twitter s conventions are ad hoc creations designed to work around some of Twitter s shortcomings Twitter is an unthreaded conversation stream You can make a post in a stream as a reply to someone else but your response remains in your Twitter feed not the other person s In order to indicate replies people began using the username convention For example replie...

Page 438: ...ompany announced it was going out of the URL shortening business and that it was ceasing all forwards at the end of 2010 Some URLs are also nicer than others when it comes to forwarding your links in a way that search engines can easily crawl TwitPic TwitPic was created by Noah Everett to solve the problem of photo sharing on Twitter It s a separate service but interconnected You must register for...

Page 439: ...eatures not available in the official app It may be helpful to make a list of priority features before deciding on an app Most apps also come with lite and premium options so you can try before you buy Some factors in your decision may include the following Support for multiple accounts URL shortening Link metrics Speed The ability to upload and link pictures or video The ability to create and tra...

Page 440: ...se this feature to precompose press releases or turn 3 00 a m deep thoughts into mid afternoon topics of conversation Using the feature is as simple as pressing the Calendar icon when composing a message and choosing when to send it Twidroyd and Touiteur pronounced Twitter are a pair of popular apps that feature both free and paid versions Twidroyd was formerly known as Twidroid but its publisher ...

Page 441: ...ords You can also search for nearby tweets to see what s trending in your local community Seesmic is a full featured free app that supports multiple accounts and is also available for desktop computers Twitter s official app is easy to use and supports all the official Twitter features such as lists trends and mentions Lists are shown to the right The official Twitter app also comes with a nice wi...

Page 442: ... creates a Twitter like atmosphere that is only accessible to people with the same email domain Yammer also adds threaded conversations to the tweets and organizational charts so it has value beyond a simple Twitter imitation Recently it has added the ability to create communities across multiple email domains so it s possible to have a partnership community with vendors and customers or a group o...

Page 443: ...p The free ttTumblr app shown to the right offers a lot of features in conjunction with a simple user interface Plurk is another microblogging alternative to Twitter and Facebook It organizes posts on a timeline and assigns karma for participation Like Tumblr it allows easier multimedia embedding and it has built in privacy settings to make it useful for both small and large groups Posts are organ...

Page 444: ... showing the most popular links of the moment as a method of crowd sourced news Users can digg or bury items to see what stories float to the top Similar services include Reddit and Slashdot Sites like these can attract huge crowds of visitors to a business s site so it makes good business sense for blogs that can handle high levels of traffic to leverage social bookmarking sites to entice people ...

Page 445: ... 000 friend limit on personal accounts If you anticipate reaching that limit between clients fans and good friends then you need a fan page Even if you don t anticipate an overwhelming deluge of clients and business contacts friending you it may still be disturbing to manage personal and work acquaintances in the same social space Creating Fan Pages You set up fan pages through the Ads and Pages a...

Page 446: ...the URL allows you to cross post to an impressive number of social media sites at once We ll cover cross posting in more detail at the end of this chapter LinkedIn LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals It s designed primarily as a place to hang your resume cross network with business partners give and receive recommendations and offer status updates about your latest accomplishmen...

Page 447: ...any businesses use blogs to keep customers informed about their products issue press releases or just put a human face on their company Freelancers often keep blogs as a way to promote themselves In some cases the blog itself has become the business with advertising and market tie ins generating enough revenue for the blogger to quit his day job Blogs are generally intended to be public and visibl...

Page 448: ...ion because it is the most popular blogging platform in the world It can be used for content management that goes beyond blogging however blogs remain the core functionality that drives the popularity of WordPress WordPress is open source and free It can be templated and modified to run on corporate sites and it can power personal blogs as well There are a large variety of plug ins and extensions ...

Page 449: ... app to share free apps from phone to phone Buzz Google has been trying to compete in the social media arena but so far it hasn t made much progress One of its latest endeavors is its Google Buzz Buzz service This service is part of Gmail but it behaves like a separate service Google has been heavily promoting Buzz so it may end up becoming more popular as a social and self promotional tool Buzz a...

Page 450: ...ortunately you can take advantage of cross posting tools that let you focus on the tool or format that is easiest and or most rewarding for you The Motorola widget Social Status does exactly this Follow these steps to use the Social Status widget 1 Tap the Social Status widget to enter a new status 2 Tap the selection box to choose a service for updates 3 Your choices are Facebook MySpace Twitter ...

Page 451: ...werful cross posting service Ping fm as mentioned earlier is a free service that can cross post to Facebook fan pages Ping fm can also cross post to an impressive variety of social networks blogs and microblogs From within Ping fm you can also make groups of media to post to for instance you could have a press release group that goes to your business Twitter account Facebook fan page WordPress blo...

Page 452: ...p allows you to add a site s feed to your Google Reader account Google Reader is a robust feed reader that lets you organize feeds by category share likes mark favorites and leave comments It also keeps track of the last item you read Unfortunately official Google Reader support is currently only handled through the mobile web interface which is shown to the right The Google Reader app is capable ...

Page 453: ...rom your DROID Calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world are free A nice thing about Skype is that it works on computers and many mobile devices including iPhones other Android phones BlackBerry smartphones and other mobile devices You will be charged for calls to mobile phones and landlines but the rates are reasonable Your DROID ships with Skype already installed You don t need to downloa...

Page 454: ...section later in this chapter then follow these steps to set up Skype on your DROID 1 Tap the Skype icon from your Home screen 2 Tap the Create Account button 3 Tap Accept if you accept the No Emergency Calls pop up warning window 4 Enter your Full Name and Email 5 Enter your Skype Name and Password 6 Choose whether to receive Skype news and offers 7 Tap the Create Account button to create your ac...

Page 455: ...corner 4 Check the box labeled Sign in to Skype automatically You should not have to enter this log in information again it is saved in Skype The next time you tap Skype it will automatically log you in Finding and Adding Skype Contacts Once you log into the Skype app you will want to start communicating with people To do so you will have to find them and add them to your Skype contacts list 1 If ...

Page 456: ...e 7 Tap Add Contact 8 Adjust the invitation message appropriately 9 Tap the Send button to send this person an invitation to become one of your Skype contacts 10 Repeat the procedure to add more contacts 11 When you are done tap the Contacts soft key at the bottom 12 Tap All Contacts from the Groups screen to see all new contacts you have added 13 Once this person accepts you as a contact you will...

Page 457: ...d added your contacts Now you are ready to finally make that first call with Skype on your DROID Follow these steps to do so 1 If you are not already in Skype tap the Skype icon from your Home screen and log in if asked 2 Tap the Contacts soft key at the top 3 Tap the contact name you wish to call see Figure 20 3 4 Tap the Call button 5 You may see a Skype option and a Mobile or other phone option...

Page 458: ...You can call toll free numbers for free using Skype Out on your DROID The following notice comes from the Skype website at www skype com The following countries and number ranges are supported and are free of charge to all users We re working on the rest of the world France 33 800 33 805 33 809 Poland 48 800 UK 44 500 44 800 44 808 USA 1 800 1 866 1 877 1 888 Taiwan 886 80 ...

Page 459: ... to the Skype website For this reason we recommend using a web browser on your phone or computer to purchase these credits TIP You may want to start with a limited amount of Skype Credits to try out the service before you sign up for a subscription plan Subscription plans are the way to go if you plan on using Skype a lot for non Skype callers e g regular landlines and mobile phones Follow these s...

Page 460: ... to do so 1 If you are not already in Skype tap the Skype icon from your Home screen and log in if asked 2 Tap the Contacts soft key at the top 3 Tap the name of the contact you wish to chat with see Figure 20 4 4 Tap Send IM 5 Type your chat text and press the Send button Your chat will appear at the top of the screen Tap the contact you wish to chat Tap Send IM Type your message Figure 20 4 Chat...

Page 461: ... are presented with the option of buying Skype Credits however this is not required for the free Skype to Skype phone calls video calls or chats TIP You only need to pay for Skype if you want to call someone who is not using Skype For example calls to phones on landlines or mobile phones not using the Skype app will cost you At publishing time pay as you go rates were about US 2 1 cents monthly su...

Page 462: ...ay to transfer your documents between your computer and your DROID using handy and free software called DropBox This app allows you to drag and drop files to a folder on your computer Next those files are copied or synchronized to your web based DropBox account Finally after installing the DropBox app you can access those same files on your DROID Finally so many people use Microsoft Office that we...

Page 463: ...ressing it and dragging it Notes Based Apps on Your DROID We will cover two of the many notes based apps that you can use on your DROID The AK Notepad app is more of a standard easy to use notepad app Evernote is a more of a full featured note taking app that includes the ability to attach multimedia items to your notes including pictures files and voice notes AK Notepad App To use the AK Notepad ...

Page 464: ...rn to the list of notes If you are not satisfied with the pre assigned title of a note like the Groceries list example in the previous screen shot you can tap the note to open it Press the Menu button and select Edit title Adjust the title and tap OK Now you see the newly adjusted title in the list of notes To view a list of only those notes that contain certain labels or tags press the Menu butto...

Page 465: ... and usually a ringtone You can change the way AK Notepad alerts you in the app by pressing Menu button Settings Notification settings The alert will pop up in the very top status bar Drag your finger down from the top of the DROID screen to see all the reminders Now you can tap the Groceries list to view your list as you go through the store TIP Keeping Track of What You Buy As you walk through t...

Page 466: ...board on the DROID Step 1 Go to Catch com and setup a new free account You could also do this from the AK Notepad settings screen if you wish You will probably receive a confirmation email from Catch com to verify it was you who signed up for the free account You need to click the link in the email to verify your status Step 2 Open up AK Notepad on your DROID press the Menu button and select Setti...

Page 467: ...cludes the ability to add multimedia notes For example you can add voice pictures videos and even geotags elements that indicate the GPS location to all your notes With Evernote you can even find text inside images For example if you take a picture of a receipt with the word Starbucks on it Evernote can find that receipt later by the recognizing the text of the word Starbucks in the image The othe...

Page 468: ... Create account to set up your free account or enter your Username and Password and tap Sign in Adding and Tagging Notes After logging in you see the main screen Evernote s main screen gives you various options for adding tagging and viewing your notes New note add a new note which can include attachments of pictures audio video or files Snapshot take a picture with your DROID camera All Notes vie...

Page 469: ...arch for notes containing this text Keep in mind that the search engine will usually be able to locate images that contain text that match your search as well Adding Tagging and Organizing Notes Follow these steps to add a new note 1 Tap the New note icon from the main screen 2 Give your note a unique title and type any text in the textbox below the title for your note 3 To assign this note to a s...

Page 470: ...pe a new tag and click the plus sign in the upper right corner to add It to the list Tap the X next to any tag to remove it 6 Or you may press the Tag icon in the upper left corner to select from tags you have already created 7 You may select as few or as many tags as you would like to assign to this note tap the OK button at the bottom ...

Page 471: ...e find words in the image of the document Attach Pictures Audio Video or Files to Notes Sometimes you will want to upload a file with a note Tap the Attach paperclip icon from the note detail view screen to select a picture or other file from your DROID to upload and attach to a note To locate pictures you have taken on your DROID tap the dcim folder and then tap the Camera folder Select Pictures ...

Page 472: ...een by selecting Create shortcut from the menu Viewing or Updating Evernote on Your Computer As we mentioned earlier all your notes get synced to the Evernote website wirelessly and automatically You can then log in to your Evernote com account from your PC Mac iPad iPod touch iPhone or BlackBerry to check out or update your notes see Figure 21 2 This is a great feature if you have multiple device...

Page 473: ...ke another disk drive letter on your computer This means you can drag and drop files between the SD card and your computer Follow these steps to do so 1 Connect your DROID to your computer using the USB cable 2 Drag your finger down from the top to see your status messages 3 Look in the Ongoing section for USB connection and tap it 4 Select USB Mass Storage and tap OK NOTE If you are in USB Mass S...

Page 474: ... on both your computer PC or Mac and your DROID At the time of publishing Dropbox was a free application and service for up to 2 GB gigabytes of storage If you want more storage space you will have to pay a monthly fee 50 GB of storage costs 9 99 per month and 100 GB of storage costs 19 99 per month TIP You can also use Dropbox as a backup service for your important files If your DROID or computer...

Page 475: ...tart the Dropbox installation You will be prompted to create your Drobpox account Enter your information and click Next 10 Select your Dropbox folder size on the next screen The current rates are as follows 2G Free 50 GB 9 99 month 100 GB 19 99 month 11 Next you will see some tour screens explaining how Dropbox works where to set up your Dropbox folder on your computer and how to quickly access th...

Page 476: ...y viewing the online video tutorials for the app at www dropbox com tour Installing Dropbox on Your DROID Once you have set up Dropbox on your computer you re ready to repeat the process on your DROID Follow these steps to do so 1 Install the Dropbox app from the Android Market and tap the Dropbox icon to start it 2 You need an account to get going so choose one of these options I m already a Drop...

Page 477: ...you would like to use to open the file In the image to the right we tapped a pdf file so we were asked which application to use If you always want to use the same app then tap the Checkbox icon at the bottom next to the text that says Use by default for this action Moving Files From Your Computer to Your DROID Once the software is set up on your computer and your DROID you can drag and drop or cop...

Page 478: ... That same file appears in the Dropbox app on your DROID in minutes Figure 21 3 Copy files into your Dropbox folder on your computer and they appear in the Dropbox folder on your DROID Moving Files from Your DROID Follow these steps to move files from your DROID to your computer and Dropbox account 1 Tap the Drobox icon to start it 2 Press the Menu button and select Upload ...

Page 479: ...rking With Microsoft Office Documents Microsoft Office documents are ubiquitous and it s helpful to be able to view them on your DROID Fortunately you can open and view Microsoft Office documents on your DROID with the free version of Documents to Go If you want to create and edit documents then you have to use Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite which may already be loaded on your DROID or the full ...

Page 480: ...ive Finding Product Reviews You will find product reviews both on the Web and in individual user reviews on the Android Market site Do a web search to find the latest reviews and comments to facilitate your research we ve gathered links to a few reviews at major sites Review of Quickoffice with some comparison to Documents to Go ZDnet 6 9 2010 www zdnet com blog cell phones quickoffice brings clou...

Page 481: ...rn more about working with email in Chapter 9 Email on Your DROID Follow these steps to transfer documents between your computer and DROID via email 1 When you receive email attachments they will be listed at the bottom of the message Tap the Preview button to open the attachment 2 You may be asked to select a particular app to open this attachment type 3 Tap the app you wish to use to open and vi...

Page 482: ... can select between the various Quickoffice apps and QuickPDF as well as browse for files on your DROID Tap Update to check for updates to the software Tap Support to load the User Guide bring up Frequently Asked Questions or Submit a Support Ticket to the software publisher about an issue you are having Tap Explore to follow Quickoffice on social networks view the Quickoffice blog read news relea...

Page 483: ... steps 1 Select text by double tapping it and then tap the screen above or below the selected text to expand the selection 2 Press the Menu button and select Format TIP To show the keyboard select Keyboard from the menu 3 From this screen you can set the font style bold italic underline or strikethrough font face font size font color and highlight color Tap OK when done ...

Page 484: ...lideshow More Properties document properties Updates check for app updates About and Help Quickpdf menu commands Open Reading View reflows the text on the page so it is more easy to read and does not require scrolling left and right Go To Page Bookmarks view bookmarks in the file Find search for text More Rotate rotate the page left or right Updates check for app updates Properties document proper...

Page 485: ...files You can buy the full version of the app from the Android Market Documents To Go consists of three main programs Word To Go for Word documents SlideShow To Go for PowerPoint documents and Sheet To Go for Excel documents Tap the Documents to Go icon to start it From the main screen you can tap any of the following options Recent Files View recently opened files Starred Files View files you hav...

Page 486: ...py and paste or otherwise reformat it Follow these steps to do so 1 Long press to bring up the Edit pop up window Try to position your finger exactly where you want to start selecting text because it does not allow you to change the starting point of your selection It works best to zoom in as much as possible first to make the words larger 2 Tap Selection Mode 3 Drag your finger across the screen ...

Page 487: ...te and Undo View Zoom Find Go Table of Contents Comments Footnotes and Endnotes Format Bold Italic Underline Font Paragraph Bullets Numbering Hyperlink Bookmark Increase Indent and Decrease Indent Insert Page Break Bookmark Hyperlink Table and Comment Tapping More brings up the following menus and options Preferences Format for new files Word 97 2004 or Word 07 2008 Name Initial options for Track ...

Page 488: ...s an option if you have it installed You may see other applications you have installed as options as well Select the method you would like to use to send your file Slideshow To Go Tips The Slideshow To Go app lets you edit PowerPoint documents The next section looks at ways to get the most out of this app For example once you get the hang of using the Menu button you can use the long press to brin...

Page 489: ...Word To Go Tips section To insert a new bullet item press the Menu button and select Insert New Bullet Item From this Insert menu you can also Insert Slide insert a new blank slide or insert a Duplicate Slide NOTE At the time of publishing you could not use Slideshow To Go to edit text inside a slide s objects This holds true for callout boxes or any other kinds of graphics It is good to know that...

Page 490: ... Press the Menu button and select View to move to other Worksheets or Go to jump to the beginning Home or End of the current spreadsheet or to a specific cell Selecting and Editing a Cell Here are a couple tips for selecting and editing a cell Tap the cell to select it and then tap your finger in the edit box at the top of the screen Now you can edit the cell text Be sure to start all formulas wit...

Page 491: ...unmovable by pressing the Menu button selecting View then choosing Freeze Panes Repeat this procedure to Unfreeze Panes Switching Worksheets To move between worksheets in a spreadsheet workbook press the Menu button select View and then Worksheets Inserting Various Elements You can insert a function AutoSum sheet row or column by pressing the Menu button and selecting Insert At this point you can ...

Page 492: ...on tap More and then tap Row or Column to see a menu similar to the one shown to the right From this menu you can accomplish the following tasks select a row or column adjust a row width or column height autofit for columns or hide or unhide a row or column Many of the Menu commands are similar to what we described in this chapter s Word To Go Tips section including Send as Email Save and Save As ...

Page 493: ...CHAPTER 21 Working With Notes and Documents 468 ...

Page 494: ... lots of other fun stuff such as following your local football team You can even use the DROID as a musical instrument with great apps like xPiano which we will show you later in the chapter NOTE There is enough fun stuff to do with the DROID that we routinely discover that the DROID has disappeared from its charger and we have to yell out Where is my DROID I need to finish this book Using the DRO...

Page 495: ...vice You can touch the DROID to brake or tilt it forward to accelerate The game on the right Raging Thunder is so fun and fast that it might make you car sick Tap to brake Raging Thunder Tilt to steer Or you can try a fishing game where you feel like you are fishing from a real boat In the Fishing 2 Go app shown here you flick your DROID to cast the line then rotate your finger on the screen to re...

Page 496: ...onsole games such as Guitar Hero and many others have been ported to the DROID On some games such as the new Guitar Hero you really have to strum to keep pace and score points The DROID also has a very fast processor and a sophisticated graphics chip Bundling these together with the accelerometer gives you a very capable gaming device ...

Page 497: ...ugh doubleTwist See Chapter 25 DROID Media Sync on your computer or through the device s built in Android Market app Tap to view Top paid Top free or Just in Tap Back button to see All games Arcade and Action Brain and puzzle Cards and Casino and Casual Tap to learn more preview and buy Touch and drag to scroll down or up Figure 22 1 The layout of the Android Market s Games section ...

Page 498: ... Featured section of the Android Market Figure 22 2 shows the App Purchase page for a game available for the DROID Touch Games Touch to visit Developer Web Site or get Support Touch to read Comments Scroll down to view screen shots of the game Touch the Free or Price button to Purchase Touch to Buy or Install Figure 22 2 The layout of the App Purchase page ...

Page 499: ...ame developers are giving users free trials of their games to see if they like them before they buy You will find many games have both a lite version and a full version in the Android Market Some free games are supported by the inclusion of ads within the game Other games are free to start but require in app purchases for continued play or additional features Being Careful When You Play You might ...

Page 500: ...other board games such as chess or checkers Online and Wireless Games The DROID also allows online and wireless peer to peer gaming if the game supports it Many new games are incorporating this technology In Raging Thunder for example you can play against multiple players on their own devices The example to the right shows the screen presented when a user chooses the Multi Player option from the R...

Page 501: ...d on your DROID and play music There are a number of music related games available check out the Arcade subcategory of the Games category in the Android Market to see what s available One of the apps that was in the Top 5 of the Free DROID apps category when we were writing this book was xPiano which turns your DROID into an on screen piano Download the app and just have fun with it If you have ch...

Page 502: ... of the first apps you see Touch the app and then choose Install on the next screen In the NFL Mobile app you press the Menu key to see the main menu of options When you first register the app you pick your favorite team The favorite team on the DROID in this example is set to the Patriots Touch the My Team tab to go to your team s page So if this team is playing then the view automatically goes t...

Page 503: ...days NFL headlines You can also watch video highlights by touching the Videos tab Touch the Live tab from the menu to watch TV broadcasts of live games If no game is currently on and an upcoming game is going to be televised that will be indicated at the bottom of the Live screen ...

Page 504: ...alculator Finally we will show you not only how to configure the built in Weather app but also how to download other free weather apps you might want to add to your DROID We will also show you how to add a Weather and Clock widget to your Home screen for easy viewing Your DROID can replace your wristwatch and even your alarm clock You can use it to set multiple alarms even a different alarm for ev...

Page 505: ...ROID Your DROID comes with a built in clock that also provides various alarm options Touch the Clock icon to start it On the DROID touch the Clock icon to see the screen shown to the right You will immediately see the current time and date Beneath this date and time information you will see a snapshot of the local weather On the DROID you will also see four soft keys at the bottom of the screen Al...

Page 506: ...ends You can even set an additional alarm to wake you up from your Tuesday and Sunday afternoon naps at 3 pm To get started tap the Alarm icon in the lower row of soft keys of the clock on the DROID This will display any alarms you have set If there are no alarms set tap the Add alarm tab at the top to add a new one You can adjust the time of the alarm by using the plus and minus keys above and be...

Page 507: ...ter it rings If the alarm does repeat then adjust the repeating function of the alarm by touching the Repeat tab Touch the days of the week you would like the new alarm to be active TIP You may touch as many or as few days as you want You can adjust the sound the alarm makes by touching the Ringtone tab and then choosing an alarm sound from the list For silent alarms set the sound to Silent at the...

Page 508: ... 10 minutes position NOTE The pre set Snooze duration is 10 minutes however you can adjust that value to anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes You can rename your alarm by touching the Label tab The keyboard will launch and you can type in a new name for that particular alarm Be sure to give your alarm a name that is easy to recognize Give your alarm a name that is easy to recognize ...

Page 509: ... is completely powered off However if your DROID is in Sleep mode see Chapter 1 Getting Started then your alarms will ring just fine Using the Alarm for DROID 2 X On the DROID 2 X you get to the Alarm using the Alarm Timer icon Settings are very similar to the DROID Alarm with some minor variations Here is how to add a new alarm on the DROID 2 X 1 Tap Alarm Timer 2 Tap the Alarm tab at the top to ...

Page 510: ...Choose which days of the week for this alarm to be active In this case we just wanted week days Volume Check this box to have the sound increase in volume for the alarm unless you silence it Using the Timer for DROID 2 X On the DROID 2 X the Timer app provides a count down timer that can prove handy in a number of situations For example you might use it in lieu of a kitchen timer to remind you to ...

Page 511: ... need to stop the timer before it goes off otherwise it will go off with a ringing sound and vibration when the countdown expires NOTE You can continue to use the phone for other tasks without stopping the timer The Calculator App Another handy app included on your DROID is the Calculator app The DROID s Calculator app can handle almost anything a typical family will throw its way performing both ...

Page 512: ...ic calculator All functions are activated by simply touching the corresponding key to perform the desired action If you need more advanced functions simply press the Menu key and then touch Advanced panel soft key Viewing the Advanced Panel Once your Calculator app is in Advanced mode turn the DROID sideways to enter Landscape mode horizontal This gives you a bit more room to work with your calcul...

Page 513: ... location to check the weather forecast Getting Started with the Weather App You start the Weather app by tapping the News and Weather icon By default the DROID will use your GPS location to find the closest city or town If the DROID is not able to do that you will need to add your location manually NOTE By default GPS is not turned on at first boot on the DROID 2 and DROID X devices Thus the News...

Page 514: ...page Drag finger across to see hourly temperature Touch here see detailed daily weather information Figure 23 1 The current and hourly views of the weather from the built in Weather app Adding a Weather Widget One of the great things about the software on your DROID is that it is highly customizable One way to customize it is to add widgets to your Home screen A widget is essentially a live updati...

Page 515: ...where on the screen until the Add to Home screen menu appears 3 Choose Widgets or Android Widgets from the menu 4 Choose News and Weather to make a widget for the News and Weather app 5 On the DROID 2 X you will then be asked to configure the widget to show Weather News or News and Weather NOTE You can also choose an analog style clock doing so will display such a clock as a widget on your Home sc...

Page 516: ...nd Weather category In the Weather category touch Top Free at the top and then search for apps You can learn more about downloading apps in Chapter 17 Exploring the Android Market The Weather Channel The Weather Channel is one of the preeminent weather authorities today The Weather Channel website can be accessed right from the DROID s Weather app Just touch the small Weather Channel icon on your ...

Page 517: ...ining local weather we recommend allowing AccuWeather to do this The home page of the app shows you the current temperature and conditions along with a graphic of what the sky should look like where you are There are soft keys to show different views The upper level of soft keys at the top of the screen shows buttons for Current Hourly and 15 Day forecasts There is also a soft key for Map Video In...

Page 518: ...n the Advanced Troubleshooting section We will also cover some other odds and ends related to your DROID and give you a list of resources where you can find more help for your DROID Basic Troubleshooting We will begin by covering a few basic tips and tricks to get your DROID back up and running What to Do If the DROID Stops Responding Sometimes your DROID won t respond to your touch because it fre...

Page 519: ...ld recharge your DROID right away 5 Try performing a battery pull Begin by removing the battery and replacing it Power off the phone as described previously if possible and then open the battery cover door and remove the battery Wait a few seconds and replace the battery and door Next power on the phone and see whether everything is working again If these steps don t work or if your DROID seems to...

Page 520: ...ently running 5 Locate the app that is causing you trouble 6 Tap the Force stop button in the top left portion of the screen to force the app to stop running TIP You might want to tap the Clear cache button to reset the memory for this app and then try restarting it Resolving Memory Problems We all love to install cool new apps on our DROID However at some point the love must come to an end when w...

Page 521: ...en you may simply need to put your SD card into Charge Only mode or disconnect your DROID from your computer see Chapter 25 DROID Media Sync for more information Once you have moved an app to your SD Card you can move it back to your phone by tapping the Move to phone button you find this button located in the same space TIP If you do need to free up some space on your SD card try moving some of y...

Page 522: ...the same steps you used to set this option Follow the steps shown in the Force an App to Stop section and tap the Clear defaults button in the Launch by default section to deselect an app as the default app for opening a given file type Resolving Issues With Placing a Phone Call Syncing With Google or Browsing the Web There are several reasons you might not be able to place a call sync with Google...

Page 523: ... this problem If you try to place a call when in Airplane mode you will see the message shown to the right Tap Yes to turn off Airplane mode and make your call When you are trying to browse the web the message is not quite as straightforward as the one shown to the right To quickly turn off Airplane mode follow these steps 1 Press and hold the Power Lock button on the top of your DROID 2 Tap the A...

Page 524: ... volume by using the Volume Up key in the upper right edge of your DROID You might have accidentally lowered the volume all the way or muted it 2 If you are using wired headphones from the headphone jack unplug your headphones and then put them back in Sometimes the headset jack isn t connected well 3 If you are using wireless Bluetooth headphones or a Bluetooth car stereo setup then try these ste...

Page 525: ...e Follow these steps to resolve these issues 1 Both stores require an active Internet connection Make sure you have an active Wi Fi or 3G connection For assistance check out Chapter 5 Wi Fi and 3G Connectivity 2 Verify that you have an active Google Checkout account We show you how to set up your Android Market account in Chapter 17 Exploring the Android Market similarly we show you how to set up ...

Page 526: ...you will need to set up your phone as you did when you first got it out of the box see Chapter 1 Getting Started Increasing Your Text Message Limit Sometimes you may find you receive an error message while you are texting that says you have reached your message limit The default is usually 200 messages per conversation You can increase or decrease this limit inside the Text Messaging app by follow...

Page 527: ...icult to resolve The DROID 2 DROID X related web blogs and forums are good places to locate answers and even ask questions about unique issues you might be facing The Motorola DROID Support Pages To get to the Motorola DROID support pages follow these steps 1 On your DROID or computer s web browser go to www motorola com 2 Click SUPPORT in the top right corner of the main navigation bar 3 Click An...

Page 528: ...husiasts ask a technical question or keep up with the latest and greatest rumors The blogs are a great place to do that Here are a few popular DROID DROID DROID 2 DROID X etc blogs www androidcentral com www droid life com www theandroidblog com www droidx net www droidblog net www technocrati com www droid forum com www engadget com droid TIP Before you post a new question on any of these blogs p...

Page 529: ...CHAPTER 24 Troubleshooting 504 ...

Page 530: ...sic library playlists videos and pictures from your computer to your DROID We cover two simple solutions including doubleTwist and using Mass Storage mode to transfer media and documents between your computer PC or Mac and your DROID Soon you will be able to fill your DROID will all sorts of media With doubleTwist you can also browse the Android Market search for and subscribe to podcasts and purc...

Page 531: ......

Page 532: ...eeping The media transfer and sync options we cover are listed in Table 25 1 this table also lists when you might want to choose each option Table 25 1 Media and Sync Options for Your DROID Solution When to Use Compatibility Price Drag and drop elements using your USB cable connection To quickly transfer one or more files between your computer and your DROID PC and Mac Free Use doubleTwist an iTun...

Page 533: ... also sync media to your DROID Where to Enjoy Your Media on Your DROID You can view play or listen to media on your DROID in a few different programs As you have seen we have chapters devoted to each type of media supported on the DROID in this book see Table 25 2 Table 25 2 Playing Media on Your DROID App Type of Media Chapter Songs and Podcasts Chapter 14 Enjoying Your Music Pictures and Videos ...

Page 534: ...e disk see image to the right This mode is required to use doubleTwist and it allows you to copy files back and forth between your computer and your DROID If you try to access any files from your DROID stored on the media card while in this mode you will receive the following error The SD card cannot be found You need to change to a Charge Only mode to see files from your DROID Windows Media Sync ...

Page 535: ...ode you wish to select To sync media tap the USB Mass Storage mode and tap OK To access your SD media card and charge your DROID from the USB connection select Charge Only Dragging and Dropping Files Once you have connected your DROID to your computer in Mass Storage mode you are ready to drag and drop files between your computer and your DROID SD card Follow these steps to do so Step 1 Open your ...

Page 536: ...os taken with the DROID camera Dcim Camera Ringtones for the phone Media Audio Ringtones Notifications e g alarms Media Audio Notifications Music Music Files from Documents to Go Documents Once you have the source and destination folders open you can drag and drop files between the folders to transfer the files For example to copy a Microsoft Office document from your computer to the SD card on th...

Page 537: ...to your DROID In addition to the DROID doubleTwist is available for many other smartphones and devices Also doubleTwist like iTunes lets you purchase apps from the Android Market subscribe to podcasts and buy music from the Amazon MP3 store just as you can on your DROID According to its official website www doubletwist com doubleTwist was founded on the following philosophy To be a unifying media ...

Page 538: ...t for your computer 2 Download the install file and follow the directions for setup 3 On a Mac simply drag the doubleTwist icon to your applications folder On a PC double click the installation file in your Downloads directory if it did not start automatically 4 You will be prompted to create a doubleTwist account unless you have one already Enter your username email and password for a one time se...

Page 539: ... the doubleTwist icon on your desktop or locating the program in your Start menu You ll want to get familiar with what doubleTwist offers In the top of doubleTwist s left column click the Android Market Podcast Search and Music Store options to see what they look like If you are familiar with the iTunes app you will already know how to use these features see Figure 25 2 Figure 25 2 Accessing the A...

Page 540: ...sts or Import WMP Playlists Windows Media Player to import your playlists 3 You will then see a warning message that any changes made in doubleTwist to the same playlists will be lost and replaced with the current playlists from iTunes or WMP Click Import to continue 4 When the process is complete you will see all your playlists in the left column under PLAYLISTS Click any playlist to see its cont...

Page 541: ...del instead of DROID DROID 2 or DROID X TIP Troubleshooting USB Connection Problems If you do not see your DROID in doubleTwist then try using another USB port on your computer Also double check that you are in Mass Storage mode and not some other USB connection mode Syncing Music and Podcast Subscriptions Automatically After you have successfully connected your DROID and it is visible in doubleTw...

Page 542: ... Sync If you have a large amount of music or podcasts you will want to fine tune the sync process by clicking the appropriate tabs at the top of the window Follow these steps to use doubleTwist to fine tune how your DROID syncs various types of media 1 Begin by syncing your music Click the Music tab to selectively sync only certain playlists 2 Click Only the selected 3 Place checkmarks only next t...

Page 543: ...w it s time to sync your subscriptions Click the Subscriptions tab to selectively sync only certain podcasts 6 Click Only the selected 7 Check off only the podcasts you want to sync to your DROID 8 You can also check Only sync at the bottom and select from only a few recent shows or only episodes you haven t yet played 9 Once you are done with your fine tuning click the Sync button in the lower ri...

Page 544: ...synced to your DROID see Figure 25 4 Drop it on your device here 2 Click and drag any item from your library Song Podcast Playlist etc 1 Figure 25 4 Dragging and dropping media e g music playlists and podcasts with doubleTwist My Music App Won t Play My Music Occasionally you will see the following error after you sync or drag and drop music files onto your DROID Sorry the player does not support ...

Page 545: ... Podcast Search in the upper portion of the left column in doubleTwist 2 Type in a word or a few words to help you find your podcast in the main Search window and click Search In the example to the right we searched for the word marketplace You can play the most recent episode of a podcast by clicking the Play latest episode button To subscribe to a podcast click the podcast title e ...

Page 546: ...ify the process of locating and acquiring apps from the Android Market Follow these steps to do so 1 Click Android Market in the upper portion of doubleTwist s left column see Figure 25 5 2 Click any app or perform a search to locate the app you wish to purchase or download 3 Click the Barcode button also known as the QR code to enlarge it on the screen 4 Use the Barcode scanner app on your DROID ...

Page 547: ... from the doubleTwist app Follow these steps to do so 1 Click the Music Store link in the top portion of doubleTwist s left column to see the Amazon MP3 music store 2 Enter a search term or click any album you see 3 Click the Buy button to purchase and download the desired song or album see Figure 25 6 4 You will need to sign into your Amazon com account to complete the purchase 5 The song or albu...

Page 548: ...CHAPTER 25 DROID Media Sync 523 Figure 25 6 Finding and purchasing music in the Amazon MP3 store from doubleTwist ...

Page 549: ...CHAPTER 25 DROID Media Sync 524 ...

Page 550: ...eful apps Document Tools If you work in an office you may need to deal with documents At the time of publication there are no solutions to reading Microsoft OneNote on Android That may come in the future but for now we recommend using Evernote instead Of the document management software we tested DataViz s Docs to Go and QuickOffice Mobile Suite from QuickOffice were the most stable and offered th...

Page 551: ...e documents on your DROID For some PowerPoint editing it has better capabilities than Docs to Go OfficeSuite Viewer by Mobile Systems Free trial 1 99 The free trial is for 30 days The app supports Word Excel PowerPoint and PDF files This app had a high failure rate in our testing when trying to open files ThinkFree Office Mobile by ThinkFree Mobile Free 9 99 The free version is just a viewer The p...

Page 552: ...in order to print to non Wi Fi printers The free trial lets you print a test page to verify that it will work As Android gains popularity you can expect to see more printing solutions however at the time of publication it s a lonely field Table A 2 shows PrinterShare the only app in this category Table A 2 Printing Apps App Name Price Notes QR Code PrinterShare Droid Print by Mobile Dynamix Free t...

Page 553: ...re many strong free choices We like to combine File Explorer with Dropbox which allows us to share and sync files through the Internet and access them from any computer or mobile device Table A 3 lists the available file management options TIP To learn more about Dropbox check out Chapter 21 To learn about which folders store all your pictures videos and ringtones check out Chapter 25 DROID Media ...

Page 554: ...urity Viruses may seem like a remote worry however as mobile devices become more popular the bad guys will figure out better ways to distribute them However losing your phone and or having it stolen are big potential problems right now especially if you store sensitive data on your phone It may be a job requirement that you be able to wipe business data from your phone if it is stolen Your DROID a...

Page 555: ...a password manager based on the open source KeePass project You can combine this with Dropbox to make a cloud based password safe WaveSecure by WaveSecure 19 per year WaveSecure offers theft protection with remote location remote lock and remote wiping of the data on the SD card Norton Security Beta by NortonMobile Free trial This is a beta release with an unknown pricing model for the full releas...

Page 556: ...also means you can pair them with portable projectors that take standard TV connections use the MightyMeeting app and leave the PC behind Table A 5 shows some presentation options Table A 5 Presentation Software App Name Price Notes QR Code MightyMeeting by MightyMeeting Free This app enables you to give PowerPoint and Keynote presentations from your DROID It can be used to either lead or attend l...

Page 557: ...e of the DROID models covered in this book have a front facing video camera so they can t be used for video conferencing However Web conferencing from your phone is starting to emerge as a real possibility WebEx and GoToMeeting don t have official apps at the time of publication but that may change as their competitors eliminate the need for a PC As mentioned earlier MightyMeeting offers the abili...

Page 558: ... a meeting your phone will automatically switch to Vibrate mode Notetaking and Mind Mapping You may not want to take traditional notes during a meeting from your phone unless you re a very fast thumb typist However you may want to access notes you ve taken earlier or leave yourself quick sticky notes Some apps are also tied into to do lists You may prefer mind mapping to traditional notetaking And...

Page 559: ... about 1 55 This notetaking app uses an old fashioned book font for a more formal feel but it also has some nice features The full version lets you import email and provides password protection Mind Map Memo by Takahicorp Free 180 about 2 08 This is a simple mind mapping app The paid version provides a few additional features like extra node options Thinking Space by Charlie Chilton Free Thinking ...

Page 560: ...ement apps Table A 8 Email Management Software App Name Price Notes QR Code Exchange by TouchDown by NitroDesk Free trial 19 95 TouchDown supports security policies and ActiveSync You can also specify times to turn off push notifications TouchDown also comes with a variety of widgets It does not merge your Gmail and Exchange calendars or tasks After the trial expires you can still use some but not...

Page 561: ...e a dedicated app Google didn t write it but gTasks ToDo syncs with Google and combines Android level app power with an intuitive user interface If you use the Pure Calendar widget you can display gTasks To Do items as part of the widget Table A 9 shows gTasks ToDo and other to do apps Table A 9 To Do List Software App Name Price Notes QR Code gTasks ToDo for Android by SSI Free Provides online an...

Page 562: ...expenses is a necessary evil We were very happy to learn about web based services like Expensify and Mint com see the figure to the right These services handle most of the data entry process for you letting you just see the results For personal finances Mint is our favorite You must have a Mint com account to use the app It makes it easy to keep track of your accounts portfolio and budget It can a...

Page 563: ... based service for creating expense reports that don t suck Most transactions come directly from your credit card as you charge them but this app is used for entering cash transactions and taking photos of other receipts that are not automatically entered More information is available at www expensify com Personal Assistant by Pageonce Free 7 00 Personal Assistant combines bank and credit card man...

Page 564: ...rowse nearby locations by category Our favorite travel app aside from the preinstalled Google Maps is TripIt It allows you to see your itinerary and share it with close contacts while providing general information to professional contacts or the public in general TripIt can also be tied in with LinkedIn and Facebook Table A 11 shows TripIt and some other travel app options Table A 11 Travel Apps A...

Page 565: ...slate service Not only does this app translate text to and from more than 50 languages but it also has an audio pronunciation guide Health and Medicine Health care professionals were among the first to see the immediate usefulness of mobile technology and app writers haven t ignored this Epocrates has a long tradition of offering its reference materials on PDAs and other mobile devices and pharmac...

Page 566: ...scape Medical Resources by Skyscape Free This is a general medical reference that includes prescription and over the counter medicine Medical Spanish Audio Lite by Mavro Free 6 99 This is an app for non Spanish speaking care providers enabling them to communicate with Spanish speaking patients The paid version removes the ads Medical Mnemonics by Regular Rate and Rhythm Software 1 99 So you re not...

Page 567: ...urs and target dates Legal students may also consider apps like Locale that automatically turn the phone s ringer off at certain locations such as the courthouse See Table A 13 for a list of law and legal apps Table A 13 Law and Legal Apps App Name Price Notes QR Code DroidLaw by BigTwit Software Free varies DroidLaw is a legal reference app The base app is free but you can expand it through paid ...

Page 568: ...eal estate agents can benefit from many generalized apps such as to do lists galleries email apps and notetaking apps There are also a number of apps using the MLS database both for professionals and consumers Zillow for example is a Google Maps based app that makes estimates of house values and shows current listings If you click a property listing it will show a picture of the property and detai...

Page 569: ...rs evaluate A or 30 year mortgages points balloon payments and other mortgage options RE Max University by Mediafly Free This app was written specifically for RE Max agents and it includes corporate communications and training videos Real Estate Vocabulary Quiz by Upward Mobility 2 99 Studying for a real estate broker exam This app offers vocabulary quizzes The company also offers many state speci...

Page 570: ...ut to see what works best for you See Table A 15 for a list of sales and CRM apps Table A 15 Sales and CRM Apps App Name Price Notes QR Code Locale by two forty four a m 9 99 Locale sets your phone s ring behavior based on the time who is calling what is on your schedule and the phone s location Set it to stop ringing during sales meetings or prioritize some calls over others Many other apps also ...

Page 571: ...er relies on FaceCash to show merchants an ID that prominently showcases a picture of her face and transfers the funds from an account with FaceCash rather than a credit card A user can choose to tie her bank account to the payment service or rely on transfers from other customers such as her parents You can think of this service as PayPal with an easier ID system However FaceCash isn t useful if ...

Page 572: ...yment It shows the merchant a picture of the true phone owner s face for security verification and no paper or plastic needs to change hands Both the purchaser and retailer must have FaceCash accounts Finance Android lends itself to personal finance and portfolio management software One example is Google s own Google Finance app This app allows you to track general stock direction portfolios and f...

Page 573: ...istant combines investment portfolio and personal bill management with flight itineraries cell phone minutes and the ability to monitor your Netflix queue pFinance by BiShiNews Free This app is a personal finance manager that also tracks portfolios and financial news What makes this app so nice are the simple calculators in the Finance column For example the app includes things like a tip calculat...

Page 574: ...dd both location and contact resources as well as attach files from your phone s SD card Mobile Project Manager does have an overly exuberant Help screen that tries to pop up every time you enter a file however you can uncheck the box to display the Help screen at all times removing this annoyance See Table A 18 for a list of project management apps Table A 18 Project Management Apps App Name Pric...

Page 575: ...nering with Sprint to offer a free native app for Sprint customers Schools that wish to support other phone networks pay an additional licensing fee Currently most Android apps aimed at students focus on E Books flash cards grammar and study guides There are some true gems among these apps Google Sky Map shows a view of the stars that changes as you change the angle you hold your phone at as if yo...

Page 576: ...lackboard s learning management software with the mobile plug in It allows students to participate in distance learning courses from their phone Formulas Lite Formula Droid by Abhishek Kumar Free 1 50 about 1 95 This is a scientific calculator and formula reference guide for students it includes things like periodic tables and a web reference The paid version removes ads Social Media Social media ...

Page 577: ...ree The official Facebook app is different from the Motorola Widget on the DROID X and DROID 2 phones WordPress by Automattic Free If you have a WordPress blog whether on WordPress com or on your own server this app will let you post to it provided that your blog is WordPress 2 7 or higher and has the correct server settings enabled Google Buzz by Google Free The simple GoogleBuzz widget allows yo...

Page 578: ...ten for the convenience of IT professionals such as the difficult to read but very useful ConnectBot which enables SSH Secure Shell connections from your phone Table A 21 lists a few apps that don t require special phone hacks to work Table A 21 IT Apps App Name Price Notes QR Code Zendesk for Android by Zendesk Free This app is for existing Zendesk customers It allows you to remotely track and ma...

Page 579: ...Finally we ll review a small handful of apps that are worth mentioning even if they don t quite fit into one of the broader categories It may logically belong in the education app category but the Kindle app likely won t replace textbooks until Amazon adds better audio navigation for the user interface However for the mobile professional E Books are starting to come of age Amazon chose an E Book f...

Page 580: ... from your phone The app keeps track of your downloads and reading progress between devices so you can start a book on your kindle and finish reading on your Android phone Firehouse Scheduler by Leaky Nozzle 5 99 This app is an emergency responder s scheduler It s designed to track shifts vacation time paydays sick time and traded shifts Leaky Nozzle also has a variation specific to the New York F...

Page 581: ...APPENDIX DRIOD App Guide 556 ...

Page 582: ... 135 Add account button 56 213 Add alarm button 481 Add App button 404 406 Add as a Contact option 271 Add Bookmark icon 241 Add call button 168 169 Add Contact button 431 Add contact option 267 Add friend option 235 397 Add note line AK Notepad app 438 Add Pause option 154 Add Photo icon 263 Add POP3 email account option 204 Add reminder tab 280 Add shortcut to home option 140 254 Add Subject opt...

Page 583: ...laying songs and albums 290 291 Amazon MP3 icon 187 Amazon MP3 store search of in doubleTwist 522 Amazon search window 187 AndExplorer app 528 AndFTP app 554 Android Comic Reader app 332 Android icon 267 Android Market 343 364 apps in downloading 349 installing 349 purchasing 347 348 rating 353 uninstalling 351 updating 352 353 browsing 344 347 home page 327 installing apps from outside 353 355 pu...

Page 584: ...ote on computers 447 for Facebook 421 file management 528 529 finance 537 538 547 548 finding and installing 438 games 472 473 health 540 541 information 26 IT 553 554 legal 542 543 moving apps to SD cards 496 notetaking 533 534 presentation software 531 532 printing 527 productivity 28 project management 549 550 real estate 543 544 retail 546 547 sales 545 546 security 529 530 Sheet To Go 465 467...

Page 585: ...acking up Outlook data 107 Backspace key 75 79 86 89 154 Barcode button doubleTwist app 521 Barcode scanner app 521 522 Basic mode Calculator app 479 Battery icon 52 battery life charging options 54 extending 50 51 fastest draining of 49 and Power Control widget 50 using Battery Manager 52 54 Battery Manager 52 54 494 Battery mode 53 BATTERY REMOVAL HERE tab 44 Blackboard Mobile app 551 Blåtand Ha...

Page 586: ...8 C Calculator app 486 487 Calculator icon 487 Calendar app 273 286 accessing 273 274 creating appointments 278 282 one time 278 279 recurring events 280 reminders for 280 editing appointments 282 285 accepting meeting invitations 284 285 deleting event 284 editing recurring events 283 moving to different calendar 284 settings for 285 286 syncing 282 views in 274 277 Calendar button 284 Calendar d...

Page 587: ...aults button 497 Clear form data option 248 Clear History option 248 256 Clear list option 163 Clear location access option 248 Clear passwords option 248 255 Clear Search History option 323 Clear user dictionary option 81 Clock app alarm clock 481 484 Timer app 485 486 Close button 70 cloud computing and Google Account 100 102 colon key 242 ColorNote Notepad Notes app 533 Column option Documents ...

Page 588: ...box 202 Create Account button 429 Create account option Evernote app 443 Create new contact option 163 267 Create New Document option 457 Create Station button Pandora 308 CRM customer relationship management 409 545 cross posting to social media sites 425 426 Crowley Dennis 407 cursor moving on screen 76 78 Custom battery saver setting 53 Custom date time option AK Notepad app 440 Custom option 4...

Page 589: ...opbox on computers 449 451 installing Dropbox on DROID 451 454 Evernote app 442 447 adding and tagging notes 443 adding audio or voice notes 446 adding pictures or snapshots 446 adding text notes 444 adding text to emailing deleting or editing notes 447 getting started with 443 upload and attach files to notes 446 viewing and finding notes 444 viewing or updating Evernote on computers 447 finding ...

Page 590: ...p 464 E e books 333 339 Aldiko app 339 Kindle app 334 336 Kobo app 338 Libris app 339 navigating apps for 340 341 Nook app 337 Earth app Google 550 Edit bookmark button 249 Edit button 282 406 Edit option 186 387 462 Edit pop up window Documents To Go app 461 Edit screen 282 284 Edit Slide Text option Documents To Go app 464 Edit speed dial option 159 Edit Text option 459 Edit title option AK Note...

Page 591: ...20 FaceCash app 546 547 Factory Data Reset procedure 500 501 fan pages for Facebook 420 Fast Forward option 315 316 322 Favorite icon 320 322 Favorites in Phone 165 166 adding 165 calling 166 Favorites screen 166 Favorites view 165 Featured section Android Market app 473 feed readers aggregating content with 427 File Explorer app 528 file management apps 528 529 File Manager app 529 File option 46...

Page 592: ...te option 211 Labels in 201 202 211 multiple accounts in 212 214 deleting 214 switching between 213 notifications for 209 210 overview 198 Priority Inbox 201 replying to email 207 208 searching in 208 sending email 207 208 settings for 203 206 accounts 204 205 forwarding and POP IMAP 205 general 204 Labs 206 offline 206 Themes for 206 signatures in 209 web version from phone 206 Gmail icon 56 Gmai...

Page 593: ...n 151 160 164 166 169 179 Green phone key 155 170 173 Green Robot tool 206 Groups screen 431 gTasks ToDo app 536 537 Guitar Hero app 471 H HAC Mode Settings option 181 hands free calling 156 157 Hands free mode 180 hard plastic cases 62 hashtags for Twitter 413 headsets Bluetooth 193 health apps 540 541 help for Swype 70 Help option 462 Help screen 70 Hide declined events check box 286 Hide your l...

Page 594: ...0 adjusting settings 309 310 creating new stations in 308 getting started 305 306 main screen 306 307 menu 308 Thumbs up or Thumbs down 307 Invitees tab 280 IPConfig app 554 ISO Equivalent Sensitivity setting Camera Settings menu 378 379 IT information technology apps 553 554 J Join Latitude option 397 Join link 436 Just in button 345 K KeePassDroid app 530 keyboard See also typing layouts for Mul...

Page 595: ...rd plastic metal 62 leather 62 rubber silicone 62 screen protectors 63 waterproof 62 where to buy 61 making calls with Skype app 432 433 man in the middle attack 130 Manage applications option 351 495 Manage labels option 202 Manage Networks option 130 Map button 271 Map icon 162 492 maps See Google Maps location based social media and games Market app 25 32 113 116 118 124 176 187 Mass Storage mo...

Page 596: ...9 Mobile Queue app Netflix 24 Mobile Wi Fi Hot Spot and phone plans 64 65 Month button 275 277 Month view 275 277 monthly subscriptions for Skype 434 Moodle app 550 More actions button 203 More button 262 More Layers button 394 More option 249 250 252 255 462 467 More soft key 322 Mortgage Calculator app 544 Mortgage Pro app 544 Most Viewed icon 319 Motorola Android Support page 502 Motorola DROID...

Page 597: ... Editor app 405 My maps layer 406 My review section 353 My Team tab 477 N Navigate button 394 navigating Slideshow To Go app 465 Navigation app 402 405 Need For Speed app 25 Netflix Mobile Queue app 24 Netflix using on DROID 323 network connections 127 136 3G and 4G 128 129 Bluetooth 131 creating hotspot 131 133 GPS 131 status symbols for 127 128 troubleshooting 133 135 airplane mode 135 managing ...

Page 598: ...Office documents 454 467 moving documents to and from DROID 456 product reviews 455 Quickoffice 457 460 editing text in 459 formatting text in 458 getting around in 459 zooming in 460 OfficeSuite Viewer app 526 Ongoing section 13 448 510 online games 475 476 Only sync option doubleTwist app 518 Only the selected option doubleTwist app 517 518 Open browser button doubleTwist app 521 Open in backgro...

Page 599: ...161 clearing list 163 contact icon in 162 placing call from 160 question mark icon in 163 sending text message from 161 viewing contact details from 160 returning to call from app 157 ringtones for 181 186 assigning to contacts 186 copying custom ringtones 183 185 purchasing from Amazon MP3 187 purchasing from Android Market 187 selecting for calls 183 selecting for text messages 185 using own mus...

Page 600: ...9 300 315 playing music 299 303 adjusting volume 300 moving around in songs 301 moving to other parts of songs 301 Now Playing icon 303 pausing and playing 300 Previous or Next songs 300 repeating songs 301 302 shuffling playlists 302 shuffling songs 301 viewing other songs on albums 303 Playlist view 296 playlists importing with doubleTwist 515 shuffling 302 Playlists soft key 292 PlinkArt app 55...

Page 601: ...460 Recent list 90 91 158 161 163 Recent screen 160 Recent soft key 159 Recent view in Phone 159 163 adding number to contacts from 161 assigning speed dial from 161 clearing list 163 contact icon in 162 placing call from 160 question mark icon in 163 sending text message from 161 viewing contact details from 160 Recent window 157 Recently added tab 295 Record icon Evernote app 446 recurring event...

Page 602: ... timeout setting 51 scrolling 18 SD cards moving apps to 496 Search box 93 Search button 4 6 16 42 43 91 165 167 341 393 Search by City or Zip Code button 371 Search icon 319 438 Search nearby option 271 Search option 444 Search screen 7 Search Skype Directory button 431 Search tab 294 Search window Amazon 187 doubleTwist app 520 Market app 187 search window Amazon MP3 App 288 searching See also G...

Page 603: ...icon 115 SFTP Secure FTP 554 Share button 234 370 372 384 386 Share icon 322 Share option 233 308 Share Page option 250 419 Share this place option 271 399 sharing documents 447 449 location with Google Maps 397 398 photos 370 371 Sharkey Jeffrey 554 Sheet To Go app 465 467 adding Functions 466 adjusting row and column sizes 467 freezing panes 466 inserting various elements 466 selecting and editi...

Page 604: ...ot option Evernote app 443 snapshots adding to Evernote app 446 Snooze feature 483 social bookmarking 419 social media aggregating content with readers 427 apps for in general 551 552 blogging 422 423 Bump app 424 cross posting to 425 426 Facebook 419 421 apps for 421 fan pages for 420 Google Buzz 424 425 LinkedIn 421 422 Motorola widgets for 409 411 social bookmarking 419 Twitter 411 418 apps for...

Page 605: ...Sync button doubleTwist app 518 Sync Contacts option 268 Sync icon 282 sync options in doubleTwist 517 518 Sync to DROID via Google option CompanionLink 117 Sync to DROID via the CL Hosted Servers option CompanionLink 117 Sync with Android Calendar App check box 124 Sync with existing contacts option 268 Sync with the Android Contacts App check box 124 Synchronization menu 211 Synchronize button C...

Page 606: ...down icon Pandora 307 Thumbs down option 307 thumbs typing with 75 76 Thumbs up icon Pandora 307 Thumbs up option 307 time 45 47 Time field 279 time slider bar 316 Time Tracker app 550 Timeline slider bar 299 Timer app 485 486 Timer mode 486 Timer tab 486 tips overview 34 for Swype 72 Tips widget 142 148 to do lists 536 537 To tab 207 223 270 279 283 Tobin Jim 412 Today button 275 277 Today view 2...

Page 607: ...6 using spell checker 80 81 adding words to dictionary 80 clearing out dictionary 81 editing or deleting words from dictionary 81 U underscore key 242 Unfreeze Panes option Documents To Go app 466 Uninstall refund button 351 Uninstall button 351 496 uninstalling apps in Android Market 351 Universal Inbox for email 215 217 Unknown sources check box 354 unlocking phone sliding to 42 screen 60 Unsubs...

Page 608: ...81 383 Effects setting 382 383 Scenes setting 382 383 using flash 383 troubleshooting sound 499 500 using YouTube on DROID 318 323 adjusting video controls 321 322 clearing history 323 playing videos 321 searching for videos 319 using bottom icons 319 320 using Netflix and Hulu 323 Videos folder 313 Videos option 231 Videos section 313 Videos tab 478 View bar 159 View more applications option 116 ...

Page 609: ...tion 488 Weather widget 146 Web Access Outlook 215 web browsing See Browser app web conferencing apps 532 533 Web option 92 Week button 275 276 Week view 275 276 What box 278 When display is off setting 58 60 When phone connects launch option 49 Where box 278 Wi Fi 129 130 See also network connections cycling connections 499 security for 130 131 Wi Fi mode 476 Wi Fi option 15 499 Wi Fi settings op...

Page 610: ...tom icons 319 320 using Netflix and Hulu 323 Z Zendesk for Android app 553 Zillow app 543 Zillow Real Estate app 544 Zoom buttons Documents To Go app 464 465 web pages in Browser app 245 Zoom Mode feature 67 81 83 Zoom Mode option 83 zoom on camera 367 zooming in Quickoffice 460 web pages in Browser app 245 246 double tapping 245 pinching 245 246 using Zoom buttons 245 Word To Go app 461 ...

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Page 618: ...th our Made Simple guide books and our video tutorials Made Simple Learning is now offering some free DROID tips and tricks via email We have selected 10 tips from our new book to help you get more out of your DROID Learning in small chunks is the best way to absorb new information and the email tips give you exactly that We also offer free email tips for BlackBerry iPhone iPod touch iPad and webO...

Page 619: ...ot intuitive Lou Easy to follow I learned a lot Nicky Short sweet Definitely recommend Sandy Just what I needed concise and relevant Dan S OurBlackBerryusershavegainedan hour a day in productivity and we ve reduced help desk calls by 50 with the Made Simple Learning videos 3 000 Users Fortune 500 Company I would definitely recommend these videos to anyone in a BES administrator or BlackBerry techn...

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