Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 3 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Your Phone in the Android Universe 5 Chapter 1: Why Android? What''s the Deal? 7 A Little Android History 8 The Many Flavors (Versions) of Android 9 Reasons That People Choose Android 10 Why You Need a Google Account 11 Accessing apps and settings 12 Bequeathing your account 12 So Many Choices! 14 Tech support options 15 5G? LTE? 4G? VoLTE? Whaaat? 16 A Word about Privacy and Security 17 Free usually isn''t 17 The terms of service can be tricky 17 Marsha''s sage advice about privacy 18 Chapter 2: Buying Your Android Smartphone and Accessories 21 Investigate First -- Then Make a Buying Decision 22 Looking at a phone''s physical features 22 Reviewing before making a decision 26 Considering an older model 27 Choosing where to buy your phone 28 Consider Your Carrier Choice 29 Checking out the carrier''s coverage area 30 Finding senior discounts on carrier service 31 You Need a Few Accessories, Too 32 Power charging blocks -- volts and watts matter 32 MicroSD card 33 Phone case 34 Phone Sanitizer 35 Chapter 3: Activating and Connecting Your Phone 37 Unbox Your New Phone 38 Insert a SIM Card 40 Turn On Your Phone for the First Time 41 Connecting to a network 42 Setting up a Google account 42 Setting up a secure lock 44 Restoring data from an older phone 44 Learn Android Smartphone Symbols and Gestures 45 Recognizing common Android icons 45 Meeting the top status bar 47 Exploiting screen navigation and gestures 48 Part 2: Getting Started with Your Android Smartphone 51 Chapter 4: Safety First: Making Your New Phone Private 53 Set Up a Screen Lock 54 Checking out the screen locking options 54 Following the lock screen setup process 56 Establish Data Backup 58 Place Owner Information On the Lock Screen 59 Add Emergency Info 62 Designating Emergency or ICE contacts 62 Providing medical information 63 Chapter 5: Personalizing Your Handset 67 Hardware Buttons and What They Do 68 Power buttons 70 Volume buttons 73 Find and Sort Your Apps 75 Move App Shortcuts to the Home Screen 77 Group Apps into Folders 78 Deal with Preinstalled Applications (or Bloatware) 81 Get the News (and Other Media) You Can Use 82 Customize the Home Screen with Widgets 84 Chapter 6: Android Typing Tricks with Google''s Gboard 87 Make the Keyboard Decision 88 Selecting a keyboard to use 88 Noting keyboard features 89 Exploring keyboards you have (or can have) 93 Check Out Keyboard Contenders 94 Gboard, the official Google keyboard 95 Samsung Keyboard 97 Microsoft SwiftKey keyboard 99 Speak Words with Voice Typing 99 Spell-Check as You Type 100 Extended Keyboard and Special Characters 101 Learn the Emoji Language 102 Delete, Copy, and Paste Text 104 Print Messages, Documents, and Web Pages 105 Chapter 7: Handling Notifications and Google Assistant 109 Meet the Android Notifications Window Shade 110 Recognizing notification types and settings 110 Disabling notifications (or not) 111 Controlling notifications via settings 114 Having fun with notifications, or not 115 Taming Google Discover news feed 117 Manage Your Phone with the Window Shade Quick Settings 119 The first-up Quick Settings 120 The full cast of Quick Settings 121 Get the 411 from Google Assistant 122 Knowing what you can do with Google Assistant 123 Installing or deactivating Google Assistant 124 Part 3: Let''s Start Communicating 127 Chapter 8: Chatting via Voice or Video 129 Make a Voice Call 130 Making international calls from your phone 131 Calling internationally with no contract 132 Check Voicemail 133 Get Voicemail Transcriptions 135 Reply to an Incoming Call by Sending a Text 138 Set a New Ringtone 141 Using a built-in ringtone 141 Downloading a custom ringtone 141 Activating a downloaded ringtone 144 Spend Face Time with Family and Friends 146 Google Duo 146 Google Meet 148 Chapter 9: Keeping Track of Friends and Appointments 149 Establish Your Phone''s Contacts 150 Starting out right with Google Contacts 151 Importing old address books 151 Save Contacts from Email 154 Add a Contact in Other Ways 156 Importing contacts from texts 157 Adding a contact from the call log 158 Type In a Full Contact in the Contacts App 158 Merge Duplicate Contacts 161 Customize, Delete, and Update Contacts 162 Energize Your Calendar App 164 Add Calendar Events from Gmail 166 Chapter 10: Texting with Poise and Character 167 Compare Types of Text Messaging 168 Turning on RCS chat features 170 Using third-party chat apps 172 Dress Up Texts in Google Messages 173 The Text Message Bar and Emoji 176 Find Even More Texting Options 177 Share Photos and Videos in Texts 179 Voice-Type (Dictate) 180 Manipulate the Text in Your Message 181 Schedule a Text Message for Later Delivery 183 Act on Text Messages You Receive 184 Share and Print Documents, Email Messages, and Web Pages 185 Printing from Gmail 186 Printing from a web page 186 Chapter 11: Managing Email with the Gmail App 189 Discover Gmail Features 190 Revealing the Gmail app''s main menu 190 Tending to mailbox organization 191 Scoping out the main mailbox 192 Send a Gmail Email 193 Adding an email signature 196 Creating a Vacation Responder email 196 Perform Basic Gmail tasks 198 A table of common email tasks 199 Printing an email from Gmail 200 Link to Other Apps and Gmail Settings 201 Chapter 12: Choosing and Using a Smartphone Camera 203 Examine Smartphone Cameras and Brands 204 Paying the right amount of attention to reviews 204 Phones with camera brand collaborations 205 Take a Camera-Spec Safari 205 Enough megapixel, but not too much 206 Home in on subjects with zoom 207 Exercise Your Android Camera''s Capabilities 209 Just point-and-shoot either stills or video 210 Add interest with your camera''s tools 210 Expand your reach with Google Lens 212 Access camera features on the scrolling menu 214 Go Pro with Pro Mode 215 Discovering the Pro settings 216 Applying the Pro settings 217 Edit Your Photos 218 Finding editing options 219 Applying the photo editor''s tools 220 Playing with filters, colors, and more 222 Part 4: Exploring Android Apps 225 Chapter 13: Preinstalled Tools You Want to Use 227 Take a Shortcut to Features with Android Quick Settings 228 Customizing the Quick Settings 228 Meeting popular Quick Settings 231 Quick Settings That Offer Valuable Options 234 Opting for Dark mode 234 Maximizing eye comfort 235 Avoiding interruptions 236 Sharing with "close" friends 239 Phone-Resident Android Apps 240 Recording your voice 240 Taking a screen shot 242 Staying on task with Google Calendar 244 Frequenting the Google Play Store 245 Chapter 14: Google Mobile Services Apps for Android 247 Find Popular Google Apps 248 Google Photos 249 Storing and retrieving 250 Syncing and deleting 251 Sharing 251 Searching 252 Google Maps 255 Finding your way to an appointment 255 Employing the Directions screen options 256 Find My Device 258 Take Note(s) with Google Keep 260 Chapter 15: Apps You Might Like in Google Play Store 261 Establish App Privacy Permissions 262 Connect to Radio (Yes, Radio), Podcasts, and Music 264 Configuring your speakers'' volume 264 Making a wired connection 265 Using a Bluetooth connection 266 Find Favorite and Fun Apps -- a Consensus 267 Radio, podcasts, and music 268 Video apps 269 Travel 270 Games 270 News 273 Books 274 Engage Social Media 275 Try Out the Android Accessibility Suite 276 Part 5: Android Today and Tomorrow 279 Chapter 16: Marsha''s MUST-DO Things for Your Phone 281 Make the Orientation Decision 282 Configure Do Not Disturb 283 Use Your Home Wi-Fi for Calls and Browsing 284 Practice Safety When Using Public Connections 285 Use a VPN to secure public Wi-Fi connections 285 Beware of charging a phone from a public port 287 Secure Your Power Cables 289 Set Up Emergency Call and SOS 289 Establishing SOS messaging 290 Activating Emergency mode 291 Managing Emergency mode 294 Manage Home Screen App Shortcuts 295 Make Folders of Apps 299 Chapter 17: Android 12 and Beyond: The OS Evolution 301 Find Helpful New Features in And.