Getting organised and comfortable with your tablet Nothing is compulsory; simply do things that interest you

ANDROID TABLETS Contents What is Android? ...............................................................................................................
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ANDROID TABLETS Contents What is Android? ............................................................................................................................ 2 Getting organised and comfortable with your tablet ........................................................................ 2 Apps ............................................................................................................................................... 4 Email ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Web Access ............................................................................................................................ 4 Facebook ................................................................................................................................ 4 Twitter ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Amazon Kindle Reader............................................................................................................ 5 Skype ...................................................................................................................................... 5 Adobe Reader ......................................................................................................................... 5 Google Drive App .................................................................................................................... 5 Daily Mail Online and News Apps ............................................................................................ 5 BBC Weather .......................................................................................................................... 6 YouTube App .......................................................................................................................... 6 Google Play Movies and TV .................................................................................................... 6 VLC App- Media Player App .................................................................................................... 6 Android as Sat NaV ................................................................................................................. 6 Google Maps ........................................................................................................................... 6 PDFs .............................................................................................................................................. 7 ebooks ........................................................................................................................................... 9 eCard Greetings for Free .............................................................................................................. 10 DIY greetings cards ...................................................................................................................... 12 Photographs on your tablet........................................................................................................... 14

What is Android? There are essentially three types of tablets:   

Apple’s iPad, which runs on its own operating system called iOS Microsoft’s Windows tablets which are good for anyone who needs full integration with a Microsoft-based office environment. Android tablets by different makers which run on Google’s Android OS for mobile devices. Android is a Linux based open source operating system, which is popular on mobile phones, and touch screen tablet PCs.

Android Tablets

Android Tablets come in various sizes, but the commonly sold machines have 7, 8 and 10 inch screens. They use a touch screen as the main interface, rather than a mouse and keyboard.

Getting organised and comfortable with your tablet Nothing is compulsory; simply do things that interest you. ON THE HOME SCREEN Here you can put icons (short cuts) that will open the apps and widgets you use often. It helps to have items you use often (e.g. Google) where you can easily find them. You can either group icons visually on your Home pages and/or put icons into folders (see 7 below). 1. Moving icons. When you press and hold an icon, you can drag it anywhere you wish. Try it. Decide which icons you want in the ‘Favourites Tray’ that is visible on all Home screens. 2. To move an icon to another page EITHER drag the icon to the right until a vertical bar appears and then drag it across the bar (to put it back drag it to the left and across the bar), OR drag the icon into the ‘Favourites Tray’, flick sideways until you are on the page you want (or tap the spot at the foot of the screen), then drag the icon out of the Favourites Tray. 3. To add a new icon. Tap the Apps icon, then tap and hold the App you want on the Home page. Finally drag it to where you want it. Same procedure for Widgets. Sometimes you can also resize the icon after dragging. 4. To remove an icon. Press and hold the icon, then drag it to Remove. NB this removes the icon from the screen but does not delete the software from the tablet. 5. To create a new Home page. Some tablets do this automatically when you drag an icon to the side of the screen. Otherwise, press and hold on an empty area of the screen, then tap Page. To see thumbnails of all your Home pages, pinch inwards with finger and thumb along a diagonal. Tap any one to go there. 6. To remove an empty page. (Not all tablets allow this.) Pinch inwards with finger and thumb along a diagonal to show all Home pages, then drag the one you do not want to Remove. 7. New folder. Drag one icon onto another, then give the new folder a name (e.g Friday). Drag 2 more icons into this folder. Tap the folder icon to see the contents and drag icons out of the folder. Folders are useful for grouping icons together - e.g. shops you use, or societies you belong to, or health info, or games. You can drag folders to the Favourites Tray for easy access from

any Home page. To remove folders: empty it, then tap to close the empty folder and drag it to Remove. 8. Brightness and sound. Swipe down from top of screen to see a slider you can drag to adjust brightness. (See 12 below if not there.) A button on the side of the tablet adjusts sound volume. IN SETTINGS NB: Terminology varies across tablets DISPLAY 9. Tap Wallpaper then go to your photos and select one if you would like to make it the background of your Home page. You can also tap and hold any open space on the Home screen to see the Wallpaper option listed. 10. Tap Brightness and adjust sliders. Tap Screen Timeout and choose period before screen dims. 11. Tap Font size then select small/large and you can immediately see the effect. Also rotate the screen because text may be larger in landscape than portrait (some apps only). 12. Tap Notification Panel and tick brightness adjustment (or you cannot do 8 above). APPLICATION MANAGER 13. It is here you can ‘uninstall’ apps (i.e. remove them from your tablet). Tap on an item in the Downloads list and you will see the Uninstall button. Do not tap Uninstall today. ABOUT DEVICE 14. Scroll down to the bottom of Settings and tap About Device to find out what version of Android you are using, plus other technical details that might be needed for troubleshooting. SHUT DOWN 15. Normally the Off button just puts the tablet to sleep but it is a good idea to completely shut down your tablet occasionally (e.g. once a month). To do this press and hold the Off (sleep/wake) button and respond to the on-screen prompts. To start the tablet again you will need to hold the On button for longer

Apps On a PC we call them programs, on tablets and smart phones they are called Apps. Most devices will come with a collection of pre-installed Apps. You can install new Apps from the Google Play store. Apps submitted to the Google App store by developers are scanned for malware and viruses. There are many other App stores like Amazon that are available for obtaining android Apps, but because of the security risks involved in installing Apps from unknown sources you should always use an App Store that you trust. Useful Apps for Your Android Tablet

Here is a collection of Apps that you may find useful: Email Sending and receiving email is the most common task that people do with their tablets and smart phones. Most Android tablets/phones will come with a default email App. However if you use Gmail, Yahoo Mail or Outlook.com/hotmail then you should use the Apps provided by those email provides. Web Access Although Apps have replaced the web browser for most functions on tablets/phones you will still need to access the web using a web browser. The most common browser for Android is Google chrome.

Facebook

Stay in touch with friends and family with the Facebook app.

Twitter Tweet from anywhere and stay in touch with the latest news.

Amazon Kindle Reader Read you Kindle Books on your Android tablet/phone. You will need to register the App with your Amazon Kindle account. You should note that Kindle Books purchase from Amazon are available on all devices that are registered to use the account. This means that you can read the same book on your PC using the Kindle reader as on your Android and on your Kindle itself. Skype Free voice, video calls,and IMs to anyone else on Skype no matter where they are. Your contacts can be using a PC,Iphone,Mac or other device just as long as they are using Skype.

Adobe Reader PDF file format is an open standard developed by adobe for exchanging data reliably. The adobe reader has always been free for PCs and the Adobe Reader App for Android is also free and an essential App to install.

Google Drive App Android tablets come with limited storage when compared to PCs. Many older devices have only 8GB and newer more expensive ones have between 16 and 32GB. Some tablets have a micro SD card slot which allows you to expand storage, but all tablets can be configured to use cloud storage. To use Android you will need a Google Account and all Google accounts come with 15GB free cloud storage. Daily Mail Online and News Apps Get easy access to the daily mail online for free. If you don’t like the daily mail then BBC, CNN, Sky News,Telegraph etc all have Apps you can install.

BBC Weather For UK users get up to date weather information for your location.

YouTube App The official YouTube app for Android phones and tablets. Subscribe to channels you love, share with friends, and watch on any device.

Google Play Movies and TV Google Play Movies & TV allows you to watch movies, and TV shows purchased or rented on Google Play.

VLC App- Media Player App VLC media player is a free and very popular open source cross-platform multimedia player that plays most multimedia files as well as discs, devices, and network streaming protocols.

Android as Sat NaV You can use your android tablet or phone as a replacement for your satellite navigational system provided that it supports GPS. There are many Sat Nav Apps on Google Play store both free and Paid. The most important aspect of the App from a tablet user’s perspective is that it should work without an Internet connection. Google Maps Google Maps has been popular web based application used on the desktop for route planning for a long time, and it was also the first free voice enabled SatNav App for Android.

PDFs

PDF stands for Portable Document Format but you do not need to know that. PDF is important because many organisations use it to distribute information via websites or email. If you do not yet have the free app Adobe Reader on your tablet, go to the Play Store, find Adobe Reader. Tap Install, and tap Accept in the permissions pop-up window.

Reading PDFs GET A PDF

• Go to the Hillingdon U3A website (Google if necessary). Tap the Connections tab then tap the Accident Report Form and tap to download. • Return to the Home screen and tap the folder My Files, then tap Download. • Tap the top item in the list accidentreportform.pdf, and then tap on the icon for Adobe Reader. CUSTOMISING

• To make the text a comfortable reading size, pinch or spread your fingers. Rotate your screen and notice that the text seems clearer in landscape. • Often by default PDFs will scroll. To change this tap the Menu button and select View Modes, then Single Page. ANNOTATING

• A long tap on the text shows a menu that will let you highlight items. Tap the highlighted item again and you get options to change the colour so that you can use different colours for different highlighting purposes in the same document. • The icons at the top of the screen will keep disappearing but will come back if you tap the screen. They will explain themselves as you tap them. • Tap the speech bubble with pen icon and the top of the screen shows a new row of icons. - The 1st icon lets you write a comment which leaves a marker in the text. Tap the marker to read or edit your comment. Drag the marker to change its position. - The 5th icon, a T, lets you write directly on the text (e.g. Remember !!!). Tap your writing to change colour and size. You can drag your text around, e.g. into the margin, and also change the shape of its text box. To remove it, tap it again and then tap delete. - Tap the 6th icon, a pencil, to draw on the text. Circle an item or drag diagonally through a section. Tap Save to stop your finger making marks on the text. Tap your mark again to change its colour or delete.

MOVING AROUND

• On the bottom left hand side is a little box with numbers (e.g. 1/2 means you are on page 1 of a document with 2 pages. Tap the box and a pop-up plus keypad appears. If you type a number and tap OK, the screen will display that page. Not needed for a 2 page document but very handy for longer documents; documents longer than 5 pages will have a slider you can drag along at the bottom of the screen.

FILE MANIPULATIONS

• Tap the arrow in the top left to view your recent pdfs. A long press on a document title (e.g. Accidentreportform.pdf) changes the menu at top of screen. Tap the three vertical spots on the top right to rename or duplicate any pdf file. Duplicating a document before you start reading can be handy if you want to keep a clean version as well as the one you have annotated. • Delete a document by a long press on its title, then tap the trash can at top of the screen.

Creating PDFs If you have an ordinary Word .doc file, select Print, and the pop-up menu for printing lets you Save as PDF. Tap the Adobe icon on your Home screen (or in Applications) to see all your pdfs.

ebooks The following activity sketches how to use Play Book and audioBooks. Background • Books can be downloaded to your tablet and then read even when you have no WiFi connection, or they can be streamed which takes no space on your tablet but does require an internet connection while you are reading the book. • The apps for reading ebooks differ in the functions they offer, such as bookmarks, the ease of going back and forth through the book, highlighting, annotating, etc. Today the Android group will explore two ebook readers: Play Books and Kindle. • eBooks are available from many sources including Amazon, BBC, Blinkbox. Once you have an eReader app, you can Google on ‘free ebooks’. Using Play Books 1. If you do not already have Play Books on your tablet, download it from Play Store. 2. In Play Store search on Huckleberry Finn and download the first free version. to library.

Tap add

3. Tap the book to open it, then swipe left or right to turn the page in that direction. 4. Rotate your tablet to see the effect it has (e.g. viewing one page vs two pages). 5. Tap the page to see the menus at the top and bottom of the screen. 6. Highlighting: Hold your finger on a word and then drag the handles over several words to highlight them. Tap the top colour patch to change the highlight colour. 7. Tap second icon to add a note in a pop-up window; tap text to close this pop-up. 8. Tap Aa to change font, brightness, size, etc. 9. Tap the three horizontal lines at left of bottom menu to access a list of chapters in the book, a list of bookmarks you have made, and any notes you have made. 10. Tap the Menu button for options to add a bookmark or get help. Tap the Read Aloud option to hear text-to-speech software save you the effort of having to read it yourself. (At least you will see why audio books need human readers!) 11. Return to your Home screen, tap the Apps icon and open the Play Books app. Keep tapping the icon in the top left until you get to your Library screen showing the covers of all your ebooks. Delete Huckleberry Finn by tapping on the three little vertical spots under the cover picture of this book, then tapping Delete from Library. AudioBooks As well as a book you need an audio reader, so from the Play Store download LibriVox. When you open LibriVox select the Top Free tab near the top of the screen. Scroll down to Pride and Prejudice and tap the Play triangle. This lets you listen without downloading. Tap the two vertical lines to stop the voice. Try several of the other books to see what a difference the skill of the reader makes. Professional readers/actors are best but these are rarely free books. Audible is another free app that is good but you need to sign in with your Amazon account. You can get free samples of several books without signing in. If you have an Amazon account (or are happy to set up a new free account) download Audible from the Play Store and try it. It is worth having several audiobook readers because this gives you a better chance of being able to open an audio ebook that you come across – as with text audio books can be in different file formats.

eCard Greetings for Free Note that the interface and functionality of a website viewed on a Tablet may differ from that on laptop. 1. Google on 123greetings.com This is a handy website that does not result in lots of spam (unwanted emails). You can specify a delivery date and it will tell you when your card has been viewed . 2. Type Christmas into 123’s search box or tap Christmas in its list (or select another category). Choosing your card To hide the keyboard you may need to tap the Go Back button 3. Tap the thumbnails of possible cards to see a bigger picture. 4. Tap 123’s back arrow to return to the list of cards and scroll through, tapping Next for more cards. • Repeat until you know which card you want to send. To speed your search, note the Ratings (out of 5) and the Total views (popularity?) - If the card has animations, tap the Play button. NB: animations may need Flash or other software that will not run on all tablets. Some cards may also offer a choice of music. If so, explore. Sending your card Tap the card you want to send and fill in the Sender’s details – i.e. yours. NB type your name the way you want it to appear on the card - e.g. Love from Sue. 5.

Your email is needed because 123 will email you when your card is sent and viewed. 6. Write your message and tap Preview Card (button is lower down the screen) to see how your text looks on the card. The formatting options are limited and sometimes it can be worth rewording your message to get it to look nice on the card. 7. Fill in the Receiver’s details. NB type their name as you want it on the card - e.g. Dearest Bill. 8. Tick the required delivery date. 9. Tick the box Inform me once the card is viewed – not compulsory but handy. 10. Untick the box Subscribe to newsletters and offers – optional. 11. Tap Send. Note 123 lets you send the same card and message to several people. have any queries tap the Menu icon (3 horizontal lines), then tap Help (FAQ).

If you

123 will send you three emails: a) to say your card has been sent. b) to say card has been opened by receiver. If your card is not opened after a while 123 will email you to ask if you typed the receiver’s email address correctly. c) to suggest you send another card – this is the only spam message you will get from them.

Other card websites include www.Bluemountain.com This has cards with animals or cartoon characters saying the words that you have typed in your message.

www.moonpig.com/uk This lets you upload your own photos to ecards but it is not free.

www.jacqielawson.com This charges an annual fee but you can send as many cards as you like. For more card websites Google on free

animated cards.

Things to bear in mind about card websites • free, • • • • • •

You may have to ‘subscribe’ even though its but don’t give away too much personal info. Some sites limit how many cards can be free. There can be many distracting adverts. You might get a lot of spam after using a site. Check you can Unsubscribe easily. Royalty free means free to use but you may have to buy a card before you can use it. Think about the computer and screen size that your friend will view your card on.

DIY greetings cards Today we will use PicCollage because it makes folded cards and collages. It has limitations (only

portrait orientation on screen, rough photo cropping, etc) but it is easy to use. Overview of folded card from A4 paper: a) Portrait

Select a frame divided into 4 quarters (has no numbers): 1 2 ‘1’ is the front photo and needs to be upside down. < fold 3 4 ‘4’ is the inside text. NB orientation of 1 and 4 is head to head.

b) Landscape

Select a frame divided into 4 quarters: ‘2’ is the front photo, so rotate through 90º anticlockwise.

1 3

2 4

‘3’ is the inside text, rotate through 90 clockwise. NB orientation of 2 and 3 is head to head.

Using PicCollage to make a quarter-fold card. NB: The circular arrows at top right of screen are Undo and Redo. You can also remove any element (photo or text) by a rapid NE flick. 1. Get your photo. Open PicCollage. Tap grids, then tap a photo for front of card, and tap the tick in top right corner (not the tick in the cloud). Scroll the grids at foot of the screen and tap the grid with four squares. Drag photo to top left segment and pinch photo to adjust size. D ouble tap on photo if you want to crop (clip) then tap tick.

2. Add Text.

Tap the + at foot of screen. Tap Aa then type and tap done when finished. Scroll fonts below the T and tap to select. Tap pen icon to change text colour. Tap paint pot to change text background (No Entry sign=transparent). Tap Done to finish and drag to position and resize text. A double tap on the text lets you edit it further.

Repeat the above if you would like to add more text either in segment1 or 4. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Rotate Photo. Background. Optional. Save card.

Turn photo by rotating two fingers; similarly turn text.

Tap + and scroll sideways to select background colour for card. To add ‘stickers’ tap + then tap Stickers. Beware: not all are free. Tap Done then tap Save, then tap Done. Card is now in Gallery.

7. Printing. If you have a WiFi printer, tap Print at home from PicCollage after tapping Done. If not, email the card (e.g. to another computer to print it) from Gallery or from PicCollage by tapping Other, then Mail.

Note: in Gallery you can tap a photo, then tap it again to access editing tools via the

‘mountain scene’ icon. This lets you crop and/or rotate a photo if you want to before starting. Other PicCollage possibilities Freestyle allows photo overlaps. You can resize & reposition as you wish & add text. Other apps: If you just want a ‘postcard’, i.e. take a photo and add text and maybe a frame, this can be done in the app Aviary

Photographs on your tablet Please get people’s permission before emailing their photo TAKING A PHOTO NB Tablets vary both in What and How they do things 1. Check where the camera lens is on the back of your tablet and double-check that your tablet case is not blocking this lens. 2. Tap the All Apps icon then tap the camera icon to open the app. You will see options in the left and right margins. Check that Photo is selected, not Video. If the screen shows a picture of yourself, tap the camera icon with swap arrows. 3. ZOOM. Move the tablet until you have the view you want. Stretch your finger and thumb across the screen to zoom in. You may see a small square which shows the point of focus. 4. SHOOT. Tap the highlighted circle to take the photo. A thumbnail of the photo becomes visible. Tap this thumbnail to see the photo at full screen. 5. You can tap the full screen photo to get options such as Trash and email. *** Repeat 2-4 until you feel confident taking photos.*** • For additional camera settings tap Some tablets have a flashbulb option. • Some tablets have a Panorama option. Press shutter and move tablet slowly at constant height. If you have a choice of picture size, remember photo quality is better for a larger size but this takes more storage space on your tablet. SENDING A PHOTO 6. Ask the recipient for their email address and note this down for use in step 9. 7. Open Gallery, tap the album labelled Camera and tap on one of your photos. 8. Tap the Share icon and select Email. 9. Tap the To slot and type the email address, then invent a ‘Subject’ (e.g. Friday photo). You will see the file name of your photo just below the Subject slot. 10. Scroll down and type a message (e.g. All my own work) and tap Send. RECEIVING A PHOTO The steps are likely to vary with the email app you are using. 11. Open your email and tap on Attachment 1 to download it. 12. Tap the blue line and you will be offered Apps for opening the photo. Tap Gallery. (Tapping the box icon on the right end of the line saves the photo to your Downloads.) TAKING A SELFIE 13. Tap Apps then tap the camera icon to open the app. 14. Tap the camera icon with swap arrows. You can now see your face and can take a photo as in 3-4 above. EDITING A PHOTO 15. Open Gallery 16. In Albums tap Camera Roll, then tap the photo you want to edit. 17. Tap the Menu button or or 18. Tap Edit to see editing tools. 19. Tap Crop & drag the corners in to remove unwanted background. Then tap Done. Explore the other editing options, especially Colour and Effects, if available, because both are likely to have a range of options within them. 20. Tap Save when you are happy with your editing.

21. DELETE: Open the photo and tap the trash icon.

.

Organising photos on Android tablets

To create a new album using Gallery 1. Tap Gallery, then tap photo source - either camera or download. 2. Tap folder icon (next to camera icon), give new folder a name and tap OK. 3. Tap the photos you want in the album and drag them to thumbnail of new album. You can tap several photos and drag them all at once. 4. Tap Done. • Tap a photo to see it full screen. • Flick sideways to go through the album. • Tap a photo to see editing options, including Delete.

NB Gallery lists photos by date photo taken. Resequencing is not possible. ********************

To create a new album using Google Photos 1. First download Google Photos and open it. 2. Tap the 3 vertical dots and under the heading Create New, tap Album. 3. Tap the photos you want in the album 4. Tap Create (top right hand side) and give the album a name. 5. Tap Done on keyboard To resequence photos in a Google Photos album 1. Open the album and tap the 3 spots at top right hand side. 2. Tap Edit Album, then press and hold photo until it shrinks, then drag to where you want it. 3. Tap the Tick (top left hand corner)

NB

When you delete a photo from a Photos album, the original remains in the Google Photos library - unless you delete it from there!

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