10 Great Things About Android 4.3

The user-friendly Android 4.3 mobile operating system can be made more powerful by following these important tips and tricks. It is worth noting that although a few of them may work on other versions of Android, many of these are for Android 4.3 and later versions.

As stated on www.groovypost.com, given below are the tips.

1. Make Restricted Profiles for Users – You can use this feature to ensure that your child does not access anything that you don’t want him to see. This feature helps you decide the apps the user of the profile can access and if he can use Google Play Store for adding new apps.

2. Using an Office Suite for Managing Documents – You can access and edit documents while travelling by using certain great free office suites. Among them is Kingsoft Office that allows you to open no less than 23 types of document files, which include DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX or PDF. You can download it from the Google Play Store.

3. Using Google For Getting Information Whenever You Require – Google Now can provide you information as and when you need them. It gives you flight data just before your flight, sports scores for your favorite teams, weather, photo spots and much more. It’s user-friendly and can perform every activity on its own.

4. Not Limiting Yourself to Apps from the Google Play Store – Contrary to iOS, Android permits you to install apps from non-Play Store sources. This helps you in getting better deals on apps that are on offer in other stores. For eg. the Amazon App Store offers a paid app for free each day.

5. Stay Organized with Google Keep – Google Keep was launched in the early part of this year. It’s a user-friendly tool that helps you in keeping yourself organized. It can be used for taking notes like voice recordings, images or text. It can also be used to store shopping lists and allows everything to be synced to your Google Account.

6. Enabling the Emoji Keyboard – Many of us use Emoji for communicating different feelings that traditional emoticons don't offer. For Android 4.3, you have the Emoji keyboard. You need to simply long press the Space bar on the regular Android keyboard and select the Emoji Input. 

7. Enhance the Quality of Your Music – You can enhance the quality of the sound through an equalizer app. Music Equalizer that is available in the Google Play Store is the best and for free. It has presets, and you can also customize your own.

8. Using your Android Device Manager for Locating Your Lost Device – The Android Device Manager is a useful feature allowing you to readily find your device if it is stolen. You can also delete the data on it from a remote location. Off late Google has brought a feature that permits you to set a password on your lost device that can be reset once located.

9. Keeping Your Mobile Data Use In Control – Android’s data usage feature permits you in finding out how much data has been used during a certain period of time. You need to go to Data usage in your device’s Settings menu for locating it. You can then set your billing interval, as well as decide when you should be warned that you’re closing in on your data cap. It can also be set to turn off data completely after a certain amount.

10. Make an Offline Cache of a Google Map – When you are going on a trip and don’t want to use up all your data on Google Map, you can cache the map of the area on your drive.

Enabling Bluetooth

Just like with Wi-Fi,you can turn on Bluetooth from either the main list of wireless controls or from Settings.

You have three basic options here:

• Bluetooth: This option enables or disables Bluetooth.

• Discoverable: If you would like other devices to be able to find this device,you need to check this option.

• Device name: When your phone is discoverable,it shows a name.By default,it’s a pretty plain name.If you tap the Device name,you can change it to whatever you want.

After you’ve enabled Bluetooth and have a device you’d like to connect to it,press the Menu button and tap Scan for devices.When you see the device you want to connect,or pair,to,tap it.That’s all you need to do,unless the remote device is protected,in which case you need to type in a PIN.

Using Wi-Fi

Setting Up Wi-Fi

First,tap the Applications tab,tap Settings,and tap Wireless controls.

Although you can turn on Wi-Fi from here,you can do that from the Wi-Fi settings as well,so tap Wi-Fi settings.

Without Wi-Fi enabled,the only thing you can do here is enable Wi-Fi,so the next step is to tap that option.

Note: Wi-Fi drains the battery pretty quickly.If you don’t need it enabled,it’s worth disabling.If you do need it enabled,it is wise to keep your phone plugged in.

As soon as Wi-Fi is enabled,your phone begins scanning for Wi-Fi networks.If any are avail- able,you see them so that you can connect to them.If no networks are available,your phone scans for newly available networks on a regular schedule (every few minutes).

Note : that open networks and secured networks are distinguished by an icon and a description.The network’s relative strength is indicated by the white waves radiating from the dot. The more white,the better.

If you want to force the phone to scan for a new network (perhaps because the network was temporarily unavailable when the phone last scanned),press the Menu button and tap Scan.

As you can see,two networks are available to connect to—one secured and one open.

Note : A secured network requires a password or key to connect to it.An open network lets anyone connect to it. Lots of open public networks are available,particularly in large metropolitan areas.If you’re in a location that you know offers free Wi-Fi,feel free to connect to an open network.However,all data that you send to the Internet through this open network (including passwords and credit card numbers) could potentially be monitored by the network’s owner.Although this isn’t common,it can definitely happen.Certain coffee shops and bookstores often have secured networks because they require you to purchase some of their product before you can use their wireless networks.

We cannot condone stealing Wi-Fi from someone’s house or business that isn’tintending to offer their Wi-Fi free.We also recommend that if you have a wireless network at home,be sure to secure it.

When you attempt to connect to an open network,you see the signal strength and security of the network you’re connecting to.

If you connect to a secured network.

You need to use the keyboard to type in the security code.If you’re like me,you’ll want to check the Show password box so that,instead of seeing dots,you’ll be able read what you type.If you’re connecting to a secured network in a public location,such as a coffee shop or an airport,you’ll likely need to purchase access to the network.When you do so,you’ll obtain the security code for the network.If you’re connecting to a secured network that a friend owns,they will have to give you the security code.

You have a couple other options.First,there’s the option to add a Wi-Fi network manually.Tap Add a Wi-Fi network.

Note: You won’t usually need to add a Wi-Fi connection manually.Your phone should automatically detect any available connection in range.However,suppose,for example,that you’re going to a conference and you know secured Wi-Fi will be available.If you have the SSID (the network’s code) and security information, you can actually set up the network ahead of time.

Occasionally,to connect to a network,you need to create the network on your device,be it phone or computer,before you can connect to it.You need to talk to whoever runs the wireless network to get the login credentials.

You also see advanced options after pressing the Menu button and tapping Advanced.

This is another instance where you need to talk to whoever is running your wireless network. If you know what all this means,you probably know what values you need to provide.If you don’t,you’ll have to ask to find out.

As soon as you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network,your Internet traffic is routed over that network rather than over your mobile phone’s data plan.

Screen Lock

With the touch screen being such a major part of this phone,there’s an ingenious method of unlocking the phone that lets your fingers do the walking—or,in this case,sliding.

Tap the Application tab,tap Settings,and tap Security & location.We’ll focus on the Screen unlock portion of the list.

First you need to set an unlock pattern,so tap that option.You see an information screen explaining what you need to do,followed by a screen that looks something like figure below:

As the instructional page said,you need to draw a pattern on the screen,connecting the dots. You need to drag through at least four dots;they don’t need to be adjacent.

After you’ve input the pattern once,you’re asked to verify the pattern by doing it again.As soon as all the verifying and confirming are done,you can choose whether to require the pat- tern to unlock the phone.If you don’t,the device is always open.

If you choose to use the pattern,you can choose another option as well.The Use visible pattern option displays feedback on the screen as you’re unlocking your phone.If you uncheck this option,you don’t see the trail that your finger makes as you drag it across the screen. Unchecking this option will prevent anyone who looks over your shoulder from getting a good look at your pattern,but it can also make it harder to enter a complex pattern.

If it was at all tricky to make your pattern,you may not want to uncheck Use visible pattern. You may not be able to unlock your phone again,which leads us to the next section.

SIM Card Lock

This extra bit of security allows you to lock your phone’s SIM card (the little card that lets you connect to your mobile phone provider).That way,no one can make phone calls without the PIN.

If you’d like to set this up,tap the Application tab,tap Settings,tap Security & location,and then tap SIM card lock.

The settings are rather basic:

• Enable Lock SIM card locks the SIM card.

• Change PIN code changes the PIN code.

Don’t you wish everything was so clearly labeled?

If you don’t know your SIM card PIN,you need to contact your mobile phone service provider.You can’t lock your SIM card without that PIN.

Note: You’ll still be able to make emergency calls (such as 911 in the United States).

Locking your SIM card won’t prevent anyone from accessing documents stored on your phone,so don’t rely on it to secure all your data.If you’re worried about someone accessing your data when you’re not in possession of your phone,use the screen lock function,discussed next.

Google Maps

With Google maps and the GPS on this phone,no matter where “there”is,you’ll know where you are.

Let’s start with the basics.Maps may be on your main screen already,so you can tap it from there.If it isn’t,tap the Applications tab,and tap Maps from there.

Do you want the phone to show you where you are? Press the Menu button and tap My Location.If you haven’t configured the Location settings to allow the phone to figure out where it is,you get a notification message .

You could tap Cancel here,but that wouldn’t tell you where you are.So instead,tap OK;you see two options for your location sources.

First,you could use wireless networks.This option tries to use your mobile phone network to determine your position.Or,if you’ve already configured Wi-Fi connectivity,despite our not discussing it yet,and you’re connected to your Wi-Fi network,your phone uses that to determine your physical location.

However,if you’ve enabled the GPS functionality,and you have a good signal to the GPS satellites,your phone zooms right in on where you are currently located.

On the other hand,if you don’t have a good signal,or the Wi-Fi or mobile networks aren’t helping you figure out where you are,you end up with an error message.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.We’ll talk much more about GPS in the section “Using Google Maps with GPS.”For now,let’s start with some of the basics of viewing and using maps on your phone.

Viewing a Map

Your location on the map is marked with a flashing blue dot.Hopefully the phone has found your location easily and it’s mostly correct.Now let’s look at a few different views for your map.Press the Menu button and then tap Map mode to display the screen.

Map View

The default map view is a road map.Tap Map on the Map mode menu if you’ve somehow gotten yourself into another map view.

As you’re looking at the road map view,you can move around and zoom in and out.If you touch the screen,you get the same zoom in and out buttons that you get from the web browser.You can also drag the screen in whichever direction you want to move the map around to move the map around.

Note: Although the default map view is a road map,you should never use your phone and the Map application while driving.Either have someone else in the car navigate,or pull over and check your map.Driving while dividing your attention between the road and that small screen is dangerous and,in many states,illegal.

The phone attempts to figure out where you are based on mobile phone towers.

As you can see,the dot shows approximately where we are currently located.If you scroll around a little bit,you’ll also notice a circle surrounding that glowing dot.The circle doesn’t serve much purpose other than to show all portions of the map within half a mile of your current location.

When the phone approximates your location from mobile phone towers,as opposed to GPS, you should really put emphasis on the word “approximate.”If you live in an urban environment and have a good signal from all the local towers,you might be close to the dot. 

In fact,if you just leave the map up,it may refresh itself and believe you’re in a completely different location without your even moving,all through the magic of triangulation.

The road map is pretty cool,but several other views offer even more information,as discussed in the following sections.Press Menu and tap Map mode again,and then tap Traffic.

Traffic View

Simply press the Menu button,tap Map mode,and then tap Traffic.If you’re lucky enough to live in an area with online traffic information available.

If you don’t see the telltale green,yellow,and red highlights on the roads,you might not live in an area that has online traffic information available.More and more areas are providing traffic information,so if you don’t see traffic information today,don’t despair.You might find it in six months or so.

Note: The Traffic view screen can be very helpful when you’re away from your computer and need to know the fastest way to get from point A to point B.We use it all the time to check traffic between our house and the airport or between work and home.You can even use it to find the quickest way home after a late-night concert.

A very simple way to tell whether traffic information is available in your area is to head to your computer and surf to http://maps.google.com. Click the Traffic link at the top of the map.If you zoom out to see the United States,you see traffic lights in every area where you can get traffic information. Click one of the traffic lights,and then click the Zoom In link.

Satellite View

Road and Traffic maps are handy,but sometimes you want to see an aerial view of where you are. Press the Menu button,tap Map mode,and tap Satellite. .As with the Street view,you can zoom in and out.Just don’t expect to be able to read license plates or check out the color of someone’s eyes.

Note: Looking at the aerial view of your house,and someone else’s car is in the driveway? Is your house a color it hasn’t been in two years? Is your relatively new office building not even there? Well,aerial view isn’t an actual live satellite view.It’s a compilation of static images taken at some past date.

Street View

First,the bad news:Street view is available in only certain areas.Some are obvious,like the Bay Area in Northern California,Seattle,and New York City.Others are not so obvious,like Mount Shasta National Park in Northern California.But where Street view is available,it can be a great way to figure out where something is.

To see where Street view is available,go to http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/ in your web browser on your computer.You should see most locations that are available in Street view.

Note: You have a more advanced method of finding what is available in street view.Go to http://maps.google.com. At the top of the zoom bar on the left stands the Google street view “man.”Click and drag him onto the map of the United States.Areas with Street view are blue on the map.

Now,the good news:If you live in an area covered by Street view,you can see it on your phone.

Start by pressing the Menu button and tapping Map mode and then tapping Street view.

If you’re covered by Street view,or at least the area you’re looking at on the map is,the roads are outlined in blue.

Normally,when you want to see the Street view,you just tap the blue road you want to see. We aren’t zoomed in quite enough to get Street view to work;we need to zoom in quite a bit to be able to use it.For now,just tap the plus sign to zoom in.

After you are fully zoomed in,indicated by the fact that the zoom in button is now unusable, you should be able to tap a road.If you find it difficult to tap a road you want,you can use the trackball to move the small circle around the screen,stopping it on the road you want.After you’ve tapped where you want,or anywhere near a Street view location,a little box shows you what you’ve selected.You also might see a little snapshot of where you’re looking.

If this is the location you want to see,tap the box.

The screen shows a gray line stretching off into the distance,along with two arrows—one pointing toward you and one pointing away.Tapping either of these moves you in that direction.Moving your finger around the screen allows you to look around.

If you press the Menu button,you can also step forward and back,as well as zoom in on any image.Note that when you zoom in,you can move forward and backward only by using the Menu,not the screen.When you do move,you zoom right back out.

Note: As with the Satellite view,Street view is a compilation of images taken at a fixed point in time.It can be fun to walk through street view and see the weather change from sunny to cloudy.All this means is that the part of the street that’s sunny was recorded on a different day than the part of the street that’s cloudy.

Two other options show up when you press the Menu button.The first is Report image. Tapping this opens a web browser so that you can report an image.You can report Privacy Concerns,such as removing your house,or blurring out someone’s face or a license plate.Inappropriate Content covers nudity and the like.The general Other option covers blurry images,incorrect images,security concerns,and so on.

The second option is Compass mode.If you just tap it,you won’t see what’s so cool about it. You need to pick up your phone,hold it in front of your eyes,and then spin.

If you look at the Street view of where you are right now,the phone recognizes what direction you are facing.As you turn,the phone moves the picture to show you what you should be seeing.

Searching for a Location

You can move your way around the map with your finger only so quickly,and accuracy obviously is an issue.There must be an easier way to find things,right? Enter the Search box.

Press the Menu button and tap Search.You see a simple text box where you can type in a location you’d like to find.

When you open the Search box,you see a list of things you’ve searched for before,including My Location.I happen to be fond of the restaurant Cha Cha Lounge in Los Angeles,so I’ll type cha cha lounge, los angeles, ca.You don’t always need to be so precise.If a place is uniquely named and in your local area,you can leave off the city and state,and you likely will find it.If you know the address,you can search for that.

After you type in what you want to search for,either tap the Search button on the screen or press Enter,and you see a list.Tap the item in the list you want to see.If you tap the Show map button,you go to the first item in the list.Tapping Edit search takes you back to the search box.

You have a couple options on this screen.First,the left and right arrows next to the name and address you searched for move you through the list of items that came up in the search.

The lower-right corner of the screen has a button that allows you to return to your search results.

Last,the map is populated with numerous pushpins,each of which represents a different item from the search box.You can tap a pushpin to jump to its location.

If you tap the box containing the address you’re looking at,you’re given a few options of what to do.You can zoom in to the address so that you get a close-up of the area.If you searched for a business name and the phone number is listed,you can call the business with a simple tap.We’ll skip the directions option for now,because we’ll talk about that in a moment.You also have the option to add this business as a contact so that you can find it more easily.Also, if the business has a website in Google’s directories,you have a very simple method to visit it.

Using Google Maps with GPS

One of the better features of modern phones is the convenience of having a built-in GPS, removing the need for you to carry a separate device.

Don’t get me wrong.A dedicated GPS device has more features when it comes to getting from here to there,but your phone’s GPS capabilities are a good substitute.

To use the GPS,first you must turn it on.

But before you do that,you need to know that GPS drains your battery.If at all possible,keep the phone plugged into a charger while you use the GPS.If you need to use the GPS while not on a charger,make sure you disable the GPS when you’re finished using it.

To turn on the GPS,tap the Application tab,tap Settings,tap Security & location,and tap Enable GPS satellites.

That’s all you have to do to enable it.

Note that GPS probably won’t work while you’re inside a building.

Getting Directions

You just read about one way to get directions to (or from) a location.How about another? When you’re looking at a map,press the Menu button and tap Directions.

You’ll find that you can get to a certain level of vagueness in your directions.For instance,you can simply put in a city and state for your starting location,and the directions you are given start from the center of the city you’ve selected.This is an excellent workaround for when you know the basics of how to get out of town,but not the specifics of how to get where you’re going.We all know that online directions are not always the best when it comes to the ins and outs of a city,but generally they are correct.So,to save time,rather than starting from your home address,just start from your city.You know how to get to the highway,after all,and you probably know a better way than the directions will give you.

Also,if you don’t know the address of where you are going,and it’s a business,you can put in the same sort of information you’d have used in a search to find it on the map.

But let’s make a pit stop here,because the directions search screen has a few other interesting features.The button on the left,for instance,swaps the Start and End locations.

Also,the buttons to the right of the start and end locations allow you to fill the box with an address you’ve used before,the address of one of your contacts,or your current location.This is an exceedingly useful option if you have the GPS enabled.

After you put in your start and end location and tap the Route button,you see a list of directions.

First,you can tap the Show map button.This takes you to the start of the route.

On this screen,you can tap the location,or the right arrow,to move to the next step in the directions.After you’ve moved past the first step,you can tap the left arrow to go back to the previous step if necessary.

In the lower right is a button that takes you back to the list of directions.

From the directions screen you can also tap any particular step to zoom to that part of the map.This is really good when you know how to get halfway there,so you need directions after only a certain point.

The directions have some drawbacks.First,unlike a normal GPS,the phone’s GPS doesn’t tell you when you’re off course,or readjust your directions based on going off course.

Also,as you approach a waypoint,the map doesn’t update to where you are;nor can you see the directions and the map at the same time.You can only view the map and tap on a single step of the directions at once.

If you have a navigator riding with you,the GPS works great.If you’re driving alone,it’s not quite as useful.

Other Instant Message Programs

AIM,Windows Live Messenger,and Yahoo! Messenger are three other popular instant messaging systems.Maybe you already have accounts on them,or maybe you don’t,but setting them up is always roughly the same.So rather than telling you about each one individually,we’ll show you how to set one up.

Adding an Account

We’ll go through setting up an AIM account.Open the IM application if you aren’t already in it. If you are in it,you need to get to the Account list.

If you’re looking at a chat,press the Menu button and tap Friends list.

If you’re already looking at the Friends list,press the Menu button and tap Account list.

Because we’ll set up AIM (AOL’s instant messaging application),tap that.As you can see,we’re already set up on the other available instant messaging application.

When setting up a new connection,you’re presented with a pretty basic logon box.

If you don’t already have an account on whatever system you want to connect to,the logon screen includes a link to create an account.In the case of AIM,as you can see,it is Get a Screen Name.The link is in the same location regardless of the account,but it might say something a little different for each service.

If you don’t have an account and you need to create one,tap the link.Doing so opens the appropriate page in a web browser to allow you to create the account.

If you do have an account,just fill in the account name and password.

If you want your phone to remember your password,check the box.If you do,you get a friendly reminder to change your password using your computer should your phone get stolen or lost.

                    

Choose Sign me in automatically if you want the application to sign you in automatically whenever you launch it.

Removing an Account

Let’s say you added a Yahoo! account and then realized that you wanted to add a completely different Yahoo! account.Or maybe you were just experimenting with creating an account, and now you want to use a different account.

Head back to the Accounts screen,tap and hold the account you’d like to remove,and select Remove account from the list.That’s all there is to it.

Google Talk

This phone is all about communication,which seems funny to say about a phone.Of course it’s all about communication.You can call and email friends and send them text or picture messages.

You can also send them an instant message (IM).Instant messaging is great for quick interaction with your contacts.

First,tap the Application tab,and then tap IM.

You probably notice that more than Google Talk is listed here.AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), Windows Live Messenger,and Yahoo! Messenger all are available from your phone.

Tap Google Talk and you see a list of your friends.

Users with a green dot next to their name are online,ones with an orange dot are away,a red dot means busy,and gray means offline.

Here are some things you can do right away:

• To change your status,tap the green dot next to your name.

• To change your picture,tap the gray picture next to the dot,and pick a new picture.

• To add text,such as a witty saying or what you ate for lunch,so that people see something next to your name,you can type it in the gray area next to the dot.

Adding Friends

Yes,I have only one friend—me.You might not have any yet.If you don’t,feel free to add me, googonthego@gmail.com.

But I bet you want to know how to do that,right? Just follow these steps:

1. Press the Menu button.

2. Tap Add friend.

3. Type in the address of the person you’d like to invite to chat.

Chatting with a Friend

Starting a chat is easy.Tap the friend you’d like to chat with,or tap and hold and select Start chat.You end up with a chat window.You type what you want to say at the bottom and read what gets said in the upper window.

More IM Fun

Press the Menu button to find out what else you can do:

• Friends list: This brings you back to your chat list.

• Switch chats: When you have multiple chats going,you can look through this list to choose one.

• Add to chat: A nice thing about Google Talk is that it’s a party line.You can add anyone else on your friends list to the chat so that you can all discuss where to get dinner before catching a movie tonight.

• Close chat: This ends the chat.Surprised?

• Insert smiley: Smileys are a way to show emotions using colons,dashes,parentheses, and other characters.As soon as you get to know them well enough,you’ll remember that you can put in a smile with :-) or a frown with :-(,and you won’t need to use this option anymore.When you’re adding smilies on the phone,they’ll actually be the little Android alien smiling or frowning.Note that if the person you’re chatting with isn’t using Android,she won’t see the little green alien.She might see just the :-),or her client might show her something different.For now,go back to the Friends list,either by closing this chat or by putting it in the back- ground by tapping Friends list.

Friends List Options

Press the Menu button and take a look at the options you have here:

• Most popular: This filters your list to the people you talk to the most.

• Switch chats: Just like in the chat,this option lets you pick from all your open chats to find one you want.

• Add friend: This allows you to add a friend,as mentioned earlier.

• Blocked: This shows only blocked contacts.Don’t know how to block someone? Keep reading.

• Invites: This allows you to see all the invitations you’ve sent to people,inviting them to be your friend.

• More: This option gives you access to three additional options.

You also can tap and hold a contact to get even more options:

• Start chat: If you’re already in a chat,this says Join chat.

• Friend info: This shows you your friend’s profile.

• Go to (website): If the contact has a website listed on her profile,you can open the website right here.

• Block friend: Someone bugging you,but he’s still your friend,so you don’t want him permanently gone? Just tap Block friend.You can unblock him by pulling up your blocked friends.

• Remove friend: This pulls the person off your list—until you add him again.

• Add to Contacts: Just because you’ve set up your friend in Google Talk,it doesn’t mean he’s actually in your contacts.

• Pin/Unpin friend: This adds him to/removes him from your Most Popular list.

• Hide friend: When you hide a friend,it’s not quite as fun as putting him in a car trunk or under a blanket.It simply means that he will never show up on the Most Popular list.

Instant Messaging Settings

We mentioned Settings earlier,so let’s cover them now.To access the IM Settings,press the Menu button with the IM application on-screen,and then tap Settings.

The settings you can configure are as follows:

• Automatically sign in: This option,which is checked by default,signs you into the Instant Messaging application whenever you open it.If you want to be able to open the application without signing in,tap to uncheck this option.

• Mobile indicator: This option,also checked by default,puts a little indicator next to your name in your friends’chat lists.Keeping this option enabled lets your friends know that you’re chatting on a mobile phone and,therefore,your typing might be a little slow and error-prone.

• IM notifications: This option places a notification icon in the status bar whenever you get an instant message.

• Select ringtone: This option allows you to pick a ringtone to use whenever you receive an instant message.Tap this option to choose a ringtone.

• Vibrate: This option causes the phone to vibrate whenever you receive an instant message.

Advanced Web Browser Settings

Even though the web browser is very functional as it is,you might want to tweak a few set- tings or view a few of the more advanced features it supports.

Managing Your History

Your browser keeps a history of where you’ve been.This feature comes in handy when you can’t find a page you viewed a while ago.Load the Internet browser,press the Menu button, tap More,and then tap History.

This list is much the same as your bookmarks list.Tapping and holding gives you the same options—Open,Open in a new window,and so on.The only difference is the Remove from history command.

Suppose you want to get rid of your browsing history.Maybe you borrowed your loved one’s phone to do some online holiday shopping.Maybe you accidentally typed in a domain name that is very close to one of your favorites but wasn’t what you intended.If you want to clear your entire history,follow these steps:

1. From within the browser,press the Menu button,tap More,scroll down,and tap Settings.

2. Scroll down to the Privacy settings options and tap Clear history.

3. Tap OK to the warning message that all the browser navigation history will be cleared.

Finding Your Downloads

Sometimes a website has something you want.Maybe it’s an image you really like,maybe it’s a program you need to install,or maybe it’s a file that someone has posted on a website. Whatever the reason,if you’ve downloaded anything from a website while on your mobile phone,the phone has a record of it.

Although such record-keeping may sound uncomfortably like Big Brother,it’s not meant to be.The download history allows you to easily access any files you’ve downloaded without having to search for them.Just press the Menu button and then tap More.Tap Downloads to display the screen.

To access a file you downloaded,just tap it,and the file opens.To remove it from the list,tap and hold the file’s icon,and choose Clear from list.This doesn’t actually delete the file;it just removes it from the Download history.

Browser Settings

But wait! There’s more! As with the web browser on your computer,you can control a wide variety of settings on your phone’s web browser.

The following sections detail the various settings you can configure to adjust your web browsing experience to your liking.

Page Content Settings

These settings affect how pages look and act when you are viewing websites:

• Text size: Tap this option to change the display size of text on the page.

• Block pop-up windows: Some websites like to open new windows when you load them.Many do this to display advertisements,but some use this for functionality.If you don’t like multiple windows opening when you didn’t request them,tap to check this box.

• Load images: If you don’t have an unlimited data plan,or you’re in the desert and you don’t have a very good connection,you can tap to disable images.This can help your web pages load faster,but it might also break some functionality and make the web pages look a bit odd.

• Auto-fit pages: Your phone’s screen,although big for a phone,is a lot smaller than the one on your computer.Tap this option to make sure that all web pages resize them- selves to fit on your phone’s screen.

• Enable JavaScript: This option sounds technical and advanced.Well,it is technical. JavaScript is a programming language that allows web pages to do some cool stuff.It’s generally okay,so you can leave this option checked.

• Open in background: Sometimes,when you tap a link on a web page,it opens in a new window.Sometimes,if you tap and hold a link,you can select Open in a new window.When either of these things happens,this setting means that the new window isn’t actually visible. It’s “behind”the window you’re looking at.Just go through to Windows to find it.

• Set home page: Earlier we discussed how to set your home page,so we’ll skip that for now.

Privacy Settings

Privacy is an important concern because of the threat of identity theft.The settings here don’t really protect you too much,but they are there,and they are better than nothing.Let’s see what we have.

• Clear cache: Your phone caches the web pages you read.It helps the pages you read load faster when you go back to them.Not all pages support this feature,because things such as news sites depend on the content’s being fresh and up to date.But tap- ping Clear cache gets rid of everything.So no one can see that site you were browsing last night.

• Clear history: Clearing the cache isn’t enough.You saw earlier that every site you’ve been to is listed on your phone.Going back to that site you visited last night? Tap Clear history so that no one will see it sitting in your history cache.

• Accept cookies: Cookies are a way for a website to store information about you.This could be the contents of an online shopping cart,or which city you’re in.Either way, some people see this as a security risk,because any other site could pull that information from your browser.Check this option to accept cookies; uncheck it to not accept them.

• Clear all cookie data: If you want to get rid of all the cookies on your phone,just tap this option.Be warned that none of the stored cookie information will remain on your phone,so you might need to reenter some of that information.

• Remember form data: On the one hand,this is an exceedingly useful feature.You don’t have to type in your mailing address every time you load a form that is be set up prop- erly.At the same time,this would be a way for someone to pull your information and possibly steal your identity.For what it’s worth,I leave this option checked.

• Clear form data: You can remove all the form data that’s saved using the preceding option by tapping this option.

Security Settings

The difference between security and privacy is a thin gray line.Loose privacy leads to a very insecure system.That’s why you shred your private papers.No security leads to a lack of pri- vacy.That’s why we have blinds and curtains on our windows.

• Remember passwords: This is a handy feature for websites that don’t keep you logged in using cookies.But anyone who picks up your phone could just log into whatever websites you log into.

• Clear passwords: This removes all the usernames and passwords saved on your phone.

• Show security warnings: This option lets you know if there’s a problem with a site’s security,such as a problem with the security certificate,or something a little off with the URLs on the page.

Advanced Settings

This is where we get into the deep stuff.

• Enable Gears: Gears is a bit of software that Google created to live in your browser and help websites do much more powerful things,such as allowing you to read blogs when you have no Internet connection.Because Gears is part of Google,Google has made sure that the web browser on your phone can use it too,so long as you check this box.

• Gears settings: If you haven’t installed any applications that use Gears,

But let’s install a sample application so that you can see how Gears works.In your browser,go to http://code.google.com/apis/gears/sample.html.Tap the Shortcut Demo link,and then tap Create Desktop Shortcut.

When you tap Yes,you see a monkey face icon on your desktop.Tapping it takes you to the Shortcut Demo web page.

• Reset to default: This option undoes all the settings you’ve set—all the cookies,all the form data,everything.Your phone goes back to the way it was when you first got it.And yes,you are asked if you’re sure.This will be a rare occurrence (we hope),but sometimes it’s the only way to fix a problem with your phone.

Google Search

This is what Google is known for:searching the Web.With Google Search,your phone is the key to the world in your pocket—figuratively speaking,at least.

Searching for Websites

There are a few different ways to search Google.You can do so from the home screen:just scroll to the right,enter your search term,and press Enter.You can open the web browser, press the Menu button,and tap Search.Or you can just go to Google.com in your web browser.

Type what you want to search for in the box,and press Enter.

When you start typing,you see a drop-down list of some common terms matching the letters you’ve entered so far.

This process is like auto-complete,but it uses logic inside Google to figure out what you might be searching for.If what you want appears in the list,tap it.Otherwise,keep typing until you’ve finished what you want to search for,and then press Enter.

Searching for Images

When you load Google.com,you see four options just above the search box.

If you tap Images,you can search for—you guessed it—images.Let’s try searching for lilacs.

If you see an image you like,tap and hold the picture,and then tap Save image.The image is saved to your phone’s memory.You can access it by launching the Pictures application.

Local Searches

The Local search sandwiched between Photos and News is like a local phone book.You can search for restaurants,appliance stores—whatever you’d normally pick up a phone book to look for.Google gives you addresses,phone numbers,and,on occasion,customer ratings.

Searching for News

At the far right you see the News search option.This lets you search for news items on a certain topic.Try tapping the News link and searching for the name of your favorite sports team,favorite movie star,or favorite writer.

Google pulls from newspapers,news wires—any source possible to provide you with up-to- date information about whatever you search for.

Creating and Using Bookmarks

No doubt you have quite a few favorite websites you visit regularly.Maybe you’re like me,and you load quite a few websites on your phone.That’s what Bookmarks are for.Just like you use a bookmark in a book to find the page where you left off,a bookmark in your web browser lets you find a site that you want to be able to get back to easily.Bookmarks are stored in a list that the phone calls Favorites.

After you’ve opened a web page,press the Menu button,tap Bookmarks,and then tap New Bookmark.

If you want to open one of your favorites,press the Menu button,tap Bookmarks,and tap the bookmark you want to open.

To delete a bookmark you no longer need,press the Menu button and tap Bookmarks.Tap and hold the bookmark you’d like to delete,and select Delete bookmark.

You might have noticed other options when you looked at how to delete a bookmark:

• Open: This opens the bookmark,or loads it in the browser.

• Open in a new window: This opens the bookmark in a new browser window.

• Edit bookmark: You can change the bookmark’s name or location (also known as the URL).

• Share link: This composes a new email with the bookmark’s URL in the body.

• Copy link URL: This allows you to paste the URL somewhere,such as an email message body or a text message.After you’ve copied the link URL,simply tap and hold where you want the URL to go,and select Paste.

Sharing Web Pages with Others

Sometimes you land on a page that you really want to share with someone.To do so,follow these steps:

1. Press the Menu button.

2. Tap More.

3. Tap Share Page.

These steps start a new email message in Gmail with the URL already in the message body.At this point,it’s just an email message,and you already know how to send a message. 

Setting Home Page

When you fire up the web browser,you see Google’s home page.Although that’s all well and good,as you’ll see in a bit,you have quite a few ways to search,so maybe you want to set your default page to be something other than Google search.Follow these steps to change your home page:

1. Press the Menu button.

2. Tap More.

3. Scroll through the list to Settings.

4. Tap Set home page to display the screen.

5. Type in the URL you want to use.

Now,whenever you want to go back to your home page,you can press the Menu button,tap More,and then tap Home page.

Viewing More Than One Website at a Time

Sometimes you need to have two different websites open.Perhaps you’re reading an article, and you come across a word whose definition you don’t know.Or perhaps you want to check the score of the big game.Simply press the Menu button and tap Window.

Tap New window,and just browse as you normally do.When you need to go back to the other browser window,press the Menu button and tap Window,and then tap the window you want.If you need another new window,tap New window again.

If you get to the point that you are so far down the screen that you can’t see the New window icon,you can press the Menu button and tap New window.

If you want to close a window,you can tap the X button in the Windows view.Or,when looking at a web page,press the Menu button,tap More,and then tap Close.

Accessing the Browser

You have several different ways to access the Internet.You can open the browser and type a word or phrase into the Google Search box,or you can click a link in an email message.

To access the browser,just tap Browser on the home screen.You can also tap the Application tab and then tap Browser.Either way brings up the browser.

Note: As you’re reading, you might notice that some of your favorite websites just don’t load the same way on your phone as they do on your computer.Some scripts don’t load on the phone,and some animation won’t display properly either.If your favorite website doesn’t load well on your phone,contact the site’s webmaster,and tell him or her that a mobile-friendly page would be greatly appreciated.

Opening a Website by Typing a URL

Flip open your phone and press the Menu button;you see a Go to URL option. You see a list of websites you’ve visited before.If you’re planning to go to a site you visit regularly,you’ll probably see it listed here.If it is listed,just tap it,and the site loads.

If the site you want to go to isn’t listed,just start typing the address you want.Your phone remembers the websites you have visited in the past,and will suggest websites that match the characters you’ve entered in the URL box.If you’ve been to the site before,you’ll see it on the list. If you’ve never been there before,your phone gives you the option of using Google to search for something.

After you finish typing the URL,you can press the Enter key on the keyboard or tap the Go button on the screen.

Accessing YouTube Settings

There’s one last option you can access by pressing the Menu button from the YouTube home page—Settings.This option doesn’t do much,though.Tap Clear Search history to,well,clear your search history.When you’re done with that,you need to press the Back button on your phone to return to the home page.

Sharing Videos

Remember that amazingly funny video? You want to share it with all your friends.You proba- bly want to shout the video from the rooftops,but those URLs are pretty long and probably should be emailed rather than shouted.

To share a video,press the Menu button and tap Share.Your phone displays a new email message with the subject and message body already filled in.Just type in an address (or two or three) and tap Send.You can also change the subject or message body if you want.

Choosing Your Favorite Videos

You’re actually rolling on the floor laughing.Tears are streaming down your face. You’ve just watched the funniest video you’ve ever seen.You want to watch this video every day for a year.You want to watch it every time you’re sad or upset.You love this video.

If you really love a video and want to make it easily accessible,just add it to your favorites. Press the Menu button and tap Favorites.That’s it! You see a quick message telling you that the video has been added to your favorites.

Now that you have a few favorites,how do you access them? After all,saving a video doesn’t do you much good if you can’t get back to it.From the YouTube application’s home screen, press the Menu button and tap Favorites. Just tap a video to play it.

Accessing Video Details

Saying that YouTube has a lot of different videos is like saying that Seattle is a little wet in the winter (or in the summer,for that matter).As soon as you’ve started watching a video,you might wonder about its creator,or even what the video is about.Luckily there is a handy way to do that.While the video is either playing or paused,press the Menu button and tap Details .

On the Details screen,you can view all the information that the video owner saw fit to enter. Some video owners enter a detailed summary,and others enter just the most basic informa- tion,such as the title.

As you scroll through the details,you see a summary of the video that includes the following information:

• Star rating and view data: Every time you watch a video on YouTube,you can give it a rating of one to six stars.

• Length: This is the video’s total playing time.

• Publisher: This is the YouTube user who created and uploaded the video.

• Added: This is the date that the video was uploaded to YouTube.

• URL: This is the URL that takes you directly to the video in a web browser.

Scroll down even farther for a list of related videos.

Note: If you scroll through the related videos,you’ll notice that your phone pauses.YouTube has so many videos that almost any video you choose will have a very long list of related videos.To minimize the amount of data your phone downloads,the YouTube application loads only a few of these at a time.Just keep scrolling down,and your phone will download a few more every time you scroll.

Searching for YouTube Videos

You’ve heard of the “Will It Blend?”videos,and you want to see more.But only a couple of them are on the popular videos list.Well,you can search for videos by name very easily.

1. Press the Menu button and tap Search.

2. Type your search term,and then tap Search to display the results.

3. Scroll through the list of results,and tap the video you want to watch.