Android for beginners – Top 11 tips

So you got a new Android phone and you are getting confused about how to start using your smartphone? Don’t worry, we will guide you through the first steps to do in your Android smartphone. The Android operating system gives you ample room for customization and control. Here’s a step-by-step guide to know your Android phones.

Know your keys: Generally Android phones have four standard keys: a Back button, a Menu button, a Home button and a Search button.

• Pressing the Back key takes you back one step back to whatever you were doing.
• Pressing the Menu key it permits you to access your phone’s settings and other customization options.
• Pressing the Home key takes you to default home screen.
• Pressing the Search key produces different results depending on where you are in Android at the time and will give the most relevant results .

Note: In some Android phones you will find only Home key. Power and volume buttons are there in all the Android phones and they have the same feature as their name suggests.

Google Account: The first thing to do when you power on your Android smartphone is to sign in to your Google account or create a new one if you don’t have. You need to have an internet connection for this step,either wifi or mobile internet. Once connected, it will sync your emails to your smartphone and save your contacts of Gmail.

Import contacts:

• Android can take “.vcf” format contact file. If you have “.vcf” file in your SD card, go to Contacts > Press Menu key > Import > Import from SD card and select your “.vcf” file from SD card.
• Another way to import contacts is from Google. Save your contacts to “.csv” format and import it to your Gmail contacts. Once your Google account is setup in your smartphone, Go to Settings > Accounts > Press Sync on your Gmail account. Thus it will import all the contact files from your Gmail.

Note: If you only want to view contacts with phone numbers then, browse to Contacts > Display options > Select “Only contacts with phones” > Press Done.

Home screen: Upon first turning on your Android, other than a setup screen, almost everyone is presented with the Home Screen. You can set up home screen by adding shortcut of your favorite apps as well as supported widgets. By default you get 3 home screens but in case you need more, you can add it from Settings. To add a shortcut on your home screen press and hold your finger at any empty space on your home screen and select the shortcut from the list. Here you can place widgets, application shortcuts, bookmarks, contacts, folder, direct messages, direct call and lots more. Install ADW Launcher EX or GO Launcer EX for better home screens. You can try Beautiful widgets for some fancy widgets. You can also use some Live Wallpapers for fancy background.

Notifications: Android’s notification bar puts incoming information at your fingertips. Notifications can come from many different places: e-mail, voicemail and text messaging, even social network and news applications. This bar can be dragged down at anytime, to see what you’re being notified about. Notification bar has also shortcuts icons for Wireless, Bluetooth, GPS, Silent Mode and Auto rotation for accessing these features easily.

Android Market : Android Market app comes pre installed. It is used for downloading any app from the market. For using Android market app you need to be logged in to your Google account. You will get tons of useful apps from the Android market. You can check out our other articles how to download android free apps and how to download paid apps for free for further reference.

Google maps: Every Android phone has a GPS chip inside and A-GPS is always there in case GPS connectivity is absent. It’s a pretty strong Online Map Navigation Application. Google maps comes handy when you are looking for some hot spots near your location or looking for traffic information, etc.  If you want to save some battery while using wifi, disable GPS and enable Geo location using wifi to retrieve your exact location.

Facebook and Twitter: Install the Facebook and Twitter apps to your android phones from android market. All the pictures and other address can be imported and added to you contacts.Set Face book and Twitter to update once every 4 hrs it would prevent from draining your battery.

Note: To sync Facebook and Twitter contacts with your existing contacts go toSettings > Accounts > Tap on Facebook and twitter icon to sync.

Tethering: It enables you to connect and share your phone data’s connection to other electronic device. It can be only done through USB or enabling your phone as Wi-Fi hotspot. To set up Tethering go to Settings > Wireless and Networks > Tethering and Portable Hotspots and configure the settings over there. Your smartphone will act as a modem either USB or wireless.

Multitasking: In Android phones you get the full multitasking that is, you can listen to music, talk to a friend, and message another friend together while your desired website is being loaded in the background. The speed of this multitasking will depend on the power of the processor of your smartphone.

Rooting: Rotting in Android is just like Jailbreaking of iPhone. Rooting in Android is done to get the super user or admin rights on your smartphone which is required to overcome the limitations that carriers and manufacturers put on smartphones. Rooting is required if your want to install a custom rom in your device, free up some space by uninstalling manufacturer or carrier installed app which you don’t need and to use certain apps or widgets from Android Market which works on rooted devices. Rooting can void your warranty and can hard brick your Android smartphone. Still if you want to root your device, the best place to find the solution and process is XDA developers forum.

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