Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK For Dummies

By Corey Sandler

Your guide to the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK

Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK For Dummies provides you with all the information you need to get the most out of your NOOK tablet. You'll quickly get up to speed on the basics, like using the touchscreen technology, setting up wireless access, and performing software updates. Then you'll get introduced to the fun stuff: downloading and shopping for e-books, using the built-in web browser, streaming videos from Netflix, Hulu, and other sources, and creating cool slideshows of photos from your digital camera. If that's not enough to pique your interest, you'll find out how to use the Android-based applications that come with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK, interact with the device using the built-in microphone, create your own e-books, archive your e-books, and so much more!

Bringing together the absolute best of two worlds, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook is a co-branded e-reader tablet produced by Samsung and Barnes & Noble. By teaming up with a thriving hardware brand, the creators of the NOOK have been able to focus on developing a more competitive device, giving you a better-performing and sleeker user-experience. With the help of this book, you'll get expert guidance on discovering everything this cool new tablet has to offer.

• Four-color design brings the information to life
• Offers clear instruction on navigating the touchscreen, browsing the web, and staying connected with email
• Covers the latest books, apps, magazines, and more
• Provides step-by-step guidance on streaming video, playing music, and reading e-books

If you've just purchased this awesome new device and want to find out everything it can do for you, you'll find Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK For Dummies out of this world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Oct 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781119008361

Corey Sandler

Corey Sandler, considered one of the pioneers of computer journalism, was the first Executive Editor of PC Magazine and one of the founding editors of several other national publications. He has written more than 200 books on computer, business, history, sports, and travel topics. 

Book preview

Getting Started with Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK

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webextras.eps Visit www.dummies.com for more great Dummies content online.

In this part …

Explore the Tab 4 NOOK parts.

Turn it on and set it up it for first use.

Read about how to use the touchscreen.

Tap and talk to the keyboard.

Chapter 1

The First NOOK in the Galaxy

In This Chapter

arrow Figuring out how to turn it on and off

arrow Going into Airplane Mode

arrow Putting memory on a microSD card

You’ve got a small box that holds a thin, flat piece of plastic and circuitry that has more speed, more intelligence, and more magic than an entire field of mainframes. It can hold and display nearly all of the world’s books, magazines, and newspapers. It can sing, show videos, take pictures, make movies, determine its location from an orbiting satellite, connect to the Internet, and send and receive emails and messages.

Just about the only thing the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK lacks is a decent instruction manual. If I might be so bold, I’m here to help.

Cozying Up to Your NOOK

remember.eps To download books (or anything else) or to browse the web with a Tab 4 NOOK, you need access to a Wi-Fi system with an active connection to the Internet. See Figure 1-1.

The small, unpretentious brown cardboard box is about the size of a thick paperback book (remember those?) There’s not all that much within: the Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK and some goodies beneath it:

A USB cable: This cable carries data to and from your tablet when you connect the tablet, via the USB cable, to a laptop or personal computer. The USB cable also lets you recharge the internal battery.

A battery charger: When you’re ready, plug it into an AC wall socket and attach the larger connector of the USB cable to it. Then plug the smaller connector to the Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK. See Figure 1-2.

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Photo courtesy of Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Figure 1-1:Wi-Fi signal strength, battery level, and time are in the upper right. The icon in the lower right displays apps.

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Figure 1-2:The AC adapter plugs into a wall socket; the larger end of the USB cable attaches to the charger.

Two business-card-sized booklets. One is called the Health & Safety and Warranty Guide and it advises you not drop the tablet on your toe, and how if you do Samsung isn’t going to pay for the repair. The other booklet, all 20 pages of it (with about six blanks) is called the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK Quick Start Guide.

tip.eps Keep the box, along with the warranty information and your receipt. If you need to return the tablet to the seller, send it in for service, or ship it to someone else, the original box is ready to serve and protect.

Sooner or later, you should remove the protective plastic sheet that sits atop the LCD screen. It works well to protect the device in transit, but it will interfere with your use of the touchscreen and collect dirt. Put it back in the box as a memento.

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Nothing like Moses’s

What’s a tablet? Way back in ancient times, about 2007 or so, there were laptop computers and the first electronic reading devices, which were single-purpose handheld devices that used something called eInk to draw text on a nearly white background. A few years later the two devices came together in the first successful tablets, which were thin, flat multipurpose computers that used touchscreens instead of keyboards and memory chips instead of spinning hard drives to hold on to data. In 2010, Apple Computer jumped way out front of the pack with the first iPad, and everyone else—Samsung included—has been playing catchup ever since.

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Charging the Battery

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK comes with a built-in (and non-removable) rechargeable battery. The battery probably still has some power in it from testing at the factory (mine arrived about half full), but please resist trying to use it immediately.

remember.eps There are three reasons why you want to fully charge the battery before first use:

You want to be assured that the battery, the charger, and the tablet itself are each working properly.

It may help the battery’s longevity. That is, if you properly condition it with a full charge before using it first. See Figure 1-3.

tip.eps After the battery is fully charged for the first time, let it drain down to nearly empty, then recharge it fully; do this for the first three or four cycles.

When you first turn on the tablet, you have to register the device with all of its various parts makers. You have to sign in to a Wi-Fi system with an active Internet connection and sign in with Samsung, Google, a few apps makers, and Barnes & Noble; be sure to install any software updates.

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Figure 1-3: The tablet beeps and warns you when the battery level drops to 15 percent. Don’t let it drain to 0.

And so, here’s how to give your tablet its first full charge:

Attach the larger end of the USB cable to the charger.

warning.eps Pay attention to the black positioning bar inside the charger and its corresponding bar inside the cable. Don’t force the two positioning bars against each other; the cable only fits one way.

Attach the USB cable to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK.

The smaller connector on the cable connects to the port on the bottom of the tablet. The side of the cable end that has the three-forked USB symbol will be facing you as you’re looking at the front of the tablet. Again, don’t force the plug in the wrong way. See Figure 1-4.

Plug the charger into a wall outlet. Go for a walk, mow the lawn, read a book, bake a cake. For the first three or four times you use your tablet, I recommend draining the battery to near-empty and then fully recharging it.

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Figure 1-4: The smaller end of the USB cable plugs into the bottom of tablet.

tip.eps When you plug the charger into a powered-off tablet, the screen will briefly show a battery-like object. You can see roughly how full (or empty) the device is. The drawing disappears after about 15 seconds, and after that there’s no way to know the device is being charged: no indicator lights. You’ll just have to school yourself to recharge the battery for six or eight hours if it nears empty.

You can recharge your Tab 4 NOOK by connecting the USB cable to a USB port on a PC, although this is a very slow process that takes as many as 10 hours for a full refill. Consider the USB charging option as an emergency backup only.

Inspecting the Gadget

Now for a physical examination. No need for a stethoscope or rubber gloves. Take your Tab 4 NOOK and place it on a desk or table in front of you. See Figure 1-5 for a guided tour of the front of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK. All of the following descriptions are based on looking at the tablet lying on its back, with its top facing away from you and the bottom closest to you: very much like the way you would look at a page from a book.

The front

The front is home to several items of note, one strictly for advertising purposes:

A Samsung logo at the top of the front

The front-facing camera lens

The LCD color touchscreen

Three keys at the bottom are shown in Figure 1-6. They are, from left to right:

Recent. Touch and hold it to see apps you’ve used recently.

Home. Wherever you are on your tablet, press this key to go to the Home screen.

Back. Touch to return to the previous screen or option.

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Figure 1-5: A map to the external parts on the front of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK.

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Figure 1-6: The keys just below the LCD screen are Recent, Home, and Back.

The left side

Move along. There’s nothing to see here, folks. Really. Nothing. The left side of the Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK is so elegantly empty it should go on display at a museum of contemporary art.

The right side

The right side is where you’ll find several essential keys, a blaster, a pinhole, and a slot. Yes, I said blaster. From top to bottom on the right side, they are:

A tiny hole behind which hides a microphone. It picks up sound for videos, video conferences, and your voice for Internet (not cellular) phone calls. Make sure neither the protective case you use, nor your hand, blocks the opening.

remember.eps The Power/Lock key. Press and hold it for a second or two to turn your Tab 4 NOOK on or off. Press it briefly and release to lock the tablet or wake it from sleep.

The Volume key. When the Home screen is displayed, press one end or the other of this rocket key to adjust the volume. When you’re playing music, any adjustments you make here affect only music volume. Either way, you know how they work, I’m sure: + means louder and – means quieter, all the way down to mute.

The Infrared Blaster. Sorry to have to tell you, but this isn’t the latest version of Han Solo’s particle beam energy weapon; I’d love to have one to render harmless drivers who cut me off on the expressway. What you have here is an infrared beam that can do things like control your flat-screen TV.

Memory card slot. This tiny opening can accept a little sliver of microSD or microSDHC card that holds information in addition to your tablet’s built-in memory. And though 32GB is a whole lot of room, if you fill up one card, you can simply remove it and install a new card.

The top side

Nice and simple, and logically designed: there is but one thing to see here: a headset jack. Here’s where you stick a 3.5mm connector for earbuds or connect to an external sound system.

tip.eps The headset jack works well with earbuds or headphones, but you can also output audio from your Tab 4 NOOK to stereo systems with advanced controls and large speakers. For example, my car has a 3.5mm input jack for its radio; I bought a cable with a 3.5mm plug on each end (called a male-to-male cable) to use my NOOK as a music player.

The bottom

There’s just one thing to note down here. Although it’s lonely, it’s actually a very important, multipurpose portal: the microUSB port. Here’s where you attach the USB cable that came with your tablet. That cable, in turn, attaches to the AC adapter, allowing you to recharge the internal battery. You can disconnect that same cable from the AC adapter, then connect the cable to a PC or laptop to transfer or sync music or files.

The back

The tablet’s back gives the tablet something to hold up the front. To see it, turn your tablet over so that the front is facing down. Although you don’t have to baby your device, for safety’s sake put a cloth or a magazine under the screen.

Figure 1-7 points out the two items of note are on the back (plus some more advertising and a bit of legalese). Here’s what you’ll find:

The rear-facing camera. This is your tablet’s main camera, for taking photos or videos while you watch the LCD on the other side.

tip.eps In the lower-right corner is a grill that covers the speaker. If you’re going to listen closely to music or speech, don’t lay the tablet flat on its back; to get the best sound, you have to make sure the speaker isn’t covered.

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Figure 1-7: The back of the tablet has the rear-facing camera and a tiny speaker.

Turning On, Turning Off, Going to Sleep

The high-tech battery in your Tab 4 NOOK can hold its charge for several weeks when it’s young and fresh and the tablet is off. Once you turn it on, the battery should provide power for somewhere between six and ten hours.

tip.eps You can save battery power by reducing the brightness of the screen and by turning off radios when you don’t need them.

Powering on

I imagine you’ve figured out this is the way to turn on your Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK: Press and hold the key for two seconds (one Mississippi, two Mississippi).

If this is the first time you’ve given life to your tablet, you’ll immediately start setup, which may take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on how much detail you want to get into.

On the other hand, if you’ve already set up the device, turning it on brings you to either of two places:

The Home screen (if you haven’t required all users to enter a protective pattern, password, or PIN)

The Lock screen (where have to enter the proper pattern, password, or PIN)

warning.eps I recommend using the Lock screen and requiring users to enter a code. You’ll store personal data, photos, and logins that may keep records of your credit card or banking information.

Powering off

Press the same switch for about two seconds while the device is running. A message asks if you really, really want to do that; tap Power Off to confirm.

remember.eps Off is off. No alarms will ring, no email will be collected, no music will play.

Why would you want to completely turn off the NOOK tablet?

You’re on an airplane preparing for takeoff or landing and the flight attendant is glaring at you.

You’re in a hospital room with sensitive medical equipment (and doctors).

You want to put your tablet on the shelf for a month while you sit down with a yellow legal pad to write your own Great American (or Canadian) Novel.

tip.eps Your battery is very low and you want to fully recharge it as quickly as possible. Attach the microUSB connector to the tablet and the full-size USB connector to an AC adapter that’s plugged into the wall.

Going to sleep

The third option is to put your tablet to sleep, which in electronic terms is not the same thing we mean when Fido is headed to the vet for the last time. Putting a tablet to sleep means that the LCD screen and most of its internal circuitry are turned off, and just a small amount of power is provided to the system — enough to allow the device to return from the vet, I mean from sleep, at the push of a button. If you put a fully charged NOOK into Sleep mode, it should hold its charge for several days.

tip.eps Here’s how to put the NOOK tablet to sleep: Briefly touch the Power/Lock key. Don’t hold it and count river names.

While the tablet’s asleep, the following functions are still awake:

Email will still be received, if the Wi-Fi radio is turned on. You can turn off the Wi-Fi from Settings, or put the tablet into Airplane Mode to reduce power consumption.

If your tablet is playing music, that will continue.

Any alarms or timers you’ve set will remain active. (I discuss alarms in Chapter 14.)

To wake up a sleeping NOOK, briefly press the Power/Lock key. If you have required entry of a pattern, password, or PIN, you’ll go to the unlock screen; otherwise, the tablet will go directly to the Home screen or the last page you were consulting before its hiatus.

Setting the sleep timeout

Your tablet will go to sleep all by itself if you don’t do anything on it for a while. Why would you want this to happen? It’ll save battery power and serve as a level of protection if someone lays paws on your NOOK without your permission.

Here’s how to customize the sleep control:

Swipe down from the top of the Home screen, and tap the Settings (gear) icon.

Choose the Device Panel.

Choose Display.

Choose Screen Timeout.

Choose a timeout value from the list.

I prefer 5 minutes; the standard value is 30 seconds. You can set the sleep timeout in a range from 15 seconds to one hour.

Press the Home key to return to the Home screen.

Jetting into Airplane Mode

Although many scientists and some pilots say it’s much ado about nothing, most airlines require passengers to turn off all electronic devices during takeoff and landing. The theory was that all of these devices — and by now nearly every passenger has a phone and a tablet and the annoying kid who sat across the row from me on a 12-hour transatlantic flight had a radio-controlled robot — could possibly interfere with an airplane’s essential navigational and control systems. Little by little, the airlines and government agencies have been relaxing most of the regulations. In fact, some airlines have begun offering Wi-Fi broadcasts of in-flight movies that can be viewed on tablets, laptops, and phones.

In any case, your nifty NOOK has a setting called Airplane Mode. It disables Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios but lets you read eBooks and play videos and music.

With two fingers slightly separated, swipe down from the top of the screen.

The Quick Panel, a set of shortcuts, appears.

Tap the Airplane Mode icon to turn it on or off.

When the feature is on, the airplane icon appears green.

Putting More on a microSD Card

There are enough kinds of secure digital (SD) cards to confuse even the experts. There are SD, miniSD, and microSD sizes, and then there are SD, SDHC (high capacity), and SDXC (extended capacity). One example of a microSDHC card is shown in Figure 1-8.

remember.eps Here’s what