The Android Smartphone & Tablet Course

By Roger Carter

This course is suitable for anyone wishing to make the most of their Android smartphone or tablet. It is suitable for individual or group study, including u3a study groups, and includes revision notes and activities. The topics covered range from basic touchscreen operations and managing your Home screen to organizing your contacts, smartphone photography and using smartphone maps to navigate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roger Carter
• Release date: Dec 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005210397

Roger Carter

Roger Carter has had a varied career, including working as a studio manager at the BBC, working for the British Overseas Civil Service in the Solomon Islands, and running his own business. From 1975 to 2000 he was a lecturer at what is now the Buckinghamshire New University, and during this time he wrote 20 student textbooks, including Quantitative Methods for Business Students, and Business Administration for the Computer Age (both published by Heinemann) as well as books on information technology and computer software (various publishers). He is now retired and lives with his wife Sandra in Buckinghamshire, England. They have two children and five grandchildren. In 2018 he helped set up the Bourne End & District U3A and became its first Chair, and in 2021 was appointed its Honorary President..

Book preview

How to Use This Book

This book is based on the Android Smartphone & Tablet course I run for the Bourne End & District U3A (University of the Third Age). It can be used for private study by anyone wishing to learn how to make the most of their smartphone or tablet, or it can be used for group study.

It comprises 12 topics, each topic consisting of the following:

- Comprehensive notes, split into numbered sections, which can be used for private or group study.

- A summary at the end of the topic that can form the basis of a PowerPoint presentation to a group or used for revision. The numbered headings in the summary correspond to the numbered sections in the main text.

- Activities for the group to practise what’s been learned.

The book is based on several earlier ebooks of mine covering various aspects of using Android smartphones and tablets. It is in three parts - Android Basics, Hardware and Utilities, Applications - with four topics in each part. Most topics can be covered within in a single 2-hour group session, apart from Topic 10, Smartphone Photography, which is a large topic split into three (numbered 10a, 10b, 10c). Topic 1 (What is Android?) and Topic 10b (Composing the Picture) are not about the nuts and bolts of using Android and not intended for group study but read at home.

The topics are as follows:

Part 1: Android Basics

Topic 1: What is Android?

Topic 2: Touchscreen Interactions

Topic 3: The Home Screen and Navigation Bar

Topic 4: Managing Apps and Widgets

Part 2: Hardware and Utilities

Topic 5: Settings

Topic 6: The Hardware

Topic 7: A File Manager

Topic 8: Contacts and Sharing

Part 3: Applications

Topic 9: Planet of the Apps

Topic 10: Smartphone Photography

Topic 11: Finding your Way with Smartphone Maps

Topic 12: The Mobile Office

The four topics in Part 1 cover the basics of using Android smartphones and tablets and are intended to be read in sequence. Later topics can be done in any order. In particular, you may wish to read Topic 9 (which covers the Play Store and the Play Store app as well as popular apps such as media players and ebook readers) immediately after Topic 4. And depending on your personal interests or the interests of the group, you may prefer to study Topic 12 (which covers office applications such as word processing, calendars, and note-taking) before Topics 10 and 11.

PART 1: ANDROID BASICS

Topic 1: What is Android?

Topic 2: Touchscreen Interactions

Topic 3: The Home Screen and Navigation Bar

Topic 4: Managing Apps and Widgets

Topic 1: What is Android?

What is Android? I’ll answer this question shortly. First, so you understand how Android fits into the grand scheme of things, here’s some background.

1.1 History of Android

Like so many tech startups, Android Inc was founded in California with just a few thousand dollars of cash (this was back in 2003). Its aim was to develop an operating system for digital cameras, but the company soon realized that this market was far too small and decided instead to target mobile phones (though this would compete with the two existing phone operating systems, Microsoft Windows Mobile and Symbian).

Google bought Android Inc in 2005 for more than $50 million, which seemed a lot at the time but has since paid off handsomely. Under Google’s ownership, Android was completely rewritten as a Linux-based operating system. (Linux is used on many computers - I’m writing this on an old laptop running Linux instead of its original Windows 7 operating system - as well as on many smart devices.) At the same time Google lined up hardware and software partners to create suitable handsets for their new operating system - in those days these were quite primitive, as touchscreens had not been invented, so they had a (tiny) physical keyboard.

Then in 2007 Apple brought out the iPhone with its touchscreen and on-screen keyboard, and the world changed. The Android developers had to return to the drawing board, and just over a year later the first touchscreen smartphone running Android became available. Since then Android has seen numerous updates, which from the third update have been named after a dessert (Cinnamon, Doughnut, Eclair, and so on through the alphabet up to Pie). A numbering system was also applied (so Pie was also called Android 9), and the latest updates have been numbered only (after Pie came Android 10, then Android 11 and 12).

A multitude of apps for Android have also been created (some three million of them), covering everything from word processing to mobile navigation to watching Netflix. At the same time the phones themselves have progressed by leaps and bounds, so that today you can buy for a little over £100 a high-quality phone with a fast processor, plenty of memory, and a surprisingly good camera. As well as that, you can enjoy unlimited phone calls and enough data to do everything you could reasonably want for less than £10 a month.

1.2 Google and Android

Google owns and maintains Android as well as many Android apps, but these are only a small part of what Google is about. It has in fact over 250 products, including its Google search engine, Youtube, Android, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Translate, and Google Assistant.

Here are some surprising facts about Google:

- Despite not charging for most of its products, it is the third most valuable company in the world - it earns its money from your data.

- It buys on average one company a week.

- It processes over 60,000 search queries a second.

- About 12% of Google searches are by voice.

- Google Maps has been downloaded more than 5 billion times.

- Google Drive (its cloud storage) has over a billion users.

- Gmail (its email system) has over 1.5 billion users.

- Android has over 85% of the smartphone market share worldwide.

- Google has 120,000 employees in more than 40 countries, about a third of whom are software engineers.

- The company computers do not run Windows but Linux.

Android is a version of Linux, making Linux by far the most widely used computer operating system in the world. (China, the biggest computer market, is replacing Windows on all its government computers with an equivalent Linux system, and Apple’s operating system used on its iPhones and computers is based on Linux.)

1.3 Google and You

As I've said, Google owns and maintains Android, and it also owns and maintains many of the apps installed on your Android device (including e.g. Gmail, Google Photos, and the Chrome web browser). Google has made a huge investment in all this, and its software products are high-quality, free, and with no ads. You are paying by giving Google your data: everything you do and wherever you go with your smartphone is tracked and monetized. On a computer you can keep your data private by avoiding Google products (including using e.g. DuckDuckGo as your search engine), but on an Android smartphone there is little you can do. Personally, I don't mind this too much as I prefer to pay with my data rather than with my cash.

Google is also important to you as you need a Google account (also free) to make full used of your Android device. Without it you can’t access the Android Play Store to download apps, nor can you access the 15 Gbytes of free cloud storage that comes with an account.

If you have a Gmail address ([e-mail]) then you already have a Google account, but if not you can easily create one. (You can do this by opening the Gmail app on your device, then selecting Add Account from the menu.)

To appreciate just how important Google is to you, an Android user, open Settings from the Home screen on your device (tap the Settings icon), type in Google in the search box at the top, and scroll through the long list that appears.

1.4 What is Android?

Now we can answer the question posed by this chapter:

Android is a Linux-based computer operating system (OS). It is designed for smartphones and tablets, though there are versions that run on conventional laptops. Like almost all operating systems, it consists of:

- The system software that interfaces with the physical hardware and which provides the essential services that applications (apps) can use.

- The desktop environment software that interfaces with the user. This comprises the Home screen containing icons to run apps, widgets (like the clock) to give information and perform tasks, a navigation bar, and an area showing icons for all open apps (the Recent Apps screen in the case of Android, a part of the navigation bar or taskbar in the case of conventional computers). It also includes the system of gestures needed for touchscreen operation, and the screens within which apps run (equivalent to the windows on computers), with their systems of icons and gestures.

1.5 The Android Desktop Environment

It’s the Android desktop environment that we are concerned with and which we’ll cover in the next four topics: the Home screen, the Recent Apps screen, Widgets, and the app screens, along with Android’s system of icons and gestures.

The notes for these topics are written for the traditional Navigation Bar with the three-button layout, which is easy to use and understand. (It is also, in the case of a tablet, the only viable way to navigate if you are using a mouse instead of the touchscreen.)

The latest versions of Android (Android 9 and above) replace these three buttons with a system of gestures based on a single pill-shaped button. However, it’s easy to switch from this to the original arrangement: open Settings, then in the Search box at the top search for navigation.

The main point of the latest system is that it allows you to operate your phone with one hand, using your thumb to make the gestures - something your grandchildren will appreciate but you probably won’t! Even Google admits that most users prefer the traditional three-button system.

Topic 1 Summary

1. History of Android

2003: Android Inc started up with a few thousand dollars to make an operating system (OS) for digital cameras.

The company soon switched to mobile phones.

2005: Google bought Android Inc for $50 million.

Android was then rewritten as a Linux-based OS, and Google lined up hardware and software partners to support it.

2007: Apple brought out the iPhone with touchscreen and on-screen keyboard, and the world changed.

Android was rewritten again and a year later the first Android touchscreen smartphone appeared.

Since then there has been a steady evolution of both the hardware and the software, and today Android phones and tablets are amazingly good value with great hardware and some three million apps

2. Google and Android

Google has over 250 products, including its Google search engine and Android.

Google is the third most valuable company in the world, despite giving away most of its products - it earns its money from your data.

It buys on average one company a week.

It processes over 60,000 search queries a second.

About 12% of Google searches are by voice.

Google Maps has been downloaded more than 5 billion times.

Google Drive (its cloud storage) has over a billion users.

Gmail (its email system) has over 1.5 billion users.

Android has over 85% of the smartphone market.

Google has 120,000 staff in more than 40 countries, about a third of whom are software engineers.

The company computers do not run Windows but Linux.

3. Google and You

Google owns and maintains Android and many of the apps - all free.

In exchange you give Google your data, which it monetizes.

On a computer you can keep your data private, e.g. by avoiding the Google search engine, but on Android you can’t.

Also, you need a Google account (free) to make full use of your Android device. Without it you can’t access the Play Store, nor the Google Drive free cloud storage.

If you have a Gmail address (@gmail.com) then you already have a Google account.

4. What is Android?

Android is a Linux-based computer operating system designed for smartphones and tablets.

Like almost all operating systems it consists of:

- The system software that interfaces with the physical hardware and which provides the essential services that apps can use.

- The desktop environment software that interfaces with the user - the Home screen containing app icons and widgets, the Recent Apps screen, the screens (windows) within which apps run, the system of touchscreen gestures, and more.

5. The Android Desktop Environment

It’s the desktop environment that we are concerned with in Part 1 of this course:

- The Home screen.

- The Recent Apps screen.

- Icons and Widgets.

- The screens within which apps run (Android provides scrolling, zooming, and other facilities).

- Android’s system of touchscreen gestures.

Activities

THERE ARE NO ACTIVITIES FOR TOPIC 1.

Topic 2: Touchscreen Interactions

This topic covers the touchscreen gestures and the on-screen keyboard used when interacting with your smartphone or tablet, and what the various screen icons mean. First, though, some background information.

2.1 History of Computer Desktop Environments

I bought my first computer, a BBC Model B, back in the early 1980’s. There was no mouse in those days (the only way to interact with it was via the keyboard), and there was no graphical user interface (GUI) with icons, windows, and drop-down menus (instead there was a text-based screen display). But things were already changing: ten years earlier Xerox had developed a GUI with mouse interaction for some of its workstations, and this was now spreading to the world of personal computers.

By the early 80’s Apple had incorporated Xerox’s pioneering work in its Lisa and Macintosh computers, to be followed a few years later by the rest of