Here is a kind of world guide Android for new users of devices on this OS. In the first part of the material, we will talk about the initial setup Android of a smartphone, the logic of its interface and the installation of new programs.
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Contents
Content:Instead of a preface
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Part one. First start
Part two. Smartphone interface
Part three. Installing Applications
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Part four. Google services
Part five. Safety
Part six. Tips and tricks
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Instead of a preface
About article format
Since last summer, our blog has published weekly short articles from the series 'Android for dummies'. In them we tried to tell new users Android all the most important things about this OS in an accessible language. How to set up Android your smartphone, how to download new applications, how to avoid a fast battery drain, how to recover a forgotten lock screen password and much more.
There was more information than we originally expected, it was not at all easy for new users to find the answer to their question in a few dozen notes. Therefore, all these notes will be combined into a couple of large articles, which will be something like the first guide for 'dummies'.
About the variety Android devices
Android is an open source operating system that powers thousands of different devices from hundreds of different companies. Manufacturers often slightly change the standard interface Android, replace standard system components with proprietary applications, and group items in the settings menu a little differently. So, it is quite possible that the interface of your smartphone will differ from what you see in the screenshots, and several menu items will have a slightly different name.
You should not be afraid of this – the logic of work Android in the overwhelming majority of branded shells does not change, and having learned to work with one Android device, you can easily deal with any other. At first glance, a desktop computer and a laptop are also completely different devices. But I have not yet met a person who could work in Windows on a laptop, but could not figure out the same Windows on a PC.
Part one. First start
First Run Wizard
When you turn on the newly purchased unit for the first time, you will see the first start wizard on the screen. It will help you perform the initial setup of your phone, eliminating the need to dig into obscure menus.
At the first step, you will be prompted to select the interface language and connect to the Wi-Fi network. If there is no Wi-Fi access point nearby, then you can use the mobile Internet from your cellular operator.
It is worth noting here that any modern smartphone, be it a device based on Android, iOS or Windows Phone, was originally designed to use the Internet. Of course, no one bothers to use it even without access to the network, but many interesting features and useful functions in this case will not be available to you. For example, what's the point of having a weather forecast on the home screen if it doesn't update for weeks? Why set up mail on your smartphone if you still can't check it without the Internet? And is there a lot of sense from a chat or a client of your favorite social network in which no new messages appear?
Each mobile operator has its own tariffs for the Internet, which differ in cost and parameters. All of them can be roughly divided into two groups – tariffs with a prepaid traffic package and tariffs at which you pay for consumed traffic after the fact. And I highly recommend switching to a tariff plan with some included traffic volume, even if it is very small. The fact is that there is one big pitfall in the tariffication of mobile Internet, which is called 'traffic rounding'. Even if your smartphone 'went online' for a split second and spent only a couple of kilobytes on checking the weather, the telecom operator will still round this number to some minimum acceptable value. And sometimes this 'minimum allowable value' can be a whole megabyte, which on some tariff plans can cost you 5-10 rubles per connection. Which, to put it mildly, is completely unprofitable. But 'conditionally unlimited' package offers save you from such problems once and for all.
At the second step, the system will ask you to log into an existing Google account or create a new one. A Google account is your personal key to the most useful and interesting features of your smartphone. Almost all Google services will not work without it – and this is the branded application store, and synchronization of contacts in the cloud, and Gmail, and Google Drive, and much more. Your Google account will stay with you forever, even after you decide to change your old Android smartphone to a new one. And along with it – all previously purchased applications, contacts, and even some data and settings. Take this step as carefully as possible and try not to forget your username and password.
The last step is to choose the current date and time (which are almost always automatically determined anyway) and choose the ways in which the smartphone can determine your location. There is no need to uncheck the two location points, they are needed for the correct operation of Google Maps and faster location determination.
Transferring contacts from an old device
This completes the initial setup of the smartphone and you can use it. The only question is how to transfer contacts from the previous phone to it.
If this is not your first Android smartphone, then all contacts, most likely, are already stored in the Google cloud service. Unless, of course, on your old smartphone you turned off their synchronization.
You can check if your contacts have been saved to Google directly from your computer. To do this, go to the Gmail mail and select the 'Contacts' item in the upper left corner.
If you are 'moving' from a smartphone running on some other platform, there are two ways to transfer contacts. The first way is to write them to the SIM card. A few years ago, most people used it and it suited everyone. But today this method is already noticeably outdated. Firstly, it is far from a fact that your old phone and your new Android smartphone have the same format of the SIM card. For example, the old device could use a standard miniSIM card, while the new one could use its micro- or even nano-analogue. This means that you can't just move an old SIM card into a smartphone. Secondly, usually only contacts of the simplest format can be recorded on a SIM-card: 'one name – one phone'. And this is also not for everyone and may not always be convenient.
The second way is to export contacts from your old phone as vCard (.vcf files). This method supports most of the models on the market, although annoying exceptions still come across. Then the vcf file can be written to a microSD card or transferred to a smartphone in any other way. For example, using mail.
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Android for dummies # 5. File upload |
To import vCard contacts into a new smartphone, you need to open its address book, click on the 'Menu' button, go to the 'Manage contacts' section and select 'Export and Import'. From here you can either save contacts to a memory card or restore them from a backup.
You will learn more about backing up and transferring personal data (contacts, photos, SMS) to a new smartphone in the seventeenth issue of our column.
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Android for dummies # 17. How to save photos, contacts and SMS? |
Mail setup
The next point is setting up mail. If you use Gmail, it was automatically configured the moment you entered your Google account information. But if you have your own mailbox on some other mail resource, you will have to configure it manually.
First of all, I note that most smartphones use different mail programs to work with Gmail and to work with the rest of the mail. It happened so historically – Gmail mail offered its users a number of features that many other mail servers did not support. Therefore, the company decided to create a separate client for their mail, which would be maximally adapted to the functions of Gmail. Now there is no special need for such a division, and Google is slowly coming to the point of allowing users to connect mailboxes from other servers to their native mail client.
Setting up a mail client is extremely simple in itself, the main thing is to know the names of the servers for sending and receiving mail that are used in your mailbox.
Let's consider setting up mail using the example of a mail client in the firmware MIUI. Setting up other programs for working with mail will be almost identical.
At the first step, you need to enter the name of the mailbox and password, as well as select the protocol for receiving mail. Basically, mail services support two protocols – POP3 and IMAP. The first protocol is the most common and allows you to simply copy the mail stored on the server to the phone. The second protocol can do a little more and allows you to work with mail directly on a remote server. If the email service you are using supports both options, it is better to choose IMAP.
After the settings have been entered, it remains to click on the 'Login' button. Ideally, the program will automatically select all the necessary settings and connect to your mailbox. But in practice, this is not always the case. If the connection failed, then you need to click on the 'Manual' button and enter all the necessary data yourself. You can find them in the help section in the web interface of your mailbox.
Pay particular attention to the username. Sometimes here you need to specify the full name of the mailbox, and sometimes only its first part, which comes before the '@' symbol. For example, this is how the settings for mail.ru look like:
Screen keyboard
As you may have noticed, both during setup and in everyday work with a smartphone, you have to use the on-screen keyboard very often. For those users who buy a touchscreen phone for the first time, it can cause a number of difficulties.
In Android you never have to think about exactly how to bring up the keyboard. Just click on the text field or box where you need to enter text and the keyboard will automatically appear on the screen. If it gets in the way – press the phone button 'Back' and it will disappear again.
The very process of entering text is not much different from typing on a PC or laptop keyboard. Let's take a look at the Google keyboard as an example.
In the standard Google keyboard, you can change the input language using the button with the globe icon 
.
In some other keyboards, a horizontal swipe on the spacebar or a long tap on it is used for this. You can usually specify which languages should be 'hung' on the switch in the keyboard settings.
In order to enter a capital letter, you must press the Shift key 
. By holding it down and continuing to print, you can enter several capital letters in a row. Double-clicking the Shift key will switch the keyboard to Caps Lock mode, during which all typed letters will be in capital letters.
If you need to erase an incorrectly entered word, use the text delete key 
. Pressing the key once will delete one character to the left of the cursor. By holding down the delete key, you can quickly delete one or more words. Be careful – the longer you hold down the key, the faster the speed at which the text is erased.
In the event that you need to move the cursor to a different location, just touch your finger to the desired location on the screen. Sometimes keyboards also have special arrows that allow you to move the cursor within the active text field.
Some keys have two symbols at once, the main and the additional one. To enter an additional character, press and hold the key for a couple of seconds. If there are several additional characters on the key, then to select the one you need, you should, without lifting your finger from the screen, perform a horizontal swipe in its direction. In the same way, you can enter the letters 'b' and 'Ё', which are not initially on the keyboard. To do this, it is enough to perform a long tap on the 'b' and 'E' keys, respectively.
In addition to the main screen, each keyboard has at least a couple of additional ones, with service symbols, numbers and graphical emoticons. The screen switch key is usually found in the lower corner of the keyboard.
In the Google keyboard, a screen with additional characters is opened using the button 
in the lower left corner of the screen, and the list of emoticons – with a long tap on the Enter key 
.
As you enter text, hints will appear at the top of the keyboard. Tap on the hint converts the letters you entered into the selected word. The principle by which prompts work varies greatly from keyboard to keyboard. In some cases, they are only good for quickly correcting a misspelled word. In other cases, they can be used to type a whole sentence, avoiding manual input of letters altogether. You can read more about popular keyboards in the article 'Customizing Android Smartphone. Part one. The first steps'.
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Smartphone customization Android. Part one. The first steps |
Recently, most keyboards have added support for flush text input, better known as 'Swype'. When using this input method, the entire word is typed on the keyboard with one movement, without lifting your finger from the screen. This method can significantly reduce the printing time.
However, in some situations, text is easier to copy and paste than it is to enter it manually. To select text, just make a long tap on the word you need. In order to change the boundaries of the selection, you need to drag the handles along its edges. Buttons 'Cut', 'Copy' and 'Paste' will appear at the top of the screen or right next to the cursor.
Similarly, there is a selection and copying of text from other applications. For example, in this way you can copy the address of a site opened in a web browser or the text of a letter from an email client.
Wi-Fi connection
In conclusion, let's go back to the topic of Wi-Fi. Most likely, you set up the first connection to your home Wi-Fi network during the first start of the device. However, you may need a Wi-Fi connection not only at home, but also at work, at an institute or a cafe. And then the question arises – how to connect to the new network?
There is nothing difficult about this. You just need to go to the phone settings and then go to the 'Wi-Fi' section.
You will see a list of available Wi-Fi networks. The lock next to the Wi-Fi icon indicates that the network is password protected. Accordingly, when trying to connect to such a network, the smartphone will ask for a password.
By default, most Android devices are configured to automatically connect to a known network. In other words, if you have connected your smartphone to a Wi-Fi network at least once, then as soon as you get within its range again, the smartphone will connect to it on its own. This is convenient in most cases. But sometimes there are situations when reconnecting to a specific network is undesirable. In this case, you need to make a long tap (press and hold for a couple of seconds) on the name of the desired network, then select the 'Delete network' or 'Forget network' item. In addition, here you can correct the network settings if its encryption type or password has changed.
In very rare cases, the Wi-Fi network you need may not appear in the list of available ones. Most likely, the network administrator specifically made it hidden so that only those who know its name could connect to it. To connect to such a network, just click on the 'Menu' button located in the upper left corner of the screen, then select the 'Add network' item.
Using the same menu, you can access additional Wi-Fi settings. Although the settings items on smartphones from different manufacturers may differ slightly, the basic options are present on all devices. First of all, this is setting up Wi-Fi in sleep mode and enabling notifications about available open Wi-Fi networks.
Part two. Smartphone interface
The appearance of the interface Android of a smartphone depends not so much on the OS version as on the proprietary shell installed by the device manufacturer. However, the organization of the workspace itself almost always remains unchanged. There are exceptions to this rule, but not too often. Basically, we are talking about Japanese or Chinese smartphones, which an inexperienced user is unlikely to encounter anywhere.
Gestures
Any smartphone with a touchscreen is controlled primarily with gestures, and Android is no exception. Here are the main ones:
Tap – a single finger touch on the screen, analogous to a mouse click. For example, the phrase 'tap on an icon' means to touch it once with your finger and immediately remove your hand.
Double tap – a quick double tap (or 'tap') on the screen, this gesture is similar to a double click with a mouse.
Long tap – long press on the screen, lasting a few seconds.
Swipe – sliding your finger across the screen, without lifting your finger until the gesture is complete. So, the phrase 'horizontal swipe' usually means that you have to swipe your finger across the screen from left to right.
Pinch – you need to touch the screen with two fingers, and then bring them together. Or, on the contrary, separate it in different directions. This is usually the way to scale an image, map, or web page.
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Android for dummies # 12. Basic technical terms and slang |
Desktop and dock bar icons
There can be several desktops in Android, you can 'browse' them using a horizontal swipe in any direction. The maximum number of desktops depends on the OS version and proprietary shell, usually there can be 5 or 7.
At the bottom of the screen are the dock bar icons, which are always visible on any desktop. Usually there are icons of the address book, browser, programs for working with SMS. The central icon is a menu with a list of all installed programs.
Status bar
At the very top of the screen is the status bar. It is there that the current time, battery charge and active notifications are displayed. The status bar can be expanded by swiping down from the top edge of the screen. When expanded, the status bar is often referred to as a 'shutter'.
If only small notification icons are displayed on the status bar itself, then in the 'curtain' of the notification panel you can get all the necessary information about them. For example, you not only see that a new SMS has arrived, but you immediately understand when and from whom. Removing unnecessary notifications is very easy – just swipe them off the screen with a horizontal swipe.
As you may have noticed, the last received notification, which is located at the very top of the curtain, takes up significantly more space than the rest. This was done for a reason – the last event is considered the most relevant and important for the user, so additional information is shown about it, which is very convenient. For example, if this is a letter or SMS, then one quick glance will be enough for you to assess how important it is to you. Moreover, in most cases you can answer it literally in one click, without even closing the 'curtain' of the notification panel.
In addition to notifications, all major switches can be accessed from the status bar. With their help, you can enable or disable Wi-Fi or mobile Internet, adjust the screen brightness, switch your smartphone to silent mode, and more. The specific feature set and the way to switch from the notification panel to the toggle panel varies considerably across smartphones. Somewhere for this, a vertical swipe is used, somewhere – clicking on the icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
Wallpaper, widgets, icons
But let's get back to the desktop. As I said, there may be several of them in Android, and this is done for a reason. After all, the desktop can contain not only application icons, which do not take up so much space, but also voluminous widgets.
Widgets are not only beautiful, but also very useful. They allow you to immediately display all the information you need on the screen, without having to launch the corresponding application every time. It can be a clock widget, a weather widget, a sticky note widget or shopping cart widget, a widget with a list of emails or contact photos, a widget with basic switches, and much, much more.
For a long time, widgets have been a hallmark Android. During the existence of this OS, thousands of different widgets of all colors and sizes have been created. Most of them are capable of running on any firmware or proprietary shell, but there are some that cannot be installed on 'non-native' smartphones.
In addition, do not forget about the aesthetic side of the issue. Not everyone likes it when the desktop is completely cluttered with widgets and icons that make it difficult to see beautiful wallpapers. In Android this is not a problem – create an additional desktop and move the icons that bother you there. To do this, you need to perform a long tap on the icon, and then drag it to the edge of the screen, 'flipping' it to the desired desktop.
You can change the wallpaper or bring a new widget to the desktop through the desktop editing mode. It is activated on different smartphones in a slightly different way. Basically, you need to either make a long tap from an empty space on the screen, or perform a 'pinch' on any desktop. It is even easier to bring application icons to the desktop – just go to the applications menu and perform a long tap on the desired icon.
In general, customizing the appearance and convenient organization of the workspace is one of the strengths of the OS Android. A whole series of articles is devoted to this issue in our blog, you can familiarize yourself with them by clicking on the banner below.
Here I will focus only on setting my own ringtone. The fact is that in Android smartphones this moment is often not very clear and causes questions from new users.
Setting the ringtone
First, let's look at the classic way of setting a ringtone – through the settings menu. We go into the phone settings, go to the 'Sound' section and select the 'Ringtone' item.
Before us is a list of standard melodies pre-installed in the smartphone by the manufacturer. On some devices, you can select your own composition directly from the same menu. For example, on the smartphone HTC One (M8), which is used as an example in this article, this is done using the '+' icon located in the upper right corner of the screen.
If there is no special button for choosing your own melody in this menu, you will have to act a little more cunningly. And just put the desired audio file in the folder where the system sounds are located – after that it will appear in the list of standard melodies.
To do this, you need to connect your smartphone to the computer using a cable, click the 'Start' button on the computer, select the 'My Computer' item and find the icon of your smartphone in the folder that opens. This is what we need to open. Most likely, it will look like this, and its name will coincide with the name of the phone model. On some smartphones, to transfer data, you need to unlock the screen (relevant if you have set an unlock password).
We are interested in the 'Media' folder. Inside it there should be a folder 'Audi o', and in it, in turn, the folder 'Ringtones'. Thus, the full path to the folder of interest looks like this: \ Media \ Audi o \ Ringtones. It is here that you should copy the melody you need. If there are no such folders in the internal memory of the smartphone, then they must be created. The main thing is to do it in the exact order as indicated above.
To be sure, you should restart your smartphone. That's it, now the melody you have selected will appear in the general list. Similarly, you can set a melody for the alarm clock, only the path in this case will be slightly different: \ Media \ Audi o \ Alarms.
If you don't want to mess around with connecting your smartphone to a computer, you can make it easier. Open the ringtone you need in the audio player, and then select the 'Set to call' item from the pop-up menu.
In older versions Android there was an unpleasant 'glitch' due to which the melody assigned in this way 'flies' after restarting the smartphone. But I've never seen anything like it on modern phones.
The method of setting a personal melody is slightly different on different models of smartphones, but there is nothing complicated here in any case. To get started, open the phone book and tap the desired contact with your finger. Among other information, find the item 'Ringtone', 'Ringtone' or 'Set ringtone'.
If there is nothing like this on the screen, then click on the 'Menu' button – most likely, the item we need is located there.
Part three. Installing Applications
How does a smartphone differ from a simple 'dialer'? First of all, multitasking and support for a huge variety of applications. These are social network clients and applications for video calls, programs for working with corporate mail and office suites, mobile versions of the famous Adobe programs and video editors, sports coaches and car navigators, programs for reading books and watching movies, stunning 3D games and camera applications with different filters … millions of programs for every taste and color.
It would be very easy to get lost in such a variety if it were not for the official Google Play app store. Thanks to convenient categories, a transparent rating system, thousands of reviews from users, selections and recommendations, even the most inexperienced user can find a suitable program for themselves.
Google Play
First of all, let me remind you again that you need a Google Account to access Google Play. Information about him was at the beginning of the article. The store icon is always located on the central desktop of the smartphone – this is one of the requirements of Google, which all manufacturers are forced to follow. If you accidentally deleted it, then it doesn't matter – just go to the applications menu (usually this is the central key in the dock bar) and launch it from there.
There is a search bar at the top of the screen, if you are looking for a specific application, you can immediately drive its name there. Below are the buttons leading to the main sections of the Google store: apps, games, movies, music, books and magazines. Some sections of the store do not work in all countries yet, but games and applications are available to absolutely everyone. Then there is a list of interesting new movies, various collections of applications, tips from the built-in recommendation service, and other similar information.
We are primarily interested in the sections of games and programs. First of all, it's worth noting that there are both paid and free applications. With the purchase of free applications, everything is clear – just click on the 'Download' button, and then check the list of permissions that the application requires to work. As for paid applications, you will first be asked to choose a payment method. It's either a credit card or your cell phone bill. True, the latter feature is not yet supported by all mobile operators, but there's nothing you can do about it.
Sections of programs and games consist of several screens, switching between which is carried out using a horizontal swipe. The home screen displays friend recommendations and Google Play editorial tips. The left screen is reserved for a list of categories, with the help of which you can quickly get to the desired subsection.
To the right of the home screen are screens with lists of the most popular free and paid apps. If you don't know what exactly to install on your new smartphone, be sure to check it out.
Unfortunately, popularity is fickle. In theory, it is also quite possible to increase the rating. And sometimes some very strange applications that are of interest only to a very narrow audience fall into the 'Top'. But the time-tested programs, which have already been installed by almost everything, sometimes disappear from the Top, because the number of their new downloads is not that great.
That is why for new users Android we have prepared a selection of the highest quality, in our opinion, applications of all categories.
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TOP-60 Apps on Google Play |
Protection against accidental purchases
Google Play has one more drawback. Or rather, not so much from Google Play itself as from modern games and applications distributed under the Free-to-Play scheme. The vast majority of them have an in-app purchase system, which can be a very unpleasant surprise.
A lot of parents from time to time let their children play games on their smartphones. And, of course, they do not expect any trick at this moment. Indeed, what can a little kid do while playing some 'Crocodile Swampy', Cut The Rope or Angry Birds? Moreover, sitting next to your parents?
Unfortunately, many people underestimate the speed with which modern children understand new technology. Having quickly mastered the controls and passed a couple of levels, the kid may become interested in colorful icons offering access to new fairy-tale characters or beautiful objects. Alas, not free – but this is something just a small child may not understand. And the annoying pop-up window with payment details and the only big button will not stop it – children know very well where to click in such cases.
Separately, I note that the fact that the game is in the 'Free Games' section does not at all guarantee the absence of in-app purchases in it. Quite the contrary – the creators of most free games love to impose a variety of paid content on users. This is the purchase of in-game currency, and special items, and special bonuses, and new heroes, and access to secret missions … In some games you have to pay even to just go through several levels in a row. And you will be constantly reminded of all these features during the game using colorful banners and caring pop-up tips. It's not like a child, here and many adults it is difficult to resist. Unsurprisingly, modern 'free' games tend to generate many times more revenue for their creators than games that were originally paid for.
Distinguishing 'shareware' games from 'completely free' games is easy. If the game provides the possibility of in-app purchases, then this will be clearly indicated on its page in Google Play. The corresponding label is located next to the 'Install' button. The game will need the same permission during installation.
To solve the problem of accidental purchases once and for all, you should set a password on them. This is very easy to do. First of all, you need to open the Google Play app store. Usually, its icon is located right on the main screen of the smartphone.
Then – open the side menu. You can do this by clicking on the icon in the upper left corner of the screen, or simply swiping your finger from the left edge of the screen to the right.
Now all that remains is to go to the settings section and click on the line 'Require a password upon purchase'. On most devices, the default is 'Prompt every 30 minutes'. In this case, you will need to enter the password only once every half an hour, and all other purchases in this interval can be made without additional confirmation.
I hope that this instruction will allow you to avoid annoying misunderstandings that do not in the best way affect the condition of your wallet.
Discounts and sales
However, Google Play also has plenty of pleasant surprises. Namely, discounts, bonuses and sales. While the prices on the Google store are usually not very high, the opportunity to save is always nice.
Many users Android of devices do not even suspect that discounts for certain programs appear on Google Play almost every day. Sometimes we are talking about a symbolic 10-20% discount, but sometimes the discount is 90%, or even 100%. The only problem is that it is almost impossible to manually monitor changes in prices for the assortment of the Google store – there are too many different programs in it.
But this grief is easy to help. You just need to install a special application that will inform you about current discounts and sales. There are quite a few programs of this type. As an example, I will give the AppSales application, which has already been mentioned on this site.
At the first start, the program will offer to sign in using a Google account, which will add a couple of additional features (synchronization of the list of tracked applications between different devices, receiving recommendations from friends, etc.). However, this is not necessary, you can use the program this way.
The main screen shows the current discounts. As you can see, they are quite solid. And often we are talking about very well-known programs. For example, in the screenshot you can see an 80% discount for the popular game from Ubisoft.
If there are too many applications that are not interesting to you in the general list with discounts, you can use a flexible filter system. For example, by choosing the categories of programs of interest or by setting the minimum discount percentage.
By clicking on the name of the application, you can view detailed information about it. Its description, system requirements, price change schedule. And if you are waiting for a discount on a specific program, you can simply add it to the tracked list.
Selecting default programs
As you may have noticed, Android gives the user the ability to literally 'in a couple of clicks' replace any preinstalled program or system component. Want to try a different browser? Maybe install a new keyboard? Or, for example, replace the standard email client or calendar? It couldn't be easier.
But what happens if a smartphone has several programs for the same purpose? For example, what browser will open when you click on a link in an email, if, in addition to the standard browser, Opera mini is also installed on the smartphone? Or what kind of player will start when you click on a video file?
In fact, everything is very simple – in such a situation, the smartphone will simply ask the user which of the available programs is better to use. You can see how it looks in the screenshots below. The appearance of the dialog box may differ slightly on different firmwares, but the general meaning is always the same.
As you can see, you can either select the program manually each time, or ask the smartphone to remember the choice and no longer show this dialog box.
Of course, the second option is more convenient, and most smartphone owners Android prefer to use it. But sometimes it happens that during the selection, the user accidentally clicks on the wrong application, or just after some time wants to return the old version. To do this, just open the smartphone settings, go to the 'Applications' section, find the selected program in it and click on the 'Delete default settings' or 'Clear defaults' button. This will allow us to return to the already familiar dialog box with the choice of the program.
Please note that in some shells the 'Applications' section is divided into several tabs: 'Third-Party', 'On SD Card', 'Running', etc. In this case, in order to avoid confusion, it is better to immediately switch to the 'All Apps' tab.
As you can see, there is nothing difficult in choosing default programs. So don't be afraid to experiment and try new programs. There are tons of decent apps on Google Play that you might like much more than the ones that come preinstalled on your phone.
Removing programs
So, we have more or less figured out the installation of programs. It's time to talk about their removal.
First of all, it is worth noting that on many smartphones the removal of the application is literally 'one click'. To do this, you just need to open the application menu, 'pick up' the program icon with your finger and drag it to the top of the screen, where the trash can icon will appear. Although 'pure' Android does not have this option, many smartphone manufacturers add it to their branded skins.
Unable to uninstall the app this way? No problem! There is a universal method that works for any Android smartphone.
The principle here is about the same as in the desktop one Windows. You need to open the settings menu and select the 'Applications' item in it. Usually this window is divided into several tabs, you can switch between them using a horizontal swipe. The most convenient way is to use the 'Third-Party Applications' tab, but if the application you need is not there for some reason, you can switch to the 'All' tab.
Now all that remains is to find the very application in the list that you want to get rid of, and then click on the 'Remove' button. Please note that if you want to reset the application to factory settings or clear its data, then reinstalling the application itself is not at all necessary. It is enough to use the 'Delete data' or 'Clear data' button, which is located just below on the same screen.
The second way to uninstall an installed program is to use the Google Play store. First of all, you need to open Google Play itself by clicking on the corresponding icon on the desktop or in the application menu. Then click on the menu icon (the icon of three stripes in the upper left corner) or perform a horizontal swipe from the left edge of the screen. In the menu that opens, select the 'My applications' item, touch the name of the required program and click on the 'Delete' button.
As you can see, there is nothing difficult in uninstalling applications. The only slightly unpleasant moment is that you can only remove third-party applications that you yourself downloaded from Google Play after purchasing a smartphone. But to get rid of those programs that the manufacturer installed on your smartphone initially, unfortunately, is not easy.
Installing applications from third-party sources
The developers Android assumed from the outset that users would use the Google Play store to find and install applications. Including for security reasons – it is almost impossible for a program with malicious code to get into this app store.
However, Android provides the ability to install applications manually downloaded from third-party sites. Another thing is that it is locked by default.
You can enable the installation of applications from third-party sources in the phone settings. Usually the item we need is in the 'Security' section.
Then all that remains is to download the installation file with the .apk extension to the phone, run it and carefully check what permissions it asks for. The last point is very important, and you need to take it as responsibly as possible.
As you can see, installing an app from some third-party site is not difficult at all. But I categorically do not recommend using this method for inexperienced users. The overwhelming majority of the 'free' versions of paid programs that the authors of colorful banners offer you to download are real viruses that will devastate your phone in a matter of minutes. There are no miracles in the world, and being tempted by the offer to 'upgrade your phone to Android 5.0', 'download the Flash Player' or 'win a million', you are almost guaranteed to infect your smartphone with some nasty thing.
You can infect Android a smartphone with a virus only with your own hands, because this OS is designed in such a way that any program inevitably warns you about exactly what rights it wants to have. And until you click on the 'Ok' button, it will not get access to your smartphone. That is why the creators of viruses by hook or by crook will try to convince you that their application is completely harmless, and he needs the rights to send paid SMS just like that.
Any application that you download from outside the official store is a potential risk that can cost you very, very expensive. By allowing the installation of applications from third-party sources, you are depriving yourself of the easiest and most reliable way to protect yourself.
Third party app stores
If the Google Play store turned out to be something not nice, then it is better to do otherwise. After all, many well-known companies, from Yandex to Amazon, have their own app stores, much like Google Play. And anyone can use them.
The main question here is not even 'how', but 'why'. What do these stores have that Google Play can't offer?
In fact, the answer to this question is far from obvious. In any case, their range of applications will be smaller. And according to the few reviews and estimates, it is far from always possible to understand whether this or that program is worth the requested money. And some exclusive offers are more likely in theory than in practice – a rare developer would prefer to exchange the huge Google Play audience for dubious bonuses from a local store.
Discounts and sales are the main reasons why third-party software stores are used. Each store sets its own prices for applications, calculates the dollar rate in its own way, sets discounts and organizes sales in different ways. And those who are not too lazy to track price changes and follow discounts can save a significant amount on purchases.
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Let's consider installing a third-party store using the Yandex Store as an example. First of all, you need to make sure that the installation of applications from third-party sources is allowed in the smartphone settings. We talked about this a little higher. Then – download the store client. To do this, open the address m.ya.ru/ystore from your mobile phone. Be sure to make sure that you download the file from the official site, and not from some file sharing and other questionable sources.
The third step is to install the application. Everything is standard here – we check the permissions required by the program, click 'Next' a couple of times and at the very end – 'Accept'.
Outwardly, the store resembles a slightly simplified copy of Google Play. The main screen is divided into three tabs ('Interesting', 'Games',' Applications), at the very top there are icons for search and settings. Next to the search icon, you can see an orange square of the update indicator. An interesting point – the Yandex Store can update even those applications that you downloaded from Google Play. Of course, in the event that they are also present in it.
To purchase applications, you need to specify the desired payment method to the store. And before that – register or log in with an existing Yandex login.
There can be several payment methods, including payment from a credit card or from a mobile phone account (if your mobile operator supports this option).
If you decide to install any other third-party stores, then pay special attention to three things:
- Download the store client only from trusted sources. Don't be fooled by the tricks of scammers offering you a 'special' version of the store with 'free' games and programs.
- Before buying anything, make sure you can download and install a free app from this store. Some stores may require additional registration, work not in all countries, etc.
- Please be aware that Google Play policies do not apply to other stores. This primarily concerns the refund policy.
To be continued…
