Android phones 103

Notes, Calendars, Maps and favourite apps

Noosaville Library Wednesdays 10 am - 12 noon
April 8th, 15th, 22nd

Week 1
Week 2

Cooroy Library Wednesdays 10 am -12 noon
May 6th, 13th, 20th

This week sees the last in the series of three classes listed above. If you would like more help, Tech Help sessions at Noosaville Library are held on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month 2-3 pm. There is no need to book and assistance is provided for phones, tablets, ereaders and laptops. Bring your own device.

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/04/android-phones-103.html

Android phones 102

Noosaville Library 

Wednesdays 10 am - 12 noon

April 8th, 15th, 22nd.

Week 1 here

Cooroy Library 

Wednesdays 10 am -12 noon

May 6th, 13th, 20th.

Help videos

One of the quickest ways to get to know your phone is to watch a video as you can pause while you find the features mentioned. Droid Life has a great video channel. Find your phone in their 25 tips series. Here are some of the popular models.

Samsung Galaxy S3

Samsung Galaxy S4
HTC One M8
LG G3

Photo editing apps

Aviary
Photoshop Express
Pixlr
Snapseed

Communication

Viber
Whatsapp
Skype

Transfer to computer

AirDroid

WiFi file transfer

This post first appeared on https://librarycurrants.blogspot.com

Android phones 101

Made with http://www.classtools.net/SMS/

Getting the best from your phone

The slides and links are intended to provide a guide for those participating in the Android phone classes provided for Noosa Library Service at:

Noosaville Library 

Wednesdays 10 am - 12 noon

April 8th, 15th, 22nd.

Cooroy Library 

Wednesdays 10 am -12 noon

May 6th, 13th, 20th.

The lessons are intended to cover basic operations and provide a venue for individual help. 

It is advisable that you get a free Google account if you have do not have one. This will allow you to download apps from the Play Store as well as provide access to a wide range of other free Google services.

Slides

Use the arrow key to advance the slides to review content. Click/tap the Expand icon to have them fill your screen.

Online lessons

How to Geek- Basic Android guide

Lesson 1 - How to use Android effectively

Lesson 2 - Managing your installed applications

Lesson 3 - Extending your Android device's battery life

Manuals and guides

I recommend that you locate the appropriate guide for your phone to help you along the way.

Android Quick Start guide available from Google Play books
Telstra mobile support Choose your phone and be guided through excellent help pages

Example of the Telstra help pages

Optus also provide excellent help pages for a wide variety of phones.

Support manuals and guides for other phones and providers are listed here.

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/04/android-phones-101.html

Let them learn!

Ah the angst! You present, you want people to learn what you have to offer but are you really ready to let them learn in the way that best suits them?

You are thrilled to be acknowledged as an expert in your area but worried that someone may steal your ideas. When you present whether to a conference, a meeting or in any circumstance, you are sharing the ideas and the knowledge you have so that others may benefit by learning from you.

Why are you afraid if someone takes photos of your slides? It's the detail and the expertise you have to offer they will benefit from, not your pretty pictures. Oh no! there's no inspiring images, it is all text and screen dumps - ah, that was how the teacher did it back in school all those years ago. Text heavy presentations invite photography. How else will the learner get to note down all those points you've decided are so important they must be listed? Remember the scramble to copy everything from the blackboard (whiteboard) before the end of class back in school or university days.

Have you provided a place where the audience can retrieve the links you've provided? How will  they remember the long name of that fabulous site or organisation you just mentioned,  - snap, a quick photo will do it. Is it really a surprise that the person who has paid to attend your presentation needs more than the memory of your words to take away, to revisit and learn? If they are busy trying to copy everything from your slides, are they getting the best from your talk?

How do you learn best? Are you a visual learner? Does audio suit you better? Have you supplied the attendee with online notes/slides so they can concentrate on your message? Have you given them notes at the beginning of the presentation? Will the presentation that they have paid for, be accessible?

If not - expect participants to take photos, expect folks to use every means at their disposal to capture the information being presented. Why not share? It is sure to generate more interest and if your presentation was sooo.... good, of course you'll do it again and again, and by the next time you'll have new up-to-date information to add - the slides will be outdated or at least outmoded.

Get your Creative Commons licence here Explain it to your audience too so they understand their rights and responsibilities.

Display a QR code that leads to your slides right at the beginning of your presentation and allow time for participants to scan it. Now they will have your slides on their phone or tablet and need not interrupt you or their neighbours by trying to get a shot of every slide.

One day:

• you will be too old or infirm to present
• the information you have to share will be outdated - let people make good use of it now.

Check up on what you agreed to do. The audience are clients, are you not bound to provide them with best learning experience possible?

I've written this post in response to so many negative things written about participants by some presenters after RootsTech, a large genealogy conference in the USA.  No, I did not attend - out of my budget range, but I learn so much from the caring souls who share their content online. It seems many conference participants were using their phones to photograph slides - it may be that some presenters had not given their audience a variety of other options to access the content. My genimate Jill has also addressed this issue which has prompted me to revisit this post.

I respect copyright and acknowledge sources but thank the YouTubers, the slidesharers, the Facebookers, the edTechers (yes often teachers) bloggers, webinaries, screencasters, geniesharers and too many more to mention. I've learnt and continue to learn from your visuals, audio and text.

All content, your presentations and mine are built on previous knowledge. Where did we get that from? We read, we learnt, we watched, we absorbed, we processed, we were inspired and sometimes we came up with an original idea. Our knowledge is built on the foundations provided by others. We adapt, add to and remix just as suggested in the creative commons licences. Help others learn with your visuals and text.

Slideshare, Dropbox, Box, Google docs and slides, YouTube, blogs and more. There are dozens of ways you can share your content online. Excellent examples of sharing using both paid and freemium models are Thomas MacEntee, Richard Byrne and Lisa Louise Cooke to name but a few. What are you waiting for? Times have changed!



Library Currants by Carmel Galvin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Phone home

iPhone classes - Noosa Library Service

Noosaville Library - Feb 11th, 18th, 25th

Cooroy Library - Mar 4th, 11th, 18th

Puzzled by the features of your iphone? This series of 3 classes is designed to help you get the best from your device. The slides are reminders of material covered/to be covered.
It is recommended that you download the iPhone user's guide available free in iBooks.
If you have attended the class please feel free to post your questions in the Comments at the end.

1. Beginners’ guide to smartphones
2. iBooks Download the iphone User Guide.
3. Grovo iphone tips and tricks Scroll down to see the video titles. These are excellent and all are less than 2 mins long.
4. SnapGuides for iphones Scroll through the pages.
5. YouTube has hundreds of videos to help you get the best from your phone.

• iPhone tips and tricks 
• Messages 
• Safari  iOS7 Safari for iphone
• Explore Safari iOS8  This is the ipad version but the features are the same 

6. EverythingIcafe guides
7.  iOS8 25 tips

8. MacWorld Complete guide to all the Settings 

9. Geek squad iPhone User Manuals and Setup Guides

10. 19 iPhone Tricks And Tips Apple Doesn't Want You To Know

11. http://osxdaily.com/category/iphone/ 

Request zone from class

Add your questions to the comments below.

How to block a nuisance caller
Learn how to use iCloud
Apple ID support Use this link if you have forgotten details of your Apple ID
iPhone support by Apple. Online webpages covering frequently asked questions
WikiHow 3 ways to print photos from your iPhone
Connecting to WiFi
WikiHow How to create an Apple ID on an iphone
Manage an ipad and iphone on the same Apple ID
How to log out of the Facebook app. Log out of other apps by finding the settings or account details within the app, this will either be three lines close together or a gear type icon.
iCloud support

Useful apps mentioned Weeks 1-3

Tips Pro $1.29 from App Store
Simple Transfer Pro $3.29
CamScanner
Put airline passes and cards into Passbook (app already on your phone)
ABC iView
ABC Radio
SBS OnDemand
Plus7
TuneIn Radio
Google Another option for search by voice, in addition to the Siri searches
The Noosa app
Telstra 24 x 7

Photo apps

Go to App Store - Select Categories, Scroll to Photography. There are many to choos frm,download and play with some free ones.

See slides on Digital Photo management for screenshots

Some of my favourites

Adobe Photoshop express, Snapseed, Photomapo, Pixlr-o-matic, Pic Collage, Halftone

A great post on iPhoneography by Darcy Moore

Have fun!

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/02/phone-home.html

Find your guide

Manuals for tablets and phones

User Guides or Manuals have vital information about the operation of your phone or tablet. Unlike the quick guide that was in the box with your phone or tablet, these user guides provide in depth information. They can usually be found on the manufacturer's site under Support. There are interactive guides, PDF manuals, static web pages and in some cases ebooks.

It is a good idea to download a user guide to your device to have quick access to the information while you learn to use your device to its full potential. Bookmark the page in your web browser where the interactive guides are located for future reference.

Many guides/manuals on manufacturers' websites are often PDFs, so make sure you have a PDF reader on your device. On some tablets and phones, the manual will download to My Files or Downloads, on others you will be asked which app you want to use to read the manual.

Telstra mobile support provides interactive guides for a wide range of phones and tablets.
Optus also provide specific device help with screenshots showing exactly where to find a range of functions. You do not need to be a Telstra or Optus customer to view these support pages.

Android phones and tablets

To identify your device, go to Settings and scroll right to the bottom where you will find About Phone/Tablet. In some brands you will be able to locate this information under Settings, Device.
The Android Quick Start Guide is free on Google Books.

ACER

ACER has a mix of Android and Windows tablets and phones. Guides are found under Drivers and Manuals Search by product name or scroll through list. Select product then click on the Documents tab to locate the User Manual

Alcatel

The Alcatel Support site offers a wide range of answers to questions but no User Guides or manuals are apparent.

HTC

For HTC phones select Support then type in the name of your phone and press enter. Scroll down below Accessories to find the User Manual.

HTC Desire 610

HTC Desire 310

HTC One

HTC One M8 

Huawei

Huawei manuals for both phone and tablets are available from the Support site. Be sure to choose the User Guide rather than the Quick Start guide which was packaged with your product.

LG (LGE) phones

LG Manuals are all together and easy to locate by following the on screen prompts.

Choose Category Group >Mobile > Mobile phones.

A long series of model numbers is then revealed and the User Manual for each model is listed immediately below it under the heading Manuals and Documents.

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Motorola

Motorola certainly wins the prize here for making it easy to locate your product. They have excellent support pages with manuals for all their phones. If you do not know the name or model of your phone there is a guide to help you get to the right phone or tablet and its manual. here are some quick link to well known products.
Moto X
Moto G
Moto E
Motorola Xoom tablet

Samsung

Samsung guides can be confusing to locate as there are such a wide range of models available. .
On the Samsung support (Australia) site:
Choose Help > How to Guides > Mobile phone (even if you have a tablet)
Next choose Smart Phone or Tablet.
Now you will be directed to make a model choice.
The screen that delivers your model has a wide range of help topics but scroll down to the bottom of the screen to find the correct User Manual.

*****************************

Sony

The Sony support site has excellent interactive guides and PDF manuals for both phones and tablets.

iPhones and iPads

The best method to obtain the Apple user guide for your device is through the free iBooks app. If you do not have iBooks on your device, visit the App store and download it.

• Open iBooks
• Search Store
• Search iPad or (iPhone) User Guide
• Tap Free then Get Book

There are also plenty of other free tips and tricks guides in the iBooks store.

Windows phones

Nokia

Nokia phones are now using the Windows interface. The Nokia Support page lists the phone models. choose your model and most User Guides will be listed immediately underneath the picture of the phone. The Windows Phone support site is available where no manual is provided.


This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2014/10/find-your-guide.html

Smartphones 101

The computer in your pocket

Have you just acquired your new phone or had it for a while but not sure what it can do? Here's a presentation used at Cooroy Library on Wednesday morning 25th June. I hope it reminds you of many functions possible with a phone and that you venture fearlessly into some new uses for your phone.

User guides

Here are some Android user guides. iPhone users need to download iBooks from the App store then search within iBooks for the free iPhone user guide.

• Android guide to download
• Quick start guide for Android
• Samsung Galaxy 5 manual
• HTC User guides
• Android users guide

If you have not found  manual or user guide for your phone, try this search.
manual OR user guide "name of your phone"

More tips and tricks are on the last slide. Remember YouTube is a great site for finding tutorials for all sorts of things including how to use your phone. 

Adding contacts to your mobile devices

Contacts

1. Open Contacts

2. Click plus button to add a new contact

3. Tap in the first box - this will bring up the keyboard.

4. Note the order of entering names on your screen. You can choose later whether to have the names displayed by First name or Surname but for this to work the names must be entered in the correct field.

On your phone you may choose to have a different ring tone for individuals so that you can know who is calling without needing to look at the screen.

Quick and easy ebooks via Readlists

Readlists

The Readlists site provides a quick and easy method for preparing an ebook from web articles for offline reading.

• Login to Readlists and simply add the URL of each of the articles you wish to compile into an ebook. 
• Add a title and description and you are ready to download the ebook directly to your device or embed on your website or blog.
• The Readlists can also be publicly shared enabling multiple editors to add to or amend any individual list. 
• The range of export options makes this a very useful tool for all platforms.

Kindle

Simple online instructions guide the user through the Send to Kindle option.The contents page displays the title of each article allowing the user to move quickly to the desired reading. Individual articles which incorporate images are reproduced in full. The normal Kindle functions of increasing text size, creating notes, finding definitions and following links are all enabled.

ePub

The ePub version presents in full colour and with full functionality but disturbingly displays the Readlist compiler at the top of each page as if they were the author. Full links are still provided to the individual articles but individual authors are not listed as they appear in the original Readlist.

Readlists are a great method for sharing a range of links for reading on any device.

Related articles:
Readlist creates ebooks from URLs
Create ebooks with Readlists

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2016 Readlists closed in July 2016

Libraries empowering customers

Travelling light

Our local library like so many other libraries has many identities and roles. Excellent services are provided to the housebound by a group of dedicated volunteers and library staff provide a variety of training for a range of technology tools, to name but two of the myriad of services provided.

The local area has many retirees with time to travel and the library has graciously provided the venue for me to present a session on Tech for Travel. The session  will cover a wide  range of tools available to the traveller in planning their journey, mobile apps to use while on the road and preservation of holiday memories.

Here is a short screencast on how to make an ebook from Wikivoyage.

Next up, preparing a Readlist book for travel purposes.
Which other web tools are you using for making ebooks?
What are your favourite travel apps?

Smart phone, Smart uses

Phone of the times

While planning for a recent trip overseas I looked for the best and cheapest solutions for staying connected while away as well as having access to all my travel documents. An in depth look at functions on my phone had me thinking about all the possibilities some of which I had not used. This post does not address the multiple uses of calendars, email and messaging but concentrates on using the camera.

If you use your phone to store personal information make sure you have set PINs for your phone and for your SIM card, should your phone be misplaced this provides a modicum of protection.
Use an online service like Dropbox, Box, Sugarsync or any other reliable online storage to back up all your information. In some places you may not have access to data services so think about the usefulness of having some of the information listed below at your fingertips, stored on your phone.

Travel

Before a trip, update apps and use the camera to record passports, visas, card details and contents of suitcase. Annotate where needed and arrange the pictures in a folder in order to avoid scrolling through all pictures in your gallery.
Store all travel documents as PDFs in case you lose any paper copies, e.g. boarding passes, visas, car hire and accommodation bookings.

General use
Medicare/health cards, loyalty cards and emergency health information.

Loans - each time you loan a friend a book or tool, take a snapshot of them holding the item, helps you remember easily who has that item and solves any cases of forgotten items. If your friend is camera shy, take a shot of the item and annotate in an app such as PicSay or Skitch  then forward the picture to your friend when you need the item returned.

Before a family outing, take photos of children in clothes of the day

Pre shopping lists and notes
Recipe ingredients

List of intended purchases, models, size

Children's' / partner's shoe and clothing sizes

Photos of needed DIY items e.g. door handles, architraves, nuts and bolts

Shopping

Parking location
Price tag comparisons, dimensions of items on shopping tags

Post shopping
Receipts for tax

Return labels

Care labels on fabrics and clothing

Gardening

Snap a photo of a plant for identification at the nursery or for dragging into Google image search for identification

Moving

Cable configurations at back of computers, TVs, home theatre systems and other equipment, photograph equipment before taking apart for quick reassembling.

Before rental photos - take photos of any damage that exists: carpets, walls, doors, fly-screens, appliances and other fittings. If a place has not been adequately cleaned before you move in get a visual record of that too.

Before move photos - valuable household items along with any identification labels.
Any scratches and dents on white goods and furniture can be quickly identified post move if you have photographed goods in their previous condition.

What are your favourite uses for the camera in your phone?