Droid™ BionicFOR

DUMmIES‰

by Dan Gookin

Droid™ BionicFOR

DUMmIES‰

Droid™ Bionic For Dummies®

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New JerseyPublished by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New JerseyPublished simultaneously in CanadaNo part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit-ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affili-ates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Droid is a trademark of Lucasfilm, Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITH-OUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZA-TION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.Library of Congress Control Number: 2011943589ISBN 978-1-118-08593-6 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-22306-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-25827-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-23239-2 (ebk)Manufactured in the United States of America10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the AuthorDan Gookin has been writing about technology for over 20 years. He com-bines his love of writing with his gizmo fascination to create books that are informative, entertaining, and not boring. Having written over 125 titles with 12 million copies in print translated into over 30 languages, Dan can attest that his method of crafting computer tomes seems to work.

Perhaps his most famous title is the original DOS For Dummies, published in 1991. It became the world’s fastest-selling computer book, at one time moving more copies per week than the New York Times number-one best-seller (though as a reference, it could not be listed on the Times’ Best Sellers list). That book spawned the entire line of For Dummies books, which remain a publishing phenomena to this day.

Dan’s most popular titles include PCs For Dummies, Word For Dummies, Laptops For Dummies, and Troubleshooting & Maintaining Your PC All-in-One For Dummies. He also maintains the vast and helpful website www.wambooli.com.

Dan holds a degree in Communications/Visual Arts from the University of California, San Diego. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he enjoys spending time with his sons playing video games indoors while they watch the gentle woods of Idaho.

Publisher’s AcknowledgmentsWe’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, out-side the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions and Editorial

Sr. Project Editor: Mark EnochsAcquisitions Editor: Katie MohrCopy Editor: Rebecca WhitneyEditorial Manager: Leah CameronEditorial Assistant: Amanda GrahamSr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie CaseCover Photo: ©istockphoto.com / Paul LeFevre;

©istockphoto.com / Dmitry MordvintsevCartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Sheree MontgomeryLayout and Graphics: Joyce Haughey,

Corrie SocolovitchProofreader: ConText Editorial Services, Inc.Indexer: Estalita Slivoskey

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group PublisherAndy Cummings, Vice President and PublisherMary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions DirectorMary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Kathy Nebenhaus, Vice President and Executive PublisherComposition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Contents at a GlanceIntroduction ................................................................ 1

Part I: A Bionic Phone ................................................. 7Chapter 1: Bionic Greetings .............................................................................................. 9Chapter 2: Power On, Set Up, and Power Off ............................................................... 23Chapter 3: Get to Know Your Phone ............................................................................. 35Chapter 4: Text and Typing on a Touchscreen ............................................................ 51

Part II: Yes, It’s a Phone ............................................ 69Chapter 5: The Telephone Thing ................................................................................... 71Chapter 6: Advanced Phone Duties ............................................................................... 87Chapter 7: Viva Voice Mail.............................................................................................. 97Chapter 8: The Bionic Address Book .......................................................................... 105

Part III: It’s More than Just a Phone ......................... 121Chapter 9: Say It with Your Thumbs ........................................................................... 123Chapter 10: The E-Mail Chapter ................................................................................... 135Chapter 11: Fun on the Web ......................................................................................... 151Chapter 12: The Social Networking Craze .................................................................. 163

Part IV: It Can Do What? ......................................... 173Chapter 13: Find It with the Maps App ....................................................................... 175Chapter 14: It’s a Camera, Too ..................................................................................... 189Chapter 15: A Bionic Photo Album .............................................................................. 201Chapter 16: Thank You for the Music ......................................................................... 215Chapter 17: App Attack! ................................................................................................ 227Chapter 18: A Market Full of Apps ............................................................................... 243

Part V: Various and Sundry ...................................... 255Chapter 19: More or Less Wireless .............................................................................. 257Chapter 20: The Bionic Connection ............................................................................. 269Chapter 21: Far, Far Away ............................................................................................. 281Chapter 22: Personalize and Configure ....................................................................... 291Chapter 23: Maintenance, Help, and Troubleshooting ............................................. 305

Part VI: The Part of Tens .......................................... 321Chapter 24: Ten Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts ............................................................. 323Chapter 25: Ten Things to Remember ........................................................................ 331Chapter 26: Ten Worthy Apps ..................................................................................... 337

Index ...................................................................... 343

Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................. 1About This Book .............................................................................................. 1How to Use This Book ..................................................................................... 2Foolish Assumptions ....................................................................................... 3How This Book Is Organized .......................................................................... 4

Part I: A Bionic Phone ............................................................................ 4Part II: Yes, It’s a Phone ........................................................................ 4Part III: It’s More than Just a Phone ..................................................... 4Part IV: It Can Do What? ........................................................................ 4Part V: Various and Sundry .................................................................. 5Part VI: The Part of Tens ....................................................................... 5

Icons Used in This Book ................................................................................. 5Where to Go from Here ................................................................................... 5

Part I: A Bionic Phone .................................................. 7

Chapter 1: Bionic Greetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Liberation ......................................................................................................... 9

Looking in the box ............................................................................... 10Installing the phone’s SIM card and battery .................................... 11Charging the battery............................................................................ 13

Examination and Orientation ....................................................................... 14Finding things on the phone ............................................................... 14Looking at the phone’s guts ............................................................... 16Using earphones .................................................................................. 17Adding accessories .............................................................................. 18

A Home for Your Phone ................................................................................ 20Toting your Droid Bionic .................................................................... 20Storing the phone ................................................................................ 21

Chapter 2: Power On, Set Up, and Power Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23Dawn of the Droid .......................................................................................... 24

Turning on the Droid Bionic for the first time ................................. 24Turning on the phone .......................................................................... 25Waking the phone ................................................................................ 28

Google Account Setup ................................................................................... 29Obtaining a Google account ............................................................... 29Configuring your Google account on the Droid Bionic ................... 30

x Droid Bionic For Dummies

Bye-Bye ........................................................................................................... 32Putting the phone to sleep ................................................................. 32Setting sleep options ........................................................................... 33Hibernating the phone ........................................................................ 33Turning off the Droid Bionic ............................................................... 34

Chapter 3: Get to Know Your Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35Droid Bionic Control ..................................................................................... 36

Using the soft buttons ......................................................................... 36Working the touchscreen ................................................................... 37Setting the volume ............................................................................... 38Silencing your phone ........................................................................... 38Changing orientation ........................................................................... 39

There’s No Screen Like Home ...................................................................... 40Looking at the Home screen ............................................................... 40Viewing all the Home screen panels .................................................. 42Using the Car Home ............................................................................. 44Exploring the Webtop ......................................................................... 44

This Old Home Screen .................................................................................. 45Reviewing notifications ....................................................................... 45Starting an application ........................................................................ 47Using a widget ...................................................................................... 47

The App Menu ................................................................................................ 48Viewing all your phone’s apps ........................................................... 48Accessing recently used apps ............................................................ 49

Chapter 4: Text and Typing on a Touchscreen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51Keyboard Mania ............................................................................................. 51

Displaying the Multi-Touch keyboard ............................................... 52Typing on your phone ......................................................................... 54Accessing extra special characters ................................................... 55Choosing a word as you type ............................................................. 56

It’s Not Typing — It’s Swyping! .................................................................... 57Activating Swype .................................................................................. 57Using Swype to create text ................................................................. 58Deactivating Swype.............................................................................. 60

Text Editing .................................................................................................... 61Moving the cursor................................................................................ 61Selecting text ........................................................................................ 61Cutting, copying, and pasting text ..................................................... 64

Miraculous Voice Input ................................................................................. 65Dictating to your phone ...................................................................... 65Controlling the Droid Bionic with voice commands ....................... 66Uttering s**** words ........................................................................... 67

xi Table of Contents

Part II: Yes, It’s a Phone ............................................. 69

Chapter 5: The Telephone Thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71I Just Called to Say . . . ................................................................................... 71

Making a phone call ............................................................................. 72Dialing a contact .................................................................................. 76Dialing with your voice ....................................................................... 77Phoning someone you call often ........................................................ 78

It’s For You! .................................................................................................... 79Receiving a call ..................................................................................... 79Using text message reply .................................................................... 81Setting incoming call volume ............................................................. 82

All Your Phone Calls ...................................................................................... 83Dealing with a missed call .................................................................. 83Reviewing the call log .......................................................................... 84

Chapter 6: Advanced Phone Duties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87Speed-Dial Setup ............................................................................................ 88More than One Call at a Time ...................................................................... 89

Getting a call when you’re on the phone .......................................... 89Bouncing between two calls ............................................................... 89Configuring a conference call ............................................................. 91

Send That Call Somewhere Else ................................................................... 91Forwarding phone calls ....................................................................... 92Sending a contact directly to voice mail ........................................... 93

Ringtone Mania .............................................................................................. 93Changing the ringtone ......................................................................... 94Setting a contact’s ringtone ................................................................ 94Using music as a ringtone ................................................................... 95Rolling your own ringtones ................................................................ 96

Chapter 7: Viva Voice Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97Boring, Bionic Carrier Voice Mail ................................................................ 97

Setting up carrier voice mail .............................................................. 98Retrieving your messages ................................................................... 99

Visual Voice Mail ......................................................................................... 100Setting up Visual Voice Mail ............................................................. 100Accessing Visual Voice Mail ............................................................. 100

Google Voice ................................................................................................ 101Configuring Google Voice ................................................................. 101Adding your phone to Google Voice ............................................... 102Getting your Google Voice messages .............................................. 102

xii Droid Bionic For Dummies

Chapter 8: The Bionic Address Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105There Are People in Your Phone ............................................................... 105

Accessing the contacts list ............................................................... 106Sifting and sorting contacts .............................................................. 108Searching for a contact ..................................................................... 109

You Have Friends ......................................................................................... 109Adding a contact ................................................................................ 109Editing a contact ................................................................................ 114

Organize and Manage Contacts ................................................................. 117Creating a contact group .................................................................. 117Sharing a contact ............................................................................... 118Joining contacts ................................................................................. 119Getting rid of a contact ..................................................................... 120

Part III: It’s More than Just a Phone .......................... 121

Chapter 9: Say It with Your Thumbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123I hv a msg 4U ................................................................................................ 123

Composing a new text message to a contact ................................. 124Sending a text message to a phone number ................................... 126Receiving a text message .................................................................. 126Forwarding a text message ............................................................... 128

Multimedia Messages .................................................................................. 129Composing a multimedia message .................................................. 129Receiving a multimedia message ..................................................... 131

Message Management ................................................................................. 132Removing messages .......................................................................... 132Setting the text message ringtone ................................................... 133

Chapter 10: The E-Mail Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135E-Mail on Your Droid Bionic ....................................................................... 136

Configuring a web-based e-mail account ........................................ 136Setting up an ISP e-mail account ...................................................... 137

You’ve Got E-Mail ........................................................................................ 139Receiving a message .......................................................................... 139Checking the Gmail inbox ................................................................. 140Visiting the universal inbox .............................................................. 141Reading an e-mail message ............................................................... 142

Compose Email with Your Phone .............................................................. 144Creating a new message .................................................................... 144Sending e-mail to a contact............................................................... 146

Message Attachments ................................................................................. 146E-Mail Settings and Options ....................................................................... 147

xiii Table of Contents

Creating a signature........................................................................... 148Configuring the manual delete option ............................................. 149Setting the primary e-mail account ................................................. 149

Chapter 11: Fun on the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151The Bionic Web ............................................................................................ 152

Surfing the web on your phone ........................................................ 152Visiting a web page ............................................................................ 152Browsing back and forth ................................................................... 154Using bookmarks ............................................................................... 154Managing multiple web page windows ........................................... 156Searching the web.............................................................................. 156Sharing a page .................................................................................... 157

That Downloading Topic ............................................................................ 159Stealing an image from a web page ................................................. 159Downloading a file.............................................................................. 159Reviewing your downloads............................................................... 160

Browser App Options .................................................................................. 160Setting a home page .......................................................................... 160Changing the way the web looks ..................................................... 161Setting privacy and security options .............................................. 161

Chapter 12: The Social Networking Craze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163The Droid Bionic Gets Social ..................................................................... 164

Adding a social networking account ............................................... 164Managing your social networking accounts ................................... 165

Your Digital Life ........................................................................................... 166Finding out what’s going on ............................................................. 166Setting your status ............................................................................. 167Uploading a picture ........................................................................... 168

Social Networking App Roundup ............................................................... 169Using the Facebook app .................................................................... 169Tweeting to other twits ..................................................................... 171Exploring other social networking opportunities.......................... 171

Part IV: It Can Do What? .......................................... 173

Chapter 13: Find It with the Maps App . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175Map 101 ......................................................................................................... 176

Using the Maps app ........................................................................... 176Adding layers ...................................................................................... 177

It Knows Where You Are ............................................................................. 179Finding out where you are ................................................................ 179Helping others find your location .................................................... 181

xiv Droid Bionic For Dummies

Find Things ................................................................................................... 182Looking for a specific addresses ...................................................... 182Finding a business, restaurant, or point of interest ...................... 182Searching for interesting places ...................................................... 183Locating a contact ............................................................................. 184

The Droid Bionic Is Your Copilot .............................................................. 184Getting directions .............................................................................. 184Navigating to your destination ......................................................... 185Adding a navigation shortcut to the Home screen ........................ 186

Chapter 14: It’s a Camera, Too . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189The Droid Bionic Camera ........................................................................... 189

Snapping a picture ............................................................................. 190Deleting an image immediately after you take it............................ 191Setting the flash .................................................................................. 192Changing the resolution .................................................................... 192Doing a self-portrait ........................................................................... 193Taking a panoramic shot .................................................................. 193Setting the image’s location ............................................................. 194Adjusting the camera ........................................................................ 195

Pictures of the Moving Kind ....................................................................... 195Recording video ................................................................................. 195Setting video quality .......................................................................... 197Taping your face ................................................................................ 198Recording a video message .............................................................. 198Shedding some light on your subject .............................................. 199

Chapter 15: A Bionic Photo Album . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201Behold the Gallery ....................................................................................... 202Image Organization ..................................................................................... 203

Viewing albums in the library .......................................................... 203Creating a new album ........................................................................ 204Tagging an image ............................................................................... 205Finding an image location on a map ................................................ 207Printing a picture ............................................................................... 208

Picture Editing ............................................................................................. 208Cropping an image ............................................................................. 208Rotating your pics.............................................................................. 209Deleting an image ............................................................................... 209

Share Your Pics and Vids with the World ................................................ 210Configuring your Picasa account ..................................................... 210Doing a quick upload to Picasa ........................................................ 211Uploading a video to YouTube......................................................... 211Using the Share button...................................................................... 212

xv Table of Contents

Chapter 16: Thank You for the Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215Your Hit Parade ........................................................................................... 215

Exploring your music library............................................................ 216Playing a tune ..................................................................................... 217

Adding More Music ..................................................................................... 219Borrowing music from your computer ........................................... 219Paying for music at the Amazon MP3 store .................................... 221

Music Organization ..................................................................................... 223Reviewing your playlists ................................................................... 223Building a new playlist ...................................................................... 224

Your Droid Bionic Is a Radio ...................................................................... 226

Chapter 17: App Attack! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227The Bionic Calendar .................................................................................... 227

Understanding the Calendar ............................................................ 228Browsing dates and appointments .................................................. 228Checking your schedule .................................................................... 230Creating a new event ......................................................................... 231

Your Phone Does Math ............................................................................... 233This’ll Wake You Up .................................................................................... 234For Your Reading Enjoyment ..................................................................... 236

Reading Google Books ....................................................................... 236Using the Amazon Kindle app .......................................................... 238

The Wee Silver Screen ................................................................................ 238Viewing vids on YouTube ................................................................. 238Renting movies ................................................................................... 240

Droid Bionic Games ..................................................................................... 241

Chapter 18: A Market Full of Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243Shop at the Android Market ....................................................................... 244

Visiting the Market ............................................................................ 244Finding apps at the Market ............................................................... 245Getting a free app ............................................................................... 246Buying an app ..................................................................................... 247

Manage Your Apps ...................................................................................... 249Reviewing your downloaded apps ................................................... 249Sharing an app .................................................................................... 250Updating an app ................................................................................. 251Removing downloaded apps ............................................................ 251Controlling your apps ....................................................................... 252Creating app groups .......................................................................... 253

xvi Droid Bionic For Dummies

Part V: Various and Sundry ....................................... 255

Chapter 19: More or Less Wireless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .257Wireless Networks Everywhere ................................................................. 258

Understanding the digital network .................................................. 258Understanding Wi-Fi .......................................................................... 259Activating Wi-Fi .................................................................................. 259Accessing a Wi-Fi network ................................................................ 260

Share the Connection .................................................................................. 262Creating a mobile hotspot ................................................................ 262Tethering the Internet connection .................................................. 263

Devices of the Bluetooth Kind ................................................................... 264Activating Bluetooth .......................................................................... 264Using a Bluetooth headset ................................................................ 265

Fun with Wireless Printing ......................................................................... 266Printing to a Bluetooth printer ......................................................... 266Using MOTOPRINT ............................................................................ 267Sharing with the Print to Retail option ........................................... 268

Chapter 20: The Bionic Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269That USB Thing ............................................................................................ 269

Connecting the phone to a computer ............................................. 270Configuring the USB connection ...................................................... 270Disconnecting the phone from the computer ................................ 272

That Syncing Feeling ................................................................................... 272Synchronizing with doubleTwist ..................................................... 273Doing a manual sync.......................................................................... 274

Phone Storage Phun .................................................................................... 276Viewing Your Media Elsewhere ................................................................. 278

Making the HDMI connection ........................................................... 278Doing the DLNA thing ........................................................................ 279

Chapter 21: Far, Far Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .281Where the Phone Roams ............................................................................ 281Up, Up and Away ......................................................................................... 283The Droid Bionic Overseas ........................................................................ 285

Dialing an international number ...................................................... 285Making international calls with Skype ............................................ 286Taking your Droid Bionic abroad .................................................... 288

Chapter 22: Personalize and Configure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .291Master the Home Screen ............................................................................ 292

Changing wallpaper ........................................................................... 292Adding apps to the Home screen..................................................... 294

xvii Table of Contents

Adding an app to the Dock ............................................................... 294Slapping down widgets ..................................................................... 295Creating shortcuts ............................................................................. 295Rearranging and removing icons and widgets ............................... 296

Droid Bionic Security .................................................................................. 297Finding the screen locks ................................................................... 297Removing a lock ................................................................................. 298Creating an unlock pattern ............................................................... 298Setting a PIN........................................................................................ 300Assigning your Droid Bionic a password ........................................ 300

Various Phone Adjustments ....................................................................... 301Stopping the noise! ............................................................................ 301Performing automatic phone tricks................................................. 301Changing various settings................................................................. 302Setting the double-tap Home soft button function ........................ 303Using accessibility settings .............................................................. 303

Chapter 23: Maintenance, Help, and Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . .305Battery Care and Feeding ........................................................................... 306

Monitoring the battery ...................................................................... 306Determining what is sucking up power ........................................... 307Managing battery performance ........................................................ 308Saving battery life .............................................................................. 309

Regular Phone Maintenance ...................................................................... 312Keeping it clean .................................................................................. 312Backing it up ....................................................................................... 313Updating the system .......................................................................... 313

Help and Troubleshooting .......................................................................... 314Getting help ........................................................................................ 315Fixing random and annoying problems .......................................... 315Getting support .................................................................................. 317

Droid Bionic Q&A ........................................................................................ 318“The touchscreen doesn’t work!” .................................................... 318“The screen is too dark!” .................................................................. 318“The battery doesn’t charge” ........................................................... 319“The phone gets so hot that it turns itself off!” .............................. 319“The phone doesn’t do Landscape mode!”..................................... 319

Part VI: The Part of Tens ........................................... 321

Chapter 24: Ten Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .323Disable Animations ...................................................................................... 323Get a Wireless Charging Battery Cover .................................................... 324In-Pocket Detection ..................................................................................... 325

xviii Droid Bionic For Dummies

Contact Quick Actions ................................................................................ 325Add Spice to Dictation ................................................................................ 326Add a Word to the Dictionary .................................................................... 326Create Direct-Dial and Direct Text-Message Shortcuts .......................... 327Disable 4G LTE Service ............................................................................... 328Find Your Lost Cell Phone .......................................................................... 328The Task Manager ....................................................................................... 329

Chapter 25: Ten Things to Remember . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .331Lock the Phone on a Call ............................................................................ 331Landscape Orientation ............................................................................... 332Gobble Up Words ........................................................................................ 332Use the Keyboard Suggestions .................................................................. 332Things That Consume Lots of Battery Juice ............................................ 333Check for Roaming ...................................................................................... 333Use + When Dialing Internationally ........................................................... 334Properly Access Phone Storage ................................................................. 334Snap a Pic of That Contact ......................................................................... 334The Search Command ................................................................................. 335

Chapter 26: Ten Worthy Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .337AK Notepad .................................................................................................. 337CardStar ........................................................................................................ 338Dolphin Browser .......................................................................................... 339Gesture Search ............................................................................................. 339Google Finance ............................................................................................. 339Google Sky Map ............................................................................................ 340Movies ........................................................................................................... 340SportsTap ..................................................................................................... 340Voice Recorder ............................................................................................ 341Zedge ............................................................................................................. 341

Index ....................................................................... 343

Introduction

D on’t be fooled: Just because the Droid Bionic is a smartphone (not to mention that it has the word bionic in it) doesn’t mean that it’s harbor-

ing some form of insidious intelligence. There’s no brain in the device — alien or human. It isn’t going to take over the world, though it can intimidate you —until you understand and accept that it’s your phone. The Droid Bionic is a gizmo that helps make your life a heck of a lot easier.

This book, Droid Bionic For Dummies, is your key to unlocking the potential of a device that may intimidate and frighten you. Don’t worry: The advice here is friendly, informative, relaxed, and often irrelevant. The goal is to get you and your phone on speaking terms so that the two of you can better reach your full potential.

Now that I’ve written all that, this is the book’s introduction, which few people read. I honestly don’t know why I’m still writing. I know that because there’s some good info in here and every so often I read an e-mail where someone (not you, of course), says, “I couldn’t find blah-blah in your book. “Well,” I write back, “it’s in the introduction.” And they say, “But I didn’t read the introduction.” And I reply that they should. Because you’re still reading, I know that person won’t be you, so I’ll stop writing about him, and instead I’ll write:

About This BookThis book is a reference. I don’t intend for you to read it from cover to cover. In fact, I forbid you to do so.

Though you’re forbidden to read the book from cover to cover, I remain steadfast in my admiration of your continued perusal of the introduction. Thanks.

Every chapter in this book is written as its own, self-contained unit, covering a specific topic about using the Droid Bionic phone. The chapters are further divided into sections representing a task you perform with the phone or explaining how to get something done. Sample sections in this book include

✓ Typing on your phone

✓ Phoning someone you call often

✓ Adding your phone to Google Voice

✓ Uploading a picture

2 Droid Bionic For Dummies

✓ Creating a mobile hotspot

✓ Borrowing music from your computer

✓ Dialing an international number

✓ Saving battery life

Every section explains a topic as though it’s the first one you read in this book. Nothing is assumed, and everything is cross-referenced. Technical terms and topics, when they come up, are neatly shoved to the side, where they’re easily avoided. The idea here isn’t to learn anything. This book’s phi-losophy is to help you look it up, figure it out, and get back to your life.

I’m serious: Get back to your life after you read a solution in this book. It’s unhealthy to sit and read all the time. Play video games or complain about poli-tics on a blog instead. These things are far more recreational than reading.

How to Use This BookThis book follows a few conventions for using your phone, so pay attention!

The main way to interact with your phone is by using its touchscreen, which is the glassy part of the phone as it’s facing you. Buttons also adorn the Droid Bionic, all of which are explained in Part I of this book.

There are various ways to touch the screen, which are described in Chapter 3.

Chapter 4 discusses text input on the Droid Bionic, which involves using something called the onscreen keyboard. The Droid Bionic features two ver-sions of the onscreen keyboard: the traditional Multi-Touch keyboard and the newfangled Swype keyboard for superfast text entry. And, when you tire of typing, you can always input text on your Droid Bionic by dictating it.

This book directs you to do things on your phone by following numbered steps. Every step involves a specific activity, such as touching something on the screen; for example:

3. Choose Downloads.

This step directs you to touch the text or item on the screen labeled Downloads. You might also be told to do this:

3. Touch Downloads.

3 Introduction

Some phone options can be turned off or on, as indicated by a gray box with a green check mark in it, as shown in the margin. By touching the box on the screen, you add or remove the green check mark. When the green check mark appears, the option is on; otherwise, it’s off.

The bar codes in the margins are there to help you install recommended apps. To install the app, scan the bar code using special software you install on the Droid Bionic. Chapter 18 discusses how to add software to your phone, and in Chapter 26, I discuss how to use the Barcode Scanner app to read bar codes.

Foolish AssumptionsEven though this book is written with the gentle handholding required by anyone who is just starting out or who is easily intimidated, I have made a few assumptions.

Number one: I’m assuming that you’re still reading the introduction. That’s great. It’s much better than getting a snack right now or checking to ensure that you haven’t left the iron turned on. And, I congratulate you for not checking to see which cable TV network is hosting month-long reruns of Titanic. You’re a hero.

My biggest assumption: You have a Droid Bionic phone, by Motorola. Though you can use this book generically with any Android phone, it’s specific to the things the Droid Bionic can do.

In the United States, cellular service for the Droid Bionic is provided by Verizon. Many things that the Droid Bionic can do are based on the services Verizon offers, such as Visual Voice Mail or Backup Assistant, even though I don’t have much to say about those features in this book.

I also assume that you have a computer, either a desktop or laptop. The computer can be a PC, or Windows, computer or a Macintosh. Oh, I suppose it could also be a Linux computer. In any event, I refer to your computer as “your computer” throughout this book. When directions are specific to a PC or Mac, the book says so.

Programs that run on the Droid Bionic are apps, which is short for applica-tions. A single program is an app.

4 Droid Bionic For Dummies

Finally, this book assumes that you have a Google account, but if you don’t, Chapter 2 explains how to configure one. Do so. Having a Google account opens up a slew of useful features, information, and programs that make using your Droid Bionic phone more productive.

Still reading? Good.

How This Book Is OrganizedThis book has been sliced into six parts, each of which describes a certain aspect of the Droid Bionic or how it’s used.

Part I: A Bionic PhoneThis part of the book serves as your introduction to the Droid Bionic. Chapters cover setup and orientation and familiarize you with how the phone works. Part I is a good place to start — plus, you discover things in this part that aren’t obvious from just guessing how the phone works.

Part II: Yes, It’s a PhoneNothing is more basic for a phone to do than make calls, which is the topic of the chapters in this part of the book. The Droid Bionic can make calls, receive calls, and serve as an answering service for calls you miss. It also manages the names of all the people you know and even those you don’t want to know but have to know anyway.

Part III: It’s More than Just a PhoneThe Droid Bionic is about more than just telephone communications. Part III of this book explores other ways you can use your phone to stay in touch with people, browse the Internet, check your e-mail, do your social network-ing, exchange text messages, and more.

Part IV: It Can Do What?This part of the book explores the nonphone things your phone can do. For example, your phone can find locations on a map, give you verbal driving directions, take pictures, shoot videos, play music, play games, and do all sorts of wonderful things that no one would ever think a phone can do. The chapters in this part of the book get you up to speed on those activities.

5 Introduction

Part V: Various and SundryThe chapters in this part of the book discuss a slate of interesting topics, from connecting the phone to a computer, using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth net-working, and taking the phone overseas and making international calls to customizing and personalizing your Droid Bionic and the necessary chores of maintenance and troubleshooting.

Part VI: The Part of TensFinally, this book ends with the traditional For Dummies The Part of Tens, where every chapter lists ten items or topics. For the Droid Bionic, the chap-ters include tips, tricks, shortcuts, and things to remember, plus a list of some of my favorite Droid Bionic phone apps.

Icons Used in This Book

This icon flags useful, helpful tips or shortcuts.

This icon marks a friendly reminder to do something.

This icon marks a friendly reminder not to do something.

This icon alerts you to overly nerdy information and technical discussions of the topic at hand. Reading the information is optional, though it may win you a pie slice in Trivial Pursuit.

Where to Go from HereThank you for reading the introduction. I can offer you no prize, other than the knowledge that you’re one of the few humans on the planet to do so.

6 Droid Bionic For Dummies

Follow these instructions now: Start reading the rest of the book — but not the whole thing, and especially not in order. Observe the table of contents and find something that interests you. Or, look up your puzzle in the index. When these suggestions don’t cut it, just start reading Chapter 1.

My e-mail address is dgookin@wambooli.com. Yes, that’s my real address. I reply to all e-mail I receive, and you get a quick reply if you keep your ques-tion short and specific to this book. Although I enjoy saying Hi, I cannot answer technical support questions, resolve billing issues, or help you troubleshoot your phone. Thanks for understanding.

You can also visit my web page for more information or as a diversion: www.wambooli.com.

Enjoy this book and your Droid Bionic!

Part IA Bionic Phone

In this part . . .

T he word bionic popped into existence back in the 1960s. It combines the words biologic and

electronic. Perhaps the best-known use of the word was in the 1970s TV show The Six Million Dollar Man, which featured a half-human, half-robot, half-actor as the main character. It’s a friendly, happy term, as opposed to the word cyborg, which is laced with evil intent.

Whether truly bionic or cybernetic, your new Droid Bionic cell phone is a thing to behold. It’s sleek, modern, and über-high-tech. Because of that, it will take some time and gentle handholding to get you going. This part of the book serves as an introduction between your biologic self and your electronic phone.

1Bionic Greetings

In This Chapter▶ Freeing the phone from its box▶ Installing the SIM card and battery▶ Charging the battery▶ Familiarizing yourself with the Droid Bionic▶ Obtaining optional accessories▶ Taking the phone with you▶ Keeping the phone in one place

I t’s taken years of painstakingly detailed observation, and truckloads of government grant money, but the consensus is finally in: Your new

cell phone works best when you take it out of the box. Further, there are a few steps you need to take to get oriented with the phone, find the important things, ignore the unimport-ant things, get up and running with the Droid Bionic. This chapter covers all this information in a cheerful, friendly manner.

LiberationSome people enjoy removing their new electronic gizmos from their boxes for the first time. It’s a ritual. There’s the gentle opening of the box, the care-ful peeling away of the plastic cling sheets, the eager assembling of various parts, and, finally, the delight of holding the thing in your hand. But it all starts with liberat-ing the device from its box.

10 Part I: A Bionic Phone

Looking in the boxYou find several items inside the Droid Bionic box, most of which are poten-tially useful. Even if you’ve already opened the box and strewn its contents across the table, take a few moments to locate and identify each of the follow-ing goodies:

✓ The Droid Bionic phone

✓ Papers, instructions, warranty, and perhaps the booklet titled Getting Started or even Inicio

✓ The phone’s battery, which might already be installed inside the phone

✓ The phone’s back (battery) cover, which also might already be on the phone

✓ The charger/data cable, which is basically a USB cable

✓ The charger head, which is a wall adapter for the charger/data cable

✓ The 4G LTE SIM card holder

The Droid Bionic may ship with a clingy, static, plastic cover over its screen. Other plastic, clingy things might be found on the back of the phone’s screen: first, a warning sticker over the rear microphone and then a tiny, plastic dot over the Motorola logo. The plastic thingies tell you where various features are located or how to install the battery. You can remove all the plastic, clingy sheets at this time.

In addition to the items described in the preceding list, you might have been given a bonus package of goodies from whoever sold you the phone. If the outfit is classy, you have a handy little tote bag with perhaps the Verizon logo on it. Inside the bag, you might find these items:

✓ A smart-looking, leatherette belt-clip phone holster

✓ A micro-USB car charger

✓ A car windshield mount

✓ Headphones

✓ Screen protectors

✓ A phone case

✓ A desktop dock or multimedia station

✓ Webtop application accessories (HD Station and Lapdock, for example)

✓ Even more random pieces of paper