Nexus One™ For Dummies^®

Introduction

Well, I suppose it has come to this, a whole book about using a cellphone. Honestly, this is the first technology book I’ve written where the book itself is larger and weighs more than the technology I’m writing about. In fact, if you find this book’s content completely useless, you can carve out its pages and use the book as a handy carrying case for your Nexus One. I do believe, however, that this book has a lot more to offer you than a clever cellphone disguise.

I’m thankful that modern cellphones, or smartphones, let you easily make phone calls. Sure, they do other things, but most people are just too intimidated or bewildered to figure that stuff out. Phones now have so many features, and so many new ways to access them, that the mere thought of owning a phone as advanced as the Nexus One can make a typical mortal human flee in terror.

Relax. You have nothing to fear from the Nexus One, primarily because the book you have in your hands is designed to ease your anxiety and show you that you aren’t a cellphone dummy. Technology can be intimidating, but armed with the material in this book, you’ll be using your Nexus One to its fullest abilities in no time. Heck, you might even enjoy it.

About This Book

This book is a reference. I don’t intend for you to read it from cover to cover. Instead, you’ll find each chapter its own, self-contained unit covering a specific topic about using the Nexus One. Each chapter is further divided into sections representing tasks you perform with the phone or explaining how to get something done. Sample sections in this book include:

Typing on your phone

Receiving a new call when you’re on the phone

Understanding Google Voice

Taking a picture and sending it to Facebook

Turning your phone into a deejay

Getting a free app

Dialing an international number

Battery-saving tips

There’s nothing to memorize, no mysterious utterances, no animal sacrifices, and definitely no PowerPoint presentations. Instead, every section explains a topic as though it’s the first thing 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 philosophy is to help you look it up, figure it out, and get back to your life.

How to Use This Book

This book follows a few conventions for using the Nexus One. The main way you interact with your phone is by using the touch screen, the glassy part of the phone as it’s facing you. Buttons also adorn the Nexus One, all of which are explained in Part I of this book.

You have various ways to touch the screen, which are explained and named in Chapter 3.

Chapter 4 discusses text input on the Nexus One, which can either involve the onscreen keyboard or dictation. Whenever you’re told to input information into the phone, you use the onscreen keyboard or dictation (though dictation doesn’t work everywhere).

This book directs you to do things on your phone by following numbered steps. Each 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.

Some phone options can be turned off or on, as indicated by a gray box with a green check mark, 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.

Foolish Assumptions

Even 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. For example, I assume that you’re a human being and not merely a cleverly disguised owl.

My biggest assumption: You have a Nexus One phone from Google. Though this book can be used generically with any Android phone, it’s specific to the tasks the Nexus One can perform, and to all the special features added by Google to its very own phone.

I also assume that you have a computer, either a desktop or laptop. The computer can be a PC or Windows computer, or it can be 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 my directions are specific to a PC or Mac, I say so.

A program that runs on the Nexus One is an app, which is short for application.

Finally, this book doesn’t assume that you have a Google account, but having one already really helps. Information is provided in Chapter 2 about setting up a Google account — an important part of using a Nexus One; having an account opens up a slew of useful features, information, and programs that make using your Nexus One more productive.

How This Book Is Organized

This book has been sliced into six parts, each of which describes a certain aspect of the Nexus One or how it’s used.

Part I: Say Hello to Your New Phone

This part of the book serves as your introduction to the Nexus One. Chapters cover setup and orientation and familiarize you with how the phone works. This part is a good place to start because you’ll discover information that isn’t obvious from just guessing how the phone works.

Part II: Your Basic Phone

Nothing is more basic for a phone to do than make phone calls, which is the topic of the chapters in this part of the book. The Nexus One can make calls, receive calls, and serve as an answering service for calls you miss. It also manages all the people you know and even those you don’t want to know but have to know anyway.

Part III: Other Forms of Communication

The Nexus One is about more than just telephone communications. This part of the book explores other ways you can use your phone to stay in touch with people, the Internet, and other gizmos such as your desktop computer or a Bluetooth headset. Chapters in this part explain how to use the Nexus One for text messaging, sending and receiving e-mail, browsing the Web, using social networking sites, and setting up your phone for networking, among other things.

Part IV: O What Your Phone Can Do!

This part of the book explores those nonphone tasks that your Google phone can do. For example, it 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 believe that a phone can do. The chapters in this part of the book get you up to speed on those activities.

Part V: Off the Hook

The chapters in this part of the book discuss a slate of interesting topics, from taking the phone overseas and making international calls to customizing the phone and completing the necessary chore of maintenance and troubleshooting.

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Finally, this book ends with the traditional For Dummies Part of Tens, where each chapter lists ten items or topics. For the Nexus One, the chapters include tips, tricks, shortcuts, things to remember, and a list of some of my favorite Nexus One 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. The information is optional reading, though it may win you a round of Double Jeopardy.

Where to Go from Here

Start reading! Observe the table of contents and find something that interests you. Or, look up your question in the index. When those 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 question 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 Nexus One!

Please note that some special symbols used in this ePub may not display properly on all eReader devices. If you have trouble determining any symbol, please call Wiley Product Technical Support at 800-762-2974. Outside of the United States, please call 317-572-3993. You can also contact Wiley Product Technical Support at www.wiley.com/techsupport.

In this part . . .

Once upon a time, it wasn’t your phone. No, the phone belonged to The Phone Company. When you moved, you left the phone. When you bought a new house, The Phone Company gave you a new phone to use. It may seem terrible not to own your phone, but what’s truly terrible is having to get a new phone over and over again, often just to flee the oppressive tyranny of a cellular pricing plan.

Ho boy! Change has come, and it’s a good thing for you as a cellphone owner. You have in your possession one of the best phones ever, the Nexus One. It does a lot. I won’t fool you by saying that it’s uncomplicated and easy to use. Seriously, the Nexus One is such an advanced cellphone that it has been dubbed the superphone. This part of the book introduces you to the Nexus One, explaining some of the advanced complex information in as calm a manner as possible.