The most common questions about Android
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We tried to make the recommendations as universal as possible. But Android phones there are thousands, many of them have shells modified by manufacturers, differing in appearance and capabilities. This material uses pure Android devices of the Nexus series as a reference. But it is quite possible that if your gadget does not have the same menu items as described or there are no settings, then the task can still be solved in a similar way.
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1. How to add a photo to a contact?
Open "Contacts" in the application menu and find the contact you want to assign a photo to in the list. Go to it, and then turn on the editing mode with the pen icon. If the system does not display fields for editing, then this contact belongs to the service (Skype, Facebook) and cannot be edited.
Find a grey square with a human outline among the fields, tap on it. You will be offered two ways to add a photo — choose from the "Gallery" or take a picture. We prefer the first option, and in the second case, the camera interface will open.
Go to the gallery, select an album and an image. Android will offer to cut it and, after confirmation, assign it to the contact. The thumbnail of the picture will replace the grey placeholder very quickly.
2. How to set a ringtone for a contact?
There are several easy ways to assign a personal ringtone to a contact. The most obvious is by repeating the steps described above, open the contact editing menu, find the "Melody" field in the list of contact parameters and select the appropriate audio file. Android allows you to set any song in a popular format as a ringtone. You can pre-cut it in one of the Google Play apps (for example, Ringtone Maker) or use as is.
Setting a ringtone for a contact from the player is an alternative way. Open the Android music player, find a suitable song and briefly hold your finger on it — it will open in the menu, one of the options of which will be "Assign to contact". Next, all you need is to select a subscriber from the list.
3. How to add a contact to the black list?
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The ability to create blacklists is a very important quality of smartphones, but out of the box this feature is not always present. If you are lucky enough to be among the lucky ones and the Black List utility (may be called differently) is on the list of applications, then it will not be difficult to cope with it. Otherwise, you can get it on Google Play.
Without exception, all filtering programs work on a simple principle — they process incoming calls according to user-defined rules. For example, the phone will always say “Busy” to selected numbers or a group of contacts, and the call of a very annoying fan will instantly be reset. Depending on the application, the list of such rules and additional options can vary greatly. Blacklists are activated automatically at certain times of the day or on days of the week, they block not only calls, but also SMS, I allow you to receive calls only from the whitelist, record messages on the answering machine and perform many other useful actions.
All basic The following free programs have the potential: Blacklist , BlackList Ultimate, Blacklist.
4. How do I reset my screen lock pattern?< /h2>
Android provides several ways to protect your device from access by unauthorized persons — locking with a password, pin code, pattern, or face control. Let's say you chose a graphic key and somehow managed to forget the picture. What to do?
It's very simple. Enter the wrong code five times in a row. The system will issue a warning and block access to the device for 15 seconds. But besides this, an inscription will appear at the bottom of the screen: “Forgot the graphic key?”. Click on it and see two fields: e-mail and password. We enter the details of the Google account that is linked to your device, and we get access to the system. The graphic code has been reset, now you can install a new one or use a different screen lock method. Please note that you should do this only if you remember exactly the password and mail to which the phone is linked.
5. How to install the application on a memory card?
Usually for smartphones about 2 GB of available memory for a variety of content, the rest is supposed to be stored on an SD card. By default, applications are placed in internal memory, quickly clogging it to capacity.
Android itself will inform you about the need to clear memory, cache or move software to the card with a notification in the status bar. But you can not wait for this and do everything in advance. Open the settings, and in them the menu "Applications". All available programs are represented by three lists: "All", "Third Party" and "Working". We are interested in third parties, and the largest ones. Press the options button and select the “Arrange by size” option.
For example, it is desirable to get rid of the Asphalt 8 game. Click on it, go to the menu, select the “To memory card” option, wait for the process to complete. In terms of using the game, nothing has changed, it just changed its location.
Only those applications can be moved to the memory card, the creators of which have provided such an opportunity. Often, this is a justified limitation and system utilities are hard blocked in the internal memory, disabling which affects the operation of the device. And they usually take up little space. You can only bypass the ban using special programs with root access.
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6. How can I disable data transfer and save money on my account?
The advice is useful to those users whose operator's tariff plan does not include a large amount of free megabytes of the Internet. Android itself and many network-based programs keep updating data, which can hit your wallet.
You can control this aspect of the device's behavior through the "Data transfer" menu in the system settings. At the very top is the switch "Mob. traffic" — by disabling it, you will prohibit the device from accessing the Internet via mobile networks. Wi-Fi internet will still work. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. From the same menu, a limit on mobile traffic is set (very convenient if your operator gives, say, 40 MB per day for free), a warning about reaching a certain level is turned on, and a restriction on the background mode is activated (Android stops accessing the network when the screen blocked).
7. Is there Internet access?
Almost all Android devices have a Wi-Fi module, so it can be argued that they “have Internet”. And when the device is within range of the Wi-Fi network, the system offers to connect to it. If this did not happen, but you know that there is Wi-Fi in this place, take a look at the settings menu of the same name. When the function is enabled, the system shows a list of available networks, to connect it will be enough to select the appropriate one and enter a password when prompted.
In addition to Wi-Fi, cellular module (smartphones naturally have it anyway). Typically, such models contain the designations in the name: "3G" , "LTE" or "CDMA". The first two are almost guaranteed to allow you to install an operator card and be online anytime and anywhere within the coverage area. The speed will depend on the level and stability of the signal, as well as the type of network — EDGE is rather slow and gives noticeable delays, 3G allows you to watch online movies, LTE provides the highest speeds to date, but is not yet supported in Ukraine.
8. How to set up mobile internet?
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If you have a brand-name phone or tablet, you don't have to configure anything. As soon as you insert an operator card into the device, service messages with Internet settings profiles will be automatically sent to it. You only need to agree to the installation, everything will work automatically.
If something went wrong, check for the presence of settings profiles in the system. Open the “Data transfer” menu of the settings, tap on the options there (the button with three vertical dots) or press the physical options button and select “Mobile network access points”. If there are profiles, but there is no Internet, you should contact the operator's support service. The problem may be with the settings of your specific gadget, or the Internet is not provided by the operator for some reason.
How to connect 3G Internet?
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| You can check if your smartphone has a 3G module using our catalog |
Like and in the case of the usual mobile Internet, no complicated settings need to be carried out. As soon as you insert the operator card into the device, select and connect the appropriate tariff plan, service messages with the necessary Internet settings profiles will be automatically sent to the phone. You only need to agree to the installation. If for some reason this does not happen, then contact your operator to obtain the necessary settings.
But it is important to check several parameters:
1. Make sure that your device has a built-in 3g module. To do this, find it in our catalog and pay attention to the "Communication standards" item in the description, if the device supports 3G, then this will be indicated. Also in the respective directories you can find all modern tablets and smartphones with 3G.
2. Turn on the 3G mode in the settings. To do this, go to: Settings / Advanced settings / Mobile networks / Network type / 3G.
3. Activate the ability to transfer mobile data in the settings: Settings / Data transfer / Mobile data.
4. Make sure your carrier's data plan supports 3G services. You can check this on the official website of the operator in the description of the tariff plan you have chosen or clarify it when communicating with the operator.
5. Owners of phones with 2 SIM-cards you should pay attention to the following nuance: connection to the Internet via 3G is usually performed with the first SIM- cards. Accordingly, you most likely need to activate this service for the number of the main SIM card.
sell it. We go to the system settings, the menu "Restore and reset", the item "Reset settings". Android will give a list of data that will be deleted during the reset process, and at the same time offer to clear the memory card as well. We confirm our readiness to return the device to a new state by clicking on the "Reset Phone / Tablet PC" button, and then again with the "Reset All" button. Please note that it will not be possible to restore information without using special software, so you need to double-check whether all important data is saved. 10. Switching the language on the device and keyboard, alternative keyboards
Android is a multilingual system, so the Russian (Ukrainian) language is present even in devices that were not originally oriented to our markets. The set system language determines the localization of the shell, preinstalled and custom applications, and the default keyboard. You can set the language in the "Language and input" menu of the system settings. The first item of this menu is called "Language", it determines the system localization.
Having set a convenient interface language, it is worth setting up the keyboard. "Android Keyboard" is active by default, this is the main way to enter text. By clicking on the settings icon, you can adjust many settings, the main one being "Input Languages". At a minimum, tick Russian in addition to the original English.
Android also allows you to use keyboards from third-party developers, you can find them on Google Play. Take the handy free GO Keyboard as an example. The new keyboard will include an assistant to make it easier to set up. In our case, we first need to check the keyboard in the "Language and input" menu, and then switch to this input method in the menu that appears. In the process of using the keyboard, the application may offer to correct some aspects of the work or download additional language packs.
11. How to put your ringtone on SMS?
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Go to "Messages", press the left touch button, which is under the phone screen , and go to settings. At the very bottom of this menu, you can find an item to set the melody. Let's make a reservation right away that it will contain only a list of melodies initially preinstalled on the phone, from which you can choose any.
If you want to install your own melody for SMS, then for this you will have to create the media folder, the audio subfolder in it, and the notifications folder in it. Copy the desired ringtones there, after which they will be available in the settings. In the same way, you can use your own ringtones for other functions, including:
media/audio/alarms — ringtones for alarms;
media/audio/notifications — ringtones for notifications (SMS, MMS, mail);
media/audio/ringtones — ringtones;
media/audio/ui — interface sounds.
12. What to do if the phone does not recognize the SIM card?
A rather popular problem among users who often have to change SIM cards in order to use several different phone numbers on one device. More often it turns out that after the next reconnection, the card simply does not fully come into contact with the contacts or, in other words, “lays down crookedly”. To eliminate this, you need to remove it again and connect it again. If the card is under the battery, then try pressing it down with a piece of paper — this often helps.
Also pay attention to the card itself, its shape and condition. It is likely that due to misuse it was slightly deformed — with due care in handling it can be returned to its original flat shape on its own. If pollution is visible on the map, then they must be carefully erased.
13. How to control the shutter sound while using the camera?
usually make a characteristic shutter sound similar to a click. But quite often there are situations when you still need to silently take a photo. There are several solutions to this.
The simplest is to turn off the shutter sound in the camera settings (camera settings, item "Other", sub-item "Shutter sound"), if such an option is provided. But it is only provided very rarely, since in some countries the presence of such a click is required at the legislative level.
In some cases, another simple trick helps out — putting the phone in “silent mode”. For other cases, you can use special applications, for example — "Silent Camera".
14. How do I download a file, music or photo to a memory card?
Most Android phones and tablets come with a pre-installed file manager that gives the user access to files and folders for example, how it is implemented on computers in the Windows operating environment. In the phone menu, it often has the name “My files”. If you do not have such a programme, then you can always download it from Google Play: File Explorer , File Manager (Explorer) or another.
Launch the application and go to the phone's memory (depending on the selected file manager, it may be displayed as "phone", "tablet" or "/storage"). Then go to the folder with the files you want to move. Select the files you want, click the application menu and use the "Move" option. The system will prompt you to choose where exactly they will be moved. Most file managers mark the memory card as "SD", "External Memory" or "/sdcard" — into one of these folders and move the files we need.
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