T-Mobile G1 for Dummies (ISBN - 0470393408)

340 Pages·2021·7.58 MB·English

Chris Ziegler
Associate Mobile Editor, Engadget

Learn to:
• Navigate the G1 interface, make phone
calls, view maps, and manage contacts

• Browse the Web via 3G and wireless
networks

• Install new applications from the
Android Market

• Synchronize your Gmail, calendar, and
contacts with Google’s servers

T-Mobile G1

™

Making Everything Easier!™

Open the book and find:

• What makes the G1 different

• How to make calls and send text
messages

• How Google services integrate
seamlessly with Android

• Tips for working with the touch
screen

• How to use the trackball, app
switcher, and Home button

• Suggestions for maintaining your
contacts and calendar

• How to buy music with Amazon
MP3 and load music you already
own

• How to install more memory

Chris Ziegler is Associate Mobile Editor at Engadget, a widely read Web
site ranked as the #4 site on the Internet by Technorati. Chris is a respected
expert on mobile platforms who writes daily news, reviews, and editorials
on the wireless industry.

$24.99 US / $29.99 CN / £16.99 UK

ISBN 978-0-470-39340-6

Computers/Hardware/Handheld

Go to dummies.com®

for more!

Make the most of the first-ever
Google phone — the amazing G1 —
with this fun and friendly advice

It hardly seems fair to call it a phone! Your G1 is also an
administrative assistant, a jukebox, a mobile office, and
several more things all rolled into one device. Don’t miss
out on a single cool feature — this book shows you how
to use all the great Google functions, play (and even buy)
music, browse the Web, add apps, and more.

• Living with an Android — find out about the Android
smartphone operating system and what it offers

• It’s QWERTY — learn your way around the G1’s keyboard,
buttons, and touch screen

• Connections — see how your G1 connects to both Wi-Fi networks
and T-Mobile’s high-speed network

• Surf’s up — surf the Web, download music and picture files, and
tweak browser settings

• Get Google-eyed — send and receive Gmail®, get where you’re
going with Google Maps™, and stay organized with Google
Calendar™

• Picture this — take photos, check out YouTube®, and fill your
phone with media

• To sync or not to sync — manage your e-mail and choose which
messages will be synced to your phone

• What else can it do? — shop the Android Market and discover
more cool apps for your G1

T-Mobile G1

™

Ziegler

spine=.672”

by Chris Ziegler

T-Mobile G1

™

FOR
DUMmIES

‰

T-Mobile G1™ For Dummies®

Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774

www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No 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
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Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley
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Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing 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 affi liates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission.
T-Mobile and T-Mobile G1 are trademarks of T-Mobile USA, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, 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-
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Library of Congress Control Number is available from the publisher upon request.

ISBN: 978-0-470-39340-6

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

Chris Ziegler is a mobile enthusiast who can rarely be spotted using the
same phone twice. Although his passions include driving, fl ying, motorcycling,
and pretty much anything that involves gasoline, he’s usually piloting
nothing more than his own computer as Associate Mobile Editor for the
technology blog Engadget. A native of Michigan, he currently lives in Chicago
with two Macs, two PCs, and a pile of portable gizmos taller than he.

Dedication

To my fantastic parents, Brenda and Zig, for being far more patient and
understanding than a son could ever ask a mother and father to be. I’d also
like to thank Ryan Block for taking a chance on an unknown who’d never
written a line of prose in his life; he put my career on a wild new path.

Acknowledgments

A world of thanks goes to Kyle Looper, my acquisitions editor, for reach-
ing out to Engadget to make this book happen; to Susan Pink, my editor, for
reminding me that readers don’t always know what I’m talking about when I
refer to it (and for so much more); to Andrew Hilsher, my technical editor,
for making sure I know what the heck I’m talking about; to Peter Rojas for
connecting me with Kyle; and to everyone at Wiley Publishing who’s helped
to put T-Mobile G1 For Dummies on the bookshelf. It’s been quite a ride.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form
located at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer
Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions and Editorial

Project Editor: Susan Pink

Acquisitions Editor: Kyle Looper

Copy Editor: Susan Pink

Technical Editor: Andrew Hilsher

Editorial Manager: Jodi Jensen

Media Development Assistant Producers:
Angela Denny, Josh Frank, Kit Malone, and
Shawn Patrick

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant
(www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Erin Smith

Layout and Graphics: Reuben W. Davis,
Ronald Terry, Christine Williams

Proofreaders: Context Editorial Services,
Amanda Graham

Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC.

Special Help: Ronald Terry

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Contents at a Glance

Introduction ................................................................ 1

Part I: Introducing Android and the T-Mobile G1 ........... 7

Chapter 1: Google: What’s Good in Your PC Is Good in Your Pocket .........................9
Chapter 2: Powering On and Getting Around ...............................................................17
Chapter 3: The Home Screen and Status Bar ...............................................................31
Chapter 4: Making and Receiving Calls and Text Messages .......................................43

Part II: Putting the “Google” in Google Android ........... 67

Chapter 5: Searching .......................................................................................................69
Chapter 6: Using Gmail and Other E-Mail Services ......................................................75
Chapter 7: Navigating with Google Maps ....................................................................101
Chapter 8: Contacts .......................................................................................................121
Chapter 9: Calendar .......................................................................................................133

Part III: Making the G1 Part of Your Life .................. 147

Chapter 10: Browsing the Web .....................................................................................149
Chapter 11: Working with and Taking Pictures .........................................................171
Chapter 12: Instant Messaging .....................................................................................181
Chapter 13: Rock Out with the G1’s Music Player .....................................................197
Chapter 14: Best of the Rest: Alarm Clock, Calculator, and YouTube ....................215
Chapter 15: The Settings Application .........................................................................227

Part IV: Adding Software and Media......................... 255

Chapter 16: Buying Music with Amazon MP3.............................................................257
Chapter 17: Filling Your Phone with Media ................................................................269
Chapter 18: The Android Market .................................................................................277

Part V: The Part of Tens ........................................... 291

Chapter 19: Ten Great Android Applications .............................................................293
Chapter 20: Ten Accessories for Your G1 ...................................................................297
Chapter 21: Ten Great Sites for Android Information ...............................................301
Chapter 22: Ten Must-Play Android Games................................................................305

Index ...................................................................... 309

Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................. 1

About This Book ..............................................................................................2
Conventions Used in This Book .....................................................................2
What You’re Not to Read ................................................................................2
Foolish Assumptions .......................................................................................3
How This Book Is Organized ..........................................................................3
Part I: Introducing Android and the T-Mobile G1 ..............................3
Part II: Putting the “Google” in Google Android .................................4
Part III: Making the G1 a Part of Your Life...........................................4
Part IV: Adding Software and Media ....................................................4
Part V: The Part of Tens ........................................................................4
Icons Used in This Book .................................................................................5
Where to Go from Here ...................................................................................5

Part I: Introducing Android and the T-Mobile G1 ............ 7

Chapter 1: Google: What’s Good in Your PC Is
Good in Your Pocket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Unveiling Android the Google Way .............................................................10
What Android Is (and Is Not) .......................................................................10
The dumbphone ...................................................................................11
The smartphone ...................................................................................11
And then came Android and the G1 ..................................................12
Recognizing What Makes Android Unique .................................................13
Adding the Hardware Component ...............................................................14
The Open Handset Alliance ................................................................14
Why the T-Mobile G1 is important.....................................................15

Chapter 2: Powering On and Getting Around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Android Anatomy ..........................................................................................17
Touch-sensitive display ......................................................................20
The trackball ........................................................................................21
Turning on the G1 for the First Time ..........................................................21
Feels Like the First Time: Resetting Your G1
and Deleting Its Memory ...........................................................................22
Changing the Battery ....................................................................................23
Your First Phone Call ....................................................................................24
Call Handling ..................................................................................................27

T-Mobile G1 For Dummies
viii

Chapter 3: The Home Screen and Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

The Home Screen: Not Just for Checking the Time Anymore ..................31
Applications, shortcuts, and widgets ................................................32
The default layout ................................................................................32
Getting around the house ...................................................................33
Making your house a Home ................................................................34
The Status Bar: Not Just for Checking Signal Strength Anymore ............38
Notifi cations .........................................................................................40
Notifi cation icons .................................................................................41
Beyond icons: The expanded view ....................................................42

Chapter 4: Making and Receiving Calls and Text Messages . . . . . . .43

The Dialer .......................................................................................................44
The Dialer tab .......................................................................................45
The Call Log tab ...................................................................................47
The Contacts tab ..................................................................................49
The Favorites tab .................................................................................50
Controlling the Volume .................................................................................52
Bossing Your Phone around with the Voice Dialer ...................................53
Using Wired and Bluetooth Headsets .........................................................54
Wired headsets ....................................................................................55
Pairing and using Bluetooth headsets ..............................................55
Unpairing Bluetooth headsets............................................................57
The Messaging Application ..........................................................................58
Sending and receiving text (SMS) messages ....................................59
Sending and receiving multimedia (MMS) messages ......................61
Managing threads ................................................................................63
Messaging settings ...............................................................................65

Part II: Putting the “Google” in Google Android ........... 67

Chapter 5: Searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Searching the Internet ...................................................................................69
Searching from the Home screen.......................................................70
Searching from the Browser ...............................................................71
Starting the search...............................................................................72
Search suggestions ..............................................................................72
Searching Your Contacts ..............................................................................73
Searching for Your Applications .................................................................74

Chapter 6: Using Gmail and Other E-Mail Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

Gmail ...............................................................................................................76
Retrieving new e-mail ..........................................................................77
Reading and working with e-mail .......................................................79