If you’re new to Android, Chrome, or anything related to Google, it can sometimes be a little difficult getting yourself familiar with the platforms. That’s why we created Basics!
Whether you’re looking for help changing your wallpaper, adding apps to your home screen, removing apps from your home screen, or just want to know how to set an alarm, we’ve got you covered.
All of our Basics guides can be found below, in the order they were published.
The number of retailers now accepting NFC forms of payments is growing every day which means there are more opportunities to use Andriod Pay to pay for things. Before you head to the store, though, you should make sure to have your credit or debit card set up in the application.
One of the issues with gift cards is that it’s hard to keep track of them — not to mention how easy it is to forget to take them with you to the store. With Android Pay, you can add your different gift cards to your mobile wallet and have them only a couple of taps away.
Store loyalty programs can be great for getting discounts on your purchases or getting points for eating out at a restaurant, but who really wants to carry around all of those cards with them everywhere they go? With Android Pay, you can quickly add your loyalty cards to your mobile wallet and carry everything on your phone.
One of the trends in today’s technology is the ability to remove the blue tints from the screens that we are staring at all day long. The reason for this is partially because studies have shown that we have a hard time falling asleep after our eyes have been subject to the blue light. With Android 7.1 shipping on the Pixel, Google has included a feature called Night Light which will tint the screen red and cut out some of the harmful blues…
You now have the Pixel in hand but how exactly do you show your friends that really cool thing on your phone’s screen? Thankfully, Google makes it extremely easy to capture your device’s screen and share it with the world.
Google Photos has a smart “Assistant” feature — not to be confused with Google Assistant — which will take your photos and videos and occasionally create an artistic video, collage, or even a .gif. While it does this automatically, it doesn’t always do it with the photos and videos that you want it to. Thankfully, you can create an album, collage, animation, and movie right from the Photos app on your device.
Google is touting that their new Pixel phones have a better camera than any other smartphone currently on the market. With its 12.3 MP sensor, you’re capable of taking breathtaking 4K videos, but only if you have the settings actually turned on…
Google launched its music streaming service, Google Play Music, at I/O 2013 and has since improved it by including YouTube Red. With the $10 all-access individual plan, you get unlimited music and an ad-free experience on YouTube, which can be an awesome deal. But Google’s 10 device authorization limit for streaming music can sometimes get in the way…
With the phones in our pockets getting larger cameras that are capable of taking higher resolution images and videos, it is no wonder why people are running out of storage space. Thankfully, with Google Photos, it is possible to backup your favorite pictures and videos and then have them automatically deleted directly off of your device…
Expand
Expanding
Close
Having a camera built into the devices we carry makes it possible to take dozens of photos every day. While these can be selfies, pictures of your latte, or pictures of your loved ones, it’s always good to know that you have your photo memories saved.
With Google Photos, you can automatically back up all the pictures you take to the cloud — but it’s also important to have all of the folders with your pictures in them turned on so that they’re protected if you ever lose your phone…
When you are setting up a new Android phone, the Google Play Store on some devices has a setting enabled that will automatically add icons for all newly installed applications to your home screen. This can be a nuisance when you are installing all of your favorite apps at once but, thankfully, it’s easy to disable…
One of the best ways to keep your Android phone or tablet secure is by making sure all of your applications are updated. By doing this, you’re helping to eliminate vulnerabilities within apps that could be exploited and used to harm your device in one form or another. Additionally, by having automatic updates turned on, you are sure to get the newest features as soon as they roll out…
One of the most-used customization features in Android is the ability to change your device’s launcher. This allows you to customize the look and feel of your home screen, app icons, as well as functionality of the app drawer and folders on your device. This comes especially in handy when you don’t like your device’s customized skin — like TouchWiz on Samsung devices or EMUI on Huawei devices…
One of the oldest features that made Android stand out compared to the competition in its younger days was the fact that users could install third-party keyboards. While this wasn’t a huge thing for most people, it did lend itself to those who enjoyed Android for its customization features. In this tutorial, I’m going to walk you through finding and setting up a 3rd party keyboard on any Android device…
Google and Udacity have today announced the Android Basics Nanodegree, a new program to help people — namely, those with no previous development experience — learn the basics of creating applications for Android. The series of courses is developed by Udacity in collaboration with Google and allows students to work within the Android Studio at their own pace…