Android Smartphone Basics Everyone Should Know

Sims and SD cards
These are often confused with each other and since they have very different functions it is important to know the difference.

A SIM card is provided by your phone company (Verizon, Tracfone, AT&T), usually for free, and contains information such as your phone number and contacts. It is usually quite small and white in color.

A micro SD card can be used in most smartphones and is used to store things like photos, music, videos, and documents. Micro SD cards can be purchased almost anywhere, including Walmart, CVS, and even eBay. These cards come in sizes like 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128 GB.

If your phone has a removable back, the SIM and SD card slots can be found by removing the back of the phone. Otherwise, a small drawer located on the top or side of the phone contains the SIM and SD cards. A special key is required to open this drawer and should have been included with the phone purchase.

Starting screen
The home screen is similar to a computer desktop. It’s the main screen, the one you’ll use the most, and your phone returns to it every time you press the home button. More screens can be added to the right or left of the home screen and can be accessed by swiping in any direction.

Apps installed by Play Store will automatically appear on your home screen. It is also possible to drag apps from the app drawer to the home screen or from one screen to another.

Notification
Your smartphone uses applications to perform thousands of functions. These apps like to send notifications to keep us updated. YouTube, for example, will notify you about a video you can enjoy that you just uploaded. Whereas a weather app will send weather related notifications and your messages app will show you the messages as you receive them. Swipe the notices to the right to delete them or click “delete all”.

notification bar
The notification bar is located at the top of the screen and typically displays the time, current battery charge, and Wi-Fi/data strength. The notification bar can be extended by sliding down. When extended, quick settings like WiFi, data, location, and Bluetooth are revealed.

drawing application
The app drawer is where you can find and launch any of the apps on your phone. It can be accessed from the bottom of your home screen (or any you’ve added) in one of two ways:

Clicking on the (usually white) circle icon with various holes or dots
swipe up

Home, Back and Recent keys
The home key will return you to the home screen from any screen or app and is located in the bottom center of all smartphones.

The Back key will take you back to the previous screen. If you reply twice, you will exit an application.

The recent key reveals all open applications. Swipe apps to the right to exit and close or click “close all” to close all open apps. This is quite important, as not closing an app properly will significantly slow down your phone; especially after several are left open.