Yep, this is about the baby tablet Amazon Kindle Fire, or Google Asus Nexus 7, or Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7? Or iPad Mini. I am being swamped with questions, often from “newbies”! Sometimes an offspring drops one off to a senior parent. We can expect an avalanche more at Christmas.
Welcome. These are the absolute best of computers. Once you get accustomed to them, you won’t want anything else.
The are like a housecat, always with you and your alarm clock, radio, and friend. It will be a great help to read a book an any given tablet.
You tap on the screen. How do you tap? You tab deliberately---don’t jab as if the screen were electrified. That jab is too quick. Then, a long-looong tap wiill do something else than a short tap. There are two types of taps, and there are swipes.
But where do you tap?
Look for::
. the menu(s) – three parallel lines or dots
.search. – a magnifying glass
.back – left or down arrow, also top left arrow
.home again – house
.3-d row of rectangles – go back where you have been beforeThat will get you around.
There will be another screen showing date, time, battery, and current activity. Slide down or up for it. Slide left or right for other screens.
Often there will be waste basket. Careful.
WHAT? You can’t read the print? Here is how:
There are at least four ways to zoom print, depending on the app. I can’t help it---in this country we do not believe in standard ways of doling things---that means regulations: You will need to use the one that works for any given app.
Number one: on any block of text tap twice
Number two: look for AAA and tap on the right size. – sometimes there is a slider
Number Three: go to settings and select the default font
Number Four – spread two fingers
Like the rain in England, you will get used to it.
It will take a while to get accustomed to the device. Only this morning I was in the exercise room and decided to go up to my computer to write this posting. I then stopped, picked up the Nexus, dictated it, and Emailed it to my home computer, using my email address.
You can set the screen to rotate or not to rotate. Different on different tablets. If rotating gives you a fit, install the Rotation app. Then, just start it---no need to configure it.
If looking for how to add a contact, use the Peoples app on Nexus, BUT other devices may use an app called Contacts or even Phone!!!
If all else goes wrong, usually reset by holding in the start button for half a minute. These systems are growing up, so that, if you have a mouse, the mouse motions are similar to the touch motions
Once you find the Amazon Kindle or Google Books icons, You can try reading a book by searching Amazon for “public domain” or “free kindle books” or by typing “free” into the Google Play Store search window.
Where you find an icon consisting of a grid of squares, tapping will get you to your archive of apps, which may be dragged to the main screen, or any other of the main screens right and left
It helps to organize your main apps. You can drag them to the main screen on top of each other so that all “Reading” apps are in one icon folder, etc. Do the same for Media, Communicating, Buying, and so on.
Other hurdles. If you want to transfer your DVDs for access to the Nexus, first load them into itTunes (download it for PC or Max), then iTunes will load and transfer them to memory as loaded and Amazon Cloud Player or Google Music will find them and put them on the cloud where accessible. ITunes needs to be told to use MP3. Get help to do this.
While I work this up further as I work with seniors, try these links:
Tap or Click for a Howto App
Tap or Click for a Guide
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