This is the second article in the Beginnerstech guide, the first being Meet Your Android. So Getting Started with Android, yes let’s do that.
Break open the box
Open up the box with your new Android device on a clean surface. Take a good whiff of that New Gadget smell. Next, extract your phone and its wall charging cord or USB cord. According to the owner’s manual, you should connect your device to a charger plugged into the wall before turning it on. But who’s kidding who—you want to see what’s inside this big new purchase. I say you’re fine to do so, but make sure your device is plugged in while you run through the initial setup. Later, before you start carrying it around, give it least one overnight charge. It’s recommended by most websites that you don’t let your battery go below 25━30% but after the completing first charge let your phone discharge completely this is generally accepted as good practice, allowing true readings of the battery, in other words showing you have 65% when infact you only have 40%
You’ll also want to make sure you’re somewhere with a Wi-Fi network you can connect to. The Google login/setup process can work over a cellular (3G/4G) signal, but it’s much faster and less battery draining with Wi-F.
Once you’re plugged in and have a good connection, press and hold your phone’s power button for a bit more than a second. The power button is not in a standard location, but it’s generally on the right side of the top of the phone, or near the top of the right side. The notable exception is the Motorola Xoom tablet, which has the power button on the back of the device!, hard to imagine more than one Motorola employee agreeing to that idea.
Your should see a logo of some kind appear on your Android when it’s powering up: Samsung, Motorola, etc. The very first boot-up of your phone can take some time, and might involve a few moments when the pretty animation very briefly freezes. Give it time, and only power off the device if nothing has happened for five or more minutes, and quickly clicking the power/wake button doesn’t restore a blank screen. When you’re done booting up, you’ll be greeted by Android’s bright green mascot, who wants you to touch him to get started with your device.
Logging into a Google Account
The first thing you’ll see is a long license agreement, which basically states that you won’t hold Google liable if something goes wrong with your phone, and that you understand how Google will use data from your phone usage. After you’ve hit “Next,” you’ll be asked to either create a Google Account or sign into an existing account.
Setting up your Google and other Email Accounts
If you’ve ever signed up for and used Gmail, Google Docs (now Google Drive), Picasa,, or any of Google’s services, you have a Google Account, one you can link to your phone. If you have a Gmail account, you can enter your email address as the username (you can skip the “@gmail.com” portion if you’d like), and your Gmail password as your Google/Android password. if you signed up for a Google service using an existing email address (“something@yahoo.com” or “someone@hotmail.com”), that full email address is your Google username, and your password is whatever you set up with Google.
Can’t remember your Google Account details? Start up your desktop or laptop computer, head to google.com/accounts, and click the “Can’t access your account?” link under the sign-in boxes. You’ll be asked a few security and verification questions, then you’ll be allowed to reset your password from an emailed link.
Don’t have any kind of Google account? You could create one from your phone, but it’s better to create a new account on your main computer and then set up your phone with it. You’ll have the chance (and space) to properly set up account recovery options (and you’ll likely set up a more secure password if you know where all the keys are).
On some Android devices, you’ll also be offered a chance to set up other email accounts, Microsoft Exchange access, or social network logins, so that they are up and running from the get-go. These steps are optional, and easy to pull off later, if you’d prefer.
Setting up Gmail with your own email As stated earlier, if you have a tried-and-true Hotmail, Yahoo!, or other email address that you don’t want to give up, you can use it to create a Google account, but you might want to consider importing it to Gmail, or switching over, to get more out of your Android phone. Google offers a very useful “Switch to Gmail” guide. If you’ve got more than one account you want to access through Gmail (and its Android app), you can add more than one Gmail account or you can use a Lifehacker step-by-step on consolidating multiple email addresses with Gmail, written by Gina Trapani.
Now it’s time to sign in.
If you have the password right, you’ll see a screen showing that your phone is “Signing In” and that it’s “Communicating with Google’s Servers.” If it takes longer than five minutes, go ahead and hit the “Cancel” button, then get somewhere with better cellular coverage or a strong Wi-Fi connection. But if all goes well, you’ll see that “Your Google account is now linked to this phone,” and get some text providing a really basic introduction to features like the “Status bar,” by which Google actually means the Notification bar.
If you’re using a newer Android phone, you may also be asked to allow Google to back up your phone settings. That means your wallpaper preference, certain application settings, and other data. You’ll probably be getting another phone in a year or two, and if it’s an Android phone, it makes sense to keep this checked.
Syncing services
You’ll also be asked during this setup process to decide on a few options related to Google’s location services. By default, the boxes are checked and your phone will send its location—gathered from your Wi-Fi network, GPS device—to Google in the background. Google uses that data for determining how fast traffic is flowing on major streets, among other uses. Running down the list you will see:
App Data, Calendar, Chrome, Contacts, Gmail, Google Photos, Play Books, Play Magazines, Play Movies, Play Music, Google+, Google + Auto-Backup, Internet, People Details, Picasa and finally Tasks.
Personally I have the ones in red turned off as they don’t really interest me.
If you’re cool with what Google wants to peek into, leave the boxes checked; if not, you won’t suffer all that much for your privacy, but consider keeping at least the second box checked.
Finally, some carriers add a few other options for account integration just before the setup process is done:
Linking Social Media Accounts
Again, you can easily skip this step and set up these accounts later in your phone’s settings, but it’s fairly easy to do from this screen, too, while you’re in a “Here’s my password” mood.
Hit the “Finish Setup” button, and you’ll arrive at your phone’s “lock” screen—it’s what you’d see if you woke up/turned on your phone after a few minutes in your pocket. On a new stock Android phone (pictured below at left) and some Motorola models, you’ll see the time, date, and battery amount charged on the screen. In the upper-right corner, you’ll see the cellular carrier your phone’s detecting, but don’t freak out if it’s not what you expect—that can change depending on your geographic location. In the lower third of the screen, you’ll see lock and speaker icons. Swipe the lock toward the right to head to your phone’s home screen. You could also swipe the speaker icon toward the left if you wanted to mute your phone’s sounds at the movies or other quiet moments, then swipe it again to turn sound back on.
On phones with an older version of Android, you’ll see a menu similar to the one below at right, showing the same kind of basics. Hit the Menu key—which either says “Menu” on it, or looks like a short stack of horizontal bars, to head to the Home screen.
After you’ve got your phone set up and unlocked, it’s time for the fun to begin. Not that reading about email setup and account privacy wasn’t fun, am I right?
Have fun
There are plenty of guides we will be doing like Android – The Home Screen, and that’s precisely what we’re covering next.
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