# Looking for an Android user guide



## calvin-c (May 17, 2006)

I've found lots of tutorials for developing Android apps, but not for administering Android. That's probably because it used to be pretty much phones but now it's moving into tablet PC's. (Although PC is technically a misnomer when the tablet runs Android.)

Can anybody suggest a good tutorial for learning to manage Android? I'm not really interested in developing for it, but my wife keeps asking me how she can do this or that-and I don't know how. (An example which I did learn how to do was change the network so it would connect both at work & at home.)

Thanks.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Most of what you can do is all in the settings app. If you need to know something specific just ask. Think this question would be better served in our Phone category. You can click on the report link and ask to have this thread moved to ther.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

There's no "generic" version of Android on a tablet. The Honeycomb interface on the Xoom and Galaxy Tab is vastly different from the cheap no-name Gingerbread tablets. The Barnes & Noble Nook and Kindle Fire each have their own version of Android and function very differently.


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## calvin-c (May 17, 2006)

I'm really not interested in Phone issues so it seems to me that 'Other OS' is the correct category. An administrator may decide differently, of course.

What I want is to know-not know where to ask, but simply to know. Perhaps it's as you say that pretty much everything you can do is under settings. If so then Android seems to be pretty limited & probably not ready to be considered a real OS.


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## calvin-c (May 17, 2006)

Although often listed as tablets the Nook & Fire are eReaders, IMO. As such I'd expect them to be different-but what you say about the Xoom & Tab surprises me. I wonder if I can rent different tablets to try them out? I'll have to look into that.

Thanks.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

The Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire are not eReaders. They're tablets. They run apps, play music and movies, _and_ can be used to read books. The Nook Simple Touch and Kindle Touch and Keyboard models are eReaders.

Android is very much a fragmented operating system. Every tablet and phone has a slightly different interface, and there are huge differences between Gingerbread and Honeycomb. There are also significant differences between first-gen Froyo Google sanctioned tablets and the no-name cheap tablets running Android that often don't even have the Android Market available.

You can download a generic Android Gingerbread user guide here, but there are definitely going to be differences on your device. 
http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=182077


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

calvin-c said:


> If so then Android seems to be pretty limited & probably not ready to be considered a real OS.


So now we have to define what an OS is?

I don't think you can look at a Phone and say you need to be able to use it like your PC. I think that is what you are thinking. You don't need all the things on a phone that you need on a pc and vice versa. Most of the things you will want to do on your phone will probably require an app.


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## calvin-c (May 17, 2006)

Squashman, as much as I respect you I do think there's more to an OS than settings. File management for one thing-it might be my paranoia but I just don't expect all apps to manage themselves-particularly when it comes to uninstalling them. Good ones do, but I don't expect that all the apps will be good-and if the OS version changes then that might cause even more problems. (Think how screwy things can get when an app written for 32-bit tries to install/uninstall on a 64-bit system.)

JMO but if you're going to have a category for Other OS then yes, I do think you need some sort of definition of what constitutes an OS-but if you want that to include Phone' OS then that's OK, the 'definition' that excludes those is JMO. I definitely agree about the difference between a phone & a PC though-I'm just expecting that tablets will be more akin to a PC. Maybe experience will prove me wrong.

DoubleHelix: It seems to me that the difference between Gingerbread & Honeycomb is to be expected, just as it was expected that there would be a difference (in terms of system administration at least) between Windows XP and Windows 7. I may have misunderstood what you said about the Xoom and Tab-I understood you to mean that the same major version of Android had been implemented differently on them. And I definitely appreciate the link-now if I could only find a similar one for Honeycomb. Thanks.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

You didn't misunderstand me, but I think you're misunderstanding the tablet market in general.

Different hardware manufacturers customize the same version of Android. It's called a "skin", and every manufacturer and/or carrier has one.

Honeycomb was an interim Android release specifically for a very narrow set of tablets. It's not open source or available for use on any other devices. That's why you can't find a generic guide for it. You have to refer to some sort of user guide for your specific device.


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## calvin-c (May 17, 2006)

Ahh, didn't realize that about Honeycomb. I understand about skins-back in the early Windows days different manufacturers sold their PC's with different skins, although they weren't called that then. (IIRC they were just called front-end applications or something like that. The only one I specifically remember is Packard Bell's Navigator, but there were several others.)

Possibly the difference is in applying a skin as an app vs 'applying' it by customizing the OS. I also remember pre-Windows days when you could find some manufacturers who customized DOS-one PC I had (don't remember the make) replaced command.com with their own version. I see the two methods differently-if you customize the OS then you remove the ability of the buyer to 'de-customize' it without total replacement. (Which is what I eventually did on that DOS machine, reformatted the hard drive & installed a generic version of DOS I bought. Very unhappy at having to buy an OS for a machine that came with one but they'd customized it until few apps but their own would run on it.)

With a skin applied on top of the OS it's quite possible to uninstall it & get back to the generic OS-which I did with Packard Bell's Navigator. Looked OK (house metaphor IIRC, with rooms containing groups of related programs, like a Game Room that contained games, but made it difficult-to-impossible to maintain the software.

Just read about Honeycomb-amazing what info you can find when you know what to look for-and see that ICS is supposed to be open. I think I'll wait for that. Thanks.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

There's no guarantee that you'll be able to install Ice Cream Sandwich on your tablet. That's up to the manufacturer.


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## calvin-c (May 17, 2006)

Pretty much how it is with Windows-although Windows now has generic drivers that work with most devices, but it used to be up to the manufacturer to update their drivers before you could install a new version of Windows.

If I can't upgrade the tablet to ICS then I can replace it. Either way upgrades 'me' (actually my wife) to ICS.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

It's not like Windows. Windows updates are made available exclusively through Microsoft. Dell and HP do not have customized versions of Windows that require them to provide all upgrades themselves.

Obviously if you toss out your currently tablet and buy a brand new one, you've "upgraded" to ICS. Most people wouldn't put that in the same category as applying an update to their existing tablet.


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## calvin-c (May 17, 2006)

I agree-most people wouldn't but I'm not most people. I focus on the result, not the process.

Regarding Windows, you're right & you're wrong-how's that for an unambiguous answer? First there's the difference between Windows now & Windows when I started using it (about 1989). Windows now has generic drivers that come from Microsoft-and most manufacturers also supply drivers via Microsoft, but not all. (Although the cases I can think of where there are no generic drivers that work are mostly peripherals, not the PC itself.) Since Android tablets seem to be pretty new I think a comparison to Windows 'then' is more appropriate-and I replaced at least a couple of computers because the manufacturers didn't provide new drivers that were needed to upgrade to a new version of Windows.

And not everybody would see needing new drivers to be the same as needing a new version of Windows-but I still focus on results. If you can't run the new version of Windows without the new drivers then the technical difference doesn't matter-you still need the manufacturer to provide something (or replace the machine) before you can upgrade to the new version.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

I would encourage you to learn more about Android and tablets. I'm not sure the comparisons you're making are applicable.


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## buttonstc (Feb 23, 2008)

@Calvin

Which tablet does your wife have?

I'm having similar problems finding info for beginner Android. With my iPhone I always had the option of free phone support from Apple but most of it was so intuitive I haven't called them in ages.

I just bought an Acer Iconia Tablet and its driving me crazy. android is not intuitive in the least.

And unlike other companies, Acer didn't mess with the interface. Its just pure Honeycomb. I thought this was an advantage when I first read about that in tech reviews prior to buying.

But neither do they give you much of a clue in how to do basic things. And there's obviously no support line.

People can knock Apple all they want but they go to great lengths in both design as well as support to ensure a satisfactory user experience.

And people wonder why they have suh a loyal customer base. Its no mystery to me at all. Comparing my experiences with both products is like night and day. I may yet bite the bullet and return or sell this thing and get an I pad (even if I can only afford a used one)

There is only so much frustration someone can tolerate.


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## BrennaKessler (Dec 1, 2011)

Android 2.2 was basically designed for tablets but it can be used on phones also. I have been using Android Froyo in my iRobot and now I m looking to upgrade it to Ginger Bread. I am also searching for some descriptive user guide.


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## buttonstc (Feb 23, 2008)

If I encounter something', I'll let you know. However my tab runs Honeycomb 3.2.


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