Happy owners of a recently purchased device notice that a smartphone that worked flawlessly at the beginning, after a certain amount of time, does not function as fast as we would like. It makes no sense to sin on the cost or model of the phone, since sooner or later all smartphones on the Android OS are subject to this. Programs, applications, toys start to load more slowly, and sometimes it seems like an eternity passes until the application finally loads. Therefore, it is worth taking a closer look at the nuances correct use smartphone and "help" its performance.
You probably have dozens of apps set up on your phone, but how many of them are educational? Perhaps you don't like the sound of learning something on your mobile phone, but it really depends on what you're learning - there are many exciting skills you can hone on your phone.
From cooking to coding to piano painting, if you set up your phone right, then you can quickly expand your skill set and impress the family. Here are seven tutorial-type apps that have garnered attention and are worth checking out.
- HOW TO HELP YOUR BATTERY SAVE ENERGY
It is believed that the most vulnerable place of the phone is the battery. Manufacturers are torn between processor power, screen resolution and other features that require increased productivity, while at the same time making smartphones thin, sleek and stylish. And this does not affect the size of the battery in the most favorable way - its capacity is hardly enough for a day. There are a number of simple manipulations that help prolong the life of the phone.
Learn to draw how to draw
Do you want to become a world famous cartoonist or sketch artist? There are many different exercises to work with, from dragons to planes and other objects that don't fly through the air - note that some of these are blocked from in-app purchases. You can draw directly on the screen with your finger or stylus, or use standard pen and paper instead.
Installing programs on Android
The lessons are fun and interesting, the learning curve is well priced even for beginners, and there are many languages to choose from. The apps cover speaking, reading, listening, and writing, and you can split your time between games and more formal lessons to keep things interesting.
1. Rejection of 3G
An excellent option in the case when there is really no need for a fast Internet connection, for example, for work. The usual GPRS is really enough for average needs. To disable 3G, you need to disable WCDMA in the smartphone settings, that is, check "GSM only" or "2G only".
2. Turn off wireless networks
It is worth training yourself to turn off wireless networks such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi that are not currently used, especially for Android phones there is a program that does this automatically.
What is left for yourself?
If you want to teach yourself how to program apps instead of just learning from them, then you'll probably need a proper computer and keyboard at some point, but that says there's a lot more out there. mobile applications that can help you get started with programming or brush up on your skills.
There are also quizzes and games to work with. Let's be honest here - you can't learn how to cook with just your smartphone and nothing else, because at some point you'll want to actually get some pots and pans. In addition to giving you access to thousands of recipes, like all other cooking apps, this one has step by step instructions for many cases - if you are a beginner, you can start with how to cook an egg and then work your way up from there. Everything in the app can be freely viewed and accessed.
3. Application control
The advantage of smartphones on Android is that it is always possible to check which applications are significantly using the battery, and if necessary, abandon them. Do not forget that the battery will rapidly melt with the constant use of programs such as skype, viber, navigation. Try to reduce the time you use such programs and remember to exit applications when you are not using them.
Instead of letting your phone constantly distract and stress you out, why not teach you how to stay calm and calm? You can only see in the screenshots how carefully crafted the app is, and it's a great meditation aid for vacationers of all levels and experience. The app is free to download, but you'll need to pay to use most of its features, an investment you may find necessary if you finish mastering a few tools.
Learn math with math everywhere
The content has been compiled by expert tutors and there are plenty of lessons and exercises for you to play along with. Math may not be the most glamorous skill to learn, but it will help you go the extra mile in your Everyday life- from making sure you have the right changes at the supermarket to picking up your quiz every Thursday night at the pub. There are also many apps that can help.
4. Display brightness adjustment
The bright screen is able to absorb the energy of the smartphone. It is recommended to set the brightness to the minimum comfortable level.
5. Disable GPS
A large number of programs use the GPS module to automatically determine the user's location. This can be waived if maps or navigation programs are not being used at this moment. In addition, it is necessary to turn off the determination of the location by mobile networks.
In the new phone market? . Installing and updating applications. App storage owners keep a record of that user's browsing and app selection history. The applications that are offered in the official online store are supposedly verified by the store owners, but in reality this provides little protection against what the applications will do once installed on your phone. For example, some applications can copy and send your address book after they are installed on your phone.
Secure connection with a smartphone
You should pay close attention to what permissions are being requested and if those permissions make sense for the feature of the app you are installing. However, remember that you must trust the site before downloading any applications from it. Instant messaging and chatting on your phone can lead to a large number information that is at risk of being intercepted. These conversations can be used against you by opponents later. Therefore, you must be extremely careful about what you reveal when you write on your phone during instant messaging and conversations.
6. Refusal of animated wallpapers
Such wallpapers have a very strong effect on battery life. It is worth abandoning them in favor of the usual ones. For phones with an AMOLED screen, dark, solid-colored wallpapers consume less energy than light ones.
7. Refusal of automatic rotation and adjustment of the display
Both that, and another "eats" energy. You can do without a turn. As for the display, you should turn off automatic adjustment, reduce the brightness to a minimum that is pleasing to the eye and set a short time for auto power off.
There are ways to secure chatting and instant messaging. The best way- use end-to-end encryption, as this will allow you to verify that the person on the other end is who you want. This encryption provides both authenticity and independent security for each session, so that even if the encryption of one chat session is compromised, other past and future sessions will remain secure. It is very difficult to trace or even find out what happened. Also agree with your conversation partners not to save chat histories, especially if they are not encrypted.
8. Minimum Widgets
Due to the constant updating of various information in them, battery power is wasted.
9. Turn off automatic synchronization
A great feature helps keep contacts, records and more in order by synchronizing them with the cloud, smartphone and other devices, but pretty drains the battery. It is worth abandoning automatic and systematically doing manual synchronization.
Storing information on your smartphone
Smartphones come with large amounts of storage. Unfortunately, the data stored on your device can be easily accessed by third parties either remotely or with physical access to the phone. You will only need to remember one master password to access all the others. We recommend that you only sync the passwords that you actually use on your mobile phone. You can create a separate small database of passwords on your computer and keep it in sync, instead of having to deal with the entire database of all the passwords you use on your smartphone.
10. Using special programs to save battery
Especially for androids, a lot of such programs have been developed, they help optimize energy consumption, and increase battery performance by about a third. However, not everyone trusts such programs.
But, the most the best way, of course, this is the acquisition of a smartphone with a capacious battery, and the problem will automatically become irrelevant.
Sending email from your smartphone
Our guide. How to create and maintain secure passwords. In this section, we will briefly discuss the use of email on smartphones. First, consider whether you really need to use your smartphone to access your email. Protecting a computer and its contents is usually easier than for a mobile device such as a smartphone. The smartphone is more susceptible to theft, monitoring and intrusion.
What did I put on desktops?
If it is absolutely essential that you access your email on your smartphone, there are steps you can take to minimize the risks. Don't rely on your smartphone as your primary means of accessing email. Downloading emails from a mail server and saving them only on your smartphone is not recommended. You can set your mail application to only use copies of emails. If you use email encryption with some of your contacts, consider installing it on your smartphone as well. An additional advantage is that the encrypted emails will remain secret if the phone falls into the wrong hands. Store your private key on your mobile device may seem risky.
- HOW TO CHARGE YOUR SMARTPHONE CORRECTLY
Charging your smartphone regularly is the key to long battery life. You should not allow a full discharge, whenever there is an opportunity to recharge the device, it is better to do this. It should be borne in mind that there are such phones (not very high-quality Chinese brands) that do not support automatic shutdown when fully charged so this process needs to be controlled. Approximately once a month it is useful to completely discharge and charge the smartphone - this will positively affect its further work. The ideal option would be to turn off the unit when charging, so as not to be dispersed to other processes.
But the benefit of being able to send and store emails securely encrypted on a mobile device may outweigh the risks. Consider generating a mobile-only encryption key pair for your use on your smartphone, so you don't copy the private encryption key from your computer to your mobile device. Note that this requires that you ask the people you communicate with to also encrypt emails with a mobile-only encryption key.
When charging, do not reach the battery level indicator of 100%. It is worth disabling the charging process before reaching this figure, for example, at the level of 80-90%. Modern Li-on / Li-pol batteries do not have a "memory effect". It is believed that the optimal battery mode should not fall below 30%, and with a decrease of 10-20%, it is not necessary to delay recharging.
Capturing media with a smartphone
Capturing images, video or audio with your smartphone can be a powerful tool for documenting and sharing important events. For example, if you take a photo or record video or audio of an important event, it could be dangerous for you or for those who appear in the recording if your phone falls into the wrong hands.
Secure internet access from your smartphone
In that case, these suggestions may be helpful. Have a mechanism to securely upload recorded media files to a secure online location and delete them from your phone immediately after recording. Use the tools to blur the faces of faces appearing in images or videos, or distort the voices of audio or video recordings, and keep only blurry and distorted copies of media files on your mobile device.
Get full access to your smartphone
Protect or remove meta-information about time and place in media files. . Most smartphones are capable of more than their installed operating system, manufacturer software, or mobile operator software.- THE EFFECT OF HEAT AND FROST ON SMARTPHONE PERFORMANCE
Experts have empirically established that the most harmful for smartphones are very low and very high temperatures and direct sunlight, and indicators such as humidity and pressure are dangerous only in their critical states. All types of batteries that exist today are somehow sensitive to cold - chemical reactions slow down, battery capacity decreases rapidly, there is a risk of shutdown. Additionally, this is fraught with a decrease in battery life and even failure of the electronic device itself. Therefore, you should not leave the device in a room with a minus temperature and talk on it at -25-30 degrees.
On the contrary, some functions are "locked", so the user is not able to control or change these functions, and they remain out of reach. In most cases, these features are not needed by smartphone users. However, there are some apps and features that can increase the security of data and communications on a smartphone. There are also some other existing features that can be removed to avoid security risks.
For this reason and other reasons, some smartphone users choose to manipulate the various programs and programs running on the smartphone in order to obtain the appropriate privileges so that they can install advanced features or uninstall or reduce others.
When it comes to heat, the opposite is true - chemical reactions speed up, the battery warms up and the risk of shutdown is almost zero, however, there is a more serious danger. Example: the phone is left in the car in the summer heat and is being recharged. A mixture of elevated air temperature and heating of the battery can lead to an explosion and subsequent fire. There is hope for a smartphone that will track overheating in time and turn off charging, but this kind of trouble occurs most often when non-original batteries are used and there is no guarantee that the temperature monitoring system will be capable.
The process of overcoming restrictions imposed by mobile operators or manufacturers of operating systems on a smartphone is called rooting or jailbreaking. Typically, a successful root or jailbreak will result in you having all the privileges you need to install and use additional apps, make configuration changes with residual locking, and have full control over your smartphone's storage and memory.
There is a risk that your smartphone will be permanently inoperative or "cheat" it.
- The manufacturer's or mobile carrier's warranty may be void.
- In some places, this process may be illegal.
- SMARTPHONE MODES IN ANDROID
Choosing a specific mode is another convenient method of rational use of your device. To go to the "Modes" you must press and hold the power button for a few seconds. Several functions will appear in the mode window: power off; flight mode (disabling all networks); at the very bottom are the modes "Silent", "Vibrate" and "With sound" with the corresponding characteristics, one way or another positively affecting the functionality of the device.
What is left for yourself?
It may seem that all of the above tips look like rules, they are so “persistent”. Everything is aimed at gentle use, economy, respect. The question arises, why then do I need such a super multifunctional device that needs to be protected, rationally used, if I purchased it in order to use it to my advantage to the fullest? This is undeniable and irrefutable, and here the flight of fancy is truly unlimited - let's rephrase "To each according to his abilities" into "To each according to his mind." Diligent developers are on the alert - getting a passive assistant is easy for any area of life. Today, a smart phone can do everything - become a personal trainer, a tutor in any subject, a mobile therapist, a weather forecaster, a GPS navigator, it can perform the functions Wi-Fi router and universal remote control and much more.
This article is based on my personal experience, so everything described below was tested on at least one parent, more precisely, on my mother. The background is quite simple: my mother had a simple Nokia 3610 Fold, which she was already very used to, but from the functions she used only calls and reading SMS messages, she, unfortunately, did not know how to write them. I tried several times to teach her this simple (in my opinion) action, but each time to no avail. Either we couldn’t deal with T9, or the letters on the phone seemed small to her, and so on. Even then, I thought about how much easier it is to type messages on a smartphone. Yes, there is also autocorrect, but at least all the letters are visible and you don’t have to remember how many times which key you need to press. Of course, this was not the only reason to "transplant" her to a smartphone: mail, Skype, WhatsApp, Viber - I really wanted to teach her how to use all this.
Smartphone choice
Just before choosing a device, I would like to make an important clarification. Our mothers and fathers are the same people as we are, and, like us, they want to have a beautiful device, so I personally am completely against various “grandmother phones”. In general, the name itself sounds humiliating. So we just choose good smartphone, and not "a phone for old ladies."
First of all, you need to decide which operating system you want to buy a smartphone. My advice is quite simple - choose the OS that you use yourself. If you have an iPhone yourself, you can easily tell your mom / dad how to use iMessage, etc. correctly. If you android user, then set up the desktops as conveniently as possible, and the owners Windows phone take advantage of the convenient placement of tiles.
You don't have to try to buy your mom/dad an iPhone if you're an Android fan, because before you teach the basics of iOS, you'll have to figure it out yourself. And most likely, you will spit on your own (you don’t just have an Android smartphone). Conversely, iPhone owners should look to the same brand for parents. No, it is not necessary to take a top-end iPhone 6, some iPhone 4s / 5 will do.
And yes, regarding the price, it seems to me that a budget of 10,000-15,000 rubles would be an adequate amount for a purchase. Buying the latest flagships is clearly not worth it.
I chose a smartphone a year and a half ago, to be more precise, it was a birthday present (June 8, 2013). Initially, I decided to focus on the LG Optimus L7 as a relatively inexpensive, but beautiful and quite functional smartphone. However, I was lucky, and a friend offered to buy his new Galaxy S3 for a couple of thousand more than the L7 (the device was new, in films, it was just a gift that didn’t fit, so I don’t recommend buying used devices for parents). Of course, S3 is already a model of a completely different level, relevant even now, and choosing a smartphone for a long time, I decided to stop at it.
Smartphone preparation
Buying new smartphone, do not try to just give it to your parents without prior setup and explanation. This is the worst gift you can give them! Below I will talk about a few simple settings that must be made before handing over the device.
Transfer contacts
In the case of old Nokias, this process turned out to be as simple as possible. You import your old contacts into CSV using Nokia PC Suite/Nokia Ovi Suite, and then export to your mom/dad Google account (you can use iCloud or MS account as an option, depending on the smartphone OS). Of course, you must first create it and be sure to write down the password somewhere in a safe place. I don't recommend importing/exporting from a SIM card, since the contact names are truncated, which seems wrong to me.
Installing third party software
This is very important point. Which application you teach your parent to use, he will consider the application the best, even if in your opinion it has already ceased to be so convenient. Therefore, be sure to think about what kind of firmware you want to replace with third-party programs. In my case, the built-in dialer was supposed to be the obvious replacement, I changed it to the paid version of ExDialer. In addition, Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, Odnoklassniki and Sberbank Online were installed. A little later, I will talk about the training of each of these programs.
Desktop customization
Remember, the process of interacting with desktops should be as simple as possible. Ideally, you should leave one or two tables with the most important labels. And no, your parent is unlikely to enter the application menu.
What did I put on desktops?
First, shortcuts to me and another loved one, as well as shortcuts to a quick message. This saved mom from the initial training in calls and SMS, and also reduced the time to dial important contacts.
Secondly, the labels of the most desired applications, in my case, this is a mail client, Odnoklassniki, WhatsApp and a shortcut to one working page in the browser.
Thirdly, the Yandex.Weather widget (my mother still watched the weather on TV!), it is large and visual (now all her girlfriends ask her about the weather at metro stops).
Fourthly, a small clock widget, as well as shortcuts to Yandex.Metro and the Clock application.
On the second screen, there is a flashlight widget and shortcuts to all the remaining necessary applications.
Well, for news, I installed the corresponding widget from Yandex on the third table.
Work with the dealer and contacts
In my naivety, I thought that the Smart Dial was very convenient, and for a long time I tried to explain to my mother what it is and how it works, but to no avail. “I don’t understand why I need this!” It was an important lesson, parents do not always appreciate convenience, simplicity is more important to them. Then I showed her how she can call through the Contacts app. Of course, I used the version of "Contacts" from ExDialer. I even managed to teach her to move to the right letter at once.
Fortunately, in ExContacts, when you click on a contact, there are two convenient buttons "Call" and "Message". This allowed me to quickly explain to my mother not only how to call, but also how to send SMS to other contacts.
Keyboard
I repeat, if you plan to install a third-party keyboard for your parents, then you need to do this right away so that the person gets used to it already. You can't even imagine how conservative people are sometimes.
I decided to stay on the Samsung branded keyboard, it completely suited me (or rather, how, I would gladly install Swype, but at that time it didn’t work well when using it with a “tapping” method). Now, of course, I would install some kind of TouchPal, but time has passed, and my mother no longer wants to switch to another keyboard.
For the text entry part, you only need to explain a few simple things. Firstly, that if you make a mistake, then autocorrect will correct the error, and on top it is shown which word. Secondly, it is not necessary to enter the whole word, the first letters are enough, and then choose one of the suggested ones. And, thirdly, tell about the transition to the menu of symbols and punctuation marks. Sounds simple, but all these things will have to be repeated several times for the parent to remember ("Why should I remember this? Do I have nothing else to do?").
Receiving calls
It would seem, what could be easier than taking a call? But it was not there. Each manufacturer is willing to add its own response method: various horizontal and vertical swipes, hovering the icon in the ring, etc. In the case of Samsung, you get two rings that you need to swipe, mom couldn’t remember that. Fortunately, there was an alternative method of receiving a call - pressing the center key, it turns on in the settings.
Initially, I was a bit selfish and taught my mom to only use whatsapp to write/read messages to me. Moreover, it was quite easy to do. I just put a shortcut to a quick WhatsApp message on my desktop, and my mom could start typing or reading it with one click.
But later, her friends and girlfriends, seeing that Nina Pavlovna had a “votsapp”, also began to write to her there. I had to hastily train her to read other messages. Fortunately, the functional notification curtain helped here, where you can not only read the message, but also immediately go to the correspondence.
And to write a new message, I suggested that she simply find the desired contact through "Contacts" and then select the "WhatsApp" item.
Viber
With Viber, somehow it didn’t work out, to be honest. I rarely use this service myself, I never managed to teach my mother how to make calls, she constantly forgot where to “swipe” when incoming. From time to time someone writes to her there, but very rarely.
Skype
Mom needed Skype very rarely, so neither I nor she spent much time on it. The only moment when he was really needed was during a trip to Bulgaria, when she periodically called me from him. Her more advanced girlfriends already helped there, for which many thanks to them.
Classmates
I myself would not have suggested to my mother to register in this service, but you can’t really say anything against the argument “all the girlfriends are there”. Literally within a week after registration, all the "key" friends were added to it and began to write periodically.
You know, I tried to teach her to answer friends and from the computer, but I was completely defeated. What was my surprise when I saw how easy it is for her on the phone! Apparently, there was simply no difference with SMS-kami, and the barrier "it's hard" turned off.
Mom doesn't get many emails, but she's subscribed to various mailing lists, so I just taught her how to open a list of emails and read them. As an application, I used a branded client from Samsung, it has convenient badges when new letters appear.
Sberbank Online
My mother is a pensioner, and her pension comes to her Sberbank card, as well as two savings books. Given that it is impossible to enable SMS notifications about receipts for savings books, she used to have to go to the nearest branch of Sberbank to find out if the pension had arrived and withdraw it there. Now she can quickly see its presence in the application. My plans are to teach her and immediately transfer the pension to the card, so that it would be more convenient for her to withdraw it.
Calculator
Mom, you have a calculator on your phone, at least try to use it.
- Yes, why do I need this, why do I need this ... Hmm, but quite convenient, you're right.
In general, there were quite a few such situations. People really do not like to learn something new, and even when they reach a certain age, even more so.
Camera
Samsung gives users 50 GB of cloud storage in Dropbox, and of course I took advantage of this opportunity, and also turned on the saving of all photos in the cloud.
But I haven't been able to teach my mother how to take good pictures yet. Her hands tremble a lot when photographing, so the picture is fuzzy. I hope that this will come with experience, the camera in the S3 is relatively good.
Accessories
A friend of mine sold me a device with a brand new S Cover, one of the best cases in my opinion. Imagine my surprise when my mother did not like him at all. In the end, it was decided to purchase something on eBay.
After long hours of choosing, we settled on a pair of book cases, and as a bonus, I ordered several styluses that cling to the 3.5 mm jack. Mom was very pleased with the covers (especially at a price of 100-150 rubles), but I would like to talk about the stylus separately.
It is already all old and shabby, so we will change it soon
After a few days of using it, she spoke with such enthusiasm about its convenience that I even regretted that I had not ordered it earlier. "Typing with a stick is much more comfortable." I think that if I ever decide to upgrade her smartphone, I will give something like Galaxy Note 3.
I won’t be surprised if some readers sit and think: “What is there to teach, all this is mastered in a day or two, and the author didn’t seem to have had a very difficult time.” However, I hasten to disappoint you. In fact, the learning process was very long. First of all, due to the fact that my mother did not really want to study herself. “Yes, why do I need this!” - I heard this phrase quite often. And if we sat down to study and something didn’t work out for her, then the words “I can’t do it, let’s do it another time” were also often heard. If you are going to teach your parents how to use a smartphone, then be prepared to “kick” them yourself on the topic, otherwise nothing good will come of it.
First of all, be patient. You will be surprised how non-obvious these or those actions in a smartphone are for parents. Here, it seems, for you to click back and forth, and then here they seem to be something natural and self-evident. For them, this is everything. dark forest, and need to be shown multiple times. Don't explain, just show.
You must reduce the chains of actions to a minimum and make each of them as simple as possible. That is, the ideal option would be "turned on the screen, clicked there, and the call began." Do not try to explain everything at once, give information in small portions so that mom or dad can see that everything is pretty easy. Encourage them, tell them that they are great when they succeed. Do not swear and do not boil, it will upset them very much. Remember that these are some of the closest people you just want to help, and after a while you will find that they themselves come up to you and ask how to do this or that action.
A little about the smartphone itself
Just a couple of weeks ago, the device began to glitch hard, the screen was covered with ripples, the smartphone randomly rebooted, etc. After the last reboot, it completely stopped turning on. I decided to take the battery out and restart it again when I discovered that the battery was very swollen. Here, on the one hand, you should be glad that it is removable and can be replaced without problems, and on the other hand, be surprised, because a year and a half is a relatively short period for a battery. With the purchase of a new battery, an unpleasant story happened at all, which I already wrote about in my blog, so I will not repeat it.
Trying to give another smartphone
At the time of replacing the battery, I decided to give my mother another device, quite worthy (in my opinion) Meizu MX2. I did everything to appearance desktops was practically the same. I preinstalled all the necessary software, only I replaced the keyboard with TouchPal.
But she didn't like the MX2 at all. "It's not right here, I don't understand anything." That is why, when choosing a specific device and OS, think carefully about what you would like to teach a loved one to use.
Conclusion
For a year and a half of using a smartphone, my mother learned how to write SMS, send messages to WhatsApp, read mail and news, check the weather from a smartphone, and also use Sberbank Online and a couple of other applications. To be honest, I spent a lot of time and effort on this, but it is important for me that a loved one can take advantage of the benefits of scientific and technological progress. Moreover, some actions from a smartphone are really more convenient to perform.
While I was teaching my mother how to use the phone, it suddenly became clear to me why communication stores take money for installing applications, learning how to use a smartphone, and other simple, in general, actions. It's one thing when you help once close person, and quite another - when the process is put on stream, and there are a lot of such people. Of course, you want to at least get something for it.
Looking back, I do not regret the effort spent. Again, my mother once said that it was very cool - five years ago she could not even imagine that she would learn all this. By the way, I also taught her how to handle a PC, but this is a separate story, and I don’t even know how interesting it will turn out to be.
My tips are universal, they can be applied not only to parents, but in general to any person whom you want to teach how to use a smartphone. Just remember, this takes a lot of time and effort and is clearly not worth it to spend on an outsider.