Tips for your new tablet computer (A photo guide)
Posted by
Tom Hewitt on Fri, Jan 06, 2012 @ 03:47 PM
With the holiday season recently passed, many of you may have received a shiny new tablet computer (or maybe you had to gift it to yourself...). They can be very exciting to use and they have great portablility, but I have seen plenty of evidence to indicate that there can be a slight learning curve for these devices.
I'll be addressing a number of things that can help you get better use of these devices over the course of the next weeks and months. In this article, I'll give you a few tips that might help you get started. In each case, I will first go over Apple devices first, then go over Android.
Today we'll cover the following tips:
- Capitalization
- Adding a Bookmark to your Home Screen
- Force-closing misbehaving apps
Capitilization
One good thing to know is that when you are trying to log into sites as you normally would on a standard computer, you may get tripped up by auto-capitalization. Most tablets, regardless of the brand, will auto-capitalize the first letter. If your username or password are case sensitive this could create a problem
Apple devices show you when they are going to capitalize by the shift arrow on the keyboard. If the arrow has a blue outline it means it is going to capitalize just the first letter of the word you type, if it is filled in blue it means caps lock is on, and no outline at all means that it is all lowercase. To toggle between these modes just tap the shift arrow. It’s important to check the state of that button because the keys on the apple keyboard always show in all capital, regardless of whether it is going to use upper or lower case.
Adding a bookmark to home screen
Adding a website shortcut on your home screen is very easy and can be great for web apps that you use frequently.
When on the site you want to save, tap the square button just to the left of the URL for more options
Tap "Add to Home Screen" and you will be given the option to rename the icon if you like. Then just tap "Add" in the upper righthand corner of the popped-up window.
Now your new home screen shortcut is ready to use.
Force closing misbehaving apps
Sometimes you may have an app that is not quite playing along and will crash or freeze. Your best course of action at this point is to force close it and start fresh.
If you double tap the home button (round button at the base of your iPad/iPhone) it will open the app drawer which shows running apps.
Long press (hold your finger down on) one of the app icons. They will all start wiggling and a little minus button will appear in the upper left corner of each. Click on the minus button of an app to force close it. When you are done closing apps hit the home button again to close the app drawer.
Android Devices
Capitization
Android devices show what the case of the letters typed will be by case of the letters on the keyboard. If the letters are lowercase on the keyboard then you can be sure it is going to type in lowercase. There is also an arrow shift key on the android keyboard that you can use to toggle between modes. The way modes are indicated very by device, but are often similar. On the device shown above for example, if the light on the shift arrow key is lit it means you have caps lock on.
Adding a bookmark to home screen
While on the site you want to save, tap the menu button to bring up your options then hit “More”. Some versions of Android allow you to hit "Add shortcut to Home" right from this menu. In that case, use that option and you are done.
If "Add shortcut to Home" is not listed, tap "Add bookmark" instead.
Go back to your home screen and long press empty space (an area with no icons) to bring up the "Add to Home" menu. From here select "Shortcuts".
Now you can select "Bookmark". Find the bookmark you want and select it.
Now you have your shortcut!
Force closing misbehaving apps
On newer versions of android you can long press on the home button to get a pop-up of recent apps and a shortcut to the task manager, with which you can force close any problem apps.
If you have an older version of Android you can still close apps that are giving you trouble. Start by pressing the menu button while on the home screen and tap "Settings". In "Settings", select "Applications"
From here, select "Manage applications". Now if you switch to the "running" tab you will see all the currently running apps and processes
To stop an app select it and hit the "stop" or "force close" button.
Tablets & smartphones are great fun and can really help you get things done between shooting Angry Birds around!
I hope these tips help you make better use of your new tablet so you can enjoy it more fully. Feel free to leave me comments or questions that come up as you're exploring your new toy (er, I mean, tool).
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