How do I.....?

[Bertie]

I have just received new phone and need to ask a few basic questions:

1. I like to have the icons for Wi Fi and mobile on the home screen so that I can see instantly whether they are on. I moved them onto the home screen on my Desire. This way, I cannot leave my mobile internet on by mistake and run over my 250 mb allowance by accident. On the s3, I have to drag down from the top to reveal the row of icons along the top two of which are Wi Fi and mobile. Can I have those two on my home screen as icons? I appreciate that the small symbol appears on the top right when they are on, but that is very small and I might miss it.

2. I would like to move the data app onto the homescreen. As it's an app and not a widget, I can't work out how it is done?

3. Will the data app be sufficient for me to keep an eye on my data useage or do I need to download another app?

4. I can't see my google calendar in the apps. The phone has automatically downloaded my contacts from my google account, but where do I find the calendar and can I have that on the homescreen as well?

5. Am I right in thinking that I am only given, on querty keyboard, Samsung method, using with or without predictive text and gliding, and with or without voice dictation? If so, please could someone tell me what the advanatages are of swiftkey are over and above these?

I may have more questions over the next few days, and so thank you in advance for your help.

Bertie

 

[matttye]

1. Download an app called "widgetsoid" and this will let you put settings widgets on the homescreen.

2. Add a widget, browse to the "settings" widget and you can add a shortcut to the "data usage" settings.

3. Data usage will be sufficient.

4. It's called S Planner and there's a widget for it.

5. Swiftkey offers word prediction and it supports different typing styles. There's a method for those of us who like to mash keys and it supports stronger autocorrection. It's really good. Even if I only get half of the keys right it still accurately guesses what I'm trying to type. I've tried the jelly bean keyboard and it's not anywhere near as good as swiftkey.

 

[Bertie]

Thanks Mattye.

Have found the calendar and it has synced with my computer one.

Have downloaded the widgetoid and it has appeared on the home page. However, I can't understand how to get the Wi Fi, mobile and data usage icons onto the homescree. Can you help any further?

 

[matttye]

Thanks Mattye.

Have found the calendar and it has synced with my computer one.

Have downloaded the widgetoid and it has appeared on the home page. However, I can't understand how to get the Wi Fi, mobile and data usage icons onto the homescree. Can you help any further?

If you press in a blank area of your screen and select "Add to home screen" in the menu that apps, then select "widgets" at the top, you should have a big list of widgets that you can drag onto your home screen. Scroll through these widgets until you find widgetsoid. Once you add it, you should be able to choose the toggles you want to appear in the widget.

 

[Bertie]

I long press on the home screen and then press 'add to home screen' and then get a choice of 'Apps' 'Folder' or 'Page'. No mention of widgets.

 

[matttye]

I long press on the home screen and then press 'add to home screen' and then get a choice of 'Apps' 'Folder' or 'Page'. No mention of widgets.

Sorry, tap on "apps" and then "widgets"

 

[Bertie]

Thanks again Matttye-have now got it working and got the apps for data and wi fi on the screen where I want them.

Could I ask you two more questions?

1. I have taken a number of photographs that all appear in the gallery. I want to sort them into albums and name the albums but I can't work out how to do it. The manual seems pretty hopeless for giving detailed instructions.

2. I get an email from work each week giving me a rota prepared in excel, of everyones duties that week. I open it up and click the attachment but it says that it cannot open it.
I want to be able to have it handy in a folder on the homepage if possible along with some other often used Word documents. Can I do that?

I don't mind buying an app if it will mean that I can do it really easily.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[matttye]

Thanks again Matttye-have now got it working and got the apps for data and wi fi on the screen where I want them.

Could I ask you two more questions?

1. I have taken a number of photographs that all appear in the gallery. I want to sort them into albums and name the albums but I can't work out how to do it. The manual seems pretty hopeless for giving detailed instructions.

2. I get an email from work each week giving me a rota prepared in excel, of everyones duties that week. I open it up and click the attachment but it says that it cannot open it.
I want to be able to have it handy in a folder on the homepage if possible along with some other often used Word documents. Can I do that?

I don't mind buying an app if it will mean that I can do it really easily.

Thanks again for your help.

1. You can either download a file manager such as "Astro File Manager" or "Root Explorer" and browse into your pictures folder, then create subfolders and move your pictures into them. You can also do this by mounting your phone as a disk drive on your computer.

2. I think Astro will let you create shortcuts to folders on your home screen.