195. How to learn Smartphones at GeeksOnTour.com

Everyone can view any episode for free. Just click on the play button above.

Scroll down to see the show notes, these will be available for all for 24 hrs after the webcast. Then it goes back to Members Only.

Members get access to the extensive show-notes Chris writes up after each show. Read them online and follow links directly to the parts you’re interested in. We recommend you print them out and keep them in a notebook. It’s a great way to learn.

Not a member? Join here. This episode covers:

  1. Tip of the Day: Searching within one Web page
  2. Main Lesson: Smartphone skills checklist, and how to find tutorials on this website.

Download .pdf This is usually for members only. Episode 195 is free for all. (you’ll see a dropbox login, but you can just close it – no Dropbox account is needed)

1:32 Beginning and Quick Tip

To search within a webpage Use Ctrl-F on a computer (Cmd-F on Mac) to search for something on a webpage. But, what about on a phone? See Video 644.SM-Search within webpage

On Android with the Chrome browser: open the page you want to search, tap the 3-dot menu at upper right, choose Find in Page, type the word you’re looking for – the search works as you type.

On an iPhone with the Safari browser: open the page you want to search, tap the share/action button (square with up arrow), scroll down a bit and you’ll see Find on page.

During this episode, we refer to a handout with a Smartphone Skills Checklist and an introduction to getting around on our website. Download the handout by going to bit.ly/buttonshow195. You can scroll thru and readi it right there. Or, you can download it to your computer by clicking the down arrow at the top right of the screen. There is no need to sign in to Dropbox unless you want to save it in your own Dropbox account.

10:12 We describe what you’ll see when you download the handout (bit.ly/buttonshow195) It’s 2 pages: one is a tour of our website. It explains what’s there, what is free and what is for members only. The other page is a Smartphone Skills Checklist, including a references to learning resources on the website.

All of our content is accessed from the main menu. The menu for YouTube show takes you to a page where all 194 episodes are archived. The YouTube shows are free for anyone to watch, if you are a premium members you also get detailed show notes. The Blogs/News menu reveals our newsletter archives – every month for 13 years! It also includes all articles. Newsletters and articles are public and free. The Tutorials menu/All videos shows all 644 short tutorial videos that we’ve ever made. The higher the number, the newer the video. The Q&A menu takes you to our forum. This is where members can ask any question and either Chris or Jim promise to respond.

Ctrl-F (Cmd-F on Mac) comes in VERY handy on our pages of material. In our hundreds of articles or videos, you could search for a word and find items with that word in the title. Pay attention to the date. We’ve been doing this since 2007! Even the oldest material offer good information, but realize that the details have probably changed.

If you just want to find any type of information on our site, you can use the Search box at the top right. For example, you can search for “organize photos” or “how to make my phone a hotspot” and it will search our whole website and give you some results.

26:55 Smartphone Skills Checklist (bit.ly/buttonshow195)

This checklist is just something that Chris came up with for people to know where they stand in regard to smartphone skills. She has worked with LOTS of people to help them with their phones. She has found that, if they know all the things on this list, they are very proficient with their phones. Even if they only know half, they’re doing pretty good. Then, when you find something on the list you don’t know, she’s listed if there is a resource on our website where you can learn it.

For example, one of the first things to check is that you know how to find your account ID- on iPhone that’s the Apple ID, on Android it’s a Google Account. The handout lists s137 as the reference where you can learn more. The s stands for one of our Shows, the 137 is the episode. So, go to GeeksOnTour.com and click the menu item for YouTube shows, then find episode 137. Chris plays the segment of the video that shows how to find your Apple ID.

If you are not a member, you can watch the entire YouTube show and learn all about Accounts. If you are a member, you can read thru the show notes and find what you need to know, or click the timestamp link to watch the part of the video that teaches what you need to know. She clicks the timestamp to learn how to find the Apple ID

Next sample is “View Data Usage statistics” the handout shows s29 and v375. S = a show #29 would be pretty old. Chris decides to show Video 375 375.SM-Smartphones and Data Usage.

The next sample from the smartphone checklist is to copy and paste. Notice it lists v603 as the resource to learn how to do this. Chris goes to the Tutorials menu, All Videos, and scrolls down to 603.SM-How Do I Copy and Paste? The video shows that longpress is the key to copy and paste. Longpress on the item you want to copy, 2 markers appear. Drag the markers to the beginning and end of what you want to copy and tap the word that has popped up to Copy. Now go to the place where you want to paste – longpress and tap Paste.

42:51 The next sample is how to scan a document. On the checklist, it references s156. So Chris click the YouTube Show menu and then finds episode 156 which is all about scanning documents. She scrolls thru the notes to find the place with the demo of scanning from Dropbox. You need the Dropbox app on your phone, open it up then tap the + to create a new file. Choose Scan document. Place the document on a contrasting document, then just point your phone’s camera at the document – no clicking, just point. Tap the arrow at the top to save.

The last sample is how to view photos on a map. The handout shows a magnifying glass and the words “Photos map.” That means to use the Search box at the top of the GeeksonTour.com website and search for “photos map.” Lots of results will come up with lots of results. Chris choosese to show a simple one of “Swipe up to view Map” and there you learn that in Google Photos, you can open a photo and just swipe up. If the photo has location data attached, you will see a map there.

49:31

MrsGeek
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