Dumb smartphone question

[Amethyst]

OK, please be kind, remember this is my first smartphone

I just bought a Moto G. There is an online manual: Motorola Moto G - Getting started - Safaricom

I have figured out how to make phone calls, access the Internet, and use the camera to take photos.

Now my problem is that nowhere in the online manual does it tell me how to send the photos to email, or save them to the cloud. All I can do is save them to the device.Then I can go to "gallery" and look at them. If this were a MS OS, I would find "my computer" but I don't know what Android calls the device storage.

I found an "export" function, but it doesn't give me a choice of destinations, nor a way to designate a destination.

This seems so very basic! Can anyone enlighten me please?

Amethyst

 

[Midpack]

I'm an iPhone user, but does this 9-step instruction help you? Motorola Moto G - Write and send picture messages - Safaricom

 

[stepford]

For the Android phones I've used:

To send a photo in email or in a text there should be an option to attach a photo in either of those apps (usually a "paperclip" icon). Hitting this should take you to a list of your pictures saved on the phone.

To upload a photo into the cloud then either hit the app associated with your specific could storage site (e.g. I have a flickr app that allows for direct upload). If there isn't a special app for your cloud storage site go into your web browser and access the web page of the site to which you want to upload. It should have some kind of upload button. Push this and it should again take you to a list of your pictures.

In short, sending pictures around over the net depends on the app doing the sending, but should be pretty straightforward for most of the common apps.

 

[hnzw_rui]

Quick tip: tap and hold on mobile OSes is typically similar to "right-click" mouse button and pops up a context menu. From there, you can just kinda explore available options.

If you wish to email photos, you can compose a new message, tap and hold on the message body and a context menu for attaching files will probably pop up.

As there are various cloud services available, how to upload the photos to the cloud service of your choice is also app-dependent.

As for a generic Android how-to, what version of Android does your phone have? The icons and options may vary based on Android version and even phone manufacturer. You can usually find the Android version in Settings > About.

This is one reason why I'm more comfortable recommending iOS over Android to non-budget minded, non-techie friends and family. In case they have questions, there's (literally) a dozen Apple Retail Stores within a 15 mile radius where friends and family can go for one-on-one training sessions.

 

[Amethyst]

Thanks - all these suggestions are helpful for my learning process.

A.

 

[gauss]

On my aged Android phone, within the Gallery I can view photos. I then, from the menu/option button, have the option to "Share" the photo. Since I have the gmail app installed, I can use this and the photo is then attached to a draft message for me.

 

[chonga]

To backup your photos to the cloud - Open the "Photos" app. Go to Settings > Back Up and Sync. Make sure it is turned on.

I also use Dropbox App. In the settings turn on Camera Upload.


Everytime you take a picture with your camera, or download a picture from your email or facebook, etc, the picture will upload to your Google Account in "Photos" and also in the Camera Roll folder in Dropbox.

Hope this helps.

 

[bld999]

On my aged Android phone, within the Gallery I can view photos. I then, from the menu/option button, have the option to "Share" the photo. Since I have the gmail app installed, I can use this and the photo is then attached to a draft message for me.

+1

If you are a gmail user, the symbol appears above the opened photo.

On my moto g, from the home screen, tap the circle containing 6 tiny squares, find the "gallery" symbol, tap and choose the picture you took, and above is the gmail symbol. Also above is a "share" symbol, three dots connected by two lines, which will allow attachment of the photo to a text message.

 

[Options]

There is no such thing as a dumb question. Congratulations on getting a Moto G--I love mine. In a very short time you'll be surprised at how quickly you figure the phone out, including just how much it can do. Today, for example, I was too lazy to pull out a calculator so I spoke an equation into the phone and it told me the answer. I also no longer text using the keyboard, but only use speech to text--I find it faster and easier.

You'll have to think differently about "droids" (Moto G is an Android, or "droid") in that they don't function like Windows. I've found this to be a very, very good thing, in that they are easier, quicker, and much less frustrating.

On Moto G, you can attach any picture from your Gallery to any text or email right from the picture. There is always an icon on the picture which allow you to take a number of actions. When I first got the phone, whenever I had a question, I would Google the Moto G forum and always find a quick and easy answer.

BTW, if any app stops working, simply completely shut down the phone and restart. I've done this more than once and the troublesome app works fine after restarting.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[bingybear]

if you have a gmail account, you can upload them to google drive pretty easily (cloud storage. Much of this is just different apps. you can attach to texts (see paper clip on the texting screen. one option is to attach a picture.

look for things in email, etc for attaching things.. such as pictures.

 

[Amethyst]

Machines, to me, are for using. I find it annoying that I need to play with the phone and "figure things out," instead of having a manual that spells out each function. To me, it's a huge waste of time to have to "play around" with machines that are too coy to tell me, "Hey, I do This and This, and here's how."

That said, thanks for the tips.

Amethyst

In a very short time you'll be surprised at how quickly you figure the phone out, including just how much it can do.

 

[hnzw_rui]

Machines, to me, are for using. I find it annoying that I need to play with the phone and "figure things out," instead of having a manual that spells out each function. To me, it's a huge waste of time to have to "play around" with machines that are too coy to tell me, "Hey, I do This and This, and here's how."

Yup, that's one advantage of Apple. Google/Android takes for granted that people already know or can easily intuit how to do stuff. Apple gives you step by step instructions or training.

 

[Lsbcal]

Machines, to me, are for using. I find it annoying that I need to play with the phone and "figure things out," instead of having a manual that spells out each function. To me, it's a huge waste of time to have to "play around" with machines that are too coy to tell me, "Hey, I do This and This, and here's how."

That said, thanks for the tips.

Amethyst

Yes, I think the mindset nowadays is to pretend the user has come from the computer gaming crowd and despises manuals. However, Google does a good job of documenting a lot of Android features.

As some above have mentioned, you might want to get a Google account if you don't have one. I have a Nexus phone (Moto was closely linked in with Google) and some apps that play nicely together are: photos, gmail, chrome browser, messanger (for texting, sending pictures with the paperclip option), Google drive with lots of free storage. You can also install some of this on a PC which is nice to access a screen + keyboard for real work. You will find that phones now play reasonably well with boatanchor desktops. So you can carry some info around with you without access to your home computers.

I get my ER forum subscriptions on gmail and then just tap the link which brings up chrome with the forum topic and new posting. Works together nicely.

 

[bingybear]

Machines, to me, are for using. I find it annoying that I need to play with the phone and "figure things out," instead of having a manual that spells out each function. To me, it's a huge waste of time to have to "play around" with machines that are too coy to tell me, "Hey, I do This and This, and here's how."

have you looked at the moto G manual?
A phone is much like a computer these days. There is the hardware, then the OS and some base set of applications. Every time you add an application, you have something new to learn.
My old Nexus 4 had the manual on the phone (although I did not use it much). My moto E (nexus 4 cell adapter died) did not have one on the phone.
But what you likely need is a manual for each app, just like you would for your computer. The manual that came with a basic computer might cover the hardware and OS, but the word processor and spreadsheet usually were an extra application. They had their own manuals. For most new items, the manuals are online. I would check each app for instructions as one would expect from the old PC days. Be mindful that apps can use other apps by intents (android term), thus you may have to realize when other apps are being called.

 

[mpeirce]

A phone is much like a computer these days.

I'd go as far as saying a phone (smart phone) IS the computer today. The TELEPHONE part of it is simply an app just like any of the other apps.

I personally only make/receive maybe one or two calls a week on my phone. On the other hand, I use it as a computer for hours a day.

(When I check the bill, I see my DS (age 21) often goes all month without using ANY minutes. Yet he uses his phone even more than I do!)

 

[bingybear]

I'd go as far as saying a phone (smart phone) IS the computer today. The TELEPHONE part of it is simply an app just like any of the other apps.

I personally only make/receive maybe one or two calls a week on my phone. On the other hand, I use it as a computer for hours a day.

While I understand your view, I don't share it because of what I think is a different frame of reference. Although it may be quite valid for those who just used there computers as an interface device.
Many of the applications on the smart phone are primarily user interface with heavy processing and data off loaded to the cloud (external servers). I see them mostly as smart terminals.
I believe most apps are developed on desktop or laptop computers (or possibly large tablets with keyboards). Engineering simulations for complex problems often can't fit on normal desktops or require extended times if they will run on normal desktops. I know an EM simulation I ran in the last year took over 4 days to just run the baseline data on an up to date i5 quad core (computationally limited). I would also assume that many on this board who do complex retirement spreadsheets develop them on desktop or laptop computers (or tablet with keyboard). And yes... I've done all the above and more since ER earlier this year.
I agree that most people are getting their computer interface through phones. And yes they are computers (so were old keyboards for that matter as they were based on microcontrollers). For those who used the computers mainly for surfing the web and tracking small bits of information (contact lists, calendar, recipes, etc.), I'm sure the phone is their computer and much more.
Part of the reason I'm learning app development is that this is one of the least expensive user interfaces since most people have them already.
For the "traditional" computer user that have something that is computationally intensive or requires large fine resolution screens (engineering CAD, graphic design, etc.), the phone may not be the computer of choice.

 

[ERD50]

Yup, that's one advantage of Apple. Google/Android takes for granted that people already know or can easily intuit how to do stuff. Apple gives you step by step instructions or training.

Whoooahh there! I Heartily disagree! The Apple IOS is just awful in some areas.

I recall writing a post here a while back, after I 'upgraded' DWs iPad to the then latest IOS. I could not figure out how to do the simple task of switching modes on the Camera app.


Ahh, here's the discussion -

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/new-fangled-key-fob-73135.html#post1480721

and snip of the reply from M_Paquette, who has just a bit of knowledge in this area (meaning he has A LOT):

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/new-fangled-key-fob-73135.html#post1480736

The big UI Oops here was in not providing the UIPickerView 'window', heavy selected text, and perspective cues.

The result is a picker that behaves like a UIPickerView, but looks more like a selection list.

Bad programmer! No biscuit. (bug filed)

https://developer.apple.com/library/.../Controls.html

I had to google to find that LOTS of people had this same problem. The frustrating thing was, just 'playing around' with it, it seemed to work sometimes, and not others. It wasn't until I read up on the totally non-standard way of doing it that I could manage. Basically, dragging a selection to the pointer, rather than touching the selection and having the pointer update to show that selection is enabled.

It isn't something that should have required 'training'. Heck, it's a selection, this has been around since the beginning of GUI! And it was other users on a forum explaining it to us, not Apple. And try to google those terms, they get buried with all sorts of extraneous camera topics. But once I found them, I sure was not alone.

I also comment in that thread - good UI provides 'hinting'. There should always be some hint of what to do, as I mention, in a browser you typically get an underline and/or blue text, or something that hints that is a clickable link. Having stuff just 'appear' when you swipe some 'magic spot' doesn't provide any hints.

Never ran into that on Android Though of course, Android UI has it's share of faults as well. It's just that I really don't think Apple has their act together on most of this, I might even say they are worse, but that's subjective, unless you really put together some extended objective measure. That can be done, but it's beyond my ability/motivation. But I sure don't think Apple has any slam/dunk advantage.

-ERD50

 

[hnzw_rui]

Whoooahh there! I Heartily disagree! The Apple IOS is just awful in some areas.

I recall writing a post here a while back, after I 'upgraded' DWs iPad to the then latest IOS. I could not figure out how to do the simple task of switching modes on the Camera app.

Never ran into that on Android Though of course, Android UI has it's share of faults as well. It's just that I really don't think Apple has their act together on most of this, I might even say they are worse, but that's subjective, unless you really put together some extended objective measure. That can be done, but it's beyond my ability/motivation. But I sure don't think Apple has any slam/dunk advantage.

I blame Jony Ive for that. Too much focus on making it modern and pretty without much thought to being user-friendly. Prior to iOS 7, iOS was actually more intuitive to use with plenty of visual cues not to mention less "laggy".

That said, while the interface can be sub-optimal at times, that still doesn't change the fact that Apple provides fairly extensive manuals as well as classes and training sessions in their retail stores. That's where the advantage lies. There are quite a number of people who will not do a simple search on Google or forums to figure out how their new smartphone works. In those cases, Apple provides hand-holding. Google, you're kinda on your own.

I remember Google used to have a fairly comprehensive (stock) Android manual (circa Ice Cream Sandwich and earlier, iirc) but I can't find it now.

I am part of the video game/programming crowd so to me, it's fairly easy to use either. However, from what I've noticed with majority of my non-techie relatives (typically the older ones), iOS made for a quicker learning curve than Android.

Kids nowadays, no such problems. They grew up with this stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if a 5-year old can show me a thing or two when it comes to apps and tech.

 

[Lsbcal]

I hope this thread doesn't go off into an Apple-Android debate.

 

[target2019]

User guides for each android version are available online. Takes a second to search online for these items before making erroneous statements.

 

[ERD50]

I hope this thread doesn't go off into an Apple-Android debate.

I don't see that back-forth as an Apple-Android debate. Each OS has it's pros/cons, and the great thing is, each of us are free to choose, based on personal preferences.

But if someone is going to make an unfounded statement about either, pro or con, they should expect it to be challenged. No good comes from leaving misinformation stand as true.


BTW, we use both in this house. They both work. They both have issues.

-ERD50

 

[scrinch]

It's interesting how some people don't want to waste their time reading a manual, while others don't want to waste their time "messing around" with the device learning how it operates. I guess the lesson is that everyone has their own preferred way of learning.

 

[target2019]

Machines, to me, are for using. I find it annoying that I need to play with the phone and "figure things out," instead of having a manual that spells out each function. To me, it's a huge waste of time to have to "play around" with machines that are too coy to tell me, "Hey, I do This and This, and here's how."

That said, thanks for the tips.

Amethyst

Here is the full manual. Yours may be different though. Search for Motorola Moto G full manual. Lots of answers there.

https://www.consumercellular.com/Content/PDFs/Manuals/Moto G EXT Manual.pdf

 

[hnzw_rui]

User guides for each android version are available online. Takes a second to search online for these items before making erroneous statements.

Technically, all I said was I can't find the stock Android online tutorials/manuals now. I didn't say they didn't exist. They used to be available on Android and were quite easy to find.

But if someone is going to make an unfounded statement about either, pro or con, they should expect it to be challenged. No good comes from leaving misinformation stand as true.

Apple provides hand-holding (classes and training sessions). Google doesn't. I don't think that's an unfounded statement. I never claimed that iOS had the best UI or anything. Customer service is one of the reasons Apple devices carry such a high premium so it's kinda expected they'll provide better resources. Now if you're aware of Google-provided classes or video tutorials on how to use Android, then I stand corrected.

BTW, we use both in this house. They both work. They both have issues.

Yup. So true.

Finally found the Moto G 3rd Gen User Guide (Lollipop). There's quite a bit of interface change going from Jelly Bean to Lollipop.

https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/product_page/faqs/p/30,6720,9390/#/how_do_i

 

[ERD50]

Originally Posted by ERD50 View Post
But if someone is going to make an unfounded statement about either, pro or con, they should expect it to be challenged. No good comes from leaving misinformation stand as true.

...

Apple provides hand-holding (classes and training sessions). Google doesn't. I don't think that's an unfounded statement. I never claimed that iOS had the best UI or anything. Customer service is one of the reasons Apple devices carry such a high premium so it's kinda expected they'll provide better resources. Now if you're aware of Google-provided classes or video tutorials on how to use Android, then I stand corrected. ...]

Sorry - my post was worded a little too strongly. I maybe should have said 'questionable' or 'debatable', rather than 'unfounded'.

And I meant to add, then forgot, that I agree with you that the Apple retail stores are a great resource for someone who needs a little hand-holding and doesn't have friend/family to ask. I also am not aware of that being available for Android products, though maybe for a phone, the carrier store would walk you through any questions? I don't know, and they probably are not up to the level of the Apple employees, but I've also found at least some of them to be very knowledgeable on the ins/outs of the products.


-ERD50