So, you’ve gotten an Android phone or tablet, under the recommendation of another, a friend, significant other or perhaps you felt like you deserved to treat yourself to a new fangled smartphone. Perhaps that iPad is too “Giant iPod Touch” for you, this Android tablet of yours will see you right! Well, you made the right choice. Your friends have told you to check out Android Headlines? They were right to! From today we’re starting a series of How Tos and we’re starting right from the beginning, we’re going to be here for you from the moment you hit that shiny new power button.
Okay, so, yeah it’s perhaps “boring” to start from the beginning but, what we’re trying to do is create an archive if you like of the internet’s best help for those getting their foot through the Droid Door. We’ll be covering all the bases with this as well and, we’ll have something a little more spicy for you seasoned smartphone users in the future.
Without further a due I’d like to present you with the first How To: Set Up a Google Account With Your New Phone
For those completely new to our great and growing platform you might have heard friends or family talking about their Google account and how it’s locked in tightly with their phones. It can be confusing for sure, when everyone else seems to get it and you have no clue. Well, fear not, we all start somewhere and we all need help. So, we’re going to give you all the details on what a Google account is, why you might need one, what it can offer you and just how you get it talking with your new phone.
I’ve Been Under A Rock, What’s a Google Account
Okay, so, if you aren’t the type that uses the internet for much more than casual browsing – which is fine, we’re all friends here – then you might not know what a Google Account is. You’ve probably heard of Gmail, which is sort of where any Google Account begins. Time was Gmail was about the best Google offered, how times have changed, eh? With an account from Google there’s now a lot more than just better e-mail involved, and a lot of these benefits are reaped with Android at your side – tablet or otherwise. For example, a Google account will get you access to Google+ you’ve also been hearing a little about, a connected calendar and quite a bit more, but, really the most you’ll ever get out of one these Google Accounts is with Android.
Alright, I Hear You I’ll Get an Account with Google, but What Do I Get?
So, let’s say you’ve got this new Android phone but you’ve not got an account with Google. Well, once you get this account, you’re going to feel all kinds of awesome when you do. All of your contacts will be synced with this Google account so if you – heaven forbid – lose your phone or just run out of juice, as long as you’re near a computer or something connected to the web all of your numbers are safe and you can still call home or whoever else. Also, this will let you buy or download free and paid apps alike in the Google Play Store – something that you’re going to want to do a lot of with your new phone. Along with this, a Google account gains you access to Play Books, Play Movies and Play Music from the Play Store as well. It’s your gateway to all these services and it’s so slick and seamless the only thing you’ll have trouble with is remembering your password!
Enough! How Do I Do It Already?
We’re going to do this right from the power on. There’s something to remember right away with this, though, not every Android phone is the same. This isn’t something to worry about so, don’t let that kid down the street with all the Apple stuff run you scared. Sometimes things might look different but, deep down there pretty much all the same. When you first turn on your Android phone, you’ll be greeted with a screen that asks you to choose to sign in with either an existing account or to create a new one. IF you’ve already got a Gmail account then go ahead and enter it here, along with your password now.
If you don’t have a Google/Gmail account then just touch “New”, this is super-easy to do, just create a Gmail address – Android will tell you if it’s taken or not and then just enter a password and you’re good to go. It’s worth noting that this password is something that you’ll need to remember and something that is also secure so, perhaps a combination of a pet’s name and a family members birthday will do the trick.
Once you’ve created this address you can begin enjoying all those wonderful things we talked about earlier, so that you can see and have some sort of control over what will be syncing with this new account you can go over to the device’s settings and then over to the “Accounts & Sync” section, you’ll see that your Google account will be listed – others may well populate this later on, more on that another time – if you click on this you’ll see that there’s a list of things being synced with this new – or existing – account. Thanks to Android this is all you’ll really have to do from now, Google’s put a lot of effort into making sure that this is a seamless experience and it sure shows. Your contacts will be synced automatically in the background every time you add or delete them as will other content you have synced with your account. The best thing about this is that it doesn’t take up a lot data and can be configured to only sync over Wi-Fi.
So, there you have it, how to sync an existing – or create a new – Google Account with your shiny new Android phone. Keep coming back for more How Tos and don’t worry if this was too basic for you, we’ve got to start somewhere and we’re definitely going to get more technical as things go on and get beginners and power users alike learning.