Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK For Dummies ebook

Samsung Galaxy Tab® 4 NOOK® For Dummies®

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and may not be used without written permission. Samsung Galaxy Tab is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. NOOK is a registered trademark of Barnesandnoble.com, LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014948514

ISBN 978-1-119-00834-7 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-00836-1 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-119-00835-4 (ePDF)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Introduction

Nearly everything you can do on a desktop or laptop computer can now be accomplished on a small, battery-operated handheld rectangle of plastic and glass. The best way to think of a tablet like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK is as a super-sized smartphone, without the cellular phone connection (and monthly bill).

The tablet isn’t the most advanced model on the market — many others have sharper screens or better cameras or other fancy doodads — but for its purpose as an eBook reader and a portal on the Internet — the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK is a very good option at a relatively low price.

About This Book

As good as the new NOOK tablet is, they have continued a long tradition in computer manufacturing: The skimpy little instruction manual that comes with it is laughably inadequate and the online booklet isn’t much better. Myself, I’m not complaining: I’ve made a nice living for a long time filling in the gaping blanks between. Herewith, then, the keys to the Galaxy.

You can read this book from front to back, if you wish. Or you can jump to a section that deals with whatever questions you have. Each of the parts deal with a particular task or function, and each chapter covers a specific topic.

My goal, as always, is to present news you can use and skip over as much unnecessary bafflegab as possible. When I feel it necessary to go a bit into technological detail, you’ll find those sections nicely fenced off; enter if you want, or keep the barn door latched. We’re in this together, and I’ve done my best to make the book easy to read and understand, and even entertaining in places.

The full name of the device we’re gathered to explore is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK. It’s very much a member of the Samsung Galaxy Tab family, in its fourth generation. But that last word, NOOK, means that some important parts of the operating system and reading apps are different from its cousins.

I’ll call the tablet by its first name when it seems appropriate, and in other places I call it the Tab 4 NOOK. And in places where the hardware is not the issue, I might even just call it the NOOK or the tablet. We’ll see, together.

Like other books in the constantly expanding For Dummies universe, you’ll be directed to do things by numbered steps. Sometimes you’ll be advised to choose a menu item, and then to tap a command. It’s all quite touchy-feely, I promise.

Foolish Assumptions

The first and most important assumption I make for all of my books of this sort is this: You, dear reader, are an intelligent, capable, and curious person who wants to know how to use what seems at first glance to be a very complex technical device.

Put another way, you’re not looking to build a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK from spare parts recovered from your kitchen junk drawer, and you have no interest whatsoever in writing your own software to make the hardware sing and dance.

And the second assumption is this: You already own, or are seriously considering buying, a Tab 4 NOOK.

And because we’re more than halfway through the first decade of the tablet computer, I suspect that you have seen a tablet and probably made at least a few swipes at one. Because of this, I skip the “Isn’t it amazing?” part and get right to the point: They keep getting better and better.

I do believe that there are things that any reader would find interesting and helpful in this book, but to be fully honest about it, this book is pretty tightly focused on just that one model of tablet.

Although it isn’t essential, I also assume that you have your own desktop or laptop computer or have access to one. It doesn’t matter whether it be a Windows or Macintosh design. And I also have to assume that you have a Wi-Fi wireless computer network you can use at home or at work or in a public library or other place you can use; the Tab 4 NOOK needs a Wi-Fi connection to allow you to fill it with books and other media and to reach the Internet.

Another assumption is that you’ve heard this relatively new word many, many times: app. It is short for application, which is another word for a software program. On a desktop or laptop computer, software has become larger and more complex year by year. But in the reduced world of the tablet, there’s a different concept: small and specialized.

Icons Used in This Book

This icon is there to tell you when danger — or at least serious problems — lie ahead. If you don’t heed this information, you might damage your tablet or yourself or you might lose really important information.

This icon is there to remind you of something. This information tells you how to do something you’ll often need.

This icon tells you of useful tips and suggestions to get the most from your new tablet. This information might save you time or money. Or better — both.

You probably don’t need to know this stuff, but aren’t you a little bit curious? Go ahead, try a few. There are no pop quizzes in this book.

Beyond the Book

I’ve written a lot of extra content that you won’t find in this book. Links to the articles are on the parts pages. Go online to find the following:

www.dummies.com/extras/samsunggalaxytabs

www.dummies.com/extras/samsunggalaxytabs

www.dummies.com/extras/samsunggalaxytabs

www.dummies.com/extras/samsunggalaxytabs

www.dummies.com/extras/samsunggalaxytabs

www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/samsunggalaxytabs

Here you’ll find instructions for taking a panoramic picture, finding images online, make a slide show, using SoundAlive, and replacing regular alarm sounds with a song.

www.dummies.com/extras/samsunggalaxytabs

Where to Go from Here

You go from here to the first part and the sections that lie behind. You could start by reading the copyright and trademark page, or read the names of all of the fine people at Wiley who helped transform my keyboard taps into the book you are holding. But perhaps you’d like to save that for an epilogue. Go forth and explore Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK and the device itself; they’re meant for each other.

Part I

Getting Started with Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK

Visit www.dummies.com for more great Dummies content online.

In this part …

Chapter 1

The First NOOK in the Galaxy

In This Chapter

Figuring out how to turn it on and off

Going into Airplane Mode

Putting memory on a microSD card

You’ve got a small box that holds a thin, flat piece of plastic and circuitry that has more speed, more intelligence, and more magic than an entire field of mainframes. It can hold and display nearly all of the world’s books, magazines, and newspapers. It can sing, show videos, take pictures, make movies, determine its location from an orbiting satellite, connect to the Internet, and send and receive emails and messages.

Just about the only thing the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK lacks is a decent instruction manual. If I might be so bold, I’m here to help.

Cozying Up to Your NOOK

To download books (or anything else) or to browse the web with a Tab 4 NOOK, you need access to a Wi-Fi system with an active connection to the Internet. See Figure 1-1.

The small, unpretentious brown cardboard box is about the size of a thick paperback book (remember those?) There’s not all that much within: the Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK and some goodies beneath it:

Keep the box, along with the warranty information and your receipt. If you need to return the tablet to the seller, send it in for service, or ship it to someone else, the original box is ready to serve and protect.

Sooner or later, you should remove the protective plastic sheet that sits atop the LCD screen. It works well to protect the device in transit, but it will interfere with your use of the touchscreen and collect dirt. Put it back in the box as a memento.

Charging the Battery

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK comes with a built-in (and non-removable) rechargeable battery. The battery probably still has some power in it from testing at the factory (mine arrived about half full), but please resist trying to use it immediately.

There are three reasons why you want to fully charge the battery before first use:

After the battery is fully charged for the first time, let it drain down to nearly empty, then recharge it fully; do this for the first three or four cycles.

And so, here’s how to give your tablet its first full charge:

Pay attention to the black positioning bar inside the charger and its corresponding bar inside the cable. Don’t force the two positioning bars against each other; the cable only fits one way.

The smaller connector on the cable connects to the port on the bottom of the tablet. The side of the cable end that has the three-forked USB symbol will be facing you as you’re looking at the front of the tablet. Again, don’t force the plug in the wrong way. See Figure 1-4.

When you plug the charger into a powered-off tablet, the screen will briefly show a battery-like object. You can see roughly how full (or empty) the device is. The drawing disappears after about 15 seconds, and after that there’s no way to know the device is being charged: no indicator lights. You’ll just have to school yourself to recharge the battery for six or eight hours if it nears empty.

You can recharge your Tab 4 NOOK by connecting the USB cable to a USB port on a PC, although this is a very slow process that takes as many as 10 hours for a full refill. Consider the USB charging option as an emergency backup only.

Inspecting the Gadget

Now for a physical examination. No need for a stethoscope or rubber gloves. Take your Tab 4 NOOK and place it on a desk or table in front of you. See Figure 1-5 for a guided tour of the front of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK. All of the following descriptions are based on looking at the tablet lying on its back, with its top facing away from you and the bottom closest to you: very much like the way you would look at a page from a book.

The front

The front is home to several items of note, one strictly for advertising purposes:

The left side

Move along. There’s nothing to see here, folks. Really. Nothing. The left side of the Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK is so elegantly empty it should go on display at a museum of contemporary art.

The right side

The right side is where you’ll find several essential keys, a blaster, a pinhole, and a slot. Yes, I said blaster. From top to bottom on the right side, they are:

The top side

Nice and simple, and logically designed: there is but one thing to see here: a headset jack. Here’s where you stick a 3.5mm connector for earbuds or connect to an external sound system.

The headset jack works well with earbuds or headphones, but you can also output audio from your Tab 4 NOOK to stereo systems with advanced controls and large speakers. For example, my car has a 3.5mm input jack for its radio; I bought a cable with a 3.5mm plug on each end (called a male-to-male cable) to use my NOOK as a music player.

The bottom

There’s just one thing to note down here. Although it’s lonely, it’s actually a very important, multipurpose portal: the microUSB port. Here’s where you attach the USB cable that came with your tablet. That cable, in turn, attaches to the AC adapter, allowing you to recharge the internal battery. You can disconnect that same cable from the AC adapter, then connect the cable to a PC or laptop to transfer or sync music or files.

The back

The tablet’s back gives the tablet something to hold up the front. To see it, turn your tablet over so that the front is facing down. Although you don’t have to baby your device, for safety’s sake put a cloth or a magazine under the screen.

Figure 1-7 points out the two items of note are on the back (plus some more advertising and a bit of legalese). Here’s what you’ll find:

Turning On, Turning Off, Going to Sleep

The high-tech battery in your Tab 4 NOOK can hold its charge for several weeks when it’s young and fresh and the tablet is off. Once you turn it on, the battery should provide power for somewhere between six and ten hours.

You can save battery power by reducing the brightness of the screen and by turning off radios when you don’t need them.

Powering on

I imagine you’ve figured out this is the way to turn on your Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK: Press and hold the key for two seconds (one Mississippi, two Mississippi).

If this is the first time you’ve given life to your tablet, you’ll immediately start setup, which may take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on how much detail you want to get into.

On the other hand, if you’ve already set up the device, turning it on brings you to either of two places:

I recommend using the Lock screen and requiring users to enter a code. You’ll store personal data, photos, and logins that may keep records of your credit card or banking information.

Powering off

Press the same switch for about two seconds while the device is running. A message asks if you really, really want to do that; tap Power Off to confirm.

Off is off. No alarms will ring, no email will be collected, no music will play.

Why would you want to completely turn off the NOOK tablet?

Going to sleep

The third option is to put your tablet to sleep, which in electronic terms is not the same thing we mean when Fido is headed to the vet for the last time. Putting a tablet to sleep means that the LCD screen and most of its internal circuitry are turned off, and just a small amount of power is provided to the system — enough to allow the device to return from the vet, I mean from sleep, at the push of a button. If you put a fully charged NOOK into Sleep mode, it should hold its charge for several days.

Here’s how to put the NOOK tablet to sleep: Briefly touch the Power/Lock key. Don’t hold it and count river names.

While the tablet’s asleep, the following functions are still awake:

To wake up a sleeping NOOK, briefly press the Power/Lock key. If you have required entry of a pattern, password, or PIN, you’ll go to the unlock screen; otherwise, the tablet will go directly to the Home screen or the last page you were consulting before its hiatus.

Setting the sleep timeout

Your tablet will go to sleep all by itself if you don’t do anything on it for a while. Why would you want this to happen? It’ll save battery power and serve as a level of protection if someone lays paws on your NOOK without your permission.

Here’s how to customize the sleep control: