Android 2.2 Manual Users' Guide Helps Learn Voice-to-text, Use as Modem and Copy/Paste

AndroidFroYo2.2ManualUSERguide.jpgGoogle offers the Users' Guide to Android 2.2 aka FroYo and it has many many Android tips and tricks. This guide will be helpful if you are Droid by Motorola owner awaiting your update or you are anxiously awaiting a Android 2.2 loaded smartphone.

Voice to text is probably one of the best features, in FroYo, you have to turn it on.

If the onscreen keyboard does not display a Microphone key, voice input is not turned on or you have it configured to display on the symbols keyboard. 1 Press Home , press Menu , then touch Settings > Language & keyboard > Android keyboard.

Or you can also touch & hold the Symbol key on the onscreen keyboard; in the dialog that opens, touch Android keyboard settings. Touch Voice input. Touch the option for where you want the Microphone key (on the main keyboard orthe symbols keyboard). Or touch Off to turn off voice input.

You can enter text by speaking, in most places that you can enter text with the onscreen keyboard. Touch a text field.  Touch the Microphone key on the keyboard (if you set the Microphone key to appear on the symbols keyboard, touch the Symbol key fist). Or just swipe your finger across the keyboard from left to right. Another trick is to hold down the search key and voice search automatically initiated give to us by HTC's Eric Lin along with other handy tips and tricks.

When prompted to "Speak now," speak what you want to enter. Say "comma," "period," "question mark," "exclamation mark," or "exclamation point" to enter punctuation. We also found that talking slowly and pausing between words helps.
There's a great tutorial on copying and pasting text:

 Select the text to cut or copy. Press & hold the Trackball, or touch & hold the selected text. Touch Cut or Copy in the menu that opens.

If you touch Cut, the selected text is removed from the text field. In either case, the text is stored in a temporary area on the phone, so that you can paste it into another text field.

To paste text. Copy the text to paste.  Touch the text field where you want to paste the text.
You can paste text that you copied from one application into a text field in any
application. Use the Trackball to move the cursor to the location where you want to paste the
text.  Press & hold the Trackball, or touch & hold the text field. Touch Paste in the menu that opens.

The text is inserted at the cursor. The text that you pasted also remains in a temporary area on the phone, so you can paste that same text in another location.

Use/Tether Android Smartphone as a Modem

Use the USB cable that came with your phone to connect your phone to yourcomputer. Press Home , press Menu , and touch Settings to open the Settings application. Touch Wireless & networks > Tethering & portable hotspot.  Check USB tethering.The phone starts sharing its mobile network data connection with your computer, via USB connection. An ongoing notification is added to the Status bar and Notifications panel. Uncheck USB tethering to stop sharing your data connection. Or justdisconnect the USB cable.

Placing and receiving phone calls doesn't show up until page 70. We'll be pulling more tips and tricks from the Android manual in the near future.

Read the full Android 2.2 Manual here.