Thing 2: Mobile Device Tips

Because I am cheap and hate the idea of spending $80-100 month for phone service, and because I work a lot with various devices as a point person for the library OverDrive questions, I didn't really think owning a smartphone was necessary for my existence.

However...I did upgrade to a Samsung Galaxy phone, and must admit that I kind of love it.  There are a number of features that my stone age phone was lacking - such as uploading photos to FB, accessing the internet, and, erm, texting.

I appreciate the above 3 features, but had a lot of fun playing and testing several other functions mention in the video and tips/tricks.

For example, after installing Lookout Security & Antivirus, I went to https://www.lookout.com/d/missingDevice and made my phone "scream." (At work.  And it's loud.)  I also downloaded the  OverDrive app, which worked well, except this particular version of the Samsung Galaxy (Galaxy S4 mini) kept shifting away from the library wifi to my data plan -- apparently our wifi, while quite strong, is considered unreliable/unstable by Samsung.

BUT, with the help of computer center staff, we found that we can MAKE it stay on the wifi by either turning off the mobile data or turning off the Auto Network Switch.  (If anyone else has the same problem, directions are below).

Finally, I had no idea my phone was tracking my eye movements with Smart Stay.  Creepy but cool.


Turning off Mobile Data will keep you from using up your data plan, but it also means you can't use the internet unless you are connected to wifi.  If that's okay with you:

Turn off Mobile Data:

From the Home screen, tap the bottom left corner menu --> Settings --> Data usage --> uncheck Mobile Data (this disallows data access over mobile network)

Turn off Auto Network switch
If you want to be on wifi as long as there is any signal, but then switch to mobile data if needed, turn off the auto network switch (this only works if the data access over the mobile network is turned on):

From the Home screen, tap bottom left menu--> Settings --> Wi-Fi -->bottom left corner menu --> Advanced --> uncheck Auto Network Switch