Google Pixel 7 phone questions

[tc101]

I recently got a new Google Pixel 7 phone. I will probably have several questions that I will post here. First question:

On my previous phone, an LG, if it was on I could tap the screen twice and it would lock and turn off screen. Is there anything
similar on the Pixel?

[dukeblue219]

Not to lock it, no. You can set "quick taps" on the back as short cuts for various actions but none are to lock the device. You can also tap the screen to light it up (to check notifications and such) but again not to lock it.

Edit - the power button can do this if course, I assume you meant tapping the screen specifically

[livesoft]

On my Pixel 6a, if I click the power button, the display goes dark and my phone is locked, but the phone does not turn off. If I want to power off the phone, I have to press and hold the power button.

[tc101]

Voice dictation was working fine on my new Pixel 7. I use voice dictation a lot for texting. Earlier today I did a restart on the phone in an attempt to fix another issue. Shortly after the restart I was texting. I pushed the microphone button to start voice dictation and a screen came up that said something like "Allow voice recording by blah blah blah". I just pushed the "Do not allow" button without thinking about it. That's what I usually do when something asks for permission to do something. Now, when I push the microphone button to start voice dictation I get a message saying "No permission to enable: Voice Typing". I can't figure out how to fix this so I can start voice dictation again.

[tc101]

You can ignore my last question. I found the answer. Rather than remove the last post I will put the solution here in case anyone has the same problem:

"Go to settings apps and notification search gboard. Go to permission enable the microphone access."


https://support.google.com/a/thread/128 ... e%20access.

[tc101]

I just turned on the phone (is that the correct terminology, saying I turned on the phone)?
Anyway it comes up with a screen saying "Allow camera to access this device's location"
Gives 3 buttons:
While using the app
Only this time
Don't allow

My normal response is to not allow anything unless I understand exactly why it needs to be allowed, but I got in trouble doing this with microphone permissions and took me a half hour to figure out how to turn the mic back on.

What should I do?

[llin]

Allowing camera access to location is necessary to embed the lat/long of your location in the photo's metadata. If you want to be able to see photos on a map then select "while using this app". I find Google Photos to be a great interface for the tens of thousands of photos I've accumulated over the years and the utility would be greatly reduced without the location data.

[tc101]

Thanks for the info. Are there any situations where the phone asks you give permission for something and you think it is important not to allow the permission?

[FedGuy]

Thanks for the info. Are there any situations where the phone asks you give permission for something and you think it is important not to allow the permission?

I'm very conservative with permissions. I never (voluntarily) use my GPS and usually deny my apps permission to access location (some apps simply fail to work if you do this, so on occasion I have to grit my teeth and agree, but I think Google recently changed some of the underlying architecture to make this less common). I deny access to the camera unless I'm taking a photo or doing something else that clearly requires use of the camera, such as scanning a bar code. I deny access to the microphone for everything except the phone, and that one time I experimented with a recording app.

[llin]

Permissions are app-based so you'll see the popup when an app requests access. Better apps will explain why certain permissions are necessary. Android also will automatically revoke access to apps if you haven't launched/interacted with them for a certain amount of time (a month?).

Like the other poster I take a deny first approach. For example the Starbucks app requests location to find the closest store but I'm perfectly happy to manually locate one. On the other hand the McDonald's app won't run at all without the location privilege so if I want to order fries I have to relent.

[tc101]

On my last android phone there were symbols at the bottom of the screen that would let me go to the home page, or the previous page. Now with my pixel they are not there. I know I can do these things by swiping, but I would rather have the buttons at the bottom of the screen. Is there any way to get them back?

[Nonchalance]

On my last android phone there were symbols at the bottom of the screen that would let me go to the home page, or the previous page. Now with my pixel they are not there. I know I can do these things by swiping, but I would rather have the buttons at the bottom of the screen. Is there any way to get them back?

Moto:
Settings / Accessibility / System Navigation / 3-button navigation

[tc101]

Thanks

[tc101]

When I make a voice call it works just fine, but it briefly gives a message at the bottom of the screen saying "Nearby device, permissions are disabled". What does that mean?

[livesoft]

I don't know, but I would use Google (via chrome browser) on the phone to ask them that exact question. At the bottom of your home screen you should see a place to ask questions:

[tc101]

I have a question about terminology.

If I am not using the phone eventually the screen times out and goes dark, or I can press the button on the side and the screen goes dark. If the screen is already dark and tap it, or press the button on the side, the screen comes on again.

I think of this as turning the phone on and off, but I know the phone wasn't actually off and I am not really turning it on. What are the correct words for these actions?

[dukeblue219]

"locked" or "asleep" is the common lingo: "I was trying to follow a recipe but my phone kept going to sleep." "I was finished sending a message so I pressed the button to lock it."

Technically they are a little different as a phone may be configured to not actually lock until it's been asleep for a few seconds or minutes.

[livesoft]

I have a question about terminology.

If I am not using the phone eventually the screen times out and goes dark, or I can press the button on the side and the screen goes dark. If the screen is already dark and tap it, or press the button on the side, the screen comes on again.

I think of this as turning the phone on and off, but I know the phone wasn't actually off and I am not really turning it on. What are the correct words for these actions?

Turn on/off display. I guess you could say Turn on/off screen.

Turn on/off phone is power on the phone and "power off"

BTW, I don't want the display to come on accidentally in my pocket and waste battery, so I have disabled the "tap to turn on display" feature. That is, I must momentarily press the button on the side to turn on the display. Also I do not want the display on when I am not looking at it, so I have the "Settings > Display > Screen timeout" set to 1 minute which works fo me. One could set it shorter or longer.

You can also "lock" or "lockdown" your phone without turning off the display and without power off.

I use my phone for lots of photos, so I when phone is on, display is off, and phone is locked, I just double click the power button on the side and the phone camera is ready to go without using my fingerprint or PIN to unlock. When doing that only the camera works and no other apps are accessible until the phone is unlocked via PIN or fingerprint.

[michaeljc70]

Thanks for the info. Are there any situations where the phone asks you give permission for something and you think it is important not to allow the permission?

I generally don't allow any app to use permissions when the app isn't in use. That uses battery and I don't want apps tracking where I am unnecessarily or using data. For example, certain apps (like FB) will download (cache) data even if you rarely use the app. There are exceptions to the permissions for things like I want my podcast app to refresh regularly and download my favorite podcasts in the background when I don't have the app open.