Most Android phones and tablets will guide you step-by-step through the setup process. The experience may differ slightly, depending on what brand your device is and which version of Android it is running. They are all very similar, but here we are using Android on a Google Pixel phone. We have a ton of other useful Android how-to guides at Tech Advisor to help you get to grips with your new phone such as our list of the essential Android apps and the best Android games for a new phone or tablet. Here you can also select vision and voice modes if you require accessibility features to be turned on now and throughout your use of the phone. Now tap ‘Get started’ to get to the next screen. In the packaging there is likely an ejector tool to put in the SIM slot hole to remove the tray. Most modern smartphones takes nano SIM cards, the smallest possible size. Insert the SIM card you either have just got or the one form your old phone. If your device is unlocked for use on any network, or locked to the network of that SIM card, the phone should recognise the SIM card, giving you access to your mobile plan. Some phones will allow you choose to download an eSIM instead. This is an electronic SIM stored on the phone without the need for a physical SIM card. Not all phones will give you this option. If you don’t have a SIM card or don’t want an eSIM, you can tap ‘Skip’ to set up the phone without a mobile network connection using only Wi-Fi. Tap the Wi-Fi network you want to connect to, and then enter the network’s password. If you don’t know it, it can usually be found on the back of the Wi-Fi router. Your phone will then connect to Wi-Fi and continue to set up You can opt to ‘Set up offline’ if you wish, but you won’t be able to log in to your Google account without a mobile data of Wi-Fi connection. This is necessary in order to download apps and use the phone online. You can select ‘Don’t copy’ here if you wish to set up the phone as new with no old data, or ‘Can’t use old device?’ if you do not have access to your old phone. If you want to copy data, tap ‘Next’. You can then use your old device to copy over data. First, the phone will suggest you will need the correct cable to do this. If you have a cable with the two correct port connections, you can tap ‘Next’ and follow the on-screen instructions. If you do not have the correct cable, you can still copy your data, but it will take longer. Tap, ‘No cable?’ or ‘Copy without cable’. The set-up will give you different options depending on which you choose. You can copy data from an old Android phone or an iPhone, too. This stage can take several minutes, depending on how much data you want to move. Be patient! You can then select what you want to copy over from your old phone. You can select as much or as little as you want. Here the set up will as you whether you want to turn on things like location services, app scanning, and whether to send usage and diagnostic data to Google. You need to select yes to location and app scanning if you want all the services to work properly on your phone. In modern Android, you can later stop certain apps from accessing your location if you don’t want them to. Think of this step as a master ‘on’ switch – you need to say yes if you want commonly used apps like Google Maps to work. Tap ‘Accept’ when you’ve selected what you want. If you lose your phone, you can use this cloud back up to restore your data and settings to a new phone. You get some gigabytes (GB) for free, but you will end up having to pay a small monthly fee for Google One if you want more storage. Here is our Google One guide. Tap ‘Not now’ or ‘Turn on’ to continue By default Android will ask you set a PIN number of at least 4 digits. The longer the number you choose the better, though. If you tap ‘Screen lock options’ you can alternatively choose to set a pattern or a password. Enter your choice twice as per the on-screen instructions to proceed. Follow the on-screen instructions to set up your fingerprint. You can tap ‘Continue’ or ‘Leave and get reminder’. The latter will make sure you get a notification later to do this step. Modern Android is navigated with gestures, and your phone might show you how to do that here. Most will ask you to swipe up from the bottom of the screen to go home, swipe up and hold to enter the app picker, and swipe in from either side to go back. There might be a tutorial for you to get use to this at this point. Enjoy your new Android phone. You might also find guides such as how to restore WhatsApp messages on a new phone handy as you set up your new phone. Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.
