12. Customizing Your EVO 3D
In this chapter, you find out how to customize your EVO 3D to fit your personal lifestyle. Topics include the following:
• Adding widgets to your home screen
• Using accessibility settings
Your EVO 3D is a state-of-the-art entertainment center and productivity tool that can be customized to fit your own specific needs. There are a variety of settings at your disposal that enable you to personalize your EVO 3D and optimize its functions for your everyday life. In this chapter, you learn not only how to customize your phone’s appearance, but also its functionality, including accessibility settings and search settings.
Changing Your Wallpaper
Perhaps the most basic customization you can perform with your EVO 3D is changing the default wallpaper. Your EVO 3D comes preloaded with several Google-designed wallpapers from which to choose, but you can also personalize your screen by choosing one of your own pictures.
1. Press the Menu button while on the Home screen and then tap Wallpaper.
2. Tap HTC wallpapers. The HTC Wallpaper Gallery appears.
3. You can tap Get More to purchase new wallpapers.
4. Flick through the gallery and then tap a wallpaper to preview it; alternatively, simply navigate to a wallpaper and then tap Preview at the bottom.
5. Tap Apply to switch your Home screen wallpaper. The wallpaper is applied, and you are taken back to the Home screen.
Live Wallpaper
Your EVO 3D is also preloaded with animated designs called Live Wallpaper that you can use to personalize the appearance of your Home screen. You can choose from cool designs such as a map that updates to your current location and is complete with traffic and weather info, a galaxy scene, a water scene, and grass blowing in the wind.
1. Press the Menu button while on the Home screen and then tap Wallpaper.
2. Tap Live Wallpapers. The Live Wallpapers Gallery opens.
3. Flick through the wallpapers and then tap Preview to watch the animation.
4. Tap Settings to adjust the animation. Each animation comes with its own unique settings so that you can tweak the appearance.
5. Tap Apply to switch your Home screen wallpaper. The wallpaper is applied and you are taken back to the Home screen.
Wallpaper from Gallery Pictures
You can also apply photos that you have synced to your EVO 3D from your computer as wallpapers. Your EVO 3D is also a highly capable digital camera, so you can take your own images and use them as wallpaper for an added personal touch.
1. Press the Menu button while on the Home screen and then tap Wallpaper.
2. Tap Gallery. The albums of photos stored on your EVO 3D appear.
3. Tap the Gallery that has a photo you want to use.
4. Tap the gallery photo you want to use. The photo opens full screen with a green cropping tool in the middle.
5. The green crop tool in the middle of the screen is confined to the dimensions of your EVO 3D screen. Drag the cropping tool and frame the part of the picture you want to use for the wallpaper. The cropping tool constrains the dimensions of the phone display as you drag.
6. Tap Save when you are finished. Your EVO 3D crops the photo and then applies it to the Home screen. You are taken back to the Home screen. This cropping process is nondestructive—the actual photo in the gallery is not cropped.
Using Scenes
Scenes differ from wallpaper in the way that they offer different widgets than your default Home screen. Look for a scene that comes with the widgets you use the most so you have faster access to the things you need.
Changing the Scene
To access more options for customizing your EVO 3D’s Home and extended screens’ appearance, you can tap the Personalize icon from any Home screen to access preloaded scenes, skins, and also Lock screen wallpaper designs.
1. Tap the Personalize icon from the Home screen.
2. Tap Scene.
3. Flick through the designs and then tap Get More to purchase more Scenes.
4. After you find a scene you like, tap Apply. The scene is applied to the Home screen.
Creating Your Own Scene
You are not limited to the predesigned scenes loaded on your phone; you can pick your own widgets, programs, and shortcuts, and rearrange existing items in a scene. After you create your own scene, you can save your creation.
1. Tap the Personalize icon from any Home screen.
2. Tap Scene.
3. Press the Menu button on Your EVO 3D.
4. Tap New.
5. Give the new scene a name.
6. Tap Done. You go to the Home screen with an empty wallpaper.
7. Change the wallpaper to the design you want and then add and arrange widgets to the wallpaper for all of your EVO 3D screens. The scene is automatically saved. Refer to the relevant sections about widgets and wallpaper in this chapter.
8. Your new creation is saved under Scenes. You can access it by following steps 1 and 2.
Using Skins
Skins enable you to apply an overall theme to not only the Home screen, but to extended screens as well. For example, if you choose the Blue Sky theme, the color scheme of the People app also changes. If you change the wallpaper, the skin you chose is still visible in other screens, such as in the People app.
1. Tap the Personalize icon from any Home screen.
2. Tap Skin.
3. Flick through the designs and tap Get More to purchase more skins.
4. After you find a skin you like, tap Apply. The scene is applied to the Home screen and to extended screens. Remember that you can change your wallpaper back, and the skin is still visible in other screens.
Changing the Lock Screen
The lock screen is the first screen you see when you wake your EVO 3D from sleep. You can also customize this screen with preloaded designs that utilize your photo album, stock market information, clock designs, and more.
1. Tap the Personalize icon from any Home screen.
2. Tap Lock Screen.
3. Flick through the designs and tap Settings to further customize the screen by choosing the shortcuts that appear on the new Lock screen. Each design has its own unique settings for you to tweak.
4. When you find a design you like and have chosen the shortcut and tweaked the settings, tap Done. For some designs, you are prompted to tap Select to choose a design option.
5. When you are finished, tap Apply. The design is applied to the Lock screen.
Changing Your Keyboard
If you find it difficult to type on your EVO 3D’s default keyboard and you want a layout that better suits your typing style, there are three preloaded onscreen keyboard layouts you can choose from.
1. From a Home screen, press the Menu button and then choose Settings.
2. Scroll down and tap Language & Keyboard.
3. Tap Touch Input.
4. Tap Keyboard Types.
5. Tap Phone for a layout that resembles a traditional wireless phone keypad.
6. Tap Compact for a layout that features two letters on each key. The keys are larger than on the standard keyboard layout.
Swype Keyboard
The Swype keyboard offers an alternative approach to touch input keyboards that you might find easier for entering text on your EVO 3D. To type using the Swype keyboard, you trace your finger over the letters of the word you want to type. For example, if you want to type the word “and,” put your finger on the a key on the keyboard and then trace the word by sliding your fingers across the remaining letters in the word “and” on the keyboard. Here is how you can switch the keyboard on your EVO 3D to the SWYPE keyboard.
1. Within an application that lets you enter text, such as Mail and Messages, touch and hold your finger in the text box. A menu appears.
2. Tap Input Method.
3. Tap Swype. The input method switches to Swype.
4. To adjust the Swype settings, tap the Swype Key on the keyboard. A menu appears.
5. Tap Options to proceed to the Swype settings.
Trace Keyboard
Trace is an input method created by HTC that is very similar to Swype input. Like Swype, Trace enables you to swipe your fingers over letters to spell words without having to tap your fingers on the keyboard. Consider trying both the Swype and Trace inputs to evaluate the typing accuracy of each method.
1. From a Home screen, press the Menu button and then choose Settings.
2. Scroll down and tap Language & Keyboard.
3. Tap Touch Input.
4. Tap Trace Keyboard.
5. Tap to select the Trace Keyboard.
6. Tap to choose the pen color and stroke width when tracing letters on the keyboard.
Adding Widgets to a Home Screen
The Home screens are where you begin many of your activities on the EVO 3D. As you purchase new apps, you might be compelled to add them to a Home screen and then rearrange them according to the ones you use the most. Your EVO 3D comes with many widgets that you can add to your Home screens for quick access.
Adding a Widget
By default, when you download an application from the Android Market, a shortcut is placed in the Applications menu, which is accessible from any Home screen. You can easily add shortcuts from the Applications menu to a Home screen and then rearrange them. Your EVO 3D is equipped with useful widgets you can add to a Home screen by following a few simple steps.
1. Flick to the Home screen on which you want to add the widget.
2. Tap the Personalize icon.
3. Tap Widget to access the list of available widgets on your EVO 3D.
4. Tap the widget you want to add. Some widgets offer various layouts and sizes you can choose from. If the widget you have chosen has more options, you are taken to a screen where you can select an option. If the widget does not have more options, it is immediately installed on a Home screen after you tap it.
5. The widget in this example has various layouts and sizes. Flick the screen to view the options.
6. Tap Details to read specifics about the widget’s function.
7. Tap Select to add the widget to the Home screen.
Moving a Widget
After adding widgets to your Home screen, you might want to rearrange them and move them to another screen. Here’s how:
1. Touch and hold your finger on the widget you want to move.
2. Drag your finger around the screen. As you drag, a green box appears and indicates where you can move the widget. Most pre-existing widgets on the screen move when you drag another widget on top of them, and then all widgets snap into place.
3. The green box turns red when you move it to areas onscreen that cannot accommodate the widget. You can drag the widget off screen to the left or right to place it on another screen.
Removing a Widget
When you remove a shortcut or widget icon from a Home screen, it does not delete or uninstall the app from the EVO 3D; it simply removes it from that screen. If you want to add that widget again, it is still located in Widgets and the Applications menu. Here is how you remove a widget:
1. Touch and hold your finger on the widget you want to remove.
2. After the widget pulsates and your EVO 3D vibrates once, drag the widget to the word Remove at the bottom of the screen.
3. When the widget turns red, release it. The widget is removed from the Home screen.
Region and Language
Your EVO 3D enables you to change the language used if you move to another country. You can change the region and language in just a few steps.
1. Press the Menu button while on a Home screen and then tap Settings.
2. Scroll down and tap Language & Keyboard.
3. Tap Select Language.
4. Tap the language you want to switch to. Your EVO 3D switches to the language selected.
Accessibility Settings
There are no accessibility-related applications preinstalled on your EVO 3D, but you can download a screen reader for your phone from Android Market. If you follow the path where the accessibility options would be accessed on your phone, your EVO 3D has streamlined the process for installing the screen reader.
1. Press the Menu button while on a Home screen and then tap Settings.
2. Scroll down and tap Accessibility. An alert appears to inform you that there are currently no accessibility-related applications installed on your phone.
3. Tap OK to begin the process of downloading a screen reader to your EVO 3D.
Search Settings
By default, when you perform a search from the Home screen on your EVO 3D, your phone searches content on your phone such as your contacts and Messages, as well as the Internet. You can configure the searchable items for your EVO 3D, including your music collection and call history.
1. Tap the Menu button while on a Home screen and then tap Settings.
2. Tap Search.
3. Tap Searchable Items. The Searchable Items list appears.
4. Select the searchable items you want to include in your search.
5. You can deselect previous searchable items to more narrowly focus your search.