Instructions

2010 could possibly have been the year of the Android, which means some of you may be giving a phone powered by the cute green robot some time this Christmas (especially with killer deals to be had). If your giftee is one to shun instruction manuals in favor of shiny gadget play time, add the free printable download "10 Things to do Right Away on Your Android Phone" to their present.

The guide is just a taste of the $20 instruction manual that is also offered, but I thought the advice would be good for loved ones who don't know very much about apps or someone who simply doesn't want to spend time exploring all the features of a new phone.

One of my favorite tips from the guide is to get directions home easily by adding a navigation link with your address on the phone's home screen. You can create as many navigation links as you want using the Shortcut feature, which means you'll always be able to use Google Map's turn-by-turn GPS directions to quickly and easily find your way back.

Check out a few more of my favorites after the break!

Whew! Turns out I'm not the only one who's guilty of not reading instructions when opening a new gadget. After I confessed I hate reading instructions, a few of you responded in kind. Here's what you had to say:

• "I almost never read the instructions. I think part of the excitement is figuring out how something works, on my own. I must however admit that that approach has not always proven to me successful . . . I broke my Internet router this weekend and have an unused camera laying around . . . simply because I don't really know how they work. Kinda stupid, if you think about it." — marycherry
• "I'm like that! I tend to skip the instructions and just dive in. My husband is the complete opposite. He will read everything!" — Zaianne

Find out more of what you had to say after the break.

Mail time is an exciting time of day at Sugar HQ — there are few things more exciting than receiving a new gadget to test. It's like Christmas! So naturally, the first thing we do upon receiving a new package is tear into it, open the box, and check out the goodies inside. One thing I'm guilty of skipping? Reading the instructions.

The practice started when I was a kid — I was the annoying girl making up her own rules to the game, trying to figure out how to put a new toy together or frustratingly throwing a new purchase down in a huff when I couldn't make it work. So when a new gadget arrives, even one that could be particularly confusing, I rarely read the instructions.

Of course there's the assumed risk of something breaking, working improperly, or just not being used to its full potential since I skip the required reading . . . Is anyone else out there the same way?