• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

New to android

MonteMuscle70

MonteMuscle70

Newbie
I've had a Sony Ericsson W600i for like 5 years, and I've finally upgraded to a smartphone. I got the Captivate. So I'm pretty new to all of this stuff in general, but especially android. I've used the iphone 3gs quite a bit. Most of my friends, and my girlfriend have one. And I'm pretty good with technology.

That being said, I'm impressed with everything as it is, but I really want to get my hands dirty with all this stuff and I was wondering if you guys could point in a good direction on how to really get acquainted with this phone and the android OS.

I see a lot of talk about rooting and roms, which I'm not looking to get into just yet, but I'd really like to optimize this phone as it is, and kind of find its limits as it is.

I'm bouncing around the forums looking and learning now, but if you guys think there is anything critical to get started with this stuff, I'd definitely like to know about it. Thanks in advance.
 
And let me make it 3 New Englanders in one thread...

CapFaq is great place to start.

As for optimizing the phone, there will be people on here who will argue that you can't optimize the phone based on what AT&T alone provides, but that it is possible with ROMs. There may be some truth to that. Still, some things you can do even on a brand new phone.

1) Avoid Task Killers - and if the rep in the store installed one, uninstall it. The Android OS will run tasks in the background and stop them when they're finished. If you use a task killer to stop them prematurely, they'll potentially start back up again to try and finish.

2) Download something like 3G Watchdog and/or AT&T's myWireless. 3G Watchdog will let you monitor your 3G usage (particularly useful if you're like most of us and don't have unlimited data), while AT&T's myWireless will let you log into your account from your phone - where not only can you see how much data you've used, but also can view your bill and such. 3G Watchdog has widget options though, so that tends to make it more of a popular choice.

3) Try something like JuiceDefender. It's designed to help improve your battery life. Does it? I'm not really sure.

I'm sure others will jump in with their suggestions and such as well but...enjoy your new phone! :D
 
As said above, you are fairly limited to what you can do to optimize your phone as it is right now. Aside from cosmetics, you really can't accomplish much.

Now.....Rooting and flashing ROMs is where you can get some REALLY nice stuff done to your phone! I've had my Captivate (first Android phone) for a few weeks now and just rooted and flashed a ROM earlier this past week. It was a cake walk and went real smooth! The write ups on here and XDA can make it painless, and there should be NO WORRIES of bricking or doing anything bad to your phone if you just follow the simple directions. Here is how I did mine:
[GUIDE] How to Install a custom ROM *NOW WITH VIDEOS* - xda-developers
 
Appreciate the responses guys, but it looks like I've got that random shutdown problem I keep reading about. So I'll have to take care of that before I can do anything with it. Is there something I can use to back up everything I've put on it thus far, so I can just restore it to the new phone?
 
I use Titanium Backup for my apps, but that requires root. If you're looking to back up text messages, try SMS Backup. If you copied your SIM cards phone book onto your phone and don't want to lose that you can export it to your SD Card, then open up your gmail account and import it your contacts - that way when you add your google account back onto your (new?) phone, all your contacts will be there.

There might be some other ways to backup, but those are the methods I typically use. Good luck!
 
Just switched out from the iphone to the Captivate about 2 weeks ago and starting to feel like i need to be a hacker to do this stuff. Still i may switch over to the Inspire, either way I obviously have alot to learn to get the best from these phones.
 
You can sync your installed apps with appbrain. it won't save settings in the apps, but it will save the apps you have installed.
 
MonteMuscle70 said:
Appreciate the responses guys, but it looks like I've got that random shutdown problem I keep reading about. So I'll have to take care of that before I can do anything with it. Is there something I can use to back up everything I've put on it thus far, so I can just restore it to the new phone?
Click to expand...

Probably the best app for backing up a stock, unrooted Captivate is "My Backup Pro", found in the Market. Easy to use and will automatically backup everything on the schedule you choose. :)
 
so i should uninstall the task killer the Rep installed when i got my phone. ive had mine for about 6 weeks now.
 
well after having taskkiller uninstalled i have noticed a change in the battery i started out with around 91% of my battery life. since uninstalling taskkiller and useing it alot today, including the gps(which i think drains the battery big time) i am now only at 63% life left. which normally at this time of day and normal usage for me id be around 20% life left. so it has madea difference i think.
i have looked at some of the captivate FAQ's thread alot of good stuff there. i did install the watchdog apps that everyone talks about. i got one question about it. shouldnt i have alot more mem available that 5370kbs?
free mem is 5370kb total mem is 333336kb

Edit to add.
i just checked it again i now have 35010kbs free of mem.

sorry i didnt mean to highjack the thread with my questions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom