First Time Android User

[Harbringer]

Hello guys. I just registered today because I thought I'd like to be part of some kind of community This intercept I got not even 5 months ago is my first Android phone and my first cell phone ever. So I came here in search of advice and whatnot. Bare with me here for not being technical.

I got Froyo on the day that sprint started to roll it out OTA. I upgraded and it runs smoother (at least that's what it looks like) than the default 2.1 OS that came with it. What are some cool apps that i should get for this phone? I downloaded ADW.launcher the other day and i have to say that i love it. Is there anythings that should be vital for any android phone? Thanks a lot!

 

[Billkwando]

Hello guys. I just registered today because I thought I'd like to be part of some kind of community This intercept I got not even 5 months ago is my first Android phone and my first cell phone ever. So I came here in search of advice and whatnot. Bare with me here for not being technical.

I got Froyo on the day that sprint started to roll it out OTA. I upgraded and it runs smoother (at least that's what it looks like) than the default 2.1 OS that came with it. What are some cool apps that i should get for this phone? I downloaded ADW.launcher the other day and i have to say that i love it. Is there anythings that should be vital for any android phone? Thanks a lot!

Beyond general android apps like Barcode Scanner, I try to search the market for stuff with my hobbies and interests in mind.

Here's some of what I have installed:





Utilities:

• Barcode Scanner
• Dolphin Browser HD
• Google Goggles
• Google Translate
• History Eraser
• Milo (searches stores' inventory in your GPS vicinity)
• Note Everything (free)
• Opera Mini (fastfastfast browser)
• SMS Popup (wakes up your screen when you get a text, and displays it)
• Speed Test (from speedtest.net)

Media and Games:

• Angry Birds (game)
• Tiger Arcade (MAME arcade emulator.....Check out Neo Turfmasters golf, and Magical Drop 1 & 2)
• Last.fm (internet radio)
• TuneWiki (music/Last.fm player that displays synched lyrics)
• Gensoid Lite (Genesis emulator, worth paying for)

Random:

• Chord! Free (look up guitar chords)
• Tricorder (cos not to have it would be illogical)

Hopefully this gives you some ideas.



(edit: The nice bulleted list I made for you doesn't show up, yet it's still there when I go into Edit?

 

[Harbringer]

Dude, thanks for that great list. I'm wondering: is OperaMini faster than Dolphin Browser HD? I got Dolphin installed and it goes at decent speed. Angry Birds is actually quite a time killer.

I have a question on ADW.launcher. I got it yesterday and I've been messing around with it all day trying to customize it to my likes. Are there any great themes that anyone would recommend? Also is ADW.launcher a good Home program? Thanks a lot

 

[Billkwando]

Dude, thanks for that great list. I'm wondering: is OperaMini faster than Dolphin Browser HD? I got Dolphin installed and it goes at decent speed. Angry Birds is actually quite a time killer.

I have a question on ADW.launcher. I got it yesterday and I've been messing around with it all day trying to customize it to my likes. Are there any great themes that anyone would recommend? Also is ADW.launcher a good Home program? Thanks a lot

Opera Mini is so fast, it goes backwards in time. So yeah, it's faster than Dolphin, but still not perfect, which is why it's not the only browser I use.

Here's a brief explanation of how Mini works, from one of their Help pages:

"When you request a page in Opera Mini, the request is sent to the Opera Mini server that then downloads the page from the Internet. The server then packages your page up in a neat little compressed format (we call it OBML), ready to send back to your phone at the speed of ninjas on jetpacks.

When you request a page in Opera Mobile, the page is sent directly to your phone from the place from which you requested it, meaning you do not rely on the Opera Mini server. This means that the page is displayed just as it would in Opera for desktop. Your phone has to do a bit of work here, meaning that older phones might struggle.

By using Opera Mini, our servers do most of the work, so it works well with less- capable phones. Pages are often smaller (saving you money) and faster to load due our server-side compression. Opera Mobile can compress pages also, by enabling Opera Turbo."


While we by no means have "less capable phones", I've learned to live with myself for cheating, anyway. The speed is like crack. You don't wanna give it up. I've been using OM since I had an old Sanyo flip phone.

Here's a more technical (and ninja-free) explanation of OM: A developer?s look at Opera Mini 5 - Dev.Opera

As for ADW, it and Launcher Pro appear to be the 2 most popular. The general consensus is that they make the Intercept run slighly smoother than the stock launcher. I personally use ADW, but I haven't gotten around to trying LP yet. Oddly I haven't actually used any themes, cos I like using my own wallpaper...but if the right one came along, I'd switch.

Below are my 2 wallpapers I've used so far

 

[Harbringer]

Now that's some great advice on OM. I think I'll try it out late in the night and see how well it performs compared to Dolphin. Any other advice would be highly appreciated!

EDIT: HOLY SPEED BATMAN! OM is FAST!

 

[Billkwando]

Now that's some great advice on OM. I think I'll try it out late in the night and see how well it performs compared to Dolphin. Any other advice would be highly appreciated!

EDIT: HOLY SPEED BATMAN! OM is FAST!

Oh yes. Let's talk about settings. These are just my prefs:

Image Quality: High
Font Size: Small
Mobile View: On <-(This setting is the main reason I use OM, besides speed. It keeps you from having to scroll left and right all over the place, by squishing the page into a phone-phriendly phormat)
Fullscreen: On
Opera Link: On (if you create an account, it will backup your bookmarks and homepage settings...good if you use the desktop version cos it carries over, but especially good if you switch phones or need to recover your bookmarks for any reason)

The Saved Pages function is awesome too. For example, I use it when I know I'm going to be taking the subway, to download a few pages ahead of time, so I have something to read when I'm underground and have no signal.

 

[pastafarian]

I'd suggest you check out appbrain. Same apps as in the market, but an better experience searching for them, especially from the desktop. You used to be able to automatically install programs on your phone from the computer but recent changes in the market broke that feature, seemingly for good. You can still select stuff to install from the computer, but you need to go into the phone installed app and tap sync for them to install. Enjoy!

 

[Harbringer]

Oh yes. Let's talk about settings. These are just my prefs:

Image Quality: High
Font Size: Small
Mobile View: On <-(This setting is the main reason I use OM, besides speed. It keeps you from having to scroll left and right all over the place, by squishing the page into a phone-phriendly phormat)
Fullscreen: On
Opera Link: On (if you create an account, it will backup your bookmarks and homepage settings...good if you use the desktop version cos it carries over, but especially good if you switch phones or need to recover your bookmarks for any reason)

The Saved Pages function is awesome too. For example, I use it when I know I'm going to be taking the subway, to download a few pages ahead of time, so I have something to read when I'm underground and have no signal.

It seems that Opera is a far better browser than Dolphin, especially in terms of speed. Dolphin loaded pages a little slow, even when i connected to my home wireless (I don't know if my home wireless affects what speeds i get on my phone). Opera goes at extremely fast speeds, and when I use my home wireless pages load in no time. Facebook also has better functionality on Opera than it does in Dolphin.

pastafarian, I found out about appbrain when I searched for ADW themes. It's an awesome website.

Now..how safe is rooting for a beginner? And (I know someone is going to tell me "letmegooglethatforyou.com" on this) what are some major benefits of it? Would it be the same as jailbreaking those cruddy iPhones and having the ability to get all the apps without paying?

 

[Billkwando]

It seems that Opera is a far better browser than Dolphin, especially in terms of speed. Dolphin loaded pages a little slow, even when i connected to my home wireless (I don't know if my home wireless affects what speeds i get on my phone). Opera goes at extremely fast speeds, and when I use my home wireless pages load in no time. Facebook also has better functionality on Opera than it does in Dolphin.

Dolphin actually has (nearly) full desktop functionality in FB if you go and change your user agent to Desktop in Settings. It's still a pain though.

Now..how safe is rooting for a beginner? And (I know someone is going to tell me "letmegooglethatforyou.com" on this) what are some major benefits of it? Would it be the same as jailbreaking those cruddy iPhones

The instructions are what's important. It's no "safer" for an advanced user. If you follow good instructions that are proven, that's all that matters.

The benefits of rooting are coverered here too. Look around. I just get tired of typing it, personally. Why do something if you don't know why you're doing it? As for the jailbreaking thing, yes, this is essentially the same.

and having the ability to get all the apps without paying?

That has nothing to do with rooting (not just saying that) but you shouldn't be asking about that here anyway. Being rooted has no bearing on paid apps. That's why there are paid apps on the market that require root.

 

[Harbringer]

I was just wondering about the rooting process because the stock apps on the phone are really irritating and i never even use them (Sprint TV, that football app, sprint zone, and sprint hotspot). I don't think I'll be rooting for quite some time. At least until I've learned a little about the system.

 

[Billkwando]

I was just wondering about the rooting process because the stock apps on the phone are really irritating and i never even use them (Sprint TV, that football app, sprint zone, and sprint hotspot). I don't think I'll be rooting for quite some time. At least until I've learned a little about the system.

I temp rooted to remove those back on 2.1, which is a valid enough reason for doing it. I think you still can with z4root.

 

[Harbringer]

Now I have another question (i explored more on other forums/places ). It seems someone has created an apk from the new android 2.3 (Gingerbread) keyboard so that it may run on both rooted and unrooted phones. I don't know if I'm allowed to post external links, so sorry if what I'm about to post is allowed or not.

Get the Gingerbread Keyboard on Any Android Phone, No Root Required

Renamed Gingerbread Keyboard - xda-developers (must register to download the attachments)

I tried to upload that apk onto here but it wouldn't let me for whatever reason. Kept displaying a database error. So here is a download link from mediafire (sorry if this is also no acceptable on these boards).

gbkb.apk

EDIT: I forgot my question haha. Is this functional at all? I created a folder on my sd card and installed the apk, however when i tried to use it only my default android keyboard showed up on-screen. When i tried to select a different one, there was no other option.

 

[Billkwando]

Now I have another question (i explored more on other forums/places ). It seems someone has created an apk from the new android 2.3 (Gingerbread) keyboard so that it may run on both rooted and unrooted phones. I don't know if I'm allowed to post external links, so sorry if what I'm about to post is allowed or not.

Get the Gingerbread Keyboard on Any Android Phone, No Root Required

Renamed Gingerbread Keyboard - xda-developers (must register to download the attachments)

I tried to upload that apk onto here but it wouldn't let me for whatever reason. Kept displaying a database error. So here is a download link from mediafire (sorry if this is also no acceptable on these boards).

gbkb.apk

EDIT: I forgot my question haha. Is this functional at all? I created a folder on my sd card and installed the apk, however when i tried to use it only my default android keyboard showed up on-screen. When i tried to select a different one, there was no other option.

So you were able to get an install screen and "ok" it? You may have to go into application settings (like you would with a browser) and reset your default setting. I've never used Swipe (Swype?) so I wouldn't know about changing your default KB, but I think just installing prolly isn't enough.

Edit: here're the instructions for Swype, and they do go into the steps that I probably failed to describe accurately:

https://beta.swype.com/android/welcome/detailed/

 

[Harbringer]

I was able to install it and everything. And i just went into application settings and saw where to change the default keyboard. Gingerbread's keyboard is a LOT better than the default one. Try it out if you want to. I dont think swype is included in this installation at al though.

 

[Billkwando]

I was able to install it and everything. And i just went into application settings and saw where to change the default keyboard. Gingerbread's keyboard is a LOT better than the default one. Try it out if you want to. I dont think swype is included in this installation at al though.

Nah, it's a 3rd party (Market?) program. I only mentioned it cos it was the only KB program I've ever heard anybody talk about. I just assumed the same instructions would apply. Glad they did and you got it working.

I always use the slide out kb, but partly cos the onscreen kb sucks so bad. I'll try that one and see if I can use it better.

 

[Harbringer]

I use the slide out kb as well, but certain classes at college here dont allow us to use phones, so the onscreen kb is crucial for that. I hate hwo the default onsceen keyboard is so damn scrunched together n stuff.

 

[Billkwando]

I hate hwo the default onsceen keyboard is so damn scrunched together n stuff.

Me too. Sounds like I'll like this. I just have to wait for my phone to charge some (wifi really does a number on the battery now) before I can install it.

Edit: I hate it. It's so sensitive, all I got was numbers when I tried to type. The old one at least lets you hold your finger down and slide it around to choose letters, this one is just too spastic.

 

[Harbringer]

Does the wifi really drain that much of the battery? I don't notice a change at all, since i only connect to the wifi when at home, otherwise when I'm on the go, i rely on 3G for my internet needs.

 

[Billkwando]

Does the wifi really drain that much of the battery? I don't notice a change at all, since i only connect to the wifi when at home, otherwise when I'm on the go, i rely on 3G for my internet needs.

Something jujitsu chopped my battery while the phone was doing nothing. I've been home all day and it got down into the yellow (from 3 quarters charge) all by itself. Of course, your mileage may vary.