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New to android in tokyo

L

lundman

Lurker
I have an IS03 from au here in Japan, and new to Android in general. I am not sure what the western name for the phone would be, but it is not listed on androidforums at all.

I am used to owning an ipad, so my experiences come from that.

Initially , it was quite confusing as to how you quit an app to go back to home screen. I kept pushing home, and then had to go and kill running applications. This was especially annoying, since if you watch 1-seg TV then quit, the audio would still keep playing. Even after killing the application. Very odd. But I think I am not supposed to kill applications, but leave that to the OS. And I should be using the Return-arrow button, rather than the house. Correct?

To sign up with Market, I entered my Google account. For some reason it insisted that I sign up with gmail. That seems very odd, but I guess google want to pad their userbase or something.

Having 3G connection, and Wifi connection when I am home, I am unsure how I control which one to use. When I am home, I would much rather it uses Wifi, since I have 100M fiber. How do I tell facebook app, or Skype, to use wifi over 3G? Or any app in general. Although, Skype seems to be a special case where they appear to have gutted the ability to use wifi. I assume that is greed-related?

If I take photos with the camera, and save these to the microSD, can I copy/send these over wifi to my PC (or from my PC) without having to open up the phone and remove the microSD? Are there recommended apps for that?

Thanks for any feedback, there is not much around for IS03 in English :)
 
Welcome to the forums!

lundman said:
I have an IS03 from au here in Japan, and new to Android in general. I am not sure what the western name for the phone would be, but it is not listed on androidforums at all.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's only in Japan by Sharp - none of their phones are over in the USA.

http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/10/04/is03-sharps-new-android-phone-boasts-impressive-specs-video/

I am used to owning an ipad, so my experiences come from that.
Click to expand...

The multitasking ideas behind Android and iPad are very different, so there's some minor adjustment to make for application (app) control as you're seeing.

Initially , it was quite confusing as to how you quit an app to go back to home screen. I kept pushing home, and then had to go and kill running applications. This was especially annoying, since if you watch 1-seg TV then quit, the audio would still keep playing. Even after killing the application. Very odd. But I think I am not supposed to kill applications, but leave that to the OS. And I should be using the Return-arrow button, rather than the house. Correct?
Click to expand...

The Android operating operating system truly multitasks, and each app uses services to do the heavy work.

When you press the home button (house) it leaves the app running, and lets you go start another task at the same time.

Sometimes you might want that.

Normally, to exit an app, just use the return arrow. Sometimes - especially for some media applications, maybe try the menu button - you might see an exit option there.

This is confusing, but it is consistent. If you use return button to leave your browser, the browser will exit. If you use it to get out of many music-player apps, you exit the music control - but it still plays.

A little practice and you'll see when to try just return button, and when to try menu button (while app is on screen) and then look for exit option.

All apps and the operating system itself always have interesting menu options. Many things you want will be there.

Because of all the coordination with app user interface, app services, and then your phone functions - this is why it's best to not use extra methods to kill an app. Yes, once you have the navigation idea, the operating system takes care of it for you.

To sign up with Market, I entered my Google account. For some reason it insisted that I sign up with gmail. That seems very odd, but I guess google want to pad their userbase or something.
Click to expand...

Actually, the Google servers are kind of closely coupled with your phone. This is very convenient. Your contacts, calendar entries, and google-documents can all be synchronized with the Google cloud. If you lose your phone or it becomes damaged, just get a new Android, put in that gmail address - and your important personal information is automatically restored.

It's similar in many ways to the MobileMe / Mac synchronization - but it specializes for your phone and it's free. Also - you can use your gmail account on the web to set things up to then move this same info to your PC (windows or mac).

Pretty nice.

Having 3G connection, and Wifi connection when I am home, I am unsure how I control which one to use. When I am home, I would much rather it uses Wifi, since I have 100M fiber. How do I tell facebook app, or Skype, to use wifi over 3G? Or any app in general. Although, Skype seems to be a special case where they appear to have gutted the ability to use wifi. I assume that is greed-related?
Click to expand...

By default, USA Android tends to just automatically use wifi instead of 3G when wifi becomes available. I think it should be the same worldwide, but I can't be sure.

On your desktop, you can add widgets - just hold your finger for a while on an empty space - a menu appears. Look through that menu (and some things might be sub-menus, maybe marked Wireless or settings).

In such a case, it's usually possible to put a widget on your screen that allow you to easily turn on/off your 3G and wifi radios - for complete assurance and control.

If I take photos with the camera, and save these to the microSD, can I copy/send these over wifi to my PC (or from my PC) without having to open up the phone and remove the microSD? Are there recommended apps for that?
Click to expand...

Maybe your phone's USB charger is actually a cable that disconnects from the charging port - or - maybe your phone came with a microUSB cord.

With many Android phones, you can simply connect the phone to your PC (windows or mac) and a pop-up window appears on the phone asking if you want to charge or to use as storage. If you check storage - it will act like a USB thumbdrive, and you can just mount it - then use drag and drop to move your files.

Sometimes you might need special USB drivers or a special program. That's a little less common (it's typical for Samsung phones) but maybe if your phone came with a CD, that stuff is on it.

Otherwise - you can try programs like EStrongs File Explorer or similar apps to move the files wirelessly. How easy or hard depends on your PC type.

This kind of solution ranges anywhere from free to US$40. Go for free, and just USB cable if you can.

*Remember to always eject the "phone usb disc" from your PC desktop before disconnecting the cable.

*There's a standard for all digital camera storage - picture files are always under a folder named DCIM - same on Android. Look for your pictures there.

Thanks for any feedback, there is not much around for IS03 in English :)
Click to expand...

Hope this helps!
 
Thanks for the reply,

On the last item, yes the USB cable does work for mounting the microSD. It just seems so primitive to have to use it like that, and much nicer if it would simply synchronise itself whenever it can connect to home LAN.

But i have things to go on now, cheers.
 
Mostly OsX. Do have a Windows laptop when it is required, and all Unix at work. But for the Android, OsX would be most convenient. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
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