Help New User Questions

[PippinsMama]

Hi. I just got my first Android phone on Wed., obviously a Vortex. I have no idea what I am doing - upgraded from a Blackberry. I did d/l the Android Assistant, Antivirus, and History Eraser Apps, but now after reading some of these posts, not sure I should have.

I don't want to do complex things with my phone. I have some entertainment apps, my kindle app, angry birds, and some music apps. I use the browser and I did d/l the facebook for android app after reading that it was better to use than the facebook for lg app.

Does anyone have any advice for me or tell me whether I should uninstall those first 3 apps I mentioned? I would appreciate any information you are willing to share.

The one comment that I will make about this phone so far is that I don't really like making calls on it. I also don't like the verizon home page on the brower, but can't figure out how to change that and it's not a huge deal because I put a google search widget on one of my screens. (Is that bad?)

 

[DiG DuG]

I have a Vortex as well, and am new to the Android platform. I had an antivirus app installed at one point as well, but it seems the app market is well regulated and it may not be necessary. As for the other apps, I have no opinion on. I would like to say that these forums will most likely peak your interest in "rooting" your phone. If you are a standard user of cellphones, I would strongly advise against it. If you do have basic knowledge with using command line utilities, and understand the risks, then rooting your phone could greatly enhance your experience with this one.

The Vortex ships with several applications that are mostly useless, and cannot be disabled, and therefore take up system resources and slow your phone down. After I took the steps, and rooted my Vortex, my battery life has doubled, and it runs a lot smoother. Again, if you only have basic knowledge of phone operation, and the Android system, I recommend you do not root it. Just keep the applications you install to a minimum and move them to your SD card to save space on your phone. To do this, at your home screen, click the context menu button, (physical button on the phone, looks like two squares) click on "Settings", then scroll down to "Applications", click on "Manage applications". This will show all of the applications you have installed. To manage where they are installed at, click on them. If there is an option to "Move to SD card", click it. It will move that application onto your SD card, (your removable storage) and save space on your phone.



Hope this helps!

 

[PippinsMama]

Thank you! I can tell you I am a standard user and would be afraid to "root" my phone, but I am not impressed with the battery life. I am pretty savvy on learning things, maybe I will spend more time researching it. Thank you again for your tips too on the apps and moving them to the SD card.