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

They used to call me Captain iPhone...

C

ch229151

Member
Hey guys,

So on some friend's recommendations and a very convincing salesperson, I decided to ditch the iPhone (which I swore by for years) and try out the Android OS on a Galaxy S II. I have to admit, after using the phone for about a week, I am very very happy with it! Coming from such a simple, restrictive, and utilitarian OS from Apple to the completely open ended and customizable Gingerbread OS has been quite the challenge and VERY overwhelming.

Despite playing with my phone non-stop for a week, I still feel as though there are many things I need help with:

-The battery charges SUPER slow compared to my iphone (plugged into the wall). Normal?

-This whole process/service thing is confusing me.

-What services can I stop running to gain more battery life/free up RAM? Most of them I either don't use or don't know what they are..examples: AP (which I want off my phone but doesnt seem to go away), WiFi sharing, DRM content (?)

-Is DoubleTwise the best music player/organizer?

-I have 3 email apps...K-9, the email client that came with the phone, and gmail...can I delete gmail and the native app on the phone? Or will doing so ruin the google junk this phone needs to operate?

-Is there a "noob" guide to people just starting to use this phone? I'd like to be as proficient as I was with my iPhone.

And most importanly...which I have been searching for solutions and cant find any...HOW THE HELL DO I SYNC MY iCLOUD CALENDER TO GOOGLE CALENDERS? I run a small business with my father, and coordinating our calenders is a very much needed ability.

Despite getting lost in menus and sub-menus and those sub-menus, menus, overall I LOVE this phone...the screen is gorgeous, the phone is fast, calls sound great, and I have found all my useful apps I once used on my iPhone. Just need a little guidance. Any assistance or advice is much appreciated!

-Craig
 
welcome to the dark side! My responses are in red, below.
ch229151 said:
-The battery charges SUPER slow compared to my iphone (plugged into the wall). Normal? yes, from what I hear, the iphone has a faster charge time than the GS2 but it shouldn't be extremely slow. Probably a couple hours for a full charge (from almost dead)

-This whole process/service thing is confusing me.

-What services can I stop running to gain more battery life/free up RAM? Most of them I either don't use or don't know what they are..examples: AP (which I want off my phone but doesnt seem to go away), WiFi sharing, DRM content (?)dont kill anything! Seriously, dont listen to anyone who tells you that you need to download a task killer. Unless you want to kill a known app that runs rampant on your phone, dont worry about what the phone shows as running. Android OS doesnt manage memory the way iphone does or the way you would THINK it should. It keeps apps in memory so they load faster but the apps are not actually running, so it should not be killing your battery (unless the app is poorly coded, which is totally possible and for this reason, i can see you needing a task killer). But for the most part, you do not need to kill anything. Let android do its thing. You will end up causing more problems than helping.

-Is DoubleTwise the best music player/organizer? I use google music and pandora. Thats all I need.

-I have 3 email apps...K-9, the email client that came with the phone, and gmail...can I delete gmail and the native app on the phone? Or will doing so ruin the google junk this phone needs to operate? you can remove the email app but i think you need to keep the gmail app on the phone. What you can do is remove the 'gmail sync' option so that app doesn't update. This option is in the 'accounts' menu in settings. Just uncheck 'gmail' and it wont update your email.

-Is there a "noob" guide to people just starting to use this phone? I'd like to be as proficient as I was with my iPhone. just use the phone. its not rocket science. I'm not trying to be an ass but thats really it. The noob guide is this: use it as you would any other phone.

And most importanly...which I have been searching for solutions and cant find any...HOW THE HELL DO I SYNC MY iCLOUD CALENDER TO GOOGLE CALENDERS? I run a small business with my father, and coordinating our calenders is a very much needed ability. i have no clue. I'll leave this to the pro's who have done it before.

Despite getting lost in menus and sub-menus and those sub-menus, menus, overall I LOVE this phone...the screen is gorgeous, the phone is fast, calls sound great, and I have found all my useful apps I once used on my iPhone. Just need a little guidance. Any assistance or advice is much appreciated!
as I said before, just use the phone and get accustomed to the menu and touchwiz. It'll take you a day or two to get used to it and then you'll be a pro.
-Craig
Click to expand...
 
and to add to what I was saying about the task killer. I can see people wanting to download some sort of task killer or memory manager to manually kill an app because it (for example) constantly uses the GPS, which is killing the battery. But for the most part, the OS will manage the apps for you and it (arguably) does a pretty good job.
 
Thanks man! Exactly the answers I was looking for. I really am enjoying the phone, and each day I discover something new. Ill be sure to post up any more questions I may across.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom