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Help too much info...

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someguy99

Newbie
Hello, I got my first Android powered phone today, the SE Xperia Play. I've had few Nokia smartphones before and didn't imagine everything would be soo complicated. I'm surprised I can't find the info I need after wasting many hours in the internet. I'm sorry if this a 1000th dublicate of a similar topic you get every day, but I'm completely lost.

First, I can't find a file manager in the phone?? I downloaded a third party file manager from my PC and moved the apk file to the phone's SD card, but how can I install the file manager from the SD card main folder if I don't have a file manager?

Second, the main window which has 5 pages, can it be customised? Can't I turn off that Timescape program? Do I have to "root" the device for that?

How do you completely turn off a program, not hide it? I cant close the web browser.

Another thing that bugs me is that I feel like I've bought a phone from google, not SE. I understand that Google might be the main developer of Android OS, but come on. I can't replace or turn off the google search, I need google account to get a program.

What if I dont want to give my phone number to Google? Am I doomed to not getting any software for a device Ive paid for?

Again, Im sorry if these are questions you get every day, but please don't lock or remove this topic, Im pretty tired browsing the web for info and failing.
 
Welcome to the forums!

I've moved your post here to the Xperia Play forum because many of your questions seem unique to that model rather than Android in general.

To fully activate and enjoy an Android phone, yes, you need to have a Gmail account. In addition to mail, it provides Talk and Market access.

On file managers, can you access the Market from your phone? If so, try Astro, it's free. If not, try market.android.com and login there on your computer, and see if you can't push Astro to your phone with the Install button found on the site for each application.

Hope this helps!
 
Do you really, *really* need to give that much information to google? I dont want to sound like a paranoid conspiracy theorist, but it seems Google knows more about me than my friends.
 
Your Google account is similar to your Ovi account when you were with Nokia. You get Market access and an email along with your account. And like Nokia, you can turn off contact sync with Google. All things considered between Nokia and Android, Google account works just the same as your Ovi account, it gives you access to their corresponding services.

As for the questions, yes, the 5 pages of the homescreen can be customized to an extent without rooting. If you feel the customization too limited, you can download different launchers from the market. Basically launchers would work like "shells" on a Nokia phone, being able to change the interface UI almost completely.
 
Hm, I never used Ovi. I just got my programs from their homepage.

Also, does this site allow to talk about rooting. I sthere a guide?
 
You dont need to root yet if you still find normal Android complicated. you may do something permanently damaging to your phone. Get the hang of normal Android first. Rooting is akin to Hacking for a Nokia phone.

Not getting an Ovi or Google account actually severely limits the use of whatever phone you used.
 
You dont need to root yet if you still find normal Android complicated. you may do something permanently damaging to your phone. Get the hang of normal Android first. Rooting is akin to Hacking for a Nokia phone.

Not getting an Ovi or Google account actually severely limits the use of whatever phone you used.
 
Hm, I didnt miss anything when not using Ovi. I never liked "services" like those. Maybe it's just me, but if this doesnt provide anything more than Ovi, Im happy without it.
As for installing software, I found this PC program "Android Injector", which allows you to install programs to phone via PC (enable debugging mode). It works. guess if I install the file manager now I can download and install apk in my android phone from other places.
Thanks but no thanks google.

So how do you customize the 5-paged main menu?

Ive hacked my old nokia phone without problem, I can do some scripting, so I think I'm not too bad to try rooting. But is there any rooting method which wont void your warranty? And how would you suggest to backup the device to try to restore it if something goes wrong? Thanks.
 
someguy99 said:
Hm, I didnt miss anything when not using Ovi. I never liked "services" like those. Maybe it's just me, but if this doesnt provide anything more than Ovi, Im happy without it.
As for installing software, I found this PC program "Android Injector", which allows you to install programs to phone via PC (enable debugging mode). It works. guess if I install the file manager now I can download and install apk in my android phone from other places.
Thanks but no thanks google.

So how do you customize the 5-paged main menu?

Ive hacked my old nokia phone without problem, I can do some scripting, so I think I'm not too bad to try rooting. But is there any rooting method which wont void your warranty? And how would you suggest to backup the device to try to restore it if something goes wrong? Thanks.
Click to expand...

The problem would be how you would purchase from the market if you dont do a Google account, calendar and contact syncing and other stuff. But if you did not feel you missed anything out of Ovi like the free apps, your call. Also if you did not get an app from the market, you wont be able to get updates to apps regularly, etc.

To get a full backup of the phone you need to be rooted and to buy Titanium Backup Pro from market. Only paid backup apps can save app data itself.

As for customizing the 5 homescreens, each item on it is movable. Just press and hold any widget or icon there and you can move them around or remove them. A long press on a blank space will give you options to add more widgets or shortcuts. You could check this thread out on how other people customized their screens:
http://androidforums.com/android-themes/4425-post-your-android-desktop-new-post.html

You dont have to worry about having different manufacturers or models. It doesnt really matter in Android. What can be done on Samsung can be done on SE for example, except for certain special manufacturer only apps, like TimeScape for instance.
 
So you bought an android phone, but don't want a google account? You don't have to give them your phone number, or a credit card number. You just need a gmail account (free, and also does not need a phone number/cc #). There's even privacy settings, Also, if you were referring to the google search widget on the homescreen, it can be removed by holding it down, and dragging it to the trash icon.
EDIT: To answer some of your other questions...To exit an app, you can simply use the "back" key, or sometimes use the "menu" key, then select close. Don't use the "home" key unless you want it to stay open. Some apps stay open in the background regardless of what you do. These can even be closed by going to settings, applications, running services, then selecting the app and choosing "close". Also check the cached processes by using the menu key in running services and selecting "show cached processes". If you want to preserve your data MBs, you can uncheck "background data" under settings, accounts & sync. This keeps apps like maps from updating/syncing/refreshing in the background. You can even turn data usage completely off under settings, wireless & networks, mobile networks. Hope this helps!
 
XperiaTACO4G said:
You don't have to give them your phone number, or a credit card number. You just need a gmail account (free, and also does not need a phone number/cc #).
Click to expand...
Wrong. Now registering to Gmail, Youtube and some other Google services requires a phone number. Existing accounts are often warned with a popup that they should add a phone number to their account. I can't guarantee that this is the case for every country, but at least some people from the US, Europe and Asia have reported this. I've also heard some people reporting that after the 100th try they werent send to that page. I don't know why. Could be a bug in the server code, or something else. Also Ive heard people with no cell phones trying to register on youtube by registering to other google services like blogger (which the google guys havent added such requirement yet) and linking the accounts, but they were later notified that their account was disabled because of some "suspicious activity". I've tried to register a new account with my ip, another ip and have experienced the same issue.
I *do* have a Gmail account, one which was registered before that thing was added. If you know of a way to download from the market without giving away your phone number, then please tell me how. because right now I can't, even though I login with my gmail account to the market.

I don't want to give my phone number to any profitable company with no valid reason, not just google. I've had many bad experiences with such services. Android is a fine OS, but I rather use my yahoo mail and search.

Anyway, thats enough of me complaining. thanks guys
 
Sorry 'bout that! You're right, I just created another gmail account and it does need a phone # to verify. Hmmm, interesting. I wonder if you could just use a public phone or something...
EDIT: Just got this off the google help page "If you don't have a phone, you can use a friend's number to request the code via text message or voice call. You don't have to worry about your friend's number being attached to your account. Google won't use this number for anything else besides account verification." "Google will only use your phone number to send you a verification code and to make sure it is not being used to create or verify a large number of accounts. We will never share your number or use it to send you unwanted messages. We promise.
". Here's the link : http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?answer=114129&hl=en&ctx=ch_CreateAccount&p=mail
 
XperiaTACO4G said:
We promise.http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?answer=114129&hl=en&ctx=ch_CreateAccount&p=mail
Click to expand...
lol, thats very convincing.
Heres a question. if its only used for account activation, why isn't a text or audio captcha enough? Are other services like yahoo or msn so much more stupid to not require that?
Now google is a profitable organization. It collects info about you to make money by giving you ads which correspond to your interests. It has happened before that companies like that one have shared your personal info to other companies. not to mention google gives away your info to the government. In US you probably dont care if you are not doing anything illeagal, but in China, Iran, Libya, etc. where there is/was no free speech thats a serious problem. There are many other reasons i dont want to use their services, but one which really got me is that they openly say that in one of their web pages. I don't think I'll believe their "promise". Thats my rant.

So anyway, if I were to ever buy "Titanium Backup Pro", will it allow to restore my phone if I messed up during rooting? (say with gingerbreak)?
 
Odd, I just made a Google Account straight from my sisters phone yesterday, and it did not ask for a phone number. Although it may have to do with it being done on the phone.
 
Like I said, it could depend on your state, or device. But from what I hear from other people, it looks like it will be a requirement for everyone soon. And many people say they might just stop using google services because of this.

What does Titanium backup pro do? It seems you already need to have your phone rooted to be able to use it, but how can you "reroot" your phone after you root it, what backup will it use?
 
So could you guys explain what I need that titanium backup program for? Can I "unroot" my device with it? What tool would you use for rooting? Gingerbreaker?
 
Titanium backup is able to backup your apps and app save data. Normally that cant be done and you need root for that. You can unroot anytime you want too.
 
Yes, but dont you need to backup your stuff *before* you root?: if you want to unroot later, don't you need your data you had before rooting? How can Titanium do that if you need to root your phone before even being able to use it?
(I hope you understand what I mean)
 
No you dont need to backup, although I guess it depends on what method you use. For my phone, SuperOneClick was available. SuperOneClick root is an awesome program where it does everything for you at a click of a button and is very safe. I install it on PC, plug in my phone, click "root", wait 10secs, then reboot the phone and voila I'm rooted. Try to check the corresponding Xperia Play forums for methods available for you.

Although I think you may be confusing ""rooting" with flashing.
 
im not talking about rooting, im talking about unrooting. Dont you need a copy of the system stuff before rooting to be able to unroot?

whats flashing?
 
Nope. on SuperOneClick, unrooting is also just one click. Flashing is installing another version of Android on your phone.
 
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