I did my research and read many, many reviews. I finally decided on the Moto x pure. on Sale $350 plus sales tax. I’m going out to Best Buy to pick it up this afternoon. I’m a little concerned about its bulky size but bigger screens seems to be the popular trend these days. I ordered an OtterBox Defender Case for it from Amazon. $41 but I wanted Maximum protection in case I drop my phone.
Moto x pure is unlocked and runs Android 5.1.1, Lollipop I’ll initially be using it at home through my AT&T WI-FI. Get all my Apps dlownloaded with Wi-Fi and start learning the OS. Until I choose a phone carrier.
What are the most common Android apps that you’d recommend? Apps that you’d automatically put on any new Android phone to customize it?
I’m initially thinking about the KATV weather App from my local tv station and Firefox. Do I need The Weather Channel App too?
Spreadsheet? I’d like one that allows me to create it on my pc in Excel and then transfer and import it to the phone.
Music and video player? Something that does not require libraries or ITunes. I have my own mp3’s and Flacs that I will copy to the phone. I use VLC on my pc. Is the Android app version as good? Is there something even more popular for Android?
Usage stats and checking my connection speeds. Built into Android? Do I need to add anything?
I’m a total beginner with smart phones. Theres probably all kinds of very useful Android Apps that I’m not even aware of. Stuff people automatically add to their phones to make them more useful and fun. Hence this thread.
I understand Google charges for many of their Apps. For safety, should I *always *get Apps from Google Play? Is it ok to get Firefox directly from Mozilla?
Hard to beat the price on Google Maps, and for nearly all situations it performs as well or better than alternatives. If you’re doing back-country hiking or the like you might want to shop around though.
For “Find my Android” just go to Google Play in a browser, click on the settings gear icon at the top right, and select Android Device Manager. You’ll be able to select your device from a list of all devices you’ve tied to your account, and send commands to ring, lock, or wipe as well as see the most recent location data for them.
Other apps worth looking at:
AirDroid - turns your phone into a small webserver allowing you to point a browser at it to transfer files and the like over wifi without messing about with cords
Tasker - automation app allowing one to have the phone do more or less anything it’s capable of automatically when specific conditions are met. For example, automatically change audio volume profiles based on time of day or physical location. Not very user friendly, but ridiculously powerful.
Actually, the latest version of Android is 6.0, aka Marshmallow. But it’s being rolled out very slowly and may not reach your phone for some time to come. Lollipop is the latest practical version and I don’t think too many apps require 6.0 as of yet.
First, you do not necessarily need an app for most things. We check multiple weather sources before flying but not all of them have an app; I just bookmark the various pages in my browser. Different sites give slightly different forecasts but they usually aren’t that different. IOW, one app should suffice for the general population. RadarNow! - shows current local radar on a ½-hour - 45 min loop. Knowing a, say, 70% chance of rain is one thing, knowing you are/not going to get wet where you are in the next little bit is much better.
Office Suite
Lookout
Others: List Master - create electronic shopping lists / notes Reverse Lookup - (if you don’t get/pay for named caller ID). Caller ID will show #, for an extra $4 or $5 / month T-Mobile will include name, but if it’s just a number chances are I don’t know them/want to talk to them anyway so it’s not worth the extra cost for me. Smart Switch - you don’t need this for now, but get it for when you go to switch to a new phone; install on both old & new phones & it moves apps & data with ease. Multiple browsers - Phone comes with one as a default though I’ve seen some sites not render well in one browser but work fine in another on.
Picked up my phone at Best Buy and got it logged into my home Wi-Fi network. Signed into GMail.
It had just enough battery out of the box to do that. It’s going into the charger now.
They weren’t kidding about these things getting warm. It was only on for 15 or 20 mins and warmed up quite a bit. Not hot. But it’s noticeably warm.
A cool features made me smile. I like the way the screen goes from portrait to landscape depending on how you’re holding the phone. It doesn’t seem to really turn off. I pushed the power button and it went dark. But if I move the phone the clock displays for a few seconds. So it’s not fully off.
I still have a prepaid balance on my old flip phone to use up before getting phone service on my new Moto x pure. Meanwhile I’ll use it at home in Wi-fi mode. get my music moved over and organized. Setup a few apps. It’s got really nice stereo speakers. Looking forward to playing music and see what volume I get.
Gotta search out info on learning the OS. nothing in the box. I guess they expect us to find it on our own.
The phone notified me about Marshmallow after I got GMail setup. I clicked maybe later. Give them some time to work out the bugs first before i get it.
Figured out how to shut down the phone. Pressing the power button and pressing the power off window did the trick. It’s dead. for now.
By the way, I have a nice app on my phone called Army Knife for Android. It’s an all-in-one app with some handy tools. A flashlight that uses the flash on your camera. A unit converter. A compass. A nice scientific calculator. A mirror (uses your front facing camera lens). A magnifying glass (uses the zoom feature on your camera). And a few other nifty tools like a timer and a stopwatch.
Also, if you use a Kindle, they have an app that lets you read your entire library on your phone.
It’s really intuitive. Most things are in the settings menu, which will be accessible from the main apps list (on the middle home screen, hit the round icon with six dots at the bottom of the screen). But you can do a lot of things without even going to it. For example, if you want to add a shortcut to the desktop, you just hold down your finger on a blank area of the screen and a menu will come up where you can choose from shortcuts and widgets to add (or change the background).
I tried many GPS apps and settled on HERE Maps. It works well (was designed for phone use), is completely free, has no nag screens or paid upgrades … and it can be used offline so you can download and use it now, without a cell data plan.
Yeah, using it on the road without a data connection makes it unique. Just download your maps at home via wifi and use them on the road for free – and the downloaded data includes all the stuff like gas station and restaurant locations, etc.
-Pandora is my go to radio “replacement” app
-Soundhound is great for identifying music you hear and want more info
-Winamp is what I use to play music stored on my phone
-I use the **Weather Channel widget **for radar/temp/forecast. A widget is a bit different than an app.
-**Google Maps **is my mapping & driving directions app
-**AlarmDroid **is my alarm clock app
-**Fine Chromatic Tuner **helps me tune my banjo (works with guitars as well)
-**WiFi Manager **keeps me attuned to what networks are nearby and whether they are open or secured
-FlightAware is great for tracking planes for departure, arrival, gate info, etc.
-**Gas Buddy **is great for finding gasoline prices and station locations
-Speedtest lets you know your current upload and download speed
These are the ones I use most often - and each one is free!
Thank you for the App suggestions. Lots of good ideas.
Is the calendar/scheduler in Android pretty good? I just need to a basic one to enter my appointments. I used the one on my flip phone for many years. I depend on my phone alerting me when its time to leave for a meeting or drive somewhere for an appointment. Its also a good log of my past appointments.
I found this two part overview of Android on youtube A very good newbies guide to smart phones and Android.
some concepts I already knew. like usb port. The videos helped and took only 30 mins to watch.
heres another one. he gives more detailed history about the versions and details than the other guy.
theres also videos on the newest features in Lollipop. I’ll watch one later. I’m quickly seeing these phones aren’t that hard after learning the jargon.
The videos helped and took only 30 mins to watch.