I'm new to Android and my Google Nexus 5, need your help please!

[zkSharks]

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum and just wanted to say hi! I've been an iPhone user for many many years and recently I got very bored and fancied a change. The Google Nexus 5 had a lot of features for the money and I'm very happy with it.

I was very particular with the way I set up my iPhone, very minimalistic! I don't like bloatware and I like to keep things simple. Especially when it comes to reducing things like notifications and other non-useful stuff which drains the battery and clutters the screen. I need some advice if you don't mind!

What are the must have apps on Android?
How can I set the phone up to save battery life?
Is there any bloatware I can remove by re-installing the OS? If so how do I do this?
How easy is it to heavily customise an Android phone?
What's the best (cheapest) wireless charger available?
Is it easy to root the phone? Have no idea of it's benefits.

I'm sure there's lots I need to learn about Android so any other tips are welcome, looking forward to your replies!

Welcome! There's some great info and advice above, from several members and Ambassadors. Regarding the question of must-have apps, there's one particular resource you should look through:

Android Central Editor's Picks

 

[B. Diddy]

Well said, Golfdriver97! I would also add--when you're ready to root, BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP!

 

[BobDaNob]

no. i refuse to enable lazy people that want to sit back and have everything spoon-fed to them. i've helped people more than anybody here - but people need to first use the search button rather than list out a litany of questions without even trying to search - that's why it's there. and this was an extremely egregious case of that.

Holy high horse, Batman!

The problem with someone pulling the 'use the search function' card is that oftentimes boards will purge older posts, rendering searching completely useless. A thread like this helps refresh the well, so to speak - not to mention keeping it current. I ran into this irritating issue searching through old posts on a guitarist board.

 

[Wildo6882]

I hope that this helps some people!

Android Keyboard Shortcuts for Gmail | Android Central

Edited for wrong quote.

 

[Wildo6882]

Holy high horse, Batman!

The problem with someone pulling the 'use the search function' card is that oftentimes boards will purge older posts, rendering searching completely useless. A thread like this helps refresh the well, so to speak - not to mention keeping it current. I ran into this irritating issue searching through old posts on a guitarist board.

Exactly!

Say you work at Walmart, or any other store, and a customer comes in who's never been there. They proceed to ask you if you carry ibuprofen. Obviously you carry ibuprofen because you're Walmart. But this person is completely foreign to Walmart and knows no better. You respond by saying "well, I've helped tons of people here before, but you need to go search through the entire store first. I'm not actually going to help you otherwise." That's basically what this guy is saying. Just because you CAN do it, doesn't make it right. It's not difficult to not be a jerk. I just don't understand some people.

 

[zkSharks]

The problem with someone pulling the 'use the search function' card is that oftentimes boards will purge older posts, rendering searching completely useless. A thread like this helps refresh the well, so to speak - not to mention keeping it current. I ran into this irritating issue searching through old posts on a guitarist board.

Some boards, yes — but not this one. We like to keep our content around.

 

[Bront]

What are the must have apps on Android?

It's mostly personal preference. Things most folks use:

A Weather App (I like Weatherbug Elite, but again, personal preference)
A texting app if you don't like Hangouts
Facebook (useful for a lot of facebook mobile games)

How can I set the phone up to save battery life?

1) Turn off roaming unless you need it.
2) Turn off "OK Google" (Drains battery keeping your phone more awake)
3) Limit how often your phone synchs data. Do you need facebook and your email to update you every 5 minutes? Or is every 8 hours ok? Or do you only need them to update when you open them(My preference)?
4) Auto-Brightness helps manage your brightness settings and save battery.
5) Enable ART Runtime from the Developers options (Go to about phone, scroll to the bottom, and tap on the android version (last box) till Developer options are enabled, change from Dalvek to Art, which uses a little more app space (less than 10%), but doesn't drain your battery.
6) When you don't need LTE, set your phone to 3G.
7) Turn the GPS to "As needed" mode rather than on. It's a quasi-off status that only activates when an app asks for it.
8) Turn off Bluetooth and Wifi when not in use. The default Power Strip widget helps with these easily on a screen.
9) Don't use Google Now (I do, but it can drain your battery a bit depending on how heavily you do use it)

Using those settings, I can usually make it though a day with my battery between 60-80%, depending on usage though out the day. None of them require root, or anything else.

Is there any bloatware I can remove by re-installing the OS? If so how do I do this?

There is no real bloatware, but there are some programs you may not need that you can uninstall with Root and Titanium Backup.

How easy is it to heavily customise an Android phone?

Easy. Pleanty of custom launchers, ways to customize your screen, and nearly any behavior. Some of the more advanced ones require root and/or flashing stuff, but not all do.

Is it easy to root the phone? Have no idea of it's benefits.

If you don't care about what's on your phone now, there are several easy utilities you can run from your PC (not Mac). You just need to download the USB drivers so you can see the phone when it's in the bootloader. When I set my mind to do it, it took me 45 minutes, and that included searching for how, downloading and running the program to do it, and fighting with the driver install. Knowing what I know now, I could do it with a phone reset in less than 15.

 

[Pro Vickers]

People of all ranges of experience come to this forum--this community--for help and to help. I like to help people. Anyone who isn't interested in helping a beginner should simply stay out of the conversation--it's really that easy.

Totally agree!
Community Chain:

Noob + Help= Person with better understanding of Android

Person with a better understanding of Android + Noob = Help + More people with better understanding

More people with better understanding + more people with better understanding = a damn clever community

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[JeffDenver]

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum and just wanted to say hi! I've been an iPhone user for many many years and recently I got very bored and fancied a change. The Google Nexus 5 had a lot of features for the money and I'm very happy with it.

I was very particular with the way I set up my iPhone, very minimalistic! I don't like bloatware and I like to keep things simple. Especially when it comes to reducing things like notifications and other non-useful stuff which drains the battery and clutters the screen. I need some advice if you don't mind!

What are the must have apps on Android?

- Box.com and Dropbox (and/or Google drive)
- A good file manager (I like Solid Explorer, but Astro is good too and free)
- Nova Launcher Prime (I am not a big fan of GEL, the default launcher)
- Chrome and/or Firefox (I have both)

Is it easy to root the phone? Have no idea of it's benefits.

Then you should not root.

Most of the stuff you need to jailbreak for on iOS is already available by default on Android without rooting. So most people will have no need to root. Unless there is something you specifically need that requires root, I would forego rooting. I rooted in order to use an app that lets me make a wifi hotspot that T-Mobile can't see (otherwise I am limited to 500MB of tethering a month). But that is literally the only reason I rooted.

Rooting is never a trivial process IMO...it is more involved than jailbreaking an iPhone, even on the Nexus 5 (which is arguably the easiest phone to root). There is a complete guide available here and I have used this to root myself: How to Root Nexus 5 Running Android 4.4.2 KitKat [GUIDE]

 

[metle_geek]

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum and just wanted to say hi! I've been an iPhone user for many many years and recently I got very bored and fancied a change. The Google Nexus 5 had a lot of features for the money and I'm very happy with it.

I was very particular with the way I set up my iPhone, very minimalistic! I don't like bloatware and I like to keep things simple. Especially when it comes to reducing things like notifications and other non-useful stuff which drains the battery and clutters the screen. I need some advice if you don't mind!

What are the must have apps on Android?
How can I set the phone up to save battery life?
Is there any bloatware I can remove by re-installing the OS? If so how do I do this?
How easy is it to heavily customise an Android phone?
What's the best (cheapest) wireless charger available?
Is it easy to root the phone? Have no idea of it's benefits.

I'm sure there's lots I need to learn about Android so any other tips are welcome, looking forward to your replies!

For a nexus it's extremly easy to root

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Paul Ellis1]

Hi Carlm, sorry, know I'm late to the party and this is off topic, but I'm sure others will be interested to hear your views on the N5 considering you've had it a couple of months now, and switched from iOS?

I am currently on an ip5 and tried a note 2 recently which was an amazing device with some great features, just didn't quite suit me.

Thanks in advance, hope you found a solution to your questions and look forward to hearing more about your transition from apple.


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