First time with an Android

[timgrun]

Friday, Dec 9th will be my first time with the Android OS. As a virgin, what should I be looking to customize on ICS? Obviously I will set up gmail, contacts and calendar, but which apps should I download the first day?

Nervously excited...

 

[zmenchhofer]

what are you moving from?

 

[qnet]

It depends on your personel taste. Just go on the market and browse around. You can also do this online on your desktop or laptop pc.

 

[mysterx]

You'll always remember your first time. Cherish this moment.

-me

 

[Z Fury]

Friday, Dec 9th will be my first time with the Android OS. As a virgin, what should I be looking to customize on ICS? Obviously I will set up gmail, contacts and calendar, but which apps should I download the first day?

Nervously excited...

This will be my first experience with Android as well. My plan is to keep the phone stock for quite awhile and learn my way around the platform. I'll download some apps and get the thing running the way I want it. From there, I'll eventually read up on what the modders are coming up with, and see (1) how difficult it is to pull off and (2) if it is worth the risk (does it improve things enough to make the mod worthwhile).

All in all, I plan on easing into things since it is my first time. (See what I did there?)

 

[kesnik]

I will start with the basics. You will need a Google account. After that is created you can setup your contacts (even know you don't have your android phone yet).

www.google.com/contacts

I like to do this rather than have Verizon import your contacts from your old phone to keep everything consistant. It will also give you the opportunity to add extra information that may be useful for future android use. For example, if you have a physical address associated to each contact you can simply initiate a voice search and say "navigate to your <friends_name>". The phone will start Google maps with the Navigation app.

-Kesnik

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

This will be my first experience with Android as well. My plan is to keep the phone stock for quite awhile and learn my way around the platform. I'll download some apps and get the thing running the way I want it. From there, I'll eventually read up on what the modders are coming up with, and see (1) how difficult it is to pull off and (2) if it is worth the risk (does it improve things enough to make the mod worthwhile).

All in all, I plan on easing into things since it is my first time. (See what I did there?)

The Galaxy Nexus will be so easy to mod that it really doesn't matter if it's your first time. In fact it may be easier for you to flash some stuff before you get completely settled in, that way you won't have to backup a ton of stuff or need to start over.

 

[DolfanCole]

It'll be my first as well. I already have a Gmail account and everything sync'ed through my BlackBerry. So I should be good to go. As far as apps, check out this thread:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/verizon-galaxy-nexus/130204-lets-get-app-list-going.html

 

[JoeUserTX]

I would have thought the first app anyone would have installed would've been Angry Birds.

Heh...

 

[TabGuy]

Here are the apps I can't do without.

- Amazon app store. Free app every day for an app that's normally not free.
- Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio (One of those is only on the Amazon app store)
- Photo Enhancer Pro
- Touchdown (Email for my company's Exchange server)
- Google Music
- Juice Defender (Does a tremendous job of saving battery life)
- Kindle. I mostly read books on my Galaxy Tab but this comes in handy in the doctor's office or any other place I wait around.
- World Newspapers. Read almost any newspaper in the world from one app.
- Netflix - ALERT: data hog. This will chew up your data plan quickly. Use it on Wifi only.

And, most importantly:
- Swiftkey X keyboard. This replacement keyboard has a predictive word feature that almost reads your mind. It's the very FIRST thing I download.

 

[charveldude]

Thanks, TabGuy, those are helpful. I'm also going to be an Android noob when I get my Galaxy Nexus, and it will be an interesting switchover.

I'm already a little peeved that Android doesn't (can't) send audio through its USB connection. Docking my iPhone at work and playing music all day is one of the joys of owning the device. Dealing with workarounds involving the audio output or bluetooth make Android a little less attractive, but I'll deal with it to have a better phone experience. I don't have WiFi at work, so streaming audio is a no-go.

 

[JoeUserTX]

If I'm not mistaken, audio output and bluetooth are limited by the carrier, and not by Android, I believe.

 

[deadlyv2]

Here are the apps I can't do without.

- Amazon app store. Free app every day for an app that's normally not free.
- Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio (One of those is only on the Amazon app store)
- Photo Enhancer Pro
- Touchdown (Email for my company's Exchange server)
- Google Music
- Juice Defender (Does a tremendous job of saving battery life)
- Kindle. I mostly read books on my Galaxy Tab but this comes in handy in the doctor's office or any other place I wait around.
- World Newspapers. Read almost any newspaper in the world from one app.
- Netflix - ALERT: data hog. This will chew up your data plan quickly. Use it on Wifi only.

And, most importantly:
- Swiftkey X keyboard. This replacement keyboard has a predictive word feature that almost reads your mind. It's the very FIRST thing I download.

Agreed totaly. And just for a little extra look on the front page of AndroidCentral.com and youll see swiftkey is $.10 on the market place right now. Almost worth buying now at market.android.com ahead of time before you get the phone.

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

If I'm not mistaken, audio output and bluetooth are limited by the carrier, and not by Android, I believe.

Yeah, I thought the Galaxy Nexus allowed USB to HDMI output. Wouldn't that include audio? I wouldn't think you would have to have the USB and the headphone jack connected. That would just be a burden.

 

[charveldude]

If I'm not mistaken, audio output and bluetooth are limited by the carrier, and not by Android, I believe.

Yeah, I thought the Galaxy Nexus allowed USB to HDMI output. Wouldn't that include audio? I wouldn't think you would have to have the USB and the headphone jack connected. That would just be a burden.

From reading around, my understanding was that the problem is a limitation of the mini-USB format. There aren't enough connections to send/receive power, data, and audio simultaneously, so audio isn't included. I'd be happy to be wrong about that, though it's worth noting that the only Android-specific dock uses Bluetooth rather than USB, with the USB connection acting only as a charger.

You'd think a USB-to-HDMI connection would include audio, yes. I'll have to look further into it.

Edit: it looks like Bluetooth is the easiest and most future-proof way to get audio out of Android devices for home/office/car situations. Since I have to get new gear anyway (my current audio dock is iOS-only), I'll probably just go that route.