[GUIDE] Getting Started with Android (UPDATED 2016 for Nougat)

[nancycasas8311]

Thanks! This is useful to me. I just bought my first Android phone.

 

[11B1P]

Thanks! This is useful to me. I just bought my first Android phone.

What'd you have prior?

 

[TXBBguy]

You lost me right here: "So you've gotten your happy shiny new Android device and just finished setting it up with your Google account. "

I don't have a Google account, and the only time I use Google is their maps and photo search.

I've been using BlackBerry only since 2004, and have zero experience with Android. I just ordered a KeyOne.

 

[chanchan05]

You lost me right here: "So you've gotten your happy shiny new Android device and just finished setting it up with your Google account. "

I don't have a Google account, and the only time I use Google is their maps and photo search.

I've been using BlackBerry only since 2004, and have zero experience with Android. I just ordered a KeyOne.

You'd need a Google Account to access the Play Store, otherwise your sources for apps are either Amazon, APK mirror, or some other shady source that may or may not have malware.

If you already have an Amazon account that's fine. I just don't like how sometimes devs abandon their apps on Amazon but Google Play Store still goes. I find going apk mirror a hassle since everytime an app has an update, you have to manually download and install.

Otherwise, you can have an Android phone running without a Google account. You can also make a dummy Google account and deny it permissions to access your data and just use it for the Play Store too.

 

[Maren86]

J3 Emerge here. Need some boosting power. Where's the update?

Looking for updates for android 6.0

 

[onlybuggin]

Well, I'm absolutely new to Android. Jumped in with a ZenFone V (Verizon) coming from the EOL but great BB z30. I've had the phone about 2 weeks now and am struggling to get a good and fluid routine when attempting to text or email. With BB I just went into the messaging app or contacts, typed in the name of the contact and selected what I wanted to do text or email and off the message went. I could do both from the messaging app. It seems I can't do that with the Android messaging app. I can go into the email app for emails and the messaging app for texts but there is no true unified inbox. Please help or guide me accordingly.

Question 2. As I have added accounts individually to several of the apps on the phone, I noticed that I can also add those accounts under the settings tab. What is the difference in setting them up under settings. I have a couple of email accounts set up there but that did not roll over to the other email apps on the phone including the native ones. With all of my BB's I merely added the accounts from the HUB and they were linked wherever they needed to be.

Now I realize that this will be a large period of adjustment for me and I know that the Android user experience IS NOT the BB user experience but I need some help getting my head around the organization of the phone and its OS so that I can get it set up how I need it and use it best. Thanks for the help.

 

[B. Diddy]

J3 Emerge here. Need some boosting power. Where's the update?

Looking for updates for android 6.0

Welcome to Android Central! Sorry, this isn't the right place to post that question, since this thread is for my general Getting Started guide. I suggest you post your question in the General Help forum or the Samsung Galaxy J Series forum:

https://forums.androidcentral.com/general-help-how/
https://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-j-series/

 

[B. Diddy]

With BB I just went into the messaging app or contacts, typed in the name of the contact and selected what I wanted to do text or email and off the message went. I could do both from the messaging app. It seems I can't do that with the Android messaging app. I can go into the email app for emails and the messaging app for texts but there is no true unified inbox. Please help or guide me accordingly.

Welcome to Android Central! I'm not aware of a good hub-type app for Android. The closest I can think of would be selecting the contact in your Contacts app, then selecting how you want to contact the person -- texting, email, call, etc. Then it'll open that specific app with the recipient filled in already, and you can proceed with your message.

As I have added accounts individually to several of the apps on the phone, I noticed that I can also add those accounts under the settings tab. What is the difference in setting them up under settings.

They're the same thing -- so if you remove that account from Settings>Accounts, the app which the account was associated with will no longer sync your data. You'd have to log back in, in which case the account would show up again in Settings>Accounts.