Help...brand new to Droid X and smartphones in general

[NGage]

Hi everyone....I'm a total newbie to the site, to Droid X, and to smartphones (so I'll offer a blanket apology for all the questions). Someone from another forum I visit recommended this forum to learn about my phone. I've tried the manual...but honestly, it's not a lot of help.

I'm 44, but this X can do so many things, I feel like the old man with the VCR clock blinking 12:00 all the time. I've never felt so old and out of touch. LOL

I'll look around the forum to learn...but, if you don't mind, I'll start with some questions too:

-- Where can I find a detailed manual? I found something on Verizon's site, but it must not be an actual manual. It tells you how to do some things, but assumes you already know some prior steps. And, of course, the terms and screens aren't exactly the same.

-- Are the widgets that things that run full time and drain battery life? If so, how do I turn them off? If not, then what are the things I need to turn off and how do I do so?

-- where do I go to find ringtones not already on the phone?

-- where do I go to find wallpapers not already on the phone?

-- it seems like it's got my location wrong....how do I set it correctly?

-- Is it better to clutter up the homepage with icons? Or, to leave them on one of those secondary slide over pages?

-- Do I want to set up facebook on it? If so, how?
-- How can I sync it up to my Road Runner email account?

I went to download that tapatalk thing, and it looked like it wanted to charge me in foreign currency, like it didn't recognize I was in the U.S.


What else do I need to know?


Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[Arelunde]

You don't need Tapatalk. Your X will handle forum input just fine. Click cancel on Tapatalk. It's a pesky ad.

You have a lot of questions that we all did at first. If you do searches of this forum on each subject, you will find all the answers you need. I'm sure many answers will be provided on this thread as it goes along.

The manual online or what might have come with your X is extremely basic. Peruse this forum and you will get the hang of how much support there is for each other and to solve any issues you encounter.

Trust me, your age/experience is not a factor. Read, learn, join in. You will find a whole new world and lots of cyber support.

 

[terpitude71]

welcome! if this is your first smartphone, i know things can be a little overwhelming, but we all were there at one point, so we'll all get you set straight. the first place i would go i the tips and tricks section in my signature to get yourself acquainted with android in general. a lot of your questions will probably be answered in there. besides that, if you need anything, please dont hesitate to ask. we have an awesome community on AC.

 

[Corey]

Hi everyone....I'm a total newbie to the site, to Droid X, and to smartphones (so I'll offer a blanket apology for all the questions). Someone from another forum I visit recommended this forum to learn about my phone. I've tried the manual...but honestly, it's not a lot of help.

Hello, and welcome to the forums, to the X, and to the world of smart phones.

I'm 44, but this X can do so many things, I feel like the old man with the VCR clock blinking 12:00 all the time. I've never felt so old and out of touch. LOL

Everyone has to start somewhere.

-- Are the widgets that things that run full time and drain battery life? If so, how do I turn them off? If not, then what are the things I need to turn off and how do I do so?

Widgets will run when you place them on screen. The amount of battery drain will depend on the widget itself as well as the number of widgets you have on screen. Widgets that are actually on your screens would be the active ones. Anything not in use is not on.

-- where do I go to find ringtones not already on the phone?

-- where do I go to find wallpapers not already on the phone?

There are different ways to add ringtones to your phone, depending on what sources you have and what you're looking to accomplish. There are apps that will let you trim down your mp3's and assign them as ringtones (RingDroid being a good one). Wallpapers are the same. Find an image you like and throw it onto your microSD card. There's a certain size for the screen that I can't think of off hand, but there's an image sizer thing to use on pictures in your gallery. If you have clips on your computer, you can add them to folders on your microSD card, and for that I'm going to cheat a bit and link you to another post: mp3 to ringtone.

-- it seems like it's got my location wrong....how do I set it correctly?

You may need to turn on your location settings. From the home screen, hit the menu button (lower left physical button with the four squares), select settings, then choose Location & Security, and check the appropriate boxes in the My Location area. Personally, I have Use Wireless Networks, Use GPS Satellites, and Enable Assisted GPS checked. GPS only kicks on when needed, so it's not constantly running in the background.

-- Is it better to clutter up the homepage with icons? Or, to leave them on one of those secondary slide over pages?

That will be a personal choice really. For me, I have basic information widgets on the home screen (a clock/date widget, calendar widget, and weather widget), one screen with audio short cuts, and one screen with toggle switches. What works for you may be totally different. Don't be afraid to experiment with it to find what works for you. Maybe what works for you one day doesn't work the next. It happens to me seemingly weekly.

-- Do I want to set up facebook on it? If so, how?

Again, that will be up to you if you want to. There are two ways to do it. One is to use the built in accounts app (similar to your next question), or use the Facebook app. I think both solutions are total crap on an android phone. The built in account doesn't seem to want to sync and is about useless, and the facebook app is half a step above a steaming turd.

-- How can I sync it up to my Road Runner email account?

For this, you'll need some information about your email account. Is it POP or IMAP? What settings does your email provider require to access your email? Hopefully there's a section somewhere on your email access page that will show you how to setup your account for POP or IMAP. If you're able to find that this may help. You'll select the same email icon as requested in that thread and enter your email information in the walkthrough.

What else do I need to know?

Don't be afraid to play with your phone, and definitely don't be afraid to ask questions here.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[DroidXcon]

Nice and thorough response Corey Good job

 

[dwaynewilliams#WN]

Welcome to the forums! Congrats on getting the best android device on the market!

 

[NGage]

-- So is there anything that comes stock on the X that I need to turn off or delete?

-- I downloaded The Weather Channel app, how can I get rid of the accuweather deal that's on there?

-- I want a couple of songs for ringtones, where's the best place to get them (for free)?

-- where's the best place to get some free golf themed wallpapers?

I'll have more questions as I go....appreciate the patience with what I'm sure are questions asked over and over. (I've actually gotten a couple ?'s answered by searching, but too often those discussions are over my head at this point)

 

[greydarrah]

I found youtube a great help in showing me how to do things on the X. Just jump over there and search for Droid X. You'll learn how to do all kinds of cool stuff as well as find out about a lot of great apps you may want to install.

 

[Corey]

-- So is there anything that comes stock on the X that I need to turn off or delete?

Many of the apps that are preloaded won't be deletable. Most of them won't be running if you don't use them, so I wouldn't be all that concerned about them. Some do run in the background, unfortunately. You can go into your running applications menu (Menu Button > Settings > Applications > Running Services) to see what's running and stop from there, but some apps will fire right back up if you have to reboot for any reason.

-- I downloaded The Weather Channel app, how can I get rid of the accuweather deal that's on there?

See above. The stock weather app isn't coming off, but you can stop it, sort of.

-- I want a couple of songs for ringtones, where's the best place to get them (for free)?

That's a tough one, both due to some legality stuff and forum rules stuff, so I'll stick to the straight and narrow answer. You can load up songs from your regular music collection if you rip them to mp3 and transfer them to your SD card. From there, you can use a program such as RingDroid on your phone to trim the songs down to whatever parts you want, or get a free program for your computer, such as Audacity, to trim from there and transfer to your phone.

-- where's the best place to get some free golf themed wallpapers?

Google Images. Is there anything image in particular that you're looking for? Or a certain style of golf themed wallpaper? Player based? Equipment based? Course based? I just download pics I like and use them. Here are a few that I grabbed quick from a quick GIS that I resized to the DX resolution (quick and dirty):

I'll have more questions as I go....appreciate the patience with what I'm sure are questions asked over and over. (I've actually gotten a couple ?'s answered by searching, but too often those discussions are over my head at this point)

This would be the site to ask those questions. Plenty of excellent members here to guide you.

 

[Smitty_82]

Keep the questions coming, most of here are always up for a good challenge.

 

[dagodpapa]

Try the app called "zedge", I think its a good app for starters looking for some ringtones and wallpapers

 

[quiklives]

definitely +1 on Zedge for ringtones, though I tend to make my own wallpapers out of pictures as well.

I find facebook on my phone really helpful, though I agree that Android's facebook app needs some serious work. Also, just accessing m.facebook.com through the browser is pretty smooth.

 

[NGage]

Thanks to you all.......Corey, special thanks for taking time to go in detail.

I'll come back as I get more nubie/stupid questions, lol.