New android user looking for veteran help

[Reapus]

Hey, everyone. I just got my first android phone yesterday (Galaxy S4) and tossed my iPhone 4S. Now, I have spent hours upon hours googling info about this phone and I have learned quite a lot. On the plus side, I am tech savy, however, I'd like to ask a few questions that hopefully an android veteran can answer. Also, I am aware of rooting my phone but have no desire to do that at this time as my phone is new and I am already impressed with what it can do (play N64, DS, PS1 emus very niceley, etc.)

My first question is: Am I able to save specific apps, files, settings, etc onto my 32gb SD card, remove the SD card and restore my phone to factory default in order to clean up any unwanted files I may have picked up through apps and then put the SD card back in to get the apps I had before back? Kinda like starting with a clean slate but having the files I want, settings, etc I want.


second question is: Is there any legit way to remove pre-installed apps or free some ram? Not too sure what ram does but my phone already lost 1.2gb of it to mostly nonsense I assume.

 

[Sizzers]

You can back up apps to your SD card using something like this https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...e.android_telefonie.appmanager&token=vp-K0gVu (note: you'll need to tick the box to allow installation of apps from "Unknown sources" when you reinstall in your security settings but the app links you to that in any case, just don't forget to un-tick it when you've finished!)

You can move files from your internal storage to SD using any file manager. I've no idea what stock file manager comes with the S4 but my personal favourite for basic tasks is JUMBLE File Manager, but there are loads of others.

If you go in to your app settings and select "All" and select the bloatware apps (or any others you don't need for that matter) then you may find the option to disable them. Network apps tend to be embedded so to remove those you would need root..

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[KTKareen]

From my knowledge on question 1 you can on some devices like I think Samsung but I'm not 100% sure and for question 2 you need to be rooted to delete pre-installed apps or bloatware.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

 

[Reapus]

Would it be best to root my phone? If so, what are the benefits?

Also, is there a way for me to lock any app with a password? Apps like my photos.

 

[Sizzers]

Would it be best to root my phone? If so, what are the benefits?

Also, is there a way for me to lock any app with a password? Apps like my photos.

There can be many benefits to rooting but also some drawbacks (not least of which is bricking your phone if you don?t know what you?re doing!) Here are a couple of editorials to give you a pointer: Rooting - is it for me? Some Q&A | Android Central Editorial: Sometimes, root isn

There are many app lockers available on the Play Store. I used to use AppLock which is a nice straightforward locker but it gave me too many wakelock issues. After trying several others I?m currently using App Lock (HI AppLock) which again is nice and simple and also comes with some nice themes as well. The same developer also has an app called HI PhotoLock where you can hide selected pix in to locked folders. I?ve not tried it myself and it seems to get mixed reviews but just thought I?d mention it.

 

[patruns]

second question is: Is there any legit way to remove pre-installed apps or free some ram? Not too sure what ram does but my phone already lost 1.2gb of it to mostly nonsense I assume.

That is not really necessary, and possibly could have an adverse effect on other apps that may be related in the bowels of the O/S. You really do not have to worry about running out of memory. Android does a very good job of managing memory and will shut down unnecessary processes if it needs more memory. In Android, unused memory is largely wasted memory.