New to Droid - help/advice/whatever

[David62277#AC]

Hola!

I am going to be trading in my long time partner in crime (Blackberry) for a shiney new Droid X2 this week.

I was wondering what the vets would suggest I do to setup my phone. Root, certain apps, settings, etc.?

I work in tier 3 IT support so I am pretty tech savy. I just need a point in the right direction.

Thanks!

 

[inphoenix]

Give it some time before you root. Play with it a little.

First thing to get would be a good launcher (Go, or launcher pro). There are tons of threads on what apps you should try if you are new to Android. Have fun!

 

[BTSee]

Here are a few apps I enjoy that could get you started on Android fun:

Angry Birds – surely you’ve heard of this already, but it is a good game to kill some time when you are bored…and on Android it is free!

Army Sniper – The title says it all. It is fun…and free

Chrome to Phone – You can just click a button and send any web page, map, etc… to your phone’s browser from the Chrome browser on your desktop. Very handy for when I’m running out of the office and want to continue reading something on the go. You can also send phone numbers from web pages right to your dialer and the maps go straight to the Navigation app!

Friendcaster – an alternative Facebook app that I am experimenting with, but think I like better than the standard facebook app. It has some very cool notification features.

Sms popup – pops up a window with recent text messages and allows you to delete or respond right from the popup without any hassle. Very handy. Not necessary though, if you are using an sms app other than the native one.

Handcent – I used this sms app for a long time on my Incredible (my last phone) and liked it better than the stock sms app on the htc phone. I have also experimented with GoSms, which I like also. They both have their own popup feature and the appearance is totally customizable…I hand a great configuration for the appearance of it.

Gingerbread Keyboard – I have found this to be the best keyboard that isn’t swype, which I also think is awesome. Sometimes I feel like typing…other times swyping. Swype is great for 1 handed like when you are standing on the train , etc…

Twidroyd – if you are on Twitter, this is hands down the best app for surfing it, and I have tried just about ALL of them!

Good luck and have fun!

 

[hosps]

Definitely hold off on the root until they release Gingerbread for us.

To add to the above list:

K9 Mail - great email client with support for most common email servers/types

Dolphin HD Browser - great replacement for default browser. Fast and great handling for Bookmarks/gestures

Google Earth - Pretty cool with the extra graphics horsepower

QR Droid and Shopper - great to have when shopping and want to compare prices.

Satellite AR - cool app to show you satellites flying overhead. Similar to Google Skymap but with satellite support.

 

[Ricky Babalu]

Former BB user here as well. Here are some suggestions:

Lightflow - If you like to have LED notifications like your BB
Launcher Pro - A much improved launcher over the stock launcher with lots of goodies.
Circle Launcher - A nice app that frees up your screens for less clutter ( its a circle that launches multiple apps with one click).
Jorte Calendar - A feature packed calendar.
Note Everything - A really good note taking app.
Simi Clock Widget - A minimalistic time, date, and weather widget.
PowerAmp - Music player with an Equalizer.
Wallpaper Changer - If your like me and get bored of the same wallpaper, this rotates wallpapers every 30 minutes ( I have over 200 rotating wallpapers).

**If you are partial to BB ringtones you can even import those to your X2.
Finally, you can browse this post for ideas on customizing your screens. I have linked it to the most recent posts, work backwards from there.

 

[hodgespa]

Great info guys.. thanks