Getting a new phone

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:18 am

Ok, got the MotoX - took forever to download the OS update last night - today I'll see if I can figure out.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 11:14 am

Are you new to Android? I can suggest some must-have apps.

For best battery life, use a black wallpaper. Only pixels that are lit, draw power.

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 1:00 pm

Yep, I'm brand new to android. any and all tips appreciated!

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:19 pm

Make sure that by default, your calendar and contacts are synced to Google (usually are, but worth checking - HTC used to default to local). Also enable google cloud sync if you want to backup all your settings and apps as well.

Even with only the default Calendar & Contact sync, if you replace the phone someday with another Android and all you do is log into your Google account and you get most everything back. Any apps you purchased will show up as you owning them in the Play Store. BTW: is you use the same Google account on another device - like a tablet - all your apps are still paid for on that device as well.

Apps:
- Fox35 Weather. Hands down best weather app, just change the home city.
- Simplenote. A nice notepad that syncs to a free Simplenote cloud account and also sync between devices.
- Wifi Analyzer. Useful tool for testing Wifi hotspots and can also be used to connect to them more easily than the onboard Wifi control panel.
- AutoRotate Switch. Easy way to disable auto rotation of the screen.
- Dolphin Browser. Much prefer it to Chrome. I turn off the hand gestures though.
- DroidLight LED Flashlightr. Simple flashlight app with no unwelcome viruses. (MANY flashlight apps are malicious). This is made by Motorola.
- Swiftkey Keyboard. A superior keyboard to the default android keyboard.
- Dragon Mobile Assistant. Excellent voice control app. Using this for hands free phone and texting with my bluetooth but also works with the phone's mic. I tried the "Google Now" always on voice control but I didn't like it.
- Flipboard. Great free news magazine reader.
- ES File Explorer. Nice explorer app for the Android file system
- Kindle Reader. If you're into E-books
- Audible. If you're into audio books
- Google Googles. Let's you scan labels and barcodes and then does a google search on them.

b-man1 · Post by **b-man1** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 6:44 am

also make sure the phone is enabled for tracking via ADM:

https://support.google.com/accounts/ans ... 5955?hl=en

you can track/wipe/find the device with Android Device Manager. it's decent for being free and built-in.

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:39 am

thanks!

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 11:20 am

So far not very impressed. Screen is nice. Took a bunch or screwing around to get my logitech bluetooth headset to work. My earpiece bluetooth (which I rarely use, says it's connected but it doesn't work) From what I read there are lots of bluetooth issues with android. I tried to move the phone icon from the bottom row, it got stuck half off the frame, unusable so I had to drag a another copy to the home screen. seems like everytime I have an accidental touch on the screen it opens the google browser which is a PIA.

I know there is a learning curve ... we'll see

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 11:36 am

From what I read there are lots of bluetooth issues with android.

Never with mine. Bluetooth works great. Going from Apple to Android does take a big learning curve however. I don't care what anyone says, for MP3s, nothing beats iTunes and Apple MP3 devices.
I don't need my phone for music as I have 4 ipod Touch's for my music collection but I do wish that putting music on my phone was as easy as it is with the Touch, plug it into my PCs and bam, the music's there and in order.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 7:05 pm

Bluetooth in general is a PITA. Older BT headsets usually don't like newer phones. I'm using a Motorola Roadster 2 BT speaker in the car and a Motorola H730 headset. The H730 is actually more reliable than the newer Roadster 2. The Roadster 2 disconnects all the time.

I can't speak for the default desktop on the phone because I am a long time user of LauncherPro which is an alternate desktop launcher. I used it on my old HTC EVO and fell in love with it. It supports a scrolling icon bar at the bottom of the screen and is extremely customizable. However for the couple of weeks I used the default android desktop on the phone I never had a problem and I use the default android desktop on my two Nexus7 tablets without a problem.

Yeah, there is a learning curve. All phone OSes are a bit buggy. Do things too fast and you might confuse them. Even the iPhone does this although to a lesser degree.

Accidental touch should not open the Google browser although an upward swipe (I think) will launch Google Voice search which is easy to accidently trigger and is annoying - not an issue with me since I use LauncherPro.

Don't forget you have 14 - 30 days (depending on the carrier) to take it back if you're not happy with it, so by all means if it doesn't suit you take it back and exchange it for something else. No one phone works for everyone.

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 8:56 pm

Thanks everybody. I'll play with it more later - Ive got another ten days to decide. I'm not at the top of my game mentally - i had a tooth go bonkers last weekend and wasn't able to get it pulled until tues and I'm still feeling all of that. I don't always do my best thinking when my mouth hurts

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 10:21 pm

I don't always do my best thinking when my mouth hurts

Pretty much any pain and thinking don't go well together.

I'm lucky in that my son had an android phone before I got mine and he then also got the same phone as mine (but with AT&T). He's not an Apple fan and really likes android phones so if I ever have questions, I can always ask him.

ZYFER · Post by **ZYFER** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 3:09 am

To save battery power on the go, I've used Juice Defender. It works pretty good for automating the process. The free version works pretty well, but the paid version has more options and features you can control.

I actually use Amazon's MP3 player, I found it easier to work with than Google's built-in player, and allows me to have access to Amazon's Cloud Storage where I have music on, to download it straight to my phone or stream to it.

I like Android phones, a lot more software out there. You can even program your own stuff and run it. Even more options with rooting them. Though I wouldn't chance it if you don't know what you are doing.

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 12:46 pm

I've used Juice Defender too in the past as initially my battery was draining fast but after updates to the phone, things improved w/o needing Juice Defender.
Certain Apps can stay running in the background (like some GPS apps for example) and if you don't know that's going on, they can suck battery life quickly.
Now, my phone can go a few days w/o charging if I'm not using it much.

ZYFER · Post by **ZYFER** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 2:59 am

True, it is nice to have an app regulate those functions too, as most people just don't have the time to screw around with their phone all day. Having everything in a nice spot with automatic settings saves time, and time is money is it not?

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 9:20 am

Okay gang, another dumb question. I had pretty much decided to keep the Moto X (I'm still in the return period). Hey, back in the day I used to connect the bridges on AMD cpus with a single hair paintbrush, I can figure this out!

One of my considerations what that Google was driving and they might be doing some interesting stuff. Exit Google, enter Lenovo. I have a cheap Lenovo laptop and about 18 mos ago the display basically went south for about a month. I didn't want to go through the hassle of dealing with it at the time, and about a month later it started working again - that was about a year ago. My dad and another friend both had Lenovo laptops go completely south while under warranty and the response was very poor. Hours on the phone with the final answer being we can't fix it and we don't know where your hard drive went and we'll send you a refund eventually. My dad actually had the manager of a local office max where he bought it calling several times a week on his behalf (and his wasn't a low end model).

I don't think there will be much support for the hardware or software on a legacy product. I also saw where google's "A team" on android/moto x stayed with google and didn't go with motorola.

What do you guys/gals think? TIA