Newbie: Trying to Learn Smartphones (Android, Apps, etc)

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Cyraxx

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Feb 21, 2005
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Hello folks - So it's been done. Finally! I submit! You have bent me over officially to smartphones - and after being out for approximately 5 years, I have finally taken up my first smart phone with a data plan under the Galaxy Nexus.


My questions / Advice:

-What is a good list of apps that are necessary or highly likely that I will need? A good answer is simply a list from everyone based on your opinion. Any subject! Finance, weight loss, etc.. I feel useless as where to start :(
-I find that having to re-charge my phone every day already to be rather ridiculous. How can I get to crackin' of removing shit software/apps/widgets that officially came due to crap like Verizon and/or Samsung included? Any tips here would be good.
-Basic advice on different Operating Systems / basic "How-To"? What are these different mods that I constantly hear about such as CyanogenMod?


Any help is appreciated!
 
You can check out XDA for help regarding rooting your phone to remove bloatware. I highly recommend you do this...or you can play around unrooted so that you can realize the difference.
 
AlphaQ said:
You can check out XDA for help regarding rooting your phone to remove bloatware. I highly recommend you do this...or you can play around unrooted so that you can realize the difference.
Click to expand...

Does the Nexus come with any bloatware? I was under the impression that Nexus devices were pure Android, with no carrier or OEM stuff added in.
 
I thought Verizon managed to get a few onto the GNex anyway? You can disable from stock ICS though so no biggie (no need to even root).
 
Cyraxx said:
My questions / Advice:

-What is a good list of apps that are necessary or highly likely that I will need? A good answer is simply a list from everyone based on your opinion. Any subject! Finance, weight loss, etc.. I feel useless as where to start :(
-I find that having to re-charge my phone every day already to be rather ridiculous. How can I get to crackin' of removing shit software/apps/widgets that officially came due to crap like Verizon and/or Samsung included? Any tips here would be good.
-Basic advice on different Operating Systems / basic "How-To"? What are these different mods that I constantly hear about such as CyanogenMod?
Click to expand...

First off, congrats on the new phone, The Galaxy Nexus is a great phone!

- There are a lot of good apps out there to mess around with, here are a couple that I find useful
*Barcode Scanner, this app pretty much explains itself.
*Flashlight, It's always nice to have something to use when there isn't a flashlight around.
*Pulse, This is possibly the best rss news reader app.
*Netflix (if you use it)
*DropBox, if you use dropbox, they've got an app on android.
*Switfkey X, one of the best android keyboards.
There are so many good apps out there, I recommend just looking around to see what else you like, these are just some of the ones I use often.

-The only bloat on the Galaxy Nexus is My Verizon and Backup assistant. REmoving these won't help your battery life. There are several tips and tricks to increase your battery life, but if you're already charging your phone only once a day, there isn't much you can do to get better battery life.

-Mods, There aren't a ton of ROMs out for the Galaxy Nexus yet. As for Cyanogenmod, the team is working on CM9 right now which will be the Android 4.0 Cyanogenmod. It's on it's way, but not out yet. If you are considering installing custom ROMs, then I recommend you at least unlock the bootloader now, since it requries a factory reset.

here's a link talking about how to do it:
http://www.androidcentral.com/how-unlock-galaxy-nexus-bootloader
 
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