Part One: Android Basics
As Android becomes more and more popular, people are increasingly looking for advice on which phones to buy, which apps to download, and what settings to use to optimize their Android experience. Lucky for you guys, I’m here to help. I’ve had my Android phone (a Verizon Droid Incredible) for almost a year now, and I’ve done just about everything you can do to one.
This is the first in a series of three articles, each covering a different aspect of using and playing with your Android device. This article will cover three basic Android areas: picking an Android phone, which Android apps I recommend, and what settings to use to maximize performance and battery life.
So you decided to go Droid: Buying an Android device
Congratulations on deciding to purchase an Android-based smartphone. By picking something other than the iPhone, you earn +1 to Geek Cred. Nicely done! Now that you’ve decided to go Android, let’s talk about Android, and what it means when you’re choosing a phone.
Unlike Apple’s iPhone/iPad/AppleTV-based iOS, Google’s Android operating system is open source, which is to say that anyone can download the source code and play with it. Consequently, Android is significantly more customizable than most modern mobile operating systems, and affords its’ users with greater freedom of choice.
Right now, the newest phone-based version of Android is 2.3, also known as Gingerbread. Google names each new version of Android after desserts; Éclair (2.1), Froyo (2.2), and Honeycomb (3.0 – Tablet only) are all out as well, and Ice Cream is rumored to be next. At the moment, Gingerbread isn’t available on a lot of devices, so for our purposes we’ll assume that Froyo (2.2) is your Android version of choice.
Because only Apple makes the iPhone, every instance of iOS looks pretty much the same, with the exception of users that have jailbroken their iPhones and done some customizing. Android is pretty much the opposite: no two Android devices look the same. One of the big reasons this is true is because each manufacturer has their own application pack that they use for their version of Android. As an example, the three most notable are HTC’s Sense, Motorola’s Blur, and Samsung’s TouchWiz.
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of add-on software packs. I like to get every ounce of performance possible out of my phone. That being said, I do appreciate good software design and for my money, HTC’s Sense handily outperforms its competitors. In my opinion, HTC is the only manufacturer’s software package that adds anything worthwhile to the device. Anything else, and you’re probably better off with stock Android, which is only available through custom ROMs or Google’s Nexus-series developer phones.
So, now that we’ve talked about the software for a minute, let’s talk about the hardware. Unlike the iPhone, Android devices come in a variety of shapes and sizes on every major carrier. Right now, I would only recommend buying an Android device from one of three manufacturers: HTC, Motorola, and Samsung, in that order. Of those three, HTC, in my experience, is the best of the bunch. Their combination of hardware and software puts them head and shoulders above the rest of the Android pack. That being said, Motorola and Samsung aren’t bad either. I prefer Motorola over Samsung, but that’s just me.
Now, it’s important to remember that technology evolves quickly, and Android continues to evolve with it. Consequently, it’s better to save up for today’s super-advanced phone, because in 6-12 months there’s going to be something much, much better out there, and a version of Android to go with it. Do yourself a favor and stay away from “bargain” Android devices; they won’t offer you the smartphone experience you really want.
So, now that you’ve picked out a device, let’s throw on some apps!
It’s Google’s World, We’re Just Living In It: Android Applications worth having
So you’ve got your phone, and it’s all charged up, and you’re ready to download some apps. First thing you need to do is setup a Google Checkout account at http://checkout.google.com. It’ll allow you to attach a credit card to your account so you can pay for apps that cost money.
Alright, so you’ve got your phone, you’ve got a Checkout account, and you’ve got the Android Market. So what should you download?
Here are a few of my recommendations:
AppBrain – AppBrain is an alternate means of accessing the App Market. You’re probably wondering why you should have another means of accessing the App Market. Well, here’s why: http://www.appbrain.com/user/aslicht. See, AppBrain allows you to generate a web listing of all the apps installed on your phone and share them with other people. Also, it provides greater options for sorting search results based on rating, price, etc. that just aren’t available in the regular Market.
All the Google apps – Maps, Gmail, Search, YouTube, Sky Map, and Goggles are my personal favorites. Your phone should come with some of those, but I recommend picking up them all.
QuickMark QR Code Reader – You’ve probably seen those square UPC-looking things around the web or in the real world; they’re called QR codes. Android uses those as a means of transmitting links, and your phone needs a way to interpret them. I like QuickMark for this.
Angry Birds – It’s the gaming sensation that’s swept the nation. After all, you’ve gotta have fun eventually, right?
Lookout Mobile Security – As recently publicized, it is possible to get a virus on your Android phone. Lookout scans everything you download to make sure it’s clean of viruses, spyware, and malware. Lookout is also the best way to protect your phone from being infected, lost, or stolen.
Handcent SMS/chompSMS – I don’t like popups for everything, but I do like them for text messages. Consequently, I use chompSMS for all my texting needs. I’m including Handcent too because even though I don’t use it for my regular texting application, it does come with a ringtone picker that allows you to choose MP3 audio as ringtones from any application, something you can’t do from the stock interface (at least not that I’ve found)
Firefox Mobile Web Browser – Firefox has a great reputation in the PC world, and has moved to the Android world as well. It does take longer to start than other mobile browsers, but I’m rarely in enough of a hurry for it to be a big deal. I like the interface, and highly recommend giving it a shot.
Soundhound – Ever hear a song that you really like and want to know what it is? Ever think of a tune and can’t remember the name? Soundhound is for you. Soundhound detects and identifies music being played. It’s well worth having.
ASTRO File Manager – Astro is a great app to have around to track down files on your phone and SD card. You never know when you’re gonna download something or need to poke around for a bit.
Plume – I’ll admit it: I tweet. A lot. I’ve tried all of the Android Twitter clients I can find, and I keep coming back to Plume.
So, there’s a couple of apps to get you started. If you want to see what I have installed on my phone, go to my AppBrain page at http://www.appbrain.com/user/aslicht.
Now that you’ve installed all those apps, you’ve probably noticed that your phone is dragging a little and your battery life is a few hours at most. Well, don’t worry, because I’m gonna help you get everything running nice and smooth again.
Grease The Nurse: How to get your phone running in tip top shape
So you have a ton of really cool apps on your phone, but you notice thatyour battery life sucks and your phone is slow. That’s understandable; Android needs a little tweaking to reach its full potential, as do most of it’s apps.
First off, go in to all your applications that sync, stuff like Twitter, Facebook, etc., and check to see how often the application updates. I keep mine set to an hour or so for most things; it seems to be the best balance between performance and availability of information, in my opinion.
Second of all, check your screen brightness. If you’re not already using a widget of some kind to manage it, I recommend you get one. Power Control Plus is a personal favorite of mine.
If you go into Settings > Wi-Fi settings, and uncheck “Network Notification”, that should help your battery life since your phone won’t be searching for wi-fi signals all the time.
If you go into Settings > Accounts & sync, you’ll be able to see what syncs and when. Consider turning off things you don’t use.
Turn off things you’re not using, like Bluetooth and GPS. A homescreen widget is good for this, like Power Control Plus.
Use widgets, shortcuts, etc. on your homescreen to allow you to do common things quickly. After all, the less you use your phone, the longer the battery lasts.
So, you’ve got a new Android phone, some killer apps, and you’ve got everything humming along smoothly. So what’s next? Well, we’ve only scratched the surface of the Android universe. I hope you enjoyed my article and learned something!
Next time on Droid Does: Launchers and Rooting!
