My first Android phone

Joe · 2011-10-29T18:22:05+00:00

I bought the Samsung Galaxy S II today. I got tired of waiting for the upcoming Nexus, my old BB Bold was slowly dying on me. I'm opening this thread because...

Joe

Thanks everyone. Your answers have been very valuable and here's the progress I have done so far:

1) I'm learning Swype. Bassem, you convinced me. If I don't like it, I'm definitely trying thumbs keyboard.

4) There seems to be no official announcement for ICS on SGsII. But everyone tends to agree that Samsung will release something around Q2 of 2012.

7) Georges solution seems amazing. I don't have my BB now, but I hope it has an easy way to export as CSV. Otherwise, I might give the SIM card method a try.

New questions:

8- Rebooting
My old BB needed frequent reboot. Actually, it needed frequent reboot + battery pull (if you own a BB you should look into Quick Pull, it will rejuvenate your phone). Do I need anything similar for SGSII?

9- IRC
I'm looking for an IRC client. Have you ever used any?

10- App Markets
What markets would you recommend? Are they all equivalent, or are there some markets that are worthwile?

Joe

AvoK95, mabrouk! :)

AvoK95

Monkey D. Luffy wroteDownload SoundHound for music! (like Shazam but better)

SoundHound leaves Shazam out in the dust !!
I really like the humming feature

Bassem

Regarding CSV: I recommend you import the CSV file straight into your Google Contacts
This way all your contacts will be in the cloud, and your phone will sync with them.

Also, you can use Google Contacts to manage your contacts such as merging multiples into one, etc. That's what I did and it's been a big timesaver, since it's much easier to edit large numbers of items on a computer.

Bassem

So, here's some of my installed Android apps:

Productivity
Evernote - take notes by typing text, recording audiom snapping pics, and it syncs to the could and to your desktop client
Dropbox - sync files and folders across devices
Astrid Tasks - simple to do list with some nice advanced options, syncs with your Google Tasks.
Wallet - expense tracking (expenses and income) with monthly/yearly reports and import/export.
Calendar (preinstalled) - Google Calendar.
Dolphin Browser HD - supports gestures and plugins. For Arabic compatiblity use Opera Mini
Feedly - lovely feed reader, can sync with your Google Reader.
Andricious - view and edit your Delicious bookmarks.

Utilities
My Files (preinstalled) - basic file explorer
SwiFTP - turn your phone into an FTP server, and connect to it from any device (easy wireless file transfer with a PC)
Appbrain - a market helper, you can create app lists and share them with others, and other features that are missing in the official market.
Google Goggles - scan barcodes, QR codes, OCR text and on the fly translate
aNobii - scan your books and build a virtual library
TeslaLED - a... flashlight with text-to-morse functions and a one-click widget
Regex Matcher - regex tool.
ConvertPad - unit converter for all kinds of units
TeamViewer - remote desktop access with mouse and keyboard functions, multiple monitor support
Tonido - remote drive access
Arabic Text Reader - since the SGSII stupidly has no proper Arabic support, this can display Arabic in your SMSes, Facebook and Twitter, as well as a free paste area.
Gmote - remote media control and mouse / keyboard control
Kies air (pre-installed) - allows desktop browser-based access to all of your phone. View, edit and backup your SMS, contact data, photos, music...
FtpCafe - an FTP client to access your online domains.

Media
Resize Lite - quick image resizer, since Android apps seem to crop but never resize. Really, how hard is it to have a resize feature?
Photo Editor (pre-installed) - this comes with the SGSII but is a surprisingly powerful image editor, even has masking.
Paper Camera, Photaf, LittlePhoto, picplz, MagicHour, ActionSnap - all sorts of filters, effects and social posting options.
Sky.fm radio and DI.fm radio - free online radios for just about any genre you can imagine.

I'll spare you the games and the live wallpapers.

Oh, a few useful widgets:
Wikipedia / Wikia.com search bar - looks like the Google search widget but taps into Wikipedia and other wikia.com wikis, with nice mobile formatting.
Quick Battery -customizable battery indicator
No Lock - If you're sitting alone at your desk and you want your phone to turn off its display but NOT lock every couple minutes, use this to quickly toggle the screen locking.

Metalloy

for MSN: Msn Mercury mobile or ebuddy but you need an ebuddy account
arabic text reader is a must
fastcam: an app that automatically tart recording video once opened so you wont wast that special moment( you need to place the icon in a very reachable place preferably home screen to make the best use of it
If you are an engineer student: download everything by the developper DAKO, you can search for other engineering app as well :D
where's My droid: search for it and read about it;)
RealCalc scientific calculator
Web browsing: I preffer Miren Browser for heavy use on Wifi and opera mini while using EDGE
Skype
any flashlight application
Androzip Like winzip
Ringroid : to cut a part from your song and use it as a ringtone
a must try game: Modern combat 2
some lebanese apps: sos Leb ( sos numbers) Lebanon movies

Xsever

My apps suggestions:

Task Changer PRO for multitasking

Opera Mini (if you do not mind Opera doing the crunching on their servers) (Battery saver as you CPU does not need to do the work)

SiMi Folder for iPhone-like grouping of apps on homescreens

Dope14

Bought galaxy s2 my first android phone , perfect forum for me , thank you all .

edit :attention : this input method from perfect keyboard free application may collect all the text you type, including passwords, credit card numbers , and other personal data, continue ? .

whats the chances of this being true ! ?

Joe

Very true. And this said, I would advise against using "sensitive" data (like credit card number, or bank account online password) on your phone.

We still haven't completely grasp what the extent of "privacy" means on the internet.

On the bright side, the fact that it learns everything, is pretty positive too. The fact that it took me 2-3 days to get used to Swype surprised me. It's surprisingly addictive, and I do type faster than regular touch keyboard.

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