Help Just switched after 5 years with an iphone...

[mikehart82]

I'm slowly learning my way around android after using iOS for 5 years. Please recommend a good site or guide to help.

Do I need a task killer or memory manager? Some articles I have read say yes and other say no.

 

[chanchan05]

Depends on what Android phone you have and how you have it setup. But generally, if you have a decent phone, DO NOT USE ONE. Some people with low end phones may find it necessary mainly due to their hardware being incapable of properly handling the OS itself (well that's what you get when you go cheap).

However seeing you came from an iPhone, I'd think you'll probably have a device with specs equivalent or better than an S3 at least, so no you won't need one.

 

[funkylogik]

What phone is it man?
And NO to task killers. They really arent needed on modern phones :thumbup:

EDIT ninja'd yet again :beer:

 

[mikehart82]

Depends on what Android phone you have and how you have it setup. But generally, if you have a decent phone, DO NOT USE ONE. Some people with low end phones may find it necessary mainly due to their hardware being incapable of properly handling the OS itself (well that's what you get when you go cheap).

However seeing you came from an iPhone, I'd think you'll probably have a device with specs equivalent or better than an S3 at least, so no you won't need one.

Galaxy s4 on Tmobile

Do I need to root my phone?

 

[mikehart82]

Is there a way to set up icon notifications for email?

 

[chanchan05]

No. You don't need to root. He'll most stuff done using a jail broken iphone can be done on an unrooted android. Also, you mean the badge notifications? Depends on what email app you use. The default Samsung email app already has it. Plus tge appear on the pulldown shade.

 

[Mikestony]

Moved to the S4 section

 

[nickdalzell]

I have a task manager installed but my phone only has 256mb RAM

I did try uninstalling it but it lagged and crashed a lot so I reinstalled it. Basically if you have a pretty up to spec model, no need. Avoid apps like Advanced Task Killer like the plague though. Unless you know what you're doing and know how to properly white list apps and understand how Android manages memory and then know the limits of your device (such as, how much memory can be used up before it starts becoming unstable and slow) best to leave things alone and see how well you do over a few weeks.

 

[dan330]

welcome to AF and Android

1. no ..to task killers.. you can just Hold down the "home" button. that will bring up the built in task "manager". there you can kill any app you wish. But I highly suggest you forget the whole idea of needing to kill apps. Let Android do it thing for you. ONLY time you need to consider it.. is if you know an app is misbehaving.

2. NO.. to rooting your phone. Only when YOU can answer the question.. why you need to root your phone. then you should look into doing so.

3. what do you mean.. icon notification for emails? that should be already builtin and automatic. just setup the email account...

 

[nickdalzell]

FYI I would never recommend manual app killing. The task manager I use improves how the built in works in low memory situations. When a device gets slow, often one with little RAM to begin with, Android starts killing apps as intended, unfortunately it often gets something vital (like the launcher) causing the lag during redraw when launcher loads back, and, if it cannot free enough, your phone restarts by itself.

 

[rushmore]

What phone is it man?
And NO to task killers. They really arent needed on modern phones :thumbup:

EDIT ninja'd yet again :beer:

Not true!!!!!

They do too work for five whole seconds until Android OS caches more apps to fill the space up again

On a more serious point, some apps can go rogue and eat clock, but they can be killed by holding down the home button and killing the app directly.

No task killer needed for that, since built in.

Added: Android loves cache-up on apps. They are not running, but waiting around for action.

 

[prerunnerseth]

3. what do you mean.. icon notification for emails? that should be already builtin and automatic. just setup the email account...

I think hes talking about the little number circles they have on the icons on iOS to show how many emails you have.

 

[Canesfan]

Compared to iPhone (non-jail-broken), Android has many more ways to individualize and personalize your experience.

The Android's bloatware and WiFi issues (with Samsung GS4) and less intuitiveness, for the user, are the main disadvantages of Android vs. iPhone.

 

[dan330]

I think hes talking about the little number circles they have on the icons on iOS to show how many emails you have.

ok.. if that is the case.

first..i think that is not an icon.. it is a widget. small widget.

and the email app.. widget that comes with the phone.. has that built-in. just use that.

 

[WalkaboutDavid]

Is there a way to set up icon notifications for email?

That is easily done in third part launchers like Nova.

Some third party e-mail programs, like enhanced email, have similar features built in too.

 

[androidpod]

The Android's bloatware and WiFi issues (with Samsung GS4) and less intuitiveness, for the user, are the main disadvantages of Android vs. iPhone.

Respectfully I disagree. Only some of the early release models had WiFi issues.

I bought four S4's for my family and we've had excellent wifi performance.

This obsession over "bloatware" that is pervasive across the blogosphere is nothing of concern. The carriers always load their apps on all phones. The only exception is the iPhone. I use both an iPhone 5 and my S4 concurrently. There's no downside to the carriers apps, I simply don't use them and leave them hidden. The space they take up is very minimal.

Therefore based on my first hand experience the S4 still has so many advantages over iOS 6 and even the upcoming iOS 7, that the iPhone simply doesn't come close.

If not for Apples cult like following and perception of superiority Apple would not sell the volume of phones it does.

If I was to choose just one phone to use, it would be the S4 hands down no hesitation.

 

[Canesfan]

Yeah, I'll agree to disagree. The bloatware occupies so much of the 16GB compared to the same 16gig iPhone that there is much less room for other apps., etc. Android, to its advantage, allows an sD card which mitigates some of this. Unfortunately, the bloatware pre-installed cannot be permanently erased unless you jump through some hoops. I still maintain there's less intuitiveness with Android vs. the iPhone and iTunes format.

I, as of yesterday, received a replacement phone, so we'll see if I too will have "excellent WiFi performance". I am not talking about my home router's WiFi which is fine but not where I really utilize and need WiFi for business, at multiple commercial and institutional sites.

Bottom line is, it's nice to have choices; we know that what appeals to some of us does not to others.

 

[WalkaboutDavid]

You see the real beauty of Android with third party launchers. I have an IPad and I find Nova pro light years more pleasant to use.

 

[lotus49]

I have an S4 and an iPhone 5 so I am able directly to compare the two.

If I were to recommend a phone for my mother, I'd recommend the iPhone. It's small, easy to use and does most of what the vast majority of people want to do. In particular, the integration with iTunes and the ease of syncing and backing up is first class requiring almost no setup and working at the click of a button.

The S4 is a much better phone (quicker, better screen, more sensors etc) and Android gives the user far more freedom to do as they choose. This is the main reason I bought an Android phone in the first place. One of the drawbacks is that Google just isn't as good as Apple at UI design so a lot of tasks are needlessly fiddly. The big drawback though, is that syncing and backing up an Android phone is a total dog's breakfast and utterly execrable in every way. On balance, the advantages outweigh the drawbacks but only just.

 

[WalkaboutDavid]

I have an S4 and an iPhone 5 so I am able directly to compare the two.

If I were to recommend a phone for my mother, I'd recommend the iPhone. It's small, easy to use and does most of what the vast majority of people want to do. In particular, the integration with iTunes and the ease of syncing and backing up is first class requiring almost no setup and working at the click of a button.

The S4 is a much better phone (quicker, better screen, more sensors etc) and Android gives the user far more freedom to do as they choose. This is the main reason I bought an Android phone in the first place. One of the drawbacks is that Google just isn't as good as Apple at UI design so a lot of tasks are needlessly fiddly. The big drawback though, is that syncing and backing up an Android phone is a total dog's breakfast and utterly execrable in every way. On balance, the advantages outweigh the drawbacks but only just.

As somebody who uses IOS and Android with about equal frequency, I totally disagree with you. I don't find either system easier to backup, sync either. The entire iTunes interface is clunky, IMO. And, on a day to day basis, the launcher on my iPad is a joke compared to NOVA or Apex and I hated the keyboard, browser and handling of email.

Personally, I prefer android, but I honestly think there are systems ( like WebOS) that were more elegant than both).

 

[dan330]

I have an S4 and an iPhone 5 so I am able directly to compare the two.

If I were to recommend a phone for my mother, I'd recommend the iPhone. It's small, easy to use and does most of what the vast majority of people want to do. In particular, the integration with iTunes and the ease of syncing and backing up is first class requiring almost no setup and working at the click of a button.

The S4 is a much better phone (quicker, better screen, more sensors etc) and Android gives the user far more freedom to do as they choose. This is the main reason I bought an Android phone in the first place. One of the drawbacks is that Google just isn't as good as Apple at UI design so a lot of tasks are needlessly fiddly. The big drawback though, is that syncing and backing up an Android phone is a total dog's breakfast and utterly execrable in every way. On balance, the advantages outweigh the drawbacks but only just.

backing up.. on my android.. I don't even think about it. it just does.

I flash a lot of ROMs. and have hanged phones..
for both my phones and tablets.

each time.. I just log on with my google account. move my SD card. DONE!
all my contacts and calendars.

 

[lotus49]

As somebody who uses IOS and Android with about equal frequency, I totally disagree with you. I don't find either system easier to backup, sync either. The entire iTunes interface is clunky, IMO.

I completely fail to understand how you can say this.

On my iPhone, setup was a matter of about three clicks and syncing and backing up a few more each time. Everything was obvious and easy.

On my S4, syncing has been absolutely terrible. I don't want to hand over all my data to Google (and in any event, they wouldn't give me enough space for my music) and in two and a half years of using Android I haven't found any solutions to backing up or syncing that aren't awful beyond description.

I use iSyncr to copy my music. SyncMate to sync contacts and calendar and Titanium Backup Pro for backup.

iSyncr more or less works, but it's certainly not as elegant as iTunes.

SyncMate syncs my contacts fine but has resulted in numerous calendar entries being duplicated or failing to sync.

TPB is good but it's one of the ugliest and least intuitive programs I have ever used.

These are the best solutions I have found and they are awful compared to iTunes. It took weeks of searching to find a ragbag of solutions that were ugly and only partially worked. How is that better than iTunes?

If you have a better solution (or even one that's not totally rubbish) to sync between a computer and an Android phone than using iTunes and an iPhone, I'd genuinely love to hear it.

 

[chanchan05]

Not sure for you, but in my 1st year of using Android, Kies actually worked as advertised on me. Many people swear by MyPhoneExplorer but I've never used it.

Anyway I've decided to go cloud now anyway.

 

[WalkaboutDavid]

I completely fail to understand how you can say this.

On my iPhone, setup was a matter of about three clicks and syncing and backing up a few more each time. Everything was obvious and easy.

On my S4, syncing has been absolutely terrible. I don't want to hand over all my data to Google (and in any event, they wouldn't give me enough space for my music) and in two and a half years of using Android I haven't found any solutions to backing up or syncing that aren't awful beyond description.

I use iSyncr to copy my music. SyncMate to sync contacts and calendar and Titanium Backup Pro for backup.

iSyncr more or less works, but it's certainly not as elegant as iTunes.

SyncMate syncs my contacts fine but has resulted in numerous calendar entries being duplicated or failing to sync.

TPB is good but it's one of the ugliest and least intuitive programs I have ever used.

These are the best solutions I have found and they are awful compared to iTunes. It took weeks of searching to find a ragbag of solutions that were ugly and only partially worked. How is that better than iTunes?

If you have a better solution (or even one that's not totally rubbish) to sync between a computer and an Android phone than using iTunes and an iPhone, I'd genuinely love to hear it.

My contacts, calendar, emails are all synced throug google, exchange server at work, and outlook.com. All works flawlessly.

Music, I mostly use google music as well as isyncr.

It all works as easily on my android devices as on my iOS devices. (I am a geek, and have multiple devices of each type).

 

[humandroidster]

Not true!!!!!

They do too work for five whole seconds until Android OS caches more apps to fill the space up again

On a more serious point, some apps can go rogue and eat clock, but they can be killed by holding down the home button and killing the app directly.

No task killer needed for that, since built in.

Added: Android loves cache-up on apps. They are not running, but waiting around for action.

I second that