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Help New to Android, recommendations needed

B

borand

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Hi

After three years of been loyal to Windows Phone I have decided to switch to Android.
As that is new platform for me and I do not know where to start, could some of you recommend some apps to start with please.

The ones that I will need straight away :

Outlook email
Offline Navigation
Public Transport
Photo Album
Syncing pictures with OneDrive
eBook Reader
Syncing and editing Outlook Contacts and Calendar

All my files, contacts, calendar etc are at OneDrive and would need to keep it as it is for the time been if that is possible?
If you can think of anything else please let me know as I will be lost in the vast number of apps on Google Play :)

Thank you!
 
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You might give these some consideration:

Outlook for Android has earned a kinda poor reputation, but here's the link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.outlook

Check out AquaMail. Absolutely terrific email client, much better than Outlook, that will handle your Outlook contacts and calendar:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kman.AquaMail

You might want to look at K-9 and Maildroid too:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fsck.k9
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maildroid

Photo album:
Google Photos
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.photos
 
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Thank you for your replies!
First day with new Android device, still finding my way around but so far I like it :)
Email is working fine, I have used ActiveSync and seems to be ok, same with contacts and calendar.
Outlook app is a bit of hit and miss.
I have tried Waze but what I understood is that maps can not be downloaded to avoid data usage?
I will try other apps that you have recommended later, thank you
 
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You can to some extent download maps from the Maps app, but I've not done that for years so don't know how well it works currently. There are many offline mapping apps, both free and paid, some of which include offline navigation. Public transport depends on where you are, as this is usually national or even city based.

I personally prefer QuickPic to the built-in gallery app, but again there are many choices. Try a few, see what you like, delete the rest.

Likewise ebook readers: many to choose from. I have Moon+ installed, but prefer a dedicated e-ink device to a phone for this so rarely use it these days.
 
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@Crashdamage Is it good thing or something I should avoid?
There are so many apps in Google Store and for someone that has just started using Google services it is really difficult to pick the good ones
I think you mean QuickPic. Yeah, QuickPic is by Cheetah Mobile so is on my Do Not Install list. Anything by Cheetah Mobile, DU Apps, Go Development Team, 360 Mobile Security and a slew of other developers never qualifies as worthy of installation. Those I named are just a few of the worst offenders. They're guilty of writing apps that are not only ineffective, but harmful and even just plain evil. DO NOT install anything by those vendors!

A few things to remember when choosing Apps:

Watch the permissions of apps you install. Don't install anything that wants to access anything it has no need to. Like a flashlight app that wants access to your contacts. Only install apps from trustworthy sources, basically the Play store or Amazon.

Don't be tempted to use any task killers, RAM memory optimizers/boosters, battery savers/repairers, cache cleaners, etc etc. None of that stuff is necessary. They are counterproductive, waste power, disrupt system processes and degrade performance. Apps of these types are often also guilty of throwing up nag ads and scary-sounding false alarms to try and scare you into buying more bogus software.

The biggest security risk to Android is Android users. Be a smart user. Install Common Sense and use it at all times.
 
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Thanks @Crashdamage , I am starting to get hang of Google Play :)

I do not know if this is the correct trad to ask, but I am already having issue with storage space on my new phone.
After only one day I have only 1.5 GB left and have not installed most of the things that I want.

I have read treads and learned that Kit Kat is not capable of storing anything on SD Card apart of Music, Pictures and Movies. When I open Storage and click on any App "Move to SD Card" button is grayed out, so I assume that it is correct that no Apps or Apps Data can be stored on SD card.

Do you know if there is any workaround for this please?
 
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Thank you for your replies!
First day with new Android device, still finding my way around but so far I like it :)
Email is working fine, I have used ActiveSync and seems to be ok, same with contacts and calendar.
Outlook app is a bit of hit and miss.
I warned you about Outlook...I recommend you get away from Outlook and check out the email clients I mentioned. Especially AquaMail.
I am already having issue with storage space on my new phone.
After only one day I have only 1.5 GB left and have not installed most of the things that I want.
What make and model is your phone? I wouldn't expect any storage issues so soon on a phone with a reasonable amount of storage capacity.
 
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Good Lord, no! I've been using it for years, and am pretty sure that's not the developer name it used when I installed it.

Mind you, I don't let it access any cloud features (which it didn't have when I first installed it), but that will certainly have me looking for alternatives...
If you do find a comparable alternative please let me know. I've been using quickpic forever as well...
 
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Thanks @Crashdamage , I am starting to get hang of Google Play :)

I do not know if this is the correct trad to ask, but I am already having issue with storage space on my new phone.
After only one day I have only 1.5 GB left and have not installed most of the things that I want.

I have read treads and learned that Kit Kat is not capable of storing anything on SD Card apart of Music, Pictures and Movies. When I open Storage and click on any App "Move to SD Card" button is grayed out, so I assume that it is correct that no Apps or Apps Data can be stored on SD card.

Do you know if there is any workaround for this please?


yes there are some work around but you might have to have root for them (I'm rooted) I'll check if your still looking a good thing to do is find your phone on this forum or on XDA there are answers for lots of things if your phone is on it

EDIT every option that i have on my phone is for a rooted phone but some people may make zip files for total sd write permission for your phone so it might be worth a try to look at some forums for your phone and ask there
 
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Hi
Thank you all for your answers and help.
Until now I have managed with phone as it is, but as I have only half of a gig left in internal storage I am considering rooting my device. Some apps, as Amazon Music player on example, show that data is on SD card, but it is not and all my internal storage has been taken.
Just going through XDA forums to find instructions how to root the device.
 
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The question is what the app means by "sd card". Due to some very unfortunate historical reasons /sdcard on Android is actually internal storage, with a real sd card having a different name (the names still not completely uniform across devices - I believe they are supposed to standardise on sdcard1, but my Samsung tablet still uses extSDcard). Hence there is scope for confusion as to where data on "sd card" are actually being stored.
 
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