Newb here just got the Captivate yesterday now what???

[scgt1]

There should be a sticky for those of us whom never have had an android os phone. I'm coming from a pos LG View to this phone so I'm lost on how the adding of apps work and what not. I can't believe the phone doesn't even come with a game or two to keep you busy while waiting on your fiance.

So feel free to flood me with hammers stating this has been asked before. It should be in a sticky though with links and information for those of us that don't understand the language of the phone let alone the language used here in reference to the phone.

One of the stickies states something about rooting? I mean I'm just puzzled. Maybe I should have went with the Iphone 3GS. At least with that phone I know it could be safely gotten into and you can add apps to it.

 

[djsmvp]

Im in your spot as well. I ordered the captivate off of at&t's site yesterday and should get it tomorrow. If I had my phone already I would be playing around with settings (only make changes that you are educated on), downloading different apps (just go through the market, appbrain, etc. and have fun), and enjoying it!

There are also beginner tips on these forums as well as google. Just look around and do some reading.

You can add apps without rooting. You should really give android a chance before you dismiss it and decide to stick with iOS and an iPhone. I have never had an android phone and I feel like im familiar with it just because I have been researching and reading forums like crazy over the past couple of weeks.

 

[aximtreo]

Folks,welcome to the world of ANDROID. Just like anything else in life, there is a learning curve. The first thing I would do is to search the forum and others for a specific topic you want info on. Don't try to do everything at once. There are a lot of good people on these sites just waiting to offer help and suggestions.

Not a comprehensive answer you asked for but not sure one STICKY will do what you want.

 

[rajendra82]

There should be a sticky for those of us whom never have had an android os phone. I'm coming from a pos LG View to this phone so I'm lost on how the adding of apps work and what not. I can't believe the phone doesn't even come with a game or two to keep you busy while waiting on your fiance.

So feel free to flood me with hammers stating this has been asked before. It should be in a sticky though with links and information for those of us that don't understand the language of the phone let alone the language used here in reference to the phone.

One of the stickies states something about rooting? I mean I'm just puzzled. Maybe I should have went with the Iphone 3GS. At least with that phone I know it could be safely gotten into and you can add apps to it.

I was like you last week. Locked into S60 land with the LG Xenon with nothing to do. With my Captivate today I use it so much that I wish the battery would last longer. There is so much to do and learn, and you are at the right place by visiting this forum. Unless you are comfortable with Linux or hacking hardware in general, avoid rooting the phone at first. There is not much danger in the procedure itself, but it does come with some implications, and you should understand them before taking the plunge. Same thing with side loading of apps and removing AT&T bloatware, relatively easy things to do, but not much reward for a new user. I'd recommend the following things for you:

Download the Manual for the Phone: There is none in the box, but you can find one here. It will give you insight into what your phone can do. While you are there also grab the USB drivers so that your phone can connect to the computer.

AppBrain or Market - Just imagine what you want the phone to do and then visit, usually there are multiple apps to do what you want, and many are free. Unlike on the iPhone, the Market is not tightly controlled by Google. Anyone can register for $25, and put up an app. As a result there are a lot of similar apps around doing things. AT&T doesn't limit your ability to download and install most of the apps from the Market (except for a few that do tethering, etc).

Launcher Replacement - TouchWiz is OK, but there are other launchers (Launcher Pro is what I use, some others like ADW launcher). You are allowed to experiment and switch back and forth between them. Launcher Pro is more customizeable and allows you to adjust things to your liking. It is faster as well.

Download Android SDK - This will give you more information about the internal workings of the Android system, you can ever write a little program and see it run on an included emulator. With the SDK, you will see what stock Android 2.1 (Eclair, which currently runs on the Captivate with TouchWiz modifications) looks like, what Froyo would look like, and If you ever want to root or hack your phone, the SDK is needed, so might as well start familiarizing yourself with it.

Once you are more familiar with the phone and the OS, then you will be ready to do the more advanced things. It won't take long, trust me.

 

[t-readyroc]

Sounds like what you need/want to know isn't Captivate-specific. There are a ton of forums on this site, specifically, the FAQ forum may be helpful to you.

Remember kids, post your threads in the right place, or the mod police'll gitchya

 

[dsjr2006]

I was like you last week. Locked into S60 land with the LG Xenon with nothing to do. With my Captivate today I use it so much that I wish the battery would last longer. There is so much to do and learn, and you are at the right place by visiting this forum. Unless you are comfortable with Linux or hacking hardware in general, avoid rooting the phone at first. There is not much danger in the procedure itself, but it does come with some implications, and you should understand them before taking the plunge. Same thing with side loading of apps and removing AT&T bloatware, relatively easy things to do, but not much reward for a new user. I'd recommend the following things for you:

Download the Manual for the Phone: There is none in the box, but you can find one here. It will give you insight into what your phone can do. While you are there also grab the USB drivers so that your phone can connect to the computer.

AppBrain or Market - Just imagine what you want the phone to do and then visit, usually there are multiple apps to do what you want, and many are free. Unlike on the iPhone, the Market is not tightly controlled by Google. Anyone can register for $25, and put up an app. As a result there are a lot of similar apps around doing things. AT&T doesn't limit your ability to download and install most of the apps from the Market (except for a few that do tethering, etc).

Launcher Replacement - TouchWiz is OK, but there are other launchers (Launcher Pro is what I use, some others like ADW launcher). You are allowed to experiment and switch back and forth between them. Launcher Pro is more customizeable and allows you to adjust things to your liking. It is faster as well.

Download Android SDK - This will give you more information about the internal workings of the Android system, you can ever write a little program and see it run on an included emulator. With the SDK, you will see what stock Android 2.1 (Eclair, which currently runs on the Captivate with TouchWiz modifications) looks like, what Froyo would look like, and If you ever want to root or hack your phone, the SDK is needed, so might as well start familiarizing yourself with it.

Once you are more familiar with the phone and the OS, then you will be ready to do the more advanced things. It won't take long, trust me.

Maybe they should start by learning how to download an app and make a phone call before they start worrying about the SDK or Launchers.

 

[rajendra82]

Maybe they should start by learning how to download an app and make a phone call before they start worrying about the SDK or Launchers.

Which is why manual was step 1, market was step 2, launchers was step 3, and SDK was step 4. Execute in order.

 

[scgt1]

Well I was toying around on it this morning until the battery got low. Found the market got a ton of stuff arranged the icons around to my liking. Got a different task closer since the one built in didn't seem to be doing its job. I also have a problem with iheartradio app. Not sure if anyone else uses this, but its nice to listen to the radio when not in house or the car. Problem is it wont turn off. Is this an app specific bug or something with the phone? I had to shut off the phone and turn it back on again for it to stop working.

I haven't gotten the manual yet, but I'm sure its not going to talk about these loaders you are refering too above. What exactly is it and why would I want to change it?

After toying with the market I don't know if I should need to ever "root" the device or slide apps over as you all are putting it above.

I don't want to start another thread so I'll just go ahead and ask up in my newb post I started. Has anyone found decent hard case covers or nice firm rubber cases for these phones yet? I've googled for the last hour or so and can only come up with leather pouches or stupid sock or sack things. :-( I would really like to protect the phone with a screen protector and also a nice firm wrap around case. Maybe something with some style and not just one color.

 

[rajendra82]

I'll try to answer the questions you have. But this is going to be a long post.

1. Apps don't turn off - You need to understand that Android is a multitasking operating system. When you are running an app and hit the home button on the bottom of the phone, the running application is not actually closed. It stays loaded in memory and can run in the background. To completely close a running app and return to the home screen, you need to press the back button. I do not have personal experience with iheartradio, but the behavior you are seeing could be related to you pressing the home button, which iheartradio may interpret as you want to get back to home screen and do something else but still want to keep listening to the radio

If you want to tweak this behavior, you will have to configure the application. In Android this is typically done by pressing the submenu button, which pulls up a little submenu at the bottom and allows you to configure behaviors such as these. This is not standardized requirements, but most apps behave this way.

2. Launchers – These are the special applications that control how the phone behaves when nothing else is in the foreground. The home screens, the dock of applications at the bottom, the icons and widgets displayed on different screens, and the appearance of the phone are controlled by the launcher. The Android operating system by default ships with a launcher that does these things. In order to customize the look and behavior of their phones manufacturers have modified the phones to include their own versions of launchers. Samsung’s version is called TouchWiz, Motorola’s is called MotoBlur, HTC’s is called Sense, and so on.

The problem with this picture is that TouchWiz and its brethren sacrifice performance for eye candy, they also limit the amount of customizations the user can do to some extent. To overcome this you can install your own launcher and tell the program to run it instead of TouchWiz to allow you more performance and better customization. They are installed the same way as any other app, and an app called home switcher lets you go back and forth. I personally use launcher pro beta, which is faster and more customizable than touchwiz, while also being free. There is no harm in playing around with this, as it is impossible to screw up your phone.

3. Rooting - what you may or may not realize is that Android OS is actually a flavor of Linux. On Android like on Linux, you actually have privileges. In Linux normal users and the programs they can run are allowed to view most of the files on the system and can modify some of them. There is an administrator account on every Linux system called root. A superuser who has root privileges (and the programs that they run) can do anything. The manufacturers, to protect you and to provide you effective support don’t normally grant you and the programs you run root privileges. That way they know that the basic parts of the operating system will remain intact.

Unfortunately they also use this system of privilages to block you from accessing features of the hardware that you could as a superuser, so that they can extract money from you. A good example of this is tethering capabilities, where you connect the phone to a USB cable and use it as a laptop modem on the road. AT&T wants to sell you their tethering service, so they block you from doing this, although the hardware is fully capable. A superuser can enable tethering. Without root you also can’t backup your system properly, because those protected system files are inaccessible or invisible to a normal user and the programs they run, give yourself root and you can do that, but you can also remove the operating system files and brick the shiny new toy. Therefore AT&T says that if you root your phone, you void your warranty. This is the power/responsibility tradeoff of rooting. Luckily for you if you ever decide to root, the procedure is laughably easy on the Captivate.

4. Side loading of applications – All the applications that you have loaded are available in the Market, which is a very open system. For whatever reason, some developers have not put up their applications up on the market. Some of these have their own websites where they want you to go and get them. On every carrier other than AT&T, in the OS, there is a check box that lets you chose to allow non market applications. This is what we call side loading. That way when you get an apk file from somewhere other than the Market, the OS asks you if you want to install it, and if you chose to do that, the application will run like any other. AT&T has unnecessarily crippled the Captivate (and the other andoid phones it offers) by removing that checkbox, and keeping the setting always disabled, and no normal way to enable it. If you want to enable the side loading again, there is a procedure to allow that, but you need root access.

 

[rajendra82]

I don't want to start another thread so I'll just go ahead and ask up in my newb post I started. Has anyone found decent hard case covers or nice firm rubber cases for these phones yet? I've googled for the last hour or so and can only come up with leather pouches or stupid sock or sack things. :-( I would really like to protect the phone with a screen protector and also a nice firm wrap around case. Maybe something with some style and not just one color.

The hard case I like is the incipio shell, which is a clear acryllic cover ($30 exclusively at AT&T stores). They also sell a soft gel cover there for $24. Their screen protectors are $10 for a pack of 3.

 

[huskerkurt]

If you want to enable the side loading again, there is a procedure to allow that, but you need root access.

I just wanted to point out that sideloading is actually much easier than that, and doesn't require root access. Just go to Android Central and get the Android Central Sideload Wonder Machine. It's very easy to use and requires nothing except turning on USB Debugging.

Sideload Android apps all you want with the Sideload Wonder Machine | Android Central

 

[scgt1]

I actually don't think I have hit the HOme key yet as I always have hit the back button. In turn closing the apps apparently. Although after opening the process ending app I got on the market I still have those items open and have to end them through it.

There is just apparently something incompatable with the iheartradio and the Captivate is all. Something I'm curious of though is there an office type app to work with word files and excel spreadsheets? I know there is acrobat which I've already added. I just haven't seen any other app yet that seems to work with office files.

Also how do you task between apps? Say I'm browsing the web and want to look something up on the calendar then pop back on the web where I was without having to go there again or load history? Maybe this is all in the manual which I haven't had a chance to download. Then again maybe it isn't. I'm not much for directions. I like to toy around with things first.

To the menu and how it works. I got the default all setup then downloaded a theme which required another app that was called something home. I went ahead and put it on. I somewhat liked how it changed things around and how if made the screens work different, but it was a totally new virginized feeling since I've already learned the screens as they are. So I promptly removed that theme and the app that changed everything around. I'm sure that app follows under the launcher side of things. Although I think the factory one works just fine and is plenty fast. At least currently anyway.

 

[scgt1]

The hard case I like is the incipio shell, which is a clear acryllic cover ($30 exclusively at AT&T stores). They also sell a soft gel cover there for $24. Their screen protectors are $10 for a pack of 3.

The screen protectors I can deal with since they will keep it from getting scratched. The 30 for the cover is insane. I never purchase any of ATT's accesories. Due to their prices. I generally can get online and find the same thing or better for 1/8th of the price shipped. I picked up red and black hard shell cases for the Iphone I got my fiance for like $4-$8 ea shipped from IGearusa. Only thing is they only deal in Iphone stuff or the mp3 counterparts.

Seems like I'll have to wait a bit until online etailers start carrying actually protecting covers and shells.

 

[sremick]

Something I'm curious of though is there an office type app to work with word files and excel spreadsheets? I know there is acrobat which I've already added. I just haven't seen any other app yet that seems to work with office files.

Search the marketplace for Quickoffice. It's free.

Also how do you task between apps? Say I'm browsing the web and want to look something up on the calendar then pop back on the web where I was without having to go there again or load history?

Hold down the Home button for like 2-3 seconds.

 

[dsjr2006]

Which is why manual was step 1, market was step 2, launchers was step 3, and SDK was step 4. Execute in order.

The point was that by even introducing the concept of changing your launcher and downloading the SDK is only asking for a newb to screw up his phone. Nobody new to smartphones need to know that information and when they do I'm sure they'll find it.

 

[CoMaToast]

I am with the OP on this one.. I have been an Iphone customer since 2007 and this is my first android Phone .. One thing I dont like is there is no visual voicemail, but Ill get over it..

But more importantly, Can I upgrade Android like I can my Iphone OS? I am on 2.1 right now, and would be pretty bummed if I could not upgrade ( to what seems to be the far superior ) android 2.2

Thanks everyone

 

[rajendra82]

How will changing the launcher screw up his phone, when it's just another market app that can be tried. switched on-off at will, and then uninstalled if he wished. There is nothing in that process that would screw his phone up. If he couldn't do something as simple as that, he might as well have stayed on the LG Vu. The SDK was a bit too advanced, but unless he enabled debugging, rooted, and then launched adb, having the SDK on his computer would not have screwed up his phone. The point to the SDK step was to show him how his new Android phone could be better than the iPhone he was also considering.

What's the point of praising Android, when you are afraid to showcase its features.

 

[CoMaToast]

Also to add to my other question above.. Is it just me or does this thing get really hot when charging??

 

[dsjr2006]

How will changing the launcher screw up his phone, when it's just another market app that can be tried. switched on-off at will, and then uninstalled if he wished. There is nothing in that process that would screw his phone up. If he couldn't do something as simple as that, he might as well have stayed on the LG Vu. The SDK was a bit too advanced, but unless he enabled debugging, rooted, and then launched adb, having the SDK on his computer would not have screwed up his phone. The point to the SDK step was to show him how his new Android phone could be better than the iPhone he was also considering.

What's the point of praising Android, when you are afraid to showcase its features.

It wouldn't screw it up but he'll end up like the creator of the dozen other threads of people who don't know how to start, use or remove LauncherPro because they don't know the basics yet. And I'm not sure how the SDK proves Android is better than iPhone since it also has one........

 

[scgt1]

Also to add to my other question above.. Is it just me or does this thing get really hot when charging??

Yes I've noticed that also.

Now my thread is turning into a pissing match that's nice.

Just to calm your whos got the bigger %$#$#$ back and forth. I'm not an idiot and can follow directions with rooting and using the sdk, although none of that is really going to interest me after messing with the Market considering just about anything I would want is in there. So I see no real need to root the phone. Besides I jailbroke my fiances 3gs which is alot more in depth then the rooting steps for this phone.

So the testosterone level can be lowered down a bit.

Not to mention it appears there is a new way to sideload apps without the sdk and rooting:
http://forum.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?p=236589#post236589