New to clever phones - HELP!!

[Jagged]

Hi all, I've just got a Desire HD and I'd like some very simple answers on apps and so I don't pay a fortune transfering data.

What's the easiest way to download apps and keep a record of what they are? Is it as simple as going to the Market icon and hitting a button?
I've been told about app brain market, is this easy to use?
Is there a decent keyboard app that includes symbols for pounds and Euros? Or are there lots of hidden symbols on the standard keyboard. My LG Arena had loads of them.
Finally (for now) I've set up my phone to sync with my gmail account and it also seems to update the weather forecast info. USB is always on as the phone links to the car system.
Is this likely to use much of my monthly allowance and are there any decent apps for showing data usage?
I'm not usually such a Luddite with technology but I've only used previous phones for talk, text and camera because the web connections have been very slow.

 

[D-U-R-X]

What's the easiest way to download apps and keep a record of what they are? Is it as simple as going to the Market icon and hitting a button?

Yeah, really is that simple. You can even look at your app history (or something like that)

I've been told about app brain market, is this easy to use?

Never used it, so can't help.

Is there a decent keyboard app that includes symbols for pounds and Euros? Or are there lots of hidden symbols on the standard keyboard. My LG Arena had loads of them.

Again, sorry... not used anything other than the standard keyboards - if you look on the market though, I believe there are plenty of free ones - just try a few!

Finally (for now) I've set up my phone to sync with my gmail account and it also seems to update the weather forecast info. USB is always on as the phone links to the car system.
Is this likely to use much of my monthly allowance and are there any decent apps for showing data usage?

I don't think that it should use that much of your allowance... if you're worried, you can either set the sync to do so less or, as I do sometimes, turn off mobile data and only put it on when you want to do something online. I have something called Droid Stats (which you can get off the market - https://market.android.com/details?id=nitro.phonestats&feature=search_result) that gives me useful info. I currently only have the free version, but think I'll get the paid version soon. If you use this, you can see if you're close to hitting your limits and then turn off data if you are!

I'm not usually such a Luddite with technology but I've only used previous phones for talk, text and camera because the web connections have been very slow.

Don't worry... questions is what this place is for!

 

[KenTom]

About the keyboard, there are lots of hidden keys - down near rhe bottom right hand corner there is a key marked `12#'.
Press that and a whole new keyboard of symbols and numbers appears. Only took me 2 months to discover it!

 

[D-U-R-X]

About the keyboard, there are lots of hidden keys - down near rhe bottom right hand corner there is a key marked `12#'.
Press that and a whole new keyboard of symbols and numbers appears. Only took me 2 months to discover it!

If you then press the "alt" key, it should give you a load more too!

 

[Jagged]

About the keyboard, there are lots of hidden keys - down near rhe bottom right hand corner there is a key marked `12#'.
Press that and a whole new keyboard of symbols and numbers appears. Only took me 2 months to discover it!

I found "12#" quite early, but there wasn't a

 

[LeelaBot]

"Is this likely to use much of my monthly allowance and are there any decent apps for showing data usage?"

3G Watchdog. It's available from the market and displays your data usage. Just remember that in the first month it will only show you usage from the date you install, not the date your usage started.

 

[Jagged]

3G Watchdog. It's available from the market and displays your data usage. Just remember that in the first month it will only show you usage from the date you install, not the date your usage started.

I've already downloaded 3G Watchdog as well as Call Meter NG and both seem to work pretty well. The advantage of Call Meter NG is that it also shows call and text usage.

I've got it set up to auto-sync but can't seem to find a way to adjust the frequency. It's updating the weather forecast icon OK, as well as my gmail account so something must be right.
I seem to be using about 3Mb per day so I'm well within my 1Gb allowance, though this may change when I do more web surfing during the football season.
For info: T-Mobile's "unlimited web access" has a "fair usage" limit of 1Gb. Afetr that they still allow surfing but not downloading.