Help What do I do to my New Galaxy Nexus?

[jhonb]

I already got help here with my first post, so here goes number 2.

I ordered a new unlocked Gangland Nexus. It is replacing my iPhone 4. I found out I had to swap out the sim card and I should be up and running.

OK, what do I do next?
This is my first droid phone. I have read how to export my contacts to Gmail and that will transfer them over to my new phone.
I don't want my calender entries, I hope I can do that directly form outlook.

So what do I install? I know the standards apps, but what else should I do to my phone. Root it? I already know that I have to make sure that it has something with a bunch of letters in it to make sure I get updates.

Is there a tutorial or a great post that someone can steer me too.

Thanks

 

[trophynuts]

http://androidforums.com/galaxy-nex...6-how-root-gsm-hspa-samsung-galaxy-nexus.html

start reading there. You're going to want to do that ASAP instead of waiting for a few weeks. When you root and unlock the bootloader it will completely wipe the phone so its best to do it before you start putting stuff on it.

 

[lsutigers03]

Download GN Official Update Checker from the Market. That will tell you what build your Nexus is. You want to have yakju. That's the build that is updated by Google. If you have something different then you can flash the Google updated build. The only change I've made from stock is rooting so I can use Titanium Backup but if you're going to root, unlock, etc. you'll want the GNex Toolkit. It can pretty much do what ever you want to do to the phone.

GNex Toolkit

 

[jhonb]

Thanks for the info. I will do my homework on these links today.

 

[Tim K]

1. Yes, get all your contacts cleaned up and organized in gmail first. Once you sync your phone to google's servers your contacts will be uploaded.

2. If you don't want to use google's calendar, when you set up your syncs under "accounts & sync", under your google account you can choose what google services to sync. Just uncheck calendar and it won't sync. I recommend only syncing things you really need.... like contacts, gmail, etc. Anything else will just use precious battery running background sync checks throughout the day. Especially things like google+ and photos.

3. Yes, unlock immediately even if you don't want to root. It just sets you up to do it later should you decide to root....and you don't want to have to start from scratch again when unlocking wipes your phone. Also, you can always re-lock so its not like you are crossing the line and can never go back. Same with rooting....and you don't need to run custom ROMS.... you can root and run stock if you like. I am.

 

[jhonb]

Dumb question, but I have AT&T so I chose the LTE version not the GSM when installing the GNex toolkit right?

 

[Outatime]

My advice, even before you start fussing with root, (although I agree with Tim about unlocking now) get one of the launchers from the Market. I've used Apex and Nova and like them both, but there are others. Seriously, the level of customization you can get is outstanding. Then when you do decide to root, you'll get even more.

 

[quiklives]

Dumb question, but I have AT&T so I chose the LTE version not the GSM when installing the GNex toolkit right?

LTE is Verizon-only. AT&T is GSM.

Edit: I know AT&T is starting their LTE network, and that's probably where the confusion is, but the LTE GNex is LTE/CDMA, so it's the Verizon (and soon to be Sprint) version.

 

[jhonb]

OK, so when I get my phone, I am going to charge it up and install the sim card from my iPhone using a micro adapter.

Make sure all is well and then I am going to install GN official update checker to make sure it is set to wakju. If not, I guess I have to figure out how to change that to get updates. If it is wakju, then it should update automatically to the latest version. Next I make sure it has the newest update. I am not sure if it is 4.0.2 or 4.0.4 as I heard they stopped the newest one for some signal problems.

Then I am going to unlock the bootloader and hold off on the rooting for a while. And use GSM not LTE when prompted.

From what I have read, if I install

 

[lsutigers03]

Your bootloader may already be unlocked. I bought my phone from negri unlocked which I assumed meant it was sim unlocked. When I tried to unlock the bootloader GNex Toolkit told me the bootloader was already unlocked. As for updates I have yakju but I had to do the following to get the OTA update to show up.

Go to settings, apps, click on All. Scroll down to Google Services Framework and click on it. Press Force Stop, and then Clear Data. Now settings, phone, check upgrade. May need to do it twice. Others reboot the phone to make it upgrade.

 

[jhonb]

Having problems with the drivers. This is pissing me off. I want to unlock the bootlogger and start setting this thing up.
Could not do in in gnex or using sdk
will try wugs

 

[lsutigers03]

Having problems with the drivers. This is pissing me off. I want to unlock the bootlogger and start setting this thing up.
Could not do in in gnex or using sdk
will try wugs

Try downloading pdanet to get your drivers installed. That's what worked for me.

 

[Tim K]

Try downloading pdanet to get your drivers installed. That's what worked for me.

Ditto for me. Its the known reliable workaround for all driver issues.

You can delete the program once you're done and the drivers will remain.

 

[jhonb]

Got the drivers working and unlocked. I am on my way.
No to do some reading up on the ICS operating system so I can get my phone looking the way I want it to

Thanks to all for the help.

You will probably hear from me within the hour with another issue or 10

 

[lsutigers03]

How do you want it to look? Stock ICS is very good but I wanted some extra features that custom roms provide. This is the rom I'm using right now. Gets great battery life and has some very cool additional features under rom control in the settings.

FoxHound 0.5

 

[jhonb]

How do you want it to look? Stock ICS is very good but I wanted some extra features that custom roms provide. This is the rom I'm using right now. Gets great battery life and has some very cool additional features under rom control in the settings.

FoxHound 0.5

The first thing I wanted to do was unlock the bootlogger so if I decide to go deeper into my phone, that would be out of the way and I would not lose all my settings. I finally did that on my third software package try. (wugs worked for me)

After that, I was just trying to set up the pages. I am coming from iPhone, where everything is on one set of pages. With ICS, you have (I guess) your home screen, your widget screen, and your app screen. I am starting to get the home screen the way I want it, and the app screen looks like it's just your apps in alphabetical order. The
I haven't quite firgured out exactly what a widget is. I guess it's like the stuff on Vista and Win 7 that I disabled the first day I installed those operating systems.

And for the ROM stuff. I don't quite have a handle on that either. Does the ROM take the place of ICS or just enhance it?

One other issue I have is that in the first 15 minutes I had the phone running, it upgraded from 4.0.0 to 4.0.2. But it did not upgrade to 4.0.4. Even when I have it check for upgrades, it says it is up to date. I have yakju so it should update automatically anyway.

I hung up by mistake on my first caller....

 

[Tim K]

After that, I was just trying to set up the pages. I am coming from iPhone, where everything is on one set of pages. With ICS, you have (I guess) your home screen, your widget screen, and your app screen. I am starting to get the home screen the way I want it, and the app screen looks like it's just your apps in alphabetical order. The
I haven't quite firgured out exactly what a widget is. I guess it's like the stuff on Vista and Win 7 that I disabled the first day I installed those operating systems.

You are still stuck in the Apple mindset. There are no rules for Android. There's no "homescreen - app screen - widget screen". You can put anything you want on any screen in any order.

When you get the phone, you basically have a set of "home screens" - I think 5 is default - similar to your iPhone I guess. The "middle" screen is your default home screen....as in, where you go when you hit the home button at the bottom. That you should be your MAIN screen. You can put on it whatever you desire. Some people put all their most used apps, some people like a minimal look with just a clock and weather and maybe some folders. You can really do whatever you like. I strongly recommend looking through the "show your homescreen" thread. Its like 127 pages long but worth going through.

App shortcuts are basically like what you have on your iPhone. You can put any of them on any homescreen, or drag them on top of each other to create a folder on the homescreen....or don't make any shortcuts and access them by opening the "app drawer" button (middle bottom - series of dots I think).

Widgets are like mini apps that you can put right on your homescreen. Things like music players, weather, email, sms, shortcuts for changing settings like volumes and brightness...switches for turning on things like wifi and gps...mini calendars...etc. You can apply widgets by scrolling to the right when you are in the app drawer. Just press and hold to place on any home screen.

 

[quiklives]

In my case, I'm using 3 screens. I'm a minimalist, so on my center (main) screen, I have the apps in my dock plus one folder with a few more often-used apps. On my left-hand screen, I have a fullscreen Simple Calendar Widget that pulls from my Google Calendar, is scrollable, and customized to match the colors, etc of my phone. On my right-hand screen I have a widget called Minimal Reader that pulls my Google Reader feed and displays one post preview at a time.

All of those screens, plus a shot with the folder open on the homescreen, and one of my lockscreen can be seen here:quiklives

 

[jhonb]

OK,

I am now ready to root the phone and install cyanogenmode 9 nightly. (is that a good choice?) I have already unlocked the bootloader, so when I root it, and put on cyanogenmode9, it won't erase everything (apps, music etc)... Right?

 

[icechen1]

Some basic stuff:
- Get a notifications quick actions(turn off wifi, gps, bluetooth) app like Wigetsoid. Really saves me a ton of time. Some ROM has it built-in too.

-Headphone SMS, HeadSet Button both makes your phone so much better to use if you have headphones.

-You don't have to root/change ROM your phone if you don't need it. I wouldn't suggest getting an ROM until you are familiar with Android first. But if you do, get a recovery menu like Clockwork first!
- If you absolutely want 4.0.4, you can flash on stock OTA, skip the waiting, there should be guides lying around the net.

 

[jhonb]

Some basic stuff:
- Get a notifications quick actions(turn off wifi, gps, bluetooth) app like Wigetsoid. Really saves me a ton of time. Some ROM has it built-in too.

-Headphone SMS, HeadSet Button both makes your phone so much better to use if you have headphones.

-You don't have to root/change ROM your phone if you don't need it. I wouldn't suggest getting an ROM until you are familiar with Android first. But if you do, get a recovery menu like Clockwork first!
- If you absolutely want 4.0.4, you can flash on stock OTA, skip the waiting, there should be guides lying around the net.

Thanks for the suggestions.
4.0.4 came to me on its own over the weekend.
I want to root mainly so I can tether but also to take advantage of all the other features.
I have seen a lot of info on clockwork and will use that when the time comes.
I don't use headphones but I have not been happy with the volume of my GN. I was going to put "volume +" on the phone, but Cyanogenmod had a utility built in that will do that.
You are probably right about getting to know Android better before I put on a custom rom, but the additional features are very inviting.
I was under the impression that unlocking the bootloader was the thing that would wipe my phone, but loading a new ROM would not. So I did that when I first got the phone, But it's still not a big deal if the phone gets wipes, but I just have to give myself additional time. Adding apps is easy, and my contacts will all be backed up on gmail anyway. It is just hard for me to get a lengthy block of time without interruptions. And when I am doing something like this, I know, there will always be an issue somewhere along the line, and I always want to stick with something until it is done.