{"id":11917,"date":"2010-07-08T16:46:24","date_gmt":"2010-07-08T15:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/android-my-first-week\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T02:12:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T09:12:35","slug":"android-my-first-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/android-my-first-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Android – my first week"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"android_final.png\"Readers, I’m in love. After years in a safe but boring relationship with a Nokia so old that people used to ask me if it had a color screen, I am head over heels for a sleek HTC Legend<\/strong>. I knew that once I made the jump from cellphone prehistory to the modern world, there were only two options – a HTC with Android or an iPhone. In the end, I decided on a HTC. Why? Put simply, the HTC is just cooler! iPhones have their charm and, as Jon has evangelized<\/a> before<\/a>, they may even beat the Android on certain technical levels, but I had fallen for the HTC, and fallen hard. Who’s going to argue with true love?!<\/p>\n

The initial set up was easy as pie – in fact, my biggest problem was waiting to charge the phone before I could use it! Before actually getting an Android, I didn’t have much experience. I had played around with other people’s iPhones and investigated a HTC or two, but I was no expert. Even so, my first few hours with the new phone couldn’t have been easier. Android is very user-friendly. Obviously, if you make the jump, you’ll have your own opinions about which Android apps are the most important, but here’s how I’ve played it so far:<\/p>\n

Social Networking<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Android knows its social basics. The HTC comes with Facebook for Android<\/a><\/strong>, Twitter, Google Talk and YouTube apps installed. The Facebook, Google Talk and YouTube apps are all perfectly ok for my needs, but I swapped the cutely-named Peep for Twitter’s own Android client<\/a><\/strong>. So far it is serving me well, but I think a “best Twitter client for Android” type test looms in the near future.<\/p>\n

Internet<\/strong><\/h3>\n

On James’s advice<\/a>, I installed Opera Mini<\/a><\/strong> as my browser. Android phones come with a default browser, but it was so ugly that I immediately started to look for an alternative<\/a>. Opera is attractive and the homepage, with quick access to your favorite websites, is really handy, but I just don’t use it much – I do my surfing through individual apps. In an attempt to view Google Reader correctly, however, I started to use the default browser, and discovered that once I had re-set the homepage, it was a lot nicer. At the moment, I use both, but still haven’t made a final decision.<\/p>\n

Email and Google Services<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This is where I made most of my mistakes – being an avid Google Reader user, the app was one of the first I downloaded. I had problems though, because it didn’t seem well synced – updating was patchy and things like starred items weren’t reflected in my account. Elena let me into a secret – she accesses Reader through the normal browser, bookmarking the site for easy access. It works much better and, since you are using your actual account, syncing isn’t a problem.<\/p>\n

A final warning about email – don’t sync an account with more than one app<\/strong>! I use the Gmail app that comes pre-installed, but in my very first hours with the phone, I also synced with the separate Mail app. Before I knew it, I was getting 2 notifications for every single email, and my constantly vibrating phone was driving me crazy!<\/p>\n

\"final1.png\"<\/p>\n

Another major area of concern was Google Maps<\/strong>. I’m a big fan and obviously downloaded the official app ASAP. As soon as I started to use it, though, I realized I was going to have to work harder to get what I really wanted – to sync My Maps<\/strong>. This took more effort – once you are in Maps, hit the menu button, and choose Layers. At the bottom of the list, choose More Layers, and then My Maps – you’ll never get lost again!<\/p>\n

Apart from some games and very specific – but essential – apps (like Barcelona Bicing, for Barcelona’s public bike rental system), my Android app needs seem to be met – for the moment. The next big tasks are less fun – organizing my hastily imported contacts and finding a good way to create playlists. If there’s an app for that, count me in and if you’ve got any tips, of course, let me know!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Readers, I’m in love. After years in a safe but boring relationship with a Nokia so old that people used to ask me if it had a color screen, I am head over heels for a sleek HTC Legend. I knew that once I made the jump from cellphone prehistory to the modern world, there … Continue reading “Android – my first week”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-11917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t