What to do after buying an android phone

In other words:

1. charge out of the box, as the instruction manual says, so it's fully charged when you start using your phone.
2. Then use it and use up the charge till it starts warning you about there being no charge left.
3. Then recharge to full capacity.

This series calibrates the internal monitor: which tells you how full your battery is.

In other words: follow these instructions if you want a reasonably accurate monitor of battery life. 

Yes, I know, you thought a phone would not need protection. However, smart phones are small computers. You NEED to protect yourself. 

Frustratingly enough, the experts don't agree on what the best anti-virus scanner for android is. In fact, the experts don't agree whether you need one at ALL. 

Google took out a LOT of apps from the marketplace last year, and automatically uninstalled them from users phones as well: they were badware. However, they could have taken your personal information while they were on your phone. 

With Android hitting the mainstreet user, I do think it's a good idea to at least do the following: 

• Have your information automatically backed up. Cnet gives a full list of settings you should have turned off / on to do this. 
• Read this guide to android security. A few pointers:
  • Only download apps from the Google Android Market. They may not always be safe, but Google will take them off your phone if they find out they're not. 
  • Only download apps that have a postive rating. 
  • Do read the comments on the apps: look suspicious in any way? Just don't download it. 
• Use a program that will allow you to whipe all information OFF your phone when it's stolen. PC World advises Lookout. CNET advises AVG, which is also an anti-virus scanner. Samsung gives you this as an extra with your phone if you just sign up for their online services. 
• Activate the phone lock mechanism. Found under settings > security and location.
  You can enter a pin-code, a password or a spatial pattern. I liked that last bit.  
• Check your phone settings for any of these options. For instance Samsung offers a lot of built in security, like setting up a warning when the SIM is changed and tracking, locking and distance wiping of the phone. No need for installing apps for the purpose. 

Honestly, you can go without paid apps for a while. I haven't installed any yet.

Still: if you want to get some of the popular games, you will have to pay. And in order to pay, you need to have an Android Market account. 

Depending on your provider you'll have more or less trouble trying to get your email showing up on your phone. 

Since Android is a Google operating system, integrating with Gmail is super easy. On your first login you'll be asked to give your Google account information and you're set: your gmail will show up in the email app. 

In fact, I think Google may gain me as a customer for this reason. However, for now, I'll have to settle for the mobile browser connected to my (yahoo business) account. 

I installed the tweetdeck app for twitter and facebook and I have to say: once I got used to it, it really worked well. 

If you're switching from a non-smart phone to a smart phone this is what you need to learn:

Keep track of telephone numbers online, either at gmail or at yahoo - that contact information will be automatically imported into your smart phone (with a short time-lag). The result? The next time you switch phones there will be NO loss of contact information. 

The only downside is that you'll probably find people on your list of contacts several times. Just star / favorite the ones that have the most complete contact information and ignore the rest. 

If you haven't already, I'd recommend gmail over yahoo as a free email provider. In fact, getting a smart phone has made me switch. 

This is self explanatory really - especially since my Samsung Galaxy S2 phone makes it so very easy to put a bookmark on one of the screens. 

So far the only bookmark I've made has pointed at Google Reader. But that's not to say it will stop at that. 

Personally I'm not trusting my phone with my banking information just yet. However, if you are, check out the market for apps specifically for your bank. 

For instance, I would trust my savings bank, because there is only one account it can move money to: my own. There is no way, even for me, to change that account number. Now that's smart security for you. Investment firms will often have similar security built in. 

My phone came with a choice of ringtones and I had fun trying them all and finding the one that most suited me. Of course it's also possible to buy ringtones, but I won't be bothered. 

Turn OFF vibration as much as possible, because it consumes more battery life. 

The default browser in Android is not very good. 

Instead you can install a LOT of browsers from the Android app market. Based on online reviews I'm considering installing the following: 

Opera Mobile and Opera Mini

Two Opera browsers? Yes! That's because Opera Mobile is meant for heavy lifting browsing, with video turned on and all. Opera Mini is meant for light weight online browsing: a fast experience, light on both your internet connection and your battery. 

I'm more likely to go with both of these, because me and Opera go way back: as a webdesigner I used to check the sites I built in Opera as well as other browsers. It was the only thing I used it for, but I did find out late in my designing days that opera made a great mobile browser. I guess they still do. 

Dolphin HD

There are two Dolphin browsers, however - the 'mini' version is reportedly not so very much faster than the HD version. So I'll stick to recommending that one. It's the best rated mobile browser reviewed by PC World.