first smartphone...where to start?

[kaz02a4]

What's up ladies and gentlemen, I finally got around to upgrading my phone. It took me long enough; I've had one of these puppies for the past couple years, and before that it was all flip phones:

http://www1.pcmag.com/media/images/263841-samsung-reality-sch-u820-verizon-wireless.jpg?thumb=y

I've toyed around with friends' droids and iphones and whatnot, but I'm very eager to get involved with my own. I have a feeling it will be a great tool at work as well as for classes and whatnot. The integration is overwhelming at this point, so before I really get started with it...well...where do I get started?

NO - This isn't a thread that I made up without reading through the others here. I've noticed that there have been duds with the battery, and there's been talk about some glitches to watch out for and apps to definitely download. I'm aware of that part and will look out for it; most of the people here seem to have owned smartphones beforehand though. All I'm looking for is a helping hand for the swap over to EVERYTHING being integrated on one device. Any suggestions of where to start with this whole process?

 

[DocsDad]

What's up ladies and gentlemen, I finally got around to upgrading my phone. It took me long enough; I've had one of these puppies for the past couple years, and before that it was all flip phones:

http://www1.pcmag.com/media/images/263841-samsung-reality-sch-u820-verizon-wireless.jpg?thumb=y

I've toyed around with friends' droids and iphones and whatnot, but I'm very eager to get involved with my own. I have a feeling it will be a great tool at work as well as for classes and whatnot. The integration is overwhelming at this point, so before I really get started with it...well...where do I get started?

NO - This isn't a thread that I made up without reading through the others here. I've noticed that there have been duds with the battery, and there's been talk about some glitches to watch out for and apps to definitely download. I'm aware of that part and will look out for it; most of the people here seem to have owned smartphones beforehand though. All I'm looking for is a helping hand for the swap over to EVERYTHING being integrated on one device. Any suggestions of where to start with this whole process?

As long as you have your email accounts set up, to me its a matter of "jump in".

-Grab apps you like.. news, games etc. Use netflix and the web.

-Play with Smart Actions. It does help battery but I find it more useful for convenience... such as When to turn on wifi, silencing ringer when I get to work etc.

Voice search is awesome for googling and texting on the fly.

-Battery for me in flippin' incredible. No need to worry

-Basically it is my everything; From webcams to Wikipedia. Calender, phone, web, music (sd card and Pandora), camera, news. The list goes on and its different for everybody.

If you need to know anything specific just throw it out here and someone will likley answer.

Enjoy and congrats

 

[kaz02a4]

I'm guessing you can sync multiple email accounts to it too? I'd definitely want to take advantage of that.

Ah ok, smart actions it is. I want to figure out how to control the phone as a whole (one of the reasons why I picked this over the iphone), so setting different parameters is important.

I can't wait to get home and get in tune with the new hardware! I'm a big car guy, and I looked up a few apps on the market the other day, and there's a few OBDII apps to get relevant data via a bluetooth link from the car. The software's more powerful than the program I've got in my laptop; I'm excited to say the least I'm sure I'll have a few questions here and there, but something I've been trying to stay on top of is the ICS coming out. I've been told very recently that the update is due out for the Razr at the end of March. This was a rep at verizon talking...can anyone confirm?

 

[DocsDad]

I'm guessing you can sync multiple email accounts to it too? I'd definitely want to take advantage of that.

Ah ok, smart actions it is. I want to figure out how to control the phone as a whole (one of the reasons why I picked this over the iphone), so setting different parameters is important.

I can't wait to get home and get in tune with the new hardware! I'm a big car guy, and I looked up a few apps on the market the other day, and there's a few OBDII apps to get relevant data via a bluetooth link from the car. The software's more powerful than the program I've got in my laptop; I'm excited to say the least I'm sure I'll have a few questions here and there, but something I've been trying to stay on top of is the ICS coming out. I've been told very recently that the update is due out for the Razr at the end of March. This was a rep at verizon talking...can anyone confirm?

Cars? Yep... Apps like Motor Trend, Car and Driver etc. Don't forget this Droid Forums app. Very fluid and answers to questions on the fly.

 

[MysticalDreams]

We were all new at one point or another, some changes are hard to adapt to, some are easy. At first I installed so many stupid apps because I could, played with them for a day and then I was done... the nice thing is you can uninstall them just as easily. Personally, for me, I like browsing through the market on the computer, I just feel I can navigate it better unless I am looking for a specific application, game, etc...

There is a wealth of help here. don't be afraid to ask a questions. Do forum searches, and learn as you go. The plus side is you found your way here... that's the first step to a happy relationship with your phone

Welcome and enjoy

 

[kaz02a4]

Thanks to all, I appreciate the encouragement

After doing a little more research, there's a couple things I'm wondering:
1) What's rooting/a rooted phone versus non-rooted? I've seen it everywhere, but there's nothing about what it is
2) Any news on when ICS could make a break for the razr? I know it's a hot-button topic, but if anyone has any updated info that'd be great

 

[Barkleyfan]

They will announce ICS AFTER the update starts rolling out. That's how they roll after the Froyo mess. No real reason to worry about it, IMO. It has some nice functions built into the OS, but most of them are actually already on our phones in some way.

Root is basically the same as "run as administrator" in windows. It gives you the ability to bypass restrictions and access files you are normally locked out of.

For the OBD2 stuff, you will need a bluetooth transmitter. As I understand it, you don't want to go cheap. On the same token, for not a lot more, you can get a programmer specific to your vehicle. For example, Ford guys really like Diablo. Diablo is useless for Mopar.

Best place to start is to figure out what you want the phone to do. Next, figure out how to do it. After all that, find out what others are doing with theirs, and decide if there is some new stuff you want yours to do.

My last piece of advice; read. The things this phone can do are pretty amazing. But it can be extremely frustrating if you turn it into a $700 brick because you jumped into modifying it without a full understanding of what you were getting into. If software kills it, warranty covers it, unless you're rooted. Then you're on your own. Take it slow, and read up.

 

[kaz02a4]

Ah I completely forgot about the froyo incident. Makes plenty of sense, as far as the rooting goes too. I should probably wait to root until ICS comes out then...

We weren't planning on going cheap for the equipment either. We use the diagnostics far too often on many cars, so this will definitely be an investment.

I'm gonna go through as much of the literature/forums/whatnot before I even turn the phone on for the first time. I don't get it until next Thursday, so I've got plenty of time to build up some sort of knowledge and be able to wade my way into it. Then I'll worry about things like rooting when the time comes.