First time android and S4 user.. help

[santz]

so I am moving from Iphone and I just got myself an S4. In the beginning it asked me to setup my google account and other stuff which i skipped to get the phone started. I am going to use samsung smart switch to transfer data. but...

what I want to know is


1) where should i start downloading apps from- google store or samsung app store or play store or samsung hub- which will remember what I downloaded so i dont have to pay for them again (like steam and appstore) so confusing

2) how to setup my phone to enable tracking when it gets lost and also automatic backup of contacts and data (like icloud)

3) I skipped the get started guide in beginning, how to get the 50gb dropbox promo, it says complete the get started, but i cant find get started app or whatever its called

4) what is important to setup- recommended apps to download for day to day use which are absolutely necessary

5) what is google now?

did i miss anything? I feel such a newb

 

[GTRagnarok]

Google's Play Store is the equivalent of the App Store on iOS.

 

[WelshBloke]

Don't use any of the Samsung hubs. Music, video, apps or anything.

Stick with the play store for apps and most other stuff. Amazon's ok for books and music though.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Don't use any of the Samsung hubs. Music, video, apps or anything.

Stick with the play store for apps and most other stuff. Amazon's ok for books and music though.

amazons app store is pretty good too. last time i looked they had a "free app a day" and i was able to get quickoffice for phree.

 

[Crono]

1. Play Store

2. Lookout Security, and Samsung makes a program for backup: http://www.samsung.com/us/kies/

3. Just run the Dropbox app, it should walk you through the rest

4. I'm only two months into using Android as my main phone compared to some people who've been using it for years (I've played around with it on tablet before and my brother's phone, though), so I may be missing a few well known ones, but here are the apps that are "essential" for me right now:

Waze - great and free GPS app with live traffic updates (done by the community who uses it)
QR Droid - for scanning QR codes
JoeVLC - a very good video player, though some people prefer MX Player
Snapdragon BatteryGuru - optimizes battery life automatically after learning your habits after a few days (works on all Qualcomm Snapdragon powered phones - mine is an HTC One, but it will work on the non-Exynos S4's, as well)
Adobe Reader - for PDFs
Pandora/Google Play Music/Spotify - I'm currently on Play Music with "All Access" subscription, and use free/ad-supported Pandora
SkyDrive/Google Drive/Spideroak - for cloud storage, though you can use Dropbox or Box
Amazon Appstore - they have a free app a day, mostly games
Netflix - if you have a subscription
Nook/Kindle - I have both since I have ebooks on both
Authenticator - for 2 factor authentication with email or other online logins, really essential for security, currently have it enable for Gmail and Outlook
Advanced Task Killer - allows you to temporarily close apps that might be hogging memory
File Manager - basically a file explorer, very useful for managing and moving files on your phone
Alarm Clock Xtreme Free - can have multiple alarms, and I use it so I can be awoken to mp3 files I have on the phone
SwiftKey/Google Keyboard/Swype - Google Keyboard is free, the other two are paid; I use SwiftKey because it's got good correction/prediction, but I also like the look of the electric blue lettering on black keys in the "neon" theme (some people like Flow/Swype/gesture based typing, but personally I preferring tapping)
Poweramp - my preferred music player, since it has a lot of features and an equalizer (free 2 week trial, but for free there is also Winamp)
Wifi Analyzer - good graphical way to see the strength of WiFi networks around you, also lets you see their strength over time
Speed Test - SpeedTest.net app, a good way to routinely test how fast your connection is over WiFi or cellular data
Google Earth/Google Sky Map - mostly because they are pretty, but also useful and educational
Firefox - I don't use it all the time on my phone because the stock browser on the One is actually faster for me and uses less memory, but it might be useful for you (especially with addons/plugins, just like the desktop version of Firefox)

There are some apps that require root (like Greenify) or some custom ROM apps/enhancements, but I personally haven't rooted or flashed my phone since I'm waiting to see what happens with the "Google Experience", Nexus, or whatever they call it Google version of the One (you might be in same boat with the S4) before undertaking any modification to stock.

5. Google Now is Google's predictive "cards" engine. Whenever you search by text or voice (you get to Google Now by pressing and holding the home button) Google analyzes it. Certain behaviors you do over time will trigger Now to automatically give you notifications and "cards" which have that information laid out. For instance, it will give you the weather via notification, or if you search for an address in Google it will give you directions, or tell you what the traffic is on your route to/from work.

It can also do things like show you flight times the day of your flight if you happen to have a confirmation email or itinerary in your email inbox. Google Now basically tries to give you the information you want as you need it or right before you need it. If you are familiar with Apple's Siri, it's that but with certain types of automatic notifications.

P.S. I highly recommend listening to the All About Android podcast. They air live in audio and video every Tuesday.
Not only do they discuss Android news, but every episode they recommend 3 or 4 apps. It's how I got a little up to speed as to what's going on in Android, since I was a Windows Phone user until recently.

 

[s44]

QR Droid - for scanning QR codes

Barcode Scanner

Snapdragon BatteryGuru - optimizes battery life automatically after learning your habits after a few days

not necessary on the S4

Adobe Reader - for PDFs

Repligo!

Advanced Task Killer - allows you to temporarily close apps that might be hogging memory

Not necessary or even wise on a modern smartphone. Swiping off the multitask window kills fine.

File Manager - basically a file explorer, very useful for managing and moving files on your phone

included on S4

Alarm Clock Xtreme Free - can have multiple alarms, and I use it so I can be awoken to mp3 files I have on the phone

Stock Samsung alarm clock ("Clock") does both of these.

Wifi Analyzer

inSSIDer

(you get to Google Now by pressing and holding the home button)

That opens multitasking. Press and hold menu, or just tap any Google Search widget.

Essential, and not available on iOS:
some sort of agenda calendar widget like Pure Calendar (Agenda)
Google Voice as your primary voicemail app

Forgot:
Samsung stock video player is awesome.
Pay for the Cerberus license for phone tracking/remotewiping.

 

[Crono]

Barcode Scanner
not necessary on the S4
Repligo!
Not necessary or even wise on a modern smartphone. Swiping off the multitask window kills fine.
included on S4
Stock Samsung alarm clock ("Clock") does both of these.
inSSIDer
That opens multitasking. Press and hold menu, or just tap any Google Search widget.

Essential, and not available on iOS:
some sort of agenda calendar widget like Pure Calendar (Agenda)
Google Voice as your primary voicemail app

Forgot:
Samsung stock video player is awesome.
Pay for the Cerberus license for phone tracking/remotewiping.

Oops, forgot about the button arrangement being different on the S4.
You are probably right about all the other apps, but I still find Advanced Task Killer to be useful. Sometimes I'll notice certain apps don't close properly and remain in memory. There are other ways to stop them running, but I like ATK.

 

[santz]

one thing i notice is that the S4 does not automatically switch to wifi when i am at home, i have to manually disable mobile data for that to happen.

is there a setting i am missing?

thanks to you all i will start my android life now step by step.

 

[khha4113]

one thing i notice is that the S4 does not automatically switch to wifi when i am at home, i have to manually disable mobile data for that to happen.

is there a setting i am missing?

thanks to you all i will start my android life now step by step.

You don't need to disable mobile data. Swipe down from the top to open 'Settings' toggles and choose WIFI. It can be either one of these.

 

[trmiv]

What carrier? If its Verizon there is a preinstalled app called Caller Name ID that causes the 4G icon to stay when connected to WiFi. Disabling it will make the notification go away.

 

[WelshBloke]

amazons app store is pretty good too. last time i looked they had a "free app a day" and i was able to get quickoffice for phree.

A lot of apps don't get updated on the Amazon app store, the Play store is much better at getting you the most updated version.

 

[Jumpem]

How do I back up all of the apps on my S4, so I don't have to find them again later?

 

[WelshBloke]

How do I back up all of the apps on my S4, so I don't have to find them again later?

Play store should remember them all.

Or do you want to back them up to your PC?

 

[khha4113]

How do I back up all of the apps on my S4, so I don't have to find them again later?

Samsung Kies (on your computer) or Google (Cloud), it's in Settings > Accounts > Backup and Reset.

 

[Jumpem]

Play store should remember them all.

Or do you want to back them up to your PC?

I prefer everything backed up to my PC. For example, I also keep all of my contacts in an Excel spreadsheet.

 

[Jumpem]

Samsung Kies (on your computer) or Google (Cloud), it's in Settings > Accounts > Backup and Reset.

Thanks.

 

[Jumpem]

Also, how do I create bookmarks for websites? I see widgets to display them, but I don't know how to first create them.

 

[Yuriman]

I would avoid any apps that attempt to "optimize" battery or "manage" apps. Auto task killers spend a lot of time removing apps from memory that the OS is attempting to prefetch (and would be purged from memory instantly if that memory were needed) and end up wasting battery. Generally, battery apps cause a phone to use more battery than they save messing with your brightness and overriding the factory governor because they frequently wake your phone up from deep sleep. My vote is to just leave it alone.

How do I back up all of the apps on my S4, so I don't have to find them again later?

When I do a factory reset and then re-enter my info into the Play Store, it automatically downloads and installs all of the apps I had before onto my phone. Some personal settings might be lost such as game saves though. As another poster said, Kies or Google's cloud can do full backups but I find it's rarely necessary. 99% of what's important to you is kept on the cloud and restored automatically when you sign in.

I prefer everything backed up to my PC. For example, I also keep all of my contacts in an Excel spreadsheet.

Contacts can be viewed online at https://www.google.com/voice making your spreadsheet redundant. They're instantly synced across all of your devices whenever a change is made. One of the beautiful things about Android is that it's completely independent of your PC.

Also, how do I create bookmarks for websites? I see widgets to display them, but I don't know how to first create them.

In Chrome, it's the "star" button. If you're not using Chrome already, I highly recommend it.

 

[Jumpem]

In Chrome, it's the "star" button. If you're not using Chrome already, I highly recommend it.

What browser does the default "Internet" icon use? Why do they include this and a Chrome app?

 

[khha4113]

What browser does the default "Internet" icon use? Why do they include this and a Chrome app?

That's stock Android browser and Chrome from Google. AFAIK, only Android 4.0 and up can have Chrome.

 

[Jumpem]

Contacts can be viewed online at https://www.google.com/voice making your spreadsheet redundant. They're instantly synced across all of your devices whenever a change is made. One of the beautiful things about Android is that it's completely independent of your PC.

I really dislike the idea of my data being in the cloud somewhere for both privacy reasons, and simply knowing that I have a copy of it.

I would love to keep financial and password spreadsheets on my phone, but it makes me super nervous.

 

[Jumpem]

In Chrome, it's the "star" button. If you're not using Chrome already, I highly recommend it.

The star seems to be present only in the Samsung "Internet" app. In Chrome it is not present. Nor are forward and back buttons.

Edit: You really have to press the Settings button to be able to go forward, back, or find the star for bookmarks? Seriously? The Samsung browser appears much more user friendly. I haven't come across options to add these directly to the Chrome GUI. Why does Chrome not have a home button either?

 

[khha4113]

The star seems to be present only in the Samsung "Internet" app. In Chrome it is not present. Nor are forward and back buttons.

Edit: You really have to press the Settings button to be able to go forward, back, or find the star for bookmarks? Seriously? The Samsung browser appears much more user friendly. I haven't come across options to add these directly to the Chrome GUI. Why does Chrome not have a home button either?

To add bookmark in Chrome, press the 'Menu' capacitive key (left of Home button) and tap on 'star'. Same thing with back and forward.

 

[Yuriman]

In the browser you can use your capacitive back button to navigate back. I've rarely needed to use the forward button so it makes sense to me to move it to a menu. It would be nice if the bookmarks button were permanently visible though.

 

[rcpratt]

Lux is the only "battery" optimizing app you need. It's all about the screen.