Bought my first smartphone - need some advice regarding apps

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Scui

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#196369 28-May-2016 17:05

So I recently bought a Vodafone Smart Prime and I am now feeling a little overwhelmed on the amount of customisation that is possible. Can you help me with a list of recommended apps (preferably free) to download and try out?

In addition, I have noticed that a lot of websites offer their own apps - are they any different in function compared to what can be done on a web browser? For example, is there any point in keeping the "My Vodafone" app when I have the webpage favourited in Chrome?

sdavisnz

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#1561324 28-May-2016 17:32

how old are you?

sorry im just suprised that someone is just now on their first smartphone,

for apps i reccommend,

bank app.

adblock browser

greenify, to hibernate apps that are always running in the background - this is a kinda advanced app.

iheartradio, cos i listen to radiosport.

facebook messenger, for instant notifications

sync.me to sync contact photos with facebook so your contact photos are up to date.

twitter - cos its 2016

NOT facebook app, it kills battery. use the web browser, much better.

thats just a couple of my favs.

also i use lots of google apps but you will already have them installed.

HAVE FUN :)

Voice gives context

Scui

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#1561340 28-May-2016 17:40

I am 30 years old. This is actually the second mobile phone that I have ever owned - I bought my first one when I finished high school and never upgraded as I never really used it all that much outside of contacting family members.

richms

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#1561347 28-May-2016 18:04

Apps can alert you, be logged in when you run them and respond better than a mobile web site does.

The vodafone app is somewhat more reliable than the website and is easier to retry things when it goes wrong - just kill the app and re-launch it and then it might update with your current ballance and megs etc.

Richard rich.ms

d3Xt3r

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#1561358 28-May-2016 18:25

Given that your phone has only 1GB RAM, I would recommend limiting the apps that run in the background to a bare minimum. So I wouldn't recommend installing Twitter or Facebook Messenger as you can just use the website (you can get push notifications from Chrome).

In fact I'd say just go easy on installing apps in general, since a lot of apps run automatically on startup, thereby using up your RAM even if you don't manually open them.

Also, as a rule of thumb - avoid any sort of battery "booster"/RAM booster/task killer type apps - they're all snake oil at best and malware at worst (Greenify is fine though). These apps claim to speed up your phone but instead display adverts and drain your battery. Keep away from any apps made by Cheetah Mobile in particular. Unfortunately you'll find that there's a lot of crap on the Google Play Store, and a lot of top apps have fake reviews so you can't trust them. The best place to look for apps recommendations would be on trusted Android publication such as www.androidpolice.com - they frequently review all the latest apps, plus there are articles which alert you about junk apps and best practices. androidcentral.com is another good site.

The best thing I would recommend for freeing up some RAM is by disabling some of the bloatware apps that come bundled with your phone. You can do this by going to Settings - Apps - - Disable. You may see a lot of unnecessary apps from Vodafone, but also a lot of Google ones that may not be relevant to you. Many of these apps automatically run on startup and use your RAM, so it's worth going thru, exploring what each one does, and disabling them.

Finally, before you ask, no you don't need an Antivirus on Android - just follow safe computing practices (don't install random junk apps, don't click on suspicious links, don't fall for popups saying your phone is infected etc) and you should be fine. :)

nakedmolerat

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#1561364 28-May-2016 18:36

You need to attend the next upcoming Geekzone IRL @nate

:-)

mattwnz

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#1561389 28-May-2016 19:43

sdavisnz:

how old are you?

sorry im just suprised that someone is just now on their first smartphone,

for apps i reccommend,

bank app.

adblock browser

greenify, to hibernate apps that are always running in the background - this is a kinda advanced app.

iheartradio, cos i listen to radiosport.

facebook messenger, for instant notifications

sync.me to sync contact photos with facebook so your contact photos are up to date.

twitter - cos its 2016

NOT facebook app, it kills battery. use the web browser, much better.

thats just a couple of my favs.

also i use lots of google apps but you will already have them installed.

HAVE FUN :)

I find the iheartradio app terrible. Everytime it crashed my phones I had it installed on. but then again I do find android apps not as reliable as ios apps. The OP will probably find that they only use less than 10 apps on a regular basis. I would go easy on teh apps, because the more you have installed, the potential is there for them to use data and resources in the background even when not in use, and that will reduce battery life. These are the ones I use

Podcast cast app

Trade me , trade me property

NZ Property

Stuff & NZ herald (likely same company soon anyway so may merge apps)

Maps

Video Apps like Youtube

Spotify and Pandora

Some I use with a chromecast

richms

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#1561390 28-May-2016 19:44

iheartradio on the US play store is a totally different and quite usable app compared to the local version that shares the name.

Richard rich.ms

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Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

mattwnz

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#1561400 28-May-2016 19:51

richms:

iheartradio on the US play store is a totally different and quite usable app compared to the local version that shares the name.

Interesting. Is that the same with IOS? I haven't tried switching to the US store on Android, as I don't know how easy that is to do. But it is very easy with iOS.

richms

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#1561408 28-May-2016 20:20

mattwnz:

Interesting. Is that the same with IOS? I haven't tried switching to the US store on Android, as I don't know how easy that is to do. But it is very easy with iOS.

Dont do IOS sorry.

Make a new google account with a US billing address over a VPN to the US on a PC is the only way I have found for sure to get one. Did it on the phone and it picked up the carrier of the sim card and made a NZ sort of account which also didnt work for buying NZ apps because of the address.

Richard rich.ms

Scui

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#1570342 12-Jun-2016 10:00

So I noticed that my phone makes a two-tone sound every minute when I have the Location Mode turned on and set to High Accuracy. What is the purpose of having that periodic sound and is there any way to turn it off without turning Location off?

EDIT: Found out that the culprit was a Weather app/widget - it has a setting which plays a sound when Location changes. Turning that option off solved the problem, though I am not sure why it plays the sound when my phone's just lying stationary on the table.

timmmay

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#1570375 12-Jun-2016 10:31

Only bother with apps if you need something, to solve a problem, otherwise just use it like a regular phone. I don't use as many as most.

K9 email. Whatsapp for text messaging. Skype.
Llama does location based call profiles, but using cell towers not GPS. Does things like switch phones to airplane mode at night (requires root), turns the phone to silent at work (no root required).
Facebook.
Stuff and NZHerald.
Google Calendar, Google maps
Dropsync for uploading photos to Dropbox (much more flexible than the Dropbox client).
Keepass2Android (password store, sync'd from dropbox)
gReader pro for RSS,
Authy for 2 factor authentication for AWS.
Titanium Backup.
Root Browser (file browser for rooted phones).
DiskUsage (helps work out what's taking up space)
Call Recorder
Air NZ for boarding pass.

tripper1000

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#1570436 12-Jun-2016 12:57

App Backup and Restore.

Save your favorite apps to your SD card/computer. You would be surprise how often apps get updated and deteriorate or gobble up resources for little to benefit. It is so nice to be able to go back to versions you liked/which didn't mess up the phone. I run old-old versions of a number of apps for this reason.

A classic example for this is the Ookla speed test. The newer versions are massive and resource hungry and bog down the CPU's in cheaper/older phones, heavily skewing the test results and rendering the app unreliable/pointless. I run an old version and get more consistent results across devices on the same wifi.

I also recommend keeping auto updates off for this reason.

freitasm

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#1570440 12-Jun-2016 13:06

sdavisnz: sorry im just suprised that someone is just now on their first smartphone,

Research says that at end of 2015 around 59% of New Zealanders have a smartphone. This means there's still a large number of people with either no smartphone or no mobile at all. Not a surprise really. The number of people I see on the streets using feature phones is still large, mainly because they do what people need (voice and SMS) and have a long battery life - very long when compared to smartphones.

Linuxluver

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#1570441 12-Jun-2016 13:11

Scui: So I recently bought a Vodafone Smart Prime and I am now feeling a little overwhelmed on the amount of customisation that is possible. Can you help me with a list of recommended apps (preferably free) to download and try out? In addition, I have noticed that a lot of websites offer their own apps - are they any different in function compared to what can be done on a web browser? For example, is there any point in keeping the "My Vodafone" app when I have the webpage favourited in Chrome?

My first downloads are usually "ES File Explorer" (I have the pro version - no ads). This is a very powerful file manager and it can also access network shares of various types. If you want a good file manager, then look no further. It's an app that presents your phone's files in a structure more like the file manager on a PC.....I also use it to copy files onto and off the phone via wifi to file shares on PCs on my network.

I also download Barcode Scanner by Xing. It's funny....you won't need it for ages and then suddenly you need it right now. :-)

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