First Smartphone - Droid Bionic - Any tips appreciated

[Smokinram]

Are you reading this from your shiny new smart phone or your computer? If you haven't yet get the Droid Forums app. Then you can follow all these tips from anywhere.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

LOL well to be honest I try to limit my time surfing on the new shiny smart phone. I am still old school and never had a smart phone and do whatever I can to make the battery last all day. All of my previous "dumb" phones had extended batteries because I use them hard throughout the day. I guess I just need the confidence built up that this battery can last me all day even if I surf. Thats why i am trying whatever I can to save the battery without putting an extended battery on the phone.

 

[Arkbird]

Went there and there is no Skype to be found. Could it be that my Bionic does not have Skype on it from the factory?

Yes, you have to install it yourself.

 

[Smokinram]

Does having the Wi-Fi on drain the battery also?

 

[jjbinks82]

Hello all,
After reading and reading and reading, my decision to go with the Droid Bionic over the Iphone was made today. I am the proud owner of a new Droid Bionic, my first smart phone.

What can all or any of you tell me to do with it to make it the best phone it can be?

Thanks in advance,
Andy

First, OUTSTANDING CHOICE FOR YOUR FIRST SMARTPHONE!!!!

Ok, with that said, to TRUELY unleash the beast known as the Droid Bionic I recommend rooting. With the release of a bootstrap recovery you now have the option to "play" with your phone. Honestly, unless you're developing apps for the phone you're probably not going to brick it. And if you do you can always restore it back to stock with the bootstrap recovery.

My opinion, Titanium Backup IS A MUST HAVE!!!! Its great because if you don't want to uninstall an app you can just freeze it. When you freeze the app the phone won't even recognize the app as being installed. Personally I freeze all my apps versus uninstall (unless it has the word V-WHATEVER attach, lol).

Here are some other great apps:
- Dolphin HD (browser)
- Handcent (texting)
- HD Wallpapers
- Andoexplorer (file manager)
- Root Explorer (file manager)
- Guage Battery Widget
- Brightness Level Widget
- DroidForum
- MP3 Ringtone Make
- Doubletwist (MP3/Video Player)

These phones are so customizable it's inane. I almost went iPhone too, SOOOOOO GLAD I DIDN'T!!!


Sent from my ROOTED DROID BIONIC using DroidForum

 

[Caesarg]

The best advice I could give is to just play around with the phone. Learn the menu system. Try the apps that are preloaded. Mess with the market to see what apps are available. I personally would not recommend that you root the phone. And I definitely would recommend that you not remove any of the "bloatware" (and there is a lot) from the phone. If you are not sure of what you are doing, you could accidentally remove something that is a system requirement. Once you become comfortable with the Android OS then you could do some research on rooting the phone and removing/freezing programs.

And probably the best advice that others have given is to read these and other forums. Android Central has a pretty good teaching course (Android 101) that has a ton of information for new users. It has a section on how to install/uninstall programs if I remember correctly. Another good site is XDA devs forum.

Finally enjoy the phone. The more you use it the more you will appreciate the abilities that it has.

 

[jjbinks82]

The best advice I could give is to just play around with the phone. Learn the menu system. Try the apps that are preloaded. Mess with the market to see what apps are available. I personally would not recommend that you root the phone. And I definitely would recommend that you not remove any of the "bloatware" (and there is a lot) from the phone. If you are not sure of what you are doing, you could accidentally remove something that is a system requirement. Once you become comfortable with the Android OS then you could do some research on rooting the phone and removing/freezing programs.

And probably the best advice that others have given is to read these and other forums. Android Central has a pretty good teaching course (Android 101) that has a ton of information for new users. It has a section on how to install/uninstall programs if I remember correctly. Another good site is XDA devs forum.

Finally enjoy the phone. The more you use it the more you will appreciate the abilities that it has.

Well said! Yes, great thing to do is read around!!! I should've just said that instead!!!

If and when you do root and decide to delete the bloatware, just google the name of the item you're thinking of uninstalling/deleting. Learn about it then decide if you're gonna remove it.

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