Sweet robotic joy?you just unwrapped an Android phone and, man, is it shiny. Here are our suggestions for apps to grab, settings to tweak, and really nifty things you can do with your Google-powered mini-supercomputer.
With luck, your shiny new Android phone is running Jelly Bean or at least Ice Cream Sandwich, so not a ton of updating should be required. If you're coming from an old Android phone, we have a guide specifically for you that will show you how to move all of your apps, settings, and data from your old phone to your new one. Still, there's nothing wrong with a fresh start with a brand new phone, so let's start from the beginning. Your awesome new Android phone is capable of a lot. Here's just a taste of what it can do:
Get the Latest and Greatest Google Stuff
Before you start playing around and getting used to how things work, why don't you do two quick things: Set up a Wi-Fi connection, then update your phone's built-in applications. There are likely newer versions available than the ones you have on your just-opened phone, so they're worth picking up.
To connect to Wi-Fi, hit your phone's Menu button (the button with either parallel lines, or the two boxes), choose System Settings from the menu that pops up, then under Wireless & Networks tap Wi-Fi. On the next screen, enable Wi-Fi and wait for the list of nearby networks to update. Pick out your home router name (or your relatives'), enter a password if necessary, and now have some fun.
Open the Play Store app from your list of applications (press the grid-like, bottom-middle on-screen button to get there if it's not on one of your home screens), then tap the Menu button and select "My Apps." The list should be separated, with apps you have updates for at the top. Tap "Update" to update them all at once. If you don't see updates for some of your apps, you may have to search them out to download the newer version.
- Google Maps: Google Maps shines on Android. Seriously - in addition to offering you free turn-by-turn navigation, Google Maps can help you with walking directions, public transit to your destination, and it even offers maps and walking directions of indoor places like airports and museums so you can find your way around. You might also pick up some "splinter" apps, like Google Local.
- Gmail: The ubiquitous mail app just picked up pinch to zoom, swipe to delete, and some other handy features not too long ago. Make sure to update to the newest version.
- Voice Actions/Search or Google Now: Google Search for Android controls your phone with your voice, but can send SMS messages, navigate you to your destination, place calls, find nearby businesses, and more as you talk to it. If you're running Jelly Bean, you get the full benefit of Google Now, a full-on virtual assistant that responds to your voice, keeps an eye on when you should leave for your next appointment or go home to beat the traffic, helps you manage travel, and much more. If you have Ice Cream Sandwich, you can get it too with some work, but Search offers many of the voice features we love.
- Google Chrome: Even though it's only available on Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean devices, Google Chrome sings on Android. It left beta earlier this year and is one of the best Android browsers available. If you use Chrome on the desktop, Chrome Sync is built-in, so open tabs, bookmarks, passwords, and history are all available everywhere, and most importantly, it's blazing fast.
- Google+: We love Google+, and think it's great for a lot of things even if (and especially if) your friends may not be on it. The Android app just picked up a huge update for people who love sharing photos, checking into their favorite locations, and hanging out via Google Hangouts video chat. Once you're all signed up and set up, don't forget to add Lifehacker to your circles!
- Google Play Music: If you're really going to live the Android life, Google Music is both a music store and a music locker with millions of tracks and label support, and tons of cloud storage for your uploaded songs and your purchased music, all for free, and all accessible on your Android phone. Google Play Music just picked up scan-and-match so you don't have to spend days uploading songs, and considering the app can play music in the cloud or on your phone, we think it's a good choice for a secondary media player.
- Google Currents: Google's magazine-style newsreader looks great, hooks into Google Reader so you can read your favorite blogs, and offers featured and curated content in a variety of categories to help you stay up to date and share interesting reads with your friends. The app was just updated to make breaking news easier to find and more news categories easier to read.
- Set up Google Voice(mail): If you're intrigued by Google Voice, Google's one-number service with free SMS and other perks, Android is where you should be. You can even port your number to Google Voice so no one calling you knows the difference. Still, even if you don't want to, you can use Google Voice as your voicemail provider and send texts through the web. Activate the Voice app on your phone, and it will take care of your phone's configuration. From then on, your voicemail will go to Google, where it'll be transcribed, archived, and managed like email on your phone. You can even read or listen to your voicemail on the web, mark telemarketers as spam, and set up multiple greetings for different people. If you're an SMS fanatic, the app has been supports group texting and voicemail pre-fetching, so no more getting a voicemail in Google Voice and only being notified on your Android phone hours later.
- Get Google Drive: Drive, the new name for Google's combination of Google Docs and cloud storage space, is just as great on your Android device as it is on the desktop. Well, mostly anyway?the mobile app just picked up editing and presentation support, which makes it useful for quick file edits as well as just viewing documents you need to review on the go.
Install Some Killer Apps
Android apps? Oh, we've got plenty of those.
- Lifehacker Pack for Windows: Our List of the Best Free Windows Downloads: Check out our Lifehacker Pack, which includes our favorite apps for communicating, being productive, viewing media, and otherwise getting the most use out of Android. Also, stop by the Lifehacker App Directory series, where we highlight the best Android apps in select categories. You can roll back through our Android-only picks using the Android App Directory tag.
- How to Get iOS 6's Best New Features in Android: If you're keeping tabs on all of the things iOS has to offer, never fear?for every feature in iOS 6, there's a way to get similar functionality in Android and then some, thanks to some great third-party apps.
- Most Popular Android Downloads of 2012: Apart from our list of essential apps, there are also some really neat pieces of software we've featured over the past year. If you want to know the cool programs everyone's talking about, our 2012 list of the most popular Android downloads and posts is the place to look.
- The 50 Free Apps We're Most Thankful For: Every Thanksgiving, we ask you about your favorite free apps, and post the 50 free apps we're most thankful for. They're not all Android downloads (though many are cross-platform), but it's a good list to check out. Wo if you've still got a few holes after checking out the Pack and most popular, you're sure to find what you're looking for here.
Start Syncing Your Music, Videos, and Pictures
Your Android doesn't need a USB cable to play or sync music on your desktop computer?though it can work that way, if that's more your speed. But setting up Wi-Fi syncing and internet streaming for your Android is so simple, you might never need to cord-hunt again when you want to switch up your playlist.
- Music Player Showdown: Which Desktop Player Is Best for Syncing to Android?: If you want to use your Android phone as a music player (and survey says you do) then you'll need a media player that rocks when it comes to syncing your music. If you don't want to use Google Music (or can't, since it's US-only), Whitson has some options for you.
- How to Sync Android with Windows as Seamlessly as an iPhone: Speaking of easy, Whitson walked us through the process of syncing our Android phones with your Windows systems quickly and easily in a way that's repeatable without a ton of hassle.
- Upgrade Your Smartphone's Music and Podcast Abilities This Weekend: While it's not Android-only, this guide to beefing up your smartphone's media capabilities will get you rocking out and listening to your favorite podcasts on your device in no time.
- How Can I Get an iTunes-Like Experience For My Android Phone?: If you're coming to Android from an iPod, iPod Touch, or iPhone, you may be wishing there were a way to just plug-in your Android device and sync all of your media, music, and podcasts. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to do it, and we're happy to show you how.
- How to Set Up Your Android for Automated Wi-Fi Syncing with DoubleTwist: When this is set up-and, really, it only takes about 15 minutes, much less if you've already connected AirSync-you'll have a computer and phone that "check in" with each other regularly over Wi-Fi. No cables needed, and you don't have to click the Sync button.
- Winamp for Android Updates, Now Syncs with Macs Wirelessly: If DoubleTwist isn't right for you, try Winamp for Android?it syncs with Macs and Windows PCs over USB or wirelessly, syncs iTunes playlists, and is overall and excellent music player for Android. We've mentioned it before, and it still whips the llama's a**.
Troubleshoot the Tricky Stuff
Your Android phone is a great device, and Android as a mobile OS is much more mature and polished now than it used to be. Still, there are times where you need to troubleshoot problems and fix issues you'll run up against. Here are some tips. Photo by Sylvain Naudin.
- How to Upgrade to a New Android Phone and Take Everything With You: If your new Android device is a replacement for an old one, taking your data with you is easy. We show you how.
- How to Set Up a Fully Automated App and Settings Backup on Android: Once you get your Android device all set up and to your liking, don't let tragedy happen to you. Make sure you make sure your phone is regularly backed up so you don't have to worry about your data. Your Android phone is a mini-computer that has a lot of precious information on it, and keeping it safe is easy and takes only a few minutes to set up.
- How to Speed Up, Clean Up, and Revive Your Android Phone: After installing a bunch of apps and games, your phone might slow down a good bit. Never fear, cleaning it up and getting back the speed you need is easier than you think.
- How Can I Fix My Android's Crappy GPS: Turn-by-turn navigation and Google Maps are great...when they don't take forever to initialize and pinpoint your position. Here's how to fix that little annoyance, once and for all.
- Use Android's ?Safe Mode' to Disable Apps and Troubleshoot Problems: Apps giving you trouble? Installed or uninstalled something and now your phone is slow as molasses? Android's built-in "safe mode" may be able to help.
- How Do I Fix My Bricked Android Phone?: One of the first things many of you may do with a brand new Android phone is root it and possibly install a new ROM. If that process doesn't go very well and you wind up with a brand new hunk of plastic and metal on your desk that's completely unresponsive, all may not be lost! There are plenty of ways to approach a so-called "bricked" phone that may bring it back to life.
- The Best Data Usage Tracker for Android: Just as many smartphones added tethering support and enough great features that we wanted to use the hell out of our data plans, most carriers are killing unlimited plans and serving up overage fees for breaking your bandwidth caps. If you have Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean, you have tools built-in to keep an eye on your bandwidth usage, but if you want a per-app breakdown and some more tools, try this app.
- How Do I Convert Video for my Android Phone?: Converting videos for the iPod is so easy in iTunes, but I can't seem to get videos to play on my Android device. How can I convert videos so that they'll play in the native Android video player?
- Android Task Killers Explained: What They Do and Why You Shouldn't Use Them: Android task killers improve your phone's performance while also boosting battery life-or at least that's the much-debated promise. Here's a look at how task killers actually work, when you should (or shouldn't) use them, and what you can do instead.
Expand Your Phone's Capabilities
Beyond apps and tweaks, you can make your phone do some really neat things. Things like tell you where it is if it's lost or stolen. Things like play any song or video you happen to have on a nearby TV. Things like send a text back to your wife to let her know you're driving, not just callously ignoring her calls.
- The Always Up-To-Date Guide to Rooting Any Android Phone: We recently updated our Android rooting guide to include lots of ICS and Jelly Bean-friendly options and tools for newer devices on the market now. One of the best things you can do to extend the functionality of your Android device is root it, and we're happy to show you how.
- Five Best Android Launchers: One way to extend the features of your phone just by installing an app is to grab a new Android launcher. It'll completely change the way you interact with your phone, and in many cases it's free, can actually add features you didn't have in the first place, and offer you more customization options. Here are five great ones to choose from.
- How to Choose the Right Android ROM for You: Ready to take the next step after rooting? If you really want to completely customize and tweak your Android experience, or just relieve yourself of carrier crapware and try out a new version or flavor of Android, installing a new ROM is the way to go. Think of it like installing a new OS on your computer?meaning you should be careful to back up your data and do your homework beforehand. Need some suggestions? Check out these five great Android ROMS.
- How to Get Better Battery Life and Performance on Your Android Phone with a New Kernel: What's that? Rooting and installing a new ROM isn't enough for you? Well then, you might want to consider installing a whole new kernel for the ultimate performance boost. It's not for the weak of heart, but the benefits definitely outweigh the drawbacks. Just back up and make sure you know what you're doing before you start. Our guide will walk you through it.
- How to Turn Your Android into a Killer Portable Media and Gaming Center: Want to get your game on with your Android phone or tablet? Sure, there are plenty of games you can play on the device, but why not use it as a media center, or hook it up with your TV for some serious gaming?
- How to Turn Your Android or iPhone into a Portable Retro Game Arcade: Maybe you prefer retro, old school games, back when skill mattered more than graphics and pixels reigned supreme? Well, with a little work and a couple of apps, you can turn your Android device into a retro game arcade, capable of playing some of your favorite classic titles anywhere you go. Here's how to get started.
- Use Your Android Phone as a Wi-Fi Hotspot for Free: The beauty of Android is that you can tether your phone to any device in your home pretty easily, and largely for free, as long as you don't go over your data caps or anger your carrier. Here's how to do it, and never worry about your cable going out at home again.
- Turn Your Phone into a Universal Media Hub to Play Your Music, Photos, and Videos, Anytime, Anywhere: If you carry around media on your phone, sometimes it just won't cut it to play your songs through your headphones or your video on that tiny screen. Here's how you can turn your Android phone into a hub that can wirelessly play the movie you have downloaded on the big screen, or stream your favorite tunes to the stereo in another room.
- How to Stream Media from Your Home to Your Phone Anywhere with Plex: If you'd rather leave the music and movies at home and take your phone with you on the go, this guide will walk you through turning your Android phone into a device you can use to enjoy all of the media you have at home, wherever you roam.
- Turn Your Android Phone into a Personal Trainer: Work off those pounds you put on thanks to the Thanksgiving turkey and the Christmas ham with your shiny new Android phone. There are plenty of apps to help you get the most out of your workouts at home, at the gym, or outside, keep track of your progress, and meet your health and weight loss goals. Here's how to turn that new phone into a pocket gym you can take with you anywhere.
- How to Find the Right Android Keyboard For You: Before you go too far with your Android phone, you may want to do something about the stock Android keyboard. There's nothing wrong with it, specifically, but there are some much better options out there that can make using your device easier and more fun.
- Do Android Antivirus Apps Actually Do Anything?: If you've been hearing all about Android malware and you're worried you'll need an antivirus or anti-malware app on your Android phone, read this first before you install one.
- How to Turn Your Tablet Into an Awesome Productivity-Boosting Second Screen: If you have an Android tablet, it doesn't have to just be an entertainment, social, and media device. It can be a great productivity booster as well, and you can do real work on it. Here's how.
- How to Track and (Potentially) Recover Your Stolen Laptop or Android with Prey: There are obvious reasons to like Prey. Chief among them, it's free to use for up to three devices of any kind, from computers running Windows, Mac, or Linux to Android devices. But that wouldn't mean anything if the tracking Prey provided wasn't really solid. It's not fool-proof, especially if the thief wants to entirely wipe your computer or phone, but if that's not the case, it gives you a fighting chance.
Images by ecco (Shutterstock), kirillov alexey (Shutterstock), and sirtagada.
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