Android? What should I know about it?

[[JOKER]Miczi]

Well, I've just bought a new phone, it's SE XPERIA mini pro, it seems to be awesome etc., I'm having fun figuring out things, but I've never had a phone with Android or any other real OS. What should I know about it? Any apps I MUST have, any useful tricks etc.? Just asking, cause I used to find new things about my old phone even after a year of using it, and it wasn't really complicated...
So I decided to create this topic, if you find anything interesting, like an app I could hack the interactive board/desktop at school (just an idea), or streaming mp3 from my pc via wifi (read about it also), then feel free to post here
Oh, I'm also looking for a good free IRC client, I found something and haven't tried it yet, but if you recommend anything it would be nice.

[ankit]

Well i got an application(live wallpaper) that you posted in random stuff i.e. Magic butt. If you want i can send you the link. 

[[JOKER]Miczi]

Nah, I don't use such things... of course I want it! send via pm pls ;d

[[eVo]PvtBenny]

Lol i have got the SE Xperia Arc after i had my SE K800i for 5 years. I wanted the mini pro myself but then the Xperia Arc came out .

Anyway, useful apps might include
- Weather forecast apps (just search for it in your own language on market)
- Angry Birds (funny game)
- Flashlight (if your phone supports it)
- Virus scanner
- Any other social networking website you use to link to your apps on your phone such as Facebook, twitter, Google plus, YouTube etc etc etc.

These are just a few apps i have got that i think might suit you haven't really got into getting more apps just yet but ill let you know when i find some more useful ones
Just search the Market for apps you might like or want to try or need to have. But my first suggestion would be to get a Anti virus first.

[ankit]

@wildstylezx   which anti-virus you use ? I am really confused in choosing the right one, and as a result i keep on changing antivirus like every week :/

[[eVo]PvtBenny]

@wildstylezx   which anti-virus you use ? I am really confused in choosing the right one, and as a result i keep on changing antivirus like every week :/

Im using one called AVG Antivirus

[iMJets]

I use AndChat on my Android Phone. Its Free, and the best IRC application. Also, I recommend Either AVG or Avast Antivirus for your phone. I am using Avast, because AVG has a free and paid version, while Avast has just the free full version, with more protection. If your really interested in some tricks with android, I recommend if its possible with your phone to look into rooting it. Rooting gives you full access basically admin to all of the features android was built to have. In other terms it jailbreaks it. Then you can look into overclocking, under clocking, and other tricks like deleting system applications that came bundled with your phone. If you need help just ask me.
My phone is overclocked to 1.5 ghz dual core. Enjoying it, and its battery still lasts decently.

[[eVo]PvtBenny]

I use AndChat on my Android Phone. Its Free, and the best IRC application. Also, I recommend Either AVG or Avast Antivirus for your phone. I am using Avast, because AVG has a free and paid version, while Avast has just the free full version, with more protection. If your really interested in some tricks with android, I recommend if its possible with your phone to look into rooting it. Rooting gives you full access basically admin to all of the features android was built to have. In other terms it jailbreaks it. Then you can look into overclocking, under clocking, and other tricks like deleting system applications that came bundled with your phone. If you need help just ask me.
My phone is overclocked to 1.5 ghz dual core. Enjoying it, and its battery still lasts decently.

I could not find Avast for mine. Think ill have to recheck on that i guess.

That rooting that your talking about, you have to be very careful with that. Once its rooted you cannot update it anymore, and if you delete certain applications you might render your phone useless and locked. Ive looked into rooting my phone to get rid of Facebook, Myspace Gmail etc etc. But came across a few articles stating that you could render your phone useless by doing so.

[ankit]

I use Cyanogenmod, it fuking rocks. 

[MoHiT]

you gonna go for 2.3 or 2.2?

well just a lil tip. if ur gonna get 2.3/+ You Dont need any damn Task manager It'll fuck up the processor ~:(
if 2.2 use task-killer.
Music Player- Try TTpod (automatically downloads Lyrics if available )
And mmmm You might wanna install "Go launcher" its a good theme too + it has good some badass widgets(you'll need to download em separately) 

and Trust me u "NEVER" wanna use any Live wallpaper.
It'll suck up the battery trust me on that 

+ yea cyanogen mod is good (as far as i've heard, Never really Tried it)

and Dont really go for Xperia "MINIS" - Just my opinion. i hate em tiny phones

IRC client Go for : AndroIRC its pretty good easy switching B/w windows

[Carolicious]

Aw, Android smartphone, couldn't live without mine anymore. 
So here are a few more free apps I stumbled upon, and at some point thought they are useful:


The good old "3G Watchdog" , well depending on your mobile plan,
but its often good to know how much of your data quota you already used.


The "Teamviewer" app, remote control your pc (should only be used on wifi though, eats data quota!).
The "Merck PTE" app, well thats just me being nerdy, but i found it useful for my studies.
You'll def need a Barcode Scanner app. : )))
AndFTP as a semi-acceptable FTPclient for some quick checks/uploads on your sites. | ConnectBot to quickly ssh into your server off site.
Google Docs
Dropbox
Chrome to Phone, to share links between your desktop and android phone (i think it was a 3rd party app, but im not sure about that).
Like already mentioned by Jets, AndChat, I think the best (free?) IRC client for android.
I use Passdroid as a ok-ish Password Manager.
If you are a torrent-fag, you might want to have a look into setting up "µTorrent Remote".
other than that there is:
RssDemon - :p my fav feed reader
TeamSpeak 3 app - for the lols
IMDb - for quick lookups on the internet movie database!


My Tracks - to record gps tracks (it was made for joggers and such i think, but i use it on the car alot. - gps in background eats more battery though):



VLC Direct - as music player or to stream music from the android device to the pc (the free version)
Soundhound - to find a song's name / artist
Evernote - to share notes between different devices (I use it to sync notes between my phone, PC and iPad)
SwiFTP - as a simple FTPserver for your phone (useful if you need to get some files off the phone and forgot your usb cable, turn on the ftp server, connect to it via random FTPclient - Win)


Theres shitloads of useful apps I guess. Google is your friend. 

[iMJets]

I could not find Avast for mine. Think ill have to recheck on that i guess.

That rooting that your talking about, you have to be very careful with that. Once its rooted you cannot update it anymore, and if you delete certain applications you might render your phone useless and locked. Ive looked into rooting my phone to get rid of Facebook, Myspace Gmail etc etc. But came across a few articles stating that you could render your phone useless by doing so.

Avast, might be only available for certain Android Versions, I am not sure about that. A lot of what you said is actually wrong. Once you root it can give you access to custom roms, if you install clockwork recovery. Most applications if you google your phone you can see which can be removed. I use rootexplorer to delete a lot of system applications, like bulk-ware. All depends on which phone you have.

On my old Samsung Moment, the only update that was available from my carrier was Android 2.1, but people managed to get a perfectly working 2.2 on to it. Which is why how you can't update anymore is wrong. There is already a ICS rom for my phone when the carrier hasn't fully released it yet.

[[JOKER]Miczi]

You surely need a frog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blgM0En-aXA&feature=player_embedded

[[JOKER]Miczi]

Bump! Spent some time with my little phony, so there is what I found useful:

Writer - simple application, it's just a notepad. You open it in a second and with one touch open any txt document and write whatever you want, this simplicity is awesome. I make every note on it, you just write and close the app

Playa Control for Winamp - the best free app to control winamp imo. It works via wifi. It's very useful for me, cause I have a netbook connected to my stereo, which is in my room, and when I turn it loud I hear the music in the whole house and outside, while sunbathing etc., and I can change songs, volume etc. very easily. You don't need anything special to run it, you just install a plugin on your pc and when you open winamp it already works.

Gmote - controls your PC. Acutally I use it only when I want to open a song from youtube on my stereo...

Go SMS Pro! - most useful app ever. It's an SMS manager, I downloaded it because it filtres polish letters from sms (I use polish letters on facebook etc., so I didn't want to turn them off for the whole phone, but when you use them in SMS it's sent in Unicode with a limit of 70 signs, instead of 145...) but I found out it has loads of fantastic functions. You can plan to send an sms on a particular time (useful in some situations ), you can set a reminder that bips every 5 mins if there is an unread message in your box. There are other functions too, but those are most useful.

SMS gate (polish application, its not a title) - this app sends SMS via SMS gates online, so it's free when you are on wifi. Very useful when I have to explain something and I write a sms for 6 pages - it's 100% free on wifi Im sure there are apps like this for other countries.

CamScanner - Absolutely neccessary. It's a software that makes a photo of a paper, document etc. and  sets contrast, light, colours etc. so that the letters, drawings and stuff are perfectly visible, and saves it as a PDF file. You can have many pages in one file. Believe me, it makes GREAT pictures of handnotes, documents, drawings or something in the screen of your pc. Pictures made with normal camera are shit compared to those.

Light - mine is called "latarka", but it's not a polish application, so you should find it easily by looking for a "light". It's awesome cause it has a widget, you can turn it on with one touch, and it works even after you lock your keyboard.

Sketch n Draw - funny drawing application, my friends love to play on it when they are bored waiting for a pizza It has very funny drawing tools, even I can draw a masterpiece

Google Sky Map - it works with your compass, you can watch the stars constelations on your phone by moving it around. Believe it or not, but most of girls love it, lol.

AlarmDroid - nice alarm, you can set it so that it says the time loudly, and if you want to turn it off you have to solve a puzzle, a mathemathic equation or say what day of the week was yesterday

I have also some communication apps, bus and train timetables etc.


To sum up, Android rocks

[EnzoMortelli]

Excuse me for a second - i heard the word 'antivirus'.
Isn't Android a Linux-based OS? Shouldn't that be save?