Setting up your Android smartphone: The sequel

20 June 2013
OK, it's a sequel and these don't always work as planned. But we had fun the first time and got a great response. It sure looked like you enjoyed it too. At the turn of last year, we had a go at how we'd set up a brand new Android device...

Sort by:

  • C
  • Chewy
  • MVg
  • 21 Jun 2013

Art, 20 Jun 2013any other OS take half the time to set up "properly" It's not "properly" setting it up, it comes like that out of the box. It's to "personalise" the phone to yourself, something you can't really do as well on other OSs

    • v
    • vineet
    • GRV
    • 21 Jun 2013

    i love gsmarena. nd also lv ur articals. plz give us more android apps and games imformation every week. i also trust in ur reviews. thnx alot.

      • q
      • qwer
      • HIB
      • 21 Jun 2013

      nice
      really good idea
      if it's possible continue this and update it every few month please

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • 7j{
        • 21 Jun 2013

        Some of my picks :

        Holo launcher HD : Simple lightweight launcher.

        ICMess : Minimalist holo themed messaging app.

        Opera classic : Better than the present opera IMO. it even has an option for bookmarks. :P

        Omich Player : Minimalist Music player but has lot of functions.

        Shuttle : Another great music player.

          • D
          • AnonD-85329
          • y@V
          • 21 Jun 2013

          Thank you team GSMArena, I hope the next sequel would be earlier than this one :D Cheers

            • D
            • AnonD-143260
            • 7wD
            • 21 Jun 2013

            I'm a Lumia 520 owner.....happy as well :P but need a android device too.....can anybody suggest me any good device....my budget is around ₹15000 ....

              • D
              • AnonD-122899
              • QXN
              • 21 Jun 2013

              You forgot about Snapseed for photos. It is a very neat and handy app for fixing photos on the phone.

                • c
                • cooldude
                • uty
                • 21 Jun 2013

                nice article....
                please make an article fully on rooted apps...:)

                  • h
                  • hafefiof
                  • atx
                  • 21 Jun 2013

                  GSMArena, please write an article on how to set up an iOS device too.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • Fv4
                    • 21 Jun 2013

                    Great article, almost as good as the 1st, which did make me hit the master reset!

                    Any chance of an article that looks at general maintainance apps or advice? For example how to get the most out of your battery etc.

                      • b
                      • btriya
                      • uv2
                      • 21 Jun 2013

                      Adi, 20 Jun 2013Is there any app that allows videos to be played at 1.1x or... moreVlc player for android does this job but it's a beta version.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • UD}
                        • 21 Jun 2013

                        O S4 mini, where art thou? :-)

                        Nice article GSMArena.

                          • D
                          • AnonD-141635
                          • U22
                          • 21 Jun 2013

                          a few of mine

                          *shuffle tone 3.0 - a custom ringtone every time for text and calls

                          *live gallery- a wallpaper shuffler on which you can assign folders in you phone's memory

                          *Launcher7 and Launcher8 - both are made by separate developers but are amazing at emulating Windows Phone user interface, from the lockscreen to live tiles(contacts tile and images tile is amazing)

                          * Nexus 4 dot live wallaper - this emulaes the back pattern of nexus 4 . on AMOLED displays it looks awesome

                          *photosphere live wallpaper - even if you don't have jellybean 4.2.2 you can still download photosphere files from the internet and then use this wallpaper to have them set as your wallpaper. it looks really cool

                          *SMS backup & Restore - just one click to share the sms, you then get an XML file that you can manually save in your SD card or anywhere else.

                          *Wattpad - if you love to read, then this app is like the youtube of ebooks. It is all about user generated content. you can access your account from anywhere. the app is completely free, with no ads. You can write and post whatever you feel like.
                          just like instagram plagued with duck-faced-selfies-in-bathroom , this too has lot of twilight based fan fiction, but search using the right keywords, and you can find amazing content.
                          or better, share your own, poetry, jokes, one liners etc.

                          *Home Manager - this is useful if you plan to use multiple launchers. this has the option to auto-kill the native launcher(which is essential to save RAM)

                          *Lock Screen Tools - it may sound a little silly, but it is actually useful. this is a small icon you can paste anywhere on your home screen(best is dock) and touching it locks the screen. this is simply to use the hardware power button less frequently. and if you plan to keep your phone for long time, any repair is not a good idea.


                          *Lookout Ad Network Detector- this is great for people who download casual games etc. this scans all apps (manually) to show which apps push ads in notification and which apps are collecting personal information

                          *Clean Master (Cleaner) - this is best cache cleaner. this also cleans the residual files of large games which are often left behind after uninstall. the widget has the coolest animation i have ever seen in my android life.

                          *PicsArt - Photo Studio - the single most powerful picture editing tool i have ever seen in my life. and no ads

                            • D
                            • AnonD-151727
                            • 6t4
                            • 21 Jun 2013

                            skip instagram...

                              • D
                              • Daniel
                              • m5a
                              • 21 Jun 2013

                              I'm surprised that you didn't feature Viber within this article.

                              It's quite possibly, the best app available on Android, in my opinion.

                                • G
                                • Gadgety
                                • nvd
                                • 20 Jun 2013

                                Thank you for an excellent overview.

                                  • P
                                  • Philly
                                  • ftV
                                  • 20 Jun 2013

                                  Beautiful article! I am inspired!

                                    • M
                                    • MdN
                                    • p41
                                    • 20 Jun 2013

                                    Good Symbian themes have 1000-1500 icons. I expected Android to do better. Most of this is just eye candy unless you really need 50 different apps every day. If not, a few homescreens, folders and widgets and you're fine. Nice article, though.

                                      • G
                                      • Galaxy Nexus
                                      • kLX
                                      • 20 Jun 2013

                                      The most important set up steps you need to know..
                                      1. Root!!
                                      2. ROM!!
                                      3. Kernel!!

                                        Art, 20 Jun 2013any other OS take half the time to set up "properly" Tell me what other OS that can let you set your device up properly that makes it works best after how you use the smartphone?