In an attempt to not step on the lawn, I am going to try and make my first post useful to other noobs, regardless of my own ability level.
I see that others have made a "my first phone" thread in other sections using search, and I did not notice one in this forum yet. I don't know if this post will make it past muster or not, or if it will be the same as other kinds of posts, but the way I see it, it would be rad if I came to xda/htc/attonex and found a post identical to this one, that had started a couple months ago. Alas, time travel isn't available.
My problem is that I am literally experiencing this phone as my first smartphone ever, and I am too ignorant to even know what a good question is. So I find myself with a quandary. On the one hand, I am tech savvy enough to know that my phone is capable of more than at&t/htc wants to let on, and I know that there is this sea of people that know a lot about this stuff. On the other hand, I don't even know what phones can really do, why I would want it to do those things, or how to go about learning the smart and safe way to do those things without fear of "bricking" my new toy.
It's really daunting to look at this forum for a noob. I need some good info on android as well as good info on my phone, and just browsing the forum for the last few days has led me to more questions and more complex questions before I have the basics, and I feel like that's going to get me in trouble here.
If people could do the following in response to this post: point me in the right direction for informative posts/websites/forums/etc on android, specifically basic OS functionality & rooting basics for people who do not understand/use linux; point me to informative beginner oriented (not just reviews or w/e, but basics) posts/websites/forums/etc on the at&t1x, specifically anything that is not on the htc site or the at&t site, which is basically my understanding level right now; if i ask stupid questions about your thought-out posts in here and i totally miss your point, please be patient with me; point me to apps and app stores, I have only used the play store - I know there is more out there, but freaked out about viruses and stuff.
I know I'm asking for a lot of hand-holding, but I promise that after the movie we can make out if you want. I'm not stupid, but I am certainly ignorant about androids. HALP.
YouTube is you friend, there are some great walkthroughs on there. Along with read,read,read. Welcome to XDA, ENJOY your time here, you are off to a very advanced start, great phone choice along with grea first post...the force is strong with this one:thumbup:
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
@MichaelHaley
You wouldn't happen to be from Buffalo New York would you?
Sent from my Rooted Hox
What I did when I started was just look at posts and any word or anything at all that I didn't understand i just Googled it. I learned alot like that.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
http://droidlessons.com/
E.Cadro said:
@MichaelHaley
You wouldn't happen to be from Buffalo New York would you?
Sent from my Rooted Hox
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. California.
bradleyG said:
What I did when I started was just look at posts and any word or anything at all that I didn't understand i just Googled it. I learned alot like that.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have a problem with understanding words, but thanks.
filthyfnj24 said:
droidlessons - link which i can not post yet
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Click to collapse
This is the kind of stuff I'm looking for, I figure people here would know which ones like this are quality vs. time wasters. This level and slightly above is about where I'm at. Thanks a lot.
MichaelHaley said:
Nope. California.
I don't have a problem with understanding words, but thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think he meant basic words. But stuff like adb shell. Asop. Root. S off. S on. Just to name a few. If you don't know this basic words, your time here will be a pain.
Sent from my HTC One XL using XDA
tae_254 said:
I don't think he meant basic words. But stuff like adb shell. Asop. Root. S off. S on. Just to name a few. If you don't know this basic words, your time here will be a pain.
Sent from my HTC One XL using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lists of useful words and terms are awesome! Thanks! Please add!
MichaelHaley said:
Lists of useful words and terms are awesome! Thanks! Please add!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're still missing bradleyG's original point. If there are esoteric terms you don't understand, just Google them. This will help you out:
http://bit.ly/KSfCM7
Boom. That was easy.
Seriously, Google is your friend, as is the XDA search. You're not going to think of a question that hasn't already been answered at length on XDA. Maybe not for the One X, specifically, since the device is so new. But for general Android stuff, just doing a general search using the XDA function, of Googling will probably get you an answer within a few minutes. For that matter, just spend some time browsing through the General, and Q&A forums, and reading the threads that look of interest to you. In no time at all, you'll have some decent working knowledge. The learning curve may look intimidating from where you are. But don't worry, its really not that bad. Seriously, just a few hours of reading on XDA will probably put above the knowledge level of the majority of smartphone owners.
If you are truly stumped after searching and reading on your own, post a question in Q&A. But do your due diligence first. Simple reason for this is that the forum would become useless if it was clogged up by every single question that beginners think up.
And welcome to the club. The One X is a helluva first smartphone.
redpoint73 said:
You're still missing bradleyG's original point. If there are esoteric terms you don't understand, just Google them. This will help you out:
http://bit.ly/KSfCM7
Boom. That was easy.
Seriously, Google is your friend, as is the XDA search. You're not going to think of a question that hasn't already been answered at length on XDA. Maybe not for the One X, specifically, since the device is so new. But for general Android stuff, just doing a general search using the XDA function, of Googling will probably get you an answer within a few minutes. For that matter, just spend some time browsing through the General, and Q&A forums, and reading the threads that look of interest to you. In no time at all, you'll have some decent working knowledge. The learning curve may look intimidating from where you are. But don't worry, its really not that bad. Seriously, just a few hours of reading on XDA will probably put above the knowledge level of the majority of smartphone owners.
If you are truly stumped after searching and reading on your own, post a question in Q&A. But do your due diligence first. Simple reason for this is that the forum would become useless if it was clogged up by every single question that beginners think up.
And welcome to the club. The One X is a helluva first smartphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ai ai ai. Thanks for the help dude, but my whole point is that I don't even know enough to know what kinds of questions I should be having. Once I get started, I can use forum searches and google well, so for specific questions I will need very little help. I'm just not coming up with any questions.
Picture me sitting there, staring at the phone, hoping it will do something, looking puzzled when it doesn't, and then start posting links.
I see what you're saying. What you are asking for is really too broad a topic to write a guide or anything like that. As a start, just try looking through the threads in the various forums. Development subforum has mods (modifications) and stuff along those lines. The Themes and Apps subforum will give you some ideas on some cool apps and widgets. You'll quickly get a good idea of what possibilities are out there. And trust me, plenty of specific questions will pop up in your mind soon enough.
Since you are brand new to the smartphone world, apps is a good place to start. Just Google around for best Android apps and see what interests you. Even the Play Store has some issues with malware and other malicious software. But these are usually less popular apps, made by shady software developers. If you read up on best apps at reputable websites like PCMag, Gizmodi, CNET, you shouldn't go wrong. The more popular, tried and true apps tend to be very safe. Lots of the best functionality of smartphones is through apps, so this is a good place to start.
My advice would be to use the device for a while, and see what it can do running stock before you think about rooting and other mods. Unless you are looking at specific mods (removing bloatware or adding back some of the things that AT&T removed like FM radio and flashlight) you probably shouldn't be considering root just yet.
Android Central is a good website with lots of information that you should find interesting if this is your first android device. They have put together a really good android dictionary which is found here: http://www.androidcentral.com/dictionary
They also run an android a to z series on their blog which has a ton of info and goes a little more in depth than just giving definitions.
Enjoy your phone, for a first smart phone you picked a serious winner! There are a few quarks (which are all outlined pretty well in this forum) but for the most part this phone is great.
bradleyG said:
What I did when I started was just look at posts and any word or anything at all that I didn't understand i just Googled it. I learned alot like that.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cant beat this advice. Read everything, assume your questions has already been asked. The more you read, the more questions you'll have and then the more reading you'll want to do to find the answers. This website is really a PHENOMENAL resource, but I find myself constantly googling terms/comments/procedures that I dont understand. I'm quite technologically inclined but relatively new to the android world and have only been using XDA for a couple months. However, I find myself mostly only posting on very topical threads. For the hardcore technical research and development, I prefer to sit back and just read about the amazing work that the developers are doing. Welcome!
I'll second what everyone else said. I was where you were a few months ago. Though I came from four years on iOS, I was an Android noob. I've been reading and browsing xda and other sites just trying to get my bearings. It's very intimidating at first, but you've just got to start somewhere. Start reading, trying to get the general gist of things before worrying about the exact terminology. Bit by bit things will start sounding familiar, and you'll have some context to start framing your searches. Really, they're not kidding about 99.99% of noob questions being already answered somewhere; you've just got to know the right way to ask.
Just be patient and don't give up. Three weeks into my One X ownership, I'm rooted and gradually getting some confidence in modding my phone. (I was an experienced iOS jailbreaker, but life is different over here in a lot of ways.)
redpoint73 said:
You're still missing bradleyG's original point. If there are esoteric terms you don't understand, just Google them. This will help you out:
http://bit.ly/KSfCM7
Boom. That was easy.
Seriously, Google is your friend, as is the XDA search. You're not going to think of a question that hasn't already been answered at length on XDA. Maybe not for the One X, specifically, since the device is so new. But for general Android stuff, just doing a general search using the XDA function, of Googling will probably get you an answer within a few minutes. For that matter, just spend some time browsing through the General, and Q&A forums, and reading the threads that look of interest to you. In no time at all, you'll have some decent working knowledge. The learning curve may look intimidating from where you are. But don't worry, its really not that bad. Seriously, just a few hours of reading on XDA will probably put above the knowledge level of the majority of smartphone owners.
If you are truly stumped after searching and reading on your own, post a question in Q&A. But do your due diligence first. Simple reason for this is that the forum would become useless if it was clogged up by every single question that beginners think up.
And welcome to the club. The One X is a helluva first smartphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is exactly what I meant. There is no all powerful guide that will teach you everything you need to know. It takes time to learn all these things and only diligence will prove to give you what you need. I remember when I first got my g1 I didn't know anything. I started looking for mods/hacks I could do to it and stumbled upon xda. Then I found out about rooting so I looked up stuff about rooting like what are the benefits of it, the risks, and tutorials. Then one thing leads to another rooting leads to ROMs and kernels, kernels lead to overclocking, etc. You'll soon be an expert and have advice to give other people. The more you read, the better. But you will never get to a point where there is nothing new to be learned, you will eventually make a habit of looking up different things after you do it for so long. Just stick with it and you will get the hang of it.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
redpoint73 said:
I see what you're saying. What you are asking for is really too broad a topic to write a guide or anything like that. As a start, just try looking through the threads in the various forums. Development subforum has mods (modifications) and stuff along those lines. The Themes and Apps subforum will give you some ideas on some cool apps and widgets. You'll quickly get a good idea of what possibilities are out there. And trust me, plenty of specific questions will pop up in your mind soon enough.
Since you are brand new to the smartphone world, apps is a good place to start. Just Google around for best Android apps and see what interests you. Even the Play Store has some issues with malware and other malicious software. But these are usually less popular apps, made by shady software developers. If you read up on best apps at reputable websites like PCMag, Gizmodi, CNET, you shouldn't go wrong. The more popular, tried and true apps tend to be very safe. Lots of the best functionality of smartphones is through apps, so this is a good place to start.
My advice would be to use the device for a while, and see what it can do running stock before you think about rooting and other mods. Unless you are looking at specific mods (removing bloatware or adding back some of the things that AT&T removed like FM radio and flashlight) you probably shouldn't be considering root just yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes thank you for that, I know that apps are about my speed right now but my sights are set UP!! Hehe. I really was trying to figure out about the flashlight and FM radio already, but couldn't find a setting in the phone. Is that a root thing? I also hate bloat ware, even if i can disable it, i know MOG Radio & AT&T IdiotWare is there, just taking up space, and it bugs the hell out of me! I also want to do things like check out vanilla android so I can know what sense is, but i understand that requires a bootloader? Which I am reading about.. but that seems like some pretty advanced stuff.. I'll get there hopefully.
bmolloy said:
Android Central is a good website with lots of information that you should find interesting if this is your first android device. They have put together a really good android dictionary which is found here: http://www.androidcentral.com/dictionary
They also run an android a to z series on their blog which has a ton of info and goes a little more in depth than just giving definitions.
Enjoy your phone, for a first smart phone you picked a serious winner! There are a few quarks (which are all outlined pretty well in this forum) but for the most part this phone is great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes thank you very much, this is exactly the kind of specific stuff I'm looking for, not that general advice isn't great too!
bradleyG said:
This is exactly what I meant. There is no all powerful guide that will teach you everything you need to know. It takes time to learn all these things and only diligence will prove to give you what you need. I remember when I first got my g1 I didn't know anything. I started looking for mods/hacks I could do to it and stumbled upon xda. Then I found out about rooting so I looked up stuff about rooting like what are the benefits of it, the risks, and tutorials. Then one thing leads to another rooting leads to ROMs and kernels, kernels lead to overclocking, etc. You'll soon be an expert and have advice to give other people. The more you read, the better. But you will never get to a point where there is nothing new to be learned, you will eventually make a habit of looking up different things after you do it for so long. Just stick with it and you will get the hang of it.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I may have come off more adversarial to you than I meant to.. I wasn't trying to minimize what you said.. Of course research is essential, and I plan to not bug you guys with stupid questions as much as possible.. I'm just trying to build a repository of reference for complete noobtards like me here in this thread so it's all in one place. When I have specific questions about terms and things I will of course employ due diligence before I bring that stuff to the community, but like I said, I'm not even there yet..
OK so I have a question that I tried to search for and came up with nil. Every so often, when I run this or that program, or sometimes on start up, some of my icons do one of two things: 1.) they lose the text under the icon, 2.) they lose the text under the icon and the icon turns into the generic android icon.
Wutdo?
MichaelHaley said:
OK so I have a question that I tried to search for and came up with nil. Every so often, when I run this or that program, or sometimes on start up, some of my icons do one of two things: 1.) they lose the text under the icon, 2.) they lose the text under the icon and the icon turns into the generic android icon.
Wutdo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Restart/ force close the launcher. Or get a new launcher like go or nova.
Cryosx said:
Restart/ force close the launcher. Or get a new launcher like go or nova.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel like a complete tard, but after searching and finding nothing, I can't figure out how to do what you're saying.
Cryosx said:
Restart/ force close the launcher. Or get a new launcher like go or nova.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that just like the proper way to say restart the phone?
When using the tablet with the hdmi connected, videos and what not work full screen but the ui only works as 1/2 screen. The bottom half of the screen is blank on the tv and the tablet but still has the notification bar on the bottom. Does anyone know how to tell the ui, or know what directory are the files pertaining to the ui that i can remove this? This was an actual option on a rom i used once before on my gs2 that allowed you to basically hold the screen without affecting what your touching. Please keep this in this section if possible as i think devs would come across this post eaiser.
.
acessford101 said:
When using the tablet with the hdmi connected, videos and what not work full screen but the ui only works as 1/2 screen.
The bottom half of the screen is blank on the tv and the tablet but still has the notification bar on the bottom.
Does anyone know how to tell the ui, or know what directory are the files pertaining to the ui that i can remove this?
This was an actual option on a rom i used once before on my gs2 that allowed you to basically hold the screen without affecting what your touching.
Please keep this in this section if possible as i think devs would come across this post eaiser.
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WOW. I normally don't like bashing people for posting in wrong section, but then usually people ask the thread to be moved if in the wrong place, but you went the other way.
"I know i'm posting where I shouldn't, but my question is more important than anyone elses, and I really want the smart people to read my question as they are trying to communicate with other devs about actual development in development section."
All i can say is WOW.
What the f*** is this post and reply about?
Weird s**t here I'm really confused...
Thats OK said:
What the f*** is this post and reply about?
Weird s**t here I'm really confused...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just somebody getting his/her behind slapped for deliberately posting in the wrong section, and even asking for it to remain there for a while because of the higher(-level) 'exposure'. Quite funny in my opinion, because:
a) the people in the Dev section frequent the other forums too;
b) the 'bashing' is rightful; and
c) the OP has been blanked out, but the reply quoted it -- it is still there for all to see.
After you've had a laugh, move on, nothing else to see. I do not expect the OP to post it again in the correct section (where this had been moved anyway).
I am looking for a really good video camera app that has plenty of controls over as many aspects of the camera as possible. I love my Android devices, and have been an Android user since the days of the G1. As much as possible, I want to stick with Android, but the more I look into a good video camera app, all I can find are some really great apps for iOS. One in particular that I've found is Filmic Pro on iOS. With their latest update, I would be able to shoot in log, various FPS settings, etc. The Filmic Pro app on Android is not as robust and pales in comparison to their iOS counterpart. The closest app I've found with the best controls is Open Camera. It's served me well for the time I've been shooting with it, but I have grown to want more out of it.
I've scoured the interwebs for months now and I haven't found one that I like better than Open Camera, or equivalent to iOS' Filmic Pro. Like the app on iOS, I would be willing to pay $15 for the app if it were in direct comparison. I don't want to make the switch to iOS, but every time I search, I am becoming more and more inclined. Help?
No luck on this? I just tried Cinema 4K, and I do like the smooth control for focus and the flat profile, but still lacking the full features I am looking for which combines both Open Camera and Cinema 4K.
pnyboy27 said:
No luck on this? I just tried Cinema 4K, and I do like the smooth control for focus and the flat profile, but still lacking the full features I am looking for which combines both Open Camera and Cinema 4K.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is kind of the wrong forum for general questions, this is for developers to post their own apps.
I can't direct you to the proper forum, but I'm sure there is? I usually ask questions like, what you have, in my device forum section. For example, if I have a Samsung Galaxy S6, I'll ask it in the Galaxy S6 "General Questions" forum.
Good luck!
On a side note, have you tried MX Camera?
tele_jas said:
This is kind of the wrong forum for general questions, this is for developers to post their own apps.
I can't direct you to the proper forum, but I'm sure there is? I usually ask questions like, what you have, in my device forum section. For example, if I have a Samsung Galaxy S6, I'll ask it in the Galaxy S6 "General Questions" forum.
Good luck!
On a side note, have you tried MX Camera?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! I was trying to see if also a developer has created one, or maybe someone would see this post and create something like it as well. I have a Nexus 6P, but I didn't think it would be something relevant to just this phone.
I have tried MX Camera before, and it's a great camera for the average user, but for someone who is looking for a little more control and fine tuning, it's not what I am looking for. Thank you for you input though.