Android and Galaxy S3 Questions

TuElite

Canada2123 Posts

November 28 2012 06:07 GMT

So I got myself a Samsung Galaxy SIII and Samsung just announced that the Jelly Bean updated will be available for it next Monday.

This is my first Android phone, matter of fact it is my first non prepaid cellphone... So what are the absolute most I need to do to it in terms of customization, modding, etc. ?

Also I was wondering why it cannot view some pictures, for example, the following picture which I wanted to use as a lockscreen wallpaper or something doesn't work. It's a JPG.

http://i.imgur.com/xV0LD.jpg

So yeah please let me know of any useful links and things I most do with that phone.

HappyMan

United States129 Posts

November 28 2012 06:28 GMT

Pic works for me, bro, dunno what you did.

You'll need to root your phone, first off, so that you can actually do stuff in the future. Google for the exact procedure, the things you'll need to download vary depending on what carrier you have. xda-developers.com is a wonderful resource, trust their guides above all others.

From there, I dunno, go into the app store and look around. Since it's your first smartphone, the first thing to wrap your head around is the notion that you have a computer in your pocket now. So think about what you always wished you had a computer around for while not at your desk, and chances are there's an app for that. So start poking. Learn what settings there are and how you want it set up. (This takes a while all on its own, haha, I remember spending the better part of a day just messing around with settings and wallpapers.)

Have fun.

Ghostcom

Denmark4782 Posts

November 28 2012 06:51 GMT

I would personally refrain from rooting my phone unless I knew what I was going in to. Also I would consider shifting through the samsung galaxy s3 thread in the general section of TL.

TuElite

Canada2123 Posts

November 28 2012 06:52 GMT

You can transfer that pic without a problem ?

Thanks for everything else.

sharky246

1197 Posts

November 28 2012 06:54 GMT

you did the right thing, choosing this over an iphone. Don't root your phone unless you actually need or really want to.

Froadac

United States6733 Posts

November 28 2012 08:19 GMT

I'd advise against immediately rooting. Even though doing it later on is a pain the abilityt o mess up a phone whilst rooted is high. It took me about 3 months to learn my phone (Galaxy Nexus), and at that point I think its fairly evident whether you want to root or not.

Unshapely

140 Posts

November 28 2012 09:04 GMT

I concur with the others, don't root the phone this early. Once I started using my Android I realised that the stock applications installed did not do what I most desired, so I installed a couple of video playing software that can actually play .flv format, installed the best document editor for Android I could find because I tend to edit a lot of document files.

Most of the time you'll find what you need on the Google Market Place. Once you reach the advanced stage where things start to seem lacking,you can root your phone.

Is that the only .JPG file that's not working for you? Are you able to open other JPEG compressed images?

Rannasha

Netherlands2398 Posts

November 28 2012 10:08 GMT

You don't really need to root the phone to get most of the customization options. In contrast to iOS, Android is already quite flexible out of the box.

Probably the biggest customization point is the launcher. This is the program that handles both the homescreen as well as the app-drawer (the window with all the app-icons). There are many alternative launchers available that replace the default one and give you a different homescreen/app-drawer experience. Some merely enhance the standard launcher with more customizations and tweaks while others provide a very different interface. You can even use a launcher that very accurately mimics the interface of iOS or Windows Phone 7 if you want. Finding a launcher that works for you is a good starting point for customization.

An overview of many launchers can be found at http://www.addictivetips.com/android/the-best-free-android-launchers-for-home-screen-replacement/

If you install a launcher and you don't like it, you can easily uninstall it and the phone will revert back to the stock launcher, so even though the launcher greatly modifies the experience, it comes at no risk of messing up your phone.

musai

Canada552 Posts

November 28 2012 10:53 GMT

If you want pirated software you'll need to root your phone btw.

Really, it took like may be 5 minutes for my first rooting your phone, the guides on YouTube are pretty much dummy proof.

VenomBRA

Netherlands168 Posts

November 28 2012 13:08 GMT

#10

On November 28 2012 15:52 TuElite wrote:
You can transfer that pic without a problem ?

Thanks for everything else.

How are you trying to "transfer" the picture?

Did you open it from the phone's browser?

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