Absolute Beginners?

[Guest Richard Dawkins]

Hi! I have had a good look through the forums (I haven't seen EVERYTHING, obviously! :P ) and haven't seen a beginners guide to Android phones.

There are simple questions like "What do I do when I'm stuck at the Green Android screen?" as well as a host of others that will crop up, time and time again.

I'm still learning as I go, but it would really help if there was a "sticky" post on the with most of the basic stuff covered.

Most of the more technical stuff is covered excellently, but there are more basic questions whose answers that aren't easy to find.

For example, to rid yourself of the green android screen the answer is to either Open a command prompt in the folder where you have fastboot/adb (and the drivers) just type "fastboot reboot" (see WinXP/7 ZTE Blade drivers and ADB post #24) OR more simply, if you haven't started modifying the phone ROM, just remove and replace the battery then reboot. i.e. turn the phone back on. Reboot meaning to force the system to start from the beginning, normally achieved by turning off then on again. I know explaining what "reboot" means seems trite, but it's only simple to do when you know what it means.

Seriously, to a noob, Open a command prompt in the folder where you have fastboot/adb (and the drivers) just type "fastboot reboot" as an answer may be correct, but it requires some explanation. I think one thing many noobs don't realise is that a certain level of PC literacy is required to start fiddling with the ROM on your phone and that it's relatively easy to do something very silly, very quickly and give yourself a minor panic attack and a problem to sort out. Most of us can relate to the "Oh s#!t!" feeling you get when it goes wrong, the phone appears dead and you realise you can't just take it back to the shop to get it sorted out.

So as I find out stuff, as a noob, I'm going to try and remember to post it in here. Feel free to add basic stuff too, and if it can all be pulled into some kind of noobs guide to stop the same old questions being asked again and again, then that would be nice. :D

[Guest goofy gorilla]

Hi! I have had a good look through the forums (I haven't seen EVERYTHING, obviously! :P ) and haven't seen a beginners guide to Android phones.

There are simple questions like "What do I do when I'm stuck at the Green Android screen?" as well as a host of others that will crop up, time and time again.

I'm still learning as I go, but it would really help if there was a "sticky" post on the with most of the basic stuff covered.

Most of the more technical stuff is covered excellently, but there are more basic questions whose answers that aren't easy to find.

For example, to rid yourself of the green android screen the answer is to either Open a command prompt in the folder where you have fastboot/adb (and the drivers) just type "fastboot reboot" (see WinXP/7 ZTE Blade drivers and ADB post #24) OR more simply, if you haven't started modifying the phone ROM, just remove and replace the battery then reboot. i.e. turn the phone back on. Reboot meaning to force the system to start from the beginning, normally achieved by turning off then on again. I know explaining what "reboot" means seems trite, but it's only simple to do when you know what it means.

Seriously, to a noob, Open a command prompt in the folder where you have fastboot/adb (and the drivers) just type "fastboot reboot" as an answer may be correct, but it requires some explanation. I think one thing many noobs don't realise is that a certain level of PC literacy is required to start fiddling with the ROM on your phone and that it's relatively easy to do something very silly, very quickly and give yourself a minor panic attack and a problem to sort out. Most of us can relate to the "Oh s#!t!" feeling you get when it goes wrong, the phone appears dead and you realise you can't just take it back to the shop to get it sorted out.

So as I find out stuff, as a noob, I'm going to try and remember to post it in here. Feel free to add basic stuff too, and if it can all be pulled into some kind of noobs guide to stop the same old questions being asked again and again, then that would be nice. :D

lol...i know what you mean..simple instructions for advance users of pc may be very hard to understand for newbies...ie

"# Extract the fastboot zip file.

# From a command prompt (at the directory containing these new files!) run 'fastboot-windows flash boot boot.blade.superboot.mcri.r3.img' (subsituting 'fastboot-mac' or 'sudo fastboot-linux' as required)"

where do you extract the fastboot zip file..?, desktop, drive C...etc...?

at the command prompt how do you get into the directory where these new files are ?...

ta

[Guest macmob]

Yep, can associate with this topic. :(

Been going round in circles for a couple of weeks now always afraid to actually do anything. :) Even taken the San Fran in to a couple of local stores but they were unaware of it - so apart from unlocking it, the phone still has all the orange stuff on it.

Still reading and learning but its a slow process when all the computor lingo is new to ya :)

[Guest LostGeordie]

Hi! I have had a good look through the forums (I haven't seen EVERYTHING, obviously! :) ) and haven't seen a beginners guide to Android phones.

There are simple questions like "What do I do when I'm stuck at the Green Android screen?" as well as a host of others that will crop up, time and time again.

I'm still learning as I go, but it would really help if there was a "sticky" post on the with most of the basic stuff covered.

Most of the more technical stuff is covered excellently, but there are more basic questions whose answers that aren't easy to find.

For example, to rid yourself of the green android screen the answer is to either Open a command prompt in the folder where you have fastboot/adb (and the drivers) just type "fastboot reboot" (see WinXP/7 ZTE Blade drivers and ADB post #24) OR more simply, if you haven't started modifying the phone ROM, just remove and replace the battery then reboot. i.e. turn the phone back on. Reboot meaning to force the system to start from the beginning, normally achieved by turning off then on again. I know explaining what "reboot" means seems trite, but it's only simple to do when you know what it means.

Seriously, to a noob, Open a command prompt in the folder where you have fastboot/adb (and the drivers) just type "fastboot reboot" as an answer may be correct, but it requires some explanation. I think one thing many noobs don't realise is that a certain level of PC literacy is required to start fiddling with the ROM on your phone and that it's relatively easy to do something very silly, very quickly and give yourself a minor panic attack and a problem to sort out. Most of us can relate to the "Oh s#!t!" feeling you get when it goes wrong, the phone appears dead and you realise you can't just take it back to the shop to get it sorted out.

So as I find out stuff, as a noob, I'm going to try and remember to post it in here. Feel free to add basic stuff too, and if it can all be pulled into some kind of noobs guide to stop the same old questions being asked again and again, then that would be nice. :)

I think this is a great idea - how have you got on? I am struggling to be confident enough understand the command prompts and particularly where to save the various required downloads to access them as required.

[Guest piperboy]

This sounds like an excellent idea! Being confident on PC, but a complete noob on phones/android I would really appreciate such a guide.

Maybe the first part of the guide should be how to make a backup of the rom before fiddling with it so if anything does go wrong you can just revert to the old. This would give noobs a certain degree of confidence if they knew they could go straight back if they had made a mistake!

[Guest kirstygold]

I think this is a great idea - how have you got on? I am struggling to be confident enough understand the command prompts and particularly where to save the various required downloads to access them as required.

I identify with this! I've moved from WinMob 6.5 to Android and it's taken me nearly a week to work out how to install a file manager and get it working!

(eek! I'm in danger of losing my Gadget Girl Title!)

[Guest domenico lamberti]

Yep, can associate with this topic. :)

Been going round in circles for a couple of weeks now always afraid to actually do anything. B) Even taken the San Fran in to a couple of local stores but they were unaware of it - so apart from unlocking it, the phone still has all the orange stuff on it.

Still reading and learning but its a slow process when all the computor lingo is new to ya :)

to remove the orange shizzle , root using universal androot , go to market and download busybox then titanium backup , then open titanium grant root access and download orange apps , simple as

[Guest FrankE]

This sounds like an excellent idea! Being confident on PC, but a complete noob on phones/android I would really appreciate such a guide.

Maybe the first part of the guide should be how to make a backup of the rom before fiddling with it so if anything does go wrong you can just revert to the old. This would give noobs a certain degree of confidence if they knew they could go straight back if they had made a mistake!

Me too! I have some basic PC knowledge but I have'nt a clue when it comes to phones (see WinXP/7 ZTE Blade drivers and ADB post #241 #42 #43) and, I am new to forums n stuff :-?

Any basic advice would be really usefull - like, how do I transfer contacts from my PC to my phone (sorry if this is not the place for this topic) I cannot do it from my old sim as it seems to have a PIN code on it - no I did'nt put it on! I transferred a copy of my contacts from outlook onto the memory card but the file is not recognised :-?

Like I said any advice would be really appreciated

Cheers FrankE :P

[Guest twon]

I have put some links and stuff together on my blog for android beginners, over the weeks im going to add more and more stuff to it. Anything you guys would like to see on it let me know and i will do my best to explain/make a guide

Also it will contain some linux stuff as well, so check it out let me know what you want/think and hopefully can make a perfect guide for people starting out.

http://twon23.blogspot.com/2010/11/android...-beginners.html

http://twon23.blogspot.com/

Edited November 26, 2010 by twon

[Guest MrMirUK]

I think its a great idea. I am new to android and have so far only been able unlock my phone. The debranding is something I really would like to do.