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Some tips when getting a new cell phone

3K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  Digmor Crusher 
#1 ·
Some tips I thought I'd share for people who get their first phone or upgrade their phone. It may sound silly to tech savvy people who are here on DHC, but you would be surprised how helpful some of these tips are to the average Joe who are not so tech saavy.

1.) Get a longer usb cable, probably 6 feet or more. Normally the supplied cable that comes with most phones is a measly 3 feet in length, and most people I know prefer to charge their phone on their night table next to their bed. I tried using the stock cable and 3 feet is way too short to comfortably use your phone while charging it. USB is just that its universal, so you dont have to buy the "brand name" from your phone manufacturer, you can get a high quality replacement usb in longer lengths from anywhere practically, and for a good price. I happened to get mine from Walmart but it does not matter where you get it from. Then I can use the factory 3 footer cable that was included to charge it for the car since my car has a USB port near the console.

2.) Learn how to sync your contacts. If its your first time this may be hard to understand but syncing your contacts to your primary email account is recommended. it syncs your emails as well. Some phones force you to sync to the platforms preference so android prefers to sync with your google account, apple prefers to sync with your icloud or Me account, but you DONT HAVE TO use theirs. I happen to use android and have a gmail but I dont use it, I use my outlook.com account as my primary email and sync all my contacts, calendar entries, tasks etc to my phone.

3.) if you want to check email on your phone, try to use IMAP instead of POP3. IMAP was designed for syncing, and works especially well when syncing to multiple devices. If I send an email with an attachment at my home office, and I hit the road, I can check my phone and see the sent e-mail with attachment in my phones sent box. It all syncs up.

4.) Invest in a / use a headset(Bluetooth preferably) if your going to be on a call while you are driving or check if your car has a feature built in. Do NOT use the speaker phone. I absolutely hate when people use speaker phone on a call while driving. First its Dangerous, Secondly, its crap, I can barely hear half the time what people are saying. Usually when a friend calls me and I find out he is driving and calling me on speaker phone, I ask him right away and if he says Yes. I tell him I will let him go and ask him to call me back when he gets home or is NOT driving his car. I even went as far as ordering 2 Bluetooth headsets and shipped them as gifts to 2 people who were BAD for talking on Speaker while driving.
I have a Bluetooth Jabra and I always try to keep it charged and leave it in my car and only use that to answer calls if i happen to be driving. Make sure to set up the pairing BEFORE you drive off. I know a guy that tried to pair it while driving and nearly got into an accident.

5.) If your going to take pictures make it a habit of backing them up often to your computer or hard drive. Yes there's the cloud, its convenient, but there's many limitations and vulnerabilities. I dunno man but I back up my home computer stuff twice a year and it does not take any more effort to back up my videos and photos off my phones and tablets into my backup hard drive. If you have a free cloud, they may work but I know so many people who run out of space on their cloud drive and often google and apple make money selling extra cloud storage space. If you can afford it, then go for it, but if your not rich or don't have the extra cash flow, then its not required, so back up the ol' fashioned way like everyone else.

Thats it for now, if I think of more, I will share them later
 
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#2 ·
I will add these two tips:


  • Make sure the find my device feature is enabled and do not disable it. Normally, it should be enabled automatically. This will give you the possibility of erasing the device if it gets lost or stolen. It also allows you make your device ring if you misplace it (yes, it bypasses all ringer settings and is quite loud).
  • Before giving your old phone away or e-cycling it, erase your old phone. It sounds overkill, but your password (PIN is a form of password) is good enough to protect you while you possess the phone. It is bad to protect you when you relinquish control of your device. So please, erase your phone before giving it up.
 
#3 ·
Do NOT use the speaker phone. I absolutely hate when people use speaker phone on a call while driving. First its Dangerous, Secondly, its crap, I can barely hear half the time what people are saying.
And turn off the music! A friend would leave her music playing while using speaker phone. Now that sounds like crap. This was back in the 2G days, with the low bandwidth GSM CODEC, which was NOT designed to handle music!
 
#5 ·
All Great Tips, thank you guys.

On a side note: A lot of the popular phone manufacturers will already include an Anti-virus program My old LG Android handset did, and my current Samsung Android includes it. If it does NOT have it included, then yes follow the great advice by eljay and download Avast or MacAfee anti-virus.

Another note: Ed7789 had some great advice about the Find My Phone feature, yes its normally off. I also noticed if you own a Samsung Android, you will get 2 versions of this, one is the default Google Android Find my device feature, but Samsung also includes a find my phone feature too, it only works if you have created a Samsung Account and are signed into it tho. but yes its great advice. thanks guys
 
#9 ·
First thing to do when you get a new phone:

1. Check your Do Not Disturb rules.
2. Set your default apps.
3. Apply a new system theme.
4. Check out your new phone's gesture shortcuts and navigation options.
5. Google Assistant's Voice Match and turn on OK Google to wake/unlock.
6. Turn on automatic backups for Google Photos.
 
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