The big day has arrived! You’ve upgraded to one of the latest Android phones, and you’ve got the box in front of you. You haven’t been this excited for a long time.
So, what’s next? Let’s see if we can guess…
You rip the box open, grab your phone and plug it in to charge. As soon as it shows signs of life you add a couple of contacts, and head off into the night to show it to your friends, leaving behind a trail of ripped cardboard and discarded booklets.
And then over the next few months, you find your way around your phone, using good old-fashioned trial and error.
Come on. Don’t be that guy. Your new phone deserves better. So let’s take a deep breath, and count to 6 together…
Unbox like you’re doing an unboxing video
Despite having your boxed new phone in front of you, you’re perfectly calm and you’re in control of emotions. Good.
Now open your box, take out everything, and go through what you’ve got. Check out your extras.
Some Android phones come with a tool for changing your SIM, so you’ll want to keep that safe. There might be some earphones kicking about too.
And you might be lucky enough to have a fast-charger, so don’t just keep using your old one – you won’t believe the difference this can make to your charging time. For example, we’ve seen a Samsung fast-charger fully charge a phone in just over an hour. Impressive stuff.
Google yourself
Don’t skip the set-up part where you’re asked to log into your Google account. Do that straight away, and the magic of Google will go to work to set up your phone just the way you want. If you’ve got your previous Android phone to hand, then the Tap & Go option lets you transfer information by simply pressing the backs of them together.
Tap & Go will also give you the option of downloading all your existing apps from the Google Play store. If you decide to go for a mass download at this stage, just make sure you’re connected to Wi-Fi.
We’ve got a step-by-step guide on Tap & Go here.
Avoided that bloated feeling
Your Android phone will come with apps you didn’t ask for, otherwise known as pesky bloatware. Sometimes they won’t budge, but we reckon it’s at least worth going through them and trying to get rid of them – we suggest looking them up in your Apps menu and trying to uninstall them.
Even if you can’t uninstall them, you might be able to disable any further updates. This will stop them from taking up any more memory than they really need to.