Android novice just bought a Touchpad

Soarer

Afternoon all.

I'm gonna apologise before I start, as I tend to ramble when I'm asking questions. I kinda type what I'm thinking verbatim in the hopes that it comes across better!

Anyways, I just took ownership of a Touchpad that has Cyanogenmod 9 nightlies installed...apparently! Don't know much/anything about Android!
I had a quick play with it at lunchtime, connected to my home network, got into the market, downloaded Angry Birds, etc. Seems to be running smooth, and AngryBirds installed without issue.
The thing is though, when I went into the "file manager" (don't know what it's called. It's the icon with 4 squares that brings up all apps), there is a rake of stuff installed. I don't know whether this is stuff the previous owner installed to customise it for himself, or if it's standard stuff.

So I guess the first question to ask is should I do a reset/reinstall of Android, and start again from scratch?
If yes, are these walkthroughs a good place to start?

Is the rake of stuff in the sdcard folder or where is it? Do you know which is installed, Clockworkmod or TWRP? Should say at the start on the moboot page.

Soarer

Thanks for the reply.

Don't have the machine in front of me, so can't check for what you're asking. It was already turned on and running when I got it, so can't tell you what's installed!

Well if you want a fresh wipe, do the following:

Download the latest CM9 nightly here. Then boot into recovery, wipe data, cache and dalvik cache, then flash the zip you just downloaded. (If that sentence makes no sense let me know). You will still have some stuff in the sd card folder, you can just delete all of that using your file mananger.

Edit: Also the thing with the four squares opens up the app drawer, not the file manager. The file manager I'm referring to is just one of the apps (I think it might just be called file manager but I'm not sure.)

Can I also ask, did you buy this off Adverts or Ebay or something? It was very silly of them not to do a full wipe before sending it to you, you probably have access to their Facebook and Gmail and all sorts!

Ste-

Sounds like it's the app list you've brought up.
Easiest way to find out what each app does is to either google it or look it up in the market.

Also, I wouldn't bother with the two walkthroughs you mentioned. They're more for flashing Android for the first time. Since you already have Android installed, a clean wipe is much easier and simpler.

Soarer

Thanks for that.

Yeah, bought it off Adverts. I've already told his boss where to go on Facebook, and his bank account are cleaned out!

His details are safe enough. Haven't gone rooting around, so haven't seen anything I shouldn't have. That's probably as good a reason as any to start afresh.

That first sentence didn't really make much sense, but that's only because I'm not "in the scene" yet. I should hopefully be able to figure it out.

As for the 4 squares, I figured it wouldn't be called file manager, but I kinda figured people would know what I meant! It's good to know it's called the app drawer.

I clicked that link, and I assume it's the file ending in 24 that I take? And I'm assuming that since it's nightly, if I leave it til tomorrow, there'll be a file ending in 25 there, and that's the one to take?

Yeah exactly, but there isn't much difference in mostly nightlies though lately, usually just something to do with foreign languages and such. So feel free to download any of them. If you have any difficulty when it comes to flashing it feel free to PM me!

Ste-

Soarer wrote: »

Thanks for that.

Yeah, bought it off Adverts. I've already told his boss where to go on Facebook, and his bank account are cleaned out!

His details are safe enough. Haven't gone rooting around, so haven't seen anything I shouldn't have. That's probably as good a reason as any to start afresh.

That first sentence didn't really make much sense, but that's only because I'm not "in the scene" yet. I should hopefully be able to figure it out.

As for the 4 squares, I figured it wouldn't be called file manager, but I kinda figured people would know what I meant! It's good to know it's called the app drawer.

I clicked that link, and I assume it's the file ending in 24 that I take? And I'm assuming that since it's nightly, if I leave it til tomorrow, there'll be a file ending in 25 there, and that's the one to take?

You only need to flash a nightly if there's something new you're interested in.
You don't have to flash it every night if you don't want to.

Can you reboot into recovery from the power button ?
Then wipe user data etc that should set it back to new.

Soarer

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah exactly, but there isn't much difference in mostly nightlies though lately, usually just something to do with foreign languages and such. So feel free to download any of them. If you have any difficulty when it comes to flashing it feel free to PM me!

Ste- wrote: »

You only need to flash a nightly if there's something new you're interested in.
You don't have to flash it every night if you don't want to.

Can you reboot into recovery from the power button ?
Then wipe user data etc that should set it back to new.

Nice one lads.

I'll give that a shot later and see how we go. I'd fully expect some question later if I was ye!

kenyard

i dont think you should bother with a fresh install.. he probably did all that suggested above to wipe his own data anyway.
there are generally aroudn 10-20 or so "apps" as default. you wont use most.
generally things like gallery, camera, music player, etc.. some are useful some arent.
just download avast or avg off the market and run a quick scan and see whats up, if theres any dodgy apps you will see it (i have never had one so dont know how reliable the virus scanners are, but i guess its worth checking anyway)

cyanogen comes with a load like rom manager, titanium backup, su user, etc etc... theyre there, most arent specifically needed unless you know what you are doing (and reflashing as suggested above will just reinstall the majority if not all of them again). to be honest unless you need space for new apps i wouldnt worry about uninstalling others.
tbh cyanogem comes with a stripped down amount of apps even, compared to other roms iv had which often have a load of useless junk

reflashing the rom when you are new to it may get you to brick it and mess it up :P
last thing you want. haha.

enjoy anyway
if theres any you are confused about you can just list them here and someone will tell you what its for and if you need it.
uninstalling any or infact all of them wont mess up the device (dont un-install play store though :P) s dont worry, just check them and see if you will find a use for them and uninstall if you wont i guess ^^

Soarer

Thanks for all the help guys.

Well I survived my first night with it. So much so that I didn't get to bed until 1! And as luck would have it, the young fella woke at 5.45 so I'm knackered! I'm posting from it now tough, so I have chucked it!

Experiences so far?
Well Android is fairly user friendly. IOS is probably a little easier, but there's really not much in it.
I deleted a lot of the apps that I deemed unnecessary, but some (like Apollo) wouldn't delete in the normal way, so I just left them.
Got other apps/live wallpapers installed without a hitch. Spent ages trying to find an app to hide pictures and photos from young eyes. Found something but can't remember the name.

Sky Go doesn't work, which is a bit of a balls. That said, I Googled earlier and say something dated in the last few days that its now ics compatible, so maybe I should update to the latest nightly (mine is from the start of the month)? Not sure on updates!
Also in iOS, you could touch the top of the screen to fast scroll back to the top of the page. Is there anything similar in android?

Need to go searching as t what the best apps/games are for tablets/android.

As for the touchpad itself, tis a grand bit of kit. €160 for the 32gb version including case is good value IMO.

Ste-

Apollo is the CM version of music. It's a system app so won't delete.
Sky GO the app will be updated to ics support you don't need to update your nightly for this.
Just watch the app in the market or isntall it and when you log into market it will notify you of an update.
Not sure about fast scroll on Android but you can use the back or home button on the bottom right of the screen or even the othr button will bring up a list of recently used apps you can scroll through or swipe them away to close them.

As for decent apps/games there's a pletora of them out there and reading up on them is great fun. Check Android police website it updates new apps/games every few weeks. well worth a read imo. There's also a thread here about good apps to install altho the thread is a tad long now at this stage.