I'm now one of you. I've escaped.
Apple has finally lost me and I've upgraded to A Galaxy S10+.
Playing with it while it's receiving data from my soon to be departed iPhone X - possibly the most overrated model in the history of iPhones. It's a great camera, and that's about it. So far I'm liking the Samsung, except the finger print scanner is having a problem initializing, there's a fair amount of crapware (maybe it's just that I'm not used to that) and the slick finish on the back get's smudgy real fast - going into a case asap.
Those are minor issues - I'm trying to avoid major ones, and that's where you Android gurus come in, since I have next to no experience with this OS. I seek recommendations for -
Anti Virus / security apps
Music apps, preferably free music
Photo / Video editing apps
Must have apps, any category
Any performance tweaks and tips
Thanks in advance.
One thing you should really pay attention to is what permissions an app requires when installing it. If it's asking for things it doesn't need, like SMS access,
don't install it. It may be OK - or maybe not. (Often, good authors will explain why each permission is needed).
For apps, I would recommend you consider installing F-Droid. It's an alternative application manager ("App Store", if you will) that focus on Open Source.
Anti-virus: Can't say here, I have one installed that I got for free some time ago but it has never picked up on anything.
Free music: There are lots of choices, the most popular open-source solution seems to be Vanilla Music. I uninstalled it when it had problems with playing (would stop for unknown reasons). Other good choices seem to be Odyssey or Phonograph.
Photo: I cannot recommend Open Camera strongly enough. Very, very good open-source camera application; lots of good features. I don't use editing apps, so cannot recommend any of those.
Must haves:
You may want Google's Authenticator, which some places use for 2FA authentication. A password manager is also a good idea, there are a
lot of free cross platform ones; I use PasswdSafe personally.
Adobe Acrobat is available to read PDFs, although it is not the only solution.
Video playback: Install VLC. The native video player can handle most formats, but VLC is a) open source and b) can (usually) handle more formats and is more flexible.
Depending on the sort of things you do, IMDb, Netflix, and others are available.
Networking: Install WiFiAnalyzer from F-Droid (watch the name, there are several WiFiAnalyzers in the Google Play Store).
If you follow XKCD, install EasyXKCD.
Keyboards: I use AnySoftKeyboard, but it depends on your preferences; others love swipe-style keyboards. The native keyboard is also pretty good.
Other tools to look at: Tasker, Trigger, Automate to automate various tasks (e.g. do things when it connects to your car's Bluetooth). Bubble level; again, best to look in F-Droid, as there are many junky bubble levels in the Play store.
Games: Depends on what you do. There are lots of good time-wasters like Solitaire variants. Frozen Bubble is available and is open source, although again there are a lot of closed-source/ad driven clones.
Other comments: Eventually I would recommend you root your device. Note that doing so will a) void your warranty and b) erase all data you have on the phone. However, it's fairly common practice - especially for a mainstream device like yours - and it allows:
- Full backup of everything (and I mean everything: apps, data, OS, boot) to SD card or external storage (requires installing a custom recovery like TWRP). This allows full recovery if things go very wrong.
- Full backup of apps with their data, again to any location, with versions (look up Titanium Backup). Includes backups of most settings, such as Bluetooth and WiFi, and of things like SMS messages and call history.
- Removal of junk shoved in by Samsung or your carrier
- When your phone gets older, installation of a custom ROM (I recommend LineageOS but there are others) that gives it an entirely new lease on life
Installing a custom ROM is especially important when Samsung stops pushing out updates; I have a Tab S2 (SM-T713, if you want the exact model) that is running Android 9 (Oreo, LineageOS). The last version of Android supported by Samsung for that device is 7 (M), i.e. two versions behind. LineageOS also puts out updates, for actively maintained devices, something like twice a week, so you will never be behind on security updates. There is a small risk that there will be bugs, but again for an S10 you're got essentially the best supported device for ROM replacements.
