New D3 buyer

[lofgents]

I have just ordered a D3 and it will take a few days for it to get to me, please could anyone point me in the direction of what to do when I receive it sort of "Newbie Tips" or any info worth reading as a novice.

I am familiar with computors and mp3 players but this will be my first Android device so any to do's and of course not to do's would be gratefully received and give me something to do while I wait for delivery.

Thanks.

[jakeroux]

Congrats on your purchase - I know that time waitng for delivery can sometimes feel like months rather than days. I'm not sure that general Android tips and tricks would necessarily apply to the D3, since it's still not quite at full Droid smartphone or tablet capabilities, apparently even with the upcoming Android 2.3 ("Gingerbread") update.

The best advice I could give you to prepare while you are waiting is to read through the various D3 threads, both here and at anythingbutipod.com. Keeping in mind that there have been several firmware updates since it first came out, so some of the earlier threads and disucssions may not still be applicable to how it currently performs. Also, if you don't already have some audio tracks ripped to a lossles format (e.g. FLAC) you might want to do that while you are waiting so you will be prepared to load a few on your device to see if you prefer the sound quality of lossless files to "lossy" .mp3 format files.

Enjoy.

[roebeet]

This is the most important thing to consider right now, imo.....

Most likely you will get the older Eclair (2.1) firmware - that's the one that goes up to x.3.3. It has it's own set of issues, but you can root it and add the Google Market via a hack listed here, as well as ABI.

But if you choose to flash it up to the x.5.3 firmware (2.3, otherwise known as Gingerbread), keep in mind that it's a one-way street, there's no going back. The good is that there are a lot of improvements with this new firmware - speed, 24/96 file support, among other things. However, there is no way to root it or mod it, which means no Google Market hack for it yet.

"Rooting" is like getting admin rights to your local PC. Gives you the ability to access low-level functions and make changes to the OS that you otherwise would not have the ability to do. Besides the ability to add the Google Market, the other thing root allows is the ability to tweak the CPU and backup all your critical app data via a tool like "Titanium Backup". So, with the new update we currently lose that ability.

Whether or not it's worth using the new update is entirely up to you, of course. For me, even with the loss of root / Google Market, I think the new update is worth doing. given the fixes and enhancements it offers. But that's because root is not critical to me, on this device.

[lofgents]

Thanks for your replies glad, I asked I will read through some of the earlier stuff about the Google market and other tweaks before doing any updates and see how I like the D3. By the time I have done that there will probably be some more info on this newer firmware to help me decide if to update and no doubt will have some more questions to ask.

Thanks again.

[capnmcorn]

The Cowon music app reads tags a little funny. Remove any tags that have a name that is a longer version of another tag. For example, your "album" tags won't show up right if you have an "album artist" tag.

The android 2.3 update makes the D3 much faster.

Double pressing the hold button puts it to sleep. You never really have to turn it off, which is good because the boot-up time is long.

Long-press stuff on your desktop to move them around. Long press the desktop to change your wallpaper or add widgets. Widgets are like gadgets in Windows.

Android app installers are .apk files. Drag a .apk into the "apk" folder on the D3 and it will install when you unplug from the computer.

It doesn't have google's app store, but you can install Amazon's easily.

When playing music or video, tap the big arrow in the upper right to go to the file listing.

[lofgents]

Thanks for the tips capnmcorn saving all these tips until I get the D3 and then can use them with with the D3 in front of me.