10 things that you should do when you buy a new Android phone

So, you have just purchased a new Android phone, and you can't help but go gaga over its sheer brilliance and impressive features. In fact, you are not sure how much more can you wait to get started on your new phone. But wait. There are a few things that you need to do and without failure on your new Android phone and which will ensure that your phone will have a long and a healthy life.

On to the list –

1. Disabling the bloatware – Can you name one Android phone which doesn't have bloatware? You won't find one. Reason – there are no Android phones which don't have bloatware, and it is all due to the service providers and phone makers.

And perhaps what makes them more irritating is that you can't remove them unless and until you root your phone. But wait, since it's Android that we are talking about, there's always another way – you can keep them disabled if you can't or don't want to uninstall them so that they won't be able to hog on your precious RAM and the battery.

2. Securing the device – Phones these days contain much sensitive information and because of that, security is one aspect that you need to take care of the most. It is recommended that you should set up a robust security protection, say, like a Pattern or PIN. And if the Android phone has a fingerprint sensor, then, that is even better.

3. Tweaking the WiFI settings – As soon as the phone screen goes off, the WiFi switches off to the cellular data, and that is something, which happens by default in any phone. Truth be told, this setting is quite bad for your phone's battery. To get around this, what you should do – Change the WiFi sleep policy to 'Never' so that the above-mentioned change never happens, even when your phone stays idle.

4. Getting a good launcher app – Now that the main settings are done with, let's move on to the game of customization and frankly, nothing plays it better than a good Android launcher app as they can help to bring a bright and a different look to any Android phone.

5. Enabling the Google Assistant – Who says that you have to do all the work by yourself when you have the Google Assistant? Earlier, it was available only in the Pixel phones, but now, the good news is that they are available in almost all of the Android phones that run Marshmallow and above.

6. Checking the app permissions – Who doesn't love to load a new phone with some apps? Right from the photo editors to the messaging apps, everything gets loaded, but then, what remains is the question of privacy. That's because there are many apps out there which steal the user data and information, and it is for this reason that it is quite important for you to scrutinise all the Android app permissions.

7. Setting up the Device Manager – It is the Android Device Manager (better known as 'Find my Device') which helps you to find any devices that you have misplaced or got stolen. Not only that, but it also contributes to lock and erase a lost device. Perhaps the best thing about this feature is that the phone will still ring even if it is in silent mode or the volume is low. But for that, you will have to turn on the Android Device Manager in the Google settings first.

8. Managing the notifications – Notifications sure are an annoyance to many. Neither can we do without them nor can we ignore them even if they are annoying. What are you going to do if you miss out on a good deal?

If however, it runs on Android Nougat, then you will be happy to know that notifications can be prioritised easily. Even if your phone doesn't run on Android Nougat, you still have many choices of apps that you can do install to manage your notifications.

9. Setting up Cloud Backup – You should set up Cloud Backup for your photos as well as for your documents, as it will ensure that the phone memory stays clean. Apart from that, it will also let you access your documents even if your phone goes gets lost. Also, you can set up Google Drive and Google Photos if you so desire.

10. Setting up a Note taking app – Last but not the least, you should keep a note taking app. No matter whether it is a shopping list, random note or photo, it will take care of everything. You can either go for Google Keep or Evernote, though I prefer Evernote since it practically can keep a reminder of anything you want to – photo, attachment, text, audio, reminder, handwritten notes, text – you name it, and Evernote gets it done.

Though it may seem overwhelming at first, these are the things that you need to do when you buy a new Android phone for yourself. After all, you will want to get the most out of your new Android phone, right?