markjgsmith

Setup on Android

I have spent the past several days setting up my new Samsung a05s Android mobile device. So many things to install and configure. It's been quite a ride. I've put this todo list together in case I need to do it again in the future, and maybe it could be useful for others, hence this post.

• Buy the phone - Amazon
• Buy portable hardware bluetooth keyboard - Amazon
• Buy USB-c power plug - Amazon
• Buy phone case - Amazon
• Buy USB-a to USB-c cables to use with old power bateries
• Hook it up to a Wifi network
• Hook it up to your Google account
• Install a VPN app
• Re-organise the homescreens - Remove stuff you don't need
• Figure out useful keyboard shortcuts - switch between open apps (option/alt-tab)
• Get used to new buttons to show homescreen and show open apps (square, hamburger)
• Install password manager - Lastpass
• Install 2FA key generation app - Authy
• Install read later app - Paperscan
• Install notes app - Microsoft Onenote
• Install podcast app - Pocket casts
• Install Android file browser
• Install money apps - Bank, Paypal, XE
• Install Chrome browser
• Install Amazon shoping app
• Install Linux environment - Termux
• Install CLI file editing - Neovim
• Install figure out how to use incorrectly mapped keys like Esc, ", £, ~, #
• Install CLI version control tool - git
• Install CLI C compiler
• Install CLI nodejs
• Generate public / private keys
• Add public key as Github ssh key
• Install Gihub app
• Update browser settings so Github repo URLs still open in browser
• Clone personal Github code repos
• Install GUI file editing - Acode, GitJournal
• Install GUI version control apps - ?
• Install taxi / delivery app - Uber
• Install social media apps - Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Threads, Bluesky

It's not a totally comprehensive list, but it does cover most of the things I had to setup. Finding a simple file editing and version control solution was a lot more complicated than you would expect. I might write another post about the various, and many snags I ran into. #

Android annoyances

I have been setting up my new Android device the past few days. I've been an iOS user for many many years now, probably nearing 2 decades at this stage. Android has come a long way in the intervening years, and I like a lot of the new design. I of course really like the much bigger screen the device has, however there are some annoyances. Here is a short list:

• During initial setup it really felt like I was having to signin to Google for everything repeatedly
• Show open apps and home screen buttons feel back to front to me and look confusing
• Switching betweem apps can be slow at times
• OS Keyboard shortcuts sort of suck - you end up having to tap screen a lot
• Mixing between keyboard and touchscreen kind of sucks
• Difference between homescreen and app screens isn't obvious at first
• Speed of typing in some apps is slow
• No good replacement for iOS Notes app
• No good replacement for Working Copy app
• Vimium doesn't exist for Chrome so no way to function using just keyboard

Finding replacement apps is frustratingly difficult for things that should be standard like file editing and version control. The overall feeling is that you are constanly having to jump through hoops, even if the hoops are sometimes very well designed. I feel like with Apple the setup was simpler, more straight forward, less being blocked, and less frustrating to find apps and a workflow for what I needed to do.

I am howwever sowly getting the hang of things, and I think that my dev environment setup could potentially be much better than what I had on iOS. And actually some of the 3rd party vendor apps that I already used on iOS have Android versions that are pretty cool. It will be interesting to see how things are in a week or two, whether I am able to blog and write code more efficiently than on iOS. #

Just a test note to see if the notes feature is still working. If this note appears as the last post in the current day then this test worked! :) #