Some people don’t like giving all of their information to Google. Having an Android phone makes this pretty difficult. There are ways to minimize the amount of information you entrust to Google’s servers.
Here are some pretty simple changes you can make to changes to take Google out of the picture for most things.
Applications
GetJar
Getjar is a smaller alternative Android market, but GetJar has several applications for free. The Free Android applications are in the Gold category. When you use Getjar, you will be more likely to find lesser known applications that would normally get buried in the larger app stores.
There are a lot of email providers out there. Choosing one that suits your needs can be easier for some people than others. While email is basically for sending and receiving information, Gmail offers a lot of cool features that are hard to pass up. Getting an email service offering most of the same abilities will be tough, so you will need to decide what is most important to you in an email service.
Yahoo Mail
Yahoo is an ever-evolving email service. The Android application is pretty basic and will let you send and receive emails. You can also move emails from folder to folder. Syncing your contacts is pretty much the only extra feature.
Outlook
Your Microsoft Outlook account will fill a basic need for email on your Android phone. If you have an organizational folder system in your Live account, you can see these folders and transfer emails to other folders from your inbox. You can choose to sync your contacts and your Hotmail calendar with your Android.
Calendar
People are pretty particular about their calendars. If you use your Android calendar a lot, you may rely on Google Calendar too. If you switch to a service like Hotmail, you can sync their calendar with your Android phone.
Keeping your calendar in sync is a breeze with Hotmail. Add an appointment in either your phone or your web account and it will sync.
Browser
For those who browse the web from their Android phone, you may not want to give Google information about how you search and what you search for. Using a different browser other than the pre-installed Android browser will help.
Firefox
Firefox is a really cool mobile browser. The Android version of Firefox offers a lot of the same add-ons you may be using for your desktop Firefox making the download to your Android a good choice.
Dolphin HD
Dolphin HD is a feature-packed Android browser that gives desktop browsers a run for their money. You can download extensions to customize Dolphin HD to create your ultimate mobile web browsing choice.
Music
Music lovers will be happy to see there is another choice to using Google Music
Conclusion
Google is awesome at what they do but too much of a good thing can be bad. Sure,by putting all of your information in one spot, you can make your life easier, but if you aren’t comfortable with every bit of your life being in one place, know there are other options while still using an Android device.
Trevor is a freelance writer covering topics ranging from the Android OS to free web and desktop applications. When he is not writing about mobile productivity, He is coaching and playing the world’s greatest game… Soccer.
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