Dad got a spanking new Samsung Galaxy Core Prime as a gift recently and wanted me to help him set it up. He wanted a data plan activated and his corporate email, Twitter, and LinkedIn setup on the device. Getting a data plan from his network was the easy part. How to install the apps he requested for was the trickier part. You see, dad does not have a Gmail account, which Google Play requires for app downloads and updates.
Solution? A third party Android app store. My choice? 1Mobile Market:
1Mobile Market currently has over 1.6 million Android apps and games. In a few minutes, I had 1Mobile Market installed and was able to install twitter and LinkedIn on the phone. Of course, you can also try any of the other available third party Android app stores.
Email: The Galaxy Core Prime runs Android 4.4.4 Kitkat, which still has the Gmail and Email apps separate. I setup his corporate email in the Email app and banished the Gmail app out of sight. If your Android device runs Lollipop, the new Gmail app is where to setup ALL email accounts. There is no more standalone Email app there.
See? You can use an Android smartphone whether or not you have a Gmail account. Of course, this works for tablets too.
The post How to use an Android phone without a Gmail account appeared first on Mobility Arena.