Fail,fail, fail........Can anyone help a dumbo?

[Dollybird]

I was given a beautiful new Xiaomi 2S straight from China, the only problem is I have no idea how to set it up and start using it. I have spent days going from one site to another on my computer but I am still no closer to doing what I want.
I inserted my old Sim card and expected to get my whole list of contacts, not so, only three appeared.
I want to use Google but I am unable to download the App.
Do I have to connect my Phone to the computer with the USB cord? When do I use this cord?
I want to be able to send and receive emails and text messages
I would like to have the local weather displayed
It would be nice to be able to use the GPS
I have so many questions but if I can get help with these things I may be able to work out how to do other things.
My old phone was not very sophisticated and it was mainly used for making telephone calls, but hey, I can already do this on my new phone if I use the keypad, which I have to do owing to my phone book having disappeared.
Oh, one more thing. Photos that I thought were on my sim card seem to have disappeared too........ are they recoverable or are they somewhere in the universe?
I am srry to be such a dumbo.
Thank you most graciously in advance to anyone who can offer me some help
Dollybird

 

[Giangiva]

Hello,

I don't know which phone you had before, but in any case, the photos are NOT in the sim card: they are on the phone.
Most likely, also the contacts you had in the old phone were only on the phone.
I guess the only three you see now were in the sim card.
If you enabled some sort of "sync" with google or with any other provider of such a service, you might be able to retrieve your contacts and/or your photos from that provider, but first you have to install the same apps you originally used to store your data on internet (most likely just google apps is all you need).
If you just got your phone from China, you'll have the original software on it (MIUI) which doesn't contain any google app.
I would suggest you to download and install the latest miuiandroid from this site:
http://xiaomi.eu/community/threads/miui-multi-lang-3-10-18.22426/
The above link is for the multilanguage version (it contains many more languages than just chinese and english): I don't know which is your mother language, if it is english you might want to download the english only version.
You have to rename the downloaded file to update.zip and copy it in the sdcard of your new phone.
Then, go in the recovery, wipe everything and then flash this update.zip.
If you don't have a clue of what I'm talking about, then it's maybe better if you ask some help from a more skilled friend.
After you installed this new software, you'll be able to add your google account and (hopefully) get back your contacts and (possibly) your pictures.

 

[linuxx]

Try Ariestoolkit, it helps you installing the first things, like a New updated rom, root and recovery

 

[Dollybird]

Thank you to Giangiva and Linuxx for trying to help me, your assistance is appreciated but a bit beyond me. I guess this site is far too advanced for me and for that matter so is my new Xiaomi 2S.
I have arrived at the point where I cam make and recieve telephone calls and I guess thet is the most important thing for me.
I eventually downloaded Google, indeed I downloaded it three times and I wonder if some kind soul will tell me how to get rid of two of the the icons (I have three) My phone records and photos appear to be gone but I will keep looking.
I do not want to be a nuisance, but I nwould be glad if somebody would tell me when I should connect the phone to the computer with the USB cord, or if you like, what is it for?
I am nearly eighty years old but I am very determined and I will work my way thru this. I just wish I had started earlier.
Thank you.
Dollybird.

 

[Coldbird]

80 years and on the internet? I wish my grand parents were like that. Good luck.

Gesendet von meinem MI 2 mit Tapatalk

 

[mephistozap]

To get rid of unwanted apps hold your finger on the app til you see a trash can appear on the top screen and you drag it to the trash can and let go. Doing this uninstalls the app.
About your USB cable you plug it into your computer to hook your phone up to it to transfer files such as photos videos etc.

Good luck and any other questions feel free to ask

Sent from my MI 2 using Tapatalk

 

[deini]

About your contacts, you can take your old phone and try to export contacts to a .vcf file; usually it can be done on every phone (at least on every smartphone) from the menu in contacts.
Then you can copy the .vcf file from your old phone to your Xiaomi and then select "import contacts from a file" .