Use of the resolution - font sizes, dpi etc - G3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi,
I've just got my G3 - switched from a Nexus 4, and before that I've had a range of budget Android offerings. I'm loving the device so far, but one thing was really bugging me. We have a huge resolution - great, for me thats best put to use by displaying more information on the screen (Hi def youtube videos are all well and good, but not of that much interest to me) - so why isn't it using it?
A bit of fiddling revealed that for some reason it was set to use huge fonts - why did they do that? Turning it down to minimum helps with the search/browser issue, but still the rest of the interface doesn't seem to be scaled to take advantage of all those pixels.
I'm using Apex launcher - been using it since the early days when you really needed a third party launcher so have go used to it, but that lets me use a much bigger grid, and scale the icons to something more appropriate.
Is there anything else I can do though? I'd rather not have to fiddle with build.prop, or have to install Paranoid Android (If that ever becomes an option). The notification area seems very chunky in particular.
I guess maybe it is all a design decision - Windows has gone for big chunky controls, probably showing my age. More of a command line guy!
Carl

agree on the notifications especiallly
I just came from an M8 and this screen is bigger, much higher res, and yet less information on the screen. Seems very daft.

Related

Awesome Resolution = tiny everything!

So I of course love the 720p HD resolution on my SGN, however it drives me NUTS how many things appear to be extremely small- text in many apps, certain buttons in certain apps (e.g. the top navigation button in official Twitter app), notifications in top of the tray, etc.
I know you can adjust the size of system font but it doesn't impact all apps and doesn't impact notification tray icons, app UI elements, etc.
Does this bother anyone else? Has anyone tinkered with adjusting density via an app or build.prop? Any feedback? My concern is that doing this often causes negative impacts in certain UI elements...
Things aren't small enough at all. I couldn't disagree more. Seems like the high res is almost a waste.
eallan said:
Things aren't small enough at all. I couldn't disagree more. Seems like the high res is almost a waste.
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Click to collapse
Hmm interesting.... maybe it's because I'm coming from SGS2 in which everything was much larger due to the lower resolution being scaled/stretched up to fit the massive 4.52" screen. I know it leads to poorer rendering and pixelation, but was never really that noticeable (until placed side by side with my SGN).
Would still love any feedback if anyone has toyed with density...
You have to also take into account many apps aren't created for ICS. I feel some display elements may have changed from GB to ICS for phones
I think you're right in that you are just use to seeing a small resolution on a big screen and aren't use to the HD display.
Accessibility -> Large Text is always an option for those aging owners
lol...i wonder what the op would say to the fact that i use 240 dpi instead of the stock 320. my launcher is 6x6 w/search and my app drawer is 7x6. i find the stock 320 very big and a complete waste of the resolution.
ps-reduce google books font size to the minimum, you would be surprised at how tiny it gets, even more surprised at the fact that it is still crystal clear to your eye. the resolution is truly amazing!!
eallan said:
Things aren't small enough at all. I couldn't disagree more. Seems like the high res is almost a waste.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree completely. There was actually a comparison on Android Police and the galaxy nexus showed less on screen than the atrix, despite it being higher resolution and a larger screen. Everything is way too big on the nexus and it's a huge waste of screen space.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
jamontoast1291 said:
I agree completely. There was actually a comparison on Android Police and the galaxy nexus showed less on screen than the atrix, despite it being higher resolution and a larger screen. Everything is way too big on the nexus and it's a huge waste of screen space.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. Not understandable how they could get to this...
Try using 240dpi like myself instead of 320dpi .

What a boring Sunday, I'ma make a long post to kill time.

I'm gonna talk about my one week+ old HOX, and like always, I have a lot to say.
To start with, my last phone was the Omnia II, and it was a piece of ****. I had no idea someone was capable of producing something so stupid I'm just totally shocked I mostly used it as a regular phone+music player. It sucked mainly because of the WM6.5 OS, its just funny how someone could even sell such a thing and call it a smartphone. Firstly the performance sucks and it's obvious, nothing goes beyond 10fps in WM6.5, you'd be lucky to get over 5. The music player playlist scrolls at about 3fps, the keyboard has a half second to one second lag, the browser runs at about 0.8fps, it is a full featured browser but you can barely browse the most plain mobile sites. With performance like this, multitasking can kiss my ass, how about get any single task done right before you can multitask? That resistive touchscreen also sucked, I was stupid I didn't do enough research to know the difference. Why would you have a phone screen that is NOT covered with glass? Why? Ignoring the obvious hardness differences, it sucks when those reflections on my screen are distorted, I wanna see a perfect mirror reflection, I'm a perfectionist ok? And of course there are about three apps for WM. I know there are more but they look like windows 95 and has tiny ui elements designed for styluses so they don't count. And those ones that look like windows XP or with lame 3d themes, SPB shell or some ****, those don't count as well.
Look at iPhone! That's how it should be done, everything must be perfectly smooth period. If its not smooth it's not even worth mentioning I don't care how many features you have. iPhone 4 really kicked android in the ass with that retina display. I still don't get it, even today people are releasing phones with this "qHD" resolution, wtf? That's just laughable it's lower than a phone released two years ago! With a much smaller screen! Really? Who's gonna accept that? Sometimes they even call it their "flagship" product, gimme a break. 720p is the minimum period.
So just a few weeks ago I was struggling to decide between the iPhone 4s, HOX the S3, and Sony's yet to be released waterproof 1.5ghz dual core phone. I can't wait for the Sony because iPhone 5 is coming out by the time they release it so that's out of the question. I already have the iPad so I decided to try out an android phone, already got a taste of iOS. I picked the HOX and here is why.
The Galaxy S III isn't as good looking as the HOX to begein with. Maybe Samsung has been having too many problems with patents their design is severely compromised it looks like a really cheap phone but obviously with latest technologies like that screen and its thickness. That bottom part looks really bad it reminds me of a really ugly version of the Omnia II, it looks so 2006 if you unrest and what I mean. That top part also look really bad with those obvious holes for sensors and cameras, they should be hidden like on the HOX. The back side and the rim also look like a very cheep phone but thinner and bigger.
The galaxy s3 screen is also bigger I think, but with the same resolution which makes its bigger size a negative fetus because it's harder to use. Oh wait, in fact it's of a lower resolution because of that pentile ****, it only has 2/3 the number of sub pixels as the HOX. The amoled display is vibrant but that's not equivalent to good because it's too vibrant and the colors are inaccurate. Take a look at a professional display review of the s3 all three primaries are way off they are over saturated. White balance is non existent it's too blue and sometimes green it hurts my eyes. The amoled display is also far dimmer than the HOX, doesn't bother me much but it's also a down point.
The S3 is slightly faster and has a bigger battery. But the Sense UI also look better and no I'm not a fan of flashing ROMs anymore. Honestly I don't give a **** about performance as long as it's smooth I'm happy, and I don't play 3d games at all. I saw this review concluding the s3 has a mich much battery life, I don't know what to say about their stupidity, it must have been tough finding someone to do that video review with a straight face. They test battery life by playing a video that's basically a static image, on max screen brightness. Ok to start with, the HOX has a much brighter screen, in fact, 60% brighter if I remember correctly. So the HOX shouldn't be competing on max brightness. It should be on 60%. Secondly that S3 has a freakin amoled display how can you compare that with an LCD? That stupid video they use is mostly dark blue with a small rainbow so the total display output of an oled display displaying that image is probably less than 33%. So, we should have the HOX's screen brightness decreased by another 66% down to 20% max brightness to be fair. Or, we should have a video with realistic scenarios like full white google home pages. But of course, the s3 with a bigger battery and it's more advanced processor is probably better on battery life in any case, just not by THAT much.
But that battery life advantage doesn't nearly compare with the HOX's much better looking unibody and its solid feel. HOX's better camera quality and speed. HOX's studio quality display, I just wish that display is 10-bit, cuz sometimes you see banding. Beats Audio is mostly advertising but it's not a bad addition.
However, using the HOX for a week, I found a couple of problems with android phones. For example, they're never ashamed of releasing unfinished products are they? How come LWP pauses when I swipe between home screens? Wtf is that all about? Releasing a feature that's partly or completely useless? It's not too bothering on non-parallax and slow LWPs, but that's not the best part of having a LWP is it? That's a big one but there are also some small ones like the photo stack widget, it resets to the first picture all the time. I can't uninstall useless ****s like google+, showme, latitude, local, locations, navigation, car.... I mean do we not have enough navigation apps already? I don't even think you can uninstall the setup wizard. In iOS you can't uninstall newsstand or reminder but at least you can hide them in a folder and their icons look really good, much better than "show me" at least. The system also doesn't come with a file manager, I wonder how youre supposed to empty your download folder, do you just let it eat up all your storage? And oh, the three dots of death, not too bothering, but it just leaves you thinking if HTC even test their phone, might as well just not have any of the touch buttons so I can feel lest wasteful?
and honestly, I don't like android's multitask system, because you don't know what's running and what's not running. In iOS you always know nothing is running, you don't worry about battery life. But in android they could all be running for all I know, but sometimes I also want an app to run in the background. There should be a better way to manage that. Like having a multitask bar like iOS, have most apps go on save state, but you can allow certain apps to run a background process which could be independently managed from save state. So I don't have to either kill an app or let it eat my battery.
Overall, I'm still really satisfied with the device. It's generally as smooth as the iPhone, browser performance is on par with the iPad2 which is good enough. Audio performance is also good with my Etymotic Research MC-5. And the screen is just a treat sometimes I press the power button just to see the beautiful screen showing my wallpaper. And the unibody, it feels much better than the S3 glossy plastic.
thx for this objective review
all ur info r 100% spot on
enjoy the hox, upcoming update that we have it leaked will solve the 3dot menu and 90% if the bugs also boost performance by a good margin (real performance not benchs)
yea too bad HTC made a very big mistake
they worked so hard for such a great device and total reboot for them but then shot themselves in the foot by rushing it out as they were worried about the s3 but it really had the opposite effect many of the early new comer adopters jumped ship (1.26 was a disaster)
speaking of the s3 my employer shares all ur points and he is dying to switch it with the hox
starting from ICS you can disable system apps (not all but most of them, maps and google+ for sure for example, and they bother you... like they bother me, lol)
just dont update them and from application's settings tap "disable" and they'll disappear from launcher (i guess it just "chmod -r" the apk), you dont have to be rooted for that
i've picked mine yesterday, used and bought 06-29 but the owner wanted to try the S3 and payed it a good price... it's awesome, no wifi issues of yellowish screen.
so far i'm really entusiastic...
jacobgong said:
But of course, the s3 with a bigger battery and it's more advanced processor is probably better on battery life in any case, just not by THAT much.
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Click to collapse
Great write up. And your bottom line conclusion's spot on. No phone is perfect. You compare the good against the bad against what's important to you and decide from there. No one's "wrong" in picking any of the phones you mentioned if it's "right" for them. After using the phone for a couple of months now there are some things that I'd like to see done differently and make me wonder what HTC was thinking. Then there's things that are so well done and seem so intuitive that they just make me smile. I just played a two hour and forty minute movie using HTC Watch via Media Link and not only did it work flawlessly in 720p, it only consumed 20% of my battery. The fact that a phone, any phone, can now do that is pretty amazing.
As for battery life. Exynos Quad is highly overrated; that or Teg3 is underrated. Comparing the One X to the SGS3 and adjusting for the differences in battery size, the One X actually performs better than the SGS3 in all but video playback where the darks of the content favor AMOLED. It's meaningless in real life because of the smaller fixed battery in the One X, but HTC, Nvidia, or both deserve a lot of credit for extracting that type of efficiency from a chip that's not exactly modern.
Enjoy your new phone...
But for some reason HTC decided you shouldn't be able to disable Google+ or show me, or setup wizard. While you can disable Facebook and YouTube.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
jacobgong said:
But for some reason HTC decided you shouldn't be able to disable Google+ or show me, or setup wizard. While you can disable Facebook and YouTube.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uninstall updates then you can disable.

First Impressions.

Surprise no one did a first impressions thread yet lol.
In here we give our first impressions of the phone so far like your opinion on the performance, screen, sound, camera, build quality, battery life etc.
First I'll like to say that the build quality is amazing. Coming from an epic 4G, I am not sure if my words have any strength but it just feels so nice. It looks very sexy as well. I can't stop staring at it lol.
This is the best screen I have ever seen. It is so sharp and detail in a way I would have never expected. I personally liked the over saturated colors on Samsung's amoled screens but this screen made me feel as if it was too cartoony looking now.
As for performance, I feel like reviewers gave me false expectations. Don't get me wrong, this is a super fast phone but people made it seemed like there would be no lag at all but I notice occasionally hiccups. Note that this is a minor complaint because for most of the time, this is a very smooth experience. The quadcore processor makes this phone a beast!
Battery life has surpassed my expectations. The standby time is great for me. I can use this phone heavily, stop using it and barely experience a drain. Eco mode helps and it charges fast as well.
I came from an Epic 4G so even the cons of the phone is a pro for me since everything is an upgrade. I have nothing but praise for this phone.
latindor17 said:
Surprise no one did a first impressions thread yet lol.
In here we give our first impressions of the phone so far like your opinion on the performance, screen, sound, camera, build quality, battery life etc.
First I'll like to say that the build quality is amazing. Coming from an epic 4G, I am not sure if my words have any strength but it just feels so nice. It looks very sexy as well. I can't stop staring at it lol.
This is the best screen I have ever seen. It is so sharp and detail in a way I would have never expected. I personally liked the over saturated colors on Samsung's amoled screens but this screen made me feel as if it was too cartoony looking now.
As for performance, I feel like reviewers gave me false expectations. Don't get me wrong, this is a super fast phone but people made it seemed like there would be no lag at all but I notice occasionally hiccups. Note that this is a minor complaint because for most of the time, this is a very smooth experience. The quadcore processor makes this phone a beast!
Battery life has surpassed my expectations. The standby time is great for me. I can use this phone heavily, stop using it and barely experience a drain. Eco mode helps and it charges fast as well.
I came from an Epic 4G so even the cons of the phone is a pro for me since everything is an upgrade. I have nothing but praise for this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with your statements. I also do notice small occasional hiccups which are most likely software related. Hopefully LG will address this in a future update or Jelly Bean release.
Camera is pretty much the only complaint I have about the phone. It's really disappointing. Another software issue that I hope LG will fix in the future.
I just played with one 10 minutes ago at the Sprint store and walked away thoroughly impressed. Loved the sleekness and the feel of the phone. Screen was amazing and the camera was awesome. The speed of the phone was blazing fast. Loved the phone. Looking forward to possibly owning one in the near future.
Beamed From My CM10 GS3
This is definitely one of the best phones available I love everything only things that could be better would be jb, aokp or cm10
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda premium
I see little bugs in lgs software sometimes but overall not issues whatsoever. My experience has been in line with everyone else as far as battery it just overheats too much. Im cool with keeping brightness at 31 but i shouldn't have to. I'm sure its the beasty processor i live with it but im hoping for an amazing jellybean ota update. Fingers crossed. .....
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda app-developers app
genaro12543 said:
I see little bugs in lgs software sometimes but overall not issues whatsoever. My experience has been in line with everyone else as far as battery it just overheats too much. Im cool with keeping brightness at 31 but i shouldn't have to. I'm sure its the beasty processor i live with it but im hoping for an amazing jellybean ota update. Fingers crossed. .....
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am seeing small bugs here and there as well. Like the home screen animations "skips" sometimes when swiping through the screens.
Or the Music player list scrolling is pretty smooth and as soon as you play a song, it becomes choppy. What's up LG? A quad-core CPU can't handle playing music and scrolling through a list?
The Korean version is expected to get Jelly Bean next month so hopefully LG and Sprint and get their stuff together and give us the update quick.
I'm coming from the SGSII (ET4G). Off the back, the build quality of this phone is amazing. The phone is beautiful and it feels great in hands. Not that I ever really had any complaints about samsung but wow, now i REALLY feel the difference. Because of sleekness though I am alot more paranoid about dropping this phone. Going to order a case today for it. The display is also great. Although its taking some time to get used to (as far as colors). Performance wise, the phone is much faster than my rooted sgs2. I have noticed a hiccup here and there but its not enough to complain about. After getting official ICS on the SGS2, there were days I just wanted to throw that phone because all the ICS builds were so buggy and battery life was horrendous. So comparing to that, ICS on the LG is great and battery is far better than what I had so it's good for me. Camera wise, I am still playing with it. The photos are okay but not great. Although, has anyone tried the video camera? As far as video is concerned I am very pleased with what I am seeing. All this phone needs is some Jelly.
I'm getting a terrible batter life on mine...down to about 5% by the end of the day. I looked in the battery info and it says Android OS is at 66% for battery use. Anyone have any idea why?
sarspants said:
I'm getting a terrible batter life on mine...down to about 5% by the end of the day. I looked in the battery info and it says Android OS is at 66% for battery use. Anyone have any idea why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get high android os usage also... averaging 8 ish hours
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda premium
Android usage is also top battery drainer for me but supposedly this display is supposed to be pretty low power? The display on my 3D absolutely destroyed battery but I'm getting a lot longer out of this phone.
My opinions pretty much reflect everyone else's. This phone is simply amazing in every way. Huge props to LG on this thing. Sleek and professional design with superb build quality, matched with a high quality screen and a fairly loud speaker. Performance is always snappy, there are very minor stutters every once in a while but such is android. 95 percent of the time it is extremely fluid though. And I actually like LG's UI and the ease of quick memo, much better than Sense.
One thing I'd like to add that I don't think I've heard anyone say yet is that the audio quality is simply amazing. Sounds SO much clearer and natural compared to my Evo (using headphones obviously).
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda premium
I got mine Thursday on my lunch break. That particular one had a problem where I could hear myself in the phone. Not an echo like you get from time to time, but almost like it was going physically through the case of the phone. 24 hours later took it back and exchanged it. The one in the store DID NOT do this and neither does the exchanged one.
Coming from a S2 Epic 4g Touch, which feel off my kitchen table and busted the screen and having to go back to my Evo, this thing flies. I absolutly love the speed. I have not fully tested out what I need it to do, but so far, I have no complaints on the performance.
The things I do dislike. No swappable battery, but this seems to be going the way of the dodo bird anyway. Hopefully the battery consumption is, as great, as they say it is. I was also dissapointed in no SD card and the ringer is crazy quiet, especially when you lay it down with the speaker down. I have never had a phone be this quiet before and the speaker was on the back as well.
Great upgrade but...
I had the HTC EVO 3D last which eventually died on me. Two strips on the phone became unresponsive (had to use predictive texting all the time m ><) and the back camera failed so every time I switched the camera it would just flip the image.
LG Optimus G
PROS
Gorgeous screen
Incredibly fast
Lots of memory space
Light weight
Thin
Beautiful construction
High res camera
Nice software usability
Amazing contact profiles
Great social integration
CONS
Searching contacts takes a long time (it searches every field)
Large white space at the keypad which SHOULD contain most recent contacts
Most recent contacts is in the history tab, a second action to dial
Clicking a user after searching their name in the keypad pastes their phone number instead of auto dials
The home widget screens sometimes lag horribly and visibly refreshes each icon
Camera has a yellow tint
Camera has a blue tint with flash
Poor reception in Atlanta?
Folders can only contain so many icons
Cannot choose picture associated with user
im10er said:
[*]Poor reception in Atlanta?
[/LIST]
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Click to collapse
You're in Atlanta, too? I've noticed, at least in my area, the only places I get 4G is when I'm in my car, on the road. Have only had the phone for a week, though, with not much traveling (just to and from work, and some shops in Edgewood and Ponce area).
My overall impression with this phone, coming from an EVO 4G, is that this thing is simply beautiful. The phone I originally purchased had color-banding issues as well as a slight backlight bleed on the top of the display (viewing a photo in fullscreen from the gallery app, without zooming, shows this bleed, I've noticed), so I took it back for a replacement. The replacement had an even worse backlight bleed in the same place. With some complaining and nagging at the store, I managed to get a second replacement which still has the backlight bleed and color-banding issue. I have since discovered that this is a manufacturing defect that exists on all Optimus G's, which is unfortunate, but I'm learning to live with it. The backlight bleed is easy to ignore, but the color-banding is very noticeable. A simple swipe down of the notifications panel will show the quick settings bar, which has a striped/banned effect on the gradient. Comparing this device's screen to others (SGSIII and iPhone 5) shows that this display is unique in this regard. Such a shame, considering all the great things about this phone.
Also, while the camera isn't flawless, it certainly isn't always trounced by Camera Zoom FX - For example, the other day I was in the coffee shop and took some sample shots with the stock camera that were too dark. Switching to Camera Zoom FX produced an over-exposed picture that wouldn't change exposure, despite metering in different areas of the viewfinder. This left me very confused. Hopefully the stock camera will be fixed (more or less) in the Jellybean Update due this December. I won't root until I get it. Haha
This phone is sex. The camera, although not always top notch, turns out good, detailed photos with very natural tones. I adore this display. I like Samsung's super amoled, so I didn't quite know what to expect, yet this display has stunned me with a warm variety of natural colors.
I personally love the stock keyboard. I had bought swiftkey on my Nexus S and assumed I would need it for this phone as well, but I have been impressed with the stock keyboard to a tremendous extent.
Now, a complaint I do have is regarding the temperature of this processing beast. It tends to run hot. Which sometimes prevents me from putting the screen at 100% brightness. I was a bit shocked, but it seems a small price to pay for a quad core processor and a huge screen.
This is a very nice phone. Love it.
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda app-developers app
im10er said:
I had the HTC EVO 3D last which eventually died on me. Two strips on the phone became unresponsive (had to use predictive texting all the time m ><) and the back camera failed so every time I switched the camera it would just flip the image.
LG Optimus G
PROS
Gorgeous screen
Incredibly fast
Lots of memory space
Light weight
Thin
Beautiful construction
High res camera
Nice software usability
Amazing contact profiles
Great social integration
CONS
Searching contacts takes a long time (it searches every field)
Large white space at the keypad which SHOULD contain most recent contacts
Most recent contacts is in the history tab, a second action to dial
Clicking a user after searching their name in the keypad pastes their phone number instead of auto dials
The home widget screens sometimes lag horribly and visibly refreshes each icon
Camera has a yellow tint
Camera has a blue tint with flash
Poor reception in Atlanta?
Folders can only contain so many icons
Cannot choose picture associated with user
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try contact sync from play store. You can use contacts fb pic as contact pic.. If I'm not mistaken ever since 4.0 Facebook stopped allowing to sync FB contacts to mobile contacts
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda premium
this phone is pretty g
so i have been waiting to get an upgrade since march... i was on a blackberry 8530 and it was falling apart. through the months i managed to bypass the evo lte for the gsIII, then to be later completely let down by that device. i guess it came down to value, i couldnt see myself spending 200 bucks for either of these phones so i continued to wait. come october i hear the specs for the OG and it seemed like it was going to be the phone that the gsIII should have been. quad core, 13 mp shooter, and 2 gb ram... epic. I knew the phone was going to come out for 200, compared to the evo lte for about 100 and the sg3III for about 150 regular price. Expecting for there to be deals on these phones, I was still debating on making the purchase for 200 and not too just wait for a price drop. When I saw the preorder price of 150 I got pretty damn excited. heres a phone that just came out for the same price as the sgIII, with better specs. Well I ended up having to wait a little longer for a discover card that I had just been approved for. Come last week I see the best buy price... $100, no freaking way. I got my card walked in the best buy with confidence at made my purchase, actually got one for my dad too. So yeah anyways after one week I have come to some of the same conclusions as the rest of you guys.
Build quality/screen: The phone looks and feels fantastic. This screen is great, I put a couple hd .mkv's and they run so smooth and look so good. I can even play them as a text!
The OS: ICS seems to run with few hiccups, and LG's skin is pleasing. But yeah everything is so smooth and accessible. Apps load so quick. I dont know how much of this is just because its my first android phone or the phone itself. I notice some of you all noticed the stutter when swiping through the home screen menus. I got this alot, especially when exiting apps or switching to landscape mode. I think I found a semi-solution by switching the scroll effect to carousel. It seems much more smooth to play with. I have also noticed the lag when scrolling through longer menus, like in the music app while scrolling through songs. I have a hard time believing this is not a software issue, the cpu and ram on this phone should run those things like butter. Also i think this is a glitch ive experienced like 3 times. I'll be sending a text, usually a long one, and suddenly the delete key gets stuck or something. I cant do anything except sit there and watch my message get deleted. Its super frustrating. It seems to stick even after, backspacing any new character I type. I think I have to exit out and return to the message for it to actually stop.
The battery: I dont know if I'm satisfied. I haven't tried it standby with music for very long, but it seems to drop pretty quick on with normal use. Ive been playing around with leaving wifi off, or on with the data, and either way it still seems pretty draining. Im not even at full brightness. Im really worried how long this thing will last watching movies or playing games. Android is at 44% right now. Also its a shame it isn't removable.
Temp: The phone can get pretty hot also. There is actually a spot, on or right under the logo on the back that actually can get intolerable at times. Maybe it only happens when using the phone while charging, but it was still surprising. The rest of the phone stays pretty cool
The camera: From what I've taken, I'm pretty happy. I like the "cheese shutter" feature for taking self portraits with the main camera. It is weak in low light, but isnt every phone camers? One issue that exists is the flash and the actual taking of the photo seem out of sync. I can't tell if its just me, but I get fulled when the actual photo is snapped, especially when the screen shows a photo right before the flash. I'm sure this could be solved with future updates.
The RAM: Yeah there are two gigs, but I seem to always have around one being used. Even with all tasks stopped, I can't get it under ~960mb in use. It was actually around 1.07gb until I did a restart. I dont know if this is all being sucked up by ICS, but should I be worried?
Storage: Im really upset over the absence of microsd slot, but I knew about that before I made my purchase. I mean 32gb built in is quite a bit more than what comes standard in other phones. I have no idea how people survive with an 8gb iphone, to me with some high quality music and bigger apps, that memory will vanish. I have noticed, though, on the stock file manager, the main directory is "/mnt/sdcard". This is pretty suspicious. I'm wondering if there actually is a card slot, but we just can't access it? Has anyone opened her up to see?
Overall: I love it, and at $100 I can't complain. I am looking forward to the Jelly Bean update or to possibly rooting the device to run a custom rom. Either way great phone!
PS. This is my first post. I wouldnt have registered if I didnt have so much to say.
Mrichelo said:
I managed to get a second replacement which still has the backlight bleed and color-banding issue. I have since discovered that this is a manufacturing defect that exists on all Optimus G's, which is unfortunate, but I'm learning to live with it. The backlight bleed is easy to ignore, but the color-banding is very noticeable. A simple swipe down of the notifications panel will show the quick settings bar, which has a striped/banned effect on the gradient. Comparing this device's screen to others (SGSIII and iPhone 5) shows that this display is unique in this regard. Such a shame, considering all the great things about this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hate it when people say what I'm about to say, but I'm saying it - I have none of these problems. There is no gradient on my quick settings bar. It's solid gray with no banding anywhere. With photos, I've got several with totally black or dark edges around the entire frame and I see no light bleed. My wife has the same phone and doesn't have these issues, either. Not trying to diminish your problem because it's obviously a problem. Only reason I'm saying it is that I haven't read anywhere that these are manufacturing defects.
@mosesjohn, That was a nice post, enjoyed reading through it. About the ram thing, I experience the same thing and I find it quite odd. When I had my Epic 4G using Jellybean, over half of my 512GB of ram was being use so to find that this phone is using half 2GB shocked me. I assumed that android just reserves a certain percentage of ram kinda like all OS reserves memory in a HDD/SSD. Either that of LG's UI is taking up a lot of resources.
Kchitown1977 said:
Try contact sync from play store. You can use contacts fb pic as contact pic.. If I'm not mistaken ever since 4.0 Facebook stopped allowing to sync FB contacts to mobile contacts
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can merge/join contacts if you log into LG Social+. I'm able to get FB photos for contacts (as well as their social statuses). Though, I wish the auto-suggest worked better. Took me a while to get all my contacts linked right.
latindor17 said:
@mosesjohn, That was a nice post, enjoyed reading through it. About the ram thing, I experience the same thing and I find it quite odd. When I had my Epic 4G using Jellybean, over half of my 512GB of ram was being use so to find that this phone is using half 2GB shocked me. I assumed that android just reserves a certain percentage of ram kinda like all OS reserves memory in a HDD/SSD. Either that of LG's UI is taking up a lot of resources.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks!
about the ram... it helps knowing im not alone. it might just be that ICS likes to utilize whatever it can, without taking up more than half of the ram. I mean its going to be really hard to use 1 gb of ram with apps/games, and if ICS runs smoother because it uses the rest, fine by me. I just hope its as efficient as possible, without sacrificing performance.

This phone deserves more attention (rant)

I own the Optimus G Pro (AT&T) as well as the HTC One and Galaxy S4. I love them all in different ways, but I find myself returning to the G Pro more often.
My Note II felt too big and the lack of one-handed utility used to get to me. I don't feel that way about my G Pro. It's still too big for many one-handed tasks, but fits much better in my hand.
I don't know if it's a lack of advertising push on LGs part, disinterest by bloggers in general, or what, but this phone, much like the Optimus G is at a serious disadvantage when it comes to:
Accessories
Dev Support
Reviews/News coverage
There isn't even a lot of activity in XDA for this device. It's sad to me, because it's an excellent device. So, let me tell you what my favorite things about this phone are:
I love the SMS popup in the upper left corner. It's a small thing, but it's done well and I find it useful
I like the screen real estate, much as I did on my Note 2, but in a smaller package and 1080p
Unlike the GS4, there's virtually no lag. The UI is smooth, second only to the HTC One
Video compression - I love that if you want to send a video through MMS, you get the option to "trim" it, but you don't have to. It will simply compress it to the maximum allowable size for MMS, much like iOS. No other Android device does this and it's a great feature if you like to share videos over MMS and the quality isn't super important.
Notification light- The notification light on this thing is awesome and hard to miss. On my HTC one, it's pretty hard to see sometimes and it randomly just stops blinking even if I haven't checked the notification.
Wireless charging out of the box (AT&T) without adding a bulky back that makes it incompatible with cases (looking at you, GS4).
Quickmemo. I find this much more useful. First of all, it's instant, unlike the Note 2. Second, not having to remove the styllus makes it much more convenient. I use it to take screenshots of things I want to show people and circle them. Very handy.
Overall, the only thing I would really change is the camera quality. I wish it were a little better. I even like LG's skin okay. It adds more to the Android experience than it ruins.
Let keep it here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2273275&page=29

Any former Pixel/Nexus owners here?

Hello all,
I'm currently rocking a Pixel XL and I'm absolutely itching for an upgrade. I'm also a Project Fi user, which limits my choices on which phones I can use. I love the performance of my Pixel XL, along with the vanilla Android experience. Unfortunately, my Pixel XL purchase was a bit of a rushed decision due to me breaking my Nexus 5X the day before I took a road trip. I ran out to Best Buy and snagged this phone, which, while it's a great device, is a bit too wide of a phone for my liking. One handed use is a bit cumbersome. Not a dealbreaker, I don't regret my purchase one bit, but now that I'm looking to upgrade, I'd like to get something a bit smaller. Last year I helped a family member of mine phone shop and they landed on the LG G6. Even though it has a bigger screen than my PXL (6.0" > 5.5") it felt smaller in the hands, which I really liked. So, when Project Fi announced that the LG G7 ThinQ was coming to their network, I was naturally very curious.
Things that appeal to me about this phone
Headphone Jack (with the Quad DAC)
SD Card Slot
Loud Speakers
Bright Screen
Wireless Charging
Better Screen-to-Body ratio while remaining slightly smaller than my current phone.
Detractors
Skinned OS (No app drawer?)
Small(er) battery
Less-than-stellar Camera
Non-OLED screen
I would've pulled the trigger already but I'm also curious about the new Pixel phones being released 3-4 months from now. From leaked information it looks like the new XL will be too big of a phone, but the regular Pixel 3 is supposed to be nearly what I'd consider a perfect size (much like my N5X was). Other than that we don't know too much about the new phones to know whether or not they'll be worth waiting for but I'm willing to wager there will be a huge price tag associated with them. So I'm still very much on the fence.
So, I figured some input from former Pixel or Nexus owners who have moved on to this device would prove to be very helpful in my purchase decision.
Any input is appreciated, Thanks!
I have had the N5X, pixel, pixel xl, pixel 2 xl, and like you prefer AOSP. I have found the G7 to be acceptable through use of nova launcher with the companion app for Google now. I also like the ability to have themes, I have found a material black theme that is very well done and a whole lot better than the bright colors of AOSP.
The battery has been a little inconsistent for me but seems to have settled down, now easily getting me through a long day. The camera is no pixel, although the wide angle is neat. Overall I like the g7 over the pixel 2 xl or pixel, although my dream phone would be an essential phone 2 (assuming the problems with the ph1 were solved) as even the g7 is a bit bigger than I want.
As far as "unthemed" Android phones go, I had the Nexus S, Moto X, Nexus 4, and Nexus 6P before getting the G7. I was hoping to wait for the Pixel 3 or potentially the Motorola One Power with AndroidOne, but since the volume rocker on my 6P was damaged (and the battery life was declining fast), I grabbed the G7 deal on Verizon. One thing I will say is if I was not on Verizon, I almost certainly would have picked up a OnePlus 6 instead. That being said, to address your detractor points:
Skinned OS - the built-in launcher DOES have an app drawer version, it's just not set by default. Otherwise, I've been using Lawnchair V2 that has Google Feed integration without a companion app.
Small(er) battery - haven't had any problems with battery life so far; I usually end the day anywhere between 50% (low usage) and 20% (extremely high usage). However, I would be surprised if anyone was able to consistently hit two days between charges.
Less-than-stellar camera - I'm not very picky on the camera, but I have noticed it is just a hair slower to open than my wife's Galaxy S8 (using double-tap power button). Image quality is good; I'd say it's better than my 6P was. I never use the AI Cam. The wide-angle lens is neat, but I haven't found a lot of use for it in day-to-day pictures.
Non-OLED screen - I haven't noticed this as much as I thought I would, even with Ambient Display turned on. The times that I do notice the LCD display is just before bed, if the lights are all off and Ambient Display hasn't turned off (I set mine to turn off from 11:00pm - 6:00am), you can see some light coming from the black portions of the screen. Overall, not a dealbreaker for me.
I'll add a few more points regarding the skinned OS concern:
The phone app is the most annoying part of the skin. I miss Google Dialer, and it's actually an app I use very regularly.
Lots of bloatware. I disabled/uninstalled almost everything, and replaced a lot with Google's apps (e.g., Calendar, Messages).
Settings is another heavily modified portion of the OS. However, in this case, I actually like LG's tabbed settings; I think it's more intuitive to navigate.
CaptainElwood said:
I have had the N5X, pixel, pixel xl, pixel 2 xl, and like you prefer AOSP. I have found the G7 to be acceptable through use of nova launcher with the companion app for Google now. I also like the ability to have themes, I have found a material black theme that is very well done and a whole lot better than the bright colors of AOSP.
The battery has been a little inconsistent for me but seems to have settled down, now easily getting me through a long day. The camera is no pixel, although the wide angle is neat. Overall I like the g7 over the pixel 2 xl or pixel, although my dream phone would be an essential phone 2 (assuming the problems with the ph1 were solved) as even the g7 is a bit bigger than I want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Themes are a huge plus. The eye-murdering bright white "Material" design is getting old very fast. As for the camera, I'm not a huge picture guy, but I do still find myself quite impressed with my Pixel's camera whenever I snap a quick photo. Would you say that you don't quite have the same reaction when taking pictures with your G7?
jeffwyeh said:
As far as "unthemed" Android phones go, I had the Nexus S, Moto X, Nexus 4, and Nexus 6P before getting the G7. I was hoping to wait for the Pixel 3 or potentially the Motorola One Power with AndroidOne, but since the volume rocker on my 6P was damaged (and the battery life was declining fast), I grabbed the G7 deal on Verizon. One thing I will say is if I was not on Verizon, I almost certainly would have picked up a OnePlus 6 instead. That being said, to address your detractor points:
Skinned OS - the built-in launcher DOES have an app drawer version, it's just not set by default. Otherwise, I've been using Lawnchair V2 that has Google Feed integration without a companion app.
Small(er) battery - haven't had any problems with battery life so far; I usually end the day anywhere between 50% (low usage) and 20% (extremely high usage). However, I would be surprised if anyone was able to consistently hit two days between charges.
Less-than-stellar camera - I'm not very picky on the camera, but I have noticed it is just a hair slower to open than my wife's Galaxy S8 (using double-tap power button). Image quality is good; I'd say it's better than my 6P was. I never use the AI Cam. The wide-angle lens is neat, but I haven't found a lot of use for it in day-to-day pictures.
Non-OLED screen - I haven't noticed this as much as I thought I would, even with Ambient Display turned on. The times that I do notice the LCD display is just before bed, if the lights are all off and Ambient Display hasn't turned off (I set mine to turn off from 11:00pm - 6:00am), you can see some light coming from the black portions of the screen. Overall, not a dealbreaker for me.
I'll add a few more points regarding the skinned OS concern:
The phone app is the most annoying part of the skin. I miss Google Dialer, and it's actually an app I use very regularly.
Lots of bloatware. I disabled/uninstalled almost everything, and replaced a lot with Google's apps (e.g., Calendar, Messages).
Settings is another heavily modified portion of the OS. However, in this case, I actually like LG's tabbed settings; I think it's more intuitive to navigate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Appreciate the detailed reply!
Looks like you've echoed much of what reviewers have said as well in regards to battery life and camera. As I stated above, Camera quality isn't os the utmost importance but I do really like a fast shutter speed and I enjoy when a regular picture I take comes out great thanks to the sensor in my Pixel. If the G7 isn't capable of this, that will be a bit of a letdown, but not necessarily a dealbreaker. Backlight bleed is kind of expected with an IPS panel, it shouldn't be much of an issue. I do like that it gets extremely bright for daytime use. I totally forgot about third party launchers, which would alleviate my concerns about the lack of an app drawer or anything else almost completely. It's disappointing to hear about the bloatware, but at least you can disable or uninstall most of it and use the Google alternatives if need be.
It sounds like I should wait to see if Root and Bootloader Unlocking becomes a thing on the US version of this phone. If I could snag this device, unlock, root it, and flash an AOSP ROM I'd be very tempted to pull the trigger. These things take time, and time I have. The Pixels aren't being released until the end of October to begin with.
with substratum and andromeda i was able to theme the whole system black, including notifications. theming not an issue.
no camera will be as good as google's software allows the pixel to be. if you want the best camera, stick with pixel. everything else is second, including samsung and apple.
WaxysDargle said:
with substratum and andromeda i was able to theme the whole system black, including notifications. theming not an issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another option if you don't want to use Substratum and Andromeda and are willing to pay a couple bucks: there is a thread with apps by NNG (I think?) that uses the LG theme engine that has a pretty good dark material/Pixel theme. I'm too lazy right now to use Andromeda (I know, I know...) but may go back and give it a shot if I get tired of the LG theme.
One more data point: the camera is still much, MUCH faster than my Nexus 6P was near the end of its life, so it's been a huge step up for me. Something that I did notice and have seen mentioned a couple times elsewhere is that certain photo modes take a little more time to save the picture. I've lost 2 food pictures this way when I closed the camera to quickly after using food mode and snapping a picture. Make sure you give it some time! I haven't noticed this when using the auto mode though (have not tired with AI cam or other modes).
Ok your pros list is spot on with this phone speaker and dac are phenomenal, I'll try to clear up the cons no OLED does suck but it's honestly not that bad. it's a really good display and gets bright as hell, the camera is pretty good (I do some photography in my spare time but to broke to get a real camera) probably not as good as a pixel but it holds it own I'd say give it some time it will probably get a Gcam port (hopefully) battery has been great I haven't had any problems. The skinned OS, LG UX isn't the best but it's not that bad and after throwing on a launcher on it I haven't had a problem. I hope I was able to give some insight if you have any questions feel free to PM me
I appreciate all of the feedback I've received so far. I might pull the trigger on this phone next week. Project Fi is now offering a $300 service credit when purchasing and activating this phone from them. This makes it very hard to wait for the Pixel 3 lol.
Had a pixel 2. It somehow ended up with the OS corrupted, and it was all stock. Last google device I'll ever buy. Went with a G7 nd have not looked back.
Nubwy said:
Had a pixel 2. It somehow ended up with the OS corrupted, and it was all stock. Last google device I'll ever buy. Went with a G7 nd have not looked back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear. I haven't had a non-Pixel or Nexus device in a long time. Ordered the G7 yesterday so I'm hoping I'm as happy as you all are with this device.
Former Pixel\Nexus guy here. With Bloaty LG stuff, some are able to disable, some are not like Contacts, Messaging, Calendar, Clock. I just put the Pixel 3 Rootless Launcher and works just well. This version of G7 actually lets you select which LG stuff you want from the phone setup process.
joeminati said:
Former Pixel\Nexus guy here. With Bloaty LG stuff, some are able to disable, some are not like Contacts, Messaging, Calendar, Clock. I just put the Pixel 3 Rootless Launcher and works just well. This version of G7 actually lets you select which LG stuff you want from the phone setup process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the thread necro, but does anybody have a writeup about disabling the stock apps? I'm coming from using the Google versions of most stuff, and would be happy to ignore the LG stuff and keep using the Google ones -- but not so happy if I have to pick the right identically-named icon every time, and maybe get double notifications, "which app should I open this with" prompts, etc etc. I'd just as soon uninstall / disable them completely.
Ghengis042 said:
Sorry for the thread necro, but does anybody have a writeup about disabling the stock apps? I'm coming from using the Google versions of most stuff, and would be happy to ignore the LG stuff and keep using the Google ones -- but not so happy if I have to pick the right identically-named icon every time, and maybe get double notifications, "which app should I open this with" prompts, etc etc. I'd just as soon uninstall / disable them completely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a thread about package disabler pro (lg)
I found one thread, with "it work I am using it" and not much else. Last night, I think I managed to "disable" the built-in calendar just by turning off its permission for calendar access -- it might keep its own local calendar data but as long as I'm not using it, I don't think it's going to bother me. Same with their mail client. I was also able to totally delete the preinstalled Facebook and Instagram (eww). Their Contacts, Calendar, and Clock apps seem fine (and actually pretty similar to stock) so I'll probably just keep using them. I'm on the fence about keeping the stock launcher, but I don't need a special lock-down / uninstall procedure to do that.
Alcolawl said:
Hello all,
I'm currently rocking a Pixel XL and I'm absolutely itching for an upgrade. I'm also a Project Fi user, which limits my choices on which phones I can use. I love the performance of my Pixel XL, along with the vanilla Android experience. Unfortunately, my Pixel XL purchase was a bit of a rushed decision due to me breaking my Nexus 5X the day before I took a road trip. I ran out to Best Buy and snagged this phone, which, while it's a great device, is a bit too wide of a phone for my liking. One handed use is a bit cumbersome. Not a dealbreaker, I don't regret my purchase one bit, but now that I'm looking to upgrade, I'd like to get something a bit smaller. Last year I helped a family member of mine phone shop and they landed on the LG G6. Even though it has a bigger screen than my PXL (6.0" > 5.5") it felt smaller in the hands, which I really liked. So, when Project Fi announced that the LG G7 ThinQ was coming to their network, I was naturally very curious.
Things that appeal to me about this phone
Headphone Jack (with the Quad DAC)
SD Card Slot
Loud Speakers
Bright Screen
Wireless Charging
Better Screen-to-Body ratio while remaining slightly smaller than my current phone.
Detractors
Skinned OS (No app drawer?)
Small(er) battery
Less-than-stellar Camera
Non-OLED screen
I would've pulled the trigger already but I'm also curious about the new Pixel phones being released 3-4 months from now. From leaked information it looks like the new XL will be too big of a phone, but the regular Pixel 3 is supposed to be nearly what I'd consider a perfect size (much like my N5X was). Other than that we don't know too much about the new phones to know whether or not they'll be worth waiting for but I'm willing to wager there will be a huge price tag associated with them. So I'm still very much on the fence.
So, I figured some input from former Pixel or Nexus owners who have moved on to this device would prove to be very helpful in my purchase decision.
Any input is appreciated, Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're interested in this phone just wait for the G8, it still has a skinned OS but you could always install pixel launcher and it would have an app drawer, battery is pretty big I think 3,500 mah, camera won't be as good as the newest pixel but with a gcam port you should be able to pull off some really good shots. The G8 has an OLED screen

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