Overall, I think the move from Blackberry to Android/Note was the right one but the transition has been painful in a few areas. I'll list them in this one post instead of inundating the forums with single posts with only one question.
Phone Application -
Admittedly, this is the most frustrating part about going with the Note (outside of the loss of a physical keyboard). The phone application is ridiculously inefficient compared to Blackberry.
Is there a way to prevent the phone from locking (PIN required) when I navigate away from the phone application while on a call? There is nothing more frustrating than having to enter my PIN to simply hang up a phone call. Also, while on a phone call only (meaning I don't navigate away from phone), the screen times out and turns off... forcing me to press the side key to get back into phone. Is there a program that can map the capacitive search key while on a phone call so I can hang up a call?
Regarding "Contacts", is there a way to default to keyboard entry upon opening Contacts? Does Android think the average person has only 6 contacts??... Because that's how many contacts show up when you enter Contacts. This forces me to press "search contacts" every single time I enter Contacts... and the magnifying glass is all the way at the tip top of the screen. Using one hand, it's impossible to comfortably extend my thumb all the way to the top of the screen after pressing my Contacts application icon on the very bottom of the screen. Then I am forced to pull all the way back down to the keyboard just to enter the first letter of the person I'm searching for! I call out of my Contacts list 50-100 times a day so this gets very, very cumbersome and time consuming.
Is there a way to change the text size in my contacts list? I'd like to see more than 6 contacts per page... the phone screen is HUGE!
Now this complaint I'm sure a lot of ex Blackberry people can relate with... Blackberry (via an available OPTION) would consolidate call logs into each individual contact. Android, for some strange reason, does not consolidate history to each individual contact. So when I pull up recent history, the top 100 entries can be from only 10 or 15 people Wouldn't it make more sense to have ONE entry PER CONTACT? I wouldn't have to go into Contacts as often if Android actually consolidated phone call logs into one log per contact because I could go into the phone log and call out people from there... instead of seeing a sea of missed, outgoing, incoming calls... from the same person. I really hope there is a way to consolidate these logs.
S Memo -
There is an option to pull up the S Memo pad in phone but for some strange reason, it always defaults to "drawing" mode instead of entering text. I'm often in a flustered state when on a phone call and/or listening to voicemail and trying to jot down notes... so having to punch that tiny little "T" at the very upper left hand corner of the screen is a pain.
Is there a way to decrease the font size? I never did understand why some native programs have no adjustments for font size... not everyone is 80 years old w/bad vision. I mean... what's the point of having such a high res screen if the font size is a quarter inch tall? Blackberry allowed text size to be adjusted in ALL native applications.
I'm assuming there is no way to increase the amount of text I can enter onto one S Memo page? It seems extremely limited (about ~100 words max).
Am I the only one that seems to have notes that don't save? I recall entering text into several notes and backing out supposedly automatically saves what was inputed... but often times the text is not there when I return to the note. Are others having this issue?
Finally, is there an alternative memo program that anyone could recommend that is as simple and easy to search as Blackberry's memopad?
Alarm Clock -
I realize that there are a ton of alarm apps out there but I've heard horror stories about apps that crash and/or don't work properly. I need a reliable alarm clock so would prefer to stick with the native application. It actually works perfectly... except that the alarm lasts for only 60 seconds. I've slept right through the alarm several times already. Is there any way to make it loop for a longer period? Say 5 or 10 minutes?
I have a ton of other questions but if anyone can help with these for now it would be much appreciated!
U have a button dedicated to search at the bottom. I use dw contacts. Not the cheapest solution but very customizable
There's an app to increase/decrease font size, I haven't used it but I saw someone mentioning it here the other day, the alarm is fine, I have never had any issues with any android alarm, and you can add as many alarms as you want, I get up at 3am to go to work and I can't ever be late so I have set like 4 alarms to go off in set times in order so if I don't hear one the others will follow.
As the issue with being able to reach the full length of the screen one handed , it is what it is, a big a$$ screen that for the most part demands two handed control.
Sent from my awesome Galaxy Note!
Do you have to use a PIN?
Go to settings, display, screen timeout. You can change how quickly or slowly your screen times out on you.
On your contacts app, just hit the magnifying glass at the bottom right and it'll pull up your keyboard and search function. Or there's teh alphabet running down the right hand side, just click on the letter the name starts with. Or for more customization and ease, install exdialer. It looks good, easy to use, font is small, etc. Exdialer also consolidates your call logs.
There are a ton of memo apps in the market. Personally I love Gnotes. It syncs with google, saves everything, is easy to use, and you can inbed pics, etc.
I don't know about the spen. So far I've only used it to make cute pics to send to my wife and to draw up soccer drills and practice plans.
esincho said:
U have a button dedicated to search at the bottom. I use dw contacts. Not the cheapest solution but very customizable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I'll give it a try. Does the phone still maintain its ability to keep a log and back up the calls to my computer?
roloracer said:
There's an app to increase/decrease font size, I haven't used it but I saw someone mentioning it here the other day, the alarm is fine, I have never had any issues with any android alarm, and you can add as many alarms as you want, I get up at 3am to go to work and I can't ever be late so I have set like 4 alarms to go off in set times in order so if I don't hear one the others will follow.
As the issue with being able to reach the full length of the screen one handed , it is what it is, a big a$$ screen that for the most part demands two handed control.
Sent from my awesome Galaxy Note!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the program Big Font but unfortunately while the font size decreases, it does nothing to decrease the size of the useless silhouette image next to the contact name. So I still only get 6 contacts per massive page. I'm hoping there is another solution.
kiltedthrower said:
Do you have to use a PIN?
Go to settings, display, screen timeout. You can change how quickly or slowly your screen times out on you.
On your contacts app, just hit the magnifying glass at the bottom right and it'll pull up your keyboard and search function. Or there's teh alphabet running down the right hand side, just click on the letter the name starts with. Or for more customization and ease, install exdialer. It looks good, easy to use, font is small, etc. Exdialer also consolidates your call logs.
There are a ton of memo apps in the market. Personally I love Gnotes. It syncs with google, saves everything, is easy to use, and you can inbed pics, etc.
I don't know about the spen. So far I've only used it to make cute pics to send to my wife and to draw up soccer drills and practice plans.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, unfortunately I do need to use a PIN or some other form of security. I just don't think it makes any sense to require a PIN if I already entered one and then make a phone call. It's just silly that Android would require a PIN if you're clearly using the phone (on a call). Apparently Google thinks that using the phone does not include being on a phone call. Absurd.
As for your advice about using the magnifying glass, it doesn't work. Because if you pull up the contact via the magnifying glass, you cannot dial from it (swipe right for dial, left for text like you would if you clicked the text box at the top of the phone). You have to click on it and then click once again on what you would like to do. Not sure why it's like that but there are a lot of Android "features" that leave me scratching my head.
I'll give Gnote a try. Thanks!
pj737 said:
I tried the program Big Font but unfortunately while the font size decreases, it does nothing to decrease the size of the useless silhouette image next to the contact name. So I still only get 6 contacts per massive page. I'm hoping there is another solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please don't mix up Google and Samsung. You see Samsung customizes the Android OS, and the stock contacts app is different than the stock Google one. Everything you see is what Samsung did not Google.
If you don't like it I suggest you switch phones or you try third-party apps like exdialer(excontacts comes with it), and it is a very popular choice people use as an alternative. Also, I if you have rooted your phone you can change the DPI, so everything will be smaller and more things can fit on the screen, but like I said you will need ROOT. Download a DPI changer app and go for 240dpi.
Sent from my GT-i9220 using Tapatalk
Or if you're brave enough you can always change the lcd density in the build.prop but beware if you make a mistake editing It will brake the rom and unless you have it backed up like in cwm you'll be forced to flash it to bring it back to life.
Sent from my awesome Galaxy Note!
roloracer said:
Or if you're brave enough you can always change the lcd density in the build.prop but beware if you make a mistake editing It will brake the rom and unless you have it backed up like in cwm you'll be forced to flash it to bring it back to life.
Sent from my awesome Galaxy Note!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just use LCD resolution from the market. Much simpler for a novice
Hi
I've been considering the LG V10 and wanted to hear from the XDA community on how useful the 2nd screen actually was. Is the second screen more than a novelty? What do you use yours for? What apps can utilize the 2nd screen? How often do you use the 2nd. screen and how does it effect battery life?Screen caps would be welcome.
It's a useful novelty, I wish they would have bumped up the front facing cameras and gave us the option to have a 5.9 inch screen. Useful for checking time w/out unlocking phone as we as being able to change songs w/out unlocking especially useful while driving
I really enjoy the lack of notification cards on the main screen. The past few phones I've had (Note 5, Nexus 6, S6 Edge) have all had the Lollipop style cards that block way too much of the screen. With this phone, the notifications just go to the secondary screen so you can keep focus on what you're doing but still be able to see it. Also, the music controls have been amazing so far and it makes it so much easier as you don't have to pull the shade or switch apps to change tracks or pause (Noticing a trend here lol?). And finally, I use it for having favorite contacts set up (similar to the only good concept of the edge IMO). Hope this helps, so far I love this phone!
I am loving the second screen and find it very useful.
For shortcuts I have tapatalk, chrome, maps, camera and settings.
I love that it also has the 5 most recent apps. I came from a note 2 and waiting for long press for the recent apps was a pain! Of course this phone has a button for that anyway but I still like having them just sitting up there.
I am also using the contact shortcuts to try to replace my direct dial and text shortcuts I had on my home screens. I'm still trying to get used to that.
I definitely like that the date and time is always showing so I can check without waking the phone.
I also recently discovered that if I swipe over to the left when the main screen is sleeping there are shortcuts for the camera, flashlight, Wi-Fi toggle and sound /vibrate toggle.
I love it.
So far I think I'm using the app shortcuts the most.
Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk
BTW guys, not exactly related to the secondary-screen alone but how is the "alt-tab" performance; toggling between recent apps?
Say you cycle between the 5 recent apps; do they pop-up just immediately without any delay and at the exact point where you have left the app? (i.e. a web page doesn't reload, Twitter doesn't refresh like you are opening the app for the first time).
So far I really like the second screen. I keep having an issue where my Hangouts keep showing up as the big banner across the screen (sms seems to show on the secondary though). I also with when the screen was off it would show the whole notification, not just the icon. It would also be nice to choose how long the notification stayed on the second screen. I feel like it pops up and goes away so fast.
I wish the quick contacts could be set as direct dial. I will never use on of those icons to text. I need quick to just dial the primary contacts I have.
Two words: Spotify controls.
Spotify's lock widget was awful, and it always frustrated me that I had to unlock the phone to restart a song. Now I don't even have to turn the lock screen on to do it. This alone made love the second screen.
I thought it might be gimmicky, but I like using it to switch between apps and the music control is nice.
tersagun said:
BTW guys, not exactly related to the secondary-screen alone but how is the "alt-tab" performance; toggling between recent apps?
Say you cycle between the 5 recent apps; do they pop-up just immediately without any delay and at the exact point where you have left the app? (i.e. a web page doesn't reload, Twitter doesn't refresh like you are opening the app for the first time).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally yes, the ram management is very good
I find it useful. Even if u don't plan in using it shouldn't be a bother.
App switching is better, faster since you don't have to flip through cards. I always preferred the old school Android where it just showed the app icons of previous apps
Google Now cards flash with basketball game scores without interrupting whatever I'm doing.
Same with calls. They show up on the second screen.
Like the title states. I'm just wondering how well the v 60 does with gaming etc. Specifically cod mobile and pubg. Looking to upgrade my 7t pro McLaren and wondering if it's worth it to go to this phone. Is the screen easily viewed I'm bright sunlight? I read somewhere the screen is only a little more then 500 nits which compared to my McLaren isn't very good. How does the resolution look? Is it noticable that it's only 1080p? Is the 60hz refresh rate noticably slower or more laggy then 90 hz?
lendawg said:
Like the title states. I'm just wondering how well the v 60 does with gaming etc. Specifically cod mobile and pubg. Looking to upgrade my 7t pro McLaren and wondering if it's worth it to go to this phone. Is the screen easily viewed I'm bright sunlight? I read somewhere the screen is only a little more then 500 nits which compared to my McLaren isn't very good. How does the resolution look? Is it noticable that it's only 1080p? Is the 60hz refresh rate noticably slower or more laggy then 90 hz?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The screen will be plenty bright enough compared to the McLaren, but other than being able to use the dual screen as a gamepad, I don't think you'd be gaining anything performance wise with this upgrade other than audio and battery life.
Ryano89 said:
The screen will be plenty bright enough compared to the McLaren, but other than being able to use the dual screen as a gamepad, I don't think you'd be gaining anything performance wise with this upgrade other than audio and battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you say gaming performance "feels" the same or worse than the McLaren?
lendawg said:
Would you say gaming performance "feels" the same or worse than the McLaren?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only used the McLaren for a couple of days, so I may not be the best judge. But I prefer the V60 because of the gamepad on the dual screen, and the flat screen. I didn't really use it long enough to judge whether you will notice the difference in refresh rate. I'm a OnePlus fan coming from a 6t, but the battery life, and dramatic curved screen bothered me. The battery life in the V60 when not using the dual screen is shockingly good. The other day, without gaming, I pulled 30hrs and 9.5 hrs of SOT. But the performance increase from an SD855+ to the 865 is going to be unnoticeable.
Ryano89 said:
I only used the McLaren for a couple of days, so I may not be the best judge. But I prefer the V60 because of the gamepad on the dual screen, and the flat screen. I didn't really use it long enough to judge whether you will notice the difference in refresh rate. I'm a OnePlus fan coming from a 6t, but the battery life, and dramatic curved screen bothered me. The battery life in the V60 when not using the dual screen is shockingly good. The other day, without gaming, I pulled 30hrs and 9.5 hrs of SOT. But the performance increase from an SD855+ to the 865 is going to be unnoticeable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow that is insane battery life! Is 1080p noticable compared to QHD? Also, how is the software/UI? I had a v20 and the software/ui was terrible.
lendawg said:
Wow that is insane battery life! Is 1080p noticable compared to QHD? Also, how is the software/UI? I had a v20 and the software/ui was terrible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't really notice the difference between 1080 and the QHD in my wife's Note10. I also had the V20 and the software is miles better than it was back then, but it's still not anywhere as clean and nice as OnePlus. Overall I'm very happy with the device as it's a big improvement over my 2yr old 6t in every way. Screen, camera, performance, battery, multitasking and audio are all better, but depending on the deal you get, and how much you value the dual screen, and superior audio, it may not be much of an upgrade over a much newer McLaren 7t pro.
Ryano89 said:
I don't really notice the difference between 1080 and the QHD in my wife's Note10. I also had the V20 and the software is miles better than it was back then, but it's still not anywhere as clean and nice as OnePlus. Overall I'm very happy with the device as it's a big improvement over my 2yr old 6t in every way. Screen, camera, performance, battery, multitasking and audio are all better, but depending on the deal you get, and how much you value the dual screen, and superior audio, it may not be much of an upgrade over a much newer McLaren 7t pro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you mind sharing some screenshots of the settings app, phone app, quick pulldown and message apps?
I've never used a OnePlus device, so I can't speak to a direct comparison between the MacLaren 7T Pro and the LG 60.
But I am coming from an open-market LG V30+ (which I rooted but kept on highly customized stock firmware). Even without root, I was able to adapt most of those customizations to the V60 without serious issue.
Heavily tweaked third-party launcher, icon pack, third-party gestures, beautiful live wallpaper, dark/black mode everywhere. You get the idea.
The LG V30+ had a smaller and higher resolution screen compared to the V60; so the combination of a significantly larger screen running at a lower resolution results in a fairly obvious DPI difference.
That said, we're not talking about a 65-inch TV here. These are largely devices with 4- to 7-inch screens, and the resolution change actually doesn't bother me (though it is noticeable). For these sizes, I find that 1080P suffices. YMMV.
And I have to say, the side benefits of having a 1080P screen running at a standard 60 Hz may well be worth the trade-off.
I've had this phone for a little over a month now, and I noticed last night when I went to plug the phone in before turning in to bed myself, that after around 15 hours of being unplugged, I still had 96% of my battery life.
Granted, I didn't use the phone heavily yesterday (I tend to disconnect a bit on weekends). But my aging V30+ never pushed numbers like. Not during its prime, and certainly not after 2.5+ years of daily use.
Mejilan said:
I've never used a OnePlus device, so I can't speak to a direct comparison between the MacLaren 7T Pro and the LG 60.
But I am coming from an open-market LG V30+ (which I rooted but kept on highly customized stock firmware). Even without root, I was able to adapt most of those customizations to the V60 without serious issue.
Heavily tweaked third-party launcher, icon pack, third-party gestures, beautiful live wallpaper, dark/black mode everywhere. You get the idea.
The LG V30+ had a smaller and higher resolution screen compared to the V60; so the combination of a significantly larger screen running at a lower resolution results in a fairly obvious DPI difference.
That said, we're not talking about a 65-inch TV here. These are largely devices with 4- to 7-inch screens, and the resolution change actually doesn't bother me (though it is noticeable). For these sizes, I find that 1080P suffices. YMMV.
And I have to say, the side benefits of having a 1080P screen running at a standard 60 Hz may well be worth the trade-off.
I've had this phone for a little over a month now, and I noticed last night when I went to plug the phone in before turning in to bed myself, that after around 15 hours of being unplugged, I still had 96% of my battery life.
Granted, I didn't use the phone heavily yesterday (I tend to disconnect a bit on weekends). But my aging V30+ never pushed numbers like. Not during its prime, and certainly not after 2.5+ years of daily use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you mind sharing some screenshots of the software? Dialer, message app, quick pulldown, settings etc.
lendawg said:
Would you mind sharing some screenshots of the software? Dialer, message app, quick pulldown, settings etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quick settings, and settings
lendawg said:
Would you mind sharing some screenshots of the software? Dialer, message app, quick pulldown, settings etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Messages settings and dialer
lendawg said:
Would you mind sharing some screenshots of the software? Dialer, message app, quick pulldown, settings etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not at all, mostly. I've got a batch of screens for you to examine, but I left out the one with my messaging app because it's full of personally identifiable information.
It also appears that XDA is somewhat compressing the PNGs that the phone produces. I guess to avoid hitting filesize limitations.
I'll include Google Play Store links to everything I'm using below.
Note: I did not produce nor am I affiliated with any of the apps I link to below. I use (and if applicable, bought) them because I like them. That's all. I'm not shilling.
I've named the screenshots in a way that I think makes sense, but I'll go into more detail below.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Home Screen
Lots of things going on here (and I'll try to break it all down), but I've got a lot of software and tweaks powering a VERY minimalist desktop/home screen.
I'm using Nova Launcher Prime:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher
To replace LG Home, together with Whicons Icon Pack:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whicons.iconpack
And Fluid Navigation Gestures:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fb.fluid
To replace Stock Android 10's gestures. My live wallpaper is Fluid Simulation - Trippy Stress Reliever:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=games.paveldogreat.fluidsim
I like this one because by default it's pure black (great for OLED displays and contrasts perfectly with Whicons) but can be configured to display beautifully and brightly colored "fluids" as you tap and drag your finger(s) across the screen. When unlocking and/or returning to the home screen from an app, it'll also pop four or five random "fake taps" on the screen which quickly disperse. This first screenshot has captured the tail end of that dispersion (It's actually a lot prettier in motion than in this screen cap). I have it configured as my live wallpaper for Nova's home screen as well as my lock screen (which uses LG's stock Always On Display and Sidelight feature for notifications). Fluid Simulation has a ton of configuration options, including an option to constantly autoplay. But I would imagine that's a pretty big battery drain. Fluid Simulation's Google Play Store page probably has a video to check out, if you're interested. There's a free version too, but I'm not sure if that one can be configured as a live wallpaper.
And here's the best video I could find of this phone's Sidelight brief notifications feature in action, timestamped to show off the effect. You may watch the whole video to see how to configure it, if you wish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFNH6_mbCPk&feature=youtu.be&t=173
Back to the Home Screen for a second. You've got a standard dock with 4 icons on the bottom, and a fifth button to pull up all apps. (Swiping up from anywhere will also pull up all apps. I can also swipe down from anywhere to pull down the Notifications Shade. Great for one-handed use on a device with such a large screen!) Above that, in a vaguely pyramid shape, there are four folders called Google, Social, Fun, and Apps that contain my most commonly used apps within those four general categories. The folder icon is showing the first app in each category. If you tap on the folder, it'll launch that first app. If you swipe up from the icon, it'll open the folder and show you the rest of the folder's contents. This is Nova's version of Action Launcher's "Covers" feature, which I used to love before making the jump from Action to Nova.
Above that is my time/date/weather widget, provided by Chronus Information Widget:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dvtonder.chronus
And above that is the Google Search/Assistant bar as provided by Nova Launcher.
Edit - And above THAT, right at the bottom of the status bar, I have Energy Bar - A Pulsating Battery Indicator set up to, well, display my battery level as a percentage-based bar. Sadly, it's a hold-over from my LG V30 days, and this version of the app doesn't support the V60's front-camera notch. Not much we can do about that, but I still like the thing too much to eliminate it. It supports up to four colors/gradients at every 25% breakpoint IIRC, but I have the whole set up to be a straight white bar. I'm thinking of perhaps making the 75%, 50% and 25% breakpoints change to increasingly dimmer shades of gray, but I haven't managed to work up the energy (heh) to do so yet. That's funny. The Home Screen screen cap actually shows the full Energy Bar as if the notch wasn't there. On my actual device, in front of my face, the part of the Energy Bar that overlaps with the camera notch is simply sliced off. There's a gap right in the middle of it, representing perhaps 15% of the battery bar, give or take.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=you.in.spark.energy
NOTE: Nova Launcher, Fluid Simulation, and Fluid Navigation Gestures will NOT work on the dual-screen accessory. For now, it appears that the second screen is stuck using default LG software designed to match LG Home and other LG default software. If you plan on heavily customizing your home screen AND using the dual-screen accessory, just know that there will be a pretty significant disconnect between your experiences across the two screens commensurate with just how much you decide to customize your phone. Considering I've replaced the default launcher, navigation gestures system, and live wallpaper, the two screens clash horribly for me, and until/unless we can somehow manage to span these phone customizations across to the second screen, I've essentially retired my dual-screen accessory and just use the phone alone in a clear TPU case.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Notification Shade
Not much to say here. In Settings, LG comes with two default themes that you can select from, "LG" and "White." I'm using the darker "LG" theme.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Quick Tiles
Just an extension of the previous screenshot. Pull down the Notification Shade further to see additional Quick Tiles. There are plenty more available that I have hidden away due to lack of use.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Google Dialer
I replaced the LG Phone app with Google's Dialer app. I prefer it, even though LG and/or AT&T block me from using Google's stock Visual Voicemail app. I have AT&T's VVM app sideloaded, since it shows up on the Google Play Store as "not compatible" with my device. lol. It was a problem with when the V30+ was new as well, and it took a few months for AT&T to update their app to support the V30. Weird. And I didn't snap a photo of it, but I've also replaced the default SMS app with Google's Messages app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.dialer
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.messaging
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Settings Home
As mentioned, I have the theme in Settings set to "LG", which is the darker of the two default options that my phone shipped with.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Settings About
Just showing the current software version and security patch. The phone shipped with the Feb. 2020 security patch and received the Apr. 2020 security patch around two weeks later. Much faster than I would have expected for an LG phone. If they plan on matching last month's accomplishment, we should be getting the May 2020 security patch later this week. But I'm not holding my breath!
Some final notes. This is more or less a recreation of the final software environment I had on my beloved LG V30+ before I retired it. It was also using a custom dark/Material Design theme I purchased from the Google Play Store created specifically for that phone. I don't yet know if there are any available for the V60, nor do I recall if they require root. (My V30 was rooted, but running the stock LG OS). You need root (not available on this device) or know how to use Fastboot and ADB commands to grant Fluid Navigation Gestures the ability to hide the Navigation Bar. I do not believe that the phone will allow you to both disable Android 10's gestures AND hide the Nav Bar. It's either/or, unless you grant Fluid Navigation Gestures extra permissions via ADB.
For Nova Launcher Prime, I use two special integrations to add additional functionality. I use Sesame Shortcuts to create new shortcuts on the menu that shows up when you long-press on an app. This is available on the Google Play Store (link below). I also use Nova's Google Companion App to let the launcher display the Google Now/Discover/News Feed (whatever they call the thing now) when swiping right from the home screen. I believe this is a Pixel-like feature, and it requires downloading the integration straight from Nova's webpage, since they aren't allowed to offer it up on the Google Play Store.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ninja.sesame.app.edge
https://help.teslacoilapps.com/nowcompanion
Whew! I guess that it! I wound up putting way more effort into this than I thought I would. I hope you find it useful. And don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions about anything I've shown off here.
Mejilan said:
Not at all, mostly. I've got a batch of screens for you to examine, but I left out the one with my messaging app because it's full of personally identifiable information.
It also appears that XDA is somewhat compressing the PNGs that the phone produces. I guess to avoid hitting filesize limitations.
I'll include Google Play Store links to everything I'm using below.
Note: I did not produce nor am I affiliated with any of the apps I link to below. I use (and if applicable, bought) them because I like them. That's all. I'm not shilling.
I've named the screenshots in a way that I think makes sense, but I'll go into more detail below.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Home Screen
Lots of things going on here (and I'll try to break it all down), but I've got a lot of software and tweaks powering a VERY minimalist desktop/home screen.
I'm using Nova Launcher Prime:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher
To replace LG Home, together with Whicons Icon Pack:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whicons.iconpack
And Fluid Navigation Gestures:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fb.fluid
To replace Stock Android 10's gestures. My live wallpaper is Fluid Simulation - Trippy Stress Reliever:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=games.paveldogreat.fluidsim
I like this one because by default it's pure black (great for OLED displays and contrasts perfectly with Whicons) but can be configured to display beautifully and brightly colored "fluids" as you tap and drag your finger(s) across the screen. When unlocking and/or returning to the home screen from an app, it'll also pop four or five random "fake taps" on the screen which quickly disperse. This first screenshot has captured the tail end of that dispersion (It's actually a lot prettier in motion than in this screen cap). I have it configured as my live wallpaper for Nova's home screen as well as my lock screen (which uses LG's stock Always On Display and Sidelight feature for notifications). Fluid Simulation has a ton of configuration options, including an option to constantly autoplay. But I would imagine that's a pretty big battery drain. Fluid Simulation's Google Play Store page probably has a video to check out, if you're interested. There's a free version too, but I'm not sure if that one can be configured as a live wallpaper.
And here's the best video I could find of this phone's Sidelight brief notifications feature in action, timestamped to show off the effect. You may watch the whole video to see how to configure it, if you wish.
&feature=youtu.be&t=173
Back to the Home Screen for a second. You've got a standard dock with 4 icons on the bottom, and a fifth button to pull up all apps. (Swiping up from anywhere will also pull up all apps. I can also swipe down from anywhere to pull down the Notifications Shade. Great for one-handed use on a device with such a large screen!) Above that, in a vaguely pyramid shape, there are four folders called Google, Social, Fun, and Apps that contain my most commonly used apps within those four general categories. The folder icon is showing the first app in each category. If you tap on the folder, it'll launch that first app. If you swipe up from the icon, it'll open the folder and show you the rest of the folder's contents. This is Nova's version of Action Launcher's "Covers" feature, which I used to love before making the jump from Action to Nova.
Above that is my time/date/weather widget, provided by Chronus Information Widget:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dvtonder.chronus
And above that is the Google Search/Assistant bar as provided by Nova Launcher.
NOTE: Nova Launcher, Fluid Simulation, and Fluid Navigation Gestures will NOT work on the dual-screen accessory. For now, it appears that the second screen is stuck using default LG software designed to match LG Home and other LG default software. If you plan on heavily customizing your home screen AND using the dual-screen accessory, just know that there will be a pretty significant disconnect between your experiences across the two screens commensurate with just how much you decide to customize your phone. Considering I've replaced the default launcher, navigation gestures system, and live wallpaper, the two screens clash horribly for me, and until/unless we can somehow manage to span these phone customizations across to the second screen, I've essentially retired my dual-screen accessory and just use the phone alone in a clear TPU case.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Notification Shade
Not much to say here. In Settings, LG comes with two default themes that you can select from, "LG" and "White." I'm using the darker "LG" theme.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Quick Tiles
Just an extension of the previous screenshot. Pull down the Notification Shade further to see additional Quick Tiles. There are plenty more available that I have hidden away due to lack of use.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Google Dialer
I replaced the LG Phone app with Google's Dialer app. I prefer it, even though LG and/or AT&T block me from using Google's stock Visual Voicemail app. I have AT&T's VVM app sideloaded, since it shows up on the Google Play Store as "not compatible" with my device. lol. It was a problem with when the V30+ was new as well, and it took a few months for AT&T to update their app to support the V30. Weird. And I didn't snap a photo of it, but I've also replaced the default SMS app with Google's Messages app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.dialer
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.messaging
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Settings Home
As mentioned, I have the theme in Settings set to "LG", which is the darker of the two default options that my phone shipped with.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Settings About
Just showing the current software version and security patch. The phone shipped with the Feb. 2020 security patch and received the Apr. 2020 security patch around two weeks later. Much faster than I would have expected for an LG phone. If they plan on matching last month's accomplishment, we should be getting the May 2020 security patch later this week. But I'm not holding my breath!
Some final notes. This is more or less a recreation of the final software environment I had on my beloved LG V30+ before I retired it. It was also using a custom dark/Material Design theme I purchased from the Google Play Store created specifically for that phone. I don't yet know if there are any available for the V60, nor do I recall if they require root. (My V30 was rooted, but running the stock LG OS). You need root (not available on this device) or know how to use Fastboot and ADB commands to grant Fluid Navigation Gestures the ability to hide the Navigation Bar. I do not believe that the phone will allow you to both disable Android 10's gestures AND hide the Nav Bar. It's either/or, unless you grant Fluid Navigation Gestures extra permissions via ADB.
For Nova Launcher Prime, I use two special integrations to add additional functionality. I use Sesame Shortcuts to create new shortcuts on the menu that shows up when you long-press on an app. This is available on the Google Play Store (link below). I also use Nova's Google Companion App to let the launcher display the Google Now/Discover/News Feed (whatever they call the thing now) when swiping right from the home screen. I believe this is a Pixel-like feature, and it requires downloading the integration straight from Nova's webpage, since they aren't allowed to offer it up on the Google Play Store.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ninja.sesame.app.edge
https://help.teslacoilapps.com/nowcompanion
Whew! I guess that it! I wound up putting way more effort into this than I thought I would. I hope you find it useful. And don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions about anything I've shown off here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow thanks so much for such an I'm depth explanation! The software definitely looks much better then my old v20 and the way you have it set up looks great! I think I may be retiring my McLaren early lol.
lendawg said:
Wow thanks so much for such an I'm depth explanation! The software definitely looks much better then my old v20 and the way you have it set up looks great! I think I may be retiring my McLaren early lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. And you're welcome. I'm pretty fond of the look, and it does wonders for battery life. I wish I had an easy way of making a quick 30 (or so) second video of my software environment in action.
I edited my response above to include an app I forgot to mention. I've copied the relevant portion into this post.
Edit - And above THAT, right at the bottom of the status bar, I have Energy Bar - A Pulsating Battery Indicator set up to, well, display my battery level as a percentage-based bar. Sadly, it's a hold-over from my LG V30 days, and this version of the app doesn't support the V60's front-camera notch. Not much we can do about that, but I still like the thing too much to eliminate it. It supports up to four colors/gradients at every 25% breakpoint IIRC, but I have the whole set up to be a straight white bar. I'm thinking of perhaps making the 75%, 50% and 25% breakpoints change to increasingly dimmer shades of gray, but I haven't managed to work up the energy (heh) to do so yet. That's funny. The Home Screen screen cap actually shows the full Energy Bar as if the notch wasn't there. On my actual device, in front of my face, the part of the Energy Bar that overlaps with the camera notch is simply sliced off. There's a gap right in the middle of it, representing perhaps 15% of the battery bar, give or take.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=you.in.spark.energy
Mejilan said:
Not at all, mostly. I've got a batch of screens for you to examine, but I left out the one with my messaging app because it's full of personally identifiable information.
It also appears that XDA is somewhat compressing the PNGs that the phone produces. I guess to avoid hitting filesize limitations.
I'll include Google Play Store links to everything I'm using below.
Note: I did not produce nor am I affiliated with any of the apps I link to below. I use (and if applicable, bought) them because I like them. That's all. I'm not shilling.
I've named the screenshots in a way that I think makes sense, but I'll go into more detail below.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Home Screen
Lots of things going on here (and I'll try to break it all down), but I've got a lot of software and tweaks powering a VERY minimalist desktop/home screen.
I'm using Nova Launcher Prime:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher
To replace LG Home, together with Whicons Icon Pack:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whicons.iconpack
And Fluid Navigation Gestures:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fb.fluid
To replace Stock Android 10's gestures. My live wallpaper is Fluid Simulation - Trippy Stress Reliever:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=games.paveldogreat.fluidsim
I like this one because by default it's pure black (great for OLED displays and contrasts perfectly with Whicons) but can be configured to display beautifully and brightly colored "fluids" as you tap and drag your finger(s) across the screen. When unlocking and/or returning to the home screen from an app, it'll also pop four or five random "fake taps" on the screen which quickly disperse. This first screenshot has captured the tail end of that dispersion (It's actually a lot prettier in motion than in this screen cap). I have it configured as my live wallpaper for Nova's home screen as well as my lock screen (which uses LG's stock Always On Display and Sidelight feature for notifications). Fluid Simulation has a ton of configuration options, including an option to constantly autoplay. But I would imagine that's a pretty big battery drain. Fluid Simulation's Google Play Store page probably has a video to check out, if you're interested. There's a free version too, but I'm not sure if that one can be configured as a live wallpaper.
And here's the best video I could find of this phone's Sidelight brief notifications feature in action, timestamped to show off the effect. You may watch the whole video to see how to configure it, if you wish.
&feature=youtu.be&t=173
Back to the Home Screen for a second. You've got a standard dock with 4 icons on the bottom, and a fifth button to pull up all apps. (Swiping up from anywhere will also pull up all apps. I can also swipe down from anywhere to pull down the Notifications Shade. Great for one-handed use on a device with such a large screen!) Above that, in a vaguely pyramid shape, there are four folders called Google, Social, Fun, and Apps that contain my most commonly used apps within those four general categories. The folder icon is showing the first app in each category. If you tap on the folder, it'll launch that first app. If you swipe up from the icon, it'll open the folder and show you the rest of the folder's contents. This is Nova's version of Action Launcher's "Covers" feature, which I used to love before making the jump from Action to Nova.
Above that is my time/date/weather widget, provided by Chronus Information Widget:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dvtonder.chronus
And above that is the Google Search/Assistant bar as provided by Nova Launcher.
Edit - And above THAT, right at the bottom of the status bar, I have Energy Bar - A Pulsating Battery Indicator set up to, well, display my battery level as a percentage-based bar. Sadly, it's a hold-over from my LG V30 days, and this version of the app doesn't support the V60's front-camera notch. Not much we can do about that, but I still like the thing too much to eliminate it. It supports up to four colors/gradients at every 25% breakpoint IIRC, but I have the whole set up to be a straight white bar. I'm thinking of perhaps making the 75%, 50% and 25% breakpoints change to increasingly dimmer shades of gray, but I haven't managed to work up the energy (heh) to do so yet. That's funny. The Home Screen screen cap actually shows the full Energy Bar as if the notch wasn't there. On my actual device, in front of my face, the part of the Energy Bar that overlaps with the camera notch is simply sliced off. There's a gap right in the middle of it, representing perhaps 15% of the battery bar, give or take.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=you.in.spark.energy
NOTE: Nova Launcher, Fluid Simulation, and Fluid Navigation Gestures will NOT work on the dual-screen accessory. For now, it appears that the second screen is stuck using default LG software designed to match LG Home and other LG default software. If you plan on heavily customizing your home screen AND using the dual-screen accessory, just know that there will be a pretty significant disconnect between your experiences across the two screens commensurate with just how much you decide to customize your phone. Considering I've replaced the default launcher, navigation gestures system, and live wallpaper, the two screens clash horribly for me, and until/unless we can somehow manage to span these phone customizations across to the second screen, I've essentially retired my dual-screen accessory and just use the phone alone in a clear TPU case.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Notification Shade
Not much to say here. In Settings, LG comes with two default themes that you can select from, "LG" and "White." I'm using the darker "LG" theme.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Quick Tiles
Just an extension of the previous screenshot. Pull down the Notification Shade further to see additional Quick Tiles. There are plenty more available that I have hidden away due to lack of use.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Google Dialer
I replaced the LG Phone app with Google's Dialer app. I prefer it, even though LG and/or AT&T block me from using Google's stock Visual Voicemail app. I have AT&T's VVM app sideloaded, since it shows up on the Google Play Store as "not compatible" with my device. lol. It was a problem with when the V30+ was new as well, and it took a few months for AT&T to update their app to support the V30. Weird. And I didn't snap a photo of it, but I've also replaced the default SMS app with Google's Messages app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.dialer
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.messaging
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Settings Home
As mentioned, I have the theme in Settings set to "LG", which is the darker of the two default options that my phone shipped with.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Settings About
Just showing the current software version and security patch. The phone shipped with the Feb. 2020 security patch and received the Apr. 2020 security patch around two weeks later. Much faster than I would have expected for an LG phone. If they plan on matching last month's accomplishment, we should be getting the May 2020 security patch later this week. But I'm not holding my breath!
Some final notes. This is more or less a recreation of the final software environment I had on my beloved LG V30+ before I retired it. It was also using a custom dark/Material Design theme I purchased from the Google Play Store created specifically for that phone. I don't yet know if there are any available for the V60, nor do I recall if they require root. (My V30 was rooted, but running the stock LG OS). You need root (not available on this device) or know how to use Fastboot and ADB commands to grant Fluid Navigation Gestures the ability to hide the Navigation Bar. I do not believe that the phone will allow you to both disable Android 10's gestures AND hide the Nav Bar. It's either/or, unless you grant Fluid Navigation Gestures extra permissions via ADB.
For Nova Launcher Prime, I use two special integrations to add additional functionality. I use Sesame Shortcuts to create new shortcuts on the menu that shows up when you long-press on an app. This is available on the Google Play Store (link below). I also use Nova's Google Companion App to let the launcher display the Google Now/Discover/News Feed (whatever they call the thing now) when swiping right from the home screen. I believe this is a Pixel-like feature, and it requires downloading the integration straight from Nova's webpage, since they aren't allowed to offer it up on the Google Play Store.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ninja.sesame.app.edge
https://help.teslacoilapps.com/nowcompanion
Whew! I guess that it! I wound up putting way more effort into this than I thought I would. I hope you find it useful. And don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions about anything I've shown off here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great write up! One question, doesn't Nova break multiwindow and pop out window functionality? When I used Nova, if I use the multiwindow feature, then exit out of it, it completely breaks the recent apps functionality
Ryano89 said:
Great write up! One question, doesn't Nova break multiwindow and pop out window functionality? When I used Nova, if I use the multiwindow feature, then exit out of it, it completely breaks the recent apps functionality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! And nope! I tested this out a few weeks ago in another thread and had no issues with it.
But I'll test it again. Give me a minute...
...
...
...
Still with me?
I just set up Chrome as a Pop-Up window, and Youtube as a Multi-Window, then made Chrome as a second Multi-Window.
Then I used Fluid Navigation Gestures to pull up Recents (swipe up from the bottom/middle of the screen and hold it for a second, before releasing), and had no issues closing everything out.
Now, when I repeat the gesture to pull up Recents again, it just says "No recent items" as it should.
Edit - I should probably clarify that I use FNG as my main replacement for Android 10's stock gestures. I've been using FNG since my Android 8-equipped V30+, fell in love with it, prefer it to Google's gestures, and made sure I could continue to use it on this phone. I only use two of Nova's gestures. Swipe down from anywhere to pull down the Notification Shade (great for one-handed use where I can't reach the status bar with one hand) and swipe up from anywhere to pull up the All Apps screen. But for everything else, I use FNG.
Mejilan said:
Thanks! And nope! I tested this out a few weeks ago in another thread and had no issues with it.
But I'll test it again. Give me a minute...
...
...
...
Still with me?
I just set up Chrome as a Pop-Up window, and Youtube as a Multi-Window, then made Chrome as a second Multi-Window.
Then I used Fluid Navigation Gestures to pull up Recents (swipe up from the bottom/middle of the screen and hold it for a second, before releasing), and had no issues closing everything out.
Now, when I repeat the gesture to pull up Recents again, it just says "No recent items" as it should.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I figured out that it only does it if you use the stock gestures. Once I installed fluid gestures and ran the adb command the problem went away. Now I can use Nova again. Thank you
Ryano89 said:
I figured out that it only does it if you use the stock gestures. Once I installed fluid gestures and ran the adb command the problem went away. Now I can use Nova again. Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fantastic. I love Nova. And my desire to play with navigation gestures on my V30 (when I knew we'd never get them officially) led me to research some third-party options.
FNG impressed me the most, and I've been using it, I don't know, probably close to two years now? To be honest, I never even gave the stock Android 10 gestures a try.
I immediately disabled them, installed FNG, did the ADB thing to hide the Nav Bar, and never looked back.
The little I've read of the stock gesture system that was introduced with Android 10... well, let's just say I wasn't exactly climbing out of my chair in anticipation of trying them out.
Not after having grown used to FNG over the years. I just love the LOOK of FNG, too. I've got the visual effect maxed out in Settings.
Is there much bloatware on the TMobile variant? Of so can you disable it?
lendawg said:
Is there much bloatware on the TMobile variant? Of so can you disable it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There were quite a few preinstalled games and crap. Almost all of which can be uninstalled or disabled