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lg-520
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My review of the LG Optimus F3Q (lg-d520).
My requirements for a phone are:
other than meeting those requirements, it's not a great phone. There are two major problems:
(1) not enough internal memory (~1 GB) (actually i dunno if this is more or less memory than the average phone, i just know it's way too little memory for me). For awhile i was sporadically losing incoming text messages because the system would run out of memory as it was processing the message.
(2) in phone calls, it seems like often the first three seconds of the call gets cut off, causing an awkward start to conversations, to the extent that i feel like i may be forced to get a different phone for business calls. Perhaps this is related to the lack of memory.
other less important stuff: there's not enough internal storage space (1.27 GB). Not a problem for me b/c i don't game much, and i bought a huge SD card and use link2sd, but (a) that was a hassle (link2sd functionality really should be native to Android), and (b) it still prevents installation of more than one large game at a time, b/c they often dont fully transfer to the SD card (actually i think they do but i think they move stuff back each time you run them).
there is some bloatware which is annoying in light of the lack of memory and internal storage. It's not over the top, though, and i probably wouldnt mind it if not for scarcity of memory and internal storage.
i like that the phone isn't too big. it's a slider, which i also like; i turned off auto-rotate and slide the keyboard in or out to select portrait or landscape. The cameras are terrible.
It's a QWERTY slider with a 5 row format (with dedicated keys for numbers); the 5 row format makes a huge difference.
It's heavy. It easily fits in your pocket. It's slow but not very slow.
overall it's the best phone i've ever had. i'm much happier with it than my previous phone b/c keyboard. The physical keyboard makes a big difference for me, as i use my phone like a PDA and am often taking notes with it.
if i could find a phone with more memory that meets my 4 requirements i would switch ASAP.
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touch screen is very responsive, makes a huge difference
QWERTY slider is great, and the 5 row format (with dedicated keys for numbers) makes a huge difference
phone is heavy, presumably due to slider
phone is compact, easily fits in pocket
not enough memory and is slow, but not very slow
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setup notes:
changed call forwardimg, fwd busy unans unreach to google voice
turn off sounds
display timeout to 5 mins turn on power saver
install stuff
config lock screen, app dock on home screen
jota autosave
enable do not disturb in google voice web interface settings->calls so that google voice picks up immediately
turn off notifications from dropsync turn off sound from gmail notifications, notify only from priority email
install Where's My Droid and change attention words from defaults
todo list other apps i installed
hide a bunch of apps (the preinstalled ones i dont use, plus 'service' type apps like Missed Call Reminder that you only need to run to configure, plus apps the are accessible in other ways, e.g. Task Manager and Settings)
home screen:
lock screen apps: maps, messaging, google, flashlight
dock apps: phone, gmail, browser, google voice, apps
home screen: 2x3: agenda widget (widget) 2x3: todo.txt (widget) shortcut to notes.txt (open file with Jota) shortcut to shop.txt (open file with Jota)
screen to the left of home screen: life360 widget shazam widget
screen to the right of home screen: google search widget alarm/clock gallery youtube sync now (dropsync widget)
turn off animations in Settings: dev tools (three places)
got link2sd, paid for the upgraded version, moved everything that you can to the sd card
using link2sd, can 'freeze' unwanted built-in services
froze gba service, which is needed for voice over ip froze google play music froze T-mobile voicemail
turned off Smart Screen in Settings-> display
todo: try keyntracker, buttonremapper
some apps (todo update that other file and link it):
AdFree? market:search?q=pname:com.bigtincan.android.adfree Adobe Reader market:search?q=pname:com.adobe.reader Agenda Widget for Android market:search?q=pname:com.roflharrison.agenda ConnectBot? market:search?q=pname:org.connectbot CPU-Z market:search?q=pname:com.cpuid.cpu_z CyanogenMod? Installer market:search?q=pname:org.cyanogenmod.oneclick DroidFish? market:search?q=pname:org.petero.droidfish Dropbox market:search?q=pname:com.dropbox.android Dropsync market:search?q=pname:com.ttxapps.dropsync F-Droid market:search?q=pname:org.fdroid.fdroid Google Voice market:search?q=pname:com.google.android.apps.googlevoice Here I Am 2 market:search?q=pname:com.codesector.hereiam Hypercubed Live Wallpaper market:search?q=pname:com.hypercubed.livehypercubes Instagram market:search?q=pname:com.instagram.android Jota Text Editor market:search?q=pname:jp.sblo.pandora.jota Life360 market:search?q=pname:com.life360.android.safetymapd Listables (for making this list) market:search?q=pname:com.alostpacket.listables Missed Call Reminder market:search?q=pname:idv.wangyik.MissedCallReminder? Pachi market:search?q=pname:net.lrstudios.android.pachi Serval Mesh market:search?q=pname:org.servalproject Shazam market:search?q=pname:com.shazam.android Simpletask (i like this app better than todo.txt because it has more features, except i prefer todo.txt's widget, see below; also note that https://github.com/avillafiorita/todotxt-mode seems like a good emacs mode for this; see todotxt.com for the general idea) market:search?q=pname:nl.mpcjanssen.todotxtholo SMS Popup market:search?q=pname:net.everythingandroid.smspopup SuperSU? market:search?q=pname:eu.chainfire.supersu Terminal emulator
Todo.txt (i like this one's widget better than simpletask b/c if your item is too long, it puts ... instead of line-wrapping it) market:search?q=pname:com.todotxt.todotxttouch UTC Time market:search?q=pname:com.bjg222.utctime Watermelon Quotes market:search?q=pname:com.devfruit.watermelon Where's My Droid market:search?q=pname:com.alienmanfc6.wheresmyandroid Yelp market:search?q=pname:com.yelp.android Flashlight market:search?q=pname:com.surpax.ledflashlight.panel
to install new ringtones, i've heard AirDroid? can transfer them, but what i did was emailed myself and .ogg file and then saved the attachment in the GMail app on the phone. This saved it to the Download folder on the sdcard. Then i moved it from there into the Ringtones folder, and then put a copy into the Alarms folder.
note: on this phone it appears that you can take a screenshot and then annotate it by drawing with your finger by pressing Vol up + Vol down at once. This is something called QuickMemo?. It's probably an LG thing.
remove FileShare?, FileManager?, world clock widget
from Settings -> General -> Apps -> Running, disable t-mobile name id, picasa uploader, smart share provider, google partner setup, smartshare, com.movial.ipprovider, tasks, wap service, com.android.partners,partnerbookmarks, demo stub, memo widget, tmobile tv, vutalk, weather, weather theme
uninstalled TGC
b/c can't move to sd card, uninstalled pachi
someday consider: textsecure, stumbleupon
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/data/data/com.android.mms/shared_prefs/com.android.mms_preferences.xml
pref_key_cmas_presidential_alert
must be root to edit
dunno if that actually turns it off or not.. it would be nice if there were a way to still receive the alerts as text messages without turning the ringer on when it is off and pumping it up to full volume, but oh well.
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and of course, install my own app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.opensourcetown.ringerModeTimerWidget
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liked app 'my data manager free', but uninstalled
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uninstalled kik bshanks2 uninstalled tigertext
droidfish
link2sd, used ext4, used gparted on my Ubuntu computer to partition, with new partition less than 20% of total usable size of sdcard (was a 32GB sdcard, with 30GB total usable space, so 6GB was the upper bound, so i chose about 5.5GB)
note: don't set the primary install location to the sdcard or move apps to sdcard, just use link2sd and use 'create link'
steps to install and configure link2sd (assuming your phone is rooted and NAND-unlocked (i think most but not all rooted phones are also NAND-unlocked; mine was, apparently)):
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todo : try:
dragons: rise of berk
boom beach
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user management/ switch user:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1824066 :
All were executed in a # (root) shell To create a user (leave the quotes in if the username being create has a space. Single word names don't need them):
Code:
pm create-user "user name"
To delete a user (replace <user-id> with the user's ID):
Code:
pm remove-user <user-id>
To list all users:
Code:
pm list-users
To switch to another user (replace <user-id> with the user's ID):
Code:
am switch-user <user-id>
To rename a user:
There is no command for this. I used the cat command to read the user's xml file (/data/system/users/<user-id>.xml) into a string array, replaced the user name, saved the file to the SD Card and used the cat command again to overwrite the original file. To reboot after the rename I used:
Code:
reboot
uninstalled/games to reinstall:
elements/epic heros brave frontier boom beach dragon city dragons: rise of berk farmville 2: country escape hay day monster busters robots love ice cream smash hit uniwar hd toca kitchen
monster legends
dragon city dragons: rise of berk empire: four kingdoms
galaxy empire
magic piano boom beach
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everytime i boot, and sometimes after i boot, i get an error message sent as an SMS, saying that a text message couldn't be sent to '+1121611611'. Apparently this is sent by the pre-installed T-mobile Visual Voicemail app, and it causes an error because i'm not on T-Mobile, i'm on AT&T.
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i uninstalled sms popup, even though i like it, because due to the pathetically low memory in the LG Optimus F3Q, it occasionally eats text messages (this is a known issue: https://code.google.com/p/android-smspopup/wiki/FAQ#Other_issues )
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i uninstalled some more things in order to free up memory:
hypercube wallpaper missed call reminder utc time lookout (frozen with link2sd)
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don't let your memory get full. I've been occasionally silently losing text messages when my memory is full. i had text message popup set, maybe that was a problem, cleared that. Also, mb you should always keep the messaging app running in the background?
every now and then, go into Settings->General->Apps->Running. Click on the bottom-left and bottom-right parts of the screen to display two lists. You might be surprised how many apps that don't seem to be open are actually running background processes or sitting there cached.
Just installing a Task Killer program which periodically, automatically kills certain tasks doesn't prevent them from starting up again in between kills. I've found Link2SD to be a lifesaver here, because it allows you to 'freeze' certain apps, which prevent them from starting. After checking both lists in Settings->General->Apps->Running, i've frozen the ones that i don't want to run (note that this isn't as important for the ones on the second list, 'cached background process', because Android will automatically evict them if it needs memory; but it still annoys me that they initially try to take up). These include:
There's also a few apps that were running undesired services that i could have just uninstalled but i didnt want to, either because i havent decided yet if i really want them, or because (in the case of Serval Mesh), they are supposed to be used when you don't have access to the network, in which case you wouldn't be able to download them again.
In addition, some people may want to freeze Lookout, an app that lets you find or wipe your phone in case of theft, but which takes up a signficant amount of background memory.
Another thing that i do to save memory is use Firefox, and when i find i'm opening more than a few tabs, i use its Reading List feature to save the tabs i'm not using at the time, and then close them.
to mount your android phone on Ubuntu GNU/Linux:
(thanks http://www.mysolutions.it/mounting-your-mtp-androids-sd-card-on-ubuntu/ )
plug in your phone, set the USB connection type (in the Android settings somewhere) to MTP, then on the computer:
sudo apt-get install mtpfs sudo mkdir /media/MTPdevice sudo chmod 775 /media/MTPdevice sudo mtpfs -o allow_other /media/MTPdevice
the last command displays a bunch of stuff, including a 'VID=' and a 'PID='. As root, edit /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules (eg 'sudo vi /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules' if you know how to use vi). This file may not exist, in which case, create it. Add this line, replacing <vendorId> and <productId> with the things following VID= and PID=, respectively.
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="<vendorId>", ATTR{idProduct}=="<productId>", MODE="0666"
Now do: sudo service udev restart
After you are done, cleanly unmount the drive with:
sudo umount /media/MTPdevice
To remount later, do:
sudo mtpfs -o allow_other /media/MTPdevice
http://www.sonymobilephones.com/lg-optimus-f3q/disassembly/videos
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"On Android 4.2 and higher, the Developer options screen is hidden by default. To make it visible, go to Settings > About phone and tap Build number seven times. Return to the previous screen to find Developer options at the bottom."
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=54667480&postcount=181
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