Phone notes

From raju

Features I need in a phone

Last updated | 2018-01-22

Must have

  • good RF performance
  • access to latest maps - google maps or some other service
  • access to gmail, google drive, youtube, google contacts, google calendar
  • facebook, whatsapp, amazon, waze
  • chess.com, lichess.com
  • replaceable battery
  • one full day of idle battery life

Good to have

  • decent camera and video

LG stylo 3 plus

Bought an "LG stylo 3 plus" from Costco for $192 ($180 for phone + $12 tax) on 2018-02-04.

checklist of must have features

Requirement Result notes
Good RF performance Yes
Access to latest maps Yes through google maps
access to gmail, google drive, youtube, google contacts, google calendar Yes
facebook, whatsapp, amazon Yes
waze
lichess.com Yes
replaceable battery Yes
one full day of idle battery life Yes

checklist of good to have features

Requirement Result notes
decent camera and video

Tips

  • When the stylus is taken out, a menu button appears on the top right. This button is useful to perform stylus related activities. But it overrides anything underneath it. For example, google chrome shows the "three vertical dot" settings menu at the very place where the stylus menu button is located. But since the stylus menu overrides the chrome settings menu, there is no way to reach the chrome settings menu. To get around it, briefly press the stylus menu button until a trash can icon appears and then try to move the stylus menu button towards it. This will move the stylus menu button to the top left into the status bar.

Ref:- http://eguides.sprint.com/support/eguides/lgstylo3/content/lg_stylo_3_ug/using_the_stylus_pen.html

Disable vibration feedback

To disable phone vibration when the back button is pressed

    Settings -> Sound & notification -> Advanced Settings ->
    More -> Vibrate on tap -> off
    

Remove a gmail account

    Settings -> General -> Accounts & sync
    -> Google -> Select the account you want to remove
    -> settings menu at the top (three vertical dots button)
    -> Remove account -> Remove.
    

Remove gmail notifications

This will disable the indicator icons that popup on the phone screen whenever there is a new email.

    Open gmail app -> settings button at the top left
    -> Select the account of interest -> Settings
    -> select account of interest -> Notifications
    -> uncheck
    

refresh contacts list

    Settings -> General -> Accounts & Sync
    -> Accounts -> Google -> <select the gmail account>
    -> Contacts -> if (it is already on) ? turn it off and then on : turn it on
    

Useful links

Review

  • Stylus is great. It comes in handy if you type a lot or play games that involve a lot of finger pressing (ex:- chess).

charging cable replacement

  • Buy the Micro-USB to USB cable from Walmart. Costs about $5.

Configure LG stylo 3 plus

Disable pen pop menu

Settings -> General -> Smart Functions -> Pen -> Open when pen is removed -> None

Ref:- https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-34685

Disable vibrate on keypress

Settings -> General -> Language & keyboard -> LG keyboard -> More -> Vibrate on keypress -> off

Sound profile

Settings -> Sound & notification -> Sound profile -> Vibrate only -> select

Manually installed apps

  • Chess app from chess.com
  • Apps from Google - google calendar
  • whatsapp
  • venmo
  • Geico Mobile
  • feedly
  • RSA SecurID Software Token

Why apps

  • facebook - their marketplace is useful for buying/selling stuff. The app makes it easy to upload pictures.

configure facebook

  • Disable video autoplay
    Facebook app -> Settings icon -> App Settings -> Autoplay -> select "Never Autoplay Videos"
    

configure whatsapp

  • To disable access to contacts
    Settings -> General -> Apps -> WhatsApp -> Permissions
    -> Contacts -> off
    -> Storage -> off
    

configure google

  • To disable all notifications
    Open Google app -> click the hamburger menu settings button at the bottom right
    -> Settings -> Notifications -> Your feed -> Notifications -> off
    
  • To just disable google weather notifications
    Open Google app -> click the hamburger menu settings button at the bottom right
    -> Settings -> Notifications -> Your feed -> Notifications -> Get notified about
    -> Weather -> off
    

Configure google maps

Google maps asks to review a place, upload photos of a place you recently visited etc., To disable all this crap

Open Google maps -> hamburger menu at the top left -> Settings -> Notifications -> Your contributions -> disable everything under it.

Configure play store

Play store -> Hamburger menu button at the top left -> Settings -> Auto-update apps -> select "Do not auto-update apps."

Play Store -> profile pic on top right -> scroll down to Settings -> General -> Notifications -> Updates available -> off.

Configure chess app from chess.com

To disable sounds when pieces are moved while playing the game

    Chess app -> Hamburger menu button at the top left -> Settings -> Game -> Sounds -> disable
    

Configure blaze pizza app

To disable notifications

    Settings -> General -> Apps -> Blaze Pizza -> Notifications -> Block -> On