First off I want to say that installing any apps or making any changes to your phone by following this guide that you are doing at your own risk. I highly recommend doing a backup using an app such as "Titanium Backup" and having a Google account activated on the phone with the phone admin privileges enabled that lets your Google account lock or erase the phone remotely. This way you can do a factory reset from your computer in case something goes wrong such as it will not boot up. Just remember to save Backups to external SDcard and take out SDcard first before doing a factory reset. A factory reset will erase all user data on the internal memory and external SDcard if you leave it in the phone. If you are not able to reenter the android OS for the factory reset option, resetting it remotely is the only way I have found to do it on this phone. In the manual, the hold down volume + power then release power on LG logo then press power within 3 seconds, I have never gotten to work on this phone. I have read that several others are having trouble entering the recovery mode too on this phone. I have not tried entering recovery through USB debugging with Adb commands. Anyways, back to the guide.
If you're like me and bought this phone when it was on sale for $30, you're very grateful. For $30, this can't be beat for a budget phone especially for first timers like teenagers/kids. Follow this guide to turn this budget phone into a better phone. Note that all steps that are listed below are independent of one another and can be installed separately for individual tastes. I have installed and tested all mentioned apps below on this phone along with many others. I found that these work the best for my needs. I will not go into deep details how to setup each app. There are plenty of guides out there that you can search for that if needed.
1# First off you want to root your phone. Do a search for "How to root L34C android". Towelroot should popup.
2# Now head over to the play store and get “SuperSU” and "BusyBox".
3# If you wish to increase the RAM(virtually of course), then keep reading this step. Note that this step is really only beneficial if you wish to play really large graphic intense games on this phone, but some have claimed that it has beneficial effects that increasing RAM often does for all devices. However, most games that I have tried on this phone will work without this step. But if you wish to play really large games like “Ravensword 2” that will not work on this low memory device otherwise or just want to increase your ram of the phone for the other benefits, get “Ramexpander” from the play store. Go to "forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1659231" to learn how to set it up. Follow the instructions but instead of installing swapper2 as per instructions, you'll be installing Ramexpander. Note, if you are not planning on installing “Link2SD” in the next step disregard making a ext2 partition as per instructions. Per instructions says to make a ext3, but make an ext2 or ext4 instead. After installing Ramexpander, in the settings increase the swappiness setting to around “80+” to make some large games use the virtual ram.
4# Grab “Link2SD” and/or “FolderMount” if you wish to move apps and their data from the internal storage to your external sdcard. Most utility apps I was able to use “Link2SD” to move all the data, but most games I had to use both “FolderMount” and “Link2SD” to move all data to the external SD card.
Use FolderMount to make a symbolic link on folders from internal memory to external. By doing so you can put the game data for example from “sdcard/android/obb” or “sdcard/android/data” folders to your linked folder on your external sdcard. This will take care of most of the games' data that is stored on your internal memory. To get the rest of the data use Link2SD in the next step. *Note that not all apps will put their data in the above mentioned folders and Link2SD will be the only way or most often the easiest way to move the data.
For “Link2SD”, I've confirmed that you can create a primary ext2 or ext4 partition on the external card in step #3, but I had to select ext4 when creating the mount scripts in the app in the Link2SD setup even if I created an ext2 partition otherwise it would'nt accept it. A bug maybe. *Note the “Move to SD card” option does not work, because you do not have an internal SD card on this phone. This option is inferior anyways in comparison to symbolic links created with "Folder Mount" and "Link2SD" which will move virtually all the apps data to the external SDCard. So scroll down and you will see an option to create a symbolic link to send the data from your internal memory to your ext2/4 partition that you created on your external SD card in step #3. After creating symbolic links, you can access the moved data by going to the "data\sdext2" folder. This is the symbolic link to your ext2/4 partition on your external SDcard. In app settings, keep "Install Location" set to automatic. Check the "Auto Link" option and it will let APP2SD automatically create the symbolic links for future installations of apps. *Note, I do not recommend using the "Link Internal Data" option in the paid version. This is buggy and stopped using it after a few apps disappeared after using this option. It would not let me uninstall/reinstall the disappeared apps until I went into several folders and deleted the shortcut links it created. I was getting a "Insufficient Storage Available" trying to install the disappeared apps. Basically the "Link Internal Data" option in Link2SD puts data on ext2/4 partition and links by putting shortcuts in some of the folders listed below. After I deleted the shortcuts and all folders associated with the app, it let me reinstall. I do not remember which folders I found the shortcuts so I listed all of them below to check. Source:"//android.stackexchange.com/questions/46926/android-folder-hierarchy/46934#46934".
| /data/app | .apk files of apps installed by the user |
| /data/dalvik-cache | optimized versions of installed apps¹ |
| /data/data | app data² |
| /data/local | temporary files from e.g. Google Play³
*Update: After playing around with it trying to reproduce the error. I got the "Link Internal Data" option working by first doing all other symbolic links without choosing this option. Then I went back and chose the "Link Internal Data" and works fine now. I'm guessing it needed to produce the symbolic folder links first for this option not to bug out. Hopefully, author will fix it in future update.
5# Do this step if you wish to customize your phone. Install “Xposed Framework”. Install module “Xblast Tools”. Most settings I found to work with phone. I have installed “Gravity Box” too, but quite a few settings would not work. However, I did find that "Navigation Keys action" options worked well though for customization. Most other tweaks that it offers can be found in Xblast Tools. If you like pie controls, I highly recommend “LMT Launcher”. Install "LG Pie Support" module if you wish to disable the navigation ring.
6# I highly recommend installing a launcher for more customization. I use “Nova”, but others should work. Nova makes the phone run smoother than stock launcher.
7# Unfortunately the stock system settings and nova launcher do not give you many options when it comes to font size. If you are unhappy with the font size options as was I, install “BuildProp Editor” or edit file manually(not recommended for the inexperienced). Edit file “system\build.prop” and the “ro.sf.lcd_density” setting. Change it from 160 to 170. This will give you a lot more options for the font size in your system settings. However, it may also increase your icon size/grid size, but you can easily change back using Nova launcher if you installed it. You can also use Nova launcher to change most options when it comes to how your screens look, but as mentioned above, very few options when it comes to font size.
Update: Some games on playstore may say they are incompatible after changing the density setting. Simply change it back to 160, install game and revert back to 170.
8# To decrease battery consumption, I highly recommend installing both “Greenify” and “Wakelock detector” apps. These literally doubled my battery life. I went from charging everyday to once every two days. The free versions do a pretty good job, but did better with the paid versions.
9# Install PDANet+ if you wish to do tethering. I have not been able to find an app to enable hotspot on this phone.
10# Install "Boot Animations" if you want to customize your bootup animation. You can also do this manually to customize your bootup and shutdown animation by going into "system\media\" and copying over the "bootanimation.zip" or "shutdownanimation.zip" with one that you've downloaded. You can also make your own custom animations, but be carful to backup your data. I did this and my screen would not load up after the LG Logo. I didn't have USB Debugging enabled at the time so I could use Adb shell to delete the bootanimation.zip file I created so I had to do a factory reset. Live and learn.
Please leave me comments for better apps that you can confirm to work.
If you're like me and bought this phone when it was on sale for $30, you're very grateful. For $30, this can't be beat for a budget phone especially for first timers like teenagers/kids. Follow this guide to turn this budget phone into a better phone. Note that all steps that are listed below are independent of one another and can be installed separately for individual tastes. I have installed and tested all mentioned apps below on this phone along with many others. I found that these work the best for my needs. I will not go into deep details how to setup each app. There are plenty of guides out there that you can search for that if needed.
1# First off you want to root your phone. Do a search for "How to root L34C android". Towelroot should popup.
2# Now head over to the play store and get “SuperSU” and "BusyBox".
3# If you wish to increase the RAM(virtually of course), then keep reading this step. Note that this step is really only beneficial if you wish to play really large graphic intense games on this phone, but some have claimed that it has beneficial effects that increasing RAM often does for all devices. However, most games that I have tried on this phone will work without this step. But if you wish to play really large games like “Ravensword 2” that will not work on this low memory device otherwise or just want to increase your ram of the phone for the other benefits, get “Ramexpander” from the play store. Go to "forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1659231" to learn how to set it up. Follow the instructions but instead of installing swapper2 as per instructions, you'll be installing Ramexpander. Note, if you are not planning on installing “Link2SD” in the next step disregard making a ext2 partition as per instructions. Per instructions says to make a ext3, but make an ext2 or ext4 instead. After installing Ramexpander, in the settings increase the swappiness setting to around “80+” to make some large games use the virtual ram.
4# Grab “Link2SD” and/or “FolderMount” if you wish to move apps and their data from the internal storage to your external sdcard. Most utility apps I was able to use “Link2SD” to move all the data, but most games I had to use both “FolderMount” and “Link2SD” to move all data to the external SD card.
Use FolderMount to make a symbolic link on folders from internal memory to external. By doing so you can put the game data for example from “sdcard/android/obb” or “sdcard/android/data” folders to your linked folder on your external sdcard. This will take care of most of the games' data that is stored on your internal memory. To get the rest of the data use Link2SD in the next step. *Note that not all apps will put their data in the above mentioned folders and Link2SD will be the only way or most often the easiest way to move the data.
For “Link2SD”, I've confirmed that you can create a primary ext2 or ext4 partition on the external card in step #3, but I had to select ext4 when creating the mount scripts in the app in the Link2SD setup even if I created an ext2 partition otherwise it would'nt accept it. A bug maybe. *Note the “Move to SD card” option does not work, because you do not have an internal SD card on this phone. This option is inferior anyways in comparison to symbolic links created with "Folder Mount" and "Link2SD" which will move virtually all the apps data to the external SDCard. So scroll down and you will see an option to create a symbolic link to send the data from your internal memory to your ext2/4 partition that you created on your external SD card in step #3. After creating symbolic links, you can access the moved data by going to the "data\sdext2" folder. This is the symbolic link to your ext2/4 partition on your external SDcard. In app settings, keep "Install Location" set to automatic. Check the "Auto Link" option and it will let APP2SD automatically create the symbolic links for future installations of apps. *Note, I do not recommend using the "Link Internal Data" option in the paid version. This is buggy and stopped using it after a few apps disappeared after using this option. It would not let me uninstall/reinstall the disappeared apps until I went into several folders and deleted the shortcut links it created. I was getting a "Insufficient Storage Available" trying to install the disappeared apps. Basically the "Link Internal Data" option in Link2SD puts data on ext2/4 partition and links by putting shortcuts in some of the folders listed below. After I deleted the shortcuts and all folders associated with the app, it let me reinstall. I do not remember which folders I found the shortcuts so I listed all of them below to check. Source:"//android.stackexchange.com/questions/46926/android-folder-hierarchy/46934#46934".
| /data/app | .apk files of apps installed by the user |
| /data/dalvik-cache | optimized versions of installed apps¹ |
| /data/data | app data² |
| /data/local | temporary files from e.g. Google Play³
*Update: After playing around with it trying to reproduce the error. I got the "Link Internal Data" option working by first doing all other symbolic links without choosing this option. Then I went back and chose the "Link Internal Data" and works fine now. I'm guessing it needed to produce the symbolic folder links first for this option not to bug out. Hopefully, author will fix it in future update.
5# Do this step if you wish to customize your phone. Install “Xposed Framework”. Install module “Xblast Tools”. Most settings I found to work with phone. I have installed “Gravity Box” too, but quite a few settings would not work. However, I did find that "Navigation Keys action" options worked well though for customization. Most other tweaks that it offers can be found in Xblast Tools. If you like pie controls, I highly recommend “LMT Launcher”. Install "LG Pie Support" module if you wish to disable the navigation ring.
6# I highly recommend installing a launcher for more customization. I use “Nova”, but others should work. Nova makes the phone run smoother than stock launcher.
7# Unfortunately the stock system settings and nova launcher do not give you many options when it comes to font size. If you are unhappy with the font size options as was I, install “BuildProp Editor” or edit file manually(not recommended for the inexperienced). Edit file “system\build.prop” and the “ro.sf.lcd_density” setting. Change it from 160 to 170. This will give you a lot more options for the font size in your system settings. However, it may also increase your icon size/grid size, but you can easily change back using Nova launcher if you installed it. You can also use Nova launcher to change most options when it comes to how your screens look, but as mentioned above, very few options when it comes to font size.
Update: Some games on playstore may say they are incompatible after changing the density setting. Simply change it back to 160, install game and revert back to 170.
8# To decrease battery consumption, I highly recommend installing both “Greenify” and “Wakelock detector” apps. These literally doubled my battery life. I went from charging everyday to once every two days. The free versions do a pretty good job, but did better with the paid versions.
9# Install PDANet+ if you wish to do tethering. I have not been able to find an app to enable hotspot on this phone.
10# Install "Boot Animations" if you want to customize your bootup animation. You can also do this manually to customize your bootup and shutdown animation by going into "system\media\" and copying over the "bootanimation.zip" or "shutdownanimation.zip" with one that you've downloaded. You can also make your own custom animations, but be carful to backup your data. I did this and my screen would not load up after the LG Logo. I didn't have USB Debugging enabled at the time so I could use Adb shell to delete the bootanimation.zip file I created so I had to do a factory reset. Live and learn.
Please leave me comments for better apps that you can confirm to work.
Last edited:
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