my issued with Moto G

[lorcar]

minor issues but...
i bought it as a present for my mother, but probably is not the right choice, too naked:

1- no battery % indication (solved dowloading an app, but result is not comparable to Sony/samsung/etc)
2- No way to kill all open windows with one single click! you have to do one by one. Can this be solved?
3- answering a phone call is not that intuitive. Really. Who came up with the idea as it is now?
4- entering the "call" environment it does NOT show the dialing pad, but you have to press that little pad icon.. No way to make it easier?

any hint is appreciated
thanks

 

[the tall guy]

Hi, all the above problems are Lollipop related, not really Motorola.

Since Moto run stock Android, it's up to Google to implement fixes for the above, or Moto could alter the UI if they wanted, but I don't see that happening.

1) with Marshmallow this is a feature available through the UI Tuner, but it isn't available on Lollipop so a 3rd party app is your best bet
2) Again, this is a feature missing from Lollipop / Marshmallow. There isn't really any need to close down all the apps though, it doesn't save battery or anything.
3) I agree the answering the phone feature is ridiculous on Lollipop / Marshmallow.
4) Same as the above three, it's a UI thing. If you open the phone dial app, select the keypad button then close it down, when you open it up again it should re-load to the keypad??

Might be worth while considering getting a Samsung device if the above is too frustrating.

 

[acejavelin]

Like the tall guy said... This is stock Android, almost exactly like a Nexus device, the are not problems, just "the way it should be". And yes, most of these things are simple and just take some getting used to but I get where it can be frustrating coming from another device.

Sounds like you need a custom ROM, or at least some added apps... All of the items you mentioned can be dealt with easily, although due to security in newer versions of Android some require root permissions on a stock ROM.

 

[Javier P]

Hi Lorcar, I agree completely with the tall guy. Moto devices come with almost pure Android and you need to add a couple of extra apps to get those features. The good thing is that having no skin added on top of Android is one of the main reasons why this phone gives you such an amazing performance with a very accessible price.

1. For battery percentage you can decide if you prefer the number in your status bar or in a widget. Apps like Power Toggles of Gsam Battery Monitor will give you plenty of different options. They are free and full of interesting features.

2. As the tall guy said, don't worry about that, Android is pretty good managing the memory.

3 & 4. I like the way lollipop handles the dialer but it's just a personal opinion. If your mother doesn't like the direct dial cards for favourites maybe you could try with a different dialer from the Play Store. I can't recommend you one in particular since I've never used any. Also, there are different launchers that can simplify the access to your most used apps.

Tell us if you need any help to set things up.

 

[lorcar]

thanks a lot

any app/launcher you'd in particular suggest?

 

[Javier P]

I've read good reviews for launchers like Wiser, Necta or Big, but never used any of them.

Maybe the best thing to do could be organising the favourite cards in the dialer or even create direct dial widgets for the most used contacts in one of the home screens. See if your mother gets used to this system before changing the launcher.

Oh! I forgot. Marshmallow is round the corner for the Moto G 2015 and some things will change a bit.

 

[acejavelin]

thanks a lot

any app/launcher you'd in particular suggest?

Nova is kind of the de facto "best" launcher, if there is such a thing, and it can give all kinds of customization options like custom icons for one, some other good options would be Apex, Action Launcher, Buzz, Next Shell 3D (expensive but cool), but I don't think a launcher is what you need...

- Battery Percentage, this is part of the operating system framework, to change it from Battery Percentage Enabler (the little %% numbers on the battery icon that I assume you have), you must be rooted and use Xposed or use a custom ROM

- Killing apps is a bad idea, if you REALLY need to, you can press the multitask button and then the X in the corner of the app. Again, this is really not recommended. Some stock and most custom ROMs have the ability to change Long Press Back to "Kill Current Foreground App" in Developer Settings, but that may have been done away with since it is actually a bad thing in recent Android versions.

- I am not sure how answering the phone isn't intuitive, a simple swipe to the right if locked or tap ANSWER if unlocked... not really sure how this is difficult

- The dialpad does show up in the call environment, if you call a toll free number (800/888/877/866/855), otherwise it does not... Own an LG G2 for a while and you will be glad it isn't on the screen for every call. Why do you need the dialpad everytime anyway? Regardless, there are Dialer and Contact app replacements in the Play Store where you can set a contact to automatically open the dial pad when placing a call to that contact... but it has been long time since I have tried one so you will just have to poke around.

 

[lorcar]

- Killing apps is a bad idea, i
since it is actually a bad thing in recent Android versions.

thanks
why is that?

 

[acejavelin]

thanks
why is that?

Basically because Android is Linux, not Windows... Memory is intended to be kept full to speed access to apps, unused RAM is wasted RAM to Linux, and when memory is needed the kernel will eliminate stale task automatically or swap them to disk temporarily as needed. By killing apps manually you are literally slowing down your device, and if you have one of those rare misbehaving apps that won't sleep properly it's time to get rid of it.

A quick Google search will get all kinds of detailed info on why this is bad, even Apple says force killing apps is bad for the OS... Things have changed a lot since Froyo/Gingerbread when this actually saw some benefits, although minor and most likely related to poor coding of the app rather than an OS problem.

 

[hisense]

Sounds like a free custom launcher is a goid chouce for you. Might want to try Apex. It it very light weightm has littke impact on battery. Lets you customize things like battery percent and other things

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