The LG G4- My First Android Phone

[TrophyNostalgia]

Hey guys,

So I've been a long-time Windows Phone user, but recently switched from an HTC One (M8) for Windows to Android with the LG G4 (primarily because I had to switch carriers. I've been playing around with my device for a little over a week now, but I still have a lot of questions. So far here are my observations of the LG G4. I was hoping that if there is anything I'm missing somebody could cue me into the finer tips of how to tweak Android OS.

Things I've Observed or Need Help With:
1) After spending hours trying to get my contacts to sync from multiple accounts, I finally linked Facebook and got a lot of information to be added to my Contact Book. However, any time I go to view an individual contact their pictures are blurry. Why is this? I've started manually adding all of my contacts via contacts.google.com. But, this is a lengthy process and doesn't automatically update information (i.e. profile picture and demographics) as users change. This was one feature I really liked about Windows Phone. Any app or setting tweaks I am missing?
2) I've been examining my battery usage and noticed that for whatever reason Bing is using a high amount of my battery. Even more than my screen. I'm not actively using Bing. What are the best apps to monitor, diagnose, and control the energy usage of Android phones?
3) Is there a way to change the abrasive orange theme color in the stock Messaging app?
4) I'm starting to learn about what appears to be "launchers" for customizing Android home screens and features. I installed Nova Launcher, but really have no idea where to begin. If anyone has advice as to the best way to plunge into customization I'd greatly appreciate it.
5) I plugged in my SD card from my old phone and many of my pictures duplicated. Why might this be? Almost all of my saved photos now appear three times. Furthermore how is the SD card memory managed? I have text messages and any new photos set to save to my SD card. However, it appears all apps and many other aspects of my phone memory are still being saved internally. How can I instruct my phone to save as much as possible to the SD card?
6) I always heard when it comes to Android that you should habitually clear caches or get rid of pre-installed bloat-ware to free up the system. How do I go about keeping my LG G4 running in good shape and knowing what I should uninstall?

I've already been through quite a bit of "Beginner's" guides for Android. But, if anyone has general insights such as Launcher, keyboard customization etc... that is essential to getting beyond the bland stock software I would greatly appreciate any and all expertise on jumping into all that the Android OS has to offer on the LG G4.

Thanks guys, looking forward to joining the community.

 

[CPEjr]

Hey guys,

So I've been a long-time Windows Phone user, but recently switched from an HTC One (M8) for Windows to Android with the LG G4 (primarily because I had to switch carriers. I've been playing around with my device for a little over a week now, but I still have a lot of questions. So far here are my observations of the LG G4. I was hoping that if there is anything I'm missing somebody could cue me into the finer tips of how to tweak Android OS.

Things I've Observed or Need Help With:
1) After spending hours trying to get my contacts to sync from multiple accounts, I finally linked Facebook and got a lot of information to be added to my Contact Book. However, any time I go to view an individual contact their pictures are blurry. Why is this? I've started manually adding all of my contacts via contacts.google.com. But, this is a lengthy process and doesn't automatically update information (i.e. profile picture and demographics) as users change. This was one feature I really liked about Windows Phone. Any app or setting tweaks I am missing?
2) I've been examining my battery usage and noticed that for whatever reason Bing is using a high amount of my battery. Even more than my screen. I'm not actively using Bing. What are the best apps to monitor, diagnose, and control the energy usage of Android phones?
3) Is there a way to change the abrasive orange theme color in the stock Messaging app?
4) I'm starting to learn about what appears to be "launchers" for customizing Android home screens and features. I installed Nova Launcher, but really have no idea where to begin. If anyone has advice as to the best way to plunge into customization I'd greatly appreciate it.
5) I plugged in my SD card from my old phone and many of my pictures duplicated. Why might this be? Almost all of my saved photos now appear three times. Furthermore how is the SD card memory managed? I have text messages and any new photos set to save to my SD card. However, it appears all apps and many other aspects of my phone memory are still being saved internally. How can I instruct my phone to save as much as possible to the SD card?
6) I always heard when it comes to Android that you should habitually clear caches or get rid of pre-installed bloat-ware to free up the system. How do I go about keeping my LG G4 running in good shape and knowing what I should uninstall?

I've already been through quite a bit of "Beginner's" guides for Android. But, if anyone has general insights such as Launcher, keyboard customization etc... that is essential to getting beyond the bland stock software I would greatly appreciate any and all expertise on jumping into all that the Android OS has to offer on the LG G4.

Thanks guys, looking forward to joining the community.

I will try to help you with a few things. Not too sure about you contacts, but I have had a Windows Phone before, and I know contacts can be linked to multiple accounts. Try logging in to those accounts on your G4 and see if that will help bring your contacts back. 2nd. If you don't use Bing that often, get rid of it. Google search works so much better and it is a major part of the Android software and was Bing with Windows/Microsoft. See if that alone helps your battery life. 3rd. No, there isn't a way to change that hideous color. Lol. However, you can download a third party messaging app. Personally, I use Textra, but Google Messenger is a good one also, and then there is Hangouts. Hangouts should be pre installed on your device, but it isn't as good as the other two messaging apps. 4th. Launchers. Ah, yes, these are fun! Personally, I use Action Launcher 3 Pro, and I love it! Lots of people on here use Nova, and they can help you better on customization of that Launcher. Pro versions of Launchers offer so many customizations such as home screen count, icon packs and even double tap to wake/sleep the device. Check and see if YouTube has any tutorials to help you further. 5th. I don't have much to say about SD card management. All I use mine for is music and photos/videos. If your SD card is installed, your camera app will ask you if you want to save photos to your SD card. Once you click yes, that is where photos and videos will be saved. 6th. Under Settings, there should be a Smart Cleaning tab that will help you clean the cache. The next one down the list will ask you about downloads, be careful with that one as it can delete, for example, a photo you clicked and saved off the web. Don't click that one if you have downloaded something you don't want deleted. Lastly, there is Idle Apps. That one is self explanatory. If there are any apps you haven't used in a long time, it will remove them if you choose to by using this method.
Hopefully this helps, and enjoy your new Android device! The freedom is great!

Posted from one of my many Android devices.

 

[TrophyNostalgia]

I will try to help you with a few things. Not too sure about you contacts, but I have had a Windows Phone before, and I know contacts can be linked to multiple accounts. Try logging in to those accounts on your G4 and see if that will help bring your contacts back. 2nd. If you don't use Bing that often, get rid of it. Google search works so much better and it is a major part of the Android software and was Bing with Windows/Microsoft. See if that alone helps your battery life. 3rd. No, there isn't a way to change that hideous color. Lol. However, you can download a third party messaging app. Personally, I use Textra, but Google Messenger is a good one also, and then there is Hangouts. Hangouts should be pre installed on your device, but it isn't as good as the other two messaging apps. 4th. Launchers. Ah, yes, these are fun! Personally, I use Action Launcher 3 Pro, and I love it! Lots of people on here use Nova, and they can help you better on customization of that Launcher. Pro versions of Launchers offer so many customizations such as home screen count, icon packs and even double tap to wake/sleep the device. Check and see if YouTube has any tutorials to help you further. 5th. I don't have much to say about SD card management. All I use mine for is music and photos/videos. If your SD card is installed, your camera app will ask you if you want to save photos to your SD card. Once you click yes, that is where photos and videos will be saved. 6th. Under Settings, there should be a Smart Cleaning tab that will help you clean the cache. The next one down the list will ask you about downloads, be careful with that one as it can delete, for example, a photo you clicked and saved off the web. Don't click that one if you have downloaded something you don't want deleted. Lastly, there is Idle Apps. That one is self explanatory. If there are any apps you haven't used in a long time, it will remove them if you choose to by using this method.
Hopefully this helps, and enjoy your new Android device! The freedom is great!

Posted from one of my many Android devices.

Thanks for all of this. I'm slowly sifting through all of these features or options. Hands down Textra is the best thing I've tried so far. It increased my appreciation of texting on the LG G4 ten-fold! The app is almost reminiscent of the Windows Phone texting style which is what I missed and has distinctive color options (all of which are customizable by the user). I'm slowly piecing together some great tweaks to my system which went from abrasive (orange and tacky stock features) to smooth colors and lag-free keyboards like the Google keyboard.

In regards to Bing, I really combine the best of both engines. I love Google for feature-rich searches (reviews; specific details; maps); while using Bing for daily images and more general searches. Furthermore, I get the Bing Rewards which has helped me to earn quite a bit of money over the years. As far as I can tell it isn't causing a "significant" drain on my battery. I'm just curious why it would be the second highest app on my battery usage and why it would need to re-start its background service every time I open the app. Is there anyway to get more insight into what exactly it is doing in the background?

Launchers seem a bit more intensive, so I may hold off until this weekend to play around with those. It's fun but frustrating that you have to play around so much to get Android to work. It's both liberating and annoying in my opinion. However, it's far too early for me to judge. I'm just excited to try out new systems and get a better idea of what else is out there.