The only reason I want to upgrade from an S3 right now, to either the S4 or the G2, is due to the larger screen size. The N3 is a little big so it seems these two are the only logical options.
I upgraded from the Galaxy nexus to the S3 purely due to the fact that it did not WASTE screen real-estate on black and white static icons. Frankly that is the absolute stupidest use of the screen there is. Samsung has it right by continuing to keep the buttons off screen.
So, the only way the G2 fits the bill (for probably many people) is if one of the following two solutions can exist:
1. The nav bar is totally transparent. The buttons still register when you tap there, but when browsing or watching video, the frame or text completely spills behind the buttons as if they don't actually take up space. Still not ideal.
2. The buttons are taken off screen fully and remapped to the rear HW keys. One volume key can be the back button, and the other can be the home button, etc. To change the volume, you gotta drag the software slider. Not a problem. I believe there are many button remapping apps in the market. Anyone tried this?
Is there an app to do these things? Can this feature be built into a ROM? For solution number 1, the nav bar can be hidden using a feature like PA has, and an app can just have a virtual transparent button floating where the original ones were. This app might also just exist in the android market.
Can we work on getting the entire screen area useful on this large phone?
k00zk0 said:
The only reason I want to upgrade from an S3 right now, to either the S4 or the G2, is due to the larger screen size. The N3 is a little big so it seems these two are the only logical options.
I upgraded from the Galaxy nexus to the S3 purely due to the fact that it did not WASTE screen real-estate on black and white static icons. Frankly that is the absolute stupidest use of the screen there is. Samsung has it right by continuing to keep the buttons off screen.
So, the only way the G2 fits the bill (for probably many people) is if one of the following two solutions can exist:
1. The nav bar is totally transparent. The buttons still register when you tap there, but when browsing or watching video, the frame or text completely spills behind the buttons as if they don't actually take up space. Still not ideal.
2. The buttons are taken off screen fully and remapped to the rear HW keys. One volume key can be the back button, and the other can be the home button, etc. To change the volume, you gotta drag the software slider. Not a problem. I believe there are many button remapping apps in the market. Anyone tried this?
Is there an app to do these things? Can this feature be built into a ROM? For solution number 1, the nav bar can be hidden using a feature like PA has, and an app can just have a virtual transparent button floating where the original ones were. This app might also just exist in the android market.
Can we work on getting the entire screen area useful on this large phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same mentality as you before deciding on the G2. There is a solution.
You will have to ROOT first.
GMD Auto hide app. This app will completely hide the software keys. They only appear when you swipe up from the very bottom of the screen.. or just tap the very bottom of the screen. You chose that in settings. The software keys can be made transparent as well.
Im currently using the app and love it. Works perfectly.
Without root... i dont think there is a solution.
I just use the navbar mod that shrinks the navbar down to either half or a third of the size. That way they take up hardly any screen at all.
Sent from my LG-D802 using xda app-developers app
o0adam0o said:
I had the same mentality as you before deciding on the G2. There is a solution.
You will have to ROOT first.
GMD Auto hide app. This app will completely hide the software keys. They only appear when you swipe up from the very bottom of the screen.. or just tap the very bottom of the screen. You chose that in settings. The software keys can be made transparent as well.
Im currently using the app and love it. Works perfectly.
Without root... i dont think there is a solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've used the Xposed Module - Ultimate Dynamic Navbar (available on play store). Looked to have more customization options than GMD (can have up to 7 buttons on the nav bar, for example, and more options for configuring long press of the buttons). But anyway, overall concept is the same as GMD.
And so far, i am loving it. Nice to have the full screen real estate at all times.
And root is so damn easy on this phone.
Big Boy Laroux said:
I've used the Xposed Module - Ultimate Dynamic Navbar (available on play store). Looked to have more customization options than GMD (can have up to 7 buttons on the nav bar, for example, and more options for configuring long press of the buttons). But anyway, overall concept is the same as GMD.
And so far, i am loving it. Nice to have the full screen real estate at all times.
And root is so damn easy on this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I considered Xposed as well... but i thought that method just let you adjust/resize and theme the soft buttons.. but i wanted to completley hide them and have them reappear with a touch/swipe of my finger and then go away again. Xposed can do that as well? I just took a quick glance at the thread and figured it couldnt.
o0adam0o said:
I considered Xposed as well... but i thought that method just let you adjust/resize and theme the soft buttons.. but i wanted to completley hide them and have them reappear with a touch/swipe of my finger and then go away again. Xposed can do that as well? I just took a quick glance at the thread and figured it couldnt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The xposed module Ultimate Dynamic Navbar can do all that.
it's on play store, but i just found it here on XDA. Note to self - remember to ALWAYS check xda first before you pay! although, i like the app so far, so it's worth the money.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2270198
EDIT : One note - on the G2, I've found you have to use another Xposed module (like g2 xposed or gravity box) to hide the stock nav bar first. At least right now.
I'm already using G2 xposed to remove the volume slider in drop-down, and for transparent status bar, so I already had it to make this change.
I love the software buttons because you can customize them and have various animations and actions. I agree with the wasted space but I root and download "tex_Droider" from the Play Store and change the DPI down from 480 to 400. This will make everything smaller and more roomier... including the Nav Bar.
Then I downloaded Flashify and TWRP Custom recovery. Flashed with Flashify.
I downloaded a Smaller Nav Mod. I used the "Medium" size since I already lowered the DPI. You can use the small size too if you want it really small. Boom.
I've played with hiding the navbar and using gestures and also that PA mod. I dunno just doesn't work for me. I use those buttons a lot and adding a swipe each time is a pain. Personally I wouldn't mind just having a transparent bar across ALL apps.
With ya player911, wound just using small nav bar. Wish I could add a couple more apps to the stock home swipe out.
With the G nexus I've tried making the nav bar about half. It worked except for the occasional mis-tap. Still it was annoying to have it cover up screen - on top of all of these options, can the nav bar be made transparent? I figure apps would have a hard time realizing what's going on so a solution would go something along the lines of first removing the nav bar to make every app draw full screen, and then adding a module that would create false transparent buttons simply overlaying the screen content at all times, rather than having a swipe or some other gesture pull the nav bar up or down. The false buttons could be in the very corners of the screen so as to not likely cover anything up.
The thing I like about the S3/4 is in dark conditions where you are being more tactile with the phone/case (I turn my softkey backlight off totally) your thumb rests on the edge of the case and rolls over to tap the softkey. It wouldn't be an issue to get used to the position of this virtual softkey by adopting the same behavior, it's just a matter of whether an app exists that will draw repositionable virtual transparent mappable "area" on the screen that would correspond to a button.
Don't think you're going to find one. Every app/game is different, so who is to say that where you place your "always there" transparent buttons won't interfere with an actual area you need to tap inside an app, game, etc. Even in the corners.
I would again suggest trying the auto-hide mods mentioned above. They do exactly what you are describing with the overlay, except you have to swipe or tap to bring it up.
Swiping is really not that big a deal. Ultimate dynamic navbar gives you the ability to swipe right to a button, so your finger never has to come off the screen. It's very fluid.
You could also try PIE. But what I like about the auto hide nav bar mods is that you can set the nav bar to toggle, so it stays up if you need to press nav bar buttons a bunch of times in a row. With PIE (at least when I last used it), you have to swipe for every button press.
Sent from my LG-LS980 using xda app-developers app
Hi
I've been considering the LG V10 and wanted to hear from the XDA community on how useful the 2nd screen actually was. Is the second screen more than a novelty? What do you use yours for? What apps can utilize the 2nd screen? How often do you use the 2nd. screen and how does it effect battery life?Screen caps would be welcome.
It's a useful novelty, I wish they would have bumped up the front facing cameras and gave us the option to have a 5.9 inch screen. Useful for checking time w/out unlocking phone as we as being able to change songs w/out unlocking especially useful while driving
I really enjoy the lack of notification cards on the main screen. The past few phones I've had (Note 5, Nexus 6, S6 Edge) have all had the Lollipop style cards that block way too much of the screen. With this phone, the notifications just go to the secondary screen so you can keep focus on what you're doing but still be able to see it. Also, the music controls have been amazing so far and it makes it so much easier as you don't have to pull the shade or switch apps to change tracks or pause (Noticing a trend here lol?). And finally, I use it for having favorite contacts set up (similar to the only good concept of the edge IMO). Hope this helps, so far I love this phone!
I am loving the second screen and find it very useful.
For shortcuts I have tapatalk, chrome, maps, camera and settings.
I love that it also has the 5 most recent apps. I came from a note 2 and waiting for long press for the recent apps was a pain! Of course this phone has a button for that anyway but I still like having them just sitting up there.
I am also using the contact shortcuts to try to replace my direct dial and text shortcuts I had on my home screens. I'm still trying to get used to that.
I definitely like that the date and time is always showing so I can check without waking the phone.
I also recently discovered that if I swipe over to the left when the main screen is sleeping there are shortcuts for the camera, flashlight, Wi-Fi toggle and sound /vibrate toggle.
I love it.
So far I think I'm using the app shortcuts the most.
Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk
BTW guys, not exactly related to the secondary-screen alone but how is the "alt-tab" performance; toggling between recent apps?
Say you cycle between the 5 recent apps; do they pop-up just immediately without any delay and at the exact point where you have left the app? (i.e. a web page doesn't reload, Twitter doesn't refresh like you are opening the app for the first time).
So far I really like the second screen. I keep having an issue where my Hangouts keep showing up as the big banner across the screen (sms seems to show on the secondary though). I also with when the screen was off it would show the whole notification, not just the icon. It would also be nice to choose how long the notification stayed on the second screen. I feel like it pops up and goes away so fast.
I wish the quick contacts could be set as direct dial. I will never use on of those icons to text. I need quick to just dial the primary contacts I have.
Two words: Spotify controls.
Spotify's lock widget was awful, and it always frustrated me that I had to unlock the phone to restart a song. Now I don't even have to turn the lock screen on to do it. This alone made love the second screen.
I thought it might be gimmicky, but I like using it to switch between apps and the music control is nice.
tersagun said:
BTW guys, not exactly related to the secondary-screen alone but how is the "alt-tab" performance; toggling between recent apps?
Say you cycle between the 5 recent apps; do they pop-up just immediately without any delay and at the exact point where you have left the app? (i.e. a web page doesn't reload, Twitter doesn't refresh like you are opening the app for the first time).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally yes, the ram management is very good
I find it useful. Even if u don't plan in using it shouldn't be a bother.
App switching is better, faster since you don't have to flip through cards. I always preferred the old school Android where it just showed the app icons of previous apps
Google Now cards flash with basketball game scores without interrupting whatever I'm doing.
Same with calls. They show up on the second screen.
Like the title states. I'm just wondering how well the v 60 does with gaming etc. Specifically cod mobile and pubg. Looking to upgrade my 7t pro McLaren and wondering if it's worth it to go to this phone. Is the screen easily viewed I'm bright sunlight? I read somewhere the screen is only a little more then 500 nits which compared to my McLaren isn't very good. How does the resolution look? Is it noticable that it's only 1080p? Is the 60hz refresh rate noticably slower or more laggy then 90 hz?
lendawg said:
Like the title states. I'm just wondering how well the v 60 does with gaming etc. Specifically cod mobile and pubg. Looking to upgrade my 7t pro McLaren and wondering if it's worth it to go to this phone. Is the screen easily viewed I'm bright sunlight? I read somewhere the screen is only a little more then 500 nits which compared to my McLaren isn't very good. How does the resolution look? Is it noticable that it's only 1080p? Is the 60hz refresh rate noticably slower or more laggy then 90 hz?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The screen will be plenty bright enough compared to the McLaren, but other than being able to use the dual screen as a gamepad, I don't think you'd be gaining anything performance wise with this upgrade other than audio and battery life.
Ryano89 said:
The screen will be plenty bright enough compared to the McLaren, but other than being able to use the dual screen as a gamepad, I don't think you'd be gaining anything performance wise with this upgrade other than audio and battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you say gaming performance "feels" the same or worse than the McLaren?
lendawg said:
Would you say gaming performance "feels" the same or worse than the McLaren?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only used the McLaren for a couple of days, so I may not be the best judge. But I prefer the V60 because of the gamepad on the dual screen, and the flat screen. I didn't really use it long enough to judge whether you will notice the difference in refresh rate. I'm a OnePlus fan coming from a 6t, but the battery life, and dramatic curved screen bothered me. The battery life in the V60 when not using the dual screen is shockingly good. The other day, without gaming, I pulled 30hrs and 9.5 hrs of SOT. But the performance increase from an SD855+ to the 865 is going to be unnoticeable.
Ryano89 said:
I only used the McLaren for a couple of days, so I may not be the best judge. But I prefer the V60 because of the gamepad on the dual screen, and the flat screen. I didn't really use it long enough to judge whether you will notice the difference in refresh rate. I'm a OnePlus fan coming from a 6t, but the battery life, and dramatic curved screen bothered me. The battery life in the V60 when not using the dual screen is shockingly good. The other day, without gaming, I pulled 30hrs and 9.5 hrs of SOT. But the performance increase from an SD855+ to the 865 is going to be unnoticeable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow that is insane battery life! Is 1080p noticable compared to QHD? Also, how is the software/UI? I had a v20 and the software/ui was terrible.
lendawg said:
Wow that is insane battery life! Is 1080p noticable compared to QHD? Also, how is the software/UI? I had a v20 and the software/ui was terrible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't really notice the difference between 1080 and the QHD in my wife's Note10. I also had the V20 and the software is miles better than it was back then, but it's still not anywhere as clean and nice as OnePlus. Overall I'm very happy with the device as it's a big improvement over my 2yr old 6t in every way. Screen, camera, performance, battery, multitasking and audio are all better, but depending on the deal you get, and how much you value the dual screen, and superior audio, it may not be much of an upgrade over a much newer McLaren 7t pro.
Ryano89 said:
I don't really notice the difference between 1080 and the QHD in my wife's Note10. I also had the V20 and the software is miles better than it was back then, but it's still not anywhere as clean and nice as OnePlus. Overall I'm very happy with the device as it's a big improvement over my 2yr old 6t in every way. Screen, camera, performance, battery, multitasking and audio are all better, but depending on the deal you get, and how much you value the dual screen, and superior audio, it may not be much of an upgrade over a much newer McLaren 7t pro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you mind sharing some screenshots of the settings app, phone app, quick pulldown and message apps?
I've never used a OnePlus device, so I can't speak to a direct comparison between the MacLaren 7T Pro and the LG 60.
But I am coming from an open-market LG V30+ (which I rooted but kept on highly customized stock firmware). Even without root, I was able to adapt most of those customizations to the V60 without serious issue.
Heavily tweaked third-party launcher, icon pack, third-party gestures, beautiful live wallpaper, dark/black mode everywhere. You get the idea.
The LG V30+ had a smaller and higher resolution screen compared to the V60; so the combination of a significantly larger screen running at a lower resolution results in a fairly obvious DPI difference.
That said, we're not talking about a 65-inch TV here. These are largely devices with 4- to 7-inch screens, and the resolution change actually doesn't bother me (though it is noticeable). For these sizes, I find that 1080P suffices. YMMV.
And I have to say, the side benefits of having a 1080P screen running at a standard 60 Hz may well be worth the trade-off.
I've had this phone for a little over a month now, and I noticed last night when I went to plug the phone in before turning in to bed myself, that after around 15 hours of being unplugged, I still had 96% of my battery life.
Granted, I didn't use the phone heavily yesterday (I tend to disconnect a bit on weekends). But my aging V30+ never pushed numbers like. Not during its prime, and certainly not after 2.5+ years of daily use.
Mejilan said:
I've never used a OnePlus device, so I can't speak to a direct comparison between the MacLaren 7T Pro and the LG 60.
But I am coming from an open-market LG V30+ (which I rooted but kept on highly customized stock firmware). Even without root, I was able to adapt most of those customizations to the V60 without serious issue.
Heavily tweaked third-party launcher, icon pack, third-party gestures, beautiful live wallpaper, dark/black mode everywhere. You get the idea.
The LG V30+ had a smaller and higher resolution screen compared to the V60; so the combination of a significantly larger screen running at a lower resolution results in a fairly obvious DPI difference.
That said, we're not talking about a 65-inch TV here. These are largely devices with 4- to 7-inch screens, and the resolution change actually doesn't bother me (though it is noticeable). For these sizes, I find that 1080P suffices. YMMV.
And I have to say, the side benefits of having a 1080P screen running at a standard 60 Hz may well be worth the trade-off.
I've had this phone for a little over a month now, and I noticed last night when I went to plug the phone in before turning in to bed myself, that after around 15 hours of being unplugged, I still had 96% of my battery life.
Granted, I didn't use the phone heavily yesterday (I tend to disconnect a bit on weekends). But my aging V30+ never pushed numbers like. Not during its prime, and certainly not after 2.5+ years of daily use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you mind sharing some screenshots of the software? Dialer, message app, quick pulldown, settings etc.
lendawg said:
Would you mind sharing some screenshots of the software? Dialer, message app, quick pulldown, settings etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quick settings, and settings
lendawg said:
Would you mind sharing some screenshots of the software? Dialer, message app, quick pulldown, settings etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Messages settings and dialer
lendawg said:
Would you mind sharing some screenshots of the software? Dialer, message app, quick pulldown, settings etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not at all, mostly. I've got a batch of screens for you to examine, but I left out the one with my messaging app because it's full of personally identifiable information.
It also appears that XDA is somewhat compressing the PNGs that the phone produces. I guess to avoid hitting filesize limitations.
I'll include Google Play Store links to everything I'm using below.
Note: I did not produce nor am I affiliated with any of the apps I link to below. I use (and if applicable, bought) them because I like them. That's all. I'm not shilling.
I've named the screenshots in a way that I think makes sense, but I'll go into more detail below.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Home Screen
Lots of things going on here (and I'll try to break it all down), but I've got a lot of software and tweaks powering a VERY minimalist desktop/home screen.
I'm using Nova Launcher Prime:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher
To replace LG Home, together with Whicons Icon Pack:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whicons.iconpack
And Fluid Navigation Gestures:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fb.fluid
To replace Stock Android 10's gestures. My live wallpaper is Fluid Simulation - Trippy Stress Reliever:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=games.paveldogreat.fluidsim
I like this one because by default it's pure black (great for OLED displays and contrasts perfectly with Whicons) but can be configured to display beautifully and brightly colored "fluids" as you tap and drag your finger(s) across the screen. When unlocking and/or returning to the home screen from an app, it'll also pop four or five random "fake taps" on the screen which quickly disperse. This first screenshot has captured the tail end of that dispersion (It's actually a lot prettier in motion than in this screen cap). I have it configured as my live wallpaper for Nova's home screen as well as my lock screen (which uses LG's stock Always On Display and Sidelight feature for notifications). Fluid Simulation has a ton of configuration options, including an option to constantly autoplay. But I would imagine that's a pretty big battery drain. Fluid Simulation's Google Play Store page probably has a video to check out, if you're interested. There's a free version too, but I'm not sure if that one can be configured as a live wallpaper.
And here's the best video I could find of this phone's Sidelight brief notifications feature in action, timestamped to show off the effect. You may watch the whole video to see how to configure it, if you wish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFNH6_mbCPk&feature=youtu.be&t=173
Back to the Home Screen for a second. You've got a standard dock with 4 icons on the bottom, and a fifth button to pull up all apps. (Swiping up from anywhere will also pull up all apps. I can also swipe down from anywhere to pull down the Notifications Shade. Great for one-handed use on a device with such a large screen!) Above that, in a vaguely pyramid shape, there are four folders called Google, Social, Fun, and Apps that contain my most commonly used apps within those four general categories. The folder icon is showing the first app in each category. If you tap on the folder, it'll launch that first app. If you swipe up from the icon, it'll open the folder and show you the rest of the folder's contents. This is Nova's version of Action Launcher's "Covers" feature, which I used to love before making the jump from Action to Nova.
Above that is my time/date/weather widget, provided by Chronus Information Widget:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dvtonder.chronus
And above that is the Google Search/Assistant bar as provided by Nova Launcher.
Edit - And above THAT, right at the bottom of the status bar, I have Energy Bar - A Pulsating Battery Indicator set up to, well, display my battery level as a percentage-based bar. Sadly, it's a hold-over from my LG V30 days, and this version of the app doesn't support the V60's front-camera notch. Not much we can do about that, but I still like the thing too much to eliminate it. It supports up to four colors/gradients at every 25% breakpoint IIRC, but I have the whole set up to be a straight white bar. I'm thinking of perhaps making the 75%, 50% and 25% breakpoints change to increasingly dimmer shades of gray, but I haven't managed to work up the energy (heh) to do so yet. That's funny. The Home Screen screen cap actually shows the full Energy Bar as if the notch wasn't there. On my actual device, in front of my face, the part of the Energy Bar that overlaps with the camera notch is simply sliced off. There's a gap right in the middle of it, representing perhaps 15% of the battery bar, give or take.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=you.in.spark.energy
NOTE: Nova Launcher, Fluid Simulation, and Fluid Navigation Gestures will NOT work on the dual-screen accessory. For now, it appears that the second screen is stuck using default LG software designed to match LG Home and other LG default software. If you plan on heavily customizing your home screen AND using the dual-screen accessory, just know that there will be a pretty significant disconnect between your experiences across the two screens commensurate with just how much you decide to customize your phone. Considering I've replaced the default launcher, navigation gestures system, and live wallpaper, the two screens clash horribly for me, and until/unless we can somehow manage to span these phone customizations across to the second screen, I've essentially retired my dual-screen accessory and just use the phone alone in a clear TPU case.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Notification Shade
Not much to say here. In Settings, LG comes with two default themes that you can select from, "LG" and "White." I'm using the darker "LG" theme.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Quick Tiles
Just an extension of the previous screenshot. Pull down the Notification Shade further to see additional Quick Tiles. There are plenty more available that I have hidden away due to lack of use.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Google Dialer
I replaced the LG Phone app with Google's Dialer app. I prefer it, even though LG and/or AT&T block me from using Google's stock Visual Voicemail app. I have AT&T's VVM app sideloaded, since it shows up on the Google Play Store as "not compatible" with my device. lol. It was a problem with when the V30+ was new as well, and it took a few months for AT&T to update their app to support the V30. Weird. And I didn't snap a photo of it, but I've also replaced the default SMS app with Google's Messages app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.dialer
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.messaging
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Settings Home
As mentioned, I have the theme in Settings set to "LG", which is the darker of the two default options that my phone shipped with.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Settings About
Just showing the current software version and security patch. The phone shipped with the Feb. 2020 security patch and received the Apr. 2020 security patch around two weeks later. Much faster than I would have expected for an LG phone. If they plan on matching last month's accomplishment, we should be getting the May 2020 security patch later this week. But I'm not holding my breath!
Some final notes. This is more or less a recreation of the final software environment I had on my beloved LG V30+ before I retired it. It was also using a custom dark/Material Design theme I purchased from the Google Play Store created specifically for that phone. I don't yet know if there are any available for the V60, nor do I recall if they require root. (My V30 was rooted, but running the stock LG OS). You need root (not available on this device) or know how to use Fastboot and ADB commands to grant Fluid Navigation Gestures the ability to hide the Navigation Bar. I do not believe that the phone will allow you to both disable Android 10's gestures AND hide the Nav Bar. It's either/or, unless you grant Fluid Navigation Gestures extra permissions via ADB.
For Nova Launcher Prime, I use two special integrations to add additional functionality. I use Sesame Shortcuts to create new shortcuts on the menu that shows up when you long-press on an app. This is available on the Google Play Store (link below). I also use Nova's Google Companion App to let the launcher display the Google Now/Discover/News Feed (whatever they call the thing now) when swiping right from the home screen. I believe this is a Pixel-like feature, and it requires downloading the integration straight from Nova's webpage, since they aren't allowed to offer it up on the Google Play Store.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ninja.sesame.app.edge
https://help.teslacoilapps.com/nowcompanion
Whew! I guess that it! I wound up putting way more effort into this than I thought I would. I hope you find it useful. And don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions about anything I've shown off here.
Mejilan said:
Not at all, mostly. I've got a batch of screens for you to examine, but I left out the one with my messaging app because it's full of personally identifiable information.
It also appears that XDA is somewhat compressing the PNGs that the phone produces. I guess to avoid hitting filesize limitations.
I'll include Google Play Store links to everything I'm using below.
Note: I did not produce nor am I affiliated with any of the apps I link to below. I use (and if applicable, bought) them because I like them. That's all. I'm not shilling.
I've named the screenshots in a way that I think makes sense, but I'll go into more detail below.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Home Screen
Lots of things going on here (and I'll try to break it all down), but I've got a lot of software and tweaks powering a VERY minimalist desktop/home screen.
I'm using Nova Launcher Prime:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher
To replace LG Home, together with Whicons Icon Pack:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whicons.iconpack
And Fluid Navigation Gestures:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fb.fluid
To replace Stock Android 10's gestures. My live wallpaper is Fluid Simulation - Trippy Stress Reliever:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=games.paveldogreat.fluidsim
I like this one because by default it's pure black (great for OLED displays and contrasts perfectly with Whicons) but can be configured to display beautifully and brightly colored "fluids" as you tap and drag your finger(s) across the screen. When unlocking and/or returning to the home screen from an app, it'll also pop four or five random "fake taps" on the screen which quickly disperse. This first screenshot has captured the tail end of that dispersion (It's actually a lot prettier in motion than in this screen cap). I have it configured as my live wallpaper for Nova's home screen as well as my lock screen (which uses LG's stock Always On Display and Sidelight feature for notifications). Fluid Simulation has a ton of configuration options, including an option to constantly autoplay. But I would imagine that's a pretty big battery drain. Fluid Simulation's Google Play Store page probably has a video to check out, if you're interested. There's a free version too, but I'm not sure if that one can be configured as a live wallpaper.
And here's the best video I could find of this phone's Sidelight brief notifications feature in action, timestamped to show off the effect. You may watch the whole video to see how to configure it, if you wish.
&feature=youtu.be&t=173
Back to the Home Screen for a second. You've got a standard dock with 4 icons on the bottom, and a fifth button to pull up all apps. (Swiping up from anywhere will also pull up all apps. I can also swipe down from anywhere to pull down the Notifications Shade. Great for one-handed use on a device with such a large screen!) Above that, in a vaguely pyramid shape, there are four folders called Google, Social, Fun, and Apps that contain my most commonly used apps within those four general categories. The folder icon is showing the first app in each category. If you tap on the folder, it'll launch that first app. If you swipe up from the icon, it'll open the folder and show you the rest of the folder's contents. This is Nova's version of Action Launcher's "Covers" feature, which I used to love before making the jump from Action to Nova.
Above that is my time/date/weather widget, provided by Chronus Information Widget:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dvtonder.chronus
And above that is the Google Search/Assistant bar as provided by Nova Launcher.
NOTE: Nova Launcher, Fluid Simulation, and Fluid Navigation Gestures will NOT work on the dual-screen accessory. For now, it appears that the second screen is stuck using default LG software designed to match LG Home and other LG default software. If you plan on heavily customizing your home screen AND using the dual-screen accessory, just know that there will be a pretty significant disconnect between your experiences across the two screens commensurate with just how much you decide to customize your phone. Considering I've replaced the default launcher, navigation gestures system, and live wallpaper, the two screens clash horribly for me, and until/unless we can somehow manage to span these phone customizations across to the second screen, I've essentially retired my dual-screen accessory and just use the phone alone in a clear TPU case.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Notification Shade
Not much to say here. In Settings, LG comes with two default themes that you can select from, "LG" and "White." I'm using the darker "LG" theme.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Quick Tiles
Just an extension of the previous screenshot. Pull down the Notification Shade further to see additional Quick Tiles. There are plenty more available that I have hidden away due to lack of use.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Google Dialer
I replaced the LG Phone app with Google's Dialer app. I prefer it, even though LG and/or AT&T block me from using Google's stock Visual Voicemail app. I have AT&T's VVM app sideloaded, since it shows up on the Google Play Store as "not compatible" with my device. lol. It was a problem with when the V30+ was new as well, and it took a few months for AT&T to update their app to support the V30. Weird. And I didn't snap a photo of it, but I've also replaced the default SMS app with Google's Messages app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.dialer
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.messaging
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Settings Home
As mentioned, I have the theme in Settings set to "LG", which is the darker of the two default options that my phone shipped with.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Settings About
Just showing the current software version and security patch. The phone shipped with the Feb. 2020 security patch and received the Apr. 2020 security patch around two weeks later. Much faster than I would have expected for an LG phone. If they plan on matching last month's accomplishment, we should be getting the May 2020 security patch later this week. But I'm not holding my breath!
Some final notes. This is more or less a recreation of the final software environment I had on my beloved LG V30+ before I retired it. It was also using a custom dark/Material Design theme I purchased from the Google Play Store created specifically for that phone. I don't yet know if there are any available for the V60, nor do I recall if they require root. (My V30 was rooted, but running the stock LG OS). You need root (not available on this device) or know how to use Fastboot and ADB commands to grant Fluid Navigation Gestures the ability to hide the Navigation Bar. I do not believe that the phone will allow you to both disable Android 10's gestures AND hide the Nav Bar. It's either/or, unless you grant Fluid Navigation Gestures extra permissions via ADB.
For Nova Launcher Prime, I use two special integrations to add additional functionality. I use Sesame Shortcuts to create new shortcuts on the menu that shows up when you long-press on an app. This is available on the Google Play Store (link below). I also use Nova's Google Companion App to let the launcher display the Google Now/Discover/News Feed (whatever they call the thing now) when swiping right from the home screen. I believe this is a Pixel-like feature, and it requires downloading the integration straight from Nova's webpage, since they aren't allowed to offer it up on the Google Play Store.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ninja.sesame.app.edge
https://help.teslacoilapps.com/nowcompanion
Whew! I guess that it! I wound up putting way more effort into this than I thought I would. I hope you find it useful. And don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions about anything I've shown off here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow thanks so much for such an I'm depth explanation! The software definitely looks much better then my old v20 and the way you have it set up looks great! I think I may be retiring my McLaren early lol.
lendawg said:
Wow thanks so much for such an I'm depth explanation! The software definitely looks much better then my old v20 and the way you have it set up looks great! I think I may be retiring my McLaren early lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. And you're welcome. I'm pretty fond of the look, and it does wonders for battery life. I wish I had an easy way of making a quick 30 (or so) second video of my software environment in action.
I edited my response above to include an app I forgot to mention. I've copied the relevant portion into this post.
Edit - And above THAT, right at the bottom of the status bar, I have Energy Bar - A Pulsating Battery Indicator set up to, well, display my battery level as a percentage-based bar. Sadly, it's a hold-over from my LG V30 days, and this version of the app doesn't support the V60's front-camera notch. Not much we can do about that, but I still like the thing too much to eliminate it. It supports up to four colors/gradients at every 25% breakpoint IIRC, but I have the whole set up to be a straight white bar. I'm thinking of perhaps making the 75%, 50% and 25% breakpoints change to increasingly dimmer shades of gray, but I haven't managed to work up the energy (heh) to do so yet. That's funny. The Home Screen screen cap actually shows the full Energy Bar as if the notch wasn't there. On my actual device, in front of my face, the part of the Energy Bar that overlaps with the camera notch is simply sliced off. There's a gap right in the middle of it, representing perhaps 15% of the battery bar, give or take.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=you.in.spark.energy
Mejilan said:
Not at all, mostly. I've got a batch of screens for you to examine, but I left out the one with my messaging app because it's full of personally identifiable information.
It also appears that XDA is somewhat compressing the PNGs that the phone produces. I guess to avoid hitting filesize limitations.
I'll include Google Play Store links to everything I'm using below.
Note: I did not produce nor am I affiliated with any of the apps I link to below. I use (and if applicable, bought) them because I like them. That's all. I'm not shilling.
I've named the screenshots in a way that I think makes sense, but I'll go into more detail below.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Home Screen
Lots of things going on here (and I'll try to break it all down), but I've got a lot of software and tweaks powering a VERY minimalist desktop/home screen.
I'm using Nova Launcher Prime:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher
To replace LG Home, together with Whicons Icon Pack:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whicons.iconpack
And Fluid Navigation Gestures:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fb.fluid
To replace Stock Android 10's gestures. My live wallpaper is Fluid Simulation - Trippy Stress Reliever:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=games.paveldogreat.fluidsim
I like this one because by default it's pure black (great for OLED displays and contrasts perfectly with Whicons) but can be configured to display beautifully and brightly colored "fluids" as you tap and drag your finger(s) across the screen. When unlocking and/or returning to the home screen from an app, it'll also pop four or five random "fake taps" on the screen which quickly disperse. This first screenshot has captured the tail end of that dispersion (It's actually a lot prettier in motion than in this screen cap). I have it configured as my live wallpaper for Nova's home screen as well as my lock screen (which uses LG's stock Always On Display and Sidelight feature for notifications). Fluid Simulation has a ton of configuration options, including an option to constantly autoplay. But I would imagine that's a pretty big battery drain. Fluid Simulation's Google Play Store page probably has a video to check out, if you're interested. There's a free version too, but I'm not sure if that one can be configured as a live wallpaper.
And here's the best video I could find of this phone's Sidelight brief notifications feature in action, timestamped to show off the effect. You may watch the whole video to see how to configure it, if you wish.
&feature=youtu.be&t=173
Back to the Home Screen for a second. You've got a standard dock with 4 icons on the bottom, and a fifth button to pull up all apps. (Swiping up from anywhere will also pull up all apps. I can also swipe down from anywhere to pull down the Notifications Shade. Great for one-handed use on a device with such a large screen!) Above that, in a vaguely pyramid shape, there are four folders called Google, Social, Fun, and Apps that contain my most commonly used apps within those four general categories. The folder icon is showing the first app in each category. If you tap on the folder, it'll launch that first app. If you swipe up from the icon, it'll open the folder and show you the rest of the folder's contents. This is Nova's version of Action Launcher's "Covers" feature, which I used to love before making the jump from Action to Nova.
Above that is my time/date/weather widget, provided by Chronus Information Widget:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dvtonder.chronus
And above that is the Google Search/Assistant bar as provided by Nova Launcher.
Edit - And above THAT, right at the bottom of the status bar, I have Energy Bar - A Pulsating Battery Indicator set up to, well, display my battery level as a percentage-based bar. Sadly, it's a hold-over from my LG V30 days, and this version of the app doesn't support the V60's front-camera notch. Not much we can do about that, but I still like the thing too much to eliminate it. It supports up to four colors/gradients at every 25% breakpoint IIRC, but I have the whole set up to be a straight white bar. I'm thinking of perhaps making the 75%, 50% and 25% breakpoints change to increasingly dimmer shades of gray, but I haven't managed to work up the energy (heh) to do so yet. That's funny. The Home Screen screen cap actually shows the full Energy Bar as if the notch wasn't there. On my actual device, in front of my face, the part of the Energy Bar that overlaps with the camera notch is simply sliced off. There's a gap right in the middle of it, representing perhaps 15% of the battery bar, give or take.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=you.in.spark.energy
NOTE: Nova Launcher, Fluid Simulation, and Fluid Navigation Gestures will NOT work on the dual-screen accessory. For now, it appears that the second screen is stuck using default LG software designed to match LG Home and other LG default software. If you plan on heavily customizing your home screen AND using the dual-screen accessory, just know that there will be a pretty significant disconnect between your experiences across the two screens commensurate with just how much you decide to customize your phone. Considering I've replaced the default launcher, navigation gestures system, and live wallpaper, the two screens clash horribly for me, and until/unless we can somehow manage to span these phone customizations across to the second screen, I've essentially retired my dual-screen accessory and just use the phone alone in a clear TPU case.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Notification Shade
Not much to say here. In Settings, LG comes with two default themes that you can select from, "LG" and "White." I'm using the darker "LG" theme.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Quick Tiles
Just an extension of the previous screenshot. Pull down the Notification Shade further to see additional Quick Tiles. There are plenty more available that I have hidden away due to lack of use.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Google Dialer
I replaced the LG Phone app with Google's Dialer app. I prefer it, even though LG and/or AT&T block me from using Google's stock Visual Voicemail app. I have AT&T's VVM app sideloaded, since it shows up on the Google Play Store as "not compatible" with my device. lol. It was a problem with when the V30+ was new as well, and it took a few months for AT&T to update their app to support the V30. Weird. And I didn't snap a photo of it, but I've also replaced the default SMS app with Google's Messages app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.dialer
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.messaging
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Settings Home
As mentioned, I have the theme in Settings set to "LG", which is the darker of the two default options that my phone shipped with.
Screenshot: LG V60 5G - Settings About
Just showing the current software version and security patch. The phone shipped with the Feb. 2020 security patch and received the Apr. 2020 security patch around two weeks later. Much faster than I would have expected for an LG phone. If they plan on matching last month's accomplishment, we should be getting the May 2020 security patch later this week. But I'm not holding my breath!
Some final notes. This is more or less a recreation of the final software environment I had on my beloved LG V30+ before I retired it. It was also using a custom dark/Material Design theme I purchased from the Google Play Store created specifically for that phone. I don't yet know if there are any available for the V60, nor do I recall if they require root. (My V30 was rooted, but running the stock LG OS). You need root (not available on this device) or know how to use Fastboot and ADB commands to grant Fluid Navigation Gestures the ability to hide the Navigation Bar. I do not believe that the phone will allow you to both disable Android 10's gestures AND hide the Nav Bar. It's either/or, unless you grant Fluid Navigation Gestures extra permissions via ADB.
For Nova Launcher Prime, I use two special integrations to add additional functionality. I use Sesame Shortcuts to create new shortcuts on the menu that shows up when you long-press on an app. This is available on the Google Play Store (link below). I also use Nova's Google Companion App to let the launcher display the Google Now/Discover/News Feed (whatever they call the thing now) when swiping right from the home screen. I believe this is a Pixel-like feature, and it requires downloading the integration straight from Nova's webpage, since they aren't allowed to offer it up on the Google Play Store.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ninja.sesame.app.edge
https://help.teslacoilapps.com/nowcompanion
Whew! I guess that it! I wound up putting way more effort into this than I thought I would. I hope you find it useful. And don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions about anything I've shown off here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great write up! One question, doesn't Nova break multiwindow and pop out window functionality? When I used Nova, if I use the multiwindow feature, then exit out of it, it completely breaks the recent apps functionality
Ryano89 said:
Great write up! One question, doesn't Nova break multiwindow and pop out window functionality? When I used Nova, if I use the multiwindow feature, then exit out of it, it completely breaks the recent apps functionality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! And nope! I tested this out a few weeks ago in another thread and had no issues with it.
But I'll test it again. Give me a minute...
...
...
...
Still with me?
I just set up Chrome as a Pop-Up window, and Youtube as a Multi-Window, then made Chrome as a second Multi-Window.
Then I used Fluid Navigation Gestures to pull up Recents (swipe up from the bottom/middle of the screen and hold it for a second, before releasing), and had no issues closing everything out.
Now, when I repeat the gesture to pull up Recents again, it just says "No recent items" as it should.
Edit - I should probably clarify that I use FNG as my main replacement for Android 10's stock gestures. I've been using FNG since my Android 8-equipped V30+, fell in love with it, prefer it to Google's gestures, and made sure I could continue to use it on this phone. I only use two of Nova's gestures. Swipe down from anywhere to pull down the Notification Shade (great for one-handed use where I can't reach the status bar with one hand) and swipe up from anywhere to pull up the All Apps screen. But for everything else, I use FNG.
Mejilan said:
Thanks! And nope! I tested this out a few weeks ago in another thread and had no issues with it.
But I'll test it again. Give me a minute...
...
...
...
Still with me?
I just set up Chrome as a Pop-Up window, and Youtube as a Multi-Window, then made Chrome as a second Multi-Window.
Then I used Fluid Navigation Gestures to pull up Recents (swipe up from the bottom/middle of the screen and hold it for a second, before releasing), and had no issues closing everything out.
Now, when I repeat the gesture to pull up Recents again, it just says "No recent items" as it should.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I figured out that it only does it if you use the stock gestures. Once I installed fluid gestures and ran the adb command the problem went away. Now I can use Nova again. Thank you
Ryano89 said:
I figured out that it only does it if you use the stock gestures. Once I installed fluid gestures and ran the adb command the problem went away. Now I can use Nova again. Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fantastic. I love Nova. And my desire to play with navigation gestures on my V30 (when I knew we'd never get them officially) led me to research some third-party options.
FNG impressed me the most, and I've been using it, I don't know, probably close to two years now? To be honest, I never even gave the stock Android 10 gestures a try.
I immediately disabled them, installed FNG, did the ADB thing to hide the Nav Bar, and never looked back.
The little I've read of the stock gesture system that was introduced with Android 10... well, let's just say I wasn't exactly climbing out of my chair in anticipation of trying them out.
Not after having grown used to FNG over the years. I just love the LOOK of FNG, too. I've got the visual effect maxed out in Settings.
Is there much bloatware on the TMobile variant? Of so can you disable it?
lendawg said:
Is there much bloatware on the TMobile variant? Of so can you disable it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There were quite a few preinstalled games and crap. Almost all of which can be uninstalled or disabled