The LG Optimus L5 2 is an affordable Android mid-ranger with a few of LG’s own tweaks and additional features to help improve on the stock Android Jelly Bean experience. Here’s how to get the most out of this stylish handset.
Tip 1: Customising your homescreen
We’re fans of the level of customisability that LG’s own Optimus UI overlay offers. You can change various aspects of the phone’s interface by pressing and holding anywhere on a homescreen in order to add apps, widgets or change wallpapers.
By long pressing on an icon you can swap out the default image for any other app image you fancy or conversely you can use a contact’s picture. There’s also the option to double the size of certain icons too.
As well as being able to alter icons and add folders to the homescreen, you can influence the overall look of the L5 2 and change how homescreens animate. Tap the menu key and head to ‘Home screen settings’ to choose from default themes and homescreen effect options too.
Tip 2: QuickMemo
Throughout the user interface the handset gives you the ability to bring up QuickMemo. By default this can be accessed from the hardware button on the phone’s left side or alternatively, from within the notifications panel.
QuickMemo gives you the ability to annotate or draw out notes quickly by hand as well as saving or erasing them. You can choose from the homescreen or a paper note background and you can even suspend the note over the interface so you can still use the rest of the UI – ideal for keeping hold of a number not yet saved to your phone whilst dialling it in.
The QuickMemo panel also gives you the option to save your current memo as a photo to your phone’s gallery.
Tip 3: Notifications LED
One of the nicest design elements on the Optimus L5 2 is its hardware home button. The reason being is that the button doubles as an LED notifications light which reacts with different colours and patterns depending on the notification type coming in.
You can choose the various lighting states and notification types which affect the LEDs from within the display section of the Settings menu and pressing on ‘Home button LED’.
Tip 4: Safety Care
LG includes a number of its own proprietary apps to enhance the default user experience – one of which is Safety Care. This app has three main features:
Emergency Call Forwarding can be used to send your phone’s location to a specified number such as a parent or loved-one when you call the emergency services.
The Phone non-usage notice can be used to keep tabs on the user of the phone (with their permission beforehand). It can notify a set phone number with a message when phone hasn’t been used for a set period of time or when the battery gets low.
My Location notice can offer up the phone’s position to a specified person on request in order to help find where the user of the device is if they’re lost or missing.
Tip 5: QuickButton
The hardware QuickButton on the phone’s left side assumes the role of a physical shutter key when using the L5 2’s camera app, but outside of this environment, it can be programmed to launch any app installed on the handset.
By default it launches and closes QuickMemo that we mentioned earlier, but by going to into the Settings menu and scrolling down to the bottom, you’ll find the option to change which app it opens.
Tap the ‘Shortcut’ option from within the QuickButton menu, scroll through the apps list and finally tap any app you want to launch quickly. Then return home, tap the button and test to see whether it opens the correct application. Not all apps can be closed with the QuickButton like QuickMemo can, but they can all be launched this way.
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