Sony Xperia L Tips and Tricks

The standard Android keyboard is good, but not great. There are many third party keyboards available which will improve your typing speed and accuracy.

Go to the Android Market and search for ‘Keyboard’ to see some great alternatives, many of which are more accurate and make typing much easier.
A good one is GoKeyboard.

If you see a warning saying the keyboard will collect all information (including credit cards) just ignore this. This is just a security feature that Android shows for every third-party keyboard that you install.

To quickly hide the on-screen keyboard, press the Back button

If you have used up all of your Quick Launch spaces, then there is a trick.

Once it is full, press and drag an App from the homescreen and move it over the top of an App in the Quick Launch area. Then release your finger. This will create a folder containing the original App plus the new one. This is a great way to have access to regularly used Apps.

To delete or remove homescreen widgets, simply press and hold. Then drag the widget to the top-right corner of the screen and into the Trash icon.

If you find yourself regularly switching profiles when you get to work, get home, go to bed and so on, then there is a great way to have your phone do this automatically.

Simply go to the Google Play store and download an App called Profile Valet.

This will automatically switch profiles for you based on the time of day or your location.

To quickly close Apps, press the multi-task button (on the bottom right). This will display your currently running Apps. From here you can simply swipe the Apps off the screen by dragging your finger left or right. This is a very quick way to free up some memory.

Go to the Android Market and search for an App called Spare Parts. Download and then open the App. Go to the Compatibility Mode and Uncheck it. Then re-check it (so the tick appears again). Then turn your phone off by pressing Home and then turn it on again.

Once that’s done, go back to the Spare Parts App and Uncheck the compatibility box again. This time DON’T re-check it though. Then turn your phone off and on again once more.

Once re-booted, go to Spare Parts again. If it opens in full-screen mode, then the process has worked and any other Apps that run in non-full screen mode should work.

To speed up your phone, you can turn off screen animations. Go to Settings – Developer options.

Then scroll down to Window animation scale and select that. From here you can choose to turn Animations Off. This will make screen transitions faster.

To gain access to features such as Airplane mode WiFi, Screen Lock Orientation, Brightness and so on, double tap on the Clock in the bottom right of the screen.

To change the homescreen or lock screen wallpaper, press on a blank part of the homescreen. Then press the plus icon in the top-right corner and choose Wallpapers. Then choose Live (animated / moving wallpapers) or standard wallpapers (images) and choose whether you want the wallpaper on the homescreen or the lock screen. Then crop the wallpaper and press Ok in the top-right corner.

You can also use images Gallery images taken with the phone’s camera for your wallpaper.