Sony Xperia L1 Tips and Tricks

To add a widget, simply long press on a blank part of one of your home screens.

Then select Widget.

Scroll through the list of available widgets and choose one.

It will be placed on your home screen and you can move it around as you desire.

If you want to remove an entire text message thread, go into Messages and look for the thread. Then long press on it and select Delete thread

From the Contact list or the Messaging list, swipe from Left to Right to call a Contact.

This might not work on all models.

By default, Android will should send you a message when a new version of the firmware is available, however this option may be turned off in the settings.

To manually check and update the firmware at any point, then follow these steps:

Pull down your notifications screen and go to Settings, then Software update.

From this screen you can also switch between Download updates automatically or manually.

You can also schedule updates to so that they occur at a certain time of the day (say, overnight). This saves you having to confirm every update yourself.

If you want to access your quick settings more quickly, then instead of swiping down with one finger, then use two.

This should take you straight to the quick settings, however it may not work on all phones and models.

If you would like to unmount your SD card for whatever reason, then drag down your notifications menu from the top of the screen and press the Settings icon.

Then go to Device management – Storage – SD card.

This will depend on your device, but you should then be able to select Unmount SD card.

If you find you’re forgotten your backup password, try the following using Google’s Android Device Manager:

On a computer or in a mobile browser, go to www.google.com/android/devicemanager.

Sign in to the Google Account that you previously added to your device.

If you have more than one device, select the arrow next to the name of the device you’re locked out of. Android Device Manager will show you the approximate location of your device on a map.

Select Lock.

Enter a temporary password for your device, then click Lock again.

On your device, enter the temporary password on the lock screen.

Drag down your notifications bar and select Settings – Lock screen and security.

Enter your temporary password again, then follow the prompts to reset your device.

To see notifications on your Lock screen, the best option is to download an App called NoLed from the Play Store. This will show notifications such as text messages, emails and missed calls as bright icons on your home screen.

You can choose between very small squares or small icons and these can assigned by coloured.

To remove numbers from the call log that you don’t want anyone seeing, then open your Call Log.

This will normally be found in your Phone App.

Press and hold on the contact you want to remove.

When the Menu appears, press Delete.

The most recent version of Android now comes with a built in Flashlight / Torch App.

To find this, simply pull down to see your notifications. You may need to pull down twice to see the full list of shortcuts.

Then on the top bar (where you see your settings for WiFi, Bluetooth etc.), look for Torch option.