Sony Xperia L1 Tips and Tricks

Android 7 (Nougat)
Phone: Sony Xperia L1
Factory OS: Android 7 (Nougat)

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The most common and effective way to copy photos to your PC (from your Sony Xperia L1) is to do it via a USB cable. Just plug your phone to a PC using a USB cable and wait for a notification to pop up on your phone.

This notification usually tells you that your device is charging. For some phones, it prompts the user to choose from several options. Just swipe down the notification and choose either “Transfer Photos” or “Transfer Files.”

For smartphone users who don’t see such notification, you may go to Settings → Developer Options → Networking → USB Configuration then tap on MTP (Media Transfer Protocol).

After that, check “This PC” on your desktop and see if there is a removable drive for your phone. The drive would be named as a Removable Device or it would bear the name of your brand or phone model.

Click on the drive and find the “DCIM” folder. This is where all photos and videos from your camera are stored. You can use the search bar function of the folder to find it quickly.

Using Google Photos to transfer photos on your Sony Xperia L1
Alternatively, you can use Google Photos to copy photos from your phone to PC. This can be done when you sync and back up all your photos and videos on Google Photos. To do this, just follow these steps:

  1. Make sure you have set up your Google Account on your smartphone.
  2. Open the Google Photos app on your phone.
  3. Then go to its Menu (you can find this at the top).
  4. Find Settings then look for Back-up & Sync
  5. Tap / check to turn on back-up and sync.

When you do this, all your photos and videos will be saved simultaneously to your Google Photos account (via WiFi). To retrieve these photos on PC, just turn on your PC and go to photos.google.com.

Then sign in with your Google Account, and you will gain access to all your backed-up photos and videos right away! You can click on any photo and download it to save it on your PC. Just click on “More Options” on the upper right corner of the photo, and you will see a download option.

Using Hi Suite to transfer photos
For Huawei phone users, you can use the HI Suite. This program is exclusive for Huawei users, and it provides an easy way to transfer different files from your phone to PC (and other devices). It also functions as a backup device for all data and settings on your phone, and it can be used to retrieve and copy photos to your PC. Just follow the steps below:

  1. Connect your Huawei and PC with the use of a USB cable.
  2. Go to your phone’s Settings and search for “HDB” on the top search bar.
  3. Tap on “Allow HI Suite to use HDB.”
  4. You have to agree on certain terms and policies to make use of the function.
  5. To backup your photos and videos, tap on Backup and select the “DCIM” or “Camera” folder where your images are saved.

You can access all these backed-up files (including photos) on your PC through HI Suite. Just don’t forget to install HI Suite on your PC too!

Transfer Specific Photos Using Google Drive on the Sony Xperia L1

  1. Since you are using a Google phone you can transfer your photos first to Google Drive. To do this, tap on the GOOGLE DRIVE app on your phone to open it.
  2. Tap on the plus (+) icon from the homepage of GOOGLE DRIVE
  3. From here, you can start uploading the photos you want by selecting them from your storage device.
  4. To download your photos to GOOGLE DRIVE, open GOOGLE DRIVE on your computer and log in to your account. Choose which photos you want and then from the given options, select to download them into your PC.

Transfer Photos from Google Pixel to a Computer using a third party application

There are also different programs you can use to transfer photos from your Google Pixel phone to a computer. These include Mobile Trans – Backup, Free Syncios Mobile Manager, ApowerManager, and Droid Transfer.

Transfer Photos using MobileTrans

  1. Connect your Pixel phone to your computer using your USB cable.
  2. Open the MobileTrans app on your computer and choose BACKUP.
  3. Once your phone is detected, the snapshot will be shown on the screen.
  4. Enable the PHOTOS option from the list of selected data types.
  5. Finally, click on START and your photos will be moved to your computer.

Transfer Photos using Free Syncios Mobile Manager

  1. Install and launch the Free Syncios Mobile Manager app on your computer. Choose BACKUP mode from the list of choices.
  2. The program should turn to the GOOGLE PIXEL to computer transfer window.
  3. Use your USB cable to connect your phone to the PC. There is a chance that you mey have to enable USB debugging mode on your phone to allow Syncios to connect.
  4. Wait for the selected files to be fully transferred to your PC.

Transfer Photos Using ApowerManager

  1. Download and open the ApowerManager on your PC and phone.
  2. Connect your phone to the PC via the USB cable.
  3. On the desktop version, choose MANAGE found on the top and go to the PHOTOS tab.
  4. Choose the photos you want to transfer then click on EXPORT.
  5. Wait for the photos to be transferred and remove the USB cable.

Transfer Photos Using Droid Transfer

  1. Install the DROID TRANSFER app on your PC and phone.
  2. Connect both devices by scanning the QR CODE found on the app’s interface using the TRANSFER COMPANION app on the phone.
  3. Once both devices are connected, proceed to the PHOTOS tab.
  4. Choose the photos you want to transfer and click COPY PHOTOS.
  5. Wait for the photos to be completely transferred to your computer and remove the USB device.

There are a number of solutions to this error. Go through the following steps:

Go to Settings – Applications – Application manager.

Then find the App called Media Storage.

If you can’t see it listed, then select More at the top and then select Show system apps.

Once found, click Media Storage and then Force Close. Then select Clear Data. (warning: this will delete the cache for your media player so you may lose things such as recently played, most played etc. But you will not lose your music).

Next, go back to list of Apps and find Music Player. Again, press Force Close and then Clear Data.

Once that’s done, go to the Play Store and download an App called Re Scan Media and run it. Wait 5 minutes for the device to re-scan your media.

If you still cannot play your music, then try turning your phone off and removing your SDCard / memory card (if you have one). Then turn the phone on without the card. Then turn it off again and reinsert the card. Finally turn it on again with the card back in.

If you still can’t play music, then some users have said that there may be a conflict with the Twitter App. Try uninstalling this and see if the error persists.

If you don’t want to have to unlock your screen every time you take your device out of standby then go to Settings – Lock screen and security.

Then select the Screen lock type that is currently selected.

You will be asked to unlock your phone, for security purposes.

Then on the next screen, scroll down and select the None option.

Rather than having to locate the hang up icon on the screen after each call, you can quickly end a call by pressing the Power button.

To enable this feature, go to Settings – Accessibility – Answering and ending calls.

Then under End calls by, select Pressing the Power key.

To add an email or phone number to your contacts from a text message, you can long-press on the email / phone number. Then select Copy text.

Once that has been copied to your clipboard, go to your Contacts App and select the Create New Icon.

Enter the contact details, then select either email or phone and long press on the field. Then select Paste to paste the info from the original text message.

Sometimes you may get a notification from a particular App and you would like to change the settings for that App.

To do this, pull down your notifications screen.

Then long press on the App you would like to see the settings for.

Then select the gear icon. This will take you straight to the App settings.

To enable / disable your notification light, go to Settings – Display – LED indicator.

From here you can choose various options.

This may not be available on all models. An alternative however is to download NoLED from the Play Store, which has many options for incoming notifications.

If you like your Apps neatly sorted into folders, or just need to clear up some space on your home screens, then there is a simple way to accomplish this.

First find the first App you would like in a folder. Then choose a second App.

Press and hold on the second App and drag it over the top of the first App. They will both combine into a folder.

You can repeat this process to add more.

To undo this, press to go into the folder. Then press and hold an App icon to place it outside of the folder again.

If you don’t want to hear the shutter sound when you take photos, then there are a few things you can try.

Firstly, some countries have laws to force the phone to play these sounds. Assuming you’re not in one of these countries, then the first thing you can try is to go to the Camera App – Settings – Shutter Sound – Off.

If that doesn’t work, then you can try turning the volume of the phone down or put it in silent mode when taking photos.

The last option is to Root your phone. If you don’t know what that means, then it’s best not to attempt it unless you have thoroughly read about the process. Once Rooted, go to this folder on your phone: /system/media/audio/ui and rename the camerashutter and/or cameraclick OGG files to something else.

Alternatively, on a rooted phone you can use a Root Browser, to edit /system/csc/feature.xml and set the option to TRUE. Then you should be able to go to Camera App – Settings – Shutter Sound – Off.

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