Sony Xperia L2 Tips and Tricks

Android 7 (Nougat)
Phone: Sony Xperia L2
Factory OS: Android 7 (Nougat)

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To share or upload a video to services like Facebook or YouTube, simply go to your Video App and long press on a video.

Then select Share via. From here you will be given options to share the video with various services.

Predictive text is a great feature on modern smartphones, but sometimes you’ll prefer to correct your own mistakes.

To disable this feature, then go to Settings – General management – Language and input.

Then select the keyboard you are using and press the Settings icon again.

You should be able to find a predictive text option on this screen.

An almost essential setting is the ability to lock your screen by pressing the power key once. It will save plenty of time in the long run.

If this isn’t enabled, then go to Settings – Accessibility – Answering and ending calls.

Then select Press Power key to end calls.

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.

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 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.

If you are abroad and don’t want to pay high data roaming charges, then you can save Google Maps for offline viewing later. Here are two ways to do this:

The first method will depend whether your phone supports it.

First, open Google Maps and navigate to a section of the map that you want available offline.

Then on the search bar at the top, press the Hamburger / Menu icon and select Offline maps.

Next, choose Select your own map.

Then zoom and pan around the required map area. The size of the offline map will be shown beneath the map area. When done, press the Download button.

Alternatively, open Google Maps and zoom down to street level. Then scroll around area you’ll be travelling too. If you’re visiting a city for example, do this at street level and cover as much area as you think you’ve be visiting. If you’re travelling outside a city, then street level view might be too detailed, so zoom out and just cover the main roads, towns etc.

This will load all the segments into your phone’s cache. Then when have arrived at your destination and you have data turned off, you should see the areas you’ve stored on the phone’s memory.

Note: this won’t give you your GPS location because that normally needs a data connection to pinpoint your position.

Voicemail is one of this crucial phone features, which isn’t always obvious to find.

To set up your voicemail, then first open your Phone App. Then press the settings icon in the top right and select Settings.

Then scroll down to Voicemail settings. From here you will find various options including the number to dial to retrieve your mails. You might need to check with your carrier for the correct number.

Depending on your carrier you may have to enter the series of steps required to go through the voicemail menu, for example: *86,,yourpassword# (a comma inserts a pause).

If you find yourself woken up by notifications, text messages or incoming calls, then there is a handy feature called Do not disturb.

To enable this go to Settings – Sound and vibration – Do not disturb.

Next, select Enable now or Enable as scheduled.

The latter option will give you options to set the time period for your Do not disturb.

You can also add exceptions to allow notifications from certain contacts that you don’t mind bothering you.

No one likes nuisance phone calls, so here’s how to deal with these on your phone.

The first option is to block all anonymous calls, although this may block some calls from people or companies that you do want to allow, so use this carefully.

To enable this, go to your Dial App press the settings icon in the top right. Then choose Settings.

Then choose Block numbers and then Block unknown callers.

Secondly, if you’d like to block calls on a case-by-case basis, then follow these instructions:

First, wait until you’ve been called by a nuisance number. You can either answer and verify who they are, or when the phone is ringing, do a quick Google search for the number (ideally on a PC, otherwise you may need to switch between apps on your phone).

Often the number will come up on Page 1 of Google and be reported as a nuisance call number. You can often tell pretty quickly because the number will have many negative review.

Then once the phone has stopped ringing, go to your Dial App and then select Log to find the number on your recent call list.

Find the number that called you and press on it. Then in the top right, select More and select Block/unblock number.

To manage this list, then go back to the first screen of your Dial App and press the settings icon in the top right. Then choose Settings.

Then select Block numbers. From here you can see which ones to block or unblock.

From now on you will see that you received a missed call, however the phone will not ring and you won’t be bothered by the caller.