ZTE Blade V10 Tips and Tricks

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.

While the stock standard keyboard is fine, there are much better keyboards available for the Zte Blade V10.

First, you need to go to the Play Store and download one. Try searching for the word ‘keyboard’ and you will see a number of options.

One of the best keyboards is a keyboard called Swiftkey, which is a top-rated App. This will literally change the way you feel about your phone as the standard keyboard can be quite a frustrating experience.

Download your chosen keyboard and go through any install steps that you are presented with.

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.

Then, go to the App you want to type in. You should now see a little Keyboard icon on the row at the bottom of your screen, towards the bottom-right corner. Press that icon and you can switch between all of the keyboards you have installed.

Some other notable keyboards that work on the Zte Blade V10 are GO Keyboard and Gboard (the Google Keyboard). Download and install your keyboard app of choice. Once that’s done, follow these steps to switch your current keyboard to that newly installed one:

1. You can click on your newly installed keyboard app (icon).
2. Most of them can assist you on how to switch your keyboard.
3. Just follow the instructions from the new keyboard app.

How to Switch Your Phone’s Default Keyboard to A New One

You can follow the steps above because most keyboard apps can assist you when it comes to switching the default keyboard to theirs. However, you can also do it manually by going to your Phone Settings. Just follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings and scroll down or look for the “System” sub-menu.
2. Under “System,” tap “Language and Keyboard” or “Language and Input.”
3. Tap “Default Keyboard” and select the new keyboard app.

Depending on your unit and model, this method could vary. For those who can’t find the “Default Keyboard” option, you can follow these steps:

1. Under “Language and Input,” you need to look for Virtual Keyboards → Manage Keyboards.
2. Tap your keyboard of choice to activate it.
3. You will get a message of confirmation. Just tap “OK.”
4. Open your keyboard. You can do this by trying to write a message, email or search.
5. Then tap the keyboard icon.
6. Choose the Input Method (tap on your preferred keyboard).

Done! You can change your Zte Blade V10 keyboard’s theme, predictive text, and other settings by opening its menu. You can do this by locating the keyboard icon on your home screen, or by tapping on the settings icon when you open the keyboard for typing.

At the bottom of each homescreen is your favourites tray, which consists of 5 icons.

You can customise it by adding icons to the tray. If it’s full however, then press and drag an App from the homescreen and move it over the top of an App it will create folder containing the existing App and the new app, so no need to remove some from the tray.

To remove an icon, simply press and hold an icon. Then drag it to your desktop.

Then to add a new one, simply drag an icon from your homescreen to the favourites tray.?

If you want to remove the Google Search bar, simply tap and hold the bar and a remove button will appear at top of the screen, drag the bar to that remove button, and the bar will disappear.

If this is not working, go to Settings – Applications – Application manager. Then swipe from right to left so you are on the All screen. Scroll to Google search and press Disable.

To use your phone as a WiFi hotspot, tether it via USB or via Bluetooth, then go to Settings – Wireless and Network – Mobile hotspot and tethering.

You can then choose from three options:

1) USB – connect your phone via a USB cable. The phone should automatically configure the correct settings.

2) Mobile/WiFi Hotspot – To turn your phone into a WiFi hotspot, press Configure WiFi hotspot. You will then be asked to enter a Network SSID (this is your own name for the WiFi hotspot). Then choose Security and lastly, choose a password (this is password for your WiFi hotspot which you will enter on your computer).

3) Bluetooth – With this option, you will need to pair a Bluetooth device with your phone. On the other device, ensure you search for Bluetooth devices and your phone should show up.

To change the backlight screen timeout, drag down your notifications screen and press Settings. Then under System select Display. Then under Screen timeout you can set the screen time out duration.

You can also tell the phone screen to always stay lit when it is plugged in via USB. Go to Settings – System – Developer Options. Then check Stay Awake.

Note: Developer Options is not always enabled by default. To enable, go to Settings – System – About Device. Then tap on Build number 7 times to enable this secret option.

To change keyboards (if you have additional keyboards installed), you can switch between them by pressing the small keyboard symbol in the top left of your screen. You will need to be in keyboard input mode (i.e. typing something) for this to work.

Alternately you can add and remove key board from settings also.

For that go to Settings – Languages and Input and then tap on Virtual Keyboard.

Now you can add and remove keyboards from this menu.

Note: you need to have more than one keyboard installed for this to work.

If you call someone regularly this can be useful as you will have a shortcut to them handily placed on your homescreen.

To bookmark a Contact on your Home Screen, then first go into your Contacts App.

Find the Contact you want to add to the Home Screen and press on them.

Then press More or the Menu key and select Add shortcut to home.

Then go to your Home Screens, find the Contact you’ve just added. Press, hold and drag to another position.

Android has an interesting new feature called Talkback which is designed for blind and low vision users.

The feature is an interesting way to navigate your phone however.

Simply go to Settings – Accessibility – Talkback to activate it.

Then your phone will give you an ongoing narration of its various functions.

To quickly close Apps, press the Multitasking key

This will display your currently running Apps. From here you can simply swipe the Apps off the screen by dragging your finger Bottom to top. This is a very quick way to free up some memory.