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Moto G Plus (5th Generation)
My last phone, a ZTE Nubia Z11 Mini, was and forever will be a piece of crap.
“This phone teases you with its 64 bit octacore processor, 16mp camera, and 3gb of RAM, but it’s terrible. It randomly loses application data (apps occasionally start as if they’d just been installed). If you want notifications or accessibility services enabled for an app, you have to lock it so the phone doesn’t close it. You have to explicitly allow apps (such as add-ons to other apps and apps that run in the background like Tasker (as examples, Tasker won’t perform tasks and Greenify’s paid features won’t work without this)) to start automatically or they won’t work. There’s no Google calendar support. No way to directly access Google Settings out of the box. The power button is on the side near the middle–the perfect place for you to accidentally shut off your phone by holding the button for 10+ second. The camera sucks if the subject isn’t less than two feet away. The screen randomly shuts off. It’s dual SIM, but if you want to use two SIM cards, you can’t use an sdcard–it’s either two SIM cards or one SIM card and one sdcard. It doesn’t have NFC. Netflix works fine, but you can’t install it from the Play Store (though that may be a Netflix issue).”
–My official review
So I got a new one, a Motorola Moto G5 Plus. It seems promising, so far and it seems to use the unaltered AOSP (vanilla) version of Android. A few minor things I don’t like: no menu button, “back” is on the wrong side, I can’t take out the battery, and the alarm volume starts at 1 for about half a second before ramping up to the actual volume–nothing I can’t deal with.
Netflix works fine in my Nubia Z11, the problem is with this:
The Play Store thinks it’s incompatible. That’s fine. You can get it from ApkMirror, here.
Prologue
I got a new phone recently. It’s made in India and some of the English text is awkwardly worded. It’s not without its weird quirks, but well worth the incredibly low price ($180).
Quirks
- Can’t directly access Google Settings. You have to make a shortcut using an app like QuickShortcutMaker (look in Google Services Framework).
- Can’t manage trusted places or devices for Smart Lock.
- Doesn’t sync Google Calendar out of the box. You have to get Google Calendar Sync from ApkMirror and install it (no need for root, just install it). Reboot afterwards.
- Smart Powersaving Mode sucks. It’s far too aggressive, you should turn it off.
- There’s a hidden multi-user feature which can only be accessed by making a shortcut with QuickShortcutMaker (look in Settings). There’s no way to switch users without unlocking the phone and switching from that hidden menu and only stock apps are available after seeing up a new user, so you have to reinstall QuickShortcutMaker and make a new shortcut to said hidden feature to be able to switch back.
- Disabling notifications in the stock calendar app doesn’t work, so if you use a different app for that and you don’t want both apps to notify, you can simply deny Calendar access to Calendar in its permissions.
- I have yet to find any way to block phone numbers.
- It’s dual-SIM, but you can’t have two SIM cards and an SD card. You can either have two SIM cards or one SIM card and one SD card.
- The battery is not removable.
- If you use a third-party launcher, you have to make it default again in the system settings every time your launcher updates.
Perks
- There are more options for per-app notifications.
- 64-bit, eight cores, and 3GB of RAM.
Tips
- Long-click Back to show recent apps.
Final Fantasy XV is the latest in the long-running Squaresoft cash-cow. I’m going to share some insights:
Grind for AP:
- Prerequisites:
- Noctis must be allowed to drive during the day and night.
- Progress to at least Chapter 3 (much of the course is locked out prior to then and this is when Ignis finally lets Noctis drive during the day).
- The Ascension-Exploration/Roadrunning node must be activated (that’s what gives you AP while driving).
- The Regalia Type-F (beat the game and progress to Chapter 8) (optional, see notes).
- Sticky tape (but not the residue leaving kind).
- Drive to Lestallum and switch to Manual (Noctis drives).
- Start heading southwest and tape down the R2 button.
- You will drive in an endless circle gathering up AP along the way (the green circle in the figure below).
- Notes:
- If you have the Supercharger enabled, you will hit the guard rail where I put “CRASH” on the figure below every single time.
- You will occasionally hit other cars.
- If Prompto hasn’t asked you who he should take pictures of, he’ll ask once and not again until you rest; otherwise, you will never be bothered.
- You can use flying mode without taping down R2, but if you botch the landing, you get game over and lose all that precious AP.
- You can use the regular Regalia, but you’ll run out of gas a lot.
Best Food
- Lasagna al Forno: HP+4000, Double EXP, and nullifies fire, ice, and lightning.
- Jabberwock Sirloin: Can be bought in Meldacio Hunter HQ. Drops from Jabberwock.
- Cleigne Darkshell: Can be bought in Cape Caem, Altissia, and the Regalia*.
- * After beating the game.
- Fine Cleigne Wheat: Can be bought in Lestallum, Old Lestallum, Cape Caem, and Altissia.
- Marrowshroom Clowder: Guarantees critical hits.
- Kujata Marrow: Can be bought in Lestallum. Drops from Molokujata.
- Vesproom: Can be bought in Lestallum. Can be found in the Vesperpool.
- Malmashroom: Can be bought in Lestallum and Old Lestallum. Can be found in Malmalam Thicket.
Tipster Locations:
- LEIDE: Hammerhead
- LEIDE: Galdin Quay
- LEIDE: Longwythe Rest Area
- DUSCAE: Wiz Chocobo Post
- DUSCAE: Coernix Station – Alstor
- DUSCAE: Taeplar Rest Area
- DUSCAE: Cauthas Rest Area
- DUSCAE: Lestallum (Market)
- DUSCAE: Lestallum (Thoroughfare)
- DUSCAE: Lestallum (Street) (has no hunts, but he sells food and will give you intel and your rewards from competed hunts)
- DUSCAE: Old Lestallum
- DUSCAE: Meldacio Hunter HQ
- DUSCAE: Veromas Mart (Ravatough)
- Altissia (Mahhgo)
- Cartanica and Tenebrae (same guy) (has no hunts, but sells food, has intel, and will grant hunt rewards)
Costlemark Tower
- Once you reach the room with four glowing blocks, you have to do all of them before the important southwest one unlocks. Meaning, you have to fight a hoard of monsters three times. When you do get to do the southwest block and you get to a point where you can choose an east wall or a south wall, pick the east one. The other way just leads back to the room with the hoard of monsters.
Notes:
- Each 24 hour cycle is roughly 48 minutes real-time.
- Time equal to the time that would have passed passes when using fast-travel, but no gas is used.
- Playing Justice Defenders 5 doesn’t stop the game clock.
- Your level is not capped at 99.
- There’s no breaking the HP limit.
- Even if Noctis’s HP falls to 0 while using Armiger, he will not get knocked out.
- Pressing Triangle while driving activates the car horn.
- If you hear, “imperials above us” or “magitek engine, it’s close” and you don’t want to fight, find a tree to hide under and they’ll leave after a short time.
- The entrances to Steyliff Grove, Costlemark Tower, and Pitioss Ruins are only open at night.
- Paths. Look for paths. Almost everywhere you go will have at least a partial well-beaten path to follow.
- You can make Ignis miss turns and hit other cars by using the left stuck while he’s driving.
- The only things that damage the Regalia are enemies.
- You can officially get the big off-road Type-D Regalia at the beginning of Chapter 8. After you and “Hunter” (obviously Gladiolus) fight the demons in the power plant in Lestallum and your party is reunited. You can get the Type-F at the same time.
- You don’t need to be on the road to do Auto Drive or Call Car, you just need to be close enough and you can do Tow Car from anywhere except inside dungeons.
- About Tony in Cape Caem, the guy who trades your Caem carrots for stuff. His only useful item is the Ulwaat berries which you need for a quest in Galdin Quay and grant Healing Level 99, more casts, and more potency when used in Elemancy; however, there are other items which will grant the same (e.g. Treant Trunk). The random weapons he gives you are just slightly better versions of the crap ones you have already. The ones you find in the field or buy from vendors are superior.
1. Go to Settings.
2. Go to the General tab it scroll to the bottom.
3. Click Apps*.
4. Scroll to desired app and click it.
5. Click Storage.
6. If the app is movable, Change will be present. Click it.
7. Click SD card.
8. Click Move.
Note: Screenshots are of an LG G4 with Android 6.0 (Marshmallow).
*Apps then Application manager on the SGS5.
If you have two or more Android devices and at least one of them is not rooted and you have a stubborn app that doesn’t have any way to backup its data to the sdcard, just use ADB.
Enabling ADB
First you have to enable Developer Options which is easy. Just go to Settings and scroll to the bottom of the General tab (or just scroll to the bottom if there are no tabs). If you see Developer Options, great, it’s already enabled. If not click About Device and find the Build Number/Version (it’ll either be right there or in one of the sub-menus) and click it several times until your screen says “you are now a developer”. Now, go back and click Developer Options and check USB Debugging.
Get Android SDK for your computer
There are many places from which you can download it. If, however, you get it straight from Google, it’ll come with a full IDE which you may not want or need.
Backup Your Shit
Plug the source device into the USB of you computer and open a command prompt then type adb devices. Click “Allow” on your device if necessary. The output shows which devices are attached. If it says “online”, you’re good to go. Just type adb backup PACKAGENAME -f PATHTOSAVEBACKUPTO -apk (PACKAGENAME can be acquired from the Play Store URL for that app). Then click “perform backup” or however it’s worded. Finally, unplug the devices when the screen on said device says the backup has finished.
Restore Your Shit
Plug the target device in and repeat the above except type this instead adb restore PATHTOSAVEBACKUPTO and click “perform restore” or whatever it says on the device. When the screen on that device says it’s finished, you’re all set. Enjoy your app with all its settings on your new device.
Social Note for System Apps
If restoring system app data, which I don’t recommend because there may be compatibility issues, omit “-apk” from the adb backup command. You can’t restore system apps, anyway, only their data can be restored.
LG G4
My Samsung Galaxy S5 is a piece of shit (at least the one I have is)–it’s the worst phone I’ve ever had and I had a Palm Pre–and Samsung’s heavily modified version of a perfectly functional Android OS called TouchWiz with proprietary hardware that only works with said, has gotten to the point of hindrance, so I bought an LG G4. It’s vastly superior and cost half as much. The power and volume buttons being on the back will take some getting used to, but at least it doesn’t freeze up requiring a hard-boot whenever I use the Browser and/or Maps. I haven’t rooted it, yet. It seems to be more difficult than the Samsungs are and I don’t want to brick it.
Tips and Tricks
- Teleport Stone farming: Go to The Yensa Sandsea and fight Urutan-Yensa on the tower platforms. Once you get a good chain going, they’ll drop lots of Teleport Stones among other things.
- You can also buy them on the airship flight between Rabanastre and Nalbina long before you can buy them from the merchant in the Muthru Bazaar in Rabanastre.
- Zalera Battle (Barheim Passage – Optional Esper): Level 49 is best for this fight as it’s not a multiple of 2 (Sleep), 3 (Disable), 4 (Break), or 5 (Reverse) and it’s not prime (Death), so none of his AOE spells work. Prime Lv. Death is a nightmare when you have only five minutes before he kicks you out making you have to start over.
- For the record: the worst levels to do this fight are 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, and 97 as these are all prime. Here’s a handy, dandy level breakdown.
- Force Enemy Respawn: Move two zones away before returning. You can also (sometimes) trick the engine by using a different entrance to make it think you’re in a different zone.
- You can also reload a non-auto save.
Hints/Notes
- Max HP: Your max HP can break the traditional 9999 cap, but the display will only show “9999”. Why? I have no clue, but you can only achieve this with Bubble (Doubles max HP)
or Infuse (Consumer caster’s HP to change target’s HP to 10x that amount). *Assuming Infuse works that way, I’ve never used it.Infuse doesn’t work that way.
