Oct
4

Sprint LG Optimus Gingerbread Update Makes Volume Too Loud

WGHubris on October 4th, 2011

Like many others, I had an issue with the in-call volume on my Sprint LG Optimus being too loud after updating to the latest version of Android. Sprint pushed the new Gingerbread Android OS to LG Optimus S phones in late September. The good news is that Sprint is supporting its low-end cell phones with new Android updates. The bad news is that some people are having issues with their mobile phones after this update.

In Call Volume Too Loud After Update

too-loud-sprint-lg-androidThe biggest issue for me was that the ear volume during a phone call was way too loud. I had to hold the phone away from my ear to hear properly and that meant that everyone around me was hearing my cell phone conversation too. This is both rude and embarrassing. Pushing “Down” on the incall volume button on the side of the handset did nothing. While Sprint and LG are working on an official fix for the Android update, I think I found a workaround that works for now.

It seems that during the update, the value for setting the in-call volume on the phone is inadvertently linked to another volume setting on the phone. Unfortunately, that means that using the volume button to change the call volume does not work because it is changing a setting that is no longer being read properly. To fix, the volume issue, you need to fix the setting so that it can be updated. The following procedure worked for me.

  1. Go into the Settings -> Sound menu and change every volume setting so that NONE of them are set to the maximum. (I don’t know why this matters, it just does.)
  2. Make a call (to voicemail is fine) and push the UP button for the in-call volume so that the display reads at least one up from the lowest setting.
  3. Pull the battery out of the phone and wait 30 seconds to get a full power off and reset.
  4. Put the battery back in.
  5. Make a call and use the button on the side of the phone to adjust the volume to a comfortable level.

No Spelling Suggestions While Typing

Another issue I had, along with many Sprint customers, was that the spelling suggestions, known as predictive text, did not work with the updated Android keyboard.

Sprint’s suggestion for a workaround is to use the Swype keyboard, which has a functioning as you type spell checker and suggestions.

As someone who had previously downloaded the much better free Gingerbread keyboard to my Froyo OS LG long ago, I simply re-downloaded that keyboard app. The predictive type on this keyboard still works.

Sprint and LG Android Fix Update

Until LG and Sprint release fixed update of Android, or issue a patch of some sort, these workarounds allow you to enjoy the better functionality and security of Gingerbread without losing important features on your phone. If, however, you prefer to go back to the old Android version on Sprint LG Optimus, Sprint has released a temporary solution that allows you to downgrade or revert back to Froyo from Gingerbread.

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Sep
30

Blood Runs Blue BYU Comic

WGHubris on September 30th, 2011

A buddy of mine, and professional cartoonist, Aaron Taylor has launched a very funny BYU webcomic dedicated to the BYU Cougars. While aimed squarely at BYU and BYU athletics, there is plenty of funny stuff about college athletics in general, including the nature of college sports fans, the drama of conference reorganization and some of the crazy college mascots out there.

This online sports comic only started up this fall, but there are already plenty of funny strips. Go check it out, you won’t be disappointed.

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Sep
20

Sprint LG Optimus Android Update

WGHubris on September 20th, 2011

My phone was switched off this morning and drained of battery. I have a mid-level / low-end, depending upon who you talk to, Android cell phone from Sprint. It is an LG Optimus S ; although, from what I understand, the S is pretty much the same thing as the Optimus M except for tweaks made for being on Sprint’s cell phone network. When I got back to the house and plugged it in, I was informed that there was an update for my phone. It turns out that Sprint has sent out an update to LG Optimus phones with the newer Gingerbread Android OS.

Updating cell phones always makes me nervous. It seems that no matter which carrier you are on, sooner or later, a mobile phone update messes up your cell phone. And, cell phone providers being the customer unfriendly companies they are, they don’t offer a way to uninstall the update easily, since it is obviously your fault, or a problem with your specific phone. More specifically, it is a problem with your specific phone that is not covered in any way by your service agreement and any repair or service is entirely your responsibility.

On the other hand, maybe there are some good updates in the latest release, and I have heard that there are some potential security issues with older versions of Android. So, I bit the bullet and clicked update. I left it plugged in, which is apparently a good thing since some users are reporting that their phones won’t charge after getting the Android update from Sprint if the phone was not plugged in when the update occurred.

My phone is currently fully charged. In fact, one of the updates was to change the text displayed on the screen of my phone from saying, “Charged” to saying, “Charged. Please disconnect power supply to save energy.” Thanks, I guess.

The other obvious change is that the system bar at the top of my LG Optimus is now black. In fact, there is a new color scheme of black and electric lime green. Frankly, it looks nice. No complaints.

In the few seconds I have had to play with it, it seems faster and smoother. Furthermore, my LG Optimus S from Sprint now has the Gingerbread keyboard built-in, which means I get to save 1.5 MB or so by deleting the Gingerbread keyboard app that I had been using to get the better keyboard on my older version of Android.

What I would really like is the ability to take screenshots of my phone, but for some reason, that function is still not available in Android unless you root your phone and install a developer kit.

The one thing that hasn’t changed is that the Sprint ID button is still there instead of the infinitely more useful globe browser button that comes on the standard Android install. I know Sprint is proud of the Sprint ID concept and used it to market this particular phone, but the reality is that once you have a Sprint ID installed and customized, you pretty much never use the button again. If you do, you certainly use it less than you use the browser.

Maybe I’ll get around to rooting my phone this year and getting rid of the Sprint ID button. Of course, I’ll have to wait a while now, because each new update (deliberately or not) breaks the previous rooting of the phone so it will be a little bit before some hacker gets around to rooting the LG Optimus Android install again.

Update: Sigh. Looks like my fears were not unfounded. Apparently so many users are having trouble with the Sprint LG Optimus Gingerbread update that they have stopped the rollout. Fortunately, my problems are minor so far. My in-call volume is too loud and I cannot adjust the incall volume down. Also, the keyboard no longer does any sort of auto-suggest. I’m assuming the keyboard needs a dictionary update but haven’t looked into how to do it yet. Instead, I re-installed the Gingerbread keyboard from the app store that I had before the update. It auto-suggests and auto-corrects as I type now.

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Sep
11

Google Search Update or HubPages Improvement ?

WGHubris on September 11th, 2011

I occasionally publish a page or “hub” on the free content publishing platform called HubPages. There is no editor to submit to for approval. On the other hand, there is no payment, although you can collect a revenue share from Google Ads via an existing Google AdSense account. Also, HubPages now has an in-house advertising platform that allows offers a revenue share.

Essentially, I use HubPages as the place where I publish stuff that doesn’t fit on any of the other websites I write for, or occasionally, to post something that links to content I want to provide a little boost to.

In other words, despite a HubPage Author Rank consistently over 90, I am not a big HubPages users, nor would anyone consider me a power publisher there. You can check out my HubPage Profile if you are so inclined.

HubPages Rise in Google Search Rankings?

What is interesting is not how I do or do not use the HubPages platform, but rather what has happened to the traffic there over the last few months. It seems as if HubPages may be recovering in Google’s rankings.

Like most other content mills, HubPages got hit hard by Google’s Panda algorithm update. One of the interesting things about writing for HubPages is  that they allow you to include your Google Analytics information, and thus, get similar analytics to those that you get from your own websites. I noticed a substantial decline in my HubPages traffic when the Google update hit earlier this year. Traffic to my hubs dropped about 50 percent.

hubpages-recovery-googleKeep in mind that I don’t get a ton of page views at HubPages so this is hardly definitive, but it does match up with what was reported. Lately, however, things have picked back up.

I haven’t published a new hub in a quite a while, so there has been little or no change made by me on my end. Whatever HubPages is doing, however, might be working.

On July 24th, my traffic was at the same reduced level it has been since early this year after the Panda update. On July 25th, traffic increased substantially and has stayed at the new higher level ever since. Traffic has doubled, back to where it was originally. The former high peaks on my analytics graph from March to July are now the low points on the graph since July 25th.

Again, I don’t have enough traffic or hubs to say anything definitive, and it is entirely possible that HubPages overall is still down while my own content has been judged worthy, but the most likely explanation is that whatever HubPages did to “fix” things after the Google search update is working. Either that, or Google changed the algorithm again and HubPages is out of the dog house.

Anyone else have any experience with this? Is there a domain-wide HubPages recovery going on?

Update: Thanks to the reader that pointed out that there was a confirmed update to the Google Panda search algorithm at about the time of my HubPage traffic improvement. Have other HubPages users seen the same improvements in their overall traffic?

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