Help Andriod 4 vs 5 problems, help, suggestions

[newsmartphoner]

I just upgraded my Sony Z to Andriod 5, actually I had avoided doing any upgrades since I bought it nearly two years ago, I so regret installing 5 now... I hate it. After upgrading the first 1-2 times still in Andriod 4 I noticed a better battery life, but then after installing 5 the battery life went down again, very frustrating.

Need some help.

1. In 4 when you pushed the power button on it immediately went to your choice of screen unlock, I use a pattern, now there are two steps which is ridiculous, first to swipe then to enter the patter, is there a way around that first swipe?

2. Sony used to have a small widget that had all the goodies right there and i had it on my main page so i could easily access it, it included wifi, data, bluetooth, nfc, volume, tethering, etc. But now there is no widget for it. Is there a place I can still get it? It took up two spaces on my screen but it was well worth it, one tap to open, one tap to do what I wanted to and home. Now it is settings, find wifi turn it on, etc. it's a pain. I am hoping the widget is available somewhere, but for now I cannot find it.

3. Andriod 5 has highlighted the hour in bold now, it looks stupid, is there a way to turn that off? I want the clock, but i don't want the bold.

4. I hate the background of settings now, why do they always mess with something that is not broken!

5. Keyboard, OMG, come on... I hate the new keyboard, I don't know if that is Sony or that is Andriod, their is no ? now, i have to click and hold and then swipe to get it, very very very stupid, is there a setting somewhere where I can arrange my own dang keyboard the way I like it?

No i am not a developer, so I have no way of programming these things, but really, I'm not happy about the changes in 5.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Hadron]

I'm sure Sony use their own keyboard, and indeed many of the things you dislike are Sony changes rather than Android changes. As I don't have this device I cannot offer very specific advice, but clock widgets, power control widgets and keyboards are all things for which there are many alternatives in the Play Store, so if you don't like the built in ones or want something that is no longer offered then that's easy to fix.

The thing that occurs to me is whether there are other features which might be benefits. For example, a power control widget may have been felt unnecessary if it now has configurable shortcuts in the notification pull-down (which is certainly very common in Android 5, though some manufacturers had this much earlier - I don't know about Sony either way). If that's the case there's actually a real advantage to the pull-down controls: you don't have to leave your current app and go to the particular homescreen to use them.

 

[newsmartphoner]

Thanks for the reply, though that doesn't really help me... I know Sony made some updates, and Andriod also made some updates, but many of them I don't like. I don't know why they try to fix something that isn't broken.

I still want to know how to resolve #1, #3, #5, seems I have to download an app for the keyboard. I tried to find a power widget but they all stink, take up way too much space and don't provide what I need.

A new issue has surfaced, the new mail system seems to want to download YEARS of mail everytime I refresh the mailbox, so it constantly is trying to download mail, I dont have to space on my phone for all of these messages, the old system only updated and kept mail on the phone for a few days, but this system is downloading YEARS of mail on many accounts, I don't know how to fix this. I have to disconnet the phone now from the internet to get the system to stop downloading mail. I only want new mail, but the settings do not allow it. I need a better mail client that i can actually control that. but i dont want to retype all the passwords and imap details, any ideas on how to resolve this?

Phone is now getting slower also after this A 5 update. I highly regret installing this, but no way back now without rerooting the phone.. Very disappointed.

 

[Hadron]

#1 I have no solution for. 3 and 5 can both be addressed using alternative apps. To be honest the advantage of not relying on built in apps is that you don't have to worry about system updates doing something like this (as someone who used to flash a lot of ROMs that was a big advantage to me - I didn't have to care whether I liked a ROM's keyboard or message app or whatever).

Changing the background of the settings unfortunately requires root (and modifying SystemUI.apk). That may well be Android rather than Sony - the default dark background of ICS, JB and KK became light (you'd have to ask Google why).

I'm afraid I don't know about downgrading Sonys - some manufacturers can be rolled back without root, others not.

There's the possibility that wiping the system caches (not app caches) would help performance, or a factory reset - but I cannot guarantee that, and setting up again after a reset is obviously a hassle.