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Help Camera sounds, contact lists, general frustration

S

songpalmese

Newbie
Hey there!

So, I just got a new LJ Spectrum - I'd been using a Samsung Galaxy S for two years, and I loved it. However, it was time for an upgrade, and my partner has a Spectrum, so I switched over. Now, I'm less sure it was a good choice.

First of all, how can I turn off sounds in the camera? I've tried the Settings button, but all I get from that is the camera settings - ISO and such. Sounds aren't an option, apparently. I much prefer my phone not to pretend it's got a shutter - it's digital!

Again in sounds - I've turned off all of the notification sounds for my YahooMail (in the app itself) and I'm still getting sounds. Is this fixable?

Also, and MUCH more frustrating, I can't get my contacts right. I save all my contacts (new ones) to google; I'd always assumed that this would allow me to use them while protecting them from potential loss, if, say, I dropped my phone in the water.

When I first had the Galaxy S, Verizon imported all my contacts from the comma-delimited database I'd had them in from my old, non-Android, phone. This gave me loads of strange contact fields; something had gone slightly wrong with the database, so I ended up with about 50 or more contacts all named Unknown, each with contact information in as Notes. There was a system upgrade a year or so ago which solved that - the phone only displayed actual contacts.

Is there a way to clear out the contacts, somehow? I'd rather have them saved somewhere other than just my phone; I don't want to lose contact information.

Lastly, I've turned off Swype's Word Recommendation and I'm still getting the damned boxes with recommended words (and they're wildly wrong). How can I switch that off?

Overall, I like the Spectrum, but it seems like there are a few niggling problems.

Thank you for any help!

Song
 
The only way to stop the camera shutter is to get a Custom ROM which allows you to, or root your phone and delete the camera shutter app (You can PM me if you need help)

Try turning off notifications in the system wide sounds... I don't use Yahoo mail, so I can't help you much... maybe turn the notification from default to silent within the app settings... idk, I'll look into it when I get home.


And for the contacts.. If im right, you mean that you saved the OLD contacts (including the unknowns) to your SD card, and used that to import... BIG MISTAKE.... you culd've logged into your google account and that would have brought all the contacts back...

And last but not least, try to change to a differnt keyboard... I don't really use swype anymore so I can't help :dontknow:
 
Unfortunately, you can't turn off the shutter sound on stock, but if/when we get cyanogenmod, you'll be able to.

As for contacts, android, by default, backs up your contacts to your Google account. The only way to delete them all is to log into your account on your pc and delete them all; the phone will sync and delete them all. Another option is to go into accounts on your phone and turn off sync on contacts. You can delete them all from your phone, then when you enter a contact, save it to the phone only.
 
Try using a replacement camera app called "QuickSnap" it has an option to turn shutter sound off and is pretty similar to stock camera otherwise. The permissions on it seem reasonable as well.
 
becksalottery said:
Change the volume to vibrate, no more shutter sound :)
Click to expand...

Or silent, but those are only temp solutions. The purpose of the sound is legal (in the US and UK), so stock systems either don't allow it or make the user agreement to a warning that turning it off can be illegal in their locality.
 
MrB206 said:
Or silent, but those are only temp solutions. The purpose of the sound is legal (in the US and UK), so stock systems either don't allow it or make the user agreement to a warning that turning it off can be illegal in their locality.
Click to expand...
I'm a professional photographer. There's nothing illegal about turning off the shutter sound... If I'm in a public place I can take photos of whomever and whatever I like. The only catch is on private property (businesses, government facilities, etc). But still, the matter of a shutter sound or not is completely beside the point. I do not understand your statement.

Do agree that it's only a temp solution, but it's still good if you wanna shoot more than a couple of quiet photos.

I took these photos with the Spectrum (wanted to play with it). Shockingly good quality for something out of a cell phone. Still in no way a replacement for a high quality point and shoot or dslr with adequate lenses, of course.

wl21hw.jpg

1zovvbn.jpg

kdo6bl.jpg

28synpc.jpg
 
Thanks for the help. The contact thing isn't just that I've got old contacts - the contact issue had been solved on my Samsung; the phone also won't let me make contact groups with contacts which aren't saved to the phone itself. Very frustrating.

Song Palmese
 
Thanks. I think I'm not explaining the contact thing accurately.

If I delete all my contacts, then run back up again, will that repopulate my contacts with only the ones saved to google or will it send me the ones saved to the phone as well? And why do I get the option to save contacts to google if this makes them un-usable?
 
Huh. The thing is, I can turn off sounds on my Canon g9 and on all of my other digital cameras, so the legal thing shouldn't be an issue.

Ultimately, I want to keep notification sounds and the phone ring, so making the whole phone silent isn't the best option for me.
 
KITTY!!! What a cutie pie! I love that last picture.

I was pleased with the quality of the pictures as well - who'd have thought that we'd have 8mpxl cameras in our phones? I remember when a 3mpxl digital camera was amazing. Heh.

I'll try the other camera apps to see if they're real solutions. I'm confused by LG's choice to not change camera sounds at all.
 
Becks, I studied law in school, so I'm well aware of the legality of public photography and never said it was illegal. I said it is restricted or there is a warning when the sound is disabled on roms like cyanogenmod, because there is a potential to break the law (photos in private property without consent of the owner and/or knowledge of the subject is illegal in most states in the US last I checked). The manufacturer/dev limitation is to avoid idiot users from breaking the law, not because all photos are illegal.
 
Nice pics! I am so far please with the pics my LG Spectrum is taking.

I use Camera ICS from the market. It is based on the ICS camera, but works with Gingerbread and ICS. So far, I have good results and the camera is simpler and faster in my experience than the stock camera. Granted, I did not play a whole lot with the stock camera, but did not like it too much. I had been using Camera ICS on my rooted Droid X with very positive results and decided to use it on my Spectrum. This camera does have a silent mode option and the Paronama option works like the new ICS; very easy to use.
 
I picked up ProCapture trial last week and intend on buying it soon. Much better than stock, very fast. Only complaint is that it does not focus until you press the capture button. But the UI is fantastic!
 
MrB206 said:
Becks, I studied law in school, so I'm well aware of the legality of public photography and never said it was illegal. I said it is restricted or there is a warning when the sound is disabled on roms like cyanogenmod, because there is a potential to break the law (photos in private property without consent of the owner and/or knowledge of the subject is illegal in most states in the US last I checked). The manufacturer/dev limitation is to avoid idiot users from breaking the law, not because all photos are illegal.
Click to expand...

For that matter, you wouldn't be able to turn the shutter off of just about every single digital camera on the market. *shrug* I don't really think the manufacturer of a cell phone is going to give any more of a shit about a shutter sound than the manufacturer of a camera. Frankly, they probably just didn't think to have the option put in. But whatever, it doesn't really matter why :)
 
That's a solid theory, but there's a reason why... A camera looks like a camera, so you know if someone is taking your pic. With phones, however, it's a phone, so there's no immediate assumption of a photo being taken. With that in mind, it's a manufacturer/developer method of covering their ass from litigation for producing a device that can be used for privacy invasion. It's silly, but we live in an overly-litigious society.

In any event, stock won't let you quiet the sound, third party apps and custom roms will.
 
MrB206 said:
That's a solid theory, but there's a reason why... A camera looks like a camera, so you know if someone is taking your pic. With phones, however, it's a phone, so there's no immediate assumption of a photo being taken. With that in mind, it's a manufacturer/developer method of covering their ass from litigation for producing a device that can be used for privacy invasion. It's silly, but we live in an overly-litigious society.

In any event, stock won't let you quiet the sound, third party apps and custom roms will.
Click to expand...
But stock does let you quiet the sound. All you have to do is put the phone on vibrate. It doesn't take a brain surgeon for that. It's not exactly intuitive, but neither is not having an actual hardkey for a shutter button (something I find so annoying :P).

Not to mention there are plenty of cameras around that don't look like cameras and do so with nary an audible sound. Shutter or no, it doesn't make it any less illegal to take photos on private property without consent. I would buy your theory more had there been some stupid flash up warning about obeying the law (as the ****ing touchscreen radio in my car does. EVERY DAMN TIME I get in and try to turn the air on).

But it doesn't take much for someone to go "hm, I want to this quiet...I'll put it in silent mode!"

Hardly a legal move for the protection of privacy. If that's the kind of security we have today, God help us
facepalm.gif
 
The issue isn't taking photos on private property. The purpose of the sound is to let people know they are being photographed with a phone; there's a distinct difference. One requires you to enter someone's property, which is generally the overt act, whereas the other requires no act prior to the violation. But that's enough legal jabber for this thread.

Quieting a phone isn't what people are asking for. Anyone knows you can put it on silent or vibrate to avoid the sound, but that mutes the rest of the phone. The complaint was about muting the specific sound, which can't be done on any stock or roms for the spectrum, unless you install a third party app.
 
I have a question about the LG's camera.
So far, I am happy with results. I am including a sample pic.
My question is: with ICS, do you think the camera can be zero-lag like the Nexus or is that a function of hardware and not software? I would love to have that feature!

IMG_20120513_095005.jpg
 
Pro capture has next to no lag when taking pictures when I remember, I'll be getting the paid version. I really like the UI layout too
 
What about the 1-2 sec shutter lag on the ascend? is there any fix/tip/mod I can do to improve that? I play hell holding the camera still long enough to get the shot I want, not the blurred shot i get if I move the camera!

Eto
 
One thing I've been wondering, is there a way to set stock to use google account as default save? This thing always wants to set it as Backup Assistant. The double numbers/address/ect are quite annoying when revealed in some apps. Having to port from SD backup to Google is also an annoyance as I tend to forget to select the Google account and it save to Backup Assistant. Still, very pleased with this phone itself.
 
Did you restore from Backup Asst? One of the biggest flaws with B.A. is that you can't transfer contacts on your phone from it to Google. If you have contacts in BA, you have to manually enter them into your phone under Google, OR, far easier, enter them on your contacts web page from your computer: https://www.google.com/contacts/#contacts . I had to do that with my wife's X because she came from an enVy that used BA, so all of her contacts were in that app.

So when you flash a new rom with BA or flash V4 or V6 of stock, you need to SKIP BA when you get to that part of activation. Go under Accounts and ensure 'sync' if off for BA. By default, if BA isn't installed or syncing, all your contacts will save to your Google account automatically. Even though 'Sim' is an option, it always reverts to Google for me, but I un-check the Sim box in Settings for Contacts, just to be sure.
 
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