questions about the g5 plus

[crash141]

I got the g5 plus the other day and love it. I have some questions and minor problems i need help with.

How do you change the date? right now it says "Sep 20 Wed", how do you change it to "Wed Sep 20"?
Is there any way to remove the orange that shows up on the top and bottom of the screen when you turn on battery saver?
Does battery saver disable the vibrate function? if so, what else does battery saver disable? I dont want to think my phones having problems when its just the battery saver causing them.
Why does this phone use so much ram, is that normal? The avg on my phone is 1.6gb of 1.8gb memory used.
Any idea when I'll be able to install the newest version of android?

 

[kblanco]

1) How do you change the date... Your device like any other cellphone should get its Date and Time from the network. If you're experiencing something wrong then it could be a network issue. However if you'd like to change it yourself, go Settings, System (scroll down a ways as it's at the end) and then toggle off Automatic Date & Time Use Network Provided Time. It'll darken the Set Date, Set Time and Select Time Zone and allow set your stuff but I don't know about arranging it.

2) Battery optimization... Don't know much about that as I don't use it. Obviously you've found it, try turning it off and don't let your battery get that low. If anything turn it off and then manage it through an app. I use McAfee antivirus for Android and it has a battery management function. Also when you reach ten percent battery Android will kick in battery management anyway as it'll start killing any animations you have for menu changes, turn off wifi and data and syncing between your device and services. When you charge and get above ten percent it'll reactivate all that stuff... I don't know if it'll disable vibrate as I don't have that function turned on.

3) Ram usage... I got the Moto G5 Plus before it officially was released to the public, it was a warranty swap for a Moto G4 I had banged up. I was using CC Cleaner for Android to clean my device of junk and it monitors RAM and such. Yeah my RAM hovered around 1.6 and 1.8 gigs. Clean your cache on a regular basis to make the biggest dent. Android should clean the cache out periodically but you can do it yourself if you want by going Storage, then touch Internal Shared Storage. Give it a minute to build as it'll take a few seconds and then you can clear the cache manually.

4) Upgrading to Oreo... Don't know about this one. Android's track record isn't so great because of hurdles from manufacturers and service providers if you bought your device locked (I got my device unlocked). The Android magazine websites - Android Authority and Android Central - usually get a list going when stuff like upgrades for devices breaks. Moto says, according to AA and AC, that yes the G5 Plus will get upgrade I think this year but who knows... You can use a launcher like Nova Launcher or Action Launcher (among others) to mimic Oreo if it becomes a cosmetic issue for you. I had a Moto G1 several years ago, it was stuck on Kit Kat and I used Nova Launcher to make it look like it had been upgraded to Lollipop...

Let me know if you have any additional questions!!!

KB

 

[acejavelin]

I got the g5 plus the other day and love it. I have some questions and minor problems i need help with.

How do you change the date? right now it says "Sep 20 Wed", how do you change it to "Wed Sep 20"?
Is there any way to remove the orange that shows up on the top and bottom of the screen when you turn on battery saver?
Does battery saver disable the vibrate function? if so, what else does battery saver disable? I dont want to think my phones having problems when its just the battery saver causing them.
Why does this phone use so much ram, is that normal? The avg on my phone is 1.6gb of 1.8gb memory used.
Any idea when I'll be able to install the newest version of android?

The date is not changeable that I have seen, it is probably region or language dependent.

No, the orange is the reminder or indicator that Batter Saver is active

Battery saver is a function that disables vibration for most things and limits it for others (I have noticed a single blurp of vibration on calls), disables GPS (basically goes into Battery saving Location mode), disables syncing and mobile data when the screen is off, and disables background data. It is really not for normal use and on this device you should not need it in most cases since is probably one of the most battery efficient devices I have ever seen.

The RAM usage is normal... Android is based on the Linux kernel, and in Android (like Linux) unused RAM is wasted RAM. The kernel will manage the RAM and swap out (close) unused tasks as needed. If your 2GB device had 1GB of RAM free, I would be very concerned something was wrong with it. Android when operating normally will typically have 10%-25% of RAM "free".

When will Oreo come out is anyone's guess... I have had Moto devices for along time, so I am guessing we will see it towards the very end of the year or early next year so don't hold your breath.

And no offense to @kblanco but avoid those apps he is talking about... Android doesn't need anything else to manage the battery or memory or need an antivirus app, and CC Cleaner is a known system resource hog that is more detrimental than useful.

 

[kblanco]

Well I haven't used CC Cleaner in a while just because it won't empty the cache since upgrading to Nougat. I got rid of it soon after upgrading from Marshmallow to Nougat during my upgrading from my G4 to my G5 Plus. I mean why have it when I have to clean things manually myself anyway that it used to just take care of. Otherwise I found it useful.

So far as antiviral software I'll respectfully disagree with you. In turn no offense intended but to have or have not is an age old question. Some folks swear by it and some don't. I'd rather be safer than sorry and it has prevented a few malicious websites and other attacks. With how much personal information we put on our devices or goes through our devices I'd rather be safer than sorry. But there is the argument for also not having such an app installed.

You should ask yourself, you protect your computer at home right? Even though nothing's ever happened perhaps??? Or do you just go out daring onto the web??? Your place may never have been broken into and robbed, but I bet you still lock your front and back doors before leaving for the day? You still set that security system if you have one...

 

[acejavelin]

Well I haven't used CC Cleaner in a while just because it won't empty the cache since upgrading to Nougat. I got rid of it soon after upgrading from Marshmallow to Nougat during my upgrading from my G4 to my G5 Plus. I mean why have it when I have to clean things manually myself anyway that it used to just take care of. Otherwise I found it useful.

So far as antiviral software I'll respectfully disagree with you. In turn no offense intended but to have or have not is an age old question. Some folks swear by it and some don't. I'd rather be safer than sorry and it has prevented a few malicious websites and other attacks. With how much personal information we put on our devices or goes through our devices I'd rather be safer than sorry. But there is the argument for also not having such an app installed.

You should ask yourself, you protect your computer at home right? Even though nothing's ever happened perhaps??? Or do you just go out daring onto the web??? Your place may never have been broken into and robbed, but I bet you still lock your front and back doors before leaving for the day? You still set that security system if you have one...

There are no viruses for Android... the very design of Android prevents it (the definition of a virus is code that replicates itself, not possible in Android's sandbox environment of a normal user), although there is malware and other things that can causes problems but they require user interaction to allow them to be malicious (allow unknown software, grant permissions, etc), so antivirus is a not necessary... Protection systems are a different thing entirely, but common sense is just as effective as an app if you know what your doing.

Do I use anti-virus protection at home? Not in general... except on the two Windows machines we have. All of our machines from the HTPC, 2 laptops, and 3 desktops run current Linux distributions where the users do not run day to day with root access. My oldest son's laptop on Windows 10 and my desktop machine that dual boots to Windows 10 for gaming does have basic antivirus/malware, and generic host file protection, but since everything is synced to our server (Linux as well, which does have basic file scanning since it backs up Windows machines) I don't worry too much about it since we could just re-image to restore any device in under an hour as long as firmware or component infection does not occur.

My point in that last paragraph? I am not your average normal user...

I don't knock anyone for using reputable protection systems on any device or operating system, you know your needs better than I do unless I actually do a device survey and case study... But I still do not recommend anti-virus on a modern Android device, the chances of an infection are so infinitesimally low that the resource usage outweighs the possible protection in my mind.

 

[crash141]

Thanks for the replies guys. I didn't mean android Oreo, I meant to say if we were getting the nougat updates

 

[acejavelin]

Thanks for the replies guys. I didn't mean android Oreo, I meant to say if we were getting the nougat updates

I am confident we will get either a security update or Oreo update... But I honestly Moto does not speak of time tables or really anything in more detail than their blog entries, ever, so we are left to our own devices on that one.

 

[kblanco]

There are no viruses for Android... the very design of Android prevents it (the definition of a virus is code that replicates itself, not possible in Android's sandbox environment of a normal user), although there is malware and other things that can causes problems but they require user interaction to allow them to be malicious (allow unknown software, grant permissions, etc), so antivirus is a not necessary... Protection systems are a different thing entirely, but common sense is just as effective as an app if you know what your doing.

Do I use anti-virus protection at home? Not in general... except on the two Windows machines we have. All of our machines from the HTPC, 2 laptops, and 3 desktops run current Linux distributions where the users do not run day to day with root access. My oldest son's laptop on Windows 10 and my desktop machine that dual boots to Windows 10 for gaming does have basic antivirus/malware, and generic host file protection, but since everything is synced to our server (Linux as well, which does have basic file scanning since it backs up Windows machines) I don't worry too much about it since we could just re-image to restore any device in under an hour as long as firmware or component infection does not occur.

My point in that last paragraph? I am not your average normal user...

I don't knock anyone for using reputable protection systems on any device or operating system, you know your needs better than I do unless I actually do a device survey and case study... But I still do not recommend anti-virus on a modern Android device, the chances of an infection are so infinitesimally low that the resource usage outweighs the possible protection in my mind.

Well while I respect your opinions, and even I wouldn't bother with anti-virus software if I was simply running Linux, I'll have to disagree otherwise... But I'm willing to leave it at that...

 

[kblanco]

I am confident we will get either a security update or Oreo update... But I honestly Moto does not speak of time tables or really anything in more detail than their blog entries, ever, so we are left to our own devices on that one.

Oh I'll be surprised if I ever see much more than A security update from Moto. I've had my Moto G5 Plus since March and I've seen exactly one update. I had the Moto G1 and G4 and I didn't see squat from Moto...

 

[kate]

Oh I'll be surprised if I ever see much more than A security update from Moto. I've had my Moto G5 Plus since March and I've seen exactly one update. I had the Moto G1 and G4 and I didn't see squat from Moto...

Moto confirmed the G5+ will get Oreo, the question is when.

The Moto G 1st gen got upgraded to KitKat then Lollipop.

G4 got, or is in the process of getting Nougat. G4+ will get Oreo according to Moto.

But if you bought from a carrier then updates are up to the carrier.