Mobile Phones

Jerry wants to record webinars and wants to know if he can use an external microphone to do it. Leo says he could, but you'd need an adapter for the minijack on the phone. He recommends just using the microphone on the phone. It'll work fine for that. He could take the direct out of the computer using the PC's headphone jack, and then plug that into the jack on the phone. That should bypass it altogether. One other option is to get a directional mic that will plug into your phone as well. Or even a parabolic mic. RODE makes great models with minijack connectors.

Jim wants to know what Leo thinks of the new Sony Xperia phone. Leo says he hasn't had a Sony phone in years, but they appear to be pretty popular. But Leo says that Sony hasn't done that well in the US market and he thinks it's due to their square style. But market saturation is another consideration. But at least they have a headphone jack still. Leo also says that there are constant rumors that Sony is going to abandon the US market. 

Tim is having issues with screen burn-in of the status bar on his Android phone and it's OLED screen. How can he avoid it? Leo says it may be possible to avoid it with a custom launcher and rooting your phone. Leo uses Active Launcher. Nova Launcher is another good one. Both have themes, including a clear status bar. The chatroom suggests this article on how to fix screen burn-in.

John has been trying to record a ring tone for his phone. How can he do that? Leo says that there's an app called GarageBand for the iPhone. He can record directly to the iPhone and save it to a ringtone.  He can also use the Music App in macOS Catalina to do it and then sync it to the phone. Here's how.

Jim is still using a Nokia Lumia 950 Windows phone to this day, mostly because of the camera. He really likes it. It's also easy to use. Leo says it may not be for much longer as Microsoft hasn't updated it since 2018, and most apps have simply stopped working. But if it still works now, why not keep using it? It's not a security issue. The only real concern would be the battery. Sooner or later, it will stop charging. But Leo says that leftover stock of the Nokia Lumia 950 is still for sale on Amazon. 

Joe bought an HTC U11 a few years ago, which could sync with Outlook. But they stopped supporting it and Android killed the sync feature. So how can he sync the phone's outlook contacts before he upgrades to a new phone? Leo says there's a good free third party tool that will sync with the Windows Contacts manager called Syncios Mobile Manager for Android. It'll sync with Windows 10 People app, which can then sync with your Outlook. ​

Tom just got the Google Pixel 4 XL smartphone, but he saw that the Samsung Galaxy S10 is now the same price. Should he switch? Leo says he really likes the Pixel 4 because it's a pure Google experience. You get a lot of junk with a Samsung phone that unless you like it, you don't really need it. The S10 is a very nice phone, and the screen is as good as it can get. But is it worth getting rid of your Pixel? Keep in mind that the Pixel will be updated quicker because it's pure Google.

Ron wants to know if there's a better camera app than the Samsung camera app. Leo says that Google's GCam is one. But it's just a generic camera. The Samsung camera can take advantage of a lot of features of a phone camera itself. But there are hundreds of camera apps on the Google Play store.

Jerry's Android phone has run out of room. He's added an SD card to it, but how can he make space? Leo says that phone companies really shouldn't be selling 16GB phones anymore. That's just not enough room. Delete whatever apps you can and move data to the SD card. He will have to go into the settings to tell the phone where he's holding the data.