Man, I get that basic stuff needs to be posted somewhere, I mean, I was new to electronics once. But since this kind of list of surface level basic (typically irrelevant to the vast majority people looking for help) is available everywhere (even Googles search AI box thing posts literally the exact dame stuff), I really would rather see actual deep and dirty bare metal techs posting secret sauce stuff. Because wading through site after site promising troubleshooting only to find this stuff really gets on the nerves after a while...

Anyhoozle, on to your question Tanya... Unfortunately I do not have a fix for you. I can just tell you that you're not alone. My ls676 is doing the same thing, dropping apps, its like it has Alzheimers. Started after an OTA (I have so many personal examples for NEVER accepting OTAs off the bat. Always a problem. Always) when it was my dads. He got an upgrade, I factory reset the device and it was okay for a while, but started doing it again. Idk why. Im guessing a fault in the flash

Yes, its stuck on with a thick adhesive. In two squares around the open the open sections on the understand. I used an eye dropper, 70% isopropyl, and a thin plastic sprudger to slowly work it up. Take a look at replacement parts, you'll see what you need to look out for. All of the components are inside the center square where the IC is, the only thing outside the square is the cable connector, and the click button at the very bottom directly in line with the IC (the round metal bit is the spring contact for the button). Just flip the black part of the connector up to release the ribbon cable. Work the adhesive slowly and don't slice any traces.

I assume they mean Left front. What left front refers to, I have no idea. Possibly panel illumination, supposing its edge lit?

bad connection down the Vdc supply, gnd, or sense pin paths? Or a blown channel on the ADC that reads the potentiometer and converts the value to digital. If the ADC is integrated inside the main chip, its toast. Its also possible another component along the signal path may be faulty. Like a capacitor gone short for some reason. Basically its break out the multimeter and start poking stuff time.

I havent been inside my official remote yet, but if the unofficial ones Ive scrapped and/or repaired are any indication the triggers are potentiometers, not hall effect sensors. If you're fine with simple binary control (ie, on off, and not the analog sweep of values) then just wire the center pad and what ever side the wiper moves towards (whichever side drops in resistance when going to full deflection) to a button. If that doesnt work, try center and the other pin.

Wearing gloves with a soldering iron? If you need gloves you're grabbing the wrong end... Any one who cant figure out which end is the hot one, and need to be reminded to keep the hot end off of ...anything... including skin, probably shouldnt be attempting this level of repair...

Also, no cleaning the cut off bits of the old connector? They're plainly visible in one of the photos, yet the data pins dont seem to be mentioned at all in the write-up. In fact, the only points you illustrate to touch with the iron are the stabilization tabs, not the actual data/power pins.

The better way to prepare the PCB for a new connector would be to use solder wick to clean the pads, then tin the pads on the PCB with a little glop of solder on each, the same on the connector going in so that all one has to do is hit one of the support tabs to afix it in place, make sure the data pins are aligned, tap each pin with the iron to quickly liquefy the solder fixing them in place, then finish up with the other two support tabs.

(puts on snotty internet know it all voice) Uhm, actually....

Colloquially speaking, though from a more technical point of view, the globe shaped piece you replace is the diffuser, as the entire unit is considered the 'bulb' (A19 form factor IIRC).

For those wondering, any old led bulbs diffuser could be used. Just gently work around the joint between the diffuser and plastic (usually encasing aluminum) body with a sprudger to separate the silicone caulk like glue bonding them together. Though do take a moment to take notice of the plastic thickness and density (tap it, squeeze it. Does it sound thin and bendy, or brittle, or denser with more of a slight give than a crumpling bend), some plastics are not be suited for the heat of a higher output unit. Remember, LED power supplies and pwm switching circuits tend to dump a bit of heat, especially when ran at near or even over max ratings like most manufacturers do. Also remember to choose an adhesive that can perform in a hot environment without failing.

18650 (18mm diameter, 65.0mm long) is a common lithium battery cell size, and units with pigtails already installed are readily available. Though it is within the realm of possibility to attach pigtails to a typical cell with a button top ones self, possibly make/buy a snap in carrier similar to units for single AA or AAA cells.

I haven't looked in a while, maybe battery technology has improved some, but I will admit 2Ah in the volume of an 18650 does sound a little spicy to me. Which is fine if it has a good production design, treated well, and (dis)charged properly(good control circuitry). We're getting to an age where the amount of energy packed into a small volume, particularly energetic materials capable of high discharge rates, is approaching explosives levels of potential energy...in a small metal tube... Wet chemical batteries (FLA or SLA or gel) can only react so fast to produce current, but running some back of the napkin numbers on modern high C lithiums....friggin scary sometimes....