This is for random tricks that aren't widely known.
I'll start off...
Missing that search button key on the bottom from the SGSII? Have no fear, just press and hold the menu key, which acts like the search key
Annoyed of the home button lag? turn off double tap to activate S voice within that program and your home key will be much more responsive
Can anyone think of anything else?
Edit: Ironlood has put together a list of tips and tricks. Thanks!
1.Hold menu button for search menu - eyecon82
2.To get rid of home button lag open up S-Voice and navigate to settings and untick the launch with double tap home button -eyecon82
3.Lock screen app settings are listed under security in settings - kegacide
4.you can swipe the screen with the side of your hand to take a screenshot, or hold home and power-kegacide
5.Hold down physical button and you can close all open apps and go to the task manager - hawkeye2188
6.Buttons on the bottom of the lock screen and can be swiped and open that application - hawkeye2188
7.You can also swipe away individual apps after holding down the home button - NA 521"
8.first go to settings>language and input and turn on voice cmd for apps. I had it on early today and said cheese and the camera snapped a photo...pretty cool -s3xda (on a side note it seems as though the variants have different voice cues try snap, cheese, shutter, and go)
9.In settings > sound > device vibration, you can select a different pattern of vibrate, or just make your own by touching create! - Zoidpilot
10.In app drawer > widgets, Sammy added a widget to use flash as a flashlight, and a widget to turn the entire phone into negative colors.-Zoidpilot
11.You can set the brightness in the majority of stock apps (i.e. the browser) to be app specific, instead of just setting a brightness for the entire system. For example: set the brightness to auto in the system settings, then open the stock browser > brightness and colors, and set it to high. Now the system will have auto brightness, but it will always go to high/bright when you are in the browser! -Zoidpilot
12.If you go to Phone > Logs > call logs, you can long-press a number (like that telemarketer you always reject) and select "add to reject list" to have the phone automatically reject the call every time. You can also unblock the number in case you change your mind.-Zoidpilot
13.In the stock messaging app, you can go to settings, and on the top you will find options to change the background and bubble style of the messages.-Zoidpilot
14.Samsung's S-Voice can do complex mathematical equations for you, then show them in different answers. For example, open S-Voice, and ask "how many inches are in a mile?". Or "what's the square root of 543,636?". -Zoidpilot
15.In settings > security > lock screen options > shortcuts, you can change what shortcuts appear on your lockscreen, or take them out altogether.-Zoidpilot
16.On the headphones that came with your device, you will see a single button and the volume controls. One press of the single button will pause the music, two presses in quick succession will skip to the next track. -Zoidpilot
17.In settings > wallpaper > home & lockscreen, if you select a live wallpaper, it will show as your lock screen as well. It will deactivate the ripple effect though if you have it active.-Zoidpilot
18.You can also use pop-up play on streaming online videos as long as they're not YouTube videos, and as long as you use the stock video player to stream them.-Zoidpilot
19.Pictures come out better with the camera if you hold the camera button and let it focus before the shot, rather than just pressing it after touching the focus box.-Zoidpilot
20.The stock browser has "incognito mode" just like Google Chrome! You can access it by opening the browser, the touching the top right corner to see open windows, then touching the incognito icon. While you're incognito, no history/cookies/or form data will be saved.-Zoidpilot
21.While you are on a call, on the screen where the contact picture is displayed, there is a speaker icon in a bubble. Touch it to increase the call volume past the maximum setting. It works on speaker or on headset setting.-Zoidpilot
22.If you're not rooted, but want to get rid of those pesky bloatware apps, go to settings > application manager > all, and select the app. Within those settings you can clear the information the app has, then disable the app with the top right button. You may need to uninstall updates before it says disable app though... you can also go to the app drawer, hit menu, then select "hide apps" to hide the bloatware icons you've disabled. -Zoidpilot
23.With voice cmd turned on, you can snooze your alarm by saying snooze. -s3xda
24.Cover the screen with the palm of your hand to pause media playback. -NA 521"
25.You can use S Voice like a translator,for example: What is the meaning of house in spanish?-TitaniumBarbell
26.I just found out the contents of the clipboard stay there even after a reboot.-kingwp
27.touch wiz scrolling wallpapers fix go Settings > Wallpaper > Home Screen... If you set them independantly you will be able to crop the wallpaper just like any other HC/ICS device-nonmindo
28.you can get your status bar in ANY full screen app, even full screen games. How? Start with your finger touching just outside of the top of the display and drag down, it will fade in and you can check your notifications, it works both in landscape and portrait mode-nonmindo
29.I noticed that any time you send an email in gmail with our new phones (t-mobile version at least), it puts a stupid T-mobile signature at the bottom of the email. I found that you can change it by going to gmail>menu>settings>[email protected]>signature and putting in whatever you want.-moonfire711
30.Also, go into your dialer>menu>settings for more in call goodies.-moonfire711
31.Many probably already know this, but I just found out that you can turn on the screen with the physical home button instead of the power button. Which is nice if it's laying down on a desk or something.-moonfire711
32.If you get tired of re-unlocking your screen when it turns off, you can set it to not lock for a set period of time after the screen turns off... Go to menu>settings>security>Lock automatically and change the timeout.-moonfire711
33.If you go into Settings > Sounds > Auto Haptic It will enable haptic feedback on your games/apps based on sound, pretty neat!! (note: doesnt work on all games/apps, but does on many)-nonmindo
34.In relation to the haptic feedback with sound... Tap on the left side of the toggle (where the text is), and it'll open up a menu to choose which ones to enable/disable. -pizz0wn3d
35.The wiimote controller successfully pairs and works with our SGS3s! -pizz0wn3d
36.For your contacts or logs, slide left to direct call and slide right to direct text.-jaytxvo
37.while in the stock video player press the picture in picture button to pop out the video -s3xda
38.Super video does pic-in-pic -20blks
39.***Sprint Specific*** In order to turn on and off LTE ... Settings >wireless settings>more settings >network mode>lte/cdma -iphony89
40.camera quick access... allows you to touch the lockscreen and rotate the screen to open the camera... Settings > security > lock screen options > camera quick access -Cappurnikus
41.pull down the notification touch the time and it will open the world clock (might be variant specific) -Deputy13
42.I have only tested this with Windows Media Player, but I assume any DLNA equipped TV/media device would work. This is great if you want to quickly show a slideshow of photos or play some media file on your tv/computer.1) Go Settings/More Settings/Nearby Devices 2) Turn on file sharing and change any options you'd like. Since I'm on my own my Wifi network, I just disabled access control, otherwise you have to approve every device.3) Start Windows Media Player. Make sure under Stream "Allow Remote Control" is checked. You should see your phone show up under "Other Libraries" in WMP. Mine shows up as [Mobile]SCH-135.4) Go into Gallery and select a picture. If connected properly, in the upper right hand corner there will be a new little icon with a monitor and some arrows. Touch this and it will allow you to select a playback device. 5) Now the picture should show up in a maximized screen in WMP. Sometimes it takes a good 10-20 seconds. Videos take much longer, but they work and what I got was the first frame, followed by a good 20 seconds of a "Processing" notification on the Galaxy S3. When I browsed from WMP to my phone videos, it buffered for a very long time, so this "processing" notification is the buffering taking place. I don't know why DLNA needs such a long time to buffer over a home Wifi network.6) Whenever you change folders you have to click the DLNA icon again and re-select your playback device. Not sure why this is, seems like a bug...Unfortunately I did a little research and there is no way to physically copy files to your computer through DLNA, you'll have to use other methods.Make sure you turn this stuff off when you connect to public Wifi .-sluzbenik
44.When viewing videos using the stock video player, you can lock the touchscreen by pressing the power button so that the video does not get interrupted by inadvertent touches. This is especially useful if you are using your phone to entertain your baby or toddler. Also works with mx player though haven't tried it with other players -limeaid
45.Do not know if it has been mentioned already, but you can also bring the phone up to your ear and it will call that contact.-ricky babalu
46. if you are in the apps drawer, and you pinch the screen, you will see all pages of your apps and can quickly choose the one you want.-moonfire711
47.Haven't noticed this being addressed but regarding S-Beam it appears that both phones are required to utilize the same app that is involved with the file being transferred. For example, I use "quickpic" as the default image viewer and when I used s-beam to test a pic transfer, the phones connected however my buddy's phone went to the play store and more specifically went to the "quickpic" downlad page. Obviously my buddy's phone required him to dl the app in order to finish the transfer. I then opened the same file via "gallery" and reinitiated the transfer. This time the phones connected and transferred the file without a hitch. -augustorm
48. lock screen shortcuts can be edited on the swipe lock screen go to settings/security/lock screen options/shortcuts click the word shortcuts and not the toggle it will bring up the 4 shortcuts and your allowed to change which app is accessed or what order there displayed in -ironlood
49. Just found a way to substantially increase smoothness. Under Developer Options--> Limit Background Processes. I set mine to 5 and notice a difference -eyecon82
50. Quick Controls in Internet Browser:
Tap the Menu button
Settings option
Click Labs and check the Quick Controls box. - iLLusive
51. Battery Percentage:
Go to Settings
Click Display and check the "Display battery percentage" box- iLLusive
51. Not for sprint. -- Color Saturation, Go to Settings -->Click Display -->Click Screen mode and choose between four options; Dynamic, Standard, Natural and Movie- iLLusive
52. Battery Percentage:
Go to Settings
Click Display and check the "Display battery percentage" box- iLLusive
53. Enable Smart Stay: (Screen stays on when eyes are looking at it)
Go to Settings
Click Display and check the "Smart stay" box- iLLusive
54. Alphabetical Sorting of the Apps Drawer:
Open the apps drawer
Press Menu
Select “View type”
Select “Alphabetical Grid”- iLLusive
55. Silence Camera Sound
-You have to bee rooted for this one to work but it will silence the camera shutter.
-Use an file exployer app,I use root exployer
-Using root exployer go to system>media>audio>UI
-Scroll till you see:
Shutter.ogg
Shutter_multiple.ogg
-Click in Root exployer on the the "mount R/W " to change to "mount R/O"
-then rename those files to :
Shutter.ogg.bak
Shutter_multiple.bak
and no more shutter sound when taking pictures ,to get sound back simply remove the .bak of the files you renamed and sound will be back - David NC
56. Accessing the Service menu
The Service menu is activated through a sort of code that you enter into the dial pad of the phone. To get started:
Start your Phone app
Get to the Keypad screen
Type in: *#0* #
You now should have in front of you a screen with a 5 X 3 grid of options.
http://www.androidcentral.com/how-un...menu-galaxy-s3 - jayhuffdaddy
Great. I did miss that key. Subscribed...
I heard that the GSII has a swipe status bar to turn up brightness? Does this follow over to the GSIII? Could anyone confirm or deny?
1SiK1500 said:
I heard that the GSII has a swipe status bar to turn up brightness? Does this follow over to the GSIII? Could anyone confirm or deny?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. It's not on the GSIII. This is something I miss from the GSII.
Lock screen app settings are listed under security in settings (took me a while to find this)
you can swipe the screen with the side of your hand to take a screenshot, or hold home and power
archtech3d said:
Nope. It's not on the GSIII. This is something I miss from the GSII.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even on the GS2, it was only present in GB
Once the ICS update rolled out, it was gone. It's not a GS2 vs GS3 issue. It's an ICS issue.
ingenious247 said:
Even on the GS2, it was only present in GB
Once the ICS update rolled out, it was gone. It's not a GS2 vs GS3 issue. It's an ICS issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sigh...how could anyone in their right mind think that feature should have disappeared? ...
ewingr said:
Sigh...how could anyone in their right mind think that feature should have disappeared? ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. This is the feature I miss most about my S2. You'd think they'd have SOMETHING with all the random gesture/bump/close on eye stick out tongue gesture combinations they have on this device to control the brightness.
Guys, let's please get back on topic. This isn't the annoyances thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1727052
Hold down physical button and you can close all open apps and go to the task manager.
Buttons on the bottom of the lock screen and can be swiped and open that application(I know obvious)
eyecon82 said:
Guys, let's please get back on topic. This isn't the annoyances thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1727052
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to submit suggestions to google, which we should all do to make a swipe brightness adjustory, go here
http://code.google.com/p/android/
hawkeye2188 said:
Hold down physical button and you can close all open apps and go to the task manager.
Buttons on the bottom of the lock screen and can be swiped and open that application(I know obvious)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks! even though its obvious to us, it may not be to someone else :laugh:
hawkeye2188 said:
Hold down physical button and you can close all open apps and go to the task manager.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can also swipe away individual apps after holding down the home button. An HTC rep at an AT&T store told me that one today. She was trying to show off the One X. Everything that phone could do, my Galaxy could do. It was great. She even told me how the One X was made of polycarbonate and that the Galaxy was made of plastic. She learned a lot today...
first go to settings>language and input and turn on voice cmd for apps. I had it on early today and said cheese and the camera snapped a photo...pretty cool
Anyone having trouble doing the hand motion screenshot? I can't do it. gf walked in on me trying it and she gave me this look like....wtf? She shook her head and walked out.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
defnow said:
Anyone having trouble doing the hand motion screenshot? I can't do it. gf walked in on me trying it and she gave me this look like....wtf? She shook her head and walked out.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to have a good portion of the screen covered with your hand (instructions say use your palm) and just swipe it across in an even motion.
Also make sure the function is turned on in the motion settings!
Same thing here with the screenshot, I feel dumb as hell as I still can't get it to work.
Also , is anyone using the stock ICS keyboard? I hate the Samsung keyboard.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Hold ur hand out like your doing a karate chop and swipe across the screen from either direction, left or right. Its really simple
defnow said:
Anyone having trouble doing the hand motion screenshot? I can't do it. gf walked in on me trying it and she gave me this look like....wtf? She shook her head and walked out.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no problems here....
s3xda said:
Hold ur hand out like your doing a karate chop and swipe across the screen from either direction, left or right. Its really simple
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the details. I was doing it flat palmed. Working now.
I couldn't get it either then I felt dumb when I realized you have to touch the screen.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Related
Mine in decreasing order of annoyance:
Decreased 3G/4G/WiFi reception comparing to previous phone (EVO 4G).
Touchwiz:
Full charge sound.
Contacts not prioritizing contact pictures from FB/Twitter/Skype over Google.
Dialpad is convoluted (too many steps to make a call) and fugly.
Lockscreen. Ewww.
Bottom touch buttons backlight shuts off 2-3 seconds after screen is touched (should be longer).
Power button on side of phone.
You know you can change the background on your lockscreen in settings. Still not the best lockscreen available but there are plenty of options in the market. you can change the duration of the backlight for the bottom buttons in display settings under "touch key light duration".
akarol said:
Mine in decreasing order of annoyance:
Decreased 3G/4G/WiFi reception comparing to previous phone (EVO 4G).
Touchwiz:
Full charge sound.
Contacts not prioritizing contact pictures from FB/Twitter/Skype over Google.
Dialpad is convoluted (too many steps to make a call) and fugly.
Lockscreen. Ewww.
Bottom touch buttons backlight shuts off 2-3 seconds after screen is touched (should be longer).
Power button on side of phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't help you with most. But in settings/ display you can adjust the display timing for what Samsung refers to as Touch Keys.
....
Devi0124 said:
You know you can change the background on your lockscreen in settings. Still not the best lockscreen available but there are plenty of options in the market. you can change the duration of the backlight for the bottom buttons in display settings under "touch key light duration".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also, the location of the power button will be updated in new roms...
"1. Decreased 3G/4G/WiFi reception comparing to previous phone (EVO 4G)."
Can this be fixed with updates? I really hope so, that is my only issue with the phone currently.
Mine in decreasing order of annoyance:
Decreased 3G/4G/WiFi reception comparing to previous phone (MoPho).
LED is blue or red, thats it (tried diferent options incl. apk's... all to no avail).
No landscape mode for TW
Speaker full volume / clarity at said full volume is good, but speaker does strain infrequently and is not as loud as MoPho's (barely but still noticeable)
Wow, thanks for the bottom key tweak. Overlooked that one.
My complaint about the lockscreen is the plainess and lack of features it possesses. Sense simply blows TW away at the moment.
Yeah, Sense is plenty better, but TW isn't that bad, other than the lock screen.....and the way they have it set up to select your widgets.....but it's okay.
DITTO tho on the data, that's a biggie. I'm returning mine because of this. I need data, I use it more than the phone, lol
1. The vibration when I received a text was insanely too long, but I can't figure out how to adjust the pattern.
2. 4G keeps going to sleep while I'm streaming music with the display off, and I have to wake the phone to get the music to start streaming again.
Nothing else is really bothering me right now. Except I'd like a better lock screen.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
akarol said:
Wow, thanks for the bottom key tweak. Overlooked that one.
My complaint about the lockscreen is the plainess and lack of features it possesses. Sense simply blows TW away at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but bloated down the RAM.... Wait till a port or AOSP or use.a launcher... I never use touchwiz or sense or blurr on any of the phones I have
My only nuisance is your avatar
Lost quite.a bit of money on yesterdays game
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
akarol said:
Wow, thanks for the bottom key tweak. Overlooked that one.
My complaint about the lockscreen is the plainess and lack of features it possesses. Sense simply blows TW away at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suppose if you like 1gb+ roms, sure.
Touchwiz is incredibly easy to theme. I'm sure there will be an 8 lockscreen mod port soon.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Lack of airplane mode in the shade pull-down. My office has zero reception, so need to rely on Google voice during office hours.
Will probably use anycut to put an airplane-mode shortcut on the homescreen.
Biggest ones for me right now concern the dialer:
- No instant-call button on the dialer's Favorites or Contacts tabs - you have to tap the name, then call on the second screen. On stock Android it has a phone icon right there at the right side of each name's field. No clue why they'd go and remove that, it's extremely useful.
- No way to turn off the huge photos next to people's names - I always turned those off on stock to make it just a list of names with the phone icon on the right - it showed a lot more names per screen that way. Again, no idea why a feature like that gets removed.
TabsAZ said:
Biggest ones for me right now concern the dialer:
- No instant-call button on the dialer's Favorites or Contacts tabs - you have to tap the name, then call on the second screen. On stock Android it has a phone icon right there at the right side of each name's field. No clue why they'd go and remove that, it's extremely useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you swipe your finger right to left over their name it calls them. If you swipe left to right it brings you into messaging. I actually like it more than the stock call buttons. Keeps the contacts menu more clean imo.
First. I am rooted so there is a possibility it is the rooted Kernel that is doing this... but maybe not as it is radio related.
Twice today lost signal on the golf course (and in addition to phone signal lost data so my GPS Golf App wasn't usable when I needed it for distance to the green)... but couldn't get the phone to trigger signal back on even if I put the phone in Airplane Mode (both times) and back out. Also tried turning roaming off and on.
Both times I HAD to turn the phone completely off and then back on. When it came back on I had 4 bars (but had previously been unable to connect).
Not good...
When I was playing with the phone @ the sprint store I noticed that airplane mode option pop up if i hit the power switch while in phone mode.
Hhavoc said:
Lack of airplane mode in the shade pull-down. My office has zero reception, so need to rely on Google voice during office hours.
Will probably use anycut to put an airplane-mode shortcut on the homescreen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
deputydon said:
If you swipe your finger right to left over their name it calls them. If you swipe left to right it brings you into messaging. I actually like it more than the stock call buttons. Keeps the contacts menu more clean imo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No biggie, as I'm sure all that try will find out, but he means your "other left" and "other right" (as my father used to say as I was growing up), i.e. the swipe directions described are actually the opposite directions.
Cheers!
jake21 said:
When I was playing with the phone @ the sprint store I noticed that airplane mode option pop up if i hit the power switch while in phone mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AWESOME, thanks. Don't know how I forgot that!
When I'm texting with Swype, the language switches to Espanol all the time because the language button is right next to the comma button.
It's really annoying, any way to turn it off?
I can't for the life of me figure out how to keep the screen from turning off while the phone is plugged in. Its usually under settings>applications> development> keep screen on while charging..
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
This is for random tricks that aren't widely known.
I'll start off...
Missing that search button key on the bottom from the SGSII? Have no fear, just press and hold the menu key, which acts like the search key
Annoyed of the home button lag? turn off double tap to activate S voice within that program and your home key will be much more responsive
Can anyone think of anything else?
Edit: Ironlood has put together a list of tips and tricks. Thanks!
1.Hold menu button for search menu - eyecon82
2.To get rid of home button lag open up S-Voice and navigate to settings and untick the launch with double tap home button -eyecon82
3.Lock screen app settings are listed under security in settings - kegacide
4.you can swipe the screen with the side of your hand to take a screenshot, or hold home and power-kegacide
5.Hold down physical button and you can close all open apps and go to the task manager - hawkeye2188
6.Buttons on the bottom of the lock screen and can be swiped and open that application - hawkeye2188
7.You can also swipe away individual apps after holding down the home button - NA 521"
8.first go to settings>language and input and turn on voice cmd for apps. I had it on early today and said cheese and the camera snapped a photo...pretty cool -s3xda (on a side note it seems as though the variants have different voice cues try snap, cheese, shutter, and go)
9.In settings > sound > device vibration, you can select a different pattern of vibrate, or just make your own by touching create! - Zoidpilot
10.In app drawer > widgets, Sammy added a widget to use flash as a flashlight, and a widget to turn the entire phone into negative colors.-Zoidpilot
11.You can set the brightness in the majority of stock apps (i.e. the browser) to be app specific, instead of just setting a brightness for the entire system. For example: set the brightness to auto in the system settings, then open the stock browser > brightness and colors, and set it to high. Now the system will have auto brightness, but it will always go to high/bright when you are in the browser! -Zoidpilot
12.If you go to Phone > Logs > call logs, you can long-press a number (like that telemarketer you always reject) and select "add to reject list" to have the phone automatically reject the call every time. You can also unblock the number in case you change your mind.-Zoidpilot
13.In the stock messaging app, you can go to settings, and on the top you will find options to change the background and bubble style of the messages.-Zoidpilot
14.Samsung's S-Voice can do complex mathematical equations for you, then show them in different answers. For example, open S-Voice, and ask "how many inches are in a mile?". Or "what's the square root of 543,636?". -Zoidpilot
15.In settings > security > lock screen options > shortcuts, you can change what shortcuts appear on your lockscreen, or take them out altogether.-Zoidpilot
16.On the headphones that came with your device, you will see a single button and the volume controls. One press of the single button will pause the music, two presses in quick succession will skip to the next track. -Zoidpilot
17.In settings > wallpaper > home & lockscreen, if you select a live wallpaper, it will show as your lock screen as well. It will deactivate the ripple effect though if you have it active.-Zoidpilot
18.You can also use pop-up play on streaming online videos as long as they're not YouTube videos, and as long as you use the stock video player to stream them.-Zoidpilot
19.Pictures come out better with the camera if you hold the camera button and let it focus before the shot, rather than just pressing it after touching the focus box.-Zoidpilot
20.The stock browser has "incognito mode" just like Google Chrome! You can access it by opening the browser, the touching the top right corner to see open windows, then touching the incognito icon. While you're incognito, no history/cookies/or form data will be saved.-Zoidpilot
21.While you are on a call, on the screen where the contact picture is displayed, there is a speaker icon in a bubble. Touch it to increase the call volume past the maximum setting. It works on speaker or on headset setting.-Zoidpilot
22.If you're not rooted, but want to get rid of those pesky bloatware apps, go to settings > application manager > all, and select the app. Within those settings you can clear the information the app has, then disable the app with the top right button. You may need to uninstall updates before it says disable app though... you can also go to the app drawer, hit menu, then select "hide apps" to hide the bloatware icons you've disabled. -Zoidpilot
23.With voice cmd turned on, you can snooze your alarm by saying snooze. -s3xda
24.Cover the screen with the palm of your hand to pause media playback. -NA 521"
25.You can use S Voice like a translator,for example: What is the meaning of house in spanish?-TitaniumBarbell
26.I just found out the contents of the clipboard stay there even after a reboot.-kingwp
27.touch wiz scrolling wallpapers fix go Settings > Wallpaper > Home Screen... If you set them independantly you will be able to crop the wallpaper just like any other HC/ICS device-nonmindo
28.you can get your status bar in ANY full screen app, even full screen games. How? Start with your finger touching just outside of the top of the display and drag down, it will fade in and you can check your notifications, it works both in landscape and portrait mode-nonmindo
29.I noticed that any time you send an email in gmail with our new phones (t-mobile version at least), it puts a stupid T-mobile signature at the bottom of the email. I found that you can change it by going to gmail>menu>settings>[email protected]>signature and putting in whatever you want.-moonfire711
30.Also, go into your dialer>menu>settings for more in call goodies.-moonfire711
31.Many probably already know this, but I just found out that you can turn on the screen with the physical home button instead of the power button. Which is nice if it's laying down on a desk or something.-moonfire711
32.If you get tired of re-unlocking your screen when it turns off, you can set it to not lock for a set period of time after the screen turns off... Go to menu>settings>security>Lock automatically and change the timeout.-moonfire711
33.If you go into Settings > Sounds > Auto Haptic It will enable haptic feedback on your games/apps based on sound, pretty neat!! (note: doesnt work on all games/apps, but does on many)-nonmindo
34.In relation to the haptic feedback with sound... Tap on the left side of the toggle (where the text is), and it'll open up a menu to choose which ones to enable/disable. -pizz0wn3d
35.The wiimote controller successfully pairs and works with our SGS3s! -pizz0wn3d
36.For your contacts or logs, slide left to direct call and slide right to direct text.-jaytxvo
37.while in the stock video player press the picture in picture button to pop out the video -s3xda
38.Super video does pic-in-pic -20blks
39.***Sprint Specific*** In order to turn on and off LTE ... Settings >wireless settings>more settings >network mode>lte/cdma -iphony89
40.camera quick access... allows you to touch the lockscreen and rotate the screen to open the camera... Settings > security > lock screen options > camera quick access -Cappurnikus
41.pull down the notification touch the time and it will open the world clock (might be variant specific) -Deputy13
42.I have only tested this with Windows Media Player, but I assume any DLNA equipped TV/media device would work. This is great if you want to quickly show a slideshow of photos or play some media file on your tv/computer.1) Go Settings/More Settings/Nearby Devices 2) Turn on file sharing and change any options you'd like. Since I'm on my own my Wifi network, I just disabled access control, otherwise you have to approve every device.3) Start Windows Media Player. Make sure under Stream "Allow Remote Control" is checked. You should see your phone show up under "Other Libraries" in WMP. Mine shows up as [Mobile]SCH-135.4) Go into Gallery and select a picture. If connected properly, in the upper right hand corner there will be a new little icon with a monitor and some arrows. Touch this and it will allow you to select a playback device. 5) Now the picture should show up in a maximized screen in WMP. Sometimes it takes a good 10-20 seconds. Videos take much longer, but they work and what I got was the first frame, followed by a good 20 seconds of a "Processing" notification on the Galaxy S3. When I browsed from WMP to my phone videos, it buffered for a very long time, so this "processing" notification is the buffering taking place. I don't know why DLNA needs such a long time to buffer over a home Wifi network.6) Whenever you change folders you have to click the DLNA icon again and re-select your playback device. Not sure why this is, seems like a bug...Unfortunately I did a little research and there is no way to physically copy files to your computer through DLNA, you'll have to use other methods.Make sure you turn this stuff off when you connect to public Wifi .-sluzbenik
44.When viewing videos using the stock video player, you can lock the touchscreen by pressing the power button so that the video does not get interrupted by inadvertent touches. This is especially useful if you are using your phone to entertain your baby or toddler. Also works with mx player though haven't tried it with other players -limeaid
45.Do not know if it has been mentioned already, but you can also bring the phone up to your ear and it will call that contact.-ricky babalu
46. if you are in the apps drawer, and you pinch the screen, you will see all pages of your apps and can quickly choose the one you want.-moonfire711
47.Haven't noticed this being addressed but regarding S-Beam it appears that both phones are required to utilize the same app that is involved with the file being transferred. For example, I use "quickpic" as the default image viewer and when I used s-beam to test a pic transfer, the phones connected however my buddy's phone went to the play store and more specifically went to the "quickpic" downlad page. Obviously my buddy's phone required him to dl the app in order to finish the transfer. I then opened the same file via "gallery" and reinitiated the transfer. This time the phones connected and transferred the file without a hitch. -augustorm
48. lock screen shortcuts can be edited on the swipe lock screen go to settings/security/lock screen options/shortcuts click the word shortcuts and not the toggle it will bring up the 4 shortcuts and your allowed to change which app is accessed or what order there displayed in -ironlood
49. Just found a way to substantially increase smoothness. Under Developer Options--> Limit Background Processes. I set mine to 5 and notice a difference -eyecon82
50. Quick Controls in Internet Browser:
Tap the Menu button
Settings option
Click Labs and check the Quick Controls box. - iLLusive
51. Not for sprint or Tmo. -- Color Saturation, Go to Settings -->Click Display -->Click Screen mode and choose between four options; Dynamic, Standard, Natural and Movie- iLLusive
52. Battery Percentage:
Go to Settings
Click Display and check the "Display battery percentage" box- iLLusive
53. Enable Smart Stay: (Screen stays on when eyes are looking at it)
Go to Settings
Click Display and check the "Smart stay" box- iLLusive
54. Alphabetical Sorting of the Apps Drawer:
Open the apps drawer
Press Menu
Select “View type”
Select “Alphabetical Grid”- iLLusive
Thanks. Couple things I didn't know about in that list.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Wow, most of thing is i didn't know!
Thanks
Thanks for the list. I went thru everything and a lot of the same thing gets repeated. Must edit. Good job nonetheless.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
elracing21 said:
Thanks for the list. I went thru everything and a lot of the same thing gets repeated. Must edit. Good job nonetheless.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea it keeps happening because people keep helping me add on to it, and i forget it was already listed....ill fix it soon
Good list of tips been using the S3 all this time and didn't even know most of them even existed :thumbup:
Sent from my Galaxy SIII using Tapatalk 2
This should b stickied
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Great tips just cant get the screen shot with physical buttons to work can anyone assist
Hold home and power.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Awesome got it thanks
SGIII
www.MobileRevolution48.com
Not bad, some on the list were very helpful. Thanks, and to think, I thought I knew it all. heheh
Thank you.
Omy was
Is there a shortcut to go to the top of the Page in browsers and lists other than emails? The double tap is inconvenient top.
Thanks for the list. A few that I didn't know about, and one specifically that I can't believe I missed. I was just lamenting the absence of a simple flashlight on the phone, and bam, the tip about the assistive light. Missed it completely. I argue that simply flashlight would have been a better choice for the name of the widget...lol
kmdub said:
Thanks for the list. A few that I didn't know about, and one specifically that I can't believe I missed. I was just lamenting the absence of a simple flashlight on the phone, and bam, the tip about the assistive light. Missed it completely. I argue that simply flashlight would have been a better choice for the name of the widget...lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...yeah, I think the lack of a consistent naming of basic applications (regardless of carrier...or build) should be improved.
is there a way to stream videos from my laptop on the s3? i enabled the media sharing on my network and it works on my samsung tv but not the phone. when i go in the video app it just says no videos found when i choose the laptop
This is for random tricks that aren't widely known.
I'll start off...
Missing that search button key on the bottom from the SGSII? Have no fear, just press and hold the menu key, which acts like the search key
Annoyed of the home button lag? turn off double tap to activate S voice within that program and your home key will be much more responsive
Can anyone think of anything else?
Edit: Ironlood has put together a list of tips and tricks. Thanks!
1.Hold menu button for search menu - eyecon82
2.To get rid of home button lag open up S-Voice and navigate to settings and untick the launch with double tap home button -eyecon82
3.Lock screen app settings are listed under security in settings - kegacide
4.you can swipe the screen with the side of your hand to take a screenshot, or hold home and power-kegacide
5.Hold down physical button and you can close all open apps and go to the task manager - hawkeye2188
6.Buttons on the bottom of the lock screen and can be swiped and open that application - hawkeye2188
7.You can also swipe away individual apps after holding down the home button - NA 521"
8.first go to settings>language and input and turn on voice cmd for apps. I had it on early today and said cheese and the camera snapped a photo...pretty cool -s3xda (on a side note it seems as though the variants have different voice cues try snap, cheese, shutter, and go)
9.In settings > sound > device vibration, you can select a different pattern of vibrate, or just make your own by touching create! - Zoidpilot
10.In app drawer > widgets, Sammy added a widget to use flash as a flashlight, and a widget to turn the entire phone into negative colors.-Zoidpilot
11.You can set the brightness in the majority of stock apps (i.e. the browser) to be app specific, instead of just setting a brightness for the entire system. For example: set the brightness to auto in the system settings, then open the stock browser > brightness and colors, and set it to high. Now the system will have auto brightness, but it will always go to high/bright when you are in the browser! -Zoidpilot
12.If you go to Phone > Logs > call logs, you can long-press a number (like that telemarketer you always reject) and select "add to reject list" to have the phone automatically reject the call every time. You can also unblock the number in case you change your mind.-Zoidpilot
13.In the stock messaging app, you can go to settings, and on the top you will find options to change the background and bubble style of the messages.-Zoidpilot
14.Samsung's S-Voice can do complex mathematical equations for you, then show them in different answers. For example, open S-Voice, and ask "how many inches are in a mile?". Or "what's the square root of 543,636?". -Zoidpilot
15.In settings > security > lock screen options > shortcuts, you can change what shortcuts appear on your lockscreen, or take them out altogether.-Zoidpilot
16.On the headphones that came with your device, you will see a single button and the volume controls. One press of the single button will pause the music, two presses in quick succession will skip to the next track. -Zoidpilot
17.In settings > wallpaper > home & lockscreen, if you select a live wallpaper, it will show as your lock screen as well. It will deactivate the ripple effect though if you have it active.-Zoidpilot
18.You can also use pop-up play on streaming online videos as long as they're not YouTube videos, and as long as you use the stock video player to stream them.-Zoidpilot
19.Pictures come out better with the camera if you hold the camera button and let it focus before the shot, rather than just pressing it after touching the focus box.-Zoidpilot
20.The stock browser has "incognito mode" just like Google Chrome! You can access it by opening the browser, the touching the top right corner to see open windows, then touching the incognito icon. While you're incognito, no history/cookies/or form data will be saved.-Zoidpilot
21.While you are on a call, on the screen where the contact picture is displayed, there is a speaker icon in a bubble. Touch it to increase the call volume past the maximum setting. It works on speaker or on headset setting.-Zoidpilot
22.If you're not rooted, but want to get rid of those pesky bloatware apps, go to settings > application manager > all, and select the app. Within those settings you can clear the information the app has, then disable the app with the top right button. You may need to uninstall updates before it says disable app though... you can also go to the app drawer, hit menu, then select "hide apps" to hide the bloatware icons you've disabled. -Zoidpilot
23.With voice cmd turned on, you can snooze your alarm by saying snooze. -s3xda
24.Cover the screen with the palm of your hand to pause media playback. -NA 521"
25.You can use S Voice like a translator,for example: What is the meaning of house in spanish?-TitaniumBarbell
26.I just found out the contents of the clipboard stay there even after a reboot.-kingwp
27.touch wiz scrolling wallpapers fix go Settings > Wallpaper > Home Screen... If you set them independantly you will be able to crop the wallpaper just like any other HC/ICS device-nonmindo
28.you can get your status bar in ANY full screen app, even full screen games. How? Start with your finger touching just outside of the top of the display and drag down, it will fade in and you can check your notifications, it works both in landscape and portrait mode-nonmindo
29.I noticed that any time you send an email in gmail with our new phones (t-mobile version at least), it puts a stupid T-mobile signature at the bottom of the email. I found that you can change it by going to gmail>menu>settings>e[email protected]>signature and putting in whatever you want.-moonfire711
30.Also, go into your dialer>menu>settings for more in call goodies.-moonfire711
31.Many probably already know this, but I just found out that you can turn on the screen with the physical home button instead of the power button. Which is nice if it's laying down on a desk or something.-moonfire711
32.If you get tired of re-unlocking your screen when it turns off, you can set it to not lock for a set period of time after the screen turns off... Go to menu>settings>security>Lock automatically and change the timeout.-moonfire711
33.If you go into Settings > Sounds > Auto Haptic It will enable haptic feedback on your games/apps based on sound, pretty neat!! (note: doesnt work on all games/apps, but does on many)-nonmindo
34.In relation to the haptic feedback with sound... Tap on the left side of the toggle (where the text is), and it'll open up a menu to choose which ones to enable/disable. -pizz0wn3d
35.The wiimote controller successfully pairs and works with our SGS3s! -pizz0wn3d
36.For your contacts or logs, slide left to direct call and slide right to direct text.-jaytxvo
37.while in the stock video player press the picture in picture button to pop out the video -s3xda
38.Super video does pic-in-pic -20blks
39.***Sprint Specific*** In order to turn on and off LTE ... Settings >wireless settings>more settings >network mode>lte/cdma -iphony89
40.camera quick access... allows you to touch the lockscreen and rotate the screen to open the camera... Settings > security > lock screen options > camera quick access -Cappurnikus
41.pull down the notification touch the time and it will open the world clock (might be variant specific) -Deputy13
42.I have only tested this with Windows Media Player, but I assume any DLNA equipped TV/media device would work. This is great if you want to quickly show a slideshow of photos or play some media file on your tv/computer.1) Go Settings/More Settings/Nearby Devices 2) Turn on file sharing and change any options you'd like. Since I'm on my own my Wifi network, I just disabled access control, otherwise you have to approve every device.3) Start Windows Media Player. Make sure under Stream "Allow Remote Control" is checked. You should see your phone show up under "Other Libraries" in WMP. Mine shows up as [Mobile]SCH-135.4) Go into Gallery and select a picture. If connected properly, in the upper right hand corner there will be a new little icon with a monitor and some arrows. Touch this and it will allow you to select a playback device. 5) Now the picture should show up in a maximized screen in WMP. Sometimes it takes a good 10-20 seconds. Videos take much longer, but they work and what I got was the first frame, followed by a good 20 seconds of a "Processing" notification on the Galaxy S3. When I browsed from WMP to my phone videos, it buffered for a very long time, so this "processing" notification is the buffering taking place. I don't know why DLNA needs such a long time to buffer over a home Wifi network.6) Whenever you change folders you have to click the DLNA icon again and re-select your playback device. Not sure why this is, seems like a bug...Unfortunately I did a little research and there is no way to physically copy files to your computer through DLNA, you'll have to use other methods.Make sure you turn this stuff off when you connect to public Wifi .-sluzbenik
44.When viewing videos using the stock video player, you can lock the touchscreen by pressing the power button so that the video does not get interrupted by inadvertent touches. This is especially useful if you are using your phone to entertain your baby or toddler. Also works with mx player though haven't tried it with other players -limeaid
45.Do not know if it has been mentioned already, but you can also bring the phone up to your ear and it will call that contact.-ricky babalu
46. if you are in the apps drawer, and you pinch the screen, you will see all pages of your apps and can quickly choose the one you want.-moonfire711
47.Haven't noticed this being addressed but regarding S-Beam it appears that both phones are required to utilize the same app that is involved with the file being transferred. For example, I use "quickpic" as the default image viewer and when I used s-beam to test a pic transfer, the phones connected however my buddy's phone went to the play store and more specifically went to the "quickpic" downlad page. Obviously my buddy's phone required him to dl the app in order to finish the transfer. I then opened the same file via "gallery" and reinitiated the transfer. This time the phones connected and transferred the file without a hitch. -augustorm
48. lock screen shortcuts can be edited on the swipe lock screen go to settings/security/lock screen options/shortcuts click the word shortcuts and not the toggle it will bring up the 4 shortcuts and your allowed to change which app is accessed or what order there displayed in -ironlood
49. Just found a way to substantially increase smoothness. Under Developer Options--> Limit Background Processes. I set mine to 5 and notice a difference -eyecon82
Hey everyone! I just got an XZ1C myself a few days ago, and I'd like to share a few of the little quality of life changes I personally use to make the everyday experience with this phone more to how I like it. I figured maybe everyone could contribute a few ideas here and there to help other users deal with things they might be frustrated with, but not know a solution for.
A couple of notes - I gave up the root life a while ago, so all of these solutions are non-root! Also, some of these apps are paid apps (though they might have lite or free versions). Sorry! But as a software developer myself, I have the obligation to pay it forward when I find a nice app.
So here goes!
Making the volume keys default to Media Volume:
Having owned a Samsung phone before, this is one of the things I miss most in almost any other Android phone. But, as they say, there's an app for that! There's a very simple app called Media Volume Only (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=catchpower.gogo.mediavolumeonly&hl=en), which binds your volume keys to Media by default. It asks for Call permissions to see if you're in a call, where it will then bind the volume keys to call volume. Otherwise, it will always be Media, which is great!
However, that means there isn't a super easy way to changing your ring volume, unless you first press the volume key to bring up the sliders and hitting the down arrow to show the rest of the sliders....which brought me to:
Re-adding the missing Ring/Vibrate Mode switch to quick switches:
I am using Central Europe .374 + US oem file to get Fingerprint+VoLTE on T-mobile; I'm not sure if it's because of the CE1 region or whatever else, but I couldn't find any button in the quick settings that would just toggle the phone to ring mode, vibrate mode or silent.
To remedy this, I use Shortcutter (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.leedroid.shortcutter&hl=en). This allows you to enable a ton of different switches in the quick settings dropdown, though some of them may not work properly without root and only with other phones. After installing Shortcutter, swipe over to the "Pull-Down" tab, then hit "System Setting Tiles". In this list, scroll down and you'll find "Ring Mode". Turning this switch on will put the Ring Mode icon into the box of icons you can edit your quick settings with. Finally, pull down your quick settings, click the pencil icon to modify the quick settings and scroll down to find Ring Mode.
This way, it's easy to switch the phone to silent before going into a movie, or a meeting at work.
Fixing the crazy stock backlight control:
The stock backlight is a little crazy right now. It jumps around when the room is dark and it does not transition smoothly. A great app for controlling backlight is Lux (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vito.lux&hl=en). It even allows you to keep different profiles and define exactly how bright you want the screen to be in any lighting situation, and it will keep a map of your selections for you! You can control all sorts of variables, like how quickly it will transition, if it should only transition given what % of lighting change, so on and so forth. It's really very powerful and useful. I haven't had any trouble with the XZ1C display since installing Lux, which I've used on previous phones as well. Highly recommend this one! There's a free version called Lux Lite (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vitocassisi.luxlite&hl=en), but I've never tried it so YMMV.
Alternative for No Double Tap to Wake (or not having Ambient Display):
This is another one I have almost always used on phones that aren't Nexii/Pixel or Motorola. Gravity Screen (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.plexnor.gravityscreenofffree&hl=en) gives you a ton of different ways to automatically wake up the phone to the lockscreen. I find that using ONLY the Proximity Sensor setting to turn ON the screen (and turning everything else off) has negligible effect on the battery, and maintains extreme usefulness. With just that setting, when my phone is on the desk I can poke the phone where the proximity sensor is (as if I one-tap it) and it will wake up. If I take the phone out of my pocket, the phone turns on and is already waiting for me by the time I look at it. Super convenient!
UPDATE: Another user (quack3d) mentioned the app WaveUp(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jarsilio.android.waveup) which does exactly how I have Gravity Screen set up. If you want just that, this seems to be a great and simpler alternative! Thanks!
If you want more options, it has all sorts of other things like turn on by motion, etc. etc....I personally don't use those though, so I can't vouch for how well they work.
Double Tap to Sleep
I'm pretty sure you have to pay for this one, but Nova Launcher Prime (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher.prime&hl=en) is an incredible launcher, and it allows you to specify custom gestures on the desktop. The gestures can trigger all sorts of things, one of which is Screen Lock. If you select the Time-Out method of locking the screen, it will work with fingerprint unlocking.
Custom Auto-Rotation Switching:
Normally, I don't like auto-rotation. I use my phone a lot in bed (lying sideways), but I still want to use it in portrait. So, I prefer to have my phone default to NO auto-rotation. That being said, it's annoying when you pull up a funny gif or the photo album or youtube and you want to just flip your phone over to watch a video. Sure, you can drag down the quicksettings and flip that switch, but there's a better way! That's where Automate (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.llamalab.automate&hl=en) comes in! Automate allows you to program your phone to do just about anything (especially if you have root) based on custom triggers.
In Automate, if first select "More flows..." and search for a script called "Auto Enable Rotation" by the author Anthony Beaumont. Once you download this script and run it, it will present you with 2 options, either to "start" the script service, or to "modify" the list of apps. You'll want to "modify" the list of apps and start a new one. To this, you can add apps such as Album, Youtube, Twitch and whatever else you want to watch in landscape mode. Finally, once that's done, stop the script and start it again, but this time select "start". (You can also select in the 3 dot menu to have this script run at start-up. Highly recommended!) Now, when you open Album/Youtube/Twitch etc. the phone should automatically flip to auto-rotation.
Enter all your app and website passwords automatically with fingerprint:
For better or for worse, I keep all of my online passwords saved in Lastpass. It turns out that once you have an account and saved passwords, Lastpass has an incredible app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lastpass.lpandroid&hl=en) that can pop up over Chrome and just about any other app on your phone that can fill in the username/password fields for you using your fingerprint! It doesn't work for all the different browsers out there (I just use Chrome), and there may have been a pay wall for the in-app password filling, I forgot (sorry!). That said, it's super convenient to head to any site and just tap the fingerprint to log in.
Additionally, if you're a Lastpass user already, they also have a Lastpass Authenticator (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lastpass.authenticator&hl=en) that works in place of the Google Authenticator (you can add Google Authenticator 2factor sites to the LastPass one), which is IMHO superior because the keys are linked to your account rather than to the physical phone. Also, if you have LP Authenticator + the Chrome addon on your PC/Mac, on some sites you don't even have to enter the Authenticator number, you can just press "approve" on your phone to get into the website on your PC. Awesome!
Send links from your PC to phone or phone to PC
Ever read something on your PC and wish you could link it to your phone super quickly and not have to go through emailing it to yourself? I use Pushbullet (Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pushbullet.android&hl=en PC: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pushbullet/chlffgpmiacpedhhbkiomidkjlcfhogd?hl=en), which allows you to directly link webpages from PC to phone and vice versa. Additionally, if you give it the permissions, it can hook up your phone's notifications to your Windows notifications (not sure about mac), including allowing you to read and send SMS from your PC. I believe it also has file transfer capabilities, but I don't use it.
I think that's it for now...I'll add more when I think of them. These are just a few of the mods I run which makes using the phone more effortless and enjoyable; please, feel free to add more and I'll add them to the list if there's something you want to share! Hope this helps someone out there!:highfive:
maidguitar said:
Re-adding the missing Ring/Vibrate Mode switch to quick switches:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alternative implementation that I use: Add a toggle on the home screen to quickly switch between Ring/Vibrate/Silent modes
First install Media-Mute [free & ad-free]. What this app does is automatically mute the media volume whenever the ringer volume is also muted, which applies to both Vibrate mode and Silent mode.
For some reason, since Android 4.x Google has decided that Silent mode should only apply to the ringer, instead of silencing everything that can make sounds out of the speaker. Media-Mute fixes that.
Next, install Silent Mode Toggle [free & ad-free], then add the widget on the home screen. Switching modes is now super easy, just tap on the toggle.
What I really appreciate about this app is that it allows customization to the toggle order. For example, I never use the vibrate mode, so I can set it to toggle between Ringer > Silent only.
As a bonus, it also lets you use your own custom icons for the toggle, super cool and makes it possible to perfectly complement your home screen layout.
Hide the annoying "running in the background" notification that comes with Android 8.0
With Android 8.0 Oreo, Google thought it would be a great idea to permanently remind you of any background processing currently running in the form of an impossible to dismiss notification.
While the intention was well meaning, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Thankfully, there's an app for that! Just install this cleverly named app Hide "running in the background" Notification [free & ad-free], problem solved!
Vibrate phone when call connects, ends
Yet another app to the rescue! VibCall [free & ad-free] brings this useful feature found on some OEM phones to any compatible Android device.
Basically, your phone will vibrate once to let you know that a call has connected, and twice when a call has ended. It's something that once you've used, you wonder why it's not baked into the Android system as a default option.
Add a fingerprint (Smart Lock) compatible screen lock toggle on the home screen
So Sony has unilaterally decided to remove double tap to sleep feature with no sign of bring it back. But I still want to turn off the screen and lock the device by tapping on the screen instead of waiting for the system to hibernate or hitting the power button.
The OP listed a paid solution which brings back double tap to sleep, but for those looking for a free alternative, this is the solution I'm currently using - Smart Screen Lock Pro [free & ad-free].
It's not a double tap anywhere convenience, but a toggle that is better than nothing, and most importantly it's compatible with fingerprint unlock. I've tried numerous screen off apps in the Play store, and this is the only one that I was satisfied with.
IMPORTANT: Take the time to carefully read and follow setup instructions, it's necessary for it to work properly due to OS restrictions. Once it's setup correctly, simply add a shortcut on the home screen and tap it to lock.
It's worth mentioning that it's not a true "instant" screen off and lock, but without root this is probably the best solution we'll get.
Non-root ad blocking
Ads are a necessary evil for the current economics of the Internet, but aside from the annoyance factor, they eat up precious mobile data, plus there's also very real security risks with ad networks, potentially hogging your phone's resources and draining the battery.
Whatever the argument, if you do decide to block ads, there are quite a lot of ad blockers to choose from.
Personally, I use dns66 [free & ad-free]. In my experience, it's very lightweight, and I haven't seen any ads in my browser or apps.
It does have its quirks though, sometimes downloads fail, such as OTA update or file in browser, for one reason or another (the author says it's a bug with the Android OS itself, see linked post).
But it's easy to workaround, just temporarily disable dns66 by tapping pause on the notification, and download again. After download has completed, tap the notification again to resume.
By the way, this is also the main reason I installed the hide background notification app.
Hello everybody,
Soon after getting the Pie update, after the first security small update, i noticed that on my wife's Galaxy S9 the setting "Single tap to swipe" option is gone. Anybody else having this problem ?
Thanks!
Same here. I have also preferred tap instead of swipe... Definitely i am going to change this Samsung brand...
Mee too! I'm very angry...
LOL, you guys break me up, so fickle that you'll change phones because of single tap to swipe feature missing. There is no way you could have even liked the phone if you'll drop it for this.
Same on S9+. It worked on One UI security patch January 1, but it is gone after February 1 update.
Lame, I thought my phone got stuck, took me few days until I tried to swipe, LOL...
I am used to end the call with Power key but never got the hang of using the Volume up key for answering calls, so I just used tap instead of swipe.
Now I guess I am doomed.
My workaround will be to try to get used to using Bixby key for answering calls since bxActions app has such an option.
Until they break that with some update also.
On Note 9 still working after the last update, hope they will not mess with it.
For some reason in latest update they moved it under: Interaction and dexterity -> assistant menu -> Single tap to swipe ....
but now i am stuck with useless menu on my screen (kept only one option in the menu) but when disabling the menu - single tap stops working
Thanks kabangena, with your help i found it. I have set the maximum transparency to the small assistant menu and i moved it in the upper right corner. I cannot see the icon anymore. It's a temporary fix, hope Samsung will do something about it.
florio1960 said:
Thanks kabangena, with your help i found it. I have set the maximum transparency to the small assistant menu and i moved it in the upper right corner. I cannot see the icon anymore. It's a temporary fix, hope Samsung will do something about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here , but it's still very annoying
Is anyone solved the issue, even with the third-party app? That's really annoying; why don't left that useful option "as is"?
You can hide the assistant menu by long press on it and a circle with "X Hide Here" appears in top center of the screen, drag it into the circle. This hides assistant menu in the notification panel. You have to see the notification every time you swipe down to open the panel, but it is completely hidden from the home screen.
damnpoor said:
You can hide the assistant menu by long press on it and a circle with "X Hide Here" appears in top center of the screen, drag it into the circle. This hides assistant menu in the notification panel. You have to see the notification every time you swipe down to open the panel, but it is completely hidden from the home screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except, after the screen closes and I hit Home to open it again, this little piece of worthless junk is back.
I'd just leave it somewhere and ignore this POS, but it covers parts of apps that I regularly use.
Why do people think that deleting functionality is a good thing?
Finally I found the solution (not a permanent but still affordable).
- turn Settings->Accessibility->Interaction and dexterity->Assistant menu on and (inside "Assistant menu") set Single tap to swipe is on
- weird floating icon should appear but don't worry
- go to Settings->Apps, press "3 dots" in the top right corner and tap on Show system apps
- find an app called Accessibility, tap on, scroll all way down and remove Appear on top advanced permission (I've also disabled Change system setting)
- now scroll up, and tap on Force stop button
Weird button will disappear and re-appear after reboot only (you should repeat last step again after reboot but it's OK, I believe so)
Enjoy!
P.S. Thanks to user drmusou for his post.
[UPDATE] There is a permanent solution! Set Single tap to swipe option and disable package com.samsung.accessibility by Package Disabler Pro+ (Samsung).
Or just with ADB shell:
c:\adb>adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.samsung.accessibility
If you tap and hold the assistant menu you will have the option to hide it " it will re appear after reboot" but can do the same again ?