I've had this Samsung S3 for six months now rooted with stock AT&T JB ROM. I'm starting to use the phone in the car more and am perplexed how difficult I'm finding it to do some pretty simple, commonly useful things. Here's what I'm trying to achieve:
- When phone connects to bluetooth in car, to on Car Mode and Driving Mode
I already use Llama and turning on Car Mode is easy. Driving Mode looks like I have to use a custom Android Intention (haven't tried it yet)
1. Replace lock screen (currently using Widget Locker) with Car Dashboard for easy app launch and forwarding of songs being played in Power Amp, Spotify or Pandora. Strange that Llama toggles Car Mode but the toggle on the OS is "Driving mode" Seems Driving Mode controls TTS activation and Car Mode toggles the Car Mode app. I think this is just the problem with Touchwiz not being "Android Standard" functionality?
2. Make it so I don't have to press a button to wake phone but don't eat battery with screen usage. The only Car app I've found that comes close to this is the iBOLT Dock'n Drive app where you set the screen brightness slider all the way down and it just shows a clock jumping around the screen. I don't even want the stupid clock - but I guess it's nice to know the phone is in car mode waiting for me to touch the screen. Unfortunately music controls are not on this dash app and the Car app with Pandora integration (forget the name) doesn't have the blank the screen mode without sleeping.
3. When a text comes in, I want either (a) and auto-response that I'm driving and to call me if its urgent, or BETTER, (b) allow me to speak "reply" and do a voice to text response or "auto response" to send my auto response. S-voice allows you to say 'reply' but only if the text comes in when the S-voice app is the currently opened app. If phone is sleeping and text comes in, all it does is read the text. Disabling widget locker and having no lockscreen slider made no difference.
Sidenote: I've also discovered on the S3, because I don't use S-Voice, (I have home double tap mapped to Google Voice Search), the TTS doesn't work. If I manually launch S Voice once, then TTS works but if I remove it from the background apps list then no TTS. That's sort of a side issue.
4. If car mode is enabled, on GoSMS I don't need a pop-up. Just TTS. But GoSMS still thinks I haven't seen the message. So even though I heard the message GoSMS keeps pinging me with a reminder (which I do want repeat reminders for unread texts when NOT in car/driving mode) Strangely there is no Car/Driving mode settings in GoSMS. Surprising. And the Auto Response has to therefore be manually toggled.
It appears I may have to add some 3rd party apps to achieve what I want and possibly dump GoSMS - I've also found that CloudSMS (to replicate SMS to my tablet) doesn't work with GoSMS running. Boo. Hiss. I GoSMS is such a superior SMS program in most all other respects. Hate to see it go.
Seems what I'm asking to do shouldn't be so complicated. With all Google's resources, I'm surprised this isn't all built-in to Android and easily used.
Getting close. Turned off option on GoSMS to disable other messaging notifications (fixed CloudSMS issue).
Found two promising apps:
SMS+Car - Does the job but the it doesn't use the native Google voice recognition and more importantly doesn't read calendar reminders. What it DOES do is mark the SMS messages it reads as read!
Enhanced SMS + Caller ID+ - This is the better app, it cleaner, more options, used native Google voice recognition. It's missing one thing though, DOESN'T MARK THE SMS AS READ! Dealbreaker.
Search continues...
Related
Before asking questions, please read the FAQ.
Introduction:
I saw the idea posted somewhere previously that instead of getting the capacitive lights on, we really should be putting the phone's AMOLED screen to work ! specially that it doesn't consume any backlight energy when displaying a black screen. So I developed an app that does just that: upon receiving a notification, it will display a black screen with a dot or icon somewhere in the screen. I really should put these in bullet points..
Description:
the application does the following:
1. When your phone receives a notification, it switches the screen on and displays a notification. The notification bounces around every 3 seconds (changeable via an option). This will guarantee using different LEDs so that the same ones won't be burned out.
2. You can customize whether to have a dot or an icon for each type of supported notification. Users may also customize the colors of these icons/dots.
3. NoLED will work with SMS/MMS, Gtalk, Gmail, Missed calls, Voicemail, Calendar and K-9 (email client) without any additional permissions. Any other 3rd party software (e.g. Whatsapp, Email app, Yahoo Mail and Hotmail) will need to be checked under Monitored Apps and will require granting Accessibility rights to NoLED.
4. The app runs as a service, after installing, you have two ways to activate the app. (a) by restarting. (b) by loading the widget into your home screen and clicking on it.
5. To get rid of the notification screen, you may use the home or the back key. You can enable dismissal via more keys in the Miscellaneous submenu. Once your notifications are dismissed, all notifications disappear and will not come back up.
I have also logged the touch drivers and saw that although I'm displaying a black screen and setting flags to not respond to touch messages, android is still receiving touch messages when you touch any spot on the screen. This, I imagine, consumes resources! So I disabled the touch drivers when the black screen is active. Dismissing the notifications should reactive the touch drivers. If your screen is unresponsive to touch even after the notification screen is dismissed, a simple restart should take care of it. There is also an option to completely disable that feature. The touch drivers are only disabled on the Samsung Galaxy S variants, all other devices are still receptive to touch events.
Now the touchscreen drivers were a lot easier to mess around with. The sourcecode given by samsung helped me achieve the activation/deactivation of the screen. Things are not the same with the capacitive buttons. You'll notice that when the black screen is on, if you touch any of the soft buttons, they'll light up (although am suppressing them programatically). On some other devices like the Nexus S, these backlights cannot be switched off once the screen is turned on programatically. This is a bug from Google and more info is in the FAQ.
Video review:
Thank you totallydubbedHD for giving us this neat preview of the app:
Themes:
Want to change the default icons that ship with NoLED?
Check out Themes:
http://www.devasque.com/noled/themes.php
Official web site:
http://www.devasque.com/noled/
Translations:
NoLED is translated into several languages thanks to our army of volunteers ! More details can be found at: http://www.devasque.com/noled/translations.php
If you think you can help expand that list, please see this link
I appreciate all the help we can get on this.
Enjoy ! Comments and feedback will be appreciated
Update 8/11/2010: Application is now on the Android Market.
If you like this work and want to motivate and encourage further development, please consider a donation
Thanks
Change log
v6.0.19 6/5/2013
Added Vietnamese, updated Italian and Ukranian (Thanks nhh1994, 4lex and Olex)
Support Gmail 4.5 and new tabbed inbox
NoLED will insert a .nomedia in the custom themes folder so as not to show these themes in your Gallery app
Please go to http://www.devasque.com/noled/change.php for the complete change log.
NoLED Weather
v0.8 10/23/2012
Weather should now reflect current city more accurately; it will choose the first returned search result.
v0.7 10/10/2012
Weather was not automatically updating after a restart. Now it does.
v0.5 9/13/2012
Fixed an issue where geolocator was causing auto-update to stop working.
v0.4 9/6/2012
Updated language files
Changed weather provider to MSN. Google just quietly killed their APIs
Changed geolocator timeout to 90 seconds (used to be 20 seconds)
v0.3 1/26/2012
Added Geolocation using Wireless networks (no physical GPS will be used).
-it will give up wireless location discovery after 20 seconds (will release all wakelocks).
-if timedout, weather will query the latest weather location on record.
Removed the noled weather icon from the app launcher (i personally found it so ugly and useless). Instead, you access the weather app/plug-in via the NoLED settings under toggle notifications (requires NoLED > v5.0.1b).
FAQ
Please go to http://www.devasque.com/noled/FAQ.php.
Can this dot be made to look like a mail icon for SMS ... "!" for missed call etc?
Perfect, BIG thanks. One less issue with SGS
this is a very clever idea.
I tried it out, but it isnt working for me on my Samsung Captivate
andy2na said:
this is a very clever idea.
I tried it out, but it isnt working for me on my Samsung Captivate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange, it really should work.
Did you lock the screen and unlock once after installation ? Try sending a sms to yourself from another phone while the screen is off. Then wait for about 10 seconds (enough time for the whole screen to light up, go off, and then show a notification). Let me know if this still doesn't work, the captivate might have different screen timeouts than our galaxy S.
No working
Its now working on my SGS.
The reason could be > I have lost my default notifications after sd card fix. I do have a media folder on my sdcard/sd with default samsung tones which i copied before the fix on to my ext sd.
Any solutions ?
rkadve said:
Its now working on my SGS.
The reason could be > I have lost my default notifications after sd card fix. I do have a media folder on my sdcard/sd with default samsung tones which i copied before the fix on to my ext sd.
Any solutions ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would say try to sms from another phone, or give yourself a missed call to see if the application is running. These should work regardless of where you placed your notification tones.
If these do work, then make sure you place your notification tones in /sdcard/sd/media/audio/notifications , playing any of them should trigger the notification.
Unfortunatly not working for me too. Using JG1 and modaco´s r2. All default ringtones selected.
Would love to get this working.
Bajo76 said:
Unfortunatly not working for me too. Using JG1 and modaco´s r2. All default ringtones selected.
Would love to get this working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you go to Settings > Applications > Running Services and see whether NoLED is listed there ?
suggestions that i don't think would consume too much power:
Have different images for different notifications, as suggested before: phone icon for call, mail icon for mail, sms icon for sms etc.
Also make possible to have all the different icons at once, so if i have missed a text message and a mail, there would be 2 icons on the screen at the same time.
Also have a number for how many of missed text's, mails i have missed on the corresponding icon.
Make the image jump to a different random spot every few second, so it won't just stay in one place and so be bad for the panel. (dunno if this would consume too much energy).
madmack said:
Can you go to Settings > Applications > Running Services and see whether NoLED is listed there ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes it is listed
yep, locked and unlocked it. it is also listed in the running services
buddy01 said:
suggestions that i don't think would consume too much power:
Have different images for different notifications, as suggested before: phone icon for call, mail icon for mail, sms icon for sms etc.
Make the image jump to a different random spot every few second, so it won't just stay in one place and so be bad for the panel. (dunno if this would consume too much energy).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think these are two great ideas. I'll try to implement them if I get sometime. I will try to set a different icon/color for each notification, and make them move around every few seconds. This might have a hit on cpu utilization, but its well worth a try.
Bajo76 said:
yes it is listed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With what are you testing the application btw ? Are you sending an email to yourself ? If you turn the screen off, send an email that has a default samsung ringtone, do you receive anything?
I tested it with my phone at home calling my mobile. And i´m getting emails all the way but unfortunatly no red dot on screen.
Is this app in the market? I can't see it in the op on the xda app.
Now it is working. Changed the ringtone (the old one selected was also a dtandard ringtone) and rebooted.
Now it works!
How come this method got so quickly made, but the other method still isn't functional? (talking about the other thread)
INeedYourHelp said:
How come this method got so quickly made, but the other method still isn't functional? (talking about the other thread)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, the android SDK allows for programs like this to exist, the SDK has no APIs to support lighting up the soft buttons. that's why.
also, the drivers for the backlight are disabled and enabled in ways that we don't fully understand yet.
Very impressed so far! Definitely something I'll donate to in the future if it gets a few more features.
What I'd like to see:
- Custom colours for different notifications/multiple notifications.
- The dot slightly higher up or have it configurable where the dot is/how big it is.
That's about all I can think of for now, great work .
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
This is great, Thanks!
Currently not being productive on my S3.
23.With voice cmd turned on, you can snooze your alarm by saying snooze. -s3xda
Do I need to have S Voice turned on for this? For example, I completely disabled S Voice (due to the lag it creates) and just set my alarm through ICS/Settings. Will this still work?
Thanks for the list, awesome information
Death&co said:
23.With voice cmd turned on, you can snooze your alarm by saying snooze. -s3xda
Do I need to have S Voice turned on for this? For example, I completely disabled S Voice (due to the lag it creates) and just set my alarm through ICS/Settings. Will this still work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disabling s-voice by double clicking home button doesn't deactivate s voice, it does help with the home button lag...just create for s voice icon on your homepage...
however if you completely disable it in settings-->manage applicatoins, then im not sure
Hey, my tip about pinch to zoom in/out while using the Calendar app to quickly go from day to week to month to year view and vice versa isn't here! Haha btw, did you guys know you can rotate your phone while using the dialer? It doesn't add any functionality but it's something random I noticed this weekend.
Also, #34 applies to any toggle in Settings (including voice cmd!) except data usage/mobile data:
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
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
I would really like to thank eyecon82 for making this thread (and bump it while I'm at it!). This is worth its weight in gold to a technologically impaired guy like me. I would also like to thank those of you that added along the way. Top notch work all
Certain notification pop-ups appear that I can't figure out where to turn them off. One example is each time my phone pairs with my Gear S2 watch (e.g. I walk out of BT range and then come back), another is a 'finding location' popup because I set smart lock to keep the phone unlocked when I'm at home.
Anyone know which notification to turn off for these service-level items?
Bonus round: I read in either the manual or a review that double-tapping a popup notification on the lock screen should launch the app. I took that to mean that since I have smart lock active it should just go to the app, however I'm still forced to swype the screen; double-tap on the pop-up notification doesn't do it. Are my expectations wrong or do I need to tweak yet another setting?
Sorry for all the questions. I just came from being on pure stock Android for several years and Samsung has added all their own settings layer which makes it a little confusing as I'm switching phones.
Hey guys,
I just got a ZMAX 2 and am loving it so far for the most part. Except, there's one little thing that's really bothering me. I often have my phone in my pocket and I don't use a pin/password on my phone. Thus, when the screen turns on in my pocket when I get a text, it often starts tapping all over the screen. In addition in is a waste of battery imo!
What I've tried:
Looking all through the settings. Couldn't find anything. I've tried putting it in Do Not Disturb mode, mute mode, nothing stops the screen from turning on when a text is received.
I installed other messaging apps: I've used Hangouts, Messenger, and Textra and explicitly said 'do not wake screen'. It still wakes.
I tried disabling ALL notifications by the SMS app that I have set as default. Guess what: the screen still comes on (and then shows a blank lockscreen).
I'm starting to think this is a setting baked right in, independent of the default SMS app at the time. Will we need root to fix this problem?
Any suggestions/thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Device Settings Menu Guide, Tips & Discussions
Part 4 - Advanced features, Device maintenance, Apps
If you're new to this series or want to see the index, please read the Introductory Post first.
Advanced features
Link to Windows: ENABLED!! You can text, get notifications, call, see phone photos and in fact run Apps on your phone via your computer! View features here.
Call & text on other devices: You can make calls and text using your Watch, Tab or Speaker and they are routed via your main device. Thus, if you are logged into the same Samsung account on your Watch, you can call using it even if you are not in range of your primary phone and still use the phone mobile plan. For this, your devices need to be connected to the internet. Disable Use Wi-Fi only to use this feature even if your primary phone is on Mobile Data.
Continue apps on other devices: You can copy on one device and paste on the other that is logged into the same Samsung Account. Since this feature is enabled by default, be careful if you are signed it to the same account on your kid's device and do not want to let them see your copied text or pictures. It also supports apps (few for now) that can be synced to other device's recents.
Samsung DeX: Take the powerhouse with you! You can use your phone to get a desktop-like experience on your TV and PC screens. You can use it to make PPTs, manage photos on the device and endless possibilities. Your PC or TV becomes a desktop with your phone as the CPU! It works both wirelessly and by using an HDMI to USB C wire.
Android Auto: Must-have for car owners. My car, for now, does not support Android Auto, so can anyone add something to this?
Quick Share: You can make shareable links to share large files and even use Wi-Fi direct to share with nearby devices. I use the former much to avoid using my GDrive storage while sharing.
Labs: I have enabled both Multi window for all apps (if apps can use the feature, why not?) and Full screen in Split screen view (I will use split-screen rarely and when I do, I want full real estate).
Side key: When you Press and hold the power key, Wake Bixby is set to default and this is why you were struggling to find Power off menu in the beginning. You could still see the power off options in the Quick panel and also do it by pressing side and volume down keys together. Since they have now got rid of the Bixby button, I choose to get used to this since I power off my device rarely. Quick launch camera with Double press is great for the photographer in you. Pay with Samsung Pay is accessible by swiping up from the bottom of the lock-screen too! Open app will require unlock anyways!
Motion and gestures:
Lift to wake: Enabled since I pick it up mostly to see notifications and with fast unlock, it is a breeze to unlock device! Can anyone comment on the battery usage?
Double tap to turn on screen: Enabled. Useful when I just need to check notifications.
Double tap to turn off screen: Enabled. No need to go for physical buttons. If you use launchers like Nova, you can enable this feature in their settings.
Keep screen on while viewing: Would want to keep this ON sometimes (maybe a quick tile?) but sceptical about battery usage!
Alert when phone picked up: If enabled, you can purposely lift the phone (or when you lift to take it) just to check if you missed some call or messages.
Mute with gestures: Mute the annoying calls by just putting your hand above the screen or just turning your phone. The latter becomes a reflex after a few days!
Palm swipe to capture: Might be useful if you don't want to hit buttons. Enabled only because it does not interfere with any other gestures or accidental touches.
One-handed mode: A much-needed feature when you're on-the-go. If you hide the navigation bar, you cannot check 'Button' mode anymore. OHM is also a shortcut in my Edge panel that is easily accessible from one hand.
Bixby Routines: I have used much of Google Home Routines, Alexa, Samsung Routines and Tasker so I need to see about this.
Smart suggestions: You get suggestions with Samsung Keyboard, Widget, Calendar, Reminders and Messages based on the activity you are doing or what you receive from the other side (actually what is visible on your screen).
Screenshots and screen recording:
Show toolbar after capturing: You can scroll capture, crop and draw, add tags and share the screenshot as soon as you take it! Can be disabled when you need to take bulk screenshots since the toolbar will come in between.
Delete after sharing from toolbar: Storage saver! Enabled it since when I share a screenshot, it is mostly for one-time.
Hide status and navigation bars: Switched to Enabled! Yes, I don't want to show them. Disable from here when you want to take screenshots for embedding them into phone screens.
Format: JPG since I mostly share them. Switch to PNG for greater quality when you need to!
Screen recording: Choose if you want to record Sound from the mic while screen recording, set Video quality, set Selfie Video size and choose if you want to show taps and touches (useful when sharing a guide).
Video call effects: Just like Google Meet, you can hide your background and use a clearer voice. Works with Duo only for now.
Game Launcher: Optimizes and enhances your gameplay. You can also hide your games from appearing in the menu while they are categorized by Game Launcher.
Video brightness [Formerly Video Enhancer]: Makes colour vibrant and increases brightness while you are on chosen Video apps. Make sure to disable them for editing apps so that you get idea of the real colours and brightness of the video.
Dual Messenger: You can use two separate accounts for compatible apps (WhatsApp, Facebook) and restrict your contacts for the second ones. Suggested in case you have multiple accounts. You can even Use separate contact list to make your other WhatsApp number refer not to your main contact list. For more James Bond feel, use 'Secure Folder'. Delete all my data in Menu when you want to flush history.
[Discontinued] Finger sensor gestures: Open/close notification panel or launch Samsung Pay using the fingerprint sensor. Make this a habit. Looks cool.
[Discontinued] Device assistance app: Set to Google. Explore settings for the DAA - it was really cool to see Hindi (India) as an option there. Analyzing on-screen text/images is a very useful feature. Read the guide here and here on how to use Google Assistant like a pro.
[Discontinued] Multi window: One of the best features and legacy of Samsung and for Note, it's a must-use one. By default, you can use SSV (Split screen view) by selecting it for the required app in recents. 'Use Recents button' is much faster. 'Pop-up view action' can interfere if you generally drag down the notification panel from near the corners (enabled for me).
[Discontinued] Direct Share: Helps you save an extra tap while sharing something. Ninja guide here.
[Discontinued] Touch sensitivity: In case you use screen protectors or live in Antarctica (gloves), Enabled. Disabled for me.
Advanced features > S Pen
This section is exclusive to the former Note and now the S Ultra series so you should definitely give some time exploring it.
Air actions: Displays the availability of the S Pen and its charging level. Configure Pen button actions for each compatible App and master control. I've tweaked it a little bit to make 'Scroll up/down' for Chrome and 'Single press' to 'Skip' while 'Double press' to 'Play/Pause' for Music. You can always tap 'Reset S Pen' in Menu in case you want to get back the default settings.
S Pen unlock: If enabled, you can unlock your phone with your S Pen in case it was taken out while the device was unlocked. This helps you to stay with your S Pen and get back to work on your device if its screen turns off. In case you've enabled it, please keep an eye on your S Pen.
Screen off memo: Very useful when enabled. Just take the S Pen out while the device is unlocked and start solving math problems, writing notes or just passing your time with the oddly satisfying scratching noise.
Quick create notes: Holding the S Pen button, tap the screen twice and you can start taking a note. Looks cool if nothing, right?
S Pen to text: You can now use your S Pen in input fields and convert your handwriting to text. Even after they are converted, you can use S Pen to modify the text (insert or delete word or space) with marks defined in Learn how to edit with your S Pen.
Air view: Very useful features. Review them. 'Learn about S Pen features' on the bottom or watch this 30-min video.
Show air command icon: I don't like any over-the-screen icons so have disabled it. You can always open the Shortcuts menu by tapping the S Pen button while it's near the screen. I've also set 'Open Air Command' 'when S Pen is removed'.
Warn if S Pen is left behind: Works when the screen is off since if it's on, you probably be using the remote feature.
Sound; Vibration: Enabled since I don't like accidents. 'Oper Air command' in when S Pen is removed also helps in this case.
Digital Wellbeing
To be filled
Battery and device care
Info: Add a home screen or edge panel shortcut to it as it's going to be really useful. Tap 'Optimize Now' once in a while. It includes virus scanning, memory cleaning, storage cleaning and battery optimization. Read below for more on these.
Battery:
Battery Usage: Do review this once in a while in order to identify culprits. 'Refresh' for real-time monitoring. In an ideal case, all of your compatible apps should be set to 'Optimise battery usage'. In case any of them not working fine in the background and you need them to, disable the optimization for the app. You can click an app (after clicking the displayed graphs) and then Limit usage to put it on sleep or deep sleep. This is permanent until you change, right?
Power saving: You get this option in Quick Bar too. It turns off AOD and 5G while limiting CPU to 70% and decreases the brightness by 10%. If you enable Limit apps and Home screen, you will get a dark theme with only a few selected apps. Do this when you are very low on battery and need it to pick up calls only.
Background usage limits: Enable Put unused apps to sleep so that your device regularly puts apps to sleep. Review the Sleeping apps and Deep sleeping apps if you are not getting notifications from an app. You can also manually add apps here for those you know you only use rarely and don't need notifications or background usage. For apps you never want to kill, put them in Never sleeping apps. Many apps would tell you to put them in here. Unless it is necessary, try them without putting them here.
Wireless power sharing: Enable it only when needed. You can skip taking the charger of your watch and charge it from your device! This is called Reverse Wireless Charging.
More battery settings:
Adaptive battery: How is it different from Put unused apps to sleep?
Processing speed: Default is optimised and should be good enough. You can turn your phone into a beast with High and Maximum modes.
Show battery percentage: Using only a simple battery icon will always confuse you about the real juice left. Enable it!
Show charging information: If enabled, this will show Charging information even when AOD is off. I like it.
Fast charging: It is for 15W adapters. Disabled by default and this is the reason you are not seeing Fast Charging text while using an older but Fast charger. You can keep it disabled if you charge overnight from a 15W charger.
Super fast charging: It is for 25W or 45W chargers.
Fast wireless charging: For wireless charging which is already slow, so enabled!
Protect battery: For usual days, you can keep this enabled. Limits your battery to charge up to 85% only which is very good for you battery health
Storage: Love to see 512 GB here but only when it's the denominator. User Data is also categorized so you can review and remove files of different types. 'Storage settings' summarizes device storage and you can tap the items to get to respective apps or apps settings. You also get to see the Large files and empty the Recycle bin of Gallery and Messages.
Memory:
Tap 'Clean Now' to clear your RAM. Likewise, for battery, these apps may appear here again. However, you might not need to clear your RAM anytime on Android.
Excluded apps: These apps never go out of RAM.
RAM Plus: SWAP finally! Since you cannot decrease it further from 2 GB, why not use 8 GB then! You will get a total RAM of 20 GB (with 12 GB RAM model)!! Restart required.
Device Security: The virus scanning is powered by McAfee. Since it's disabled by default, enabling it never hurts.
Software update is here.
Diagnostics checks your sensors, touch screen, ports and more. This should be the first thing to do when you face any issues or want to make a report on the phone to send.
Menu > Automation:
Auto optimize daily: Enabled at 10 PM because Sleep tracking apps are working in the night. You can choose to close apps to free memory if you need everything clean.
Auto restart at set times: Enable if you are obsessed about that restart feeling! I won't do it because it would clear all the notifications that I would have missed.
Adaptive power saving: Enabled, let us see how it works. Any experience?
Auto scan for malware: Why not?
Apps
All of your apps settings including Usage, Battery, Storage (Clear Data/Cache), Uninstalling and Force stopping, Notifications settings, Permissions, Defaults and Version/App details in store. I use 'Sort by size' with 'Show system apps' to occasionally review the apps taking the most storage. Change your 'Default apps', 'App permissions' and 'Special access' in the Menu. You can set 'set default apps automatically' as well. In 'Set as default', I've disabled 'Open links in app' even if they're not installed since I get annoyed when I have not installed an app because I want to browse on Chrome only (reduce usage of separate apps whenever possible). Read about 'Instant Apps' here (you can use these even without installing them). In case you mess up with the defaults and notifications, tap 'Reset app preferences'.
-- Reserved for FAQs --