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
On my other devices (which run AOSP kitkat roms), I can access my camera with my pattern lock still enabled. All I do is swipe the pattern to the left, and the camera UI opens. It allows me to take new photos, and review them, but doesn't allow me to access any photos that were taken before the screen locked (i.e. it's not a backdoor to get past the lock and look at all my pictures). I always loved this functionality.
On my vzw M8, I cannot replicate this functionality. If I swipe in the same way, I just get a blank page where a widget can be added. Looking through the available widget options, I don't see anything for the camera. I even installed Google Camera just to see if that would make any difference, but no.
I know that the M8's gesture functionality allows something very similar (long-press vol-down while screen is off to launch directly into camera). I'd love to use this, but the gestures are all-or-none. Since I find the other gestures problematic (double-tap to wake, for example), I have all my gestures disabled.
So is there currently a way to replicate the AOSP locked-camera functionality on this device? Or do I simply have to wait for an AOSP rom?
For what it's worth, I'm running Skyfall 1.3
EDIT - story of my life... I figure something out just a few seconds after asking a question, even though I've been trying to figure it out for days.
Turns out I can swipe down (i.e. to hide the pattern lock), which causes the camera icon to appear at the lower-right corner. Then I just need to swipe up on that icon.
Nice work, Byron
Never mind. Didn't read your post close enough I guess. I see you know about the gestures.
So I have an HTC one m8 running the GPE rom. I have never had a problem with it before until today when I could not swipe down twice to reveal my quick settings. The first swipe down shows my notifications like it should, but the second does nothing. Also In the video if you look at the top of the notification screen (after the first swipe down) the quick settings button is not there anymore. It won't let me post links yet, so the video can be found by Google searching 'notification bar in need of fixing' and it will be the top video made by me, Brandon Williams.
Many of you might know this trick but those who do not know this can use it
You can take screenshot of snaps quietly meaning your friend will not know that you took a screenshot i.e. NO NOTIFICATION
How to take screenshot:
1. First enable Google Now on Tap from google now settings.
2. Open snapchat and open the snap you want to capture.
3. As soon as you open the snap long press home button and now on tap will activate
4. Press the share button in now on tap menu
Now you can send the screenshot to your friend or upload it to google photos or google drive, i dont know how to save it to gallery if anyone knows please tell me...Enjoy
ironclad1911 said:
Many of you might know this trick but those who do not know this can use it
You can take screenshot of snaps quietly meaning your friend will not know that you took a screenshot i.e. NO NOTIFICATION
How to take screenshot:
1. First enable Google Now on Tap from google now settings.
2. Open snapchat and open the snap you want to capture.
3. As soon as you open the snap long press home button and now on tap will activate
4. Press the share button in now on tap menu
Now you can send the screenshot to your friend or upload it to google photos or google drive, i dont know how to save it to gallery if anyone knows please tell me...Enjoy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It only works on Android 6.0 and above
Sent from my GT-S7580 using Tapatalk
Thanks, does it still works?
You can use a screen recorder as well. If you have a phone running Android version 10 or above, then there are chances that it comes preinstalled with a screen recorder feature.
To find it, scroll down from the top of the screen to open the notification panel. On the top, you will find a quick access shortcuts bar.
Within the section, scroll and find the Screen Recorder. You might even find the Screenshot option in there.
Here’s how we will be using this screen recorder tool to capture Snapchat stories without notification:
Open the Snapchat app.
Find the story you want to capture.
Scroll down the notification panel and tap on the Screen Recorder option.
It will begin recording your screen. If it isn’t already, then tap on the record button.
Now open the snap story and watch through it.
Once done, tap on the stop recording button.
The screen recording will be stored in your internal storage. Or in the specified folder if you have changed the default preferences.
It is important to note here that screen recording, at times, can send notifications too. But it works for most people.
So since you are going to try this for the first time, I will recommend you to try it with a friend who won’t bother you by taking screenshots of the snaps or stories. I found some more ways here to Snapchat screenshot stories but not sure which will work like airplane mode.
It has been displayed occasionally until now, but it is now displayed every time in Open beta 5. This is shown on the lock screen as well as unspecified apps.For example, Nova Launcher. Also, this will only be displayed for a few seconds, not permanently. Since it is not reflected in the screenshot, it was drawn and reproduced. It's black for clarity, but it's actually white and smaller.
Is there a way to remove this?
I don't know the cause, but it was resolved. What was displayed in the four corners was the trigger (?) Of Google Assistant.
The solution is
1. Disable Google Assistant
2. Enable Google Assistant
Only this.
Please try if you have the same symptoms.