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
Android 4.4.2 on Samsung Galaxy Tab S
There is an app called CpuTemp. If you set there in the settings "Cpu Temp Overlay" what will show the CPU temperature in the status bar then the brightness adjustment of MX Player will not work anymore. Not really correct. It will work as long as you do not start it again. If you start the MX Player a 2 nd time then it will not work.
No idea which app is here to blame. Just want to report it. Took me a while to find it out..
It should be that overlay function in cpu temp.
Im sure that if you disable it, it wont give any problem.
It's as josuearisty said; CpuTemp's overlay is covering MX Player. I don't have any problems with CpuTemp overlays covering my touch controls on 5.0 Nexus 5, and my overlay is in the topleft corner when on landscape.
I sent a message already to the developer of the cpu app. At least people can see here why it might not work anymore. It is not so obvious that this app with the overlay creates the problem.
I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 that was running some version of Marshmallow until it was recently updated to Nougat (7.0). Around the same time, my ability to scroll the left side of the screen to change the brightness of a video stopped working. However, I feel like it worked for a little while after the update, but I can't be sure. I'm using MX Player Pro 1.9.17 (ARMv7 NEON).
However, during playback sometimes the screen will suddenly change and become much brighter for about 5 of 7 seconds, then return to whatever it was set at before. This happens without any touch input from me.
Is there anything I can do to return the brightness functionality back to the app rather than the OS? It's significantly more convenient to change it in the app.
If the brightness gesture is not working, Probably you might have disabled gestures on Settings » Player or Control. Kindly check the settings.
If MX Player shows the new brightness value and there is no brightness change on the screen, then It may happen when some app runs on the top of MX Player invisibly. By default, Android takes the brightness values from the topmost window. If any widget/floating icons/Invisible screen filters run on the top of MX Player surface it may happen. Kindly disable such apps & try again.
As title says I can't get picture in picture mode to work with new gestures. Every time I swipe up (to go home) from YouTube Vanced app, background audio still plays, but PiP windows doesn't show up. Same with Netflix app, but playback pauses. Am I doing something wrong? I'm on OB6
ExtraGOD said:
As title says I can't get picture in picture mode to work with new gestures. Every time I swipe up (to go home) from YouTube Vanced app, background audio still plays, but PiP windows doesn't show up. Same with Netflix app, but playback pauses. Am I doing something wrong? I'm on OB6
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you checked this settings in App info?
For the last couple days, whenever I do any action that would put MX Player in the background, the video has suddenly gone into Picture-in-Picture mode and started playing. This happens whenever I have a video up in the player, regardless of whether it's playing or paused, and whether background play is enabled or disabled.
This has happened when I've used the following "Dismiss App" actions:
- Swipe between apps
- Swipe to homepage
- View open apps
- Select different running app from notification menu
- Open full MX Player settings menu
- Open MX Player "About" page
Attached is my zipped bug report. I've also submitted this bug in an email. If there's something in the app settings that could explain this behaviour, I would like to know, because it's definitely not desirable to take up screen space and start playing when I've paused and tried to unfocus the player.
Just an update, this is still happening for me. The closest thing to a workaround is to disable PiP permissions in the settings. The app still tries to go to PiP every time I make it leave the foreground, resulting in a toast pop-up saying "MX Player needs Draw/Display over other apps permission to play the videos on the top of other apps."
Every time I return to the homepage from the app, it says that. If I enable that permission, it will always activate PiP mode when I'm trying to switch away. I haven't found any in-app setting that could be causing this.
As of 1.51.8 (ARMv8 NEON), the app is still going into PiP mode whenever I dismiss it. Even if my video's paused, going to my home screen will make the video appear in the corner and start playing if it has the Android permission to do so.
It should only do this when the PiP mode button is pressed, unless there's some new "automatic picture-in-picture" setting I've missed or something.
I just figured out the setting to disable this. Click on Menu > Local Player Settings > Player > Background/PiP mode and select Stop. The video will no longer go to PiP when you click/swipe for home while playback. If you want, you can manually select background play and/or PiP while playing the video using controls as usual.
gururoop said:
I just figured out the setting to disable this. Click on Menu > Local Player Settings > Player > Background/PiP mode and select Stop. The video will no longer go to PiP when you click/swipe for home while playback. If you want, you can manually select background play and/or PiP while playing the video using controls as usual.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you!
The video starts playing when I hit PiP even if it was paused before, I'd prefer if it kept the video's state and just shrunk down the player, but it's manageable. Going to mark the thread as Resolved.