General useful tips for the Galaxy S II

[llBlackenedll]

So I thought I'd make a general tips thread. I'd definitely recommend the "Improving swype accuracy" one

Sorry there aren't a lot here yet, but if you have any then please contribute your tips and I'll update the thread.

Apps and Widgets

Calendar widget
The calendar widget, from my perspective, is a bit rubbish. It's bulky, slow, and not very configurable. I use Smooth Calendar. It's configurable, looks pretty and is FREE.

Remove samsung apps to speed up device and remove clutter

Ok here is what I did to get that quadrant score and improve battery life. "Slim" down your rom by: Removing junk you dont want in the stock firmware. If you want the best better life I recommend you root first (Required) then use titianium back up. Filter the system apps. And first freeze what you think you want to remove and reboot. No error messages? Good, unistall them. Repeat this till you remove all you want or don't need. I will make a list safe to remove application list soon of what I removed. But just be careful, if you really mess up your rom you will to reflash! You've been warned.

A list of safe to remove apps can be found here, though make sure you only remove the ones that you don't mind losing.

It's recommended that you freeze rather than uninstall.

thanks to Briggs for this one

Display

Improve image clarity

Untick "Auto adjust screen power". This seems to do something odd with the contrast when enabled

Quick Change Screen Brightness
If you turn off auto-brightness in Settings - Display, then long pressing the notifications area and sliding left and right will increase/decrease the screen brightness.

Input

Improve Swype accuracy

You can improve Swype's accuracy greatly by going to Settings>Language and keyboard>Swype and setting "Speed vs accuracy" all the way to the right ("error tolerance"). The only reason this is an adjustable option as far as I can tell is that Swype's response time is supposed to drop with the setting this far to the right, and may do on lesser phones, however on the SGSII it's as responsive as ever.

Rooting

How to root the Galaxy S II

thanks to Briggs for this one

Overclocking

You can now overclock the already fast enough SGS II. ONLY do this if you know what you're doing. Personally, I won't be doing it as I think the SGS II is fast enough as it is and don't want to damage my phone.

Overclocking the SGS II

thanks to soraxd for bringing this to my attention

Other tips

"Secret codes"

thanks to soraxd for this one

Access your messages more quickly from lock screen

Oddly if I get a text and swipe the message bar on the lock screen, it takes a couple of seconds to load the messaging app. If I unlock the screen normally then tap the messaging icon, it's immediate. Not a great "tip" seems like more of a workaround for what I'd call a bug.

Factory/Hard Reset:
Recovery mode - Turn phone off, press and hold Vol Up + Home + Power. The Volume keys navigate the menus and Home actions your choice
Dialer - enter *2767*3855#
Accessing through menu - Settings - Privacy - Factory data reset.

Search Function:
Press and hold the menu key

Screenshot:
Press the home key and power button together

Voice Commands:
Double press the home button to auto open

Web Browser user agent switch
In the browser type about:useragent into the address bar, hit enter, it will come up with a list of user agents - choose desktop to have the browser stop defaulting to mobile versions of websites.

[Briggs]

Does smooth calendar snyc with google calendar ? Ok here is what I did to get that quadrant score and improve battery life. "Slim" down your rom by: Removing junk you dont want in the stock firmware. If you want the best better life I recommend you root first (Required) then use titianium back up. Filter the system apps. And first freeze what you think you want to remove and reboot. No error messages? Good, unistall them. Repeat this till you remove all you want or don't need. I will make a list safe to remove application list soon of what I removed. But just be careful, if you really mess up your rom you will to reflash! You've been warned.

Edit: Good thread, stuck!

[llBlackenedll]

Does smooth calendar snyc with google calendar ? Ok here is what I did to get that quadrant score and improve battery life. "Slim" down your rom by: Removing junk you dont want in the stock firmware. If you want the best better life I recommend you root first (Required) then use titianium back up. Filter the system apps. And first freeze what you think you want to remove and reboot. No error messages? Good, unistall them. Repeat this till you remove all you want or don't need. I will make a list safe to remove application list soon of what I removed. But just be careful, if you really mess up your rom you will to reflash! You've been warned.

Cheers!

And yeah, Smooth Calendar is just a widget that represents information from your calendar. It even boots up the normal calendar when you click it, it's just a nicer widget than the ones provided. Can you remember which apps you removed? I've removed a few but still haven't attained that glorious 3800 mark!

[DSA]

My Additions (for stock firmwares/homescreens):

Factory/Hard Reset:
Recovery mode - Turn phone off, press and hold Vol Up + Home + Power. The Volume keys navigate the menus and Home actions your choice
Dialer - enter *2767*3855#
Accessing through menu - Settings - Privacy - Factory data reset.

Search Function:
Press and hold the menu key

Screenshot:
Press the home key and power button together

Voice Commands:
Double press the home button to auto open

One of my faves..
Screen Brightness:
If you turn off auto-brightness in Settings - Display, then long pressing the notifications area and sliding left and right will increase/decrease the screen brightness.

Thanks NZTechFreak for this one...
Web Browser:
In the browser type about:useragent into the address bar, hit enter, it will come up with a list of user agents - choose desktop to have the browser stop defaulting to mobile versions of websites.

Add 'em to the first post and delete this one..

[Zam]

Hi for some reason i cannot create a new thread, im not sure if its because i just signed up to this forum but anyway
, i just recieved my Samsung Galaxy S2 and have had fun navigating it, but could anyone tell me if there is a way to put a password or code on certain applications? such as on messages and the notes for example? or is it only possible to do the full phone lock via the code or pattern?
thanks

[superdawg]

you can use application protection from android market to lock message and notes.

superdawg

[mark22]

I use smart app protector and it is very good, make sure you go into settings and remove it from the app drawer and protect task manager etc. and it's a pretty secure solution.

[dilpal]

Hello, My first post here. i bought Galaxy s2 only Yesterday. But i have noticed that red color appears too sharp or you can say too oversaturated. Also faces of people in images look red than, normal skin color. How to adjust this? Any suggestions will be welcome.

[The Ginger Man]

Hello all
I've had my phone about 2 weeks now & I'm really impressed. I have a question if anyone can help:

Is it poss to delete stuff like music/game/social hubs WITHOUT rooting the phone? I ask because right now I don't feel competent enough to try it (& considering the contract I have it on runs for 2 yrs, let's say I'd be "sad" if I turned it into a fat bookmark so early on in its life). Thing is I have Android Booster, as it was recommended to me, & every time I use it to close down apps etc, hey presto the Hubs reappear. If I have to root to get rid of 'em, I'll live with them...for now, tho I expect they're just draining battery.

BTW - I'm new here so apologies if I've posted in the wrong place

Thnx

[Doomed]

If you want to delete any system apps then you'll require Root to remove them

Most apps that come pre-installed on your phone are system apps.