Galaxy S3 - Hints, Tips & Tricks

[stonkr]

We don't seem to have one of these, so I started a thread for all the hints, tips etc for both the triple eye* and ICS. Feel free to add anything you've found that may help others, including tips carried over from the S and eye eye* that new owners of the triple eye may not know. I'll start with 2 or 3...

-When viewing contacts - swipe left for messaging, right to call (a classic function from the S)
-When selecting dates, numbers etc where there is an up or down arrow (and you can see numbers above and below), you can swipe up or down to quickly scroll.
-To change the speed of animations: menu > developer options > window (or transition) animation scale. [lower is quicker, higher is slower]














(* eye eye = S2, triple eye = S3 [courtesy of Doomed])

[Tufftoad]

If you have the Power Saving mode on and you find that the screen dims when using the internet...or at the wrong times etc.

Menu > Settings > Tap on Power Saving mode (text not the toggle) and you get which power saving options you want running.

Untick, 'Background Colour' to stop the phone from dimming (Used to change the background colour to save power in EMail and Internet.

Edit: Reduced my animations to 0.5, makes the OS feel much quicker

Edit 2: More Swype Beta related but if you hold down the 123 button on Swype Beta it will bring up another Keyboard for editing:

[joe3400]

Please be aware that if you have "notifications" unchecked you will not receive audible indications of received texts.

[stonkr]

Driving mode is a useful function. Settings > language and input > text-to-speech output > driving mode.

You can select whether details about the list below are read out to you.

Incoming call
Message
New emails
New voicemail
Alarm
Schedule
Unlock screen

I have it on all the time (it only works when not on silent) and I find it useful for telling me who just sent a text so I can decide if I'm likely to need to read it straight away. If you name your alarm something like 'It's Monday morning, time to get up for work' it'll read that out then give you the time, as well as playing your notification tone of choice. Combine that with the voice activated 'snooze' or 'stop' commands and you need never even open your eyes. The only selection I don't use is Unlock screen as it reads the time when unlocking the phone.

[stonkr]

Do you have an app with shocking sound glitches, like a game that really shouldn't suffer on the S3?

Check if you have auto haptic enabled. Menu > sound > auto haptic.

This makes your phone vibrate in certain circumstances and appears to affect the audio in some apps.

Either turn off auto haptic, or select it and uncheck the relevant app.

[stonkr]

When using text input, you used to long press on the input area to select the keyboard or input method.

This has changed, the keyboard selection is now in the notification area.

So, highlight the text input area, pull down the notification bar, select a different keyboard if required.

[stonkr]

Got the ring volume set just right but struggle to hear it in your pocket or bag? No problem.

Open the dialer > menu > call settings > increase volume in pocket.


EDIT: While we're in call settings, there's also the option to set a call reject list so when Bob from accounts won't leave you alone, add his number here; and the option of setting text message replies to incoming calls, so if you're busy you can reject with a suitable ready-made text. There are some standard ones which can be deleted and the option to create your own.

[stonkr]

The things 'micro' that go in the back, below the battery. The microsd card goes in the side, the micro sim goes in from the top. Push either in until they click. To remove, push either in again until they click, then pull out. Don't just pull them out.

The sim should only be inserted and removed with the phone off, hence it's position relative to the battery. The microsd can be inserted with the phone on or off and can be removed with the phone on as long as you unmount it in settings first.

The microsd can be formatted to exFAT, which was designed for flash drives and has benefits over FAT32 for improved access times and storage of files over 4GB in size, but it's not so good at data resilience if a write operation is in progress, so - unmount the card or make sure the phone is off before removing it.

Menu > system settings > storage > unmount SD card.

[stonkr]

If, like me, you have more than one gmail account. The first one you set up will be the one that your apps are registered to. Make sure you always set up that account first after a reset.

[stonkr]

Your contacts. If you have them on your Google account then pat yourself on your back (or get the nearest person to do it).

If you have your contacts on your sim you will have a name and a number and not much else and when something happens to your phone you will lose them unless you saved them some place else.

If you have your contacts on your phone you will have the option to save a lot more information such as birthdays & anniversaries, addresses, other contact details. But if something happens to your phone you will lose them unless you saved them some place else, and you will have to copy them to your new phone.

If you have your contacts on your Google account they are secure in the Google Cloud, they are not stored on your phone per se (you don't need a permanent data connection to access them as they sync to the phone). You will have all the extra details and if something happens to your phone nothing will happen to your contacts. They will sync with any phone you use your Google account on. You can also access your contacts from any PC when you have logged in to your Google account.

You can export your contacts from your sim or phone, them import them to your Google account. You can then either delete them from your sim or phone, or just choose not to display your contacts on your sim or phone.

If you suspect Google are secretly looking at your contacts on your Google account and you prefer to keep them on your sim or phone then there are plenty of apps to backup the details. Just make sure you copy the backup to your PC or cloud storage so if something happens to your phone...