If you have a set of MP3 files on your computer that you wish were available on Spotify, you can now actually add them to your Spotify on your phone! You'll need a PC and a Wi-Fi connection for this. This tutorial is written for a Windows PC with either Android or iPhone. The equivalent steps might work for Mac computers too.
On your Spotify on PC:
1. Put all the MP3 files you want into a folder - this folder will be synced to Spotify.
2. Go to the Settings of your Spotify on the PC. Turn on "Show Local Files". Under "Show songs from", I recommend turning off everything and clicking "Add a source", then adding that specific folder of MP3s. Now all of your local MP3s will be shown on a section called Local Files on the left.
3, Create a playlist, and call it "Local" or whatever you wish. Then click on the Local Files section, hit Ctrl+A to choose all, and drag all of the songs to the playlist you just created, which I called "Local".
4. Go into that "Local" playlist, and turn on the Downloaded button (on the right side) and it should go green.
On your Spotify app in your phone:
1. Make sure your phone is on the same Wi-Fi as your PC (or the PC can be wired via Ethernet into the same home network too).
2. Close Spotify and re-open it so that the new "Local" playlist shows up.
3. Go into the "Local" playlist and all the songs should be grey. Turn on the "Download" button.
4. Spotify will now download all your local MP3 files in that playlist as long as you're on the same internet connection as the PC.
5. Once they have all finished downloading, they will all have green arrows on them. Now you can listen to these MP3s wherever you are. So whenever you want to listen to a song that is in your local MP3s, you'll have to go to that "Local" playlist on your phone. I think you can add it to your normal Spotify library which is called Liked Songs now, but I haven't tried it as I had issues before. So I have all my custom MP3s in its own playlist now, which works like a charm.
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Moving from S10+ to iPhone 11 Pro - An In-Depth Review and Comparison
I'm someone who has used many flagship Android phones in the past 6 years - namely LG G4, S6 Edge+, S7 Edge, S9 and S10+. I'm an engineer, and very much a technical guy and so I always enjoyed Android. Before my LG G4, I used the iPhone 3G, iPhone 4, iPhone 5S, so I'm, not foreign to the Apple world too. I had the S10+ (Exynos) from release date, for a little over a year. This is a review of how I feel about the S10+ (a recent flagship Samsung) and the iPhone 11 Pro (a recent flagship iPhone) which I've used for over a month now. By the way, I'm the writer of the two mega threads of tips for the S10 here and here.
I would say that even though my in-depth review is written for the S10+ specifically, most of it is still relevant for the S20 series, so anyone tossing up between the S20 series and iPhone 11 Pro series will find this useful.
Also, the iPhone's software is usually supported for ~ 5 generational updates, where as for the S10+, it is 2 generations of updates (and then only security patches like the S7 got for some years). This is really disappointing for the S10+ and all other Android flagships (except the Pixel? Correct me if I'm wrong).
Processor Disparity
The disparity between the Exynos and Snapdragon models for Samsung flagships is very, very disappointing. Firstly, the battery performance of the Exynos models are simply worse in every way, especially standby drain. Secondly, it heats up more and thermal throttling is worse. Lastly, even the camera processing is different however neither wins here, but perhaps the Snapdragon takes better photos. What's even more annoying is, you could be reading reviews online before buying the S10+ but those reviews will be Snapdragon-American reviews so their battery and performance reviews won't be the same as the Exynos version of the phone in your region (everywhere in the world but US/Hong Kong/South Korea/Canada?). It's like you're using a totally different phone almost. Before the S8, the Exynos was superior and the Snapdragon was worse. This disparity really has to stop, Samsung. Due to this big difference, some people even import Samsung phones from Snapdragon-countries to get a better phone, but lose out on the home-country warranties, repairs and support. This is just so annoying.
This is totally different for the iPhone side, because I can be 100% sure that every review I read on the iPhone 11 Pro will be the exact same phone that I will buy in my country. No headache at all, won't have to think about importing.
I would say that even though my in-depth review is written for the S10+ specifically, most of it is still relevant for the S20 series, so anyone tossing up between the S20 series and iPhone 11 Pro series will find this useful.
My motivation for changing phones: I wanted a smaller phone as my 6.4" S10+ felt too big for my small hands. I always research phones, and battery is a huge factor to me, so I know that the "smaller" Android flagships always have really subpar battery - i.e. S10E, Pixel 3, Pixel 4, etc. I found that the "smaller" iPhone 11 Pro is still a champ in the battery department. I also wanted to try the newest iPhone of 2019 as my last one was from 2013 (the 5S).
Performance & Software Experience
The iPhone 11 Pro simply wins here, by far. Everything is absolutely seamless and free-flowing, and there is never even a slight hiccup. The whole OS is incredibly stable and smooth. The S10+ made leaps and bounds with One UI and Android 9 and 10, for sure. However, I feel that any flagship Android just has that ever so slight hiccup in experience compared to the same-generation iPhone, and this is only explainable if you have used a latest generation iPhone for a few days. If you have not, you probably won't know the feeling that I'm talking about.
For sure, I miss the S10+'s software customization with things like One Hand Operations+, Good Lock, Launchers and so on. However, what the iPhone lacks in customization, it more than makes up for in feel and experience. Every single thing that I do on my phone is a pleasure to do due to this amazing software feel. For example, the landscape rotation on the S10+ is always a bit glitchy and laggy, for games and other landscape apps, where as the iPhone transitions so smoothly between portrait and landscape apps, and going home from them, etc. It's really a matter of taste, but my opinion is that the extreme smoothness and seamless experience/integration trumps the ability of full customization with widgets and launchers, etc.
For sure, I miss the S10+'s software customization with things like One Hand Operations+, Good Lock, Launchers and so on. However, what the iPhone lacks in customization, it more than makes up for in feel and experience. Every single thing that I do on my phone is a pleasure to do due to this amazing software feel. For example, the landscape rotation on the S10+ is always a bit glitchy and laggy, for games and other landscape apps, where as the iPhone transitions so smoothly between portrait and landscape apps, and going home from them, etc. It's really a matter of taste, but my opinion is that the extreme smoothness and seamless experience/integration trumps the ability of full customization with widgets and launchers, etc.
Also, the iPhone's software is usually supported for ~ 5 generational updates, where as for the S10+, it is 2 generations of updates (and then only security patches like the S7 got for some years). This is really disappointing for the S10+ and all other Android flagships (except the Pixel? Correct me if I'm wrong).
Processor Disparity
The disparity between the Exynos and Snapdragon models for Samsung flagships is very, very disappointing. Firstly, the battery performance of the Exynos models are simply worse in every way, especially standby drain. Secondly, it heats up more and thermal throttling is worse. Lastly, even the camera processing is different however neither wins here, but perhaps the Snapdragon takes better photos. What's even more annoying is, you could be reading reviews online before buying the S10+ but those reviews will be Snapdragon-American reviews so their battery and performance reviews won't be the same as the Exynos version of the phone in your region (everywhere in the world but US/Hong Kong/South Korea/Canada?). It's like you're using a totally different phone almost. Before the S8, the Exynos was superior and the Snapdragon was worse. This disparity really has to stop, Samsung. Due to this big difference, some people even import Samsung phones from Snapdragon-countries to get a better phone, but lose out on the home-country warranties, repairs and support. This is just so annoying.
This is totally different for the iPhone side, because I can be 100% sure that every review I read on the iPhone 11 Pro will be the exact same phone that I will buy in my country. No headache at all, won't have to think about importing.
RAM Management
Both phones are great in this - remember folks, you don't need to close your apps on phones these days unless they are bugging! I did notice though that the S10+ with its 8GB RAM kept more apps open in the background than the iPhone. But it's not a huge deal since the iPhone's performance is faster anyway and opening apps from the beginning is super fast anyway. But the S10+ wins here for keeping more apps open in the background.
Display
The S10+ has a gorgeous WQHD+ display (1440x3040) and I loved it, watching YouTube and Netflix was a pleasure, and the hole cut didn't bother me after just a week of getting used to it. The iPhone 11 Pro still has a really high-quality display (1125x2436) and I found the colour balance to be much nicer than the S10+, i.e. the colour gamut was more pleasurable to look at and wasn't overly vivid. The HDR and contrast of both screens are excellent. The iPhone has a big notch and that takes a bit of getting used to - however the sensors and camera there do an excellent job compared to the S10+'s respective sensors and camera (referenced later in the review in Biometrics, Sensors, Vibration and Camera), so I'm not too annoyed at that.
For all apps and activities, both screens are excellent. Only on YouTube and Netflix, I give the edge to the S10+ because it has 1440p instead of the iPhone 11 Pro's cap at 1080p - and I can definitely notice it. I'm someone who can always tell the difference between FHD/QHD. Also the S10+ has Always-on-Display which shows the time, date and notification icons which I really liked - however it drained a little battery.
Lastly, I was a partial fan of the edge display of the Samsung phones (which I had on the S6/S7/S9/S10 series) and it is cool. However, other than "One Hand Operations" and the odd use of the edge panel, I had no need for it and the drawbacks are bad. You can't put a good screen protector on the curved screens and they often interfere with cases, hence I rocked my S10+ with the factory protector and when that was worn out, I rocked it naked. Also, the edge display has more accidental touches unless you have a thicker case on. The iPhone 11 Pro's slight increase in side bezel was so good for me - it meant that I could never make an accidental touch and I had a flat screen for once! I was able to flawlessly install a Spigen glass protector onto it - wonderful! This was such a big relief.
Camera
Both cameras are fantastic off the bat. On the S10+, I found that I had to turn Scene Optimizer off to get nice natural-ish shots, otherwise they would be way too saturated and HDR'd. Night Mode goes to the iPhone, hands down - the exposure toggle on this phone is excellent. The S10+ has made improvements in Night photography but it is still behind. The Ultra Wide Angle camera on the S10+ picks up slightly more detail but always has an unwanted extra saturation and HDR added to it that makes it look unpleasant (even without Scene Optimizer). The portrait mode on the iPhone is more versatile and has cooler options like the contrast black/white portraits. Both phones do a great job taking portrait shots overall. I give the camera win to the iPhone for sure, any random shot is usually always better on the iPhone. There is more detail in the pictures, and colours are way more natural - also gives me more room to edit photos in Lightroom/Snapseed. Front camera is much better on the iPhone as it retains detail and doesn't soften the face too much like the S10+ does. But to be honest, once I modified the camera settings on my S10+ to my liking, it was an excellent camera system overall and I'd still be fine with it today.
Also, the Camera app on the iPhone is just far, far superior. There is no delays in switching between modes and sub-modes, and video recording is also flawless. The S10+'s Camera app is fine, but simply not as seamless and smooth as the iPhone's.
Physical Build
This is all preference here, and I think they're both awesome. I like that the S10+ weighs less than the regular iPhone 11 Pro (175g vs. 188g) - note that this is for the glass-back S10+, the ceramic-back S10+ weighs 198g. Also I like that all 3 cameras on the S10+ lie on one flat plane, where as the iPhone 11 Pro has 3 separate circles - this is just nit picking, but three separate camera circles indented means a bit more dust particles gathering there. Both phones are beautiful and solid overall, but the S10+ gets the slight win here.
Inputs and Storage
The S10+ gets the win for inputs simply because it has a headphone jack and micro SD card slot - I always used the SD card slot with a 64GB card to turn my 128GB phone into 192GB. I used the Galaxy Buds so I hardly ever needed the headphone jack, but it was still useful to have. On the iPhone, I was forced to buy the 256GB model because the lowest storage model at 64GB isn't enough for me. A "pro" phone should start at 128GB minimum. Another difference is that the iPhone 11 Pro can support a second SIM via an eSIM. The S10+ has both single SIM and dual SIM models - usually most countries sell the single SIM version.
Inputs and Storage
The S10+ gets the win for inputs simply because it has a headphone jack and micro SD card slot - I always used the SD card slot with a 64GB card to turn my 128GB phone into 192GB. I used the Galaxy Buds so I hardly ever needed the headphone jack, but it was still useful to have. On the iPhone, I was forced to buy the 256GB model because the lowest storage model at 64GB isn't enough for me. A "pro" phone should start at 128GB minimum. Another difference is that the iPhone 11 Pro can support a second SIM via an eSIM. The S10+ has both single SIM and dual SIM models - usually most countries sell the single SIM version.
Battery
The iPhone 11 Pro (non max) is better than the S10+ (the max equivalent) in battery - this is pretty incredible although mind you, I had the Exynos model. Firstly, standby battery drain is amazing on the iPhone, better than the Samsung. The S10+ had pretty good battery to be honest, but on the iPhone I'm regularly getting 8 hours of Screen-on-Time a month in. The S10+ got around 6-7 hours out of the box, but then degraded over time. I had the Exynos S10+ which suffers in 4G idle drain as well, which is a pity. Shame on Samsung for such a huge disparity between the two processors. I guess I'll have to wait a year to see how the iPhone 11 Pro's battery holds up.
Secondly, for the S10+ (and many other Androids), a user has to tinker with so many different settings and annoying little toggles and everything to squeeze a good battery life out of it. For example on the S10+, you have to tinker with adaptive battery, adaptive power save, deep sleeping apps, normal sleeping apps, optimized charging, turning things off like Nearby Device Scanning, etc. The list goes on but you always have to play around with the settings a lot to get good battery out of it. On the iPhone, there are some things you may want to turn off but overall if you leave the phone as it is out of the box, it will still give great battery performance.
Secondly, for the S10+ (and many other Androids), a user has to tinker with so many different settings and annoying little toggles and everything to squeeze a good battery life out of it. For example on the S10+, you have to tinker with adaptive battery, adaptive power save, deep sleeping apps, normal sleeping apps, optimized charging, turning things off like Nearby Device Scanning, etc. The list goes on but you always have to play around with the settings a lot to get good battery out of it. On the iPhone, there are some things you may want to turn off but overall if you leave the phone as it is out of the box, it will still give great battery performance.
Speakers
Both are excellent with their stereo speakers, I might give the slightest edge to the S10+ here. It's just slightly louder I think.
Apps, Update Structure and Cleanness
For stock apps - both phones have good stock apps for Clock, Calendar, Calculator, etc. However for the S10+, stock apps like Samsung Weather, Samsung Pay, Samsung Health, etc. always have annoying and intrusive ads on the top banner. When I go into Samsung Health, I don't want to see ads for Galaxy Watch or the Calm Meditation app. When I go into weather, I don't want to see random ads and when I go to Samsung Pay I don't want to see ads for YouTube Premium or a Note 10. I have checked all possible settings and you cannot opt out of these ads, and it various by region. This is unacceptable for the stock apps on a phone, especially such an expensive one. The iPhone counterparts for these apps are always much cleaner and with zero ads of course. The photos app on the iPhone is smoother and faster than the gallery app on the S10+, but it's not a huge deal.
For third party apps, in every instance, the iOS app is better in experience. Spotify is so much smoother and nicer, so is Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Reddit, and so on. Almost all apps seem to be made better on iOS in my experience so far. But that doesn't mean all apps are "bad" on Android, they are generally pretty good and I only appreciated the difference when I got the iPhone 11 Pro.
The S10+ has an annoying app structure and update integration. Firstly, you have duplicate apps and bloat apps out of the box with a mix of Google and Samsung apps for things like Email, Browser, etc. and other carrier software (if you got it from a carrier) so you have to disable the ones you don't use. Secondly, there is a Galaxy Store as well as the usual Play Store to complicate things. The one good thing I got from the Galaxy Store is Good Lock (for added customization). Otherwise, I find it really weird that you can get things like "Samsung Browser", "Samsung Health" and "Sound Assistant" from both Galaxy Store and Play Store - it just complicates things. Also for the Samsung, you'll get miscellaneous system updates from Play Store and Galaxy Store, and often they are really confusing like "PaymentFramework UI" update from Galaxy Store, or "Billing" or any other little update within the software of the phone. Things like this are just confusing for the user and should just be done in major OS updates or in silence, it makes the experience feel cluttered. On the iPhone 11 Pro, the App Store is the only place to get apps and it updates in silence (no notifications like Android). And all system related updates are done in iOS updates. For a technical guy like me, these factors are fine but for the average user, it really makes the iPhone stand out in this regard where as the Samsung/Android just feels a bit weird.
File Management
S10+ wins here, all day. You can connect to a PC to drag and drop any folder of photos, videos, music, files, and it just works in all apps flawlessly. You can't do that with the iPhone and you have to sync photo folders through iTunes or iCloud. When you connect your iPhone to a PC, all you can do is browser through the DCIM folder of photos and videos, and you cannot write anything to the disk space either. Where as on my Samsung, I can put in any file like a computer - PDFs, docs, songs, photos, whatever. It just works so well. For the iPhone, I need to heavily use iCloud Drive or Dropbox for these things which I'd prefer not to.
Voice Assistant, Automations, Dedicated Button
I personally don't like to use my voice too much, but here's my review of both systems. Firstly, Bixby is not very good on the S10+ - the software is cluttered and the voice control isn't a seamless, nice experience. However, it can do some quite in-depth things if you can learn how to do it, such as opening apps and doing very specific things in them, or changing in-depth settings. Siri on the iPhone is decent and can help out with quite a few things, but again it also has its limitations. I think it is more seamless and smooth than Bixby, but its capabilities are similar. The S10+ also has Google Assistant integrated into the system which is probably the best voice assistant in the world.
For automation, I found Bixby Routines to be excellent. I was able to create routines for putting my phone into "car mode" when connecting to its Bluetooth - it would automatically open Spotify and play my library, and this worked every single time. I also created many other routines such as when reaching my work location, go to silent and media volume to 0%. Great experience. For the iPhone, the Automations functionality is workable but there are disadvantages. Bluetooth cannot be activated instantly without a user input prompt and unlock, for security reasons. So I can't just walk into my car and let the music auto-play - it will only auto-play if Spotify was open. If Spotify is closed, I have to go into my phone and do it myself. I give the automation win to Samsung for sure.
The iPhone also has shortcuts (custom commands) which can go into great detail - much more than the Samsung, and you can download a bunch of unique shortcuts created by others for things like Media downloading. This is quite cool but it isn't perfect.
The S10+ has a dedicated Bixby button. Out of the box, this is useless if it connects to Bixby which most people don't like to use. However, you can use the BxActions app to re-route the button to anything you like. I set it up so that if I hold the Bixby button down it would turn on the flashlight (a literal lifesaver!) and if I press it, it flicks between Sound, Vibrate and Silent. This was awesome. The iPhone doesn't have a dedicated hardware button for doing whatever I like with it. However it does have a physical switch for Sound and Silent.
For third party apps, in every instance, the iOS app is better in experience. Spotify is so much smoother and nicer, so is Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Reddit, and so on. Almost all apps seem to be made better on iOS in my experience so far. But that doesn't mean all apps are "bad" on Android, they are generally pretty good and I only appreciated the difference when I got the iPhone 11 Pro.
The S10+ has an annoying app structure and update integration. Firstly, you have duplicate apps and bloat apps out of the box with a mix of Google and Samsung apps for things like Email, Browser, etc. and other carrier software (if you got it from a carrier) so you have to disable the ones you don't use. Secondly, there is a Galaxy Store as well as the usual Play Store to complicate things. The one good thing I got from the Galaxy Store is Good Lock (for added customization). Otherwise, I find it really weird that you can get things like "Samsung Browser", "Samsung Health" and "Sound Assistant" from both Galaxy Store and Play Store - it just complicates things. Also for the Samsung, you'll get miscellaneous system updates from Play Store and Galaxy Store, and often they are really confusing like "PaymentFramework UI" update from Galaxy Store, or "Billing" or any other little update within the software of the phone. Things like this are just confusing for the user and should just be done in major OS updates or in silence, it makes the experience feel cluttered. On the iPhone 11 Pro, the App Store is the only place to get apps and it updates in silence (no notifications like Android). And all system related updates are done in iOS updates. For a technical guy like me, these factors are fine but for the average user, it really makes the iPhone stand out in this regard where as the Samsung/Android just feels a bit weird.
File Management
S10+ wins here, all day. You can connect to a PC to drag and drop any folder of photos, videos, music, files, and it just works in all apps flawlessly. You can't do that with the iPhone and you have to sync photo folders through iTunes or iCloud. When you connect your iPhone to a PC, all you can do is browser through the DCIM folder of photos and videos, and you cannot write anything to the disk space either. Where as on my Samsung, I can put in any file like a computer - PDFs, docs, songs, photos, whatever. It just works so well. For the iPhone, I need to heavily use iCloud Drive or Dropbox for these things which I'd prefer not to.
Voice Assistant, Automations, Dedicated Button
I personally don't like to use my voice too much, but here's my review of both systems. Firstly, Bixby is not very good on the S10+ - the software is cluttered and the voice control isn't a seamless, nice experience. However, it can do some quite in-depth things if you can learn how to do it, such as opening apps and doing very specific things in them, or changing in-depth settings. Siri on the iPhone is decent and can help out with quite a few things, but again it also has its limitations. I think it is more seamless and smooth than Bixby, but its capabilities are similar. The S10+ also has Google Assistant integrated into the system which is probably the best voice assistant in the world.
For automation, I found Bixby Routines to be excellent. I was able to create routines for putting my phone into "car mode" when connecting to its Bluetooth - it would automatically open Spotify and play my library, and this worked every single time. I also created many other routines such as when reaching my work location, go to silent and media volume to 0%. Great experience. For the iPhone, the Automations functionality is workable but there are disadvantages. Bluetooth cannot be activated instantly without a user input prompt and unlock, for security reasons. So I can't just walk into my car and let the music auto-play - it will only auto-play if Spotify was open. If Spotify is closed, I have to go into my phone and do it myself. I give the automation win to Samsung for sure.
The iPhone also has shortcuts (custom commands) which can go into great detail - much more than the Samsung, and you can download a bunch of unique shortcuts created by others for things like Media downloading. This is quite cool but it isn't perfect.
The S10+ has a dedicated Bixby button. Out of the box, this is useless if it connects to Bixby which most people don't like to use. However, you can use the BxActions app to re-route the button to anything you like. I set it up so that if I hold the Bixby button down it would turn on the flashlight (a literal lifesaver!) and if I press it, it flicks between Sound, Vibrate and Silent. This was awesome. The iPhone doesn't have a dedicated hardware button for doing whatever I like with it. However it does have a physical switch for Sound and Silent.
Biometrics, Sensors, Vibration
The in-display fingerprint scanner worked quite well for me usually (a lot of others had issues with this). However, it just wasn't that smooth of an experience, there would always be a slight hiccup when waking the phone with fingerprint. Face recognition on the S10+ is not good - firstly, it's just a camera image based scanner so it isn't secure at all, doesn't work too well in the dark (hence the screen has to brighten itself) and I found the circle ring animation on the lock screen to be bad in design. Face ID on the iPhone seems to work from much wider angles and work in basically every scenario ever, and it is super seamless. Also the notification contents are hidden until it is unlocked with a successful face scan, and I love that. The S10+ has a little advantage though, because you can just scan your finger while the phone is flat on a table and open it, where as for the iPhone, I have to move my face to look at it. The iPhone has a little advantage too - it has single-tap to wake which I prefer, where as the S10+ only has double-tap to wake. Slight difference, but not a big deal.
The proximity sensor (such a simple given thing on any smartphone) was simply not good on the S10+. There was a proximity sensor issue and battery drain in the early months, and after Viber/WhatsApp calls, the proximity sensor would cause issues and drain battery. Also, the Always On Display wouldn't turn off when in a pocket, which the S7 Edge and S9 didn't have an issue with! The iPhone's proximity sensor works fine.
Haptic feedback (vibrations) on the iPhone 11 Pro is simply leagues ahead. There is a great level of precision between the levels of vibration and it feels great, plus many of the system and app elements use varying degrees of haptic feedback to the user and I really like it. Actually I never had an issue with the S10+ haptic feedback, but once I used the iPhone, then I realised that it can be done even better. In comparison, the S10+ just feels like a "loose vibration" where as the iPhone vibration feels more "compact and precise" - hard to describe.
Overall, the biometrics, sensors and "little things" are simply better on the iPhone, hands down.
Contactless Payment
Hardware capability wise, Samsung Pay wins since it has MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) which gives the S10+ the ability to emulate the swipe of a physical card when NFC-based payment isn't available. So when someone gives you the "we don't have pay-wave", you can still wow them and pay with your S10+. However, I've only found this useful when travelling, as in Australia, I found that every single payment terminal always has contactless payments, even in random country towns.
Software wise for payments, the iPhone 11 Pro wins without question. The Apple Pay (or Wallet) app is much, much cleaner than Samsung Pay. The process of making a payment from the moment your phone is in your pocket is significantly faster on the iPhone - you double tap the lock button and instantly it uses Face ID then has your primary card ready to make a payment, literally takes 1 second. For Samsung Pay, you can swipe up from the bottom while the screen is off and then there is always a slight delay before Samsung Pay opens, then you have to use the in-display fingerprint scanner and finally you are able to pay - this takes much more time than Apple Pay. It didn't bother me too much until I used Apple Pay and I was in awe of how fast this process is on the iPhone. Also, as discussed above, the Samsung Pay app has ads on the top banner which is unacceptable. This could not be removed no matter how many settings I tried (others in different regions have been able to remove them).
The location of the NFC chip on the S10+ is towards the middle of the back of the phone so you have to place the back onto a scanner, kind of. On the iPhone, it's located on the top border of the phone so you kind of just hold it out like a beam. This isn't a huge deal but I find that slightly more convenient. For me, Apple Pay wins overall since my country has no need for MST, and the software experience is way better. But others may find Samsung Pay better because of this unique feature.
Price ($AUD) and Value
Release day RRP for the S10+ 128GB was $1499 and for my iPhone 11 Pro 256GB was $1999 (64GB model was $1749). I think that overall, the iPhone is severely overpriced, and the S10+ is also quite overpriced but it is easier to find promotions and deals on the S10+. Flagships overall have spiraled into ridiculous prices, but I think the iPhone 11 Pro shouldn't be that much more expensive than an S10+.
However, the iPhone wins hands down in retaining value over time. After 1 or 2 years, the iPhone will always re-sell for more because they garner more interest than used Android phones, and secondly, they are usually in good nick comparatively.
Verdict
Taking all these factors into account, right now I'd personally go with the iPhone 11 Pro. However, the S10 and S20 series are still fantastic phones and you may prefer them.
My Blog
I obviously like writing about tech so I started a blog here. I'll be writing about phones, headphones, and other electronics.
Contactless Payment
Hardware capability wise, Samsung Pay wins since it has MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) which gives the S10+ the ability to emulate the swipe of a physical card when NFC-based payment isn't available. So when someone gives you the "we don't have pay-wave", you can still wow them and pay with your S10+. However, I've only found this useful when travelling, as in Australia, I found that every single payment terminal always has contactless payments, even in random country towns.
Software wise for payments, the iPhone 11 Pro wins without question. The Apple Pay (or Wallet) app is much, much cleaner than Samsung Pay. The process of making a payment from the moment your phone is in your pocket is significantly faster on the iPhone - you double tap the lock button and instantly it uses Face ID then has your primary card ready to make a payment, literally takes 1 second. For Samsung Pay, you can swipe up from the bottom while the screen is off and then there is always a slight delay before Samsung Pay opens, then you have to use the in-display fingerprint scanner and finally you are able to pay - this takes much more time than Apple Pay. It didn't bother me too much until I used Apple Pay and I was in awe of how fast this process is on the iPhone. Also, as discussed above, the Samsung Pay app has ads on the top banner which is unacceptable. This could not be removed no matter how many settings I tried (others in different regions have been able to remove them).
The location of the NFC chip on the S10+ is towards the middle of the back of the phone so you have to place the back onto a scanner, kind of. On the iPhone, it's located on the top border of the phone so you kind of just hold it out like a beam. This isn't a huge deal but I find that slightly more convenient. For me, Apple Pay wins overall since my country has no need for MST, and the software experience is way better. But others may find Samsung Pay better because of this unique feature.
Price ($AUD) and Value
Release day RRP for the S10+ 128GB was $1499 and for my iPhone 11 Pro 256GB was $1999 (64GB model was $1749). I think that overall, the iPhone is severely overpriced, and the S10+ is also quite overpriced but it is easier to find promotions and deals on the S10+. Flagships overall have spiraled into ridiculous prices, but I think the iPhone 11 Pro shouldn't be that much more expensive than an S10+.
However, the iPhone wins hands down in retaining value over time. After 1 or 2 years, the iPhone will always re-sell for more because they garner more interest than used Android phones, and secondly, they are usually in good nick comparatively.
Verdict
Taking all these factors into account, right now I'd personally go with the iPhone 11 Pro. However, the S10 and S20 series are still fantastic phones and you may prefer them.
My Blog
I obviously like writing about tech so I started a blog here. I'll be writing about phones, headphones, and other electronics.
Saturday, April 18, 2020
S10+ / Galaxy Buds / Galaxy Watch Active: Ecosystem Review
Here's the Samsung trio I used for a year: Galaxy S10+, Galaxy Buds, Galaxy Watch Active. All of these were obtained at release date.
This review is my experience using the Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Watch, with a Galaxy S10+.
Phone Battery Impact
I used the watch from about 8am to 6pm everyday, and also during gym every 2nd day (so add another 1-2 hours plus buds usage), and I get like 5-6 hrs Screen-On-Time (SOT) with 18-20 hrs total device time. Without the watch, I would get maybe the same SOT with 23 hrs total device time. Both of these are really acceptable and so my conclusion is the watch and buds do not take away much battery for the S10+ at all. Mind you I leave WiFi, 4G, Bluetooth (BT), Location constantly on all day for seamless connectivity to routers, car BT, buds BT, watch BT, etc. The buds hardly do much to battery life from what I've noticed.
Watch & Buds Battery
The Galaxy Watch Active lasts 1.5-2 days, and the Galaxy Buds last quite a long time, maybe 6 hours + 5 hours from the case.
Watch Usefulness/Review
I use it for overall fitness tracking , fitness tracking at the gym, as a simple watch, Samsung Pay, for notifications, for Spotify control sometimes, stress levels and breathing exercises, calendar, etc. If you just run or walk, don't need to touch the screen, it'll track everything. If you're at the gym, you can choose each workout specifically from the S-Health app (e.g. Leg Extensions, Planks, Squats) or you can click generic workout and it'll track it as that. When you go to the S-Health app on the phone, all your fitness info will sync. Also you can load songs onto the watch itself and pair it with any BT headset (e.g. Buds). So then you don't need to carry your phone to the gym. Samsung Pay has worked awesome on this watch, you just have to know that the NFC is located on the top edge of the watch where the 2 little holes are. I got the silver Galaxy Watch Active and the silver trim looks really really premium and shiny which I love.
Watch Accuracy
Fitness accuracy is great. It even vibrates every 10 reps (configurable) for an exercise if you enter it through S-Health. The one drawback is heart-rate is not that accurate sometimes. I don't mind this as I just perform a quick HR check once every now and then. I have not tried sleep tracking as I don't like wearing a watch to sleep.
Buds Overall Review
Really snug into the ear and never falls out even if I am jumping around or upside down. Quite comfortable but after about 2 hours it may get a bit irritating (obviously). Sound is very good for true wireless to be honest! You just need to go to the Gear app and use Dynamic mode, and turn on Dolby Atmos permanently. Also if only one bud is in and the other is in the case, it will switch to Mono which is awesome. One weird thing is the charging case automatically tops up the buds to 100% as soon as you put it in. This is annoying but I'm used to it now. Also the touch controls are a bit limited - example, if you want to use it for volume control then you don't get voice assistant, or vice versa. But for play/pause/next, it is good. Perhaps software will fix this.
Buds Call Quality
In a quiet room, excellent. In a noisy outdoor environment, it is not too good, but workable. You'll sound a bit robotic perhaps, but many headphones do this anyway.
Summary
Really happy with the S10+ / Buds / Watch Active ecosystem. Everything is quite seamless, battery is good for me, features are awesome.
This review is my experience using the Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Watch, with a Galaxy S10+.
Phone Battery Impact
I used the watch from about 8am to 6pm everyday, and also during gym every 2nd day (so add another 1-2 hours plus buds usage), and I get like 5-6 hrs Screen-On-Time (SOT) with 18-20 hrs total device time. Without the watch, I would get maybe the same SOT with 23 hrs total device time. Both of these are really acceptable and so my conclusion is the watch and buds do not take away much battery for the S10+ at all. Mind you I leave WiFi, 4G, Bluetooth (BT), Location constantly on all day for seamless connectivity to routers, car BT, buds BT, watch BT, etc. The buds hardly do much to battery life from what I've noticed.
Watch & Buds Battery
The Galaxy Watch Active lasts 1.5-2 days, and the Galaxy Buds last quite a long time, maybe 6 hours + 5 hours from the case.
Watch Usefulness/Review
I use it for overall fitness tracking , fitness tracking at the gym, as a simple watch, Samsung Pay, for notifications, for Spotify control sometimes, stress levels and breathing exercises, calendar, etc. If you just run or walk, don't need to touch the screen, it'll track everything. If you're at the gym, you can choose each workout specifically from the S-Health app (e.g. Leg Extensions, Planks, Squats) or you can click generic workout and it'll track it as that. When you go to the S-Health app on the phone, all your fitness info will sync. Also you can load songs onto the watch itself and pair it with any BT headset (e.g. Buds). So then you don't need to carry your phone to the gym. Samsung Pay has worked awesome on this watch, you just have to know that the NFC is located on the top edge of the watch where the 2 little holes are. I got the silver Galaxy Watch Active and the silver trim looks really really premium and shiny which I love.
Watch Accuracy
Fitness accuracy is great. It even vibrates every 10 reps (configurable) for an exercise if you enter it through S-Health. The one drawback is heart-rate is not that accurate sometimes. I don't mind this as I just perform a quick HR check once every now and then. I have not tried sleep tracking as I don't like wearing a watch to sleep.
Buds Overall Review
Really snug into the ear and never falls out even if I am jumping around or upside down. Quite comfortable but after about 2 hours it may get a bit irritating (obviously). Sound is very good for true wireless to be honest! You just need to go to the Gear app and use Dynamic mode, and turn on Dolby Atmos permanently. Also if only one bud is in and the other is in the case, it will switch to Mono which is awesome. One weird thing is the charging case automatically tops up the buds to 100% as soon as you put it in. This is annoying but I'm used to it now. Also the touch controls are a bit limited - example, if you want to use it for volume control then you don't get voice assistant, or vice versa. But for play/pause/next, it is good. Perhaps software will fix this.
Buds Call Quality
In a quiet room, excellent. In a noisy outdoor environment, it is not too good, but workable. You'll sound a bit robotic perhaps, but many headphones do this anyway.
Summary
Really happy with the S10+ / Buds / Watch Active ecosystem. Everything is quite seamless, battery is good for me, features are awesome.
Tips & Tricks for Samsung Galaxy S10 - Part 2
Here is Part 1 - this contains lots of useful tips so check this one out first if you haven't already.
Once again, this is not really about themes and visual customizations, it's more about using your device thoroughly and getting the most out of it with stock settings plus some very useful apps.
1) On-Screen Lock Button via One Hand Operation + (OHO+)
Download OHO+ from the Galaxy Store if you haven't already got it. The main functionality of OHO+ is to use the back/home/recents button from the edge. But another cool thing you can do is lock your phone using the edge. In OHO+, click on your handle (left handle or right handle), then turn on "Long Swipe", then set the Straight left (or right) option to "Screen off". Now, wherever you are, you can lock the phone by swiping left (or right) from the edge and holding it. This removes the need for the SoftKey Edge panel, which was tip (12) in Part 1.
My OHO+ setup is as follows: Swipe left = back, Swipe Diagonal Up = Recents, Swipe Diagonal Down = Home, Swipe left HOLD = Screen Off / Lock.
2) Enable Dark Mode on Chrome, and Dark Web Contents (like Samsung Internet with Night Mode)
Go to Chrome and type "chrome://flags" to access the flags menu. If your version is 74 or above (you can see it in the top right of this page), then you can do this. Search "dark" and you'll find two options. The UI dark mode will change the Chrome user interface to dark colours, and the web contents dark mode will try to darken all web pages. Switch these to "Enabled" rather than "Default" for whichever one you want. In my experience, the web contents hasn't been perfected yet, but the Dark UI is decent.
3) Disable notifications that annoy you, even persistent sticky ones
If you find that you always get a particular notification that you don't need or don't want to see, instead of swiping it away every time, you can permanently disable it. When you get the notification, then hold on it and it will take you to that app's notifications menu, and it will flash on that particular notification type so watch out for it. There, you can turn it off, and if you click on the text of that notification, you can customize its sound and vibrations. For the persistent sticky notifications, sometimes when you hold on it, it will instead bring up three options, one of which is "Minimize". Clicking on that should turn it off. You may have to press a couple of more things depending on how "sticky" the notification is. You can't disable system built-in notifications like phone calls.
4) Drag down on notifications to get special options
Most people know this, but those new to Android may not. You can drag down on most notifications to read more of it, and on a message notification, usually dragging down on it brings a quick "reply" button. If you click that, you can reply without having to open the conversation on the app. It's quite convenient. For other apps, there are other special options sometimes when you drag down on the notification.
5) Swipe controls for brightness and sound using YouTube Vanced
If you use YouTube Vanced which was tip (29) in Part 1, then you can do this. Click on your profile pic on the top right > Settings > Vanced settings > Swipe controls > Turn ON for Brightness and Volume. I didn't touch the Swipe threshold, but I set the Swipe padding (top) to 120. Now go into a video, and you can swipe the left half of your screen up and down for Brightness, and right half of the screen for volume. The Swipe threshold is to stop accidental triggers when you pull down the notification bar from the edge while watching a video in landscape mode. If you are still getting accidental swipes when trying to pull down the notification tray / quick toggles while in landscape, then make then Swipe threshold higher.
6) Download Spotify (or other streaming music app) songs to the phone's storage + set to Very High quality
I like to download all my songs from Spotify onto my phone's local storage since I have so much free space. The benefit is that you don't use the internet to stream your music (unless it is a song outside your library), so this saves great battery since you're not streaming, and overall, having the songs available on the phone locally is awesome. I use Spotify so I'll give the instructions for that. Go to Spotify > Settings, scroll down until you see Music Quality. Choose which quality you want for Download - I set mine to Very High since I don't care how much space it uses. Then go to Your Library tab > Liked songs > and turn the Downloaded songs toggle ON. Spotify will slowly download your entire set of songs onto the phone. I currently have 30GB of Spotify music saved to my phone and have had no issues at all. All downloaded songs will have a green arrow on it.
NOTE: You can save Spotify songs to an SD card but I have had issues with this in the past, where the storage suddenly switches to the Phone local storage and everything starts downloading again. So use the SD card as a save location with caution. The phone storage never has problems so I stick to that now.
7) Integrate local MP3s onto Spotify (songs that don't exist on Spotify)!
If you have a set of MP3 files on your computer that you wish were available on Spotify, you can now actually add them to your Spotify on your phone! You'll need a PC and a Wi-Fi connection for this.
On your Spotify on PC:
Put all the MP3 files you want into a folder - this folder will be synced to Spotify. Now go to the Settings of your Spotify on the PC. Turn ON "Show Local Files". Under "Show songs from", I recommend turning off everything and clicking "Add a source", then adding that specific folder of MP3s. Now all of your local MP3s will be shown on a section called Local Files on the left. Now, you have to create a playlist, and call it "LOCAL" or whatever you wish. Then click on the Local Files section, hit Ctrl+A to choose all, and drag all of the songs to the playlist you just created, which I called "LOCAL". Now go into that "LOCAL" playlist, and turn ON the Downloaded button (on the right side) and it should go green.
On your Spotify app on the S10:
Make sure you're on the same Wi-Fi as your PC (or the PC can be wired into the same connection too). Close Spotify and re-open it so that the new playlist "LOCAL" shows up, go into it and all the songs should be grey. Turn ON the "Downloaded" button. Now Spotify will download all your local MP3 files as long as you're on the same internet connection as the PC. Once they have all finished downloading, they will all have green arrows on them. Now you can listen to these MP3s wherever you are. So whenever you want to listen to a song that is in your local MP3s, you'll have to go to that "LOCAL" playlist on your phone. I think you can add it to your normal spotify library which is called Liked Songs now, but I haven't tried it as I had issues before. So I have all my custom MP3s in its own playlist now, which works like a charm.
8) Keep statistics for all your music listening via last.fm
Go to last.fm on the internet and make an account, then on that website once logged in, go to Settings > Applications > and connect your Spotify account into "Spotify Scrobbling". Now every song you listen to is recorded, and you can see your statistics for your top songs, artists, albums, etc. All you do is log in to last.fm and see your profile - it's very cool :) Records songs played from phone and PC and wherever else. I bookmarked it to Chrome so I can check it out sometimes.
Alternatively, for really quick Spotify statistics, go here. You'll need to login to Spotify for it to work, and the benefit is that it grabs data since the start of your Spotify account, where as last fm gets data from when you make the account onwards.
9) Clipboard History and Clipboard Edge
If you didn't know, your phone stores a full clipboard history, it doesn't just save the last thing that was copied. I use the stock Samsung Keyboard so for those with Gboard and other ones, I don't know where the button is. First, you need to enable the Keyboard Toolbar: Go to your phone's Settings > General management > Language and input > On-screen keyboard > Samsung Keyboard > Keyboard Layout and feedback > turn ON Keyboard toolbar. Now open up the keyboard in any app, click the button at the top left of the keyboard to toggle to the icons, click the icon that looks like a "save" icon or a file, this is the clipboard. You may have to click the three dots on the right to find the icon. The clipboard saves all copied text and images.
Hot tip - There is an edge panel for the clipboard. Go to your edge display, click the settings cog on the bottom left, then enable the Clipboard Edge. Now you can access your clipboard on the edge. Really convenient.
10) Smart Select edge panel for quick cropped-screenshots, GIFs, pin-to-screen
Go to your edge panel and click the settings cog on the bottom left, then enable Smart Select edge panel. The top icon on this panel is the quick-crop, sometimes I prefer this over the normal screenshot, as it immediately goes into the crop window so I can choose which part of the screen to capture. Also you can make GIFs from here, try it out on YouTube videos or something, it's quite cool.
One really useful feature here is the bottom button of the 4 in Smart Select, which is Pin to Screen. You can click this to pin a certain area to the screen, so you can go into other apps and keep that part pinned. Really useful in some situations if you need to remember something across apps, but can't copy it.
11) Show Spotify (or other) music player inside Google Maps navigation
Go to Google Maps > Swipe from the left > Click Settings > Navigation settings > Turn ON "Show media playback controls", set Default media app to Spotify (or other music player). Then restart the app, now every time you go into a navigation, Spotify will show up. If you want to remove any persistent notification that comes up, use tip (3).
12) Diagnostic testing for sensors, hardware, screen, etc.
Dial *#0*# and a board of options will come up, and you can test different functions of the phone.
WARNING: Only use this if something to do with sensors or hardware is not working for you, for example, I used it when I ran my S9 through water and needed to test the front and bottom speakers. Also be warned that it takes a while to get out of this menu for some reason - I had to button mash the home and back button to get out of here, but eventually it will definitely get out of there.
13) Turn on Developer options
This is a given for most experienced Android users, but some of you may not know it. Warning - only do things in here that you know well, and don't mess around here. This will be used in a few more of my tips shown below.
Settings > About Phone > Software information > keep tapping "Build number" until it tells you that you've unlocked Developer options.
14) Use high quality bluetooth codecs if your bluetooth headphones are compatible
If your headphones support high quality codecs like LDAC (Sony) or APTX, then this is for you. While your headphones are connected, go to developer options (13), then scroll down to "Bluetooth audio codec" and switch it to the best codec that your headphones support (research it). You can also fiddle with the other bluetooth settings here if you understand them. I use the Sony WH-1000XM3 so I use the LDAC codec and it is amazing. Once you have chosen your codec, then you can go into the normal bluetooth settings menu, click the cog/wheel of the connected bluetooth device, and a toggle showing your chosen codec should appear, confirming that it is indeed being used.
NOTE: For the Galaxy Buds, the general consensus is that Default is the best codec so don't play around with this if you have the buds - they are made for the S10 anyway.
15) Use the Bixby button as a toggle between "Sound" and "Vibrate" modes, like the iPhone switch
You will need to install BxActions and enable Full Remapping, so follow tip (22) in Part 1. Once you've done that, go into BxActions > Bixbi button > for both "Single press" options on Standard action and Lockscreen, set it to "Sound mode iOS (Sound, vibrate)" or the (Sound, vibrate, silent) whichever you prefer. You can also do many other things with BxActions such as Flashlight, Google Assistant, and so on.
NOTE: When you switch to "Sound" mode, it plays a little sound tone. When you switch to "Vibrate" mode, it vibrates. I guess it is nice to know which mode you're in.
16) Save battery by putting certain apps to sleep
Settings > Device Care > Battery > (3 dots) > Settings > Sleeping Apps. Now, add apps which you 1) Don't need notifications from, and 2) Don't use frequently. If you have issues with a particular app after adding it to this, then take it off.
17) Quick weather in Lockscreen
Settings > Lock screen > FaceWidgets > turn ON weather. This uses the stock Samsung weather app. Now when you're on the lockscreen, just swipe left/right from the clock and the weather will appear (along with any other FaceWidgets you have). It's a quick way to look at the weather without unlocking the phone.
18) Save battery by turning off Sync options that you don't need + Samsung Cloud
Settings > Accounts and backup > Accounts. Here you'll find all the accounts that are constantly being synced, from all apps. You can click through each of them to see what is enabled and what is disabled, and turn things on and off based on what you don't need. For example in the Google account. If you go back one level to Settings > Accounts and backup, you can go to Samsung Cloud to see what is being backed up to the Samsung servers. Click the 3 dots > Settings > Sync and auto backup settings > turn OFF anything you don't want synced. Also switch to the Auto Back up tab. I have turned everything off as I prefer doing backups only when I feel like it, as a one-off backup.
Another tip which I mentioned before is that if you use Outlook, you can turn off sync in your quick toggles and set a bixby routine to turn sync on only when the phone is charging - see tip (21) in Part 1.
19) Don't get into the habit of "closing all apps" in the recents/multitasking screen
I know a lot of people who have a habit of always clearing all the apps. The S10 has 8GB ram (6GB for some S10Es and 12GB for the 1TB S10+ model). This is a LOT of RAM and also, on Android, the more RAM utilized, the better. Always keep all of your apps open in the multitasking menu - it actually saves battery as when you open an app, it is already in the RAM and so it doesn't have to reload from scratch which saves battery and also provides better performance. I only close one particular app if it is bugging out. Only when the phone is completely frozen or something (very rare), then you can try "closing all apps".
20) Disabling lots of apps and system functions with Package Disabler/AdHell3/ADB Commands can hurt battery
If you use Package Disabler/AdHell/ADB Commands to disable a lot of apps including Samsung system things, sometimes it can really hurt your battery performance, which is the opposite of what you were trying to do. What happens is that the phone is repeatedly searching for a funcionality that it can't find, resulting in higher battery use, even though you won't know it. I've had this same experience on the S9 and S7 too. So these days, I stay away from disabling apps in that way.
I only go to Settings > Apps, and disable some apps which are duplicates and keep it at that (e.g. YouTube, Gmail, Google Music, etc). My battery seems to be fine now.
21) Swipe right and left for Back and Forward gestures in Chrome
Go to Chrome, go to "Chrome://flags", then search "Overscroll history navigation". Set it to Enabled, relaunch Chrome. Now you can swipe right for Back and left for forward. Quite useful especially for one handed use.
22) In-built Caller ID from Hiya - see who's calling you before you pick up!
Go to the Phone app > (3 dots) > Settings > Turn ON "Caller ID and spam protection". Click on the text of it to get a description. Essentially, there is an extensive directory on Hiya's database, and it identifies Spam callers for you, and it also sometimes identifies people's or business' names. It works when you receive a call or when you dial a number. It's nice to have some confirmation of who you're calling / who's calling you.
NOTE: Seems like most US-carrier models such as Verizon don't have this option, possibly due to potential conflicts with network policies.
23) Check out and customize the "Doze" buckets for standby status of apps
Android has a built-in feature called Doze that turns apps into standby based on usage patterns. To see what category Android has put your apps into, go to Settings > Developer options (see tip (13) to enable this). Scroll down to "Standby apps" and click on it. You'll find apps are put into four states - FREQUENT, ACTIVE, WORKING_SET > RARE. You can also click on apps and change their state based on your preference. You can't do it to some System apps so they show as EXEMPTED.
24) Turn Scene Optimizer off on the Camera for a more natural colour profile which you may like
By default, Scene Optimizer is ON in the Camera - this is where AI is used to detect what the image is, and a colour and HDR profile is added onto the picture. This usually results in stunning shots but sometimes the saturation is overblown. You can turn if OFF and test out if you like the pictures better. While in the camera view, click the button on the bottom right of the camera view (it is in line with the triple lens buttons) - this is the icon that changes based on what you're looking at. I find myself turning it off 50% of the time for a more natural shot, but Scene Optimizer is still great so don't turn it off permanently.
25) Show all of your notification icons rather than the dots after 3 notifications
Swipe the quick toggles down completely (so swipe down twice) > (3 dots) > Status bar. Turn "all notifications" on, rather than "3 recent notifications". Also, I turned off the battery percentage since I'm quite happy with the battery and don't need to constantly monitor it. I prefer the look in this setup.
26) Try using a pattern rather than pin code - it's way faster
Other than face recognition and fingerprint, sometimes we need to put in our manual method. I find the pattern to be way faster than putting in a PIN code, however do note that it is overall less secure. To change it, go to Settings > Lock screen > Screen lock type. Change the PIN to Pattern and setup a pattern that's unique but also easy to swipe. Try it out and see if you like it.
You can disable the pattern from being shown while you unlock the phone: Settings > Lock screen > Secure lock settings > Turn OFF Make Pattern Visible. Now when you swipe the pattern it remains invisible.
27) Turn off "Lift to wake" to stop the screen from accidentally turning on a lot
If you always find your screen turning on when you move it around, it's because of this. Settings > Advanced Features > Motions and gestures > turn OFF "Lift to wake".
28) Swipe down from anywhere on the home screen to bring up the quick toggles
Settings > Display > Home Screen > turn ON "Quick-open notification panel". Now go to your home screen and swipe down from anywhere to bring up the toggles, really useful for one handed use.
NOTE: Some custom launchers will not support this feature as they have another screen that comes up when you swipe down, e.g. a search bar.
29) Get amazing sound performance - Dolby Atmos, Adapt Sound, UHQ Upscaler
Settings > Sounds and vibration > Advanced sound settings > Sound quality and effects.
Turn on Dolby Atmos - this gives you a richer sound profile and everything becomes louder and more vibrant. I usually have my Dolby Atmos set to "Auto" but "Music" is good too. Don't listen to the nit-picky battery folk who say Dolby Atmos uses more battery - it really doesn't. I've left mine on permanently and it's fine.
If you use headphones/earphones, both wired or wireless, setup Adapt Sound in this menu while you are wearing the headphones. What this does is a "beep test" at a whole range of frequencies and you indicate which frequencies you can hear and which you can't hear. Then it amplifies the frequencies you can't hear so it's like your own customized sound profile for your own ears.
If you use wired headphones/earphones through the headphone jack (e.g. the AKG ones you get in the box), then while they're plugged in, you'll see UHQ Upscaler. Turn it on and set it to bit upscale. You can test out the bit and bandwidth settings, but I think it's better on the bit upscale only.
30) Uninstall or Disable duplicate apps you don't need
Settings > Apps > [Choose App] > Uninstall or Disable (whichever is available).
If you use Outlook, disable/uninstall Samsung Email, Gmail, etc. If you use Spotify, disable Google Play Music. If you use Dropbox, disable One Drive (however don't disable Google Drive as this controls the "Copy" function in share menus sometimes... stupid I know). If you use the default Samsung Gallery, disable Google Photos.
In general, clear out all apps which you already use another app for. If you see an app which you don't understand/recognize, just leave it. Don't start disabling all things that you "think" you don't need. This will result in unwanted battery drain.
31) You can see which apps allow certain permissions, sorted by permissions!
Settings > Apps > (3 dots) > App Permissions. Here, you can see which apps use certain permissions, e.g. Location or Storage. You can then click on the app and take away its permission to do that. To save some battery, see which apps have permission to use Location, and remove any you think you don't need to give location access too.
NOTE: Don't remove any permissions from System/Google apps as this will mess with the phone functionality - e.g. do not touch Google Play Services or Google Play Store or any Samsung system app. Only take away permissions from apps you downloaded from the Play Store..
32) Open into a notification's app straight from the Lock Screen
First, ensure you are on Brief or Detailed view: Settings > Lock Screen > Notifications > View Style = Brief or Detailed. Now when you see a notification on the lock screen, tap it TWICE. This brings up your manual unlock method (PIN or Pattern) but you can still use Face Recognition or Fingerprint to open it.
33) Brightness slider pinned to brief view of quick toggles, only need one swipe down to change brightness
Pull down the quick toggles down to the brightness control. Click the down arrow to the right of the control. Turn ON "show control on top". Now you only have to swipe down once to get brightness, and in combination with (28) this is really helpful.
Once again, this is not really about themes and visual customizations, it's more about using your device thoroughly and getting the most out of it with stock settings plus some very useful apps.
1) On-Screen Lock Button via One Hand Operation + (OHO+)
Download OHO+ from the Galaxy Store if you haven't already got it. The main functionality of OHO+ is to use the back/home/recents button from the edge. But another cool thing you can do is lock your phone using the edge. In OHO+, click on your handle (left handle or right handle), then turn on "Long Swipe", then set the Straight left (or right) option to "Screen off". Now, wherever you are, you can lock the phone by swiping left (or right) from the edge and holding it. This removes the need for the SoftKey Edge panel, which was tip (12) in Part 1.
My OHO+ setup is as follows: Swipe left = back, Swipe Diagonal Up = Recents, Swipe Diagonal Down = Home, Swipe left HOLD = Screen Off / Lock.
2) Enable Dark Mode on Chrome, and Dark Web Contents (like Samsung Internet with Night Mode)
Go to Chrome and type "chrome://flags" to access the flags menu. If your version is 74 or above (you can see it in the top right of this page), then you can do this. Search "dark" and you'll find two options. The UI dark mode will change the Chrome user interface to dark colours, and the web contents dark mode will try to darken all web pages. Switch these to "Enabled" rather than "Default" for whichever one you want. In my experience, the web contents hasn't been perfected yet, but the Dark UI is decent.
3) Disable notifications that annoy you, even persistent sticky ones
If you find that you always get a particular notification that you don't need or don't want to see, instead of swiping it away every time, you can permanently disable it. When you get the notification, then hold on it and it will take you to that app's notifications menu, and it will flash on that particular notification type so watch out for it. There, you can turn it off, and if you click on the text of that notification, you can customize its sound and vibrations. For the persistent sticky notifications, sometimes when you hold on it, it will instead bring up three options, one of which is "Minimize". Clicking on that should turn it off. You may have to press a couple of more things depending on how "sticky" the notification is. You can't disable system built-in notifications like phone calls.
4) Drag down on notifications to get special options
Most people know this, but those new to Android may not. You can drag down on most notifications to read more of it, and on a message notification, usually dragging down on it brings a quick "reply" button. If you click that, you can reply without having to open the conversation on the app. It's quite convenient. For other apps, there are other special options sometimes when you drag down on the notification.
5) Swipe controls for brightness and sound using YouTube Vanced
If you use YouTube Vanced which was tip (29) in Part 1, then you can do this. Click on your profile pic on the top right > Settings > Vanced settings > Swipe controls > Turn ON for Brightness and Volume. I didn't touch the Swipe threshold, but I set the Swipe padding (top) to 120. Now go into a video, and you can swipe the left half of your screen up and down for Brightness, and right half of the screen for volume. The Swipe threshold is to stop accidental triggers when you pull down the notification bar from the edge while watching a video in landscape mode. If you are still getting accidental swipes when trying to pull down the notification tray / quick toggles while in landscape, then make then Swipe threshold higher.
6) Download Spotify (or other streaming music app) songs to the phone's storage + set to Very High quality
I like to download all my songs from Spotify onto my phone's local storage since I have so much free space. The benefit is that you don't use the internet to stream your music (unless it is a song outside your library), so this saves great battery since you're not streaming, and overall, having the songs available on the phone locally is awesome. I use Spotify so I'll give the instructions for that. Go to Spotify > Settings, scroll down until you see Music Quality. Choose which quality you want for Download - I set mine to Very High since I don't care how much space it uses. Then go to Your Library tab > Liked songs > and turn the Downloaded songs toggle ON. Spotify will slowly download your entire set of songs onto the phone. I currently have 30GB of Spotify music saved to my phone and have had no issues at all. All downloaded songs will have a green arrow on it.
NOTE: You can save Spotify songs to an SD card but I have had issues with this in the past, where the storage suddenly switches to the Phone local storage and everything starts downloading again. So use the SD card as a save location with caution. The phone storage never has problems so I stick to that now.
7) Integrate local MP3s onto Spotify (songs that don't exist on Spotify)!
If you have a set of MP3 files on your computer that you wish were available on Spotify, you can now actually add them to your Spotify on your phone! You'll need a PC and a Wi-Fi connection for this.
On your Spotify on PC:
Put all the MP3 files you want into a folder - this folder will be synced to Spotify. Now go to the Settings of your Spotify on the PC. Turn ON "Show Local Files". Under "Show songs from", I recommend turning off everything and clicking "Add a source", then adding that specific folder of MP3s. Now all of your local MP3s will be shown on a section called Local Files on the left. Now, you have to create a playlist, and call it "LOCAL" or whatever you wish. Then click on the Local Files section, hit Ctrl+A to choose all, and drag all of the songs to the playlist you just created, which I called "LOCAL". Now go into that "LOCAL" playlist, and turn ON the Downloaded button (on the right side) and it should go green.
On your Spotify app on the S10:
Make sure you're on the same Wi-Fi as your PC (or the PC can be wired into the same connection too). Close Spotify and re-open it so that the new playlist "LOCAL" shows up, go into it and all the songs should be grey. Turn ON the "Downloaded" button. Now Spotify will download all your local MP3 files as long as you're on the same internet connection as the PC. Once they have all finished downloading, they will all have green arrows on them. Now you can listen to these MP3s wherever you are. So whenever you want to listen to a song that is in your local MP3s, you'll have to go to that "LOCAL" playlist on your phone. I think you can add it to your normal spotify library which is called Liked Songs now, but I haven't tried it as I had issues before. So I have all my custom MP3s in its own playlist now, which works like a charm.
8) Keep statistics for all your music listening via last.fm
Go to last.fm on the internet and make an account, then on that website once logged in, go to Settings > Applications > and connect your Spotify account into "Spotify Scrobbling". Now every song you listen to is recorded, and you can see your statistics for your top songs, artists, albums, etc. All you do is log in to last.fm and see your profile - it's very cool :) Records songs played from phone and PC and wherever else. I bookmarked it to Chrome so I can check it out sometimes.
Alternatively, for really quick Spotify statistics, go here. You'll need to login to Spotify for it to work, and the benefit is that it grabs data since the start of your Spotify account, where as last fm gets data from when you make the account onwards.
9) Clipboard History and Clipboard Edge
If you didn't know, your phone stores a full clipboard history, it doesn't just save the last thing that was copied. I use the stock Samsung Keyboard so for those with Gboard and other ones, I don't know where the button is. First, you need to enable the Keyboard Toolbar: Go to your phone's Settings > General management > Language and input > On-screen keyboard > Samsung Keyboard > Keyboard Layout and feedback > turn ON Keyboard toolbar. Now open up the keyboard in any app, click the button at the top left of the keyboard to toggle to the icons, click the icon that looks like a "save" icon or a file, this is the clipboard. You may have to click the three dots on the right to find the icon. The clipboard saves all copied text and images.
Hot tip - There is an edge panel for the clipboard. Go to your edge display, click the settings cog on the bottom left, then enable the Clipboard Edge. Now you can access your clipboard on the edge. Really convenient.
10) Smart Select edge panel for quick cropped-screenshots, GIFs, pin-to-screen
Go to your edge panel and click the settings cog on the bottom left, then enable Smart Select edge panel. The top icon on this panel is the quick-crop, sometimes I prefer this over the normal screenshot, as it immediately goes into the crop window so I can choose which part of the screen to capture. Also you can make GIFs from here, try it out on YouTube videos or something, it's quite cool.
One really useful feature here is the bottom button of the 4 in Smart Select, which is Pin to Screen. You can click this to pin a certain area to the screen, so you can go into other apps and keep that part pinned. Really useful in some situations if you need to remember something across apps, but can't copy it.
11) Show Spotify (or other) music player inside Google Maps navigation
Go to Google Maps > Swipe from the left > Click Settings > Navigation settings > Turn ON "Show media playback controls", set Default media app to Spotify (or other music player). Then restart the app, now every time you go into a navigation, Spotify will show up. If you want to remove any persistent notification that comes up, use tip (3).
12) Diagnostic testing for sensors, hardware, screen, etc.
Dial *#0*# and a board of options will come up, and you can test different functions of the phone.
WARNING: Only use this if something to do with sensors or hardware is not working for you, for example, I used it when I ran my S9 through water and needed to test the front and bottom speakers. Also be warned that it takes a while to get out of this menu for some reason - I had to button mash the home and back button to get out of here, but eventually it will definitely get out of there.
13) Turn on Developer options
This is a given for most experienced Android users, but some of you may not know it. Warning - only do things in here that you know well, and don't mess around here. This will be used in a few more of my tips shown below.
Settings > About Phone > Software information > keep tapping "Build number" until it tells you that you've unlocked Developer options.
14) Use high quality bluetooth codecs if your bluetooth headphones are compatible
If your headphones support high quality codecs like LDAC (Sony) or APTX, then this is for you. While your headphones are connected, go to developer options (13), then scroll down to "Bluetooth audio codec" and switch it to the best codec that your headphones support (research it). You can also fiddle with the other bluetooth settings here if you understand them. I use the Sony WH-1000XM3 so I use the LDAC codec and it is amazing. Once you have chosen your codec, then you can go into the normal bluetooth settings menu, click the cog/wheel of the connected bluetooth device, and a toggle showing your chosen codec should appear, confirming that it is indeed being used.
NOTE: For the Galaxy Buds, the general consensus is that Default is the best codec so don't play around with this if you have the buds - they are made for the S10 anyway.
15) Use the Bixby button as a toggle between "Sound" and "Vibrate" modes, like the iPhone switch
You will need to install BxActions and enable Full Remapping, so follow tip (22) in Part 1. Once you've done that, go into BxActions > Bixbi button > for both "Single press" options on Standard action and Lockscreen, set it to "Sound mode iOS (Sound, vibrate)" or the (Sound, vibrate, silent) whichever you prefer. You can also do many other things with BxActions such as Flashlight, Google Assistant, and so on.
NOTE: When you switch to "Sound" mode, it plays a little sound tone. When you switch to "Vibrate" mode, it vibrates. I guess it is nice to know which mode you're in.
16) Save battery by putting certain apps to sleep
Settings > Device Care > Battery > (3 dots) > Settings > Sleeping Apps. Now, add apps which you 1) Don't need notifications from, and 2) Don't use frequently. If you have issues with a particular app after adding it to this, then take it off.
17) Quick weather in Lockscreen
Settings > Lock screen > FaceWidgets > turn ON weather. This uses the stock Samsung weather app. Now when you're on the lockscreen, just swipe left/right from the clock and the weather will appear (along with any other FaceWidgets you have). It's a quick way to look at the weather without unlocking the phone.
18) Save battery by turning off Sync options that you don't need + Samsung Cloud
Settings > Accounts and backup > Accounts. Here you'll find all the accounts that are constantly being synced, from all apps. You can click through each of them to see what is enabled and what is disabled, and turn things on and off based on what you don't need. For example in the Google account. If you go back one level to Settings > Accounts and backup, you can go to Samsung Cloud to see what is being backed up to the Samsung servers. Click the 3 dots > Settings > Sync and auto backup settings > turn OFF anything you don't want synced. Also switch to the Auto Back up tab. I have turned everything off as I prefer doing backups only when I feel like it, as a one-off backup.
Another tip which I mentioned before is that if you use Outlook, you can turn off sync in your quick toggles and set a bixby routine to turn sync on only when the phone is charging - see tip (21) in Part 1.
19) Don't get into the habit of "closing all apps" in the recents/multitasking screen
I know a lot of people who have a habit of always clearing all the apps. The S10 has 8GB ram (6GB for some S10Es and 12GB for the 1TB S10+ model). This is a LOT of RAM and also, on Android, the more RAM utilized, the better. Always keep all of your apps open in the multitasking menu - it actually saves battery as when you open an app, it is already in the RAM and so it doesn't have to reload from scratch which saves battery and also provides better performance. I only close one particular app if it is bugging out. Only when the phone is completely frozen or something (very rare), then you can try "closing all apps".
20) Disabling lots of apps and system functions with Package Disabler/AdHell3/ADB Commands can hurt battery
If you use Package Disabler/AdHell/ADB Commands to disable a lot of apps including Samsung system things, sometimes it can really hurt your battery performance, which is the opposite of what you were trying to do. What happens is that the phone is repeatedly searching for a funcionality that it can't find, resulting in higher battery use, even though you won't know it. I've had this same experience on the S9 and S7 too. So these days, I stay away from disabling apps in that way.
I only go to Settings > Apps, and disable some apps which are duplicates and keep it at that (e.g. YouTube, Gmail, Google Music, etc). My battery seems to be fine now.
21) Swipe right and left for Back and Forward gestures in Chrome
Go to Chrome, go to "Chrome://flags", then search "Overscroll history navigation". Set it to Enabled, relaunch Chrome. Now you can swipe right for Back and left for forward. Quite useful especially for one handed use.
22) In-built Caller ID from Hiya - see who's calling you before you pick up!
Go to the Phone app > (3 dots) > Settings > Turn ON "Caller ID and spam protection". Click on the text of it to get a description. Essentially, there is an extensive directory on Hiya's database, and it identifies Spam callers for you, and it also sometimes identifies people's or business' names. It works when you receive a call or when you dial a number. It's nice to have some confirmation of who you're calling / who's calling you.
NOTE: Seems like most US-carrier models such as Verizon don't have this option, possibly due to potential conflicts with network policies.
23) Check out and customize the "Doze" buckets for standby status of apps
Android has a built-in feature called Doze that turns apps into standby based on usage patterns. To see what category Android has put your apps into, go to Settings > Developer options (see tip (13) to enable this). Scroll down to "Standby apps" and click on it. You'll find apps are put into four states - FREQUENT, ACTIVE, WORKING_SET > RARE. You can also click on apps and change their state based on your preference. You can't do it to some System apps so they show as EXEMPTED.
24) Turn Scene Optimizer off on the Camera for a more natural colour profile which you may like
By default, Scene Optimizer is ON in the Camera - this is where AI is used to detect what the image is, and a colour and HDR profile is added onto the picture. This usually results in stunning shots but sometimes the saturation is overblown. You can turn if OFF and test out if you like the pictures better. While in the camera view, click the button on the bottom right of the camera view (it is in line with the triple lens buttons) - this is the icon that changes based on what you're looking at. I find myself turning it off 50% of the time for a more natural shot, but Scene Optimizer is still great so don't turn it off permanently.
25) Show all of your notification icons rather than the dots after 3 notifications
Swipe the quick toggles down completely (so swipe down twice) > (3 dots) > Status bar. Turn "all notifications" on, rather than "3 recent notifications". Also, I turned off the battery percentage since I'm quite happy with the battery and don't need to constantly monitor it. I prefer the look in this setup.
26) Try using a pattern rather than pin code - it's way faster
Other than face recognition and fingerprint, sometimes we need to put in our manual method. I find the pattern to be way faster than putting in a PIN code, however do note that it is overall less secure. To change it, go to Settings > Lock screen > Screen lock type. Change the PIN to Pattern and setup a pattern that's unique but also easy to swipe. Try it out and see if you like it.
You can disable the pattern from being shown while you unlock the phone: Settings > Lock screen > Secure lock settings > Turn OFF Make Pattern Visible. Now when you swipe the pattern it remains invisible.
27) Turn off "Lift to wake" to stop the screen from accidentally turning on a lot
If you always find your screen turning on when you move it around, it's because of this. Settings > Advanced Features > Motions and gestures > turn OFF "Lift to wake".
28) Swipe down from anywhere on the home screen to bring up the quick toggles
Settings > Display > Home Screen > turn ON "Quick-open notification panel". Now go to your home screen and swipe down from anywhere to bring up the toggles, really useful for one handed use.
NOTE: Some custom launchers will not support this feature as they have another screen that comes up when you swipe down, e.g. a search bar.
29) Get amazing sound performance - Dolby Atmos, Adapt Sound, UHQ Upscaler
Settings > Sounds and vibration > Advanced sound settings > Sound quality and effects.
Turn on Dolby Atmos - this gives you a richer sound profile and everything becomes louder and more vibrant. I usually have my Dolby Atmos set to "Auto" but "Music" is good too. Don't listen to the nit-picky battery folk who say Dolby Atmos uses more battery - it really doesn't. I've left mine on permanently and it's fine.
If you use headphones/earphones, both wired or wireless, setup Adapt Sound in this menu while you are wearing the headphones. What this does is a "beep test" at a whole range of frequencies and you indicate which frequencies you can hear and which you can't hear. Then it amplifies the frequencies you can't hear so it's like your own customized sound profile for your own ears.
If you use wired headphones/earphones through the headphone jack (e.g. the AKG ones you get in the box), then while they're plugged in, you'll see UHQ Upscaler. Turn it on and set it to bit upscale. You can test out the bit and bandwidth settings, but I think it's better on the bit upscale only.
30) Uninstall or Disable duplicate apps you don't need
Settings > Apps > [Choose App] > Uninstall or Disable (whichever is available).
If you use Outlook, disable/uninstall Samsung Email, Gmail, etc. If you use Spotify, disable Google Play Music. If you use Dropbox, disable One Drive (however don't disable Google Drive as this controls the "Copy" function in share menus sometimes... stupid I know). If you use the default Samsung Gallery, disable Google Photos.
In general, clear out all apps which you already use another app for. If you see an app which you don't understand/recognize, just leave it. Don't start disabling all things that you "think" you don't need. This will result in unwanted battery drain.
31) You can see which apps allow certain permissions, sorted by permissions!
Settings > Apps > (3 dots) > App Permissions. Here, you can see which apps use certain permissions, e.g. Location or Storage. You can then click on the app and take away its permission to do that. To save some battery, see which apps have permission to use Location, and remove any you think you don't need to give location access too.
NOTE: Don't remove any permissions from System/Google apps as this will mess with the phone functionality - e.g. do not touch Google Play Services or Google Play Store or any Samsung system app. Only take away permissions from apps you downloaded from the Play Store..
32) Open into a notification's app straight from the Lock Screen
First, ensure you are on Brief or Detailed view: Settings > Lock Screen > Notifications > View Style = Brief or Detailed. Now when you see a notification on the lock screen, tap it TWICE. This brings up your manual unlock method (PIN or Pattern) but you can still use Face Recognition or Fingerprint to open it.
33) Brightness slider pinned to brief view of quick toggles, only need one swipe down to change brightness
Pull down the quick toggles down to the brightness control. Click the down arrow to the right of the control. Turn ON "show control on top". Now you only have to swipe down once to get brightness, and in combination with (28) this is really helpful.
Tips & Tricks for Samsung Galaxy S10 - Part 1
This is a set of various settings, customization, and convenience tips, and some also help battery. This is not about customizing your home screen with custom launchers and icon packs, it's more about making the most of your smartphone. Some of these are specific to the Samsung S10, and some are Android-wide tips.
Click here for Part 2.
1) Turn on Wi-Fi automatically in locations where you use Wi-Fi
Go to Settings > Connections > Wi-Fi > 3 dots > Advanced > Turn On Wi-Fi Automatically ON. You need location ON for this.
2) Wi-Fi & Other Battery Savings
Go to Settings > Connections > Wi-Fi > 3 dots > Advanced > turn ON Wi-Fi Power Saving to save battery, then click view more at the bottom and turn OFF Hotspot 2.0 if you don't use this, saves more battery.
Also in Settings > Connections > More Connection Settings, turn OFF Nearby Device Scanning. This is usually not needed by most users and saves some battery.
3) Set up monthly data warnings and limits
Go to Settings > Connections > Data Usage, turn on Mobile Data to access this option, then click Billing cycle and data warning. Now put in the date that your carrier resets your data, and put in your data warning. I usually go 0.5 GB below my monthly data plan for the warning, but I don't set the limit.
4) Private DNS for System Wide AdBlocking without any app/software
Warning - only do this if you're cool with the company AdGuard or CloudFlare, people often hesitate since AdGuard is a Russian company, but I'm using it and it has been flawless. Go to Settings > Connections > More Connections Settings > Private DNS. Enter "dns.adguard.com" as the Private DNS. An alternative is "1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com".
If you use Chrome, you may need to disable Chrome's in-built DNS resolver, so that the DNS goes through the AdGuard one. Go to "chrome://flags", search "Async DNS resolver", set that to "Disabled". Now restart Chrome, and the AdGuard DNS should work within Chrome.
5) Use Volume keys for media volume
Go to Settings > Sounds and vibration > Use Volume Keys for media. Now your volume keys will control the media volume.
6) Vibrate when pressing recents/home/back button
Settings > Sounds and vibration > System sounds and vibration > Turn on "Touch vibration". I like it when they vibrate.
7) Make display slightly warmer or cooler if you want
For those that complain that the S10 AMOLED display is "too warm", use this. Go to Settings > Display > Screen Mode > use Vivid > use the White Balance slider to go one or two steps to the left (cooler). You might like it more. You can't use this slider if Blue Light Filter is on, so turn it off to configure it.
8) Good Lock - an official Samsung customization app, quick summary
This can be downloaded from the Galaxy Store, or if you don't see it, then google search how to install "Nice Lock".
LockStar - customize lockscreen, but a massive drawback is you have to use the small notification icons and can't view them detailed unless you click it, which drops down the quick toggle bar. Hence I don't use it.
QuickStar - customize the quick toggles look, pretty cool, I don't use it though
Task Changer - I definitely recommend this one! You can center the app on the current app, so that when you press recents key, it doesn't automatically go to the 2nd last app. It has some cool animations for the app switcher, I use "Grid", it's nice. I also blur the background so that the app switcher looks cleaner.
ClockFace - some nice additions to lockscreen and AOD clocks.
MultiStar - Enhanced multi-window multitasking abilities
NavStar - add some useful buttons to the typical 3 buttons at the bottom, change the icons, etc. This is cool if you want to have a quick screenshot button, or a quick lock button, or a quick "pull down toggles" button.
NotiStar - keep a notifications history like the iPhone, I don't use this
Nice Catch - logs what each vibration came from
One Hand Operation+ - this is a life saver on a big screen. Lets you use the edge screen as a back/home/recents button. I essentially use the entire area which isn't used by my edge handle, for One Hand Operations.
EdgeLighting+ - this gives you more options for Edge Lighting, and one of them is a cut-out light ;)
EdgeTouch - if you are having accidental presses on the edge, you can have customizable "blocked" zones. However, I have found that slapping any decent case on will solve all accidental touch problems, so I don't need this any more.
SoundAssistant - lets you control volume to the next level! Control "how far" a press of the volume key goes, configure multiple app volumes, individual app volumes, etc. Very cool.
9) Make the Edge Panel completely transparent + a sneaky tip
Swipe the Edge > click settings cog on bottom > 3 dots > Edge panel handle > Transparency set to full high. Now it won't show up on your screenshots. HOT TIP: position the Edge panel handle in the same place as your Lock Button! Now you don't need to remember where you put it, just look at your lock button and pull the edge from there! Remember to set the One Hand Operations+ (see (10)) swipe area from just under the Edge panel area, down to the bottom of the screen (or wherever you want it).
10) SoftKey Edge
Swipe Edge Panel > 3 dots > Galaxy Store > look for "SoftKey Edge". This brings Home/Back/Recents to the edge panel, but more importantly, it has a "Lock Button" on it. This is useful when your hands just can't physically press the lock button, so you can tap that Lock Button. It also adds a screenshot button but I never use this.
11) Device Care tips and automation
Go to Settings > Device Care > 3 dots:
Turn on Auto Optimization at roughly 3am every night or whenever is good for you. That way you never have to click Optimize yourself. Now I never close/clear apps from Recents (unless it is erroring). Put that 8GB of RAM to use!
Turn on Auto Restart - I have mine every Monday Wednesday Friday at 3:30am - make sure this is slightly after the Auto Optimization time.
Put the Device Care icon on the Apps Screen. Now go to the app icon, long press it, and with the 4 options you are presented, you can hold onto them and drag it into your home screen. So you can have an icon for Battery that takes you straight to the battery management screen!
12) Chrome Search Bar on Homescreen instead of Google's Bar
For those that don't really use the Google app itself, and also use Chrome as their browser, this is for you. Delete the Google Search bar on your home screen and instead, use the Chrome app's search bar by clicking on the chrome widgets. This search bar is WAY faster and smoother and searches it straight on your Chrome browser, therefore skipping the Google App "middleman" which I find to be just silly anyway.
13) Useful Bixby Routines
Go to Settings > Advanced Features > Bixby Routines. Click the 3 dots > settings > enable the icon, hide the widgets on lockscreen if you want. Here are some of my useful routines:
a) Car Mode: IF connected to [Car's Bluetooth], THEN Sound Mode ON, Media Volume 100%, Wi-Fi OFF, Unlock Phone ON (so I don't need to unlock while driving), Change Lockscreen shortcuts to Spotify & Google Maps, Play Music (Spotify).
b) AOD while Charging: IF Charging Status is Charging, THEN AOD Always On (as opposed to tap-to-display which I usually use)
c) Night Battery Saver: IF time = 1:30am-6:30am on (all weekdays) + IF Place = Home + IF Charging = not charging, THEN turn OFF BT/Wi-Fi/MobileData/Sync, Media Vol 0%, AOD off, Sound Mode = Mute. This one helps when you fall asleep with your phone not charging, just laying in your bed. Saves battery big time, get that flat line on the battery stats ;) Warning: If you're using your phone past 1:30am (or whenever you set it) in bed, everything will randomly shut off so beware!
d) Work Mode: IF Place = Work, THEN Sound Mode = Mute, Media Volume = 0%
14) If you don't use Google Assistant and/or Voice OK Google, disable it
Settings > search "Device assistance app" > set Device assistance app to "None". Now if you accidentally hold the home button, you won't get Google Assistant. Secondly, go to Settings > Google > "Search, Assistant & Voice" > Google Assistant > Assistant Tab > at the bottom click "Phone" and turn off the assistant. I also turned off Voice Match in this menu.
15) Better Spotify Lockscreen controls
I always found the Spotify controls on Lockscreen to be very unstable by default. Here's what I did: go to Settings > search "FaceWidgets" > click on it > turn OFF music. Doing this you will lose the AOD music controls, but you will get the classic lockscreen widget for Spotify which never ever fails for me :D
NOTE: You need your lockscreen notifications to be Detailed or Brief, not Icons only, see (33).
16) Faster Unlock Animation
If you want it to unlock faster with less animation, then go to Settings > Biometrics > Biometrics Preferences > turn OFF screen transition effect. The unlock will be kind of drastic but it is quicker.
17) Better Finger Print Scanner!
This has been a hot debate so I won't guarantee the results, but I used this guy's tutorial and now it is 99% flawless!
18) Turn off scanning for Location Accuracy to save battery
Go to quick toggles, long press Location, click Improve Accuracy, make sure both toggles are off (Wifi and BT scanning). They aren't needed and drain battery. NOTE: Google Maps and Tinder often turn on Wi-Fi Scanning automatically, so you often have to check back to turn it off. However I haven't had this issue recently.
19) IF you use Outlook for emails, you can turn off your phone's Auto-Sync and save battery
Outlook uses its own syncing, so even if Sync is OFF in your phone quick toggles, you'll still get emails on time. You can test it if you like. So I currently leave Sync off, and I have a bixby routine that IF phone is charging, then turn on Sync. Other than emails, Sync repeatedly syncs your contacts, texts, health, games, and other misc data to the Google servers which I find pointless on a regular basis, so I set it to be done when it is charging only. ONLY for outlook users. If you rely on Sync for other apps, then I guess don't do this one.
20) BxActions - use the Bixby button for Flashlight, Google Assistant, etc.
This is the best way to use the Bixby Button in my opinion, drains no battery, and disables Bixby Voice which I don't use anyway. Install it and follow the instructions to get Full Remapping (Essential). I use only one action:
Standard & Lockscreen: Long Press = Flashlight (system), so I can hold the button at any time for the torch :D
If you like, you can use the BxActions to remap Bixby button to launch Google Assistant, so then don't follow (14).
21) Disable persistent notification for "Chat Heads Active" for Messenger
If you use chat heads on Messenger (which I don't, I think it's intrusive), then you can disable that persistent notification. Settings > Notifications > Messenger > Scroll to the bottom > turn OFF "chat heads active" notification and click the text and make it silent. Gone!
22) Camera Settings
Non-mirrored Selfies: Go to Camera > click Settings cog > Save options > turn ON "Pictures as previewed".
Turn off Scene Optimizer if you'd like a more natural looking photo in daylight, as opposed to the loads of Saturation applied by default. I flick it on and off based on what I'm feeling like.
Show palm to take selfies: Camera > Settings > Shooting Methods > turn on Show Palm. Now you don't have to do hand gymnastics to press the button, just put your palm out and the cutout will show a quick timer animation and snap a picture! Voila!
Enable location tags if you want to see your photos in a photo world map, see (25)
Definitely enable Ultra Wide Shot Correction, it helps to straighten the edges of ultra-wide photos. Find it in "save options" in camera settings.
23) Gallery Map!
Go to the Stock Gallery. When you're viewing a picture, swipe up to bring up the details of the photo and swipe down to dismiss the photo. While you're in the photo's details, click on the map of where it was taken. You can see a world map of where every photo was taken, and the more you zoom in, the more detailed it gets! This is only available if you enabled "location tags" in Camera Settings.
24) Use Secure Folder + Funny Tip
Secure Folder is a secret space secured by fingerprint that you can have a separate hidden gallery, notes, contacts, and duplicate any other app you have. Go to Settings > Biometrics > Secure Folder. Enable it and put it on the home screen. Also use fingerprint to access it, and if you want, set a dedicated fingerprint for it. I use this for:
Gallery - when I want to save pics I don't want to be in my normal Gallery. Go to your normal Gallery, select a bunch of pics, 3 dots, Move to Secure Folder.
Chrome - I added a duplicate Chrome to my Secure Folder, that way I don't need to use Incognito Mode on my normal Chrome which I think sucks anyway. The benefit is on Secure Folder's Chrome, don't login to Google so you won't log sneaky activity onto your Google account lol.
TIP: Go to Secure Folder > 3 Dots > Customize Icon. Rename it to something funny. I call my secure folder "Sicko Mode" as a Travis Scott / Drake reference, lmao!
25) Battery Settings and Power Saving Mode Tips
Go to Settings > Device Care > Battery > 3 Dots. Enable Adaptive Battery Saving, put unused apps to sleep, Disable unused Apps, but don't use Optimize Settings.
Swipe down on quick toggles, hold on Power Saving Mode. Now this is a personal thing I like setup. I configured my Power Saving Mode to also use WQHD+ and AOD on. Then I turned ON Adaptive Power Saving Mode. So now when the phone flicks between Optimized and Power Saving Mode, I won't lose WQHD+ or AOD all of a sudden!
26) Better Chrome Address Bar (Chrome Duet)
Go into Chrome, type "chrome://flags", search "duet" and enable Chrome Duet. Now restart Chrome twice. Now you have a useful bar at the bottom and if you click the search button, it automatically selects the address bar at the top (but you didn't have to reach all the way up to the top!). Also, you can swipe left and right on this bottom bar to switch between tabs.
Don't forget to enable Chrome Duet on your Secure Folder's Chrome too, if you use that.
27) YouTube Vanced
Download here. Now all ads are blocked, and you can play videos in the background and when locked, for free. You can use the AMOLED black version, it's really nice and saves battery due to being true black. Go through all the settings in YouTube Vanced to check it all out. A fun fact is, "Vanced" comes from "Advanced" but they took the Ad out :) Now you can disable the default YouTube. To use Chromecast, you need to go to settings and Link To TV, or go to the Default YouTube app and connect it once from there.
You will also need to install Micro G available from the same website as YouTube Vanced. This allows you to login to your YouTube account.
If you have a login issue, the fix is here - the summary is: close all apps, Settings > Apps > Chrome > Disable, login to YouTube Vanced, Settings > Apps > Chrome > Enable.
28) Night Mode and Blue Light Filter
Night Mode is an essential and I can't live without it. Go to Settings > Display > Night Mode ON. Secondly, if you want to ease the pressure on your eyes at night, turn on Blue Light Filter in this same menu and set it to Sunrise/Sunset - don't worry about the location being used, it doesn't drain the battery.
29) Extra options in quick toggles
When you're in the quick toggles, click on the text of a toggle. Often this opens up more options. For example, flashlight brightness, temporary muting, orientation toggles for lockscreen/homescreen, etc. Investigate and see what you find.
30) Choose whether to stay on lockscreen after face unlock or not
Settings > search "Stay on Lock screen". If you want to stay on the lockscreen after a successful face unlock then turn this ON. Turn it OFF if you want to immediately dive into the phone after a face unlock.
31) Change Lockscreen Notifications to Detailed or Brief view
For some odd reason that I cannot understand, Samsung chose to only display icons for notifications in the Lockscreen. Let's change that. Go to Settings > Lock screen > Notifications > View Style: Change it from Icons only to Detailed or Brief, whichever you prefer. You can customize more stuff on this screen.
32) Turn off battery percentage and enjoy
This isn't a real tip, but after turning off battery percentage, it stopped me from constantly monitoring it and doing mental maths to figure out how fast it was draining. Pull down the quick toggles twice for the full view > 3 dots > status bar > turn OFF battery percentage. After enabling some of the battery focused tweaks above, I've found battery to be quite good and so I don't really feel like monitoring it. Just clears your head.
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YouTubers - if you take stuff from here, please link the blog.
Click here for Part 2.
1) Turn on Wi-Fi automatically in locations where you use Wi-Fi
Go to Settings > Connections > Wi-Fi > 3 dots > Advanced > Turn On Wi-Fi Automatically ON. You need location ON for this.
2) Wi-Fi & Other Battery Savings
Go to Settings > Connections > Wi-Fi > 3 dots > Advanced > turn ON Wi-Fi Power Saving to save battery, then click view more at the bottom and turn OFF Hotspot 2.0 if you don't use this, saves more battery.
Also in Settings > Connections > More Connection Settings, turn OFF Nearby Device Scanning. This is usually not needed by most users and saves some battery.
3) Set up monthly data warnings and limits
Go to Settings > Connections > Data Usage, turn on Mobile Data to access this option, then click Billing cycle and data warning. Now put in the date that your carrier resets your data, and put in your data warning. I usually go 0.5 GB below my monthly data plan for the warning, but I don't set the limit.
4) Private DNS for System Wide AdBlocking without any app/software
Warning - only do this if you're cool with the company AdGuard or CloudFlare, people often hesitate since AdGuard is a Russian company, but I'm using it and it has been flawless. Go to Settings > Connections > More Connections Settings > Private DNS. Enter "dns.adguard.com" as the Private DNS. An alternative is "1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com".
If you use Chrome, you may need to disable Chrome's in-built DNS resolver, so that the DNS goes through the AdGuard one. Go to "chrome://flags", search "Async DNS resolver", set that to "Disabled". Now restart Chrome, and the AdGuard DNS should work within Chrome.
5) Use Volume keys for media volume
Go to Settings > Sounds and vibration > Use Volume Keys for media. Now your volume keys will control the media volume.
6) Vibrate when pressing recents/home/back button
Settings > Sounds and vibration > System sounds and vibration > Turn on "Touch vibration". I like it when they vibrate.
7) Make display slightly warmer or cooler if you want
For those that complain that the S10 AMOLED display is "too warm", use this. Go to Settings > Display > Screen Mode > use Vivid > use the White Balance slider to go one or two steps to the left (cooler). You might like it more. You can't use this slider if Blue Light Filter is on, so turn it off to configure it.
8) Good Lock - an official Samsung customization app, quick summary
This can be downloaded from the Galaxy Store, or if you don't see it, then google search how to install "Nice Lock".
LockStar - customize lockscreen, but a massive drawback is you have to use the small notification icons and can't view them detailed unless you click it, which drops down the quick toggle bar. Hence I don't use it.
QuickStar - customize the quick toggles look, pretty cool, I don't use it though
Task Changer - I definitely recommend this one! You can center the app on the current app, so that when you press recents key, it doesn't automatically go to the 2nd last app. It has some cool animations for the app switcher, I use "Grid", it's nice. I also blur the background so that the app switcher looks cleaner.
ClockFace - some nice additions to lockscreen and AOD clocks.
MultiStar - Enhanced multi-window multitasking abilities
NavStar - add some useful buttons to the typical 3 buttons at the bottom, change the icons, etc. This is cool if you want to have a quick screenshot button, or a quick lock button, or a quick "pull down toggles" button.
NotiStar - keep a notifications history like the iPhone, I don't use this
Nice Catch - logs what each vibration came from
One Hand Operation+ - this is a life saver on a big screen. Lets you use the edge screen as a back/home/recents button. I essentially use the entire area which isn't used by my edge handle, for One Hand Operations.
EdgeLighting+ - this gives you more options for Edge Lighting, and one of them is a cut-out light ;)
EdgeTouch - if you are having accidental presses on the edge, you can have customizable "blocked" zones. However, I have found that slapping any decent case on will solve all accidental touch problems, so I don't need this any more.
SoundAssistant - lets you control volume to the next level! Control "how far" a press of the volume key goes, configure multiple app volumes, individual app volumes, etc. Very cool.
9) Make the Edge Panel completely transparent + a sneaky tip
Swipe the Edge > click settings cog on bottom > 3 dots > Edge panel handle > Transparency set to full high. Now it won't show up on your screenshots. HOT TIP: position the Edge panel handle in the same place as your Lock Button! Now you don't need to remember where you put it, just look at your lock button and pull the edge from there! Remember to set the One Hand Operations+ (see (10)) swipe area from just under the Edge panel area, down to the bottom of the screen (or wherever you want it).
10) SoftKey Edge
Swipe Edge Panel > 3 dots > Galaxy Store > look for "SoftKey Edge". This brings Home/Back/Recents to the edge panel, but more importantly, it has a "Lock Button" on it. This is useful when your hands just can't physically press the lock button, so you can tap that Lock Button. It also adds a screenshot button but I never use this.
11) Device Care tips and automation
Go to Settings > Device Care > 3 dots:
Turn on Auto Optimization at roughly 3am every night or whenever is good for you. That way you never have to click Optimize yourself. Now I never close/clear apps from Recents (unless it is erroring). Put that 8GB of RAM to use!
Turn on Auto Restart - I have mine every Monday Wednesday Friday at 3:30am - make sure this is slightly after the Auto Optimization time.
Put the Device Care icon on the Apps Screen. Now go to the app icon, long press it, and with the 4 options you are presented, you can hold onto them and drag it into your home screen. So you can have an icon for Battery that takes you straight to the battery management screen!
12) Chrome Search Bar on Homescreen instead of Google's Bar
For those that don't really use the Google app itself, and also use Chrome as their browser, this is for you. Delete the Google Search bar on your home screen and instead, use the Chrome app's search bar by clicking on the chrome widgets. This search bar is WAY faster and smoother and searches it straight on your Chrome browser, therefore skipping the Google App "middleman" which I find to be just silly anyway.
13) Useful Bixby Routines
Go to Settings > Advanced Features > Bixby Routines. Click the 3 dots > settings > enable the icon, hide the widgets on lockscreen if you want. Here are some of my useful routines:
a) Car Mode: IF connected to [Car's Bluetooth], THEN Sound Mode ON, Media Volume 100%, Wi-Fi OFF, Unlock Phone ON (so I don't need to unlock while driving), Change Lockscreen shortcuts to Spotify & Google Maps, Play Music (Spotify).
b) AOD while Charging: IF Charging Status is Charging, THEN AOD Always On (as opposed to tap-to-display which I usually use)
c) Night Battery Saver: IF time = 1:30am-6:30am on (all weekdays) + IF Place = Home + IF Charging = not charging, THEN turn OFF BT/Wi-Fi/MobileData/Sync, Media Vol 0%, AOD off, Sound Mode = Mute. This one helps when you fall asleep with your phone not charging, just laying in your bed. Saves battery big time, get that flat line on the battery stats ;) Warning: If you're using your phone past 1:30am (or whenever you set it) in bed, everything will randomly shut off so beware!
d) Work Mode: IF Place = Work, THEN Sound Mode = Mute, Media Volume = 0%
14) If you don't use Google Assistant and/or Voice OK Google, disable it
Settings > search "Device assistance app" > set Device assistance app to "None". Now if you accidentally hold the home button, you won't get Google Assistant. Secondly, go to Settings > Google > "Search, Assistant & Voice" > Google Assistant > Assistant Tab > at the bottom click "Phone" and turn off the assistant. I also turned off Voice Match in this menu.
15) Better Spotify Lockscreen controls
I always found the Spotify controls on Lockscreen to be very unstable by default. Here's what I did: go to Settings > search "FaceWidgets" > click on it > turn OFF music. Doing this you will lose the AOD music controls, but you will get the classic lockscreen widget for Spotify which never ever fails for me :D
NOTE: You need your lockscreen notifications to be Detailed or Brief, not Icons only, see (33).
16) Faster Unlock Animation
If you want it to unlock faster with less animation, then go to Settings > Biometrics > Biometrics Preferences > turn OFF screen transition effect. The unlock will be kind of drastic but it is quicker.
17) Better Finger Print Scanner!
This has been a hot debate so I won't guarantee the results, but I used this guy's tutorial and now it is 99% flawless!
18) Turn off scanning for Location Accuracy to save battery
Go to quick toggles, long press Location, click Improve Accuracy, make sure both toggles are off (Wifi and BT scanning). They aren't needed and drain battery. NOTE: Google Maps and Tinder often turn on Wi-Fi Scanning automatically, so you often have to check back to turn it off. However I haven't had this issue recently.
19) IF you use Outlook for emails, you can turn off your phone's Auto-Sync and save battery
Outlook uses its own syncing, so even if Sync is OFF in your phone quick toggles, you'll still get emails on time. You can test it if you like. So I currently leave Sync off, and I have a bixby routine that IF phone is charging, then turn on Sync. Other than emails, Sync repeatedly syncs your contacts, texts, health, games, and other misc data to the Google servers which I find pointless on a regular basis, so I set it to be done when it is charging only. ONLY for outlook users. If you rely on Sync for other apps, then I guess don't do this one.
20) BxActions - use the Bixby button for Flashlight, Google Assistant, etc.
This is the best way to use the Bixby Button in my opinion, drains no battery, and disables Bixby Voice which I don't use anyway. Install it and follow the instructions to get Full Remapping (Essential). I use only one action:
Standard & Lockscreen: Long Press = Flashlight (system), so I can hold the button at any time for the torch :D
If you like, you can use the BxActions to remap Bixby button to launch Google Assistant, so then don't follow (14).
21) Disable persistent notification for "Chat Heads Active" for Messenger
If you use chat heads on Messenger (which I don't, I think it's intrusive), then you can disable that persistent notification. Settings > Notifications > Messenger > Scroll to the bottom > turn OFF "chat heads active" notification and click the text and make it silent. Gone!
22) Camera Settings
Non-mirrored Selfies: Go to Camera > click Settings cog > Save options > turn ON "Pictures as previewed".
Turn off Scene Optimizer if you'd like a more natural looking photo in daylight, as opposed to the loads of Saturation applied by default. I flick it on and off based on what I'm feeling like.
Show palm to take selfies: Camera > Settings > Shooting Methods > turn on Show Palm. Now you don't have to do hand gymnastics to press the button, just put your palm out and the cutout will show a quick timer animation and snap a picture! Voila!
Enable location tags if you want to see your photos in a photo world map, see (25)
Definitely enable Ultra Wide Shot Correction, it helps to straighten the edges of ultra-wide photos. Find it in "save options" in camera settings.
23) Gallery Map!
Go to the Stock Gallery. When you're viewing a picture, swipe up to bring up the details of the photo and swipe down to dismiss the photo. While you're in the photo's details, click on the map of where it was taken. You can see a world map of where every photo was taken, and the more you zoom in, the more detailed it gets! This is only available if you enabled "location tags" in Camera Settings.
24) Use Secure Folder + Funny Tip
Secure Folder is a secret space secured by fingerprint that you can have a separate hidden gallery, notes, contacts, and duplicate any other app you have. Go to Settings > Biometrics > Secure Folder. Enable it and put it on the home screen. Also use fingerprint to access it, and if you want, set a dedicated fingerprint for it. I use this for:
Gallery - when I want to save pics I don't want to be in my normal Gallery. Go to your normal Gallery, select a bunch of pics, 3 dots, Move to Secure Folder.
Chrome - I added a duplicate Chrome to my Secure Folder, that way I don't need to use Incognito Mode on my normal Chrome which I think sucks anyway. The benefit is on Secure Folder's Chrome, don't login to Google so you won't log sneaky activity onto your Google account lol.
TIP: Go to Secure Folder > 3 Dots > Customize Icon. Rename it to something funny. I call my secure folder "Sicko Mode" as a Travis Scott / Drake reference, lmao!
25) Battery Settings and Power Saving Mode Tips
Go to Settings > Device Care > Battery > 3 Dots. Enable Adaptive Battery Saving, put unused apps to sleep, Disable unused Apps, but don't use Optimize Settings.
Swipe down on quick toggles, hold on Power Saving Mode. Now this is a personal thing I like setup. I configured my Power Saving Mode to also use WQHD+ and AOD on. Then I turned ON Adaptive Power Saving Mode. So now when the phone flicks between Optimized and Power Saving Mode, I won't lose WQHD+ or AOD all of a sudden!
26) Better Chrome Address Bar (Chrome Duet)
Go into Chrome, type "chrome://flags", search "duet" and enable Chrome Duet. Now restart Chrome twice. Now you have a useful bar at the bottom and if you click the search button, it automatically selects the address bar at the top (but you didn't have to reach all the way up to the top!). Also, you can swipe left and right on this bottom bar to switch between tabs.
Don't forget to enable Chrome Duet on your Secure Folder's Chrome too, if you use that.
27) YouTube Vanced
Download here. Now all ads are blocked, and you can play videos in the background and when locked, for free. You can use the AMOLED black version, it's really nice and saves battery due to being true black. Go through all the settings in YouTube Vanced to check it all out. A fun fact is, "Vanced" comes from "Advanced" but they took the Ad out :) Now you can disable the default YouTube. To use Chromecast, you need to go to settings and Link To TV, or go to the Default YouTube app and connect it once from there.
You will also need to install Micro G available from the same website as YouTube Vanced. This allows you to login to your YouTube account.
If you have a login issue, the fix is here - the summary is: close all apps, Settings > Apps > Chrome > Disable, login to YouTube Vanced, Settings > Apps > Chrome > Enable.
28) Night Mode and Blue Light Filter
Night Mode is an essential and I can't live without it. Go to Settings > Display > Night Mode ON. Secondly, if you want to ease the pressure on your eyes at night, turn on Blue Light Filter in this same menu and set it to Sunrise/Sunset - don't worry about the location being used, it doesn't drain the battery.
29) Extra options in quick toggles
When you're in the quick toggles, click on the text of a toggle. Often this opens up more options. For example, flashlight brightness, temporary muting, orientation toggles for lockscreen/homescreen, etc. Investigate and see what you find.
30) Choose whether to stay on lockscreen after face unlock or not
Settings > search "Stay on Lock screen". If you want to stay on the lockscreen after a successful face unlock then turn this ON. Turn it OFF if you want to immediately dive into the phone after a face unlock.
31) Change Lockscreen Notifications to Detailed or Brief view
For some odd reason that I cannot understand, Samsung chose to only display icons for notifications in the Lockscreen. Let's change that. Go to Settings > Lock screen > Notifications > View Style: Change it from Icons only to Detailed or Brief, whichever you prefer. You can customize more stuff on this screen.
32) Turn off battery percentage and enjoy
This isn't a real tip, but after turning off battery percentage, it stopped me from constantly monitoring it and doing mental maths to figure out how fast it was draining. Pull down the quick toggles twice for the full view > 3 dots > status bar > turn OFF battery percentage. After enabling some of the battery focused tweaks above, I've found battery to be quite good and so I don't really feel like monitoring it. Just clears your head.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YouTubers - if you take stuff from here, please link the blog.
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