Galaxy S Tips and Tricks (works w/ Captivate, Epic 4G, Vibrant etc)
The Samsung Galaxy S has really made a splash in the mobile arena considering how relatively short it’s been on the market. While the Galaxy S has been available overseas for a little longer, we in the US officially got our first Galaxy S-based phone, the T-Mobile Vibrant on July 15th, the AT&T Captivate soon followed on July 18th, and the Sprint Epic 4G on August 31st. Since these phones are relatively new and the software they run is new as well (TouchWiz 3.0) we figured that we would go over a few basic tips that most new users would appreciate… epic tips epic tricks epic 4g
First and foremost, those main four icons on your home screen. You can indeed change those middle two icons to whatever you desire. (Note this will NOT work on the Epic 4G) Just click applications:
Once you’re on the screen with all your applications, press the Menu button on your device, then click edit. (Note, if you don’t see edit, click view type and then click customizable grid. Once you do that you’ll be able to select edit)
At this point, you will see a faint white outline covering the left and top of every icon, once you see this, you can long touch the middle two icons on the shortcut bar at the bottom and drag them into your applications:
Once you do that, you can then long touch any app and drag it onto your shortcut bar. For this example, I just chose the clock, long touched it, and dragged it on. (Note: Once you see the outlines, you can just long touch an app and drag it onto the shortcut bar, and wherever you put it, it will automatically displace whatever icon is already there):
Ok, after you have your shortcut bar setup however you want, you can just tap an empty area in your app grid to save it, or you can press the Menu button on your device and then tap save. In addition, when you see the outlines on your apps, you can move them around to arrange them in any way you want. Let’s say you want all your games on one screen, all your financial apps in another, and all your fart apps on a different screen, it’s all up to you.
What many people don’t realize is that they can choose how their apps are displayed as well. While still within your applications screen, press the Menu button and then tap View Types:
Once you do this you will be presented with a menu. By default, your apps are arranged in a customized grid (meaning that you can change their positioning). You also have the option to arrange them alphabetically as well as by an alphabetized list:
As you can see, it’s something different. It won’t be for everyone but Android is all about options.
Alright, topic number two. I was recently asked how to get the camera to store pictures on the microSD card and not on the phones internal memory. Well it’s a pretty simple process. First open up the camera app (I assume you can do that by yourself) Then tap on the tiny triangle and then the gear that comes up after it:
Now you’re going to want to tap the wrench and then scroll down:
Then it’s simply a matter of tapping Phone and then tapping Memory Card. And volia! Now your pictures (and your videos) will automatically be stored on your microSD card.
Last but not least, we’re going to do a bit of contact management. First get to your contact list:
Just from here, you can do a few things to quickly call or message your contacts. If you swipe on a contact from right to left, that will take you directly to sending them a text message. If you swipe from left to right, that will directly call the first number listed for that person:
Pretty cool huh?
Now let’s change what contacts that are displayed on our contacts list. Press the Menu button and then tap Display Options:
Now you can choose to only display contacts with a phone number and what contacts (and from where) you display them from. It’s a pretty nice little feature:
Now that you’ve chosen what contacts (and from where) you are displaying, let’s look at a few more options available to you. Fromt the contacts list, you’re going to press the Menu button, then tap more. At this point it will bring up the menu displayed on the right. You can do a lot of things from this menu, so going down the list you can:
- Import/Export contacts from and to your SD card
- Setup your profile (basically all your contact information)
- Send email to a contact and send a contact via bluetooth
- SIM Management allows you to copy contacts to and from your SIM card
Tapping Settings will take you to the following:
As you can see, tapping on the first option allows you to choose how your contacts names are displayed. Obviously the next two items are self explanatory. Finally you will only see the AT&T Address Book if you have an AT&T Captivate and you choose to store your contacts there.
Now, some people have complained that the Galaxy S line of phones does not have any sort of trackball or trackpad to accurately place the cursor. This really isn’t needed if you know the following trick.
When using the default Samsung keypad, press and hold the ?123 key
Once you do that, you will see a directional pad pop up that will allow you to easily cut, copy, paste and select text. To get back to the regular QWERTY keyboard, just press the Text button in the upper right.
Pretty cool huh? Well what if you’re a Swype user? No worries, the same trick exists. While on the Swype QWERTY layout, slide your finger across the Swpe options and SYM keys.
Upon doing so, you’ll be greeted with a another directional pad and this one has a few more features as well. To get back to the Swype QWERTY keyboard, just press the ABC key and there you go.
We hope you learned something new and if you have a tip of your own use the Contact Us form and let us know!
An original article by Scott Young
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July 23rd, 2010 at 5:01 am
Thanks for the tips. Can’t wait to see more.
2 questions:
1.How do you make the screenshots? Is there a good app for that?
2. Do you know if I can turn of the “swipe to call” functionality in the contacts? I end up making accidental calls when I’m navigating my contacts. Still getting used to using the touchscreen.
Thanks
July 23rd, 2010 at 6:33 am
@Paul: Drocap2 and shootme are two good apps for taking screenshots, but they require root access.
July 23rd, 2010 at 7:22 am
Optus Galaxy S (Australia)’s “View Mode” toggles between list and grid, there isn’t a 3rd alphabetical option.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:04 am
Thanks for the tips. I just tried to change the homescreen icons at the bottom and when I press the menu button in the apps screen I don’t get the “edit” option. I’m using the T-Mobile vibrant
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:06 am
I’m using the T-Mobile vibrant and when I tried to edit homescreen icons I don’t get the “edit” option in the apps screen only a “view” option.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:23 am
@ Paul
1. I take screenshots with the Android SDK and pasted them over an existing image of the Galaxy S
2. I’m not sure that you can, as it’s a core part of TouchWiz 3
@mat/mateo Yea I just tested that on my Vibrant and don’t have that option. Naturally the one tip i didn’t test on the Vibrant is the one that isn’t there. I’ve contacted Samsung & Tmo for an answer
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:29 pm
One thing that gave me difficulty until I figured it out: You can only edit the dock icons if your “View type” is “Customizable grid”. Once you select that, the edit option will show up on the menu.
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Ya i was just going to post that Steve. If all you see is view type, press that and change it to customizable grid. You should than be able tovedit through to middle icons. You cannot remove the phone or home icons
July 25th, 2010 at 10:50 am
I tried to change the shortcut apps on my Captivate and I don’t have the ‘Edit’ option under Applications. Is there any work around for this? I prefer the gmail app compared to Samsung’s email app and would like to switch them on my shortcuts bar.
July 25th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Ha! It worked! There is just an extra step:
Applications – List – then you get hit Edit and drop and drop whatever/wherever you’d like. Thanks Steve! I must have missed your post..
August 8th, 2010 at 4:36 am
Hey..Mat / Mateo,
i ve also test edit button in my vibrant. its working fine dude.. try it in customizable grid..
August 8th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
I just figured out how to edit the bar on the vibrant.. you must look at the apps in the customizable grid, then you can move them off the tool bar and place anyone you want.
August 15th, 2010 at 3:23 am
how do u put picture id’s i try but when i goto to put the pic on a contact it says i have no contacts
August 16th, 2010 at 1:41 am
Great info! My extra wrinkle is abit more specific. I finally figured out how to connect my Tmobile Vibrant to my Mac (yep, thats right I don’t like the iphone, never have!) and managed to move the preloaded avatar movie to my phone’s internal memory thus freeing up 2 GB on my sd card. Unfortunately, while avatar still plays great from the memory, I can;t seem to figure out how to delete the Avatar shortcut from the application screen menu. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
August 17th, 2010 at 6:05 am
can you delete all the apps that came with the phone (samsung galaxy S 19000) or not ?? (the ones like sims 3)
if not is there away of putting them in one folder like on the iphone?
August 17th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Great guide. Thanks a lot.
I would also love to know how to add album art (covers) to Music Player, if you can.
Thank you!
August 17th, 2010 at 6:49 pm
@Sergey, if you are uploading music via usb from the pc, as long as the music folder has the image file for the album art it should show up in the music player….atleast mine did
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:51 pm
“In addition, when you see the outlines on your apps, you can move them around to arrange them in any way you want. Let’s say you want all your games on one screen, all your financial apps in another, and all your fart apps on a different screen, it’s all up to you.”
I have not found a way to move icons around from a screen to another (of course other than via the 4 bottom shortcut, but this is a bit tedious), does anyone know how can I do this?
August 24th, 2010 at 5:48 am
That was really helpful, specially the pad on the swype keypad, thanks alot.
I have two questions, how can I connect my mobile on 2G network only, I dunt want the 3G.
and how can i control when the mobile can use the internet or not?
August 24th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Menu > Wireless & network settings > Mobile Networks > check the “use only 2G networks” box
August 24th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
I don’t have this option?!
August 25th, 2010 at 7:41 am
@Louis – Moving between screens is easy.
1. Go to Apps, touch Menu
2. Choose View Type Change to Customizable Grid
3. Menu AGAIN (this is the one people miss, I know
4. Edit then Drag away to your hearts content!
Note as some said above HOME and DIALER cannot be changed, rest are fair game and icons can be slid from screen to screen, just hold and drag to edge, screen will flip.
Have Fun!
August 28th, 2010 at 3:40 am
1) Does anyone know how to get the Samsung Galaxy GL-19000 to output audio thru bluetooth to a car handsfree system (eg. Parrot). I believe it is something to do with the bluetooth profile, the connection appears to be identified as a phone. The bluetooth connection works fine for the phone but not if I wish to play music thru it or podcasts. My old Nokia did this ok. Also, having trouble picking up my Optus Navigator instruction thru bluetooth connection.
2) How can I change the bluetooth connection name, reason is I have two handsfree car kits and they are both identified as the same name and conflict. With my old Nokia I could change the car bluetooth connection name thereby no conflict.
Any assistance would be more than appreciated!
September 1st, 2010 at 4:54 am
Q on contacts:
Is it possible to sync all your contacts so they appear in your Gmail account?
Everytime I add a new contact it asks me how I want to store it. If you choose phone it will go to the phone but not on my google account. Very annoying.
Anybody figured this out?
Is it also possible to export pictures easily?
thanks!