Everything you need to know of Samsung Galaxy S4
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Filip Dumančić Article Last Updated: April 20, 2014
Samsung Galaxy S4 is already a very potent device but it has some hidden features you probably don’t know about that can provide even better functionality for you.
In this guide we will tell you about 25 different features of which the Galaxy S4 is capable. Most of this will be completely free on your part and you won’t be obliged to get any accessories to get to these functions.
Most of these features are hidden deep in the menus of the phone itself, which is a better deal than having to press all kinds of different button combinations to make them work. You’re probably going to be amazed with everything we show here as there are a lot of users who wouldn’t even think about some of these features being available on their phone.
To start with, you don’t need to have a rooted Galaxy S4 or any kind of a custom ROM to access these features.
Since there are a couple of different variants of the Galaxy S4, it’s good to know that all of these features are available on whichever version of Galaxy S4 you have, even though there might be some minor differences. So, let’s get into it!
Gain Access to All Toggles with a Simple Two Finger Swipe
There are plenty of toggles by default on the Galaxy S4 which allow you to quickly toggle some of the functions on or off, control the volume, screen brightness etc. Regularly, you would perform a single finger swipe from the top to access these toggles in a scrollable row but you can use two fingers in the same manner to access them all at once.
This window also allows you to edit some of the notifications so you can remove those which aren’t used quickly and efficiently.
TV Remote Functionality
Samsung Galaxy S4 comes with an infrared port along with the WatchOn application. With these two you can use your smartphone for TV control as you would use any other universal remote. Setting this up is really easy as there is a wizard which will guide you through the setup process in the WatchOn application.
Best Photo Feature
In the “Best Photo” mode your phone will capture eight photos in a quick succession – burst mode. This is a very neat feature as it can eliminate the issues of closed eyes or there is a particular moment you need to capture quickly and determine which of the photos turned out to be the best later.
The phone will suggest the best photo out of the eight available, but you can pick the best yourself if there is another criterion you’re looking after.
Lock Screen Customization
Galaxy S4’s lock screen is customizable by default – you can add widgets to it change some basic settings and adjust it according to your needs or requirements. In order to do this, you need to go to Settings – My Device – Lock Screen and pick Options.
While you are here, make sure to pick a screen lock type to secure the phone. You can choose to see a clock or a personal message. You can also change your favorite application shortcuts here.
Xbox 360 Controller Compatibility, USB Storage
With a USB OTG cable (which you can get on Amazon) you are able to plug in your Xbox 360 controller or access media from USB thumb drives. This is basically a micro USB – USB cable which makes this possible.
Keep in mind that not all games will be compatible with the Xbox 360 controller, but a lot of them are. If you have a wired Xbox 360 controller, this might be something you’d want to do as it does provide you with an enhanced gaming experience.
Do Not Disturb Mode
Galaxy S4 comes with a so called “Blocking Mode” which is basically Do Not Disturb for Android platform. This mode is new and revamped for this phone with a lot of options. You can block incoming calls, notifications, alarm and even the LED indicator. All of these options can be blocked separately so it’s up to you to decide what you want to eliminate.
Music and Calls Control With Headset
Samsung Galaxy S4 comes with a headset which can be used to control your music playback and manage your calls without touching the phone. By holding the button on the headset you will start S Voice which will announce if you have any messages or notifications that might be of your interest. You can also perform voice calls if you want to.
With the upper buttons you can control the volume for both calls and music. While you are listening to your music, you can hold the song at any time by pressing the button once. By pressing it again you will initiate playback again. This works very well for an included headset.
Motion Control
This phone comes with a small army of sensors which can be used for advanced methods of control and navigation. For an example, Air Gestures is probably the most impressive out of the bunch as you can control the phone by waving your hand above the screen.
For more details about this, go to Settings – My Device Tab – Motions and Gestures – Air Gesture – On. You can do all kinds of stuff with this – accept calls, browse the Internet, through your photos and a lot more.
Improved Battery Life
There is a power saver mode built into the Galaxy S4 which is basically a tool allowing you to preserve battery life of your phone. This is a quick and easy way to slightly improve your phone’s battery life. To access this feature, you only need to pull down on the notification panel using two fingers and select power saving.
This will enable the power saving mode which has its default settings. You can adjust these by long pressing on the option, where you can select some specific features of this mode if you want to.
Voice Control for Photos
This phone comes with a powerful camera and it also has one neat feature that might improve the functionality of it – voice control. This can be really handy if your phone is attached to a stand so that you can yell at it to take the photo. In order to turn this feature on, open the Camera application, go to Menu, Settings, tap on settings configuration and scroll down to Voice control.
Once you turn this on you can say Shoot, Smile, Capture or Cheese to make your Galaxy S4 take the photo.
Smart Alerts
This is one of our favorite features. Essentially, if you leave your phone on a desk and pick it up after a while, it will vibrate for you to notify you if there are any notifications you need to tend to. If it doesn’t vibrate, this means that you can simply toss it into your pocket and continue as nothing ever happened.
To turn this feature on, go to Settings, My Device, Motions and Gestures, Motion, Smart Alert – ON. If you are receiving too many notifications, you might just as well turn this feature off as it might get a bit annoying after a while.
Enhanced Sound Quality
This is a bundle of software features which are capable of establishing better audio control of the speaker, providing you with a better audio quality in general. This works for both the music and phone calls quality and clarity.
To turn this on, go to Settings, My Device, Sound, and Adapt Sound and follow the prompts that will appear.
You will need to have your headphones handy to set it up and you will also notice the most difference with them, but there is a noticeable difference on the loudspeaker as well as the ear speaker.
Blocking Annoying Callers
With a Galaxy S4 you can easily access the rejection mode where you can block all unwanted or annoying callers who are troubling you. This is a great and incognito way of ridding yourself from such annoyances.
To access this feature, go to the phone application, Menu, Call Settings, Call rejection.
You will find an Auto reject list here, which is a list of phone numbers that will get blocked in case they try to contact your number.
Using Your Galaxy S4 with Gloves
By default, this feature is turned off and you won’t be able to control your phone’s screen with anything other than your finger. In case you often use gloves, you can enable this feature which will make it possible for you to use the phone with gloves.
To turn this on, go to Settings, My Device, Display, and High Touch Sensitivity and turn this on.
This works really well with thinner gloves, much better than using regular thicker gloves.
Air View
Galaxy S4 comes with a feature that allows you to hover your finger above a certain spot and to check out more information about the item found below.
To turn this on, go to Settings, My Device, and Air View – ON.
There are additional settings you can check out and adjust according to your liking.
Data Traffic Control
Galaxy S4 is a capable smartphone and it can definitely increase your phone bill if you’re not careful. In order to help yourself realize how much of traffic are you using, you can enable the built in data monitor which can do this for you.
Go to Settings, Connections and Data Usage.
You can even set up some alerts to really help you out if you’re having difficulties finding a discipline with your online activities.
Eye Control
This is a cool new feature which allows you to establish eye control on your phone. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work with all applications, but it might come in handy in some specific situation.
To turn this on go to Settings, My Device, Smart Screen, Check Smart Stay, Check Smart Pause and turn smart scroll on.
You can also select more options in this menu. Application works rather well, for an example if you look away during a video it will pause, if you scroll your eyes to the left the phone will go to the next page and so on.
Finding Misplaced Galaxy S4
Lookout Mobile is a free application which comes with some nifty and highly useful features. It will help you track your lost phone down, provide sound alerts and even send one last location signal before the battery dies. If you already lost your Galaxy S4, try installing Plan B to track it down.
Improving the Keyboard
By default your Galaxy S4 will come with Swiftkey, which is a smart keyboard capable of learning what you’re typing so that you can be presented with better and more related predictive text. However, there are some settings of this keyboard which are kept hidden.
You can access these by opening the keyboard, long pressing on the microphone for settings, predictive text and link to your accounts.
Once you do this, the keyboard will start to learn from your typing habits and provide you with better suggestions down the line. You can also give one long press on the microphone and choose the right-most icon. This will resize the keyboard and allow you to move it around the screen. By a single long press on the icon to the left you will be able to turn this feature off.
Speed Up the Home Button
Galaxy S4’s home button is running a bit late as it is waiting for additional input – you can double tap it or activate S-Voice. If you don’t find S-Voice to be an important feature, you can turn it off and significantly improve the response speed of your home button.
Open S-Voice by double tapping on the home button, then tap menu and pick settings. Remove the check from Open via the home key.
Check Alerts Remotely
It is possible to check alerts and notifications without touching the phone.
Go to Settings, My Device, Motions and Gestures, Air Gesture, Quick glance – ON.
This feature allows you to show notification bar icons, missed calls, new messages, battery life and current time just by moving your hand over the display. Use this only for informational purposes as you are not allowed to access any of these items by tapping.
Dual Window Mode
You can use two applications at the same time with your Galaxy S4, bringing multi-tasking on a phone to an entirely new level. You can watch videos on YouTube and check your Twitter account or browse the web and take some notes from it, check your e-mail and Facebook account at the same time and a lot more.
This doesn’t work for all applications, but you will definitely find a way to make use of this amazing feature.
Quick Access to Common Settings
By opening the notification toggles you will be able to give a long press on any of the toggles to open up the correlated page in settings. This works great when you’re quickly trying to change the settings of your Bluetooth device for an example, as well as with all of the motion gestures and controls.
Quick Launch of Google Now
Google Now can quickly be launched by holding the menu button on the Galaxy S4. This will allow it to pop up and let you search with this cool feature, asking the phone what you want to know or do.
You will need to turn this feature on if this is the first time you’re using it so you should tap on the Google bar on your home screen and follow the prompts as they go to turn it on. This will combine your search and e-mail data from your Google account and push information once you request it.
Over time your Google Now assistant will learn a lot about you and your habits and will provide you with much more efficient answers so give it a try.
Easy Mode
This is a special mode for those users who have just recently entered the world of smartphones. It provides a neat, simple user interface which hides some features but it doesn’t really take much from it in terms of functionalities. Icons are larger in this mode, which might be appreciated by some.
It is real easy to turn this mode on and off so you can switch it back and forth to give it a try or even occasionally switching between profiles.
Top 10 Galaxy S4 Tips and Tricks: here we have gathered the most popular and most asked Tips and Tricks.
1. How to Enable/Disable Auto Update Android apps on Galaxy S4
If you are tired of manually updating your application on your Android smartphone or tablet, you just need to do the following instructions
Open Google Play Store
Tap Menu and go the Setting
Check the “Auto-update apps “
If you are worried about the data cost, check the “Update Over Wi-Fi only” too
Find the apps you would like to be updated automatically
Tap and check the “Allow automatic updating” (On the updated version of Google Play, you need to press Menu Button)
You can also Unmark the mentioned option to disable Auto update.
2. How to see Battery Percentage on Galaxy S4
To check the remaining battery power on the notification bar:
Go to Setting
Go to My Device tab
Tap Display
Under the “More Setting”, find “Display Battery percentage” and mark it
3. How to Change Unlock Effect on Galaxy S4 Lock Screen (By Using Air View Feature)
Your phone supports Air view and you can enjoy a Ripple effect or Light effect on the Lock Screen as an Unlock effect. To enable or disable this effect:
Go to Setting
Go to My Device tab
Tap Lock Screen
Tap “Unlock effect”
Choose from the 3 options; None, Ripple effect, Light effect
4. How to Customize Notification Bar on Galaxy S4
You may be surprised when opening the notification bar for the first time. Every toggle button you may imagine is available. To Add, Remove, Change the toggle buttons on Notification panel:
Go to Setting
Go to My Device tab
Tap Display
Go to Notification panel
Tap, Hold and drag buttons to add or reorder the quick setting button to customize which quick setting buttons appear at the top of the notification panel
5. How to change Device Name on Galaxy S4
If you change the device name, the Bluetooth name, WiFi direct name and the name on the entire apps and settings is changed automatically, and you don't need to change them separately.
Open "Settings" app and move to "More" tab
Tap "About Device"
Find "Device name" and select it
Write the new name and hit OK
Done
6. How to set Notification LED on Galaxy S4
Notification LED shows missed calls, unread text messages, new email, charging, low battery and more while the screen is off on Galaxy S4. In order to set and configure the setting,
Go to Setting
Go to My Device tab
Tap LED Indicator
On the opened menu you can choose when the LED light is Up while the screen is off
the options are: Charging, Low Battery, Notifications, Voi ce recording
7. How to Mute Call Sound on Galaxy S4
The sound call goes silent if you turn over your phone. To use this feature properly, do as follows:
Go to “Setting” app
Go to “My Device” tab
Scroll down to find “Motions and Gestures” and tap it
Make sure “Motion” is On and tap it
Enable “Mute/Pause”
You just need to turn over your phone to mute incoming calls
8. How to Send Group Message on Galaxy S4
send text messages to the entire group members at the same time with your Galaxy S4
Open "Contacts" App and hit on "Groups" tab
Tap on the group you want to send group message
Hit the "Menu button" (left to the Home button)
Choose "Send message"
List of group members appears, and you get to choose one, some or all the contact
Hit "Done" at the top right
Now, the "Messaging" app is opened and you can send group message to the selected contacts
9. How to Change Lock Screen Message on Galaxy S4
To Modify the Personal Message appeared on the Lock Screen of the Galaxy S4, do the following steps:
Go to Setting
Go to My Device tab
Tap on Lock Screen
Find “Lock Screen widgets” under the Swipe options
Tap on “Clock or Personal message” and make sure “Personal message” is marked
Go Back, and tap on “Edit personal message” and start writing or modifying your personal message
To Show or Hide Date and Time, Mark or Unmark them
Change the Font, Size and Color as well
see Also:
How to Change App Shortcuts to Lock Screen on Galaxy S4
How to Add Camera Shortcut on Galaxy S4 Lock Screen
10. How to set Favorite Locations on Galaxy S4
On Galaxy S4 you can save your favorite locations for using in services that require location information. first provide access to your location (Home, Office, Car,...) and then do as follows:
** To provide access to your location, you just need to turn on GPS from notification panel (See: How to Enable GPS on Galaxy S4)
On the "Location Services" menu, tap "My places" (quick tip: Settings >> More >> Location Services)
By default you see Home, Office, Car. You can also tap the plus icon on the top right to create a new place
Tap "Home" to customize
You have 3 methods to let the device recognize your location: Map, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Save the process. From now on, your phone can provide relevant information and services by recognizing saved locations
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Making the Samsung Galaxy S4 Your Own
- By Steve Schwartz
- Oct 29, 2013
- Changing System Settings
By changing preferences in Settings, you can make the phone look and work to match your needs. Although system and app settings are discussed throughout the book, this section points out some settings that aren’t mentioned elsewhere but are important in customizing your phone.
To access system settings, go to the Home screen, press the Menu key, and tap Settings. To access an app’s settings (for those that provide them), launch the app, press the Menu key, and tap Settings.
Setting the Date and Time
In Date and Time Settings, when the Automatic Date and Time and Automatic Time Zone settings are enabled, date, time, and time zone information is automatically obtained from the network. To change these settings, open Settings, select the More tab, and tap Date and Time.
If necessary, you can override this information by disabling the two Automatic settings and then making changes to the Set Date, Set Time, and Select Time Zone items. Tap Select Date Format if you want to change the format for displaying dates.
Enabling Motion and Palm Motion Settings
You can selectively enable Motion and Palm Motion settings to control phone features by tilting, shaking, or making special movements with the phone.
- On the Home screen, press the Menu key and tap Settings.
- Select the My Device tab. Scroll to the Input and Control section, and tap Motions and Gestures.
- Move the sliders to On or Off to control the three categories of motions and gestures: Air Gesture, Motion, and Palm Motion. Tap Gyroscope Calibration to start a calibration routine for the phone’s gyroscope.
- Tap Motion to enable or disable the various Motion settings.
- To use any of the motion features, you must set the Motion switch to On. Similarly, you can simultaneously disable all motion features by setting the Motion switch to Off.
- When the Motion switch is On, the individual Motion settings work as follows:
- Direct Call. When viewing a person’s contact record, you can move the phone to your ear to place a call to the person.
- Smart Alert. When you pick up the phone, you’re notified of missed calls or messages.
- Zoom. When viewing an image in Gallery or a web page in the Internet app, place two fingertips on the screen, and tilt the phone toward you to zoom in or away from you to zoom out.
- Browse an Image. Press and hold an onscreen image in Gallery to pan within it by tilting the phone up, down, left, and right.
- Mute/Pause. Mute incoming call ringtones or pause playing media by turning the phone over so that it’s face down.
- Tap the Settings icon or press the Back key to return to the Motions and Gestures screen.
- Tap the Palm Motion text to view the Palm Motion settings.
- To use either of the Palm Motion features, you must set the Palm Motion switch to On. (You can turn both features off at once by setting the Palm Motion switch to Off.)
- The Palm Motion settings work like this:
- Capture Screen. Create screen captures by placing the edge of your hand on the screen and dragging across it. Captured screens are saved in the Screenshots folder. (You can also create screen captures by simultaneously pressing the Home key and Power button.)
- Mute/Pause. Mute audio or pause video by covering the touchscreen with your palm.
Enabling Air Gesture
The Air Gesture feature enables you to control your phone by gesturing over the sensor at the top of the screen—without touching the screen.
- Tap the Air Gesture text on the Motions and Gestures screen.
- To use any of the Air Gesture features, you must set the Air Gesture switch to On. When you want to turn off all the Air Gesture features, move this switch to Off.
- When the Air Gesture switch is On, the individual Air Gesture settings work as follows:
- Quick Glance. When your phone’s screen is off, move your hand over the sensor at the top of the screen to display information such as notifications, missed calls, unread messages, and battery level. To choose which information appears, tap the Quick Glance text and select check boxes in the scrolling More Information list.
- Air Jump. When viewing a web page or an email message, wave your hand up or down over the sensor to scroll up or down by a screenful of text.
- Air Browse. When playing music, viewing pictures, browsing pages in the Internet app, or working in S Memo, move your hand left or right above the sensor to move to the next or previous item. To choose the apps in which Air Browse works, tap the Air Browse text, and then select check boxes in the scrolling Supporting Applications list.
- Air Move. When working on the Home screen, in the App list, or in Day or Week view in Calendar, tap and hold an item on screen with one hand, and then wave the other hand to the left or right over the sensor to move the item to another page.
- Air Call-Accept. When you receive an incoming call, wave your hand over the screen to accept it.
Where’s the Air Gesture Sensor?
Tap Learn About Sensor and Icon to review some explanatory information about the sensor’s location and the Air Gesture status bar icon.
Setting Ringtones
A ringtone is an audible event notification, such as a sound effect or a snippet of music. You can specify default ringtones for incoming calls and text messages, as well as set person-specific ringtones for anyone with a Contacts record.
Setting the Default Incoming Call Ringtone
Unless overridden by a personal or group ringtone, the default ringtone plays to notify you of an incoming call.
- On the Home screen, press the Menu key and tap Settings.
- Select the My Device tab, and tap Sound.
- Tap Ringtones.
- The Ringtones dialog box appears, showing a scrolling list containing all built-in, created, and downloaded ringtones. Tap a ringtone to play it. When you’re satisfied with your choice, tap OK.
Setting the Default Notification Ringtone
Unless overridden by a personal or group ringtone, the default notification ringtone plays to signify new email, a text message, a missed call, a waiting voicemail, or an upcoming Calendar event. Unlike call ringtones, notification ringtones are brief and less intrusive.
- Perform steps 1–2 from the previous task (“Setting the Default Incoming Call Ringtone”).
- On the Sound setting screen, tap Notifications.
- The Notifications dialog box appears, showing a scrolling list containing all the notification ringtones. Tap an entry to play it. When you’re satisfied with your choice, tap OK.
Assigning a Ringtone to a Contact
To make it easier to quickly recognize an incoming call from a person, you can associate a distinctive ringtone with his or her record in Contacts.
- On the Home screen, tap the Contacts icon.
- With the Contacts tab selected, find the person’s record by scrolling or searching. Tap the record to open it.
- Scroll to the Ringtone section of the record, and tap the ringtone entry.
- Select the ringtone that you want to use and tap OK. Select Default Ringtone (at the top of the list) only if you want to use the default ringtone for this contact.Using Sound Files as RingtonesIf the ringtone you want to use does not appear in the Ringtones dialog box, tap Add. If the Complete Action Using dialog box appears, select the app that you want to use to locate the ringtone—for example, Choose Music Track or Sound Picker—and tap Just Once. When the app opens, navigate to the ringtone or sound file, select it, and tap OK.
- The selected ringtone is associated with the person’s contact record.
Assigning a Ringtone to a Contact Group
You can also associate a distinctive ringtone with all members of a contact group. (To learn about groups, see “Working with Contact Groups” in Chapter 5.)
- On the Home screen, tap the Contacts icon.
- Tap the Groups tab to display the list of defined groups, and tap a group to show its members.
- Press the Menu key and tap Edit.
- Tap Group Ringtone and select a ringtone as described in step 4 of the previous task (“Assigning a Ringtone to a Contact”).
- Tap the Save button.
>>>Go Further: Which Ringtone Has Precedence?
After reading the material in this section, you might be wondering what happens when a person is associated with multiple ringtones. For instance, although Bob may have been assigned a personal ringtone, he may also be a member of a group that has a different ringtone associated with it. The answer is that a contact record ringtone always has precedence.
Thus, if a caller has no personal ringtone and doesn’t belong to a group that has a ringtone, his calls are announced by the default ringtone. If the person belongs to a group with a ringtone and he doesn’t have a personal ringtone, the group ringtone plays. Finally, if a person belongs to a group with a ringtone and he also has a personal ringtone, the personal ringtone plays.
Assigning a Default Messaging Ringtone
You can also select a ringtone to announce new text and multimedia messages.
- On the Home screen, tap the Messaging icon.
- On the main Messaging screen, press the Menu key and tap Settings.
- Scroll to the Notification Settings section, and tap Select Ringtone.
- Select a sound effect from the scrolling list and tap OK. (If you’d rather not have a messaging ringtone, select Silent.)
>>>Go Further: Creating Ringtones from Songs
You can also use a song that’s stored on your phone as a ringtone.
- Launch Music, and press and hold the song title.
- In the dialog box that appears, tap Set As.
- Tap From the Beginning or Auto Recommendations to specify the part of the song to play as the ringtone.
- In the Set As section, tap Phone Ringtone to use the song as the default ringtone for incoming calls. Tap Caller Ringtone to play the song whenever you receive a call from a particular person in Contacts. Tap Alarm Tone to use the song as the alarm tone for an alarm you’re about to create in the Clock app.
- Tap OK.
Personalize Your Call Sound
You can personalize the call sound by adjusting the sound balance. This enables you to compensate for hearing loss in one or the other ear or in the upper or lower ranges.
- On the Home screen, tap the Phone icon.
- In the Phone app, press the Menu key and tap Call Settings.
- Tap Personalize Call Sound.
- Do either of the following:
- To set up a personalized sound balance, tap Adapt Sound and perform the remaining steps in this task.
- Tap Soft Sound, Clear Choice, or Off, and skip the remaining steps.
- Plug in your headphones, put them in or on your ears, and tap Start.
- Listen for the tones your phone is playing. Tap Yes if you can hear each tone; tap No if you cannot.
- On the Adapt Sound screen that appears at the end of the test, tap Left or Right to see a graph of the results for that ear.
- Tap Preview Adapt Sound to hear audio with the adaptation applied. If the result isn’t satisfactory, tap Retry to go back to step 5 and try again.
- Optional: In the Adapt Sound Settings section of the screen, tap check boxes to indicate where you want to enable Adapt Sound—on phone calls and/or when playing music. If you tend to use one ear when you’re on calls, tap Frequently Used Side and select your favored side.
- Tap Done when you are satisfied with the results.
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After spending quite some time with the Samsung Galaxy S4 we wanted to summarize a how-to definitive guide for using all the S4 features. In the commercial they all look cool but when you try it on your new phone they don’t work. Many of the common pitfalls are because the features may not be turned on. This guide will help you find each settings and show you step by step how to use them with screenshots and video (coming soon)!
How to Save Battery Power
Samsung Galaxy S4 Power Savings Mode
I must say, as a super power user of my S4, in comparison to the S3- Samsung has done an amazing job of maximizing the battery life of the latest phone with theirPower Saving feature that comes standard with the phone… and it should already be enabled. If it’s not you can enable it by:
- Going to Settings
- Turn on Power saving mode
- Note this will limit the max performance on the processor, lower power level for the screen, turn off haptic feedback.
As with any Android or smartphone you can squeeze extra juice by:
- Disabling WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, Sync, and lower screen brightness when not needed.
- Reduce screen time out by going to Settings then My device then Accessibility then Screen timeout and set to 15 or 30 seconds.
- The screen on any smartphone will be the culprit of most drain so to maximize beyond lower brightness, you can try to set a dark color background as they emit less energy than brighter colored ones. Also try to use static backgrounds versus live wallpapers as much as possible.
- Finally, there are a slew of apps to help with use even more. Some learn your habits and auto-magically manage the power hogs and some even go as far as turning off mobile data when the screen is off and returning when you wake the phone. See some battery saving apps here.
How to Stop Lag when pressing Home Button
Turn Off S Voice Open Via Home Key on Samsung Galaxy S4
Ever notice that lag when pressing the Home button? Well a feature of S Voice listens for a double tap of the Home button as a shortcut to launch the voice assistant app. There are a few guilty culprits here; S Voice and Animations. S Voice listens for a double tap of the Home button thus has that slight presence of lag (though artificial… you’re phone isn’t slow by any means.) The second deals with animation transitions for every screen on the phone, we can reduce this time by half or turn it off to experience insanely zippy performance. Here’s how:
- Double tap the Home button to open S Voice
- Tap Menu then Settings and uncheck Open via the home key
Turn Off Transitions Animations on Samsung Galaxy S4
To speed up screen transitions you need developer mode enabled, check this tip below how then…
- Going to Settings
- Tap More then Developer options
- Scroll down to “Drawing” section and turn all three (Window animation scale, Transition animation scale, and Animator duration scale) to “Animation scale 0.5x”
- Press Home button… lightning fast huh?!?
How to use Air Gestures?
How to Use Air Gestures on Samsung Galaxy S4
The Galaxy S4 has a new infrared sensor for not only allowing it to act as a remote for your TV but detects your hand gestures without your actually touching the phone. Here’s a list of cool things you can do (plus how-to guides):
- Answer phone by waving hand
- Get high-level phone details with Quick Glance simply by waving hand over phone
- Flip back and forth through pictures in the Gallery by waving
- Navigate web pages by waving up/down, switch tabs in the web browser by waving left/right
How to use Air View?
Samsung Galaxy S4 Hands-on – Air Gesture (Air View)
In the new S4, Samsung has expanded on Air View with plenty of ways to hover your finger over the phone on list items and get a preview of more content without ever touching the phone. Here’s a list of cool things you can do (plus how-to guides):
- In the Messaging app you hover your finger over messages in the list to get a preview of the last text message
- In the Email app (not Gmail or other 3rd party email app) you hover your finger over emails in the list to get a preview. Hover over attachments to get a preview of its contents.
- If you save speed dial contacts, hover over the dial-pad to see which contact is saved in the number slot.
- On the Web Browser (not Chrome or other 3rd party browser apps) you can hover over text to magnify it, if a webpage has a drop-down menu you can expand it, or hover a tab to preview open tabs.
- Flipboard is a popular social news app that aggregates news from many places including your social feeds. Now you can hover your finger over an item to get a preview of the news items.
How to Answer Calls Without Touching It?
How to Turn on Air-call Accept
First ensure that Air Gesture is turned on, as it is one of those things you can disable to save some battery life and may not be turned on by default.
- To turn on Air Gestures go to Settings (either by pressing the Menu button from the home screen and tapping Settings or browse the Settings app from the list of apps.
- Tap My Device tab
- Scroll down to Motion and gestures
- Tap Air gesture and flip the switch to ‘On’
- Tap the description to reveal individual toggles
- Tip: Tap each description, they have demos that allows you to try out each feature!
- When it answers the call it automatically turns on the speaker phone (though this can be toggled off if you like)
How to Preview Text Messages, Pictures, Email and more Without Touching It?
How to Air View Preview Content on Samsung Galaxy S4
First ensure that Air View is turned on, as it is one of those things you can disable to save some battery life and may not be turned on by default.
- To turn on Air View go to Settings (either by pressing the Menu button from the home screen and tapping Settings or browse the Settings app from the list of apps.
- Tap My Device tab
- Scroll down to Air view and flip the switch to ‘On’
- Tap the description to reveal individual toggles
- Tip: Tap each description, they have demos that allows you to try out each feature!
Using the Camera Modes
Samsung Galaxy S4 Camera Modes Expanded
Many of the modes were plucked from the Galaxy Camera… there’s 13 in all. Below are brief descriptions of them:
- Auto: this is probably going to be your most used as it’s the easiest to work with. In this mode you let the camera figure things out to get the best picture.
- Dual Camera: allows you to record video or take a photo with both the front and rear cameras combined into one. This one is slightly different from the others as it is not found in the Modes list yet a sub-feature of Auto. By tapping the two camera icons in top left you get a preview of both cameras. From there you can move the smaller camera around where you like it, swap cameras, add themes to the smaller preview or go side-by-side.
- Beauty face: automatically enhance facial features when taking portraits.
- Best photo: rapidly takes 8 flicks and suggests the best one to save.
- Best face: is awesome sauce! Ever had a group of people and trying to get the best shot? This feature takes five photos and merges the best one of each and merges them into one photo.
- Sound & shot: is just what it sounds like. You can add a few seconds of sound with the photo. Like a customized photo card.
- Drama: is cool as it takes five pictures of a moving subject and merges into one shot.
- Animated photo: lets you create GIF photo animations right on the camera. After the snap you get to edit which parts of the picture moves and save them.
- Rich tone (HDR): maximizes the color and tones in pictures. Very similar to the HDR feature on Instagram to get more dynamic photos. Note: you have to be still and steady with this one as it takes multiple exposures of picture to stitch them together for you.
- Eraser: is cool as it can literally remove moving subjects from your photo automatically. Ever wanted to take a picture of someone in front of a landmark and rude people photo bomb your snap? Well you have to already anticipate this and specifically enable this mode for it to work (you can’t do it after the flick).
- Panorama: allows you to take super wide landscape photos.
- Sports: mode takes pictures of fast moving subjects and helps eliminate motion blur.
- Night: mode helps you take brighter and clearer photos at night. Note: be steady and still with this mode or you’ll get blurry shots.
How to use as TV Remote?
How to use Samsung Galaxy S4 as TV Remote
The S4 uses an enhanced custom version of the Peel app which we’ve video reviewed with setup tips calledWatchON. It’s designed to be a universal remote for TV and other components, learn your watching habits and recommends programs to you, and present shows to with fancy thumbnails and information. Here’s how to set it up:
- Open WatchON
- Ensure the TV, DVD player, etc. is turned off
- Configure your television with the apps wizard by selecting the brand from the list, select your zip code and television service provider (if none you can choose Over the Air)
- Power on the device (if this does not work you can choose alternate codes)
- Once powered on, customize the categories of content you like.
- You can access traditional number pad & direction buttons, tap remote icon in top right
How to Use Two Apps at the Same time?
How to Use Two Apps at the Same time on Samsung Galaxy S4
Recent Galaxy devices have been equipped with a cool feature of Multi-Window similar to Windows desktops. To use it simply:
- Long-press the Back button for 2-3 seconds and a round tab will appear in the mid-left of your phone (repeat to remove it).
- Tap it, and it reveals predefined apps you can drag onto the screen.
- Tip: you can edit these apps to suit your needs.
- Once two apps are dragged atop and below you can swap the position by pressing expanding the arrow the swap button and drag the middle pane to many one window smaller or larger.
How to use Smart Pause for video?
How to use Smart Pause for video on Samsung Galaxy S4
Though I personally disable this because it gets annoying when the phone fails to detect your eyes and pauses the video. However, if you want to try out the neato feature from the TV commercial:
- Go to Settings
- Tap My device then Smart screen
- Check Smart pause
How to use Group Play?
Group Play is cool and allows multiple Galaxy devices to simultaneously share pictures, PowerPoint presentations, PDF documents, play games (not many games as of yet) and share music with an awesome surround sound effect. To set up:
- Open the Group Play app.
- Tap “Create group” or “Join group” if the session is already started.
- You can then share pics, docs, a multi-player game, and music.
- Check each file(s) you would like to share and tap “Done”.
- Once open you can doodle on top of pics and docs (access the drawing tools by tapping the screen to see the tool bar at the top, there will be pen & eraser tools.)
How to Block Callers?
- Go to Settings
- Tap My device then Blocking mode
- Tapping it reveals all settings you can disable such as incoming calls, notifications, alarms & timer, LED indicator, set black out time and allowed contact list.
How to Change “Life Companion” and Customize Text on Lock Screen?
How to Change Life Companion and Customize Text on Lock Screen on Samsung Galaxy S4
Annoying slogan right? Let’s change it by…
- Going to Settings
- Tap My device then Lock screen
- Note: to remove the message and just have the clock tap Clock or personal message and choose “Clock”
- Under “Secured with PIN” tap Lock screen widgetstap Edit personal message
How to Personalize with MP3 Ringtone?
We have a special tutorial of this here. However, this tip delves more into how to create your own ringtone use a few cool apps then use it as a personal ringtone (no computer necessary).
- Find free ringtones with apps like Zedge or make your own from your music using apps like Ringtonium or Ringdroid.
- The S4 has a file explorer called My Files (or you can use your own favorite file manager app) and navigate to where you saved your ringtone.
- Once found long-press the file then Copy. Then navigate to All files then Ringtones and click “Paste here” button.
- Go to Settings
- Tap My device then Sound
- Scroll down to Ringtones and choose the custom tone
How to Turn Off Annoying Touch Sounds?
- Go to Settings
- Tap My device then Sound
- Scroll down to uncheck “Touch sounds”
How to zoom with the camera?
Pinch the screen! (Just the same as you would zoom in/out of a webpage or photo). Alternatively you can use the volume rocker.
How to take a Screenshot?
The easiest way to take a screenshot is to hold thePower/Wake and Home buttons at the same time for 2-3 seconds. In the Gallery app will be a folder called “Screenshots”.
How to take a Screenshot on Samsung Galaxy S4
Alternatively you can use a feature of Smart Screen to wave your hand in front of phone to capture a screenshot. I personally shy away from this method but if you want to do it, here’s the instructions:
- Go to Settings
- Tap Motions and gestures then enable Palm motion
- Tap it and ensure Capture screen
- Swipe with your palm from right to left or vice versa to take the screenshot
How change to and from Easy Mode?
How change to and from Easy Mode
It’s true the S4 can be overwhelming to first-time smartphone owners so Samsung offer, literally, as Easy Mode. This has a simpler layout (a one-click contacts dialer screen, home screen with time weather and essential apps and an extra screen for other apps) with larger icons. To switch to this go to:
- Go to Settings
- Tap My Device then Home screen mode.
- Toggle Easy Mode then Apply and OK to popup dialogue.
To switch back to Standard Mode:
- Go to Settings
- Tap Home screen mode.
- Toggle Standard Mode then Apply and OK to popup dialogue.
How to turn on Developer Mode?
To activate developer mode, it’s hidden by default but you can:
- Go to Settings then More tab and tap About device.
- Scroll to Build Number and tap it seven times.
- Press Back button and you should see Developer options just above About device.
- Tip: from there you can enable USB debugging.
How to Turn off S Voice Caller ID?
Thanks for Earl asking this in the comments section below.Driving Mode has been turned on, which reads incoming text messages and callers aloud to you. There is an easy way to turn this off by:
- Pulling down the Notifications Window at the top.
- Scroll to the right and turn off Driving Mode.
- Tip: pulling down the Notifications Window with two fingers quickly shows all S4 advanced feature toggles.
How to Customize App Drawer?
How to Customize App Drawer on Samsung Galaxy S4
Did you know you can do a lot from the app drawer than seek your apps? You can search for apps (you ‘ll accumulate a lot if you follow us), change from grid view of icons to a list, rearrange icon order, and even uninstall apps from the app drawer! To do so:
- Go Home
- Press App Drawer grid icon at bottom right
- Press Menu button
- There you will see options for:
- Quick link to Play Store
- Edit or rearrange the order of icons
- Create a Folder
- Uninstall apps
- Show all apps you’ve downloaded
- Change the view type from grid to list or custom grid
- Share apps
- Hide/Show apps
How to Quickly Uninstall apps from the App Drawer?
How to Quickly Uninstall apps from the App Drawer on Samsung Galaxy S4
There are several ways to uninstall apps (from Settingsmenu or from Play Store) and doing it from the app drawer on a Galaxy S4 is one of the easiest, fastest and most convenient implementations I’ve seen. Simply:
- Go Home
- Press App Drawer grid icon in bottom right
- Press Menu button
- Tap Uninstall and eligible apps will have a red minus icon over them. Tap each and accept the confirmation to uninstall.
How to Change Quick Access Apps on Lock Screen?
How to Change Quick Access Apps on Lock Screen on Samsung Galaxy S4
Tired of those pre-selected five apps at the bottom row of your S4 once awakened? You can change these to quickly access your favorite apps by:
- Go to Settings
- Tap My Device tab and press Lock screen
- Ensure Shortcuts in turned ‘On’
- Then tap it to open it. Long-press any icon and a ‘Delete’ trash can will appear below, drag the app to the trash.
- When less than five icons appear, then an empty space to the right with plus sign will appear. Tap it and a list of your apps will appear for you to scroll to and select.
- Note: you can rearrange the order of these by long-pressing and icon but important to drag between the spaces of the icons (it’s quite cumbersome but ultimately works).
How to Quick Access Google Now Search?
How to Quick Access Google Now Search?
Google Now as you should know is Google’s awesome search and voice assistant app. We’ve explained how you can long-press the Home button and tap the Google Now icon at the bottom of the app task manager screen but there’s a faster way to reach this.
- Simply go Home
- Long-press the Menu button.
- P.S. (on Nexus devices it’s even faster by just swiping up from the bottom- plus it starts listening for voice search commands).
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