In this post, we have compiled a list of the first 7 things that you should do on your new Samsung phone, to get the most out of it. As it’s going to be a slightly long list, let’s get started, shall we?
1. Set up Navigation Gestures
You might already know that most Samsung devices ship with the conventional navigation bar at the bottom. If you’re looking for a more intuitive navigation system, you should enable the gestures straightaway. Most new Samsung devices ship with Android 9 Pie out of the box, and you can set up the navigation gestures just as easily. To do so, go to Settings > Display > Navigation bar option, and select Full-screen gestures. As soon as you do so, you’ll notice the navigation bar replaced by three bars. And well, using them is a child’s play. Swiping up from the left/right will take you back one step while swiping up from the center take you to the home screen. To access the Overview Selection menu, swipe up and hold from the center. Cool, right?
2. Remove Bloatware
Lately, Samsung has done a great job of reducing the number of pre-installed apps in the new One UI. However, there are few unnecessary apps, especially on the budget or mid-range devices. These To remove these apps, open up the app drawer and long-tap on the app and select Uninstall if you are using the default One UI launcher. Head over to Settings > Apps, and uninstall the ones you can do away with. Note that Samsung phones do not let you uninstall select native apps like Files and Notes.
3. Reduce Animations
Yep, those animations in Samsung One UI are pretty slick. But while the animations are good to look at, they tend to make your phone a bit sluggish. Thankfully, you can reduce the animations for a smoother and fluid experience. To do so, hop over to Advanced features in Settings and toggle the switch for Reduce animations. That’s it. Now, your phone will be faster and responsive than it did before.
4. Tweak the Quick Settings
Okay, the settings are all done. Now, it’s time to personalize your phone. In One UI, you can completely customize the Quick Settings panel. Here, you can remove the buttons that you don’t need and add the ones that you use the most. To personalize it, swipe down to bring down the notifications shade and tap on the three-dot menu button, as shown in the screenshot below. Next, select Button Order from the drop-down menu and drag the buttons up, which you do not need. That’s not all. You can also pick the number of buttons on the Quick Settings menu via the Button Grid option. At present, you can choose between three different grid sizes, including a 3×3 grid and a 5×3 grid.
5. Play with Always on Display
If you’ve purchased a Samsung device with an AMOLED display, you must have come across the Always On Display (AOD) feature. Apart from giving your phone a chic look, it lets you see important information like notifications and missed calls & messages. And the best thing is that you needn’t even unlock the phone, or turn on the display, to see them. However, in my opinion, the default screen is a tad too mainstream. The mantra is to customize it as per your choice. Thankfully, you can change almost everything from the clock style to its color. Head over to Settings > Lock screen > Always-on display, and then tap on Clock Style. Here, you can pick from several different clock faces and also get to change the color. If you’re not happy with the built-in faces, you can swipe to the extreme right and tap on the Paintbrush icon to download third-party themes from the Galaxy Theme store. At the same time, you can also choose the time you’d want the AOD to be enabled. At the time of writing, you can pick between Tap to Show, Show always and Show as scheduled.
6. Turn Smart Pop-Up Display On
Another cool feature of Samsung One UI is the Smart pop-up display. When you receive a notification from one of the allowed apps, this feature will display all the notifications in a bubble. When you tap on it, it expands to show you the details of the message. And that’s not all. You can resize the window, or move it around just like you do on your PC. To enable it, head over to Advanced Settings > Smart pop-up display, and toggle the switch for the apps which you want this feature for. The smart pop-up view works best for messages apps like WhatsApp and the default messages app. The best thing is that the current app will stay open below, while you can carry on your work in the pop-up window.
7. Disable Duplicate Samsung Apps
Last but not least, do remove all the duplicate Samsung apps that you won’t be using. So if you prefer Chrome or Firefox over the default Samsung Internet Browser, it’s best to disable or uninstall the latter. To disable duplicate apps, tap and hold on the app icon and select Disable. Neat, right?
Spruce Up Your Phone
If your phone features Edge Panels, your next stop should be to customize these panels. By default, there are around five panels, such as People, Calendar, Apps, among others. Thankfully, you can remove the ones you do not need (or add a few third-party ones), or change their order. To customize the edge panels, swipe inwards from within the activation zone and then tap on the Settings button at the bottom-left corner. And you know the rest! Did we miss to include a few of your favorite tips? Let us know in the comments below. Next up: The Samsung Good Lock app is amazing if you are into customization. Read the article below to see how to use the Good Lock app on your Samsung device.
