Samsung Galaxy S8 & Galaxy S8 Plus Tips And Tricks You Should Know About

Samsung announced the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ on March 29th followed by the release on April 21st. And as Forbes contributor Gordon Kelly pointed out in a review, Samsung’s latest flagship “might be the most beautiful smartphone ever made .” I am inclined to agree with him after seeing the device up close and testing out some of its built-in features.

Some of the best Galaxy S8 features are obvious, but there are some useful ones that are subtle, yet handy. As a follow-up to my Galaxy S7 tips article from 2016 and Galaxy S6 tips article from 2015, these are 26 Galaxy S8 tips and tricks you should know about:

1.) Activate Edge Lighting

If you have used one of the Samsung Edge devices before, then you may have appreciated the Edge lighting feature. This feature is also built into the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, which is surprising since the newer devices are not as curved as its predecessors. And since it is not as curved, the Edge lighting feature is not as bright. But it might still be worth activating the feature if you would find it beneficial. It can be activated by going to Settings > Display > Edge Screen > Edge lighting. From there, you can decide whether to show Edge lighting when the screen is on, when the screen is off or always.

2.) Adjust The Icon Sizes In The Home And App Screen Grid

Did you know that you can adjust the icon sizes in the Home screen grid? To do so, press down on the Home screen panel. From there, tap on the Home screen settings and then you can customize the Home Screen Grid. The sizes you can select from include 4×5, 4×6 and 5×5. And you can also change the App Screen Grid to 4×6 or 5×6.

3.) Change The Screen Masks On The Iris Scanner

The default setting for unlocking your Galaxy S8 and S8+ with the iris scanner is an impressive biometric feature. However, Samsung made it even more interesting by adding cartoonish screen masks to the iris scanner. You can set this up by going to the Settings app > Lock screen and security > Iris Scanner > Preview screen mask > (Select the mask). After this feature is enabled, you can see some fun cartoon options for the iris scanner.

4.) Create Animated GIFs With The Smart Select Edge Panel

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ makes it easy to create animated GIFs. To set this up, you will have to enable the Smart Select Edge panel by going to Settings app > Display > Edge screen > Edge panels. And then make sure that the “Smart select” Edge panel is check marked under that menu. Then open the app that you want to use for creating an animated GIF like YouTube or Netflix. The animated GIF feature allows you to capture up to 15 seconds.

When you start playing the video, you will need to drag in the Edge panel from the edge of the screen and then scroll to the Smart Select panel. Then tap on the Animation button. After you tap on the Animation button, you will see a resizable window on the screen. From there you can set the recording quality of the GIF where high quality hits about 10MB and normal quality hits about 4MB.

5.) Customize The Always On Display

As you may have noticed, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ display is always on in a low power mode. Low power mode shows the time, date, media controls and app notifications on the display. You can customize the Always on display by going to Settings > Lock screen and security > Always on display. In this menu, you can adjust the layout of the clock, the colors and photo backgrounds. And you can also set the time that you want to turn the feature off, which can come in handy if you don’t want to see the display glowing while you are sleeping.

6.) Enable/Disable And Adjust The Edge Panels

The Edge panels on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ are customizable. You can turn the Edge panels on or off by going to the Settings app > Display > Edge screen > Edge panels > select on or off.

And if the Edge panel is enabled, you can decide if you want to make it usable on the left or the right. This is configurable by opening the Edge screen and tapping on the gear icon (Edge panel settings). From there, open the “More options” menu by tapping on the three dots icon. Tap on “Handle settings” and change the position to either right or left. Under the “Handle settings” menu, you can also adjust the size, transparency and vibration.

7.) Enable Power Saving Mode

To extend the battery life on your Samsung Galaxy S8, you can make adjustments to the power saving mode. The power saving mode can be viewed under Settings > Device maintenance > Battery. Then you can select Mid or Max to extend your battery life up to a certain amount of time. Selecting Max disables most of the apps and shows just a blank screen, but your device could last a few hours with a single digit battery percentage while in this mode. The Mid mode decreases the brightness and temporary disables features like the Always On display. Another great feature in this menu is the App power monitor, which allows you to select apps that you want to stop from using your battery while in low power mode.

8.) Get Rid Of The App Drawer

There is a way to show all of your apps on the Home screen by removing the app drawer. You can do this by long pressing on the Home screen and then tapping on Home screen settings > Home screen layout. From there, you can choose two options: Home and Apps screen and Home screen only. By choosing Home screen only, it will remove the app drawer and all of your apps will be on the home screens instead.

9.) Make Your Apps Full Screen

What makes the Galaxy S8 and S8+ devices unique are the bright and immersive edge-to-edge “Infinity Displays.” And to make the most out of the gorgeous Galaxy S8 displays, Samsung added the ability to full-screen apps. You can full screen apps by going to the Settings app > Display > Full screen apps. From there, you can decide which apps to enable or disable for full screen.

Another reason why this feature is handy is because the aspect ratio of the displays on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ is 18.5:9. This causes large black bars to appear on the sides of apps and videos. Most apps and videos use the standard 16:9 ratio, but the full-screen mode can get rid of the black bars on the sides.

10.) Move Navigation Bar Keys

On older Samsung devices and the Samsung Galaxy S8, the Navigation bar keys are arranged in this order: Recents – Home – Back. But many other Android smartphones are arranged in the Back – Home – Recents order. You may not know this, but there is a way to change around the Galaxy S8 button layout by going to the Settings app > Display > Navigation bar. Then you can change Recents – Home – Back to Back – Home – Recents. From there, change the position of the task switcher and back buttons.

11.) Play Around With Video Filters

In the Camera app, there are video filters built-in that are similar to the ones in Snapchat and Facebook. You can find the built-in video filters by tapping on the camera icon at the top left corner while in selfie mode. Then tap on the bear icon at the bottom right corner.

12.) Prevent Icons From Being Added To The Home Screen

Whenever you download a new app from the Google Play Store, a new icon shows up on the home screen — which may interfere with the way you arrange your icons. You can turn this off by going to the Google Play Store app > Tap on the three parallel horizontal line (hamburger) icon > Settings > Deselect Add icon to Home screen.

13.) Save RAW Copies Of Photos

The camera built into the Galaxy S8 and S8+ is very sophisticated and the photos it takes are very sharp and clear. This is especially apparent when you view the RAW photos.

To save RAW photos on your device, you can do so by opening the camera app and tapping on the Picture size tab. And from there, enable the Save RAW and JPEG files feature.

14.) Search For Content And Settings On Your Device

There is a way to search for files, apps, emails, photos and text messages on your Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ by opening the app drawer and tapping on the “Search phone” box at the top. And if you want to quickly find a Setting to adjust, then you can tap on the search box in the Settings app.

15.) Set Up Bluetooth Dual Audio

The Galaxy S8 and S8+ were the first smartphones to ship with Bluetooth 5.0. Bluetooth 5.0 has improved audio and range. And you can stream audio to two sets of headphones or speakers at the same time. You can set this up by going to the Settings app > Connections > Turn on Bluetooth > tap on the three dots at the top right corner > Dual Audio > Pair two sets of headphones or speakers.

16.) Set Up Finger Sensor Gestures

A handy feature that is built into the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ is finger sensor gestures. This allows you to swipe down on the fingerprint scanner at the back of the device to pull down the notification shade. And swiping up on the fingerprint sensor launches Samsung Pay. You can set up this feature by going to the Settings app > Advanced features > Finger sensor gestures.

17.) Setting Up One Handed Mode

If you want to make it easier to use your Galaxy S8 or S8+ with one hand, then you can set up One Handed Mode. Essentially, this feature makes the display smaller. You can set this up by going to Settings > Advanced Features > One Handed Mode. After this feature is enabled, you can activate One Handed Mode by tapping on the Home button 3 times.

18.) Show/Hide App Drawer Button

Out of the box, the Galaxy S8 and S8+ does not show the usual app drawer that you may be accustomed to. Instead, you can see the app drawer by swiping up and down at the bottom of the device. But you can enable the App drawer button again by long pressing on the homescreen. From there, tap on Home Screen Settings > Apps button. Then you can choose between “Show Apps button” and “Hide Apps button.”

19.) Slide The Shutter Button To Control Zooming

Samsung
Shutter on the Galaxy S8 camera also controls zooming

When you are using the camera on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, you will notice that the shutter button turns into a zooming control if you are holding the device horizontally. Personally, I think this is much smoother than pinch-to-zoom.

20.) Sort App Drawer Alphabetically

One of the easiest ways to find apps in the App Drawer that you have downloaded is to have them sorted alphabetically rather than the order of last downloaded. You can do this by opening the App Drawer and tapping on the three dots at the top right. From there, tap on Sort > Alphabetical order.

21.) Split Screen Apps

One of the best Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ features is the ability to multitask with a split-screen. You can set this up by pressing the Recent apps button. At the top frame of each app, there is a button with two rectangles next to the “X” button.

Samsung
Multi-Window on Galaxy S8

When you press the rectangles, the app will go into split-screen mode at the top and the bottom half will show you other recent apps. Select one of the recent apps or tap on “More Apps.” That is the other app that will open in the split screen mode. You can exit split screen mode by tapping on the line separating the two apps and dragging it all the way up or down.

22.) Take A Screenshot/Scroll Capture

Sometimes if you see an image that you like while using your smartphone, you want to take a screenshot of it and send it to a friend. You can take a screenshot by pressing down the Power button and then pressing down on the volume down button.

There is also a way to set up Palm swipe to capture. This can be found by going to Settings > Advanced features. After this feature is enabled, you can swipe the edge of your hand horizontally from right to left or left to right to capture screenshots.

If you want to take a larger screenshot in order to capture content below and above the fold, then you can do this by selecting Scroll capture. After you take a screenshot, you will notice the Scroll capture feature from the options that appear at the bottom of the screen. As you tap on the Scroll capture button, you can keep going down the page until you are done capturing the longer-sized image.

23.) Take Photos With Voice Commands

The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ has the ability to take photos using voice commands. You can set this up by tapping on the Settings in the top right corner of the Camera app. At the bottom of the list, there is an option called Voice control. Then you can say “Cheese” or “Smile” to take a photo.

24.) Turn On The Blue Light Filter

It is very common for people to stare at their smartphones in the dark while in bed. But the blue light glare emitting from smartphones can strain your eyes and disrupt your sleep cycle. Fortunately, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ has blue light filter feature. You can set this up by opening the Settings app > Display > Blue light filter. From this menu, you can schedule the blue light filter, manually turn it on and off and control the opacity.

25.) Turn On Video Stabilization

To prevent shaky videos, the Galaxy S8 has a video stabilization mode. You can turn it on by opening the camera app and tapping on the Settings menu at the top right. From there, select Video stabilization under the Common section. But it’s worth mentioning that the video stabilization mode does not work when you are recording videos in qHD resolution.

26.) Turn On Wi-Fi Calling

Sometimes there are situations where making a phone call using Wi-Fi would be better than using a cellular connection like if you are in a remote area or using your device in a basement. This can be set up by going to Settings > Connections > More Connection settings and turning on Wi-Fi calling.