With every new flagship smartphone comes new software features and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge has a lot of them despite the company touting it with a bloat-free experience. Most of the enhancements on the handset are hidden deep within the settings or need specific actions to enable and you’ll probably not even know they exist unless you go through the entire user manual. But wait – We’re saving you the trouble as we’ve jotted down almost every new hidden feature on the smartphone in question and how you can enable them.
1. The curved edges aren’t just for show:
What sets the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge apart from the normal model is the small curve visible on both sides of the display. Well, the ‘edge’ design isn’t just for show as it does enabled some pretty interesting features that you’ll not find on the S6 or other Galaxy smartphones.
– Information stream
You can easily setup the sides to display content like the clock, weather, stocks and even notifications so that they can be easily viewed without the need of turning on the screen. Also, you’ll be able to flip through categories and even refresh them by swiping to the left. And a simple tap will launch the respective application. Information stream can be enabled from the Settings menu under the Edge screen tab.
– Night clock
Night clock is very similar to Information stream, but only displays the time at the corner of the display, as the name suggest. You can choose to enable this feature at a specific time and also set the duration of which you want it to run. This attribute can also be found in the Edge screen menu under settings.
– Edge lighting
Edge lighting is basically a notification system which allows you to use the display’s curves for alerts. Whenever you get a phone call or text from pre-defined contacts while the phone is placed screen-down, the sides will light up with a color assigned to that person. This notification can be dismissed by simply placing your finger on heart rate monitor and doing so will send a message saying that you’re busy (can be turned off). Edge lighting settings are also filed in the same menu as the aforementioned attributes.
2. TouchWiz enhancements:
As mentioned above, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge comes with a new version of TouchWiz and obviously, there are going to be new features onboard.
– Increase the number of apps on the home screen:
The TouchWiz UI hasn’t changed much, but it does look cleaner than before. And if you’re not really fond of the 4 x 4 layout, you can always increase the number of icons in each row by long pressing on at empty space on the home screen and choosing either 4 x 5 or 5 x 5 options from the screen grid menu.
– Taking screenshots:
If you’ve used a Samsung smartphone in the past, then you already know how to take a screenshot. But new users are sure to get lost in finding this feature. It’s quite simple – All you have to do is swipe your hand across the screen from the right.
– Disable unwanted applications:
Samsung has been touting the Galaxy s6 Edge with a clean TouchWiz experience. And while there are many performance improvements, the number of bloat (read: pre-installed apps) has somewhat increased. If you like things clean and only important apps to show up in your drawer, the majority of system applications can be disabled, but not uninstalled. This can be done by simply tapping on the ‘Edit’ button on the top-right corner and hitting the red ‘-’ sign.
– You can now get rid of the Flipboard UI:
Like HTC’s BlinkFeed, a lot of Samsung customers have a love-hate relationship with the Flipboard a.k.a Magazine UI. Well, if you’re not fond of it, the unnecessary interface can be removed from the home screen by entering into the edit menu (long press on an empty space on the home screen) and unchecking the tick mark just above the UI.
– Easy multitasking:
Samsung’s Multi Window feature has been reworked in the new TouchWiz and it’s also easier to launch. By long pressing the recent apps key, you can bring up the split-screen view to run two apps simultaneously. Also, you’ll be able to conveniently drag and drop media between applications to share with others. For instance, text and images from the browser can be sent to friends via the default messaging app when both are running simultaneously.
Then there are floating windows of select apps which can be created by swiping from the top right corner to the middle. This can also be done by long-pressing any app from the recent menu. Once resized, they can be moved around and you can have a total of 5 UIs running at the same time.
– Performing a soft reset:
Like it or not – All Android smartphones are bound to freeze up at some point of time. And while pulling out the battery has been one of the best solutions for Samsung phones, this trick will no longer work as the S6 Edge doesn’t have a user-replaceable battery. The only way to reboot your phone when nothing functions is to simply keep the power button pressed for several seconds.
Conclusion:
While these hidden features on the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge do all look great, we’re not really sure how many of them will be of actual use. So make sure you try them all out to see whether they make your daily tasks easier or just complicate things.
0 comments:
Post a Comment