[Galaxy S II General] sekhargreen:
Tips & Tricks

Taking Screenshots

Taking screenshots on Android devices is a pain, but on the Galaxy S2, you can simply hold down the home button and then briefly press the power key to take a screenshot. You can then see your screenshots in the Gallery.

Adjusting Brightness with Notification Bar

The notification bar can serve as a brightness scroll on the Galaxy S 2, if you are not using the automatic brightness option. Just hit the notification bar, hold for a second and swipe left to decrese and right to increase the brightness.

Browser Text Wrapping

Out of the box the Galaxy S2 doesn’t automatically reflow the text in the webpage if you zoom in. But if you just goto settings and check the ‘auto-fit pages’ option, all is well again.

Changing User Agent

The SGS2 browser lets you change the user-agent without needing an extra app, just type ‘about:useragent’ in browser's location bar and you can choose between the iPhone, Nexus One, Desktop, Galaxy S or even enter a custom string.

Test Mode

Dialing *#0*# in the dialer enters the LCD test mode, useful if you are looking for for dead pixels, debugging sensors and other hardware parts of your SGS2.

Search Key

Although SGS2 like the SGS doesn’t have a dedicated search key that all other Android devices have, but if you long press menu, it launch the search screen, anywhere you'd need it.

Video Screen Lock

Pressing the power button while video player is playing locks the screen, now you can hold the device any way you like, no more accidental presses will happen. To unlock, just press the power button again.

Customizing App Launcher Bar

If you would like to change applications shortcuts in bottom application launcher bar, press the Applications button, then Menu -> Edit. You can then rearrange those shortcuts or replace them with other applications or remove them completely. There's limita of maximum 3 shortcuts and the Home button will always be there.

Changing USB to File Transfer Mode

When you connect USB cable, SGS2 mounts it's file system read-only and transfering files between PC and handset is possible with Kies only. To change this behavior to normal read-write USB file transfer mode, go to Settings -> Applications -> Development and enable USB debugging.

User interface

Scrolling:

- Use two fingers to scroll until fingers are released.

- Use three fingers to scroll fast until top/bottom.

Phone wake up: Via home or power.

Hold menu: Quick access Android search.

Dobule click home: Quick access voice commands.

Screenshot: Press home and power simultaneously. Screenshots are saved in /sdcard/ScreenCapture/

Home screen

Multiple home screens: Touch the dots to switch directly to a screen or hold and drag left/right to scroll very fast.

Changing shortcuts at the bottom: Click „Applications“ (bottom right), then menu, click „Edit“: Now change the three (left) icons via drag & drop. Afterwards click menu and choose „Save..“.

Quick brightness change: Hold the notification bar (on the top) and drag left/right to modify brightness (if not set to auto).

Pinch home screen to view all home screens and add/delete them.

Pinch application screen to view all application screens and reoder them.

Set background image for lock screen: When changing your desktop background image, there are two buttons, choose the right one (smaller area) and save. Now you‘ll be asked to use this image for the lockscreen too.

Android Apps

E-Mail: Pinch in the overview list to fold/unfold by date.

E-Mail: Click longer on a date (either the sent date or a date in the email text): Create a new calendar event for this date.

Contacts: Drag left over a contact to send SMS, drag right to call

Keypad: Use the letters on number keys to type a name, the triangle on the right shows how many matching contacts are found, clicking on it reveals them.

Camera: Change shortcut buttons by clicking menu, “Edit”, then modify shortcut buttons via drag&drop.

Camera: Pinch to zoom in/out.

Browser: Pinch to view all tabs/windows.

Browser: Go to “about:debug” via address bar. Now you have additional options when pressing the menu (at the bottom)

Browser: Go to “about:useragent” via address bar. Now you can modify the user agent string.

Video player: Drag left/right to Fast forward/Rewind

Video player: Power locks/unlocks the screen

Calendar: Pinch in month view to get an overview, swipe left/right to change the year.

Easter egg from Google: Go to preferences, about phone, click some times on “Android Version” (try multiple times)