[Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Guides, News, & Discussion] Paras Lehana:
Device Settings Menu Guide, Tips & Discussions

Part 2 - Sounds and vibration, Notifications, Wallpaper and themes​

If you're new to this series or want to see the index, please read the Introductory Post first.​

Sound and vibration

Vibrate while ringing: I have enabled it as in environments where ringtone is not loud enough, vibrations in my pocket helps me.

Ringtone: Set Ringtone for each of your SIMs. Tap Add to add music from your storage. Select 'Highlights only' to play only a specified part of the track and not necessarily from the beginning. This way you can make ringtones from the music track itself but anyways here are the best ringtones sites. The existing catalog in the device has few nature-inspired tones - I've set it to 'Friday'.

Vibration Pattern: Specifies vibration pattern for your Calls. Choose it to something by which you can easily differentiate your calls from a standard notification from the initial vibration itself. I've set it to 'Off-beat'.

Notification sounds: You can set customized notification for each app in app's settings itself so set this one as a default notification - something short that won't annoy you. My choice is 'Twinkle'.

Volume: Play with them to find what suits you. In my case, System (touch sounds, back button sounds, etc.) is zero while notifications on the lowest side. You can still control them by pressing volume rocker and then expanding the pop-up.

Vibration Intensity: If you get annoyed, like I do, by vibrations for every notification, set it to zero or alternatively set it to a lower level while tweaking individual app notification settings to allow/disallow vibrations. 'Touch interaction' is for on-screen touches while 'Hard press home button' is for the hard home button in Note9.

Use Volume keys for media: I never wanted to control ringtone with volume rockers. Must be enabled!

System sounds and vibration: Touch sounds; Screen lock sounds; Charging sounds; Vibration feedback; Dialling keypad tones; Keyboard sounds; Keyboard vibration; Touch vibration: I've set it off; on; on; on; off; off; off (I use SwiftKey); on.

Advanced sound settings > Sound quality and effects, Separate app sound:

Dolby Atmos: Read about it here. I've set it to Auto. You can easily toggle modes from the notification bar itself (move it to first page).

Equaliser: Play with it to decide what's best for you. Here is an Equaliser guide for you so that you can play with the Advanced mode as well.

UHQ upscaler: Bit-upscaling works best for me. Read a pro analysis on UHQ upscaling modes here.

Tube Amp Pro; Concert hall: They are disabled when using Dolby Atmos. I prefer Dolby Atmos over either of them.

Adapt Sound: Do try it! Add trying a new profile for each of your earphones or audio device and personalise sound. You can try existing profiles and toggling Clear or Soft sound preference.

Seperate app sound: Useful in cases where you don't want an app's sound to play on your default audio device. I have set 'App' to Chome/Facebook and Audio device to 'Phone' so that they don't accidently play on the connected device in case Bluetooth is left on.

Notifications

App icon badges: Useful though I use similar feature 'Notification badges' in Nova Launcher.

Do not disturb: You can schedule it though I recommend Tasker or IFTTT for scheduling stuff. Do explore Allow exception > Custom to enable 'Repeat callers', allowing calls/messages from specific group, allowing event/task/reminders. Customize DND so that your 3rd-party (scheduling) apps when enabling it enables your customized settings. Review 'App rules' when set by them. Allow or disallow LED or visual notifications when DND is enabled.

Status bar: Since I usually get a lot of notifications, I've disabled 'Show recent notifications only'. It's not a bad idea to get the actual percentage of battery level so enable 'Show battery percentage'.

LED indicator: Enable and then try apps like LightFlow (Pro) to define pro LED settings.

App Notifications: You can customize each App's notification here itself or can do this simply in that App's settings. I prefer customizing App settings when they arrive in the notification bar by holding the notification and tapping settings. This way, in some time, you'll make your app notifications fully customized for all of those that bother you. With Pie, you have now greater control of each app's notification. You can even customize notification subcategories of a particular app. Do check 'silent and minimized' mode that doesn't create a mess in your notification panel as well as minimizes the content by default with no sound. Do you need a separate guide to master this? Do tell. You can also refer to a good article here.

Advanced:

Allow or disallow lock screen notifications, DND exception and Importance. As above, I prefer doing this via app settings when needed.

Menu: 'Show system apps' for customizing notifications of the bloatware. 'Reset preference' in case you believe you have messed up with all your notifications or you need a fresh start.

Wallpaper and themes

It will route you to Samsung Themes. I use seperate icon and theme packs for Nova Launcher. I do use AOD packs from the Themes. Do explore this section on XDA itself. I'm going to develop some themes (preferably AOD skins) soon and will let you know. Learn how to develop yours here.