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31 Galaxy Note 3 Tips & Tricks [VIDEO]

The Galaxy Note 3 is an absolute beast of a phone (full review) but with so many features and settings, where do you start? Right here, where we zip through the top Galaxy Note 3 Tips & Tricks to get you started on the right foot.

Keep in mind that many of these handy tips will also apply to the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 – 2014 Edition (full review). Here are the tips, further explained for your reference:

#1 – Never lose your S Pen!

The S Pen is integral to the power of the Galaxy Note 3 – not something you want to lose. Here’s how you can set the Note 3 to alert you that you may have left the stylus behind:

This will only work when the screen is off, and if you press “okay” when it warns you once, it won’t warn you again until you redock the S Pen and leave it behind again. So be careful!

#2 – Control your Galaxy Note 3 while wearing gloves

The capacitive screen on the Note 3 isn’t only good for writing and drawing with a stylus, it can also be set to operate while wearing gloves, but you’ve got to enable the option:

#3 – Type with one hand

The Galaxy Note 3 is HUGE which may turn some small-handed people away, but if difficulty in one-handed typing is a concern, please know you can adjust your keyboard accordingly!

The S Pen also makes typing with Swype an absolute pleasure… give that a try as well!

#4 – Block notifications while you’re sleeping

You don’t want to miss an important call or text from a family member or friend in case of emergency, but notifications from apps and drunk dialing idiots threaten to keep you up all night. And those stinking LED notification lights are BRIGHT! Luckily the Note 3 has a feature for this specific problem called “Blocking Mode”:

#5 – Lower the screen saturation and contrast

Is Samsung’s outrageously bright and colorful Super AMOLED screen a little TOO bright and colorful? You can do more than lower the screen brightness and instead tone down the contrast and saturation:

It doesn’t have a huge impact but it can certainly help.

#6 – Vibrations too strong?

The default notification vibrations are pretty darn strong! You can turn them down:

You can also set your phone to vibrate even when ringing (great if you’re at a bar, party, concert, or other loud place) and change the pattern of the vibration from the same settings area.

#7 – Show the battery percentage in the status bar

It can be really annoying trying to guess how much battery you have left by estimating how much of your little icon is filled up with green. We want numbers! Here is how you can put your exact percentage in the notification bar:

Ah… much more helpful.

#8 to #12 – Motion controls annoying? Only enable these!

Samsung has a boat load of features that detect your eyes and your hands and attempt to behave automatically based on your intents. Most can be annoying but some are pretty useful. I recommend turning ALL of them off except the following. Go to the Settings > Controls >  Motion Control section for all of the below:

See notifications without touching your phone!
Air gesture > Quick Glance > On. Wave your hand over the screen for a quick look at notifications. (Turn Air jump, Air browse, and Air call-accept off)

Added Stylus hovering functionality!
Air view mode > On > Auto. This provides extra features when hovering over items with the S Pen, for example popping up larger images when browsing the gallery or scrolling pages up/down. Open “Air view pen options” to see exactly where it works.

Special Air Command Features!
Air Command > On: Quickly add recent attachments and frequent recipients by hovering over these respective fields

Turn both Motions & Palm Motions OFF

Prevent screen from sleeping when you’re looking at it!
Smart Screen > Smart stay > On. Uncheck the rest of these features.

#13 – Search for settings

Already overwhelmed? You can now search your settings to more easily find hidden options!

#14 – Customize your quick settings buttons

Prefer to have different quick setting toggles in your notification bar? You can change them easily:

#15 to #18 – Customize your lock screen

Your lock screen can be more than just a lock screen… you’ve just got to set it up. You can find all of these options in:

Settings > Device > Lock Screen.

15) Add quick launch icons to your lock screen.
Shortcuts > On. Further customize by tapping the icons and selecting your own quick launch apps!

16) Add widgets to your lock screen
Multiple Widgets > On > Favorite Apps. The “Camera” option is relatively useless since you can set a quick launch icon (above) to your camera and it launches much more quickly and smoothly.

17) Personalize with contact info and personal message
If you lose your phone, it’s helpful if your screen shows your contact information so a good samaritan can help you retrieve your device. You might also want to add a little of your own pizzaz.

18) Create a memo without unlocking
Action Memo on lock screen > On. To create an “Action Memo” without unlocking your phone, simply hold down the S Pen button and tap anywhere on the lock screen twice. An Action Memo note will immediately pop up at your disposal! Make sure the setting is enabled in

#19 to #25 – Home Screen Shortcuts

When you’re on the home screen the following buttons provide extra functionality.

#26 – Prevent Air Command from launching when stylus removed

Air Command is greatly, but you might get restless if the menu pops up EVERY time you remove the Stylus. You can choose to turn this off (or toggle to automatically open Action Memo, which is probably more annoying).

#27 – Capture screen without S Pen & Screen Writer

To get a screen capture without using Air Command, simply hold the Home and Power Button at the same time. You can also prevent the screen captures from entering edit mode by going to Settings > Device > Display > Edit after screen capture (the last option)

#28 – Turn your phone into a Senior Citizen Saver

Did you buy the Galaxy Note 3 for Grandma or Grandpa because they don’t need a telescope to read the print on the HUGE 5.7 inch screen? Make things even simpler by transforming their phone into an incredibly basic layout that’s hard to NOT understand.

#29 – Display your app drawer in alphabetical order

If you’ve got a ton of apps, flipping through page after page to get to something specific can be a hassle. You can change the layout of your app drawer very easily to make it more convenient:

#30 –  Unlock your phone by saying “Hi Galaxy”

I’ve seen many people complain that saying “Hi Galaxy” won’t work and they can’t find the option in the Note’s settings. That’s because the option is actually hidden in the settings of the S Voice app!

Note: “Hi Galaxy” won’t simply unlock you’re phone… it must be followed by a voice command to become useful (see below)

#31+ –  Master the voice commands!

Create and use your own Voice Commands
In addition to all of the default voice commands (see below), you’re able to set 4 custom voice commands (using your own voice) that will trigger actions from the lock screen (display must be on)!

Enable and learn frequently used Voice Commands
Voice commands used in your phone are different from those used in S Voice. To enable your device-wide voice commands:

This will enable the following commands:

Turn on S Voice and explore the options
There are a TON of voice command options on S Voice. First turn the setting on, then see our list of voice commands below (largely borrowed directly from Samsung documentation) and try some for yourself.

Double tap home button to access S Voice

Schedule:

Task:

Music:

Social update:

Search:

Open App:

Record Voice (Just record voice)

Hands-free mode:

Set alarm:

Timer:

Simple settings:

Navigate:

Hear News:

Weather:

Get an answer:

Local listings:

If you found this article helpful, please share it with your friends!

If you’re looking for more help and support, check out the Note 3 Forums on the Android Forums!

 

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