Updating your Galaxy to the latest software version is optional, but you wouldn't know that from the persistent notification and status bar icon that are constantly reminding you to. Thankfully, you're just an app away from hiding these eyesores without the need to update your phone.
In November 2016, the RCS Universal Profile (Rich Communications Services) was introduced. The technology takes text messaging to the 21st century, emulating many of the features found in IM apps like WhatsApp and iMessage, but working through your phone number like regular SMS or MMS. The only thing is, your carrier needs to support RCS-UP to use the feature. Thankfully, the list is growing.
For all those times when an app either isn't available or simply won't cut it, your phone's internet browser provides access to your favorite websites and services. But some browsers are flat-out better than others, and chances are, the browser that came pre-installed on your phone isn't the best option out there.
With protests springing up across America, there's a chance you may have your first interaction with law enforcement. Many demonstrators will have their phones in-hand to film the action, which, sadly, could prompt an officer to demand the device and any self-incriminating data it may contain. Before this happens, you should know there are tools at your disposal to protect your data in such situations.
Although Telegram wasn't able to make our roundup for the best encrypted messaging app, it's my go-to for group messaging thanks to its ever-expanding list of features. The app even makes jumping into group chats fun and easy by allowing you to set a home screen shortcut for your favorite Telegram threads.
TWRP is the premiere custom recovery for Android because of how many devices it supports and how simple it is to use. But installing it in the first place hasn't always been the easiest thing to do — until now. With the help of a Magisk module, you can finally use one Android device to flash TWRP on another.
Buying an unlocked phone is usually the correct move. By doing so, you bypass a lot of bloat that carriers put on your phone, and you can also use that phone with another carrier should you decide to switch to a new one. However, a lot of carriers won't give unlocked devices access to their visual voicemail apps. For that, there's Google Voice.
Eventually, we all get tired of our home screens. There's nothing wrong with it, but after hundreds of times seeing the same thing, it all starts looking a bit stale. You can rearrange icons and widgets, or even just pick a new wallpaper — but sometimes, your layout is perfect and you still want a fresh look. Well, thanks to Action Launcher and icon packs, this is really easy to accomplish.
UPDATE:The OnePlus 8 Pro has been released! Check it out on the official OnePlus website or read through the rumored specs we've left below for posterity.
There are plenty of apps that can translate text on websites and even in the real world. But when you need to write a message in a language you don't speak, it's your keyboard that will come in handy the most.
Android 11 won't be available as a beta update for Pixel devices until May 2020. Until then, the only way to try the latest Android version is by manually installing it. Usually, this means carrier models are left out since their bootloaders are locked, but there's still a way to get it done.
In the past, if you upgraded to a new Galaxy or if you had to factory reset your existing one to fix an issue, you had to restore your home screen layout manually. Your wallpaper, widgets, icon placement, and launcher settings were all dependent on you to be put back in their place. Thankfully, this isn't an issue anymore.
Sorry, Galaxys S11–19, Samsung's jumping straight to Galaxy S20 this year. They're also going with essentially three base models before accounting for niche variants. Of these three models, it's clear which one's the best: the Galaxy S20 Ultra.
Are you the kind of person to never close tabs in your browser? With so many tabs, the overview menu becomes congested, making it difficult to go back. But it doesn't have to be that way.
Your S20 has a shortcut for Samsung Pay along the bottom of the home screen. But it tends to get in the way sometimes, especially if you're using the new Android 10 gestures in One UI 2. Besides, if you don't use the feature, you probably don't want that little white line at the bottom of your screen anyway.
Undo. Redo. These two actions are forever intertwined, but they're missing from the standard keyboard on Android. Accidentally delete a word, and there is no Ctrl + Z to undo this mistake. But there is finally a solution available on Samsung Galaxy phones.
From booting into Fastboot mode with a single command to installing mods without root access, there's no shortage of reasons to use ADB. The catch, though, you had to be tied to a computer with a USB connection. However, a new feature in Android 11 finally allows you to run ADB commands over Wi-Fi instead of being tethered.
No matter how you feel about Apple, I think most Samung fans would agree that AirPods have some great features, including the ability to pair and use the earbuds without messing around with Bluetooth settings. But did you know your Samsung Galaxy S20 has this feature as well?
You no longer have to worry about accidentally closing an app with Android 11. The latest version introduced a new gesture that lets you bring back an app you inadvertently dismissed from your recent apps list.
When using your right hand, Gboard's one-handed mode will help you type faster with a single thumb. But not all of us hold our phones the same way — some of us prefer our left hand or hold our phones higher or lower than where the keyboard is positioned. But with the latest version of Gboard, you can change this.
If your phone has an A/B partition layout, there are two virtual hard drives that each contain a copy of Android. After every restart, it picks a partition to boot from, then the other lays idle. The idle partition can be overwritten with a new copy of the OS and it won't affect the active one. So the next time you reboot, it just switches partitions and it's as if you updated instantly.
When it comes to modding Android, there's no better tool than Team Win's TWRP custom recovery. You can use it to root your phone, flash mods like Magisk or Xposed, and even replace the entire operating system with a custom ROM like LineageOS — honestly, there's not much this utility can't do.
Despite Samsung's long running support for Wi-Fi Direct, most users still struggle to transfer files between their devices. Whereas Apple has AirDrop, Samsung's previous solution wasn't so obvious. With the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Z Flip, Samsung hopes to correct this with "Quick Share," a file transfer system that still uses Wi-Fi Direct but makes it easier to use.
Without an available browser, it is challenging to enjoy media on your Nvidia Shield outside of the apps on the Play Store. It is because of this limitation that file transferring is vital, as only then can you enjoy your movies and music.
In previous Android versions, you lost about an inch of screen real estate to the status bar and navigation bar. But if you enable Android 10's new navigation gestures on your Samsung Galaxy, you can regain the bottom part — and with the help of ADB, you can reclaim the top portion as well.
If you're using a VPN app to block ads or secure your Galaxy's internet connection, Samsung has decided you need yet another non-dismissible notification from One UI to tell you about it. Not just a status bar indicator like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, but a full-size alert that can't be dismissed. The entire time your always-on VPN is running.
To stand out on Instagram, you need more than just the great camera on the Galaxy S20. You have to think like a professional photographer, which means two things: using manual mode and editing your photos. It is only with the latter that what you imagine becomes a reality.
Not every app is designed well. With nearly 3 million apps on the Play Store and countless more that you can sideload from other sources, there are bound to be a few stinkers. And many of them do a terrible job using RAM.
With Samsung's One UI version of Android, it's easier than ever to take a screenshot and quickly edit the captured image. However, the downside to that convenience has manifested itself in an overlay ribbon that can also get in the way.
Your Galaxy's lock screen already lets you know there's no SIM card installed if it's missing on your device, so there's really no need to have a persistent icon for it on the status bar. If you want to hide the pesky symbol and accompanying notification for good, there's a nifty app you need to check out right now.
An unfortunate byproduct of Samsung's One UI version of Android is redundancy, where you have the Google/AOSP way of doing things mixed with Samsung's methods at the same time.
OnePlus phones are easy to root, but that also means they're easy to brick if you get trigger happy with your superuser privileges. If you find yourself in this situation, you'll quickly realize the OnePlus firmware download page doesn't provide files you can flash in Fastboot mode.
Beyond Apple-specific services like iMessage, having intuitive navigation gestures is certainly one of the features that makes the iPhone so hard to quit. Thanks to Android 10 and One UI 2, however, devices like the Samsung Galaxy S10 have caught up and now provide you with a less clunkier way of getting around, and one more reason to give the Google-based platform a try.
The Galaxy S20's Wireless PowerShare is a must-use feature. With even the base model packing a 4,000 mAh battery, you have more than enough juice for all your Qi-enabled devices. The default settings make it so that in certain situations, you may have to choose between your phone or wireless earbuds, but you can change that.
For Android smartphones, the latest craze is high refresh rate displays, and many popular flagships have them. But until now, there has been no way to confirm it is, in fact, running at higher hertz besides a menu option. Android 11 changes this.
No matter how many camera improvements a phone adds, you're always better off using manual mode. Known as "Pro Mode" on the Galaxy S20, this feature can remove Samsung's pre- and post-processing from photos, putting you in total control.
On stock Android 9 and 10, it is easier than ever to take a screenshot and quickly edit the captured image. However, the downside to that convenience has manifested itself in a heads-up notification that can also get in the way.
The shift to remote working in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has not slowed Google's efforts to fulfill its annual Android update cycle, as the third developer preview of Android 11 dropped on Thursday.
I recently picked up a Pixel Slate when Google had a deal going on. I'd been in the market for an Android tablet since the Nexus 7, and this was the closest thing to it. Unfortunately, I soon learned Chrome OS and Android aren't as integrated as I had hoped.
Ever since Microsoft sunset Windows Phone, they've been working with Android to tap into the growing mobile device market. The tech giant has uploaded over 80 apps to the Play Store for any Android user to download, but some features Samsung has hoarded for themselves.
Starting with Android 9 and 10, Google made privacy and security the main priorities for Android updates. Both versions brought numerous changes to help erase the notion that Android isn't safe, but Android 11 might even have them beat.
Even though Samsung has features like the always-on display, you still might miss some notifications now that the alert LED is gone. But baked in One UI is the ability to turn the rear camera flash into a notification LED. Any incoming alerts or calls will cause the camera LED to blink, so you won't miss a thing.
Apple added a Bedtime Mode to its Screen Time tool for curbing smartphone distractions. Google's version of Screen Time, called Digital Wellbeing, actually predates Apple's, but a recent update is finally bringing in Bedtime Mode.
The monochrome layout on Samsung's default keyboard can make it a little hard to view keys. Fortunately, there's a setting you can enable that makes your keyboard significantly easier to view and type on.
Samsung simplified the interface in its Camera app for the Galaxy S20. It's easier to use for the most part, but now you have to go digging to access certain camera modes. To make up for this, One UI now lets you rearrange the tabs in the Camera app.
In the pursuit of large displays with thinner bezels, Samsung has sacrificed some components. While the loss of the headphone jack gets all the attention, there are other victims — namely, the notification LED.
OnePlus releases some unique and exciting features before they start catching on with everyone else. Their OxygenOS is often considered the cleanest and most useful variant of Android. However, there are still a few key features OnePlus has yet to bring to their devices. This includes a proper lift to wake option.
The Galaxy S20 Ultra can take pictures at 100x zoom. The regular S20 and S20+ can both do 30x for photos. But when you're shooting video, these same models are limited to 20x zoom for some reason — that is, unless you know where to look.
When it's hard to hear what's being said, subtitles give you clarity where audio falls short. Thanks to Android 10, your Galaxy S20 now lets you enable a live transcription of your phone's internal audio stream, meaning you can get closed captions in virtually any app — even if the app doesn't otherwise support them.
Netflix has offered its beta program officially through the Play Store for some time now. Still, the issue most of us face — the beta availability is always scarce. Without getting lucky and landing a beta spot early on when the gates were open, there wasn't much you could do about it. However, there's now a brand new method you can use to sideload the Netflix beta app and join in on the fun.
If you have a OnePlus phone with an in-display fingerprint scanner like the 6T or 7 Pro, the "Quick launch" feature can put a variety of app shortcuts right on your lock screen for easy access. For example, you could use the "My apps" shortcut for the Play Store to check for your app updates in an instant.
Several popular custom ROMs and root mods let you double tap the status bar at the top of your screen to put the phone to sleep. It pairs perfectly with the double tap to wake gesture you'll find on pretty much any Android phone. But if you're not rooted, you'll be glad to know you can finally do this by installing a simple app.
There are few things more annoying than back button hijacking. You tap a link on a website and decide you want to go back to the previous page, only to remain on the same page again as if you didn't hit the back button. After years of frustration, Google has finally given us a solution.
It's nice having a dark theme on Android 10 and One UI 2, but setting it on a schedule takes it a step further. Imagine the light theme turning on every morning, and the dark theme taking over after sunset — all automatically. It sounds pretty simple, but it's one of those things you wouldn't know you need until you try it.
The first thing any Android power user does with their phone is unlocked the Developer options. The hidden menu has many low-level tweaks, such as forcing Dark mode on all apps, speeding up animations, or enabling hidden Quick Setting tiles. And most modifications require nothing more than hitting a toggle.
While much of the world is currently in some form of quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, augmented reality (AR) gives us all the opportunity to see virtual content while stuck in our homes.
You've just picked up your new Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+, or S20 Ultra — but wait. After you turn it on and restore your data, there a few apps you should install to get the most out of your updated phone. Installing these eight apps right away will help maximize your experience from the very beginning.
We're all feeling the impact of the economic recession underway due to the coronavirus. With millions of Americans filing for unemployment benefits, now more than ever should we focus on the best deal rather than the best model. And in no industry is that more evident than smartphones.
