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Tips n Tricks thread.

loony

Android Enthusiast
Apr 18, 2011
301
86
australia
Ive been keeping a personal track of tips to help but didnt see a thread in here for just small things that can help us newbs :p

Please share more tips! even the simple ones help.

a few to start off from other people/threads.
appologise for stepping on any feet, but know that you have helped and thanks again! :D

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Originally Posted by lilo
This is how you add shortcuts in TouchWiz. When at the home screen, press the screen where it's free from icons and hold it. The phone will pop up a menu that has a number o options including one for shortcut.

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Originally Posted by jimlad
6) Factory Reset (Optional)
There are three ways to reset the phone, through Dialer, Settings or Recovery mode.
- Dialer, enter *2767*3855#
- Settings, Privacy, Factory data reset.
- Recovery mode. Power off the phone, press and hold Vol Up + Home + Power. Use the Vol keys to navigate the menus and Home to action

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Originally Posted by Gearu
if you hold down on any homescreen, then choose shortcuts, you can then choose contacts>then choose a contact to stick them on the homescreen, or you can choose direct message/dial and then a contact to do the same with that feature.

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Originally Posted by Quboid
Go into Aeroplane mode (hold the power button for menu) before launching a game if you can't stand ads.

---------------------------------

Originally Posted by fumbleduck
Home screen and apps disappear on startup.
Have managed to solve the problem by going into settings - accounts and sync and unchecking both background sync and auto sync. Phone now starts up with no issues and everything works exactly as I want it to (i. e. it only gets info when I tell it to).

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Originally Posted by Ludlum
camera focusing
You can also touch anywhere on the screen to ensure it focuses on that specific point.

--------------------------------

Originally Posted by daz2000/Jdizzle/NZtechFreak
1. In gallery, I want to sort my videos by list, not thumbnails?
-what you could do is access the movie thru your file explorer instead of the gallery, that way you can seethe name of the movie on the file
-If you use the videos app you get a thumbnail, and the title.

---------------------------------

Originally Posted by jo157
Hi if u go in to your folders then media/audio/notifications u can put any sounds u want to use for messages etc in there.

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Originally Posted by Gearu
Vibrate and silent modes.
Press and hold on homescreen, choose Shortcuts, scroll down to and press settings, then scroll
down and choose sounds.

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Link Originally Posted by ironass
If using O2 Provider then this is how you set up your APN:
Setting up your APN for O2 for Galaxy S2
 
*Pinch on homescreen to get homescreens overview, from there you can either skip to a particular homscreen or bin ones you don't need, that way you will have less homescreen dot markers.

*In Applications menu, you can press menu key>edit. If you didn't notice, in here you can move the Phone, Contacts and Messaging widgets from the bottom of the screen into the applications area, and replace them with other applications, or just remove them altogether to leave just the blue applications widget for every homescreen.
 
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Speed limit in the UK is the limit + tolerance
You will get done at a speed of 10% + 2


In a 30 MPH zone if you do 30 + 5 you are speeding
but....
If you are doing 34.99 MPH you are OK

On a motorway limit is 70 MPH, you can get away with doing 78.99 MPH


rule of thumb is 10% + 1 :)




Regarding the SGS2....
Long hold the power button , and turn off data connections to extend battery if your not bothered about push updates or emails
 
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If you turn off auto-brightness in Settings --> Display, then long pressing the notifications area and sliding left and right will increase/decrease the screen brightness.

If you are having trouble with the initial pairing of your SGSII to a bluetooth device, restart the SGSII and try again (this bug also present on SGSI with same fix).

If you want the option for sharing items with Facebook and Twitter you need to install the official Facebook and Twitter apps, even if you don't use them.

Quickpic is a nice replacement for the inbuilt gallery application.

If you don't like the screen colour temperature you can change it (system-wide) in Settings --> Display --> Background effect. Movie mode makes things more drab, dynamic mode tends to pump up the colours a lot (will help with sunlight legibility).

There is more than one speech-sythesis engine in the phone, by default it will be set in Voice Input and output to Pico TTS, but Samsung TTS is much more pleasant sounding (less robotic). Samsung TTS removes spoken street names in Google Navigation though!
 
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I found the incall volume to be a little low. When you max out the volume using the volume button it actually only goes to a default setting of 87 out of 100. If you would like to change the default settings here is what you need to do.
call this number *#*#197328640#*#*
This will open the service mode menu.
choose option [5] AUDIO
choose option [1] (VOICE CALL)
choose option [1] HANDSET
choose option [1] Volume
choose option [1] SRC Speech RX Volume
choose option [5] 5_lvl : 87
press the menu button (left side)
choose Key Input
enter a value between 0 and 100, I choose 100 the loudest setting.
press ok
now press the menu button and select back this should save (don't use the right side back key you normally use to navigate the phone or you will quit out of the settings) keep hitting the menu and back until you leave the service mode menu.
You will also note you can change volume settings for other things like bluetooth, head sets, video call etc.

Note: this is not permanent, if you turn off the phone it resets back to the default levels .
 
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I found the incall volume to be a little low. When you max out the volume using the volume button it actually only goes to a default setting of 87 out of 100. If you would like to change the default settings here is what you need to do.
call this number *#*#197328640#*#*
This will open the service mode menu.
choose option [5] AUDIO
choose option [1] (VOICE CALL)
choose option [1] HANDSET
choose option [1] Volume
choose option [1] SRC Speech RX Volume
choose option [5] 5_lvl : 87
press the menu button (left side)
choose Key Input
enter a value between 0 and 100, I choose 100 the loudest setting.
press ok
now press the menu button and select back this should save (don't use the right side back key you normally use to navigate the phone or you will quit out of the settings) keep hitting the menu and back until you leave the service mode menu.
You will also note you can change volume settings for other things like bluetooth, head sets, video call etc.

How on earth did you find out that service mode code?
 
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How to edit imported contacts that are uneditable - "Unable to edit SNS contacts on this phone"

I imported contacts from Yahoo, Gmail and Facebook to my new SGS2 and found that when you try to edit any that are from Yahoo or Facebook you get a message saying "Unable to edit SNS contacts on this phone".

Presumably what this actually means is "I can't edit information that came from Yahoo or FB".
So you have a problem of how do you add say a phone number, extra email address or photo to a contact that was pulled from Yahoo or FB (or presumably any non-Google source).

The way around it is to create a new contact with the same name and put the phone number in there. Then hit the merge symbol and merge it with the previously uneditable contact. After you've done that you should have one displayed contact in your list which should be editable in a normal fashion. :)
 
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@Teknik

You want some codes?

(I have not tried or tested these so use with caution!)

Samsung secret codes

*#1234# = Firmware Version.

*#2222# = H/W Version.

*#8999*8376263# = All Versions Together.

*#8999*8378# = Test Menu.

*#4777*8665# = GPSR Tool.

*#8999*523# = LCD Brightness.

*#8999*377# = Error Menu.

*#8999*327# = EEP Menu.

*#8999*667# = Debug Mode.

*#92782# = PhoneModel. (Wap)

#*5737425# = JAVA Mode.

*#2255# = Call List.

*#232337# = Bluetooth MAC Adress.

*#5282837# = Java Version.

#*4773# = Incremental Redundancy.

#*7752# = 8 PSK uplink capability bit.

#*7785# = Reset wakeup & RTK timer cariables/variables.

#*7200# = Tone Generator Mute.

#*3888# = BLUETOOTH Test mode.

#*7828# = Task screen.

#*#8377466# = S/W Version & H/W Version.

#*2562# = Restarts Phone.

#*2565# = No Blocking? General Defense.

#*3353# = General Defense, Code Erased.

#*3837# = Phone Hangs on White screen.

#*3849# = Restarts Phone.

#*3851# = Restarts Phone.

#*3876# = Restarts Phone.

#*7222# = Operation Typ: (Class C GSM)

#*7224# = !!! ERROR !!!

#*7252# = Operation Typ: (Class B GPRS)

#*7271# = CMD: (Not Available)

#*7274# = CMD: (Not Available)

#*7337# = Restarts Phone. (Resets Wap Settings)

#*2787# = CRTP ON/OFF.

#*2886# = AutoAnswer ON/OFF.

#*3737# = L1 AFC.

#*5133# = L1 HO Data.

#*7288# = GPRS Detached/Attached.

#*7287# = GPRS Attached.

#*7666# = White Screen.

#*7693# = Sleep Deactivate/Activate.

#*7284# = L1 HO Data.

#*2256# = Calibration info? (For CMD set DEBUGAUTONOMY in cihard.opt)

#*2286# = Databattery.

#*2527# = GPRS switching set to (Class 4, 8, 9, 10)

#*2679# = Copycat feature Activa/Deactivate.

#*3940# = External looptest 9600 bps.

#*4263# = Handsfree mode Activate/Deactivate.

#*4700# = Please use function 2637.

#*7352# = BVMC Reg value (LOW_SWTOFF, NOMINAL_SWTOFF)

#*2558# = Time ON.

#*3370# = Same as 4700.

#*3941# = External looptest 115200 bps

#*5176# = L1 Sleep.

#*7462# = SIM Phase.

#*7983# = Voltage/Freq.

#*7986# = Voltage.

#*8466# = Old Time.

#*2255# = Call Failed.

#*5187# = L1C2G trace Activate/Deactivate.

#*5376# = DELETE ALL SMS!!!!.

#*6837# = Official Software Version: (0003000016000702)

#*7524# = KCGPRS: (FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 07)

#*7562# = LOCI GPRS: (FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FE FF 01)

#*2337# = Permanent Registration Beep.

#*2474# = Charging Duration.

#*2834# = Audio Path. (Handsfree)

#*3270# = DCS Support Activate/Deactivate.

#*3282# = Data Activate/Deactivate.

#*3476# = EGSM Activate/Deactivate.

#*3676# = FORMAT FLASH VOLUME!!!

#*4760# = GSM Activate/Deactivate.

#*4864# = White Screen.

#*5171# = L1P1.

#*5172# = L1P2.

#*5173# = L1P3.

#*7326# = Accessory.

#*7683# = Sleep variable.

#*8465# = Time in L1.

#*2252# = Current CAL.

#*2836# = AVDDSS Management Activate/Deactivate.

#*3877# = Dump of SPY trace.

#*7728# = RSAV.

#*2677# = Same as 4700.

#*3728# = Time 2 Decod.

#*3725# = B4 last off.

#*7372# = Resetting the time to DPB variables.

#*7732# = Packet flow context bit Activate/Deactivate.

#*6833# = New uplink establishment Activate/Deactivate.

#*3273# = EGPRS multislot. (Class 4, 8, 9, 10)

#*7722# = RLC bitmap compression Activate/Deactivate.

#*2351# = Blinks 1347E201 in RED.

#*4472# = Hysteresis of serving cell: 3 dB

#*2775# = Switch to 2 inner speaker.

#*9270# = Force WBS.

#*7878# = FirstStartup. (0=NO, 1=YES)

#*3757# = DSL UART speed set to. (LOW, HIGH)

#*8726# = Switches USBACM to Normal.

#*8724# = Switches USBACM to Generator mode.

#*8727# = Switches USBACM to Slink mode.

#*8725# = Switches USBACM to Loop-back mode.

#*3838# = Blinks 3D030300 in RED.

#*2077# = GPRS Switch.

#*2027# = GPRS Switch.

#*0227# = GPRS Switch.

#*0277# = GPRS Switch.

#*8370# = Tfs4.0 Test 0.

#*8371# = Tfs4.0 Test 1.

#*8372# = Tfs4.0 Test 2.

#*8373# = Tfs4.0 Test 3.

#*8374# = Tfs4.0 Test 4.

#*8375# = Tfs4.0 Test 5.

#*8376# = Tfs4.0 Test 6.

#*8377# = Tfs4.0 Test 7.

#*8378# = Tfs4.0 Test 8.

#*8379# = Tfs4.0 Test 9.

#*7878# = FirstStartup. (0=NO, 1=YES)

#*3838# = Blinks 3D030300 in RED.

#*2077# = GPRS Switch.

#*2027# = GPRS Switch.

#*0227# = GPRS Switch.

#*0277# = GPRS Switch.

#*22671# = AMR REC START.

#*22672# = Stop AMR REC. (File name: /a/multimedia/sounds/voice list/ENGMODE.amr)

#*22673# = Pause REC.

#*22674# = Resume REC.

#*22675# = AMR Playback.

#*22676# = AMR Stop Play.

#*22677# = Pause Play.

#*22678# = Resume Play.

#*77261# = PCM Rec Req.

#*77262# = Stop PCM Rec.

#*77263# = PCM Playback.

#*77264# = PCM Stop Play.

#*22679# = AMR Get Time.

*#8999*364# = Watchdog ON/OFF.

*#8999*427# = WATCHDOG signal route setup.

*2767*226372# = Camera Reset. (deletes photos)

*2767*3855# = E2P Full Reset.

*2767*2878# = E2P Custom Reset.

*2767*927# = E2P Wap Reset.

*2767*226372# = E2P Camera Reset.

*2767*688# = Reset Mobile TV.

#7263867# = RAM Dump. (On or Off)
 
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