Samsung Galaxy S5: How to Enable or Disable Flash Notification in Android 4.4.2 Kitkat

Actually, the flash notification feature is not a new feature. This feature was launched first time in Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. If you enable this feature, the camera light at the back side of the phone will be flashed when you receive notifications or incoming calls or when alarms sound. This feature will be more useful for the deaf or hard-hearing users because the flash notification is more noticeable for them than the ringtone notification.


How to enable or disable flash notification?
Generally, you can turn on or off the flash notification feature by using two methods available, through the direct access option or the settings menu.

Method #1: From the direct access option
If you have enabled direct access and added accessibility menu to the direct access option then you can use the following steps to enable or disable the flash notification feature with more quickly:

1. On any screen, press the Home key three times quickly to open up the direct access option.
2. On pop up menu select Accessibility.
3. Tap Hearing.
4. Depending on your current settings, tap Flash notification to enable or disable this option. When the checkbox is checked means the flash notification feature is turned on.

Method #2: From the settings menu

1. Swipe down the top of the screen to open up the notification panel.
2. Tap to go to the settings menu.
3. With the settings menu is displayed in grid view, scroll down to the Personalization section and then tap Accessibility .
4. Tap Hearing.
5. Depending on your current settings, tap Flash notification to enable or disable this option. When the checkbox is checked means the flash notification feature is turned on.

As a note, mute/pause motion will be enabled automatically when you enable the flash notification feature, thus you can stop the camera light from flashing when you receive notifications or incoming calls or when alarms sound by turning the device over so that the screen will face downward. So, how about you? Do you enable or disable this feature in your phone?

Samsung Galaxy S5: How to Enable and Use Direct Access in Android 4.4.2 Kitkat

As we all know that Samsung often places various features in the accessibility menu. That's why for most of users, the accessibility menu becomes one of the frequently accessed menus because they often need to access this menu to enable, configure or disable certain feature. Instead of accessing this menu through the settings menu which will little bit longer, you can shorten it by activating the direct access feature. This feature will allow you directly access the accessibility features that you frequently use simply by triple pressing the Home key quickly.

How to enable direct access?
You can enable this feature by using the following steps:

1. Swipe down the top of the screen to open up the notifications panel.
2. Tap to go to the settings menu.
3. With the settings menu is displayed in grid view, scroll down to the Personalization section and then tap Accessibility .
4. Tap Direct access.
5. Slide the ON/OFF switch located at the top right corner of the screen to the right to enable direct access.
6. In the Accessibility setting section, you can select from the following menus you want to add to the direct access option:
• Accessibility
• Talkback
• Negative colours
• Interaction control. FYI, this option will be available if you have enabled the interaction control feature in the accessibility menu. We'll learn further more about it in other post.

How to use direct access?
Assuming that you have enabled the direct access feature and added all menus to the direct access option, then you can use the following steps to access them quickly:

1. On any screen, press the Home key three times quickly to open up the direct access option.
2. If you tap Accessibility, then the accessibility menu will be opened.
3. If you tap Talkback, then the talkback feature will be turned on or turned off depending on your current settings.
4. If you tap Negative colours, then the negative colours will be applied or removed depending on your current settings.
5. If you tap Interaction control, then you'll be asked to configure interaction control or this feature will be turned off depending on your current settings.

For me, enabling the direct access feature is really helpful because I often need to access the accessibility menu. By using this feature, now I can save more time because I can open the accessibility menu directly from any screen simply by triple tapping the Home key quickly.

Samsung Galaxy S5: How to Take Screenshots in Android 4.4.2 Kitkat

Basically, most of Android phones, including with Samsung Galaxy S5, have the ability to capture the screen. You can use this feature to share what's on your screen to others through the picture with more easily. I myself often use this feature to capture the screen and then use the result to help me explain my post better through the picture.


How to take a screenshot?
Generally, there are two methods available that you can use to take screenshots in this phone, by using the physical buttons combination or by using the palm motion.

Method #1: By using the physical buttons combination
By default,most of Android phones have the ability to take screenshots by using this method, thus you don't have to set anything to be able using this method. Below are the steps to do so:

1. On any screen, long press the Home button and Power button simultaneously until you hear the shutter sound.
2. The currently opened screen has been captured.

Method #2: By using the palm motion
This method is simpler and easier than the method #1, but you have to enable the palm motion first . You can enable and use the palm motion to take screenshot by using the following steps:

1. Enable the palm motion.
• Swipe down the top of the screen to open up the notifications panel.
• Tap to go to the settings menu.
• With the settings menu is displayed in grid view, scroll down to the Motion section and then tap Motions and gestures .
• Tap Palm swipe to capture.
• Slide the ON/OFF switch to the right to enable this motion.
2. On any screen, place the edge of your palm on the screen and sweep it across the screen from side to side until you hear the shutter sound.
3. The currently opened screen has been captured.

All screenshot images will be saved in the device storage/Pictures/Screenshots or you can see all of them in the Screenshots album in Gallery app. Also note that the size of the screenshot images may be different each other depending on what's currently displayed on the screen.

Samsung Galaxy S5: How to Enable and Use Smart Stay in Android 4.4.2 Kitkat

Have you ever felt annoyed if the screen turned off while you were reading e-book or long web post? If that so, you can save yourself from this problem by increasing the screen timeout and enable the smart stay feature in your phone. This feature will utilize the front camera to help you tell the phone to keep the screen stays on as long as you're looking at it.


How to enable or disable smart stay?
You can enable or disable the smart stay feature through the quick settings panel or through the settings menu. If you'd like the faster method, then you can do so through the quick settings panel.

Method #1: From the quick settings panel

1. Swipe down the top of the screen using two fingers to open up the quick settings panel.
2. Depending on your current settings, tap Smart stay button to enable or disable the smart stay feature. When the button shows green means the smart stay feature is enabled.

Method #2: From the settings menu

1. Swipe down the top of the screen to open up the notifications panel.
2. Tap to go to the settings menu.
3. With the settings menu is displayed in grid view, scroll down to the Sound and display section and then tap Display .
4. Depending on your current settings, tap the Smart stay option to enable or disable it. When the checkbox in the left side of the smart stay option is checked means the smart stay feature is enabled.
5. If necessary, you can also tap Screen timeout and then select the longest or highest screen timeout value (5 minutes or 10 minutes).

How to use smart stay?
Since the smart stay feature works by utilizing the front camera thus you have to ensure that it's not being used by other apps while you're using the smart stay feature and make sure to hold the phone steady and upright in a well-lit environment but the screen is not in direct light so that the phone can detect your face with more easily. To make it easier, you can see the example on how to use this feature while reading a long web post in Internet app in the following steps:

1. Open Internet app.
2. Open a webpage by entering URL in the address bar and then tap Go.
3. While you're reading, within a certain time (it depends on screen timeout value on your phone) you'll see the smart stay icon is displayed on the status bar to check whether you're still looking at the screen or not by utilizing the front camera. If the front camera detects your face then the screen will stay on.

As long as the smart stay feature is not turned off, then the front camera will keep trying to detect your face when the screen timeout value is almost over. Since the checking process needs quite a lot of power, thus to save your battery life while using this feature, it'd better if you set the screen timeout value with the highest/longest one. Other way, you can turn on this feature if needed only. FYI, based on my experience, the smart stay feature in this phone works better than in other Samsung Galaxy phones because the front camera can detect my face even when I'm in the low light environment.

Samsung Galaxy S5: How to Enable and Use Air View in Android 4.4.2 Kitkat

Samsung Galaxy S5 has some features that can work though you don't touch the screen, one of which is the air view feature. This feature will allow you to perform various functions (e.g: preview content, extend text, view information in pop up window, enlarge the picture, etc) simply by hovering your finger over the screen.

How to enable or disable Air view?
You can enable or disable the air view feature by using the following steps:

1. Swipe down the top of the screen to open up the notifications panel.
2. Tap to go to the settings menu.
3. With the settings menu is displayed in grid view, scroll down to the Motion section and then tap Air view .
4. Depending on your current settings, tap the ON/OFF switch located at the top right corner of the screen to enable or disable Air view. When the switch is on the right side or shows green means the air view feature is enabled.

How to use Air view?
Since you are not allowed to select the apps where the air feature will work, then once this feature is enabled you'll be able to use this feature in all supported apps.

Using Air view in Gallery app

1. Open Gallery app.
2. Hover your finger over an album to see the preview of some pictures inside the album.
3. Tap an album.
4. Hover your finger over the picture to enlarge it.

Using Air view in S Planner app

1. Open S Planner app.
2. Regardless the S Planner view (month, week, day, etc), hover your finger over an event to see the detail.

Using Air view in Phone app

1. Open Phone app.
2. Hover your finger over the keypad to see the contacts you have assigned to speed dial numbers.

Using Air view in Messaging app

1. Open Messaging app.
2. Hover your finger over the the conversation to view the full message. FYI, this feature won't work if the conversation contains with multiple messages.

Using Air view in Video player app

1. Open Video player app.
2. Tap a video to play it.
3. Tap the screen to view the progress bar.
4. Hover your finger over the progress bar to see a scene or the elapsed time.

Given to the function, this feature will be able to provide you an alternative way to control and interact with your phone. Now, instead of tapping the screen, you can do some functions simply by hovering your finger over the screen.

Samsung Galaxy S5: How to Disable Easy Mode in Android 4.4.2 Kitkat

The rapid growth of the smartphones sometimes makes it hard to be followed, even some of phone users are still using feature phones or have just considered to switch to a smartphone. This fact may be a reason why the easy mode feature is added in the Samsung Galaxy S5. This feature will be helpful for those who have just switched from a feature phone to a smartphone because this feature will change the layout and settings to become simpler and provide the user with straightforward application interactions thus the users can use/learn this phone with more easily.

See also: How to Enable and Customize Easy Mode in Samsung Galaxy S5 with Android 4.4.2 Kitkat

After using easy mode for some time, you may want to turn off easy mode and use standard mode, for instance when you want to use some features that can't be found in easy mode or do some actions that can't be done in this mode or if you want to improve your experience by trying using conventional layout. If that so, you can easily disable easy mode so that the phone will re-enable the standard mode.


How to switch from the easy mode to the standard mode?
Generally, there are two methods that you can use to disable easy mode and re-enable standard mode, through the notifications panel or through the easy settings icon in the Home screen for apps in the easy mode.

Method #1: From the notifications panel

1. Swipe down the top of the screen to open up the notifications panel.
2. Tap to go to the easy settings menu.
3. In Easy settings, tap Easy mode .
4. Tap Standard mode to select it.
5. Tap Done button.
6. The easy mode will be disabled and the standard mode will be applied in your phone.

Method #2: From the Easy settings shortcut in Home screen
By default, you can find the easy settings in the Home screen in easy mode as an app and you can use it to access the easy settings menu to disable easy mode. See the following steps to disable easy mode:

1. From the main Home screen, swipe the screen from right to the left until you see the Easy settings shortcut/icon and then tap it to go to the easy settings menu.
2. Tap Easy mode .
3. Tap Standard mode to select it.
4. Tap Done button.
5. The easy mode will be disabled and the standard mode will be applied in your phone.

If in the easy mode you'll be provided with a simpler layout and the easy settings menu, then in the standard mode you'll be provided with a conventional layout and more complex settings menu. Also, in the standard mode, you can find and use all features owned by this phone unless you disable them.

Samsung Galaxy S5: How to Enable and Customize Easy Mode in Android 4.4.2 Kitkat

Samsung Galaxy S5 allows you to change your default Home screen from the standard mode to the easy mode. When easy mode is enabled, you can use your phone more easily because the layout and the settings will be simplified, the large font will be applied throughout the phone and the apps or contacts can be accessed quickly. This feature will be useful for those of you who are new to smartphone or those of you who want a simpler layout or those of you who want to use the phone for doing the basic activities only.

How to enable Easy Mode?
Since your phone uses standard mode by default, then if you want to use easy mode you have to enable it manually by using the following steps:

1. Swipe down the top of the screen to open up the notifications panel.
2. Tap to go to the Settings menu.
3. With the Settings menu is displayed in grid view, scroll down to the Personalization section and then tap Easy mode .
4. Tap Easy mode to select and enable it.
5. Scroll down to the Easy applications section and you'll see a list of apps. By default, all apps in this list are selected/enabled which mean all of them will be viewed in simpler layout when you use them in easy mode. Thus, if you disable an app in this list, then the app will be viewed in the standard layout when you use this app in easy mode. The apps are:
• Camera
• Clock
• Email
• Gallery
• Internet
• Messages
• Music
• My Files
• Phone
• S Planner
• Video
• Voice Recorder
6. Tap Done button to save the change and apply the selections.
7. The easy mode will be applied.

How to customize easy mode?
Once easy mode is applied in your phone, you can customize this mode according to your need, for instance you can add or remove apps in Home screen, add or remove contacts in Home screen, show or hide additional Home screens and also access the settings menu.

Remove apps from the Home screen in easy mode
In case you want to remove unwanted or unused apps from Home screen, then you can do so by using the following steps:

1. In the Home screen, long tap the Recent apps key or tap to open up the additional options and then select Edit.
2. All removable apps, either in the main Home screen or in the additional ones, will be labelled with .
3. Tap in the required app you want to remove.
4. Tap OK to confirm.
5. The selected app has been deleted from the Home screen and the slot will be available for you to add another app.
6. To remove more apps, repeat from the step #3.
7. Press the Back key to exit from the edit screen.

Add apps to the Home screen in easy mode
You can use the available spots in the Home screen to place another apps by using the following steps:

1. Tap ,either in the main Home screen or the additional ones, to add apps.
2. Select the desired app you want to add.
3. The selected app has been added to the Home screen.
4. To add more apps, repeat from the step #1.

Enable or disable additional Home screens for apps in easy mode
By default, easy mode has a main Home screen and an additional Home screen to place apps. But, you can enable or disable two additional home screens for placing apps by using the following steps:

1. In the main Home screen, long tap the Recent apps key or tap to open up the additional options and then select Edit.
2. Enable additional Home screen for apps:
• Swipe the screen from right to the left until you see a Home screen that has Show and Hide button.
• Tap Show button.
• Now, you can use the available spots in this additional Home screen to add other apps.
3. Disable additional Home screen for apps:
• Swipe the screen from right to the left until you see a Home screen that has Show and Hide button.
• Tap Hide button.
• The Home screen has been disabled and hidden. FYI, the apps you have added to this Home screen won't be removed.
4. Press the Back key to exit from the edit screen.

Add contacts to Home screen in easy mode
You can use the available spots in the additional Home screen for contacts to place new contacts or the existing ones by using the following steps:

1. From the main Home screen, swipe the screen from left to the right.
2. Tap and then you'll see two options available, they are:
• Create: select this option if you want to use the selected slot to place a new contact.
• Existing: select this option if you want to use the selected slot to place an existing contact.
3. Depending on your selection, follow the on-screen instructions to complete adding contact to the Home screen.
4. To add more contacts, repeat from the step #2.

Remove contacts from Home screen in easy mode
In case you want to remove contacts from your Home screen, then you can do so by using the following steps:

1. In the main Home screen, long tap the Recent apps key or tap to open up the additional options and then select Edit.
2. Swipe the screen from left to the right.
3. Tap in the desired contact you want to remove.
4. Tap OK button.
5. The selected contact has been removed from the Home screen.
6. To remove more contacts, repeat from the step #3.

Enable or disable additional Home screen for contacts in easy mode
By default, easy mode has an additional Home screen for contacts. But, you can enable or disable an additional home screen for placing contacts by using the following steps:

1. In the Home screen, long tap the Recent apps key or tap to open up the additional options and then select Edit.
2. Enable Home screen for contacts:
• Swipe the screen from left to the right until you see a Home screen that has Show and Hide button.
• Tap Show button.
• Now, you can use the available spots in this Home screen to add contacts.
3. Disable Home screen for contacts:
• Swipe the screen from left to the right until you see a Home screen that has Show and Hide button.
• Tap Hide button.
• The Home screen has been disabled and hidden. FYI, all contacts you have added to this Home screen won't be removed.
4. Press the Back key to exit from the edit screen.

Access and use the settings menu in easy mode
You can access and use the settings menu in easy mode use by using the following steps:

1. From the main Home screen, swipe the screen from right to the left to find the Easy settings icon and then tap it to go to the settings menu. Or, swipe down the top of the screen to open up the notifications panel and then tap to go to the settings menu.
2. In the Easy settings, you can see some menus available, they are:
• Sound mode: use this menu to change sound mode.
• Font: use this menu to change the font size and style.
• Brightness: use this menu to change the screen brightness and disable/enable auto brightness.
• Ringtone and volume: use this menu to change ringtone and adjust the volume for call, notification and media.
• Wi-Fi: use this menu to enable/disable and customize Wi-Fi.
• Bluetooth: use this menu to enable/disable and customize Bluetooth.
• Data usage: use this menu to see your data usage.
• Wallpaper: use this menu to change the wallpaper for your Home screen and Lock screen.
• Easy mode: use this menu to disable easy mode and re-enable standard mode.
• Screen lock: use this menu to change the screen lock method.
• Notification panel: use this menu to customize your notifications panel.
• More settings: use this menu to access the settings menu in standard mode.

Since this mode will simplify the layout and the settings, then you may notice that you can't perform some actions or use some features while you're in this mode, for instance you can't use zoom function when you take a picture or use multi window while the easy mode is being activated.